Saif

The campaign progressed well and once their future conquests heard how easily they had taken over additional Russian and American systems, slaying Putin the 22th and even crushed the Americans’ nuclear manifestee, system after system joined them willingly. They knew that defeat was imminent and to surrounder meant fewer lives lost.

Saif leaned back in the chair, feeling good about himself. He controlled the mental world and Tom the physical world. Combining their abilities meant absolute control on the battlefield, even more so as Tom honed his attributes and learned new ones. Saif had never thought that he would be able to unite humanity. The size of the fleet and the amount and strength behind his manifestees made it all possible. With new subjects, new systems, new planets, improved hardware and outposts on their side, the war against the aliens might just be winnable. A united humanity had never been possible before and together they stayed a better chance.

Footsteps outside his office. The door was already opened. He knew the incoming person’s mind intimately. Rachel. They had not been able to spend much time together since the campaign started, both of them tired and worn between the overtakings. Between Tom’s training and leading the campaign, there was little time for social activities. The few times he spent time with her, was when her manifestation was needed. A good thing he had finally seeded parts of her mind, so she was not able to freely spend time with Tom. That disgusting feeling he had felt at first when he had seeded her, had almost went away completely. He could not have her running around doing whatever she liked.

“Hi, Rachel,” Saif said.

She was angry. “I know what you have done.”

His stomach dropped with his mood.

“Did you not think I would notice?” Rachel said. “You are controlling me!”

“Well, in certain aspects, yes. In others, no,” Said said, deflecting.

How did she keep detecting it? He should have seeded her completely, leaving no room for her own thinking. Even though he erased those memories, they kept resurfacing. He had thought that she would stay in line, like she had done for all these years. Maybe it was inevitable with everyone, as they changed and dreamt, new synaptic pathways fired. It would not have been a problem if he had seeded her completely. Another day, another hurdle to vault.

“You looked in need of guidance,” Saif said. “And I only seeded parts of you. To keep you steady.”

Rachel spat in his direction. “I remember when you treated me well. When you still talked with me. When we talked instead of you grabbing control of me! When you still loved me”

She had gone off the rails. Too bad. He loved her, he really did. It would not be the same if she was in complete control, he knew that, but this could not go on any further. If he didn’t correct this behavior, the end result would be bad.

“It was a good thing you came here and talked it out with me. I will remove the vines and seeds from your mind. Let you free. I cannot have my darling feeling like this,” Saif said.

Rachel nodded, there were actual tears trickling down her face. “Thank you.”

How naive some people were. It hurt him to do it, but he had no options left. He could not remove his control over her, she would go ballistic, and also spend too much time with Tom. Maybe after the campaign and the war against the aliens, and they had returned home, he could remove them. But not now. Now he needed her manifestation at full force, at full focus. Not this whimpering. After they returned home, he promised himself to remove his control, no matter her change of heart towards him. She needed the truth, she had earned the truth, but not now.

“After it is over,” Saif said. “I promise.”

“What?” Rachel asked, her voice trembling.

Sweetness flooded his mouth and he dove into her mind. He seeded all across her thought stream, making sure the pattern was absolute. No gaps, no weaknesses. Vines sprouted from the rooted seeds and grabbed control. He pulled out.

Rachel’s face went from taunt and angry into relaxed and at peace in the matter of two seconds. Her whole body turned calm. Yes, this had been the correct choice.

“Give me a kiss, darling. Then go back to our shared quarters and rest. You need it. I will summon you when I need your manifestation,” Saif said.

They exchanged a kiss, then she was on her way.

It felt weird to have done it to her. But afterwards, just another hurdle that needed to be vaulted. It was surprising that it had taken him this many years before he saw the need to do it.

“Sir! Master Saif,” Admiral Harris said. “We have company.”

Ahh. Yes. The next point on his agenda. The African warlord. A proud, but merciless woman. A meeting that hopefully would not lead to battle and killing. Well, you had to prepare yourself for anything.

The arrival’s shuttle was probably docking now. Saif sent a command to Tom’s mind before making his way through the ship.

Saif kept calling the people he met by their nation, Russians, Americans and now also Africans. But the truth was, none of the people of the systems they had conquered, had probably never set foot on Earth or even been in its solar system. But even so, it was still as if the borders of the ancient countries had extended into space. To new solar systems, space cities and colonies. The concept of a country's geographical location had been blurred, the people were the nation and thus pulled it into space.

