by Peter David
“I heard from a friend of a friend that you and Mariel are together,” she had said. “How interesting. This friend of a friend told me that Minister Durla rather fancies Mariel himself . So you are quite the lucky fellow, actually getting the better of Minister Durla, because you know, no one ever does.”
So even on Centauri Prime, where he was persona non grata, they knew of the damnable association. Little did they suspect that Vir’s supposed romantic coup had actually cost him terribly. Whatever small bit of standing he might have had remaining to him had been damaged, probably beyond repair.
This knowledge made him want to get back at Mariel somehow. His upbringing told him that, given the circumstances , disposing of her wouldn’t be out of line. Any number of dandy little poisons would suit the occasion perfectly. But he couldn’t bring himself to pursue that avenue. It simply wasn’t his style.
Then again, risking life and limb to destroy a mysterious Shadow base wasn’t exactly his style either. Nor was assassinating an emperor, as he had inadvertently done with Cartagia. His style was changing so rapidly that he was having trouble keeping up with it. It was as if another Vir were running on ahead, leaving the original one to gesture helplessly and beg not to be left behind.
He wondered what he was becoming, and further wondered if it was anyone, or anything, he was going to like.
The Vir Cotto who had first come to Babylon 5 had been, in so many ways, a child.
“And all children grow up,” he said tonelessly as he sat in the Zen garden, staring down at the sand beneath his feet.
“All children save one,” came a voice, so close at his shoulder that he yelped. He jumped from the bench and turned to see who had entered so silently that Vir hadn’t even heard him.
“Galen!”
The techno-mage inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment. “The same.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Speaking to you. Your time is drawing near, Vir Cotto. And when it comes, you must be prepared for it.”
“Prepared for it? Prepared for what?” Vir shook his head with obvious incredulity. “Since techno-mages started advising me, I’ve had a woman come into my life, embolden me, love me-or pretend she loves me-just to put herself into a position to spy on others. What could I possibly do to prepare myself for that?”
“She used you. Everyone uses everyone, Vir Cotto. When you grow up, you will understand that, and be the greatest user of all”
“There’s something to look forward to,” Vir said dourly. Then he frowned. “Who doesn’t grow up? You said-“
“Peter Pan. A Human boy who refused to grow up, and resided instead in a place called Never-never land … which you got to by going to the second star on the right, and straight on until morning.”
“I don’t have time for stories,” Vir said impatiently. “You must want something. What is it?”
Galen rose and began to walk. Automatically, Vir got up and fell into step beside him. “You must return,” Galen told him.
Vir didn’t even have to guess at what he was referring to. “To Centauri Prime.”
“Yes. There are forces bringing the world forward to a destiny it truly desires. For every action, however, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is an immutable rule of the universe. You are to be the opposite reaction.”
“Well, here’s another immutable rule: I can’t return there,” Vir said flatly. “I have contacts there, yes, and I’ve been getting messages to them, and they to me. But you need someone who can walk about freely, who can move in high circles. I’m not that person”
“Yes. You are,” said Galen. His eyes sparked with a flintlike precision. “You need to figure out how you can be.”
“You figure it out. You have all the answers, after all.”
“No,” Galen said softly. “No techno-mage has all the answers.”
“Really.”
“Really.” Then his lips thinned in what might have been a smile, although Vir couldn’t be sure. “We do, however, have all the questions.”
Vir rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know what you expect of me,” he said finally. “You’re acting as if I have some real influence. At this point, the only influence I have is through Mariel.”
“Is she not enamored of you? Would she not aid you?”
Vir laughed bitterly at that. “Mariel aids herself. She wouldn’t … she… sh…”
His voice trailed off. An idea was beginning to trickle through him.
“Vir Cotto … ?’ inquired Galen.
“Quiet!” If anyone had told Vir some years back that he would be telling a techno-mage to silence himself, Vir would have thought they were out of their mind. What was even more astounding was that the techno-mage did, in fact, shut up. He cocked his head with slight curiosity, but otherwise seemed more than content to let Vir’s train of thought head down the track.
Vir was walking slowly, but his mind was leaps and bounds away: A flood of notions rolled over him. He turned quickly, half expecting to find that Galen had disappeared in the same way that his associates did. But Galen was still standing there, cradling his staff, watching Vir with what seemed to be cold amusement.
“Can you make her love me?”
Galen blinked in a vaguely owlish fashion. “Love.”
“Yes.”
“You.”
“Yes.”
The techno-mage said nothing at first. He didn’t even move. He was so immobile that he might have had some sort of paralysis spell cast upon him, for all Vir knew.
“You want to control her,” he said at last.
Vir nodded.
“You want me … to make her so enamored of you that she will do whatever you ask, whenever and wherever you ask, rather than take the slightest risk of upsetting you.”
“Exactly,” said Vir with grim eagerness.
“And you desire this … why?”
