Page 90 of Pandion

The two men behind me will probably object to that.

“It’s nothing personal, Kagesawa-san, but we can let you roam free for only so long.” Fujitani-sensei closed the door behind her.

“I don’t mind taking my leave if I’ve overstayed.”

“At stage 50, it’s only a matter of time before you go insane, and we cannot have that.”

“Is that the official story?”

“You are out of control. This is why it’s so dangerous to have DEFD and be linked. It makes one unpredictable and aggressive.” She sighed. The two men she’d brought tightened their grip on Kagesawa.

“Right.” They did indeed plan to off him and use that as an excuse. “It’s got nothing to do with the fact that around stage fifty the organism will have developed enough to start communicating.”

“Has it already—?” She checked her palm reader. “I suppose it’s possible.”

“Shouldn’t you, as an advocate for the organisms, be more interested in what they actually want?”

“Hah.” She seemed a little distracted checking her data. “I didn’t peg you as the naïve type.”

“So, what are you waiting for?”

“Are you in a hurry? Don’t worry, this really won’t take that long once my colleague returns with the equipment. You see, as risky as it is to have you wandering around, you are stagefifty. I don’t meet such developed specimens every day. It would be a shame to merely ‘zap’ you as you put it.” She didn’t seem interested in negotiating. The only reason she was humouring his questions was that she was waiting for her friend.

“You could have at least made the preparations without me.”

“There weren’t that many chances to grab you without that link of yours hovering around. My apologies, but this was the best we could do. Sit down. Your fidgeting is making me nervous.”

“Was I…?” Kagesawa hadn’t noticed, but he was indeed tapping his fingers to his side while swinging a bit back and forth. He was vaguely aware of doing these things when he was trying to think but usually only when it was causing someone else discomfort.

He sat down at the table but bounced his knee under it instead.

She seems to want to poke you with a stick. It’s probably not going to be pleasant. I don’t mind what she does to me, but I don’t think it’s fair to you since you didn’t choose any of this. If you want me to do something, let me know.

This organism probably would have gone to someone else had Kagesawa not wanted to become an empath, but at least it would have never reached the maturity to understand how unfulfilling and short its life would be. Kagesawa felt sorry for it as well as bad about his own involvement.

I’m afraid your physical capabilities are insufficient for retaliation, but there’s a chance we might outrun them, if we can get loose.

The two men holding him had allowed him to take a seat, but there was a heavy hand placed on his shoulder as a reminder he was not free to move.

It doesn’t look good.Kagesawa couldn’t see a way out of this. He could try, but the choices seemed to be varying degrees of pain while the result remained the same.Self-harm is an option,I guess.Committing a suicide might be unexpected enough to not leave the guards enough time to intervene. At least he’d be going by his own hand and robbing her of the additional data she was after.

I don’t understand.The organism was fairly smart and understood a lot, but it was still in its infancy.

She’s hoping to get something out of us. We may not be able to escape alive, but we could annoy her by not letting her have what she wants.

There was a knock on the door, and Fujitani-sensei’s link entered the room with a briefcase.

“I’d sedate you, but that would interfere with the data. Don’t worry, the pain won’t last for long, and it’s going to be much more pleasant to welcome death as an end to suffering than to have to fear it.” She gagged Kagesawa in preparation.

Time is running out. What do you want me to do?Kagesawa asked the organism. He could tell the organism was calculating something.

Fujitani-sensei inserted something into the port. It was not the usual sort of electrodes or a connector. The irritating chafe of the EI T-60 was a welcome light breeze in comparison. Kagesawa winced from the pain.

“Calm down, it’s not even on yet.” She gave way for her two male associates, who took a hold of him to stop him from moving. “Make sure he stays still. I want clean data.” She laid out the contents of the briefcase and opened the laptop included in the set.

Do you have a name? Do you want one before we die?It was a little late now, but with nothing else to give, it was all Kagesawa could think of.

A name? I thought ‘organism’ was my name.

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