The conference room was empty, only a long table with chairs along it. Saif grabbed a seat at the short end.

So this rumored African warlord had probably never seen Earth, or Africa. Would that be something he could bait with? Or he could seed her right away. Maybe that was the better choice? Would the warlord’s warrior bands know what happened if her behavior and demeanor changed drastically? That was the thing to seeding and taking control of people’s minds, even though he had access to people’s thoughts, it was difficult to replicate their behavior. Too many minute details, and which required his constant attention. The traditional ways of negotiation had their values.

The warriors arrived, five men and women, with the warlord in front. Their space suits were colored crimson red and by the looks of it, they looked sturdy enough to serve as battle armor. There were even a few motor muscles attached to some of the joints and hardened plating. It went well with their reputation of being a culture of war. At least this subculture.

The warlord grabbed herself a seat opposite Saif, her hair black as space itself. “I am Shani Achebe and we are of the Zulu tribe,” Shani said, slamming down her laser rifle on the table. “You requested this meeting. For peace?” Shani spat on the floor.

Had the word ‘peace’ meant something negative in their culture? In their warring ways, peace might be viewed as weak and thus this behavior.

Sweetness trickled down into his mouth and he dove into the warlord’s mind. The thought stream moved along well enough, he yanked out a few of the more recent thoughts. Ruthlessness and anger lined most of them, but there was little resistance against any mental attacks, too. She probably didn’t even detect that he was inside her mind. If she was offended there would be dealt death. He pulled out of her mind.

“Kind of,” Saif said. “Peace with us, but war against our enemies. And our enemies are powerful and I am sure you will think the same.”

Shani laughed. “You plowed yourself through the Russians and Americans as if they were made out of wet paper. An enemy to you will need to be mighty.”

“Very,” Saif said. “They are mighty.”

Tom entered the conference room. Shani’s hand went right for her laser rifle, grabbing it, but not pointing it muzzle towards anyone. She just wanted it close.

“It’s alright. I wanted you to meet my prodigy. This is Tom. His manifestation is telekinetic, making him the master of the physical world,” Saif said.

“And you the master of the mental world?” Shani smiled.

At least there was some sense of humor behind that thick skull of hers.

An invisible force grabbed Shani’s laser rifle and pulled it out from her hands. It flew up to the ceiling, where the force kept it in place.

Shani came to her feet. “So it is true? You have mastered magic.”

“You could say that,” Saif said. There was little to gain in arguing with this woman. “I have heard that you want to see Africa. You have never set your feet on its savannahs or tasted the air in its jungles. I aim to cease that whole solar system.”

Shani laughed, a deep throaty laugh. “You cannot do that. It is under the protection of the Europeans. And they have the biggest fleet. I don’t care for your magic, those ships are many and their hulls strong. You can’t plow through them like you plowed through Putin and the Americans. No way.”

“I thought you wanted a challenge. Then there will be a war against the aliens,” Saif said. “Yeah, I see that smirk in your face. Believe me. I can show you the truth if you let me. But then I would need to go inside your mind.”

“Inside my mind?” Shani asked.

“Yes. I can dive into people’s minds and do whatever the fuck I want with them,” Saif said. “I can make you kneel before me or make you smash your face against the wall until your brain starts leaking out.”

“Why would you say those things? How do you expect me to agree to this?” Shani asked as her four fellow warriors stood up.

“You know what they say about patience? How it is supposed to be a virtue. But this conversation has gone on for too long. You think I need your permission?” Saif asked.

This sent the warlord into action, grabbing her sidearm that was holstered on her leg. Saif sucked down the sweetness again and dove into her mind. The seeds spread quickly, and just to be safe, he pulled at her violent thoughts out of her thought stream, it would take some time before new ones were formed. Vines sprouted from the seeds and grasped tightly around the stream. He pulled out and dove into the mind of each of her four warriors. Seeding and pacifying their current violent thoughts. Well, hell with the behavior change. A tool was a tool, and his toolbox had just expanded.

How many ships had Shani brought? He searched for them, for the minds of her crew. Quite a number was out of range for him to effectively dive into them. Vault. He seeded whoever he came across, only skipping the simpletons and out of ranged ones.

Saif came back to his own body, stumbling forward and catching his balance against the long table. He panted, his water deposit had drained more than he had thought.