“You want me to be able to return to Centauri Prime. I’ve come to realize that she’s the key to it. Londo knew it … Londo always knows,” Vir said, shaking his head in grudging admiration. “And he got Senna to get word to me, probably because everything he says and does is carefully monitored. That’s why she sent it from outside the palace. You would think that that alone would have tipped me off”
“You are a fool, Vir Cotto,” Galen said softly.
“Maybe. But I’m a fool that you need.” Vir was not about to let himself be intimidated, even by a techno-mage.
“You ask me to make this woman love you. I can do this thing. It is within my power. I can make her love you with such intensity that she will shatter every bone in her body rather than fail you.”
“I think we can, you know … avoid anything that will call for self-mutilation.”
“Indeed.” Galen was thoughtful for a moment. “And will you admit to yourself why you have asked me to do this?”
“I already told you.”
“No. No.” Galen shook his head. He walked toward Vir then, and Vir was sure it was his imagination, but it seemed to him as if Galen was getting taller, wider, more impressive with every step. “That is what you have told me. The truth of it is, though, that you wish to punish her, and you see me as the instrument of that punishment. You do not wish simply to use her. You wish to humiliate her for your own personal satisfaction . It is unworthy of you, Vir Cotto.”
“You’re wrong,” Vir said tightly. “And I don’t understand you. You people, you techno-wages … you always talk in vague, prophetic, mystical, oblique ways. You don’t stand there and psychoanalyze people right down to exactly why you think they do things.”
“I save obliqueness for matters of galactic import,” retorted Galen. “When I speak of foolish actions and foolish individuals, I tend not to talk in subtext. What is the matter, Vir Cotto? Was I too on-point for you?”
“You were wrong, that’s all.”
“So you say. And so you will keep saying, probably to your grave.” Galen
sighed softly. “Very well, since it is the end we desire, I shall provide you with the means that you desire. But when you do return to Centauri Prime … it will be with this.”
He held out his hand barely an inch from Vir’s face, and there was a flash of light that made Vir jump back. At that, he saw Galen’s face register grim satisfaction. Then Vir frowned as he saw a triangular, black device in Galen’s palm. He couldn’t be sure, but the way the light played across it, it seemed to be shimmering. “What is that?” he asked.
“Shadow technology,” Galen told him. “Defies detection by any and all sensory devices you would care to name. Once you have returned to Centauri Prime, as you walk around the palace , or anywhere on the planet, this will supply readings that will inform me of Shadow technology on your Homeworld. The detection range is, unfortunately, limited-Shadows hide themselves quite well. So you will have to be on top of the Shadow tech for this device to work.”
“And how will I tell you what I find?”
“You will not. The device will. Wear it anywhere on your person, and it will do the rest. And this,” his hand flashed again, this time revealing a cylinder inside a small case no larger than Vir’s thumbnail, “will enable me to contact you during the hunt. Insert it into your ear before you arrive on Centauri Prime. It will be undetectable. You won’t be able to communicate with me, but I will be able to tell you where to explore if there are any readings that elicit further inspection.”
Vir took the cylinder, tucked it into his pocket, then turned the triangle over in his hands. “You’re looking for hard evidence that there are Drakh on Centauri Prime.”
“We know they are there, Vir Cotto. What we do not know is how pervasive their presence is.”
“Why can’t you look for yourselves?”
“We have our reasons.”
“How did I know you were going to say that,” Vir said sourly. “So tell me if there are Drakh and they find me with this thing on me … what will they do?”
“Almost certainly, they will kill you.”
Vir sighed heavily. “How did I know you were going to say that, too?”
“If they do kill you, Vir Cotto … you can take solace in one thing.”
“Oh, really? What would that be?”
Galen smiled mirthlessly. “Mariel will mourn for you quite spectacularly.”
And with that, he turned and left, his long coat sweeping across the floor and yet, oddly, stirring up none of the gravel that lay about.
Vir had consumed half a bottle of liquor when she arrived.
The damning thing about looking at Mariel was that, every time he did so, he desperately wanted to put aside all that he knew about her. He wanted to believe once again that, when she looked at him, he was all that mattered in her mind and hearts. That he wasn’t simply some tool, a buffoon she was manipulating as adroitly as she manipulated everyone. He couldn’t do so, however, and he fancied that-despite all her skill in covering what was going through that scheming mind of hers-he could now see the duplicity in her eyes.
“Vir!” she said quite cheerily as she placed her bags in the quarters that they had been sharing for nearly a year. “Vir, you’re here!”
“Vir, Vir, Vir is here,” he echoed, sounding more drunk than he had realized. Some of the words were slurred.
“It has been ages, darling,” she said, and she reached down, took his chin in her hands and kissed him lightly.
Vir wondered when Galen was going to put the spell on her.
Then he looked into her eyes, really looked … and she was looking back at him in a most curious manner. It seemed to him, as paradoxical as it sounded, that her eyes were misting over and clearing at the same time. As if … as if she was seeing him for the first time … but seeing him only under very specific circumstances.
Great Maker, Vir thought, he already got to her-
And then she lay down on the bed beside him, began to do things to him. Extraordinary things, and he felt as if he was having an out-of-body experience. Sensations pounded through him that he lad only experienced in the vaguest of ways, in the most nebulous of dreams, and never did he think that there was anything like that in real life. Mariel was everywhere, and he twisted and turned, actually trying to get away from her, but it was impossible. There was no holding her back, no holding himself back. His entire body pounded as if there were too much blood in his limbs.
“I love you,”she whispered in his ear, over and over again-“My dear, my sweet... ”
He tried to push her away, but he couldn’t muster any strength. He felt as if his mind was overloading, and finally desperation gave him power He shoved Mariel off before it could go any further, and rolled off the bed. Scrambling backward to the nearest chair, he hauled himself onto it and looked at her, still curled up on the bed, now half naked. Her luminous eyes were full of love, and she started to move toward him once more.
“That’s enough,” he said. “Just… stay right there. Okay?”
She looked up at him, stricken. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure” He stood and tried to pull his disheveled clothes together into some semblance of orderliness. It was everything he could do to focus on what was right and proper, given the situation. And part of his mind sneered at him and said, Right and proper? You asked a technomage to brainwash the woman into loving you, justifying a petty revenge by claiming that it will end up benefiting Centauri Prime. You might as well take advantage of what she‘s offering you. You deserve it, and she’ll delight in it. But as quickly as that suggestion echoed through his mind, he blocked it out.
Was she truly brainwashed? She didn’t have a vacant, thought-expunged expression. That had been a concern … that she would become vapid, mindless. He could see, though, that it wasn’t the case. All the canniness, all the intelligence, all the craftiness that he had come to see and understand was still part of her-all of that was still intact. That came as something of a relief, because otherwise she would be useless to him…
… useless … to him …
He pushed that thought from his mind, as well, for he didn’t like what it said about him.
Yes, the intelligence was there, but the overwhelming emotion that radiated from her was pure adoration. He hadn’t planned for what had happened earlier. Some part of him had found it hard to believe that the techn-omage could actually do as he said he would. When Mariel first went for him, a part of him still thought it might be some sort of prank. But the intensity of her fervor had swiftly disabused him of that notion.
He felt dirty.
He kept telling himself that he shouldn’t. That, of the two of them, Mariel was by far the one with far filthier hands. This was a woman who had used sex and raw emotion as weapons, mere tools in her arsenal. She wasn’t deserving of the slightest dreg of pity for having those tools turned back against her. Indeed, she had gotten off lightly, for she didn’t know that that was what had happened to her.
Then again, it might be that it was her very lack of understanding that made the whole business so repellant to Vir.
He had had no intention of bedding her, no matter how tempting the prospect seemed. He had instead planned to keep her at arm’s length, make her feel some of the agony, the unrequited emotion he had experienced. Certainly the notion had seemed most attractive when he’d first conceived it. Yet now he was repulsed by its very essence. He had to seek out Galen, get him to remove the spell. Restore her to normal so that she could…
So that she could tear him down again. Lampoon him, spread rumors about him, and make him even more ineffective than he already was.
He stared at her. It was exactly as Galen had said; clearly the woman was ready to destroy herself lest she disappoint him. A far cry, certainly, from what the conniving bitch had been mere hours before. His hearts hardened against her, and if he didn’t like the way he felt at the moment …
Well … he would feel differently tomorrow.
“Do you not want to enjoy me, Vir, my
love?” she whispered. “Shall I not show you how much I love you?”
The answer to both questions was yes, but with a determination and strength of will he did not even know he possessed , he managed not to answer truthfully. Instead he said, “I’m sure it would be a really okay experience …”
“Just okay?” Her disappointment was palpable. “Let me show you. Let me erase whatever doubts you might have and provide you with boundless-“
“What I want you to do … is not touch me for a while.”
“Not … touch you?”
“That’s right.”
She looked stricken. “Not caress you? Not feel your firm flesh beneath my fingers? Not take your wiggling-“
“None of that,” Vir told her. “There’s, uhm … there’s a lot of things I have to take care of for a while. I need to focus, and I can’t be distracted by, uhm … romantic liaisons. So I need you to keep your distance”
“My distance? My …”
He shot her a look and she seemed to wilt. Very quietly, she said, “All right, Vir. If that is what will make you happy, then it will make me happy. I live for your happiness” She paused, and then said, “Shall I stay away from you at the party tomorrow?”
“Party?”
“The reception. For the Delgashi ambassador …”
“Ohhhh, right. Right” He hadn’t paid attention to the social calendar, since he had been planning, until fairly recently, to be gone from Babylon 5 for a while. “No, you should not stay away from me at the party. In fact …” He started warming to the topic. This was the reason, he remembered, that he had Galen perform his little miracle. “… in fact, you’ll in fact, you’ll show up on my arm … and be openly adoring and when you work the room and talk to other ambassadors, you’re going to tell them how great I am. How intelligent, how … how …” His mind raced, and then he said, “… how … everything I am. All my positive attributes.”
“All of them? That could take a very long time, my love. We might be at the party much later than you had previously anticipated.”