“Tom, I have seeded a big part of her people. But I can feel the discord inside the others. Fix it,” Saif said, leaning back in the seat. “Shani, go back to your ship and crew. Kill anybody who doesn’t align with my leadership,” Saif said and sent the command into Shani’s mind. “Tom, go with them. Once, you are done, get into your hibernation pod. We are going to Earth.”

Shani and her warband made a swift exit, with Tom following tightly behind. Saif found himself alone again with his thoughts.

Was he leaving too much responsibility with the boy? Tom had proved himself over and over again, his manifestation was powerful and he gained a good control of it. But most importantly, the vines around Tom’s thought stream were stable. There should be no uncertainty. Then why did that feeling linger in Saif’s mind? No. He couldn’t be micromanaging everything, it was too exhausting, like he had experienced in the last battle. With Tom at forefront of fleet, there could be no defeat. Hurdles were meant to be vaulted, but sometimes the hurdles were not always straightforward.

Saif corrected the collar of his uniform and left the bridge in strides, resolved that his motto had taken a new form. “Vault the hurdles.”

-

“Rachel,” Saif said. “Come to me.”

Rachel followed the command and put a hand on his shoulders, giving him that squeeze he liked. “You have tensed up again, sir.”

“We will be going to Earth, of course I am tense. The campaign has been a complete success. You can have your vacation spot,” Saif said, trying to cheer her up.

Rachel nodded, but her body language lacked the usual emotion. “Yes, thank you, my dear.”

Saif shoved her hand away. It was not the same. This was the price he had paid, the price both of them had paid, to keep her in line. By robbing her mind of those thoughts, it had altered her mind, altered the way she felt and acted. And it was not as simple as injecting the wanted behavior into her mind. If they were not created in her thought stream, they were still fake. That genuine love she felt for him, it had been the price. So, this was it. She would follow all his commands and execute them to the letter, but it would all be fake. Synthetic love.

“What should I have done?” Saif said to her still face. “Please, tell me. Speak truthfully. I hereby temporarily lift the control on your thought stream and unlock your memory.”

Rachel’s face relaxed, her eyes widened and her mouth shaped into that irregular form it usually had. “You fucking seeded me, Saif. Why could you not have left me alone? So I can be the person I want to be. I want my own dreams and making my own decisions! You disgust me. Leave my mind to myself.”

Saif sighed. “Hell. This is too much, but I need the truth. Tell me the truth. You fell for the boy?”

“He will become more powerful than you. The potential of love, of goodness and of might. He could move worlds with his mind. People will cherish him and his courage,” Rachel said. “And what do you do? Rob people of their lives, that’s what you do. Release me from your control. Release me!”

Saif shook his head, he could not listen to this, it made his bones shake. “No. I need you and I need Tom to do what I say. I hereby remove my control temporarily, you are in my control again.”

Rachel’s face became taunt again, her mouth smiled that artificial smile again and her eyes radiated with a strange, fake happiness.

“Rachel, I am so sorry. But this needed to be done. If I am to save humanity I need all my tools in line. Afterwards I will remove my influence on you, I promise. But for now, I need you with laser focus and without all that emotional crap. I cannot be careful enough. People will never understand the sacrifices I made to save them. They never will. Maybe in a thousand years, when mankind has expanded through the universe. Maybe then. You and me, we will see how that feels like. If you like Tom so much, we can bring him with us. But I am not letting you too close to him, you will have to understand that.”

He leaned back, closing his eyes. “People will never understand the burden that has been put on my shoulders. But when the dust settles and mankind stands on top of the universe, I, we will be the heroes, Rachel. No matter your genuine feelings towards me. We will have saved them all. Go now, leave me alone with my thoughts.”

Rachel turned. But something sparked inside her mind.

“Stop,” Saif said.

With sweetness on his tongue he dove into her mind. Like he suspected, that particular cluster of thoughts within her thought stream lit up. As if her very essence fought back against his control. He looked upon the cluster, wanting to know its secret and how it was connected to her manifestation. But that required that he pulled it out from her mind and he had already tried that twice and failed both times. The water deposit was not enough for him to achieve that. He needed that elusive blood deposit, he needed to lean into his hook. Control. But his control of her was not enough for him to be pushed over the edge. He needed something more or to realize something, maybe. He pulled out and back into his own body, letting the sweetness retreat. Maybe the long sleep to Earth would jolt his mind and provide the inspiration he needed to solve the mystery?