Vile Machinations

by P. S. Power

  “She made a point of offering something, knowing that I could just take it anyway. That way she kept the power in the situation.” Except that it still took him not being an insane rapist to work.

  Honestly, he wasn’t totally certain that he wasn’t headed that way. The situation with Magda had been pushed on him, of course. The thing was, Connor knew that he didn’t feel bad about it, now. Just like the deaths, inside of himself, there was nothing in response to the events of the day.

  Keeping that in mind, he went to his room. There he changed and started right into his plan, not exercising at all. After all, he only had three weeks to try and end the world. To save humanity from itself.

  Chapter thirteen

  Connor touched the reused, rather disgusting, cotton ball to the lips of the hard-looking flight attendant as he passed her. It would look strange, but the three people behind him were still stunned, just standing there on the plane, blocking the aisle. Over half the people had gotten the same treatment already.

  The damp ball of fuzz didn’t just hold monkey pox on it, so pressing it to the mouths of dozens of people was really no worse than the thing had started out as. Even if people were, as a rule, a bit gross. That part had been learned by him over the last two weeks. Connor had spent a lot of time at the airport in that time, sneaking past security and making certain that people traveling overseas to the right parts of the world were as infected as possible.

  Thousands of people had been traveling that way, with a half dozen virulent and lethal diseases having shown up all over the world in the last week. It wasn’t just one or two countries, either. Already there were reports of millions having come down with things. Monkey pox, small pox, hemorrhagic fever and at least three things that no one had ever even heard of.

  Except, at a guess, Doctor Short. Connor didn’t doubt that she’d work things out as soon as she had all the needed data. After all, some of the people were ill with more than one thing at once, which was nearly impossible in nature. Even the regular news seemed to understand that what was happening was, at the very least, a terror attack of unheard of proportions.

  At the same time, people had been killing themselves in Western countries. Suddenly and hard. Six days before, something had changed, hard and fast. At about three in the morning. Connor had noticed it himself. Only his promise to try not to kill himself had kept him from taking a handgun and blowing his brains out already. That and the fact his plan wasn’t finished yet.

  In the parking lot, waiting for him was the little blue self-driving car. It had been taking him back and forth to different places over the last weeks. No one had tried to stop him or questioned what he was doing. Not even at the Charlie location. Everyone else had gone back home, except for the caretaker and the minimal staff there. Day to day, Connor hadn’t even seen them, for over a week. For all he knew even those people might have left.

  After the car trip back home, which had him in well after midnight, Connor went to his room. Then he cooked a meal, following the directions carefully so it wasn’t burned or seasoned incorrectly. His skills weren’t good yet, but he was, he thought, getting better.

  The television had been turned on, since it turned out that there were news channels that played misinformation twenty-four hours a day. That was informative, for someone like him that had a bit more data than the general public did. The talking heads were all worried about what was going on, but they didn’t understand that they, personally, were going to die. Not yet. So far, the diseases had mainly infected India and Pakistan, with a strong hit into China.

  Except that almost everyplace was going down from what he’d done. That part was interesting, since no one had seemed to put together that he’d been behind it at all. Not even Walker or his Father, who knew he had a plan.

  At two in the morning there was a soft tapping at his door. Connor hadn’t been in bed, since he’d been making a point to work at night, for the last five days. There was no reason for it, except that he wanted to kill himself so badly it nearly hurt. That, from what his Father had told him, was due to the chemicals in the food that he’d eaten. The man didn't seem concerned about what would happen with Connor. Then, he’d flat out told the man over the phone that he was going to kill himself and would be, even if the things had totally been out of his system.

  There was no room for unlimited truth at the end of the world.

  Things like that were a great time for lies.

  He jogged to the door, the handgun he’d taken to carrying when not working pressing against his waistband in the front. That was comforting, in a way. If nothing else it meant that Bennet, his boss, wouldn’t punish him for being unprepared on the job. She’d actually been calling almost every day, keeping him informed as to what was going on. Mainly about the growing numbers of suicides.

  Opening the door, he saw that it was his friend, Bertie, on the other side. She was dressed in loose slacks, and a light blue sweater. The fuzzy kind that left her seeming slightly long faced, geeky and cute. Even if she’d been lying to him and working to prevent the Order from saving the world he hardened, just seeing her there. A thing that got him to grin.

  “Hey! You’re back early. How are thing? I saw that Laveen had a car accident, in London, about a week ago.” That had been in the news, before everything became all about disease and suicides.

  The small woman laughed, started to move in to hug him, then didn’t do it, her arms hanging out for a moment as he stepped back.

  Her words were pleased enough, when she spoke.

  “Yes. I have an alibi for that, though… Well, I can’t lie about it, can I? I set it up. That required MI-Six to cut his brakes and make certain he was chased enough to crash lethally. The idiot deserved it though. Betraying any of the secret societies like that is insane. Especially if you’re going to be caught like that.” She looked a tiny bit smug then, as if he wasn’t going to understand that she still thought that she’d gotten away with things.

  Connor kept to the rules, staying about ten feet from her, allowing her to float into the room with him. It wasn’t hard to feel like he wanted her there, which surprised him a bit. After she got into the space, he shrugged at her, grinning like a fool.

  “We could… Sex really won’t do much for you. I missed you though.” That, sadly enough was actually true. Traitor or enemy operative, the woman was still the best friend he had in the world.

  She gave him a funny look then, and shook her head.

  “I missed you, as well. I know that probably seems off. I really did though. You’re not a bad guy, for a sociopath. I could do something for you, if you want? A blowjob or… Whatever.”

  Connor smiled then, and shrugged.

  “That would be fun. I was just watching the news. That’s…” He waved at the screen, not feeling much at all about what was being shown there. It was all about death. Mainly the diseases around the world. A colorful map showed then, which indicated that almost everyplace in the world was highly infected. Except for New Zealand for some reason.

  Bertie moved toward him a bit, pulling her fuzzy top off, showing that she didn’t have a bra on underneath that. Her breasts were high and tight. Her nipples were standing erect as well already. It wasn’t cool in the room, meaning it was actually about him. He moved in and kissed her, which had her pretending to freeze in place.

  “Take your slacks off. Underwear too. I’ll get some lubricant.” After all, she was faking and he wasn’t going to stick his dick into her mouth at the moment. He didn’t trust her that much.

  When she came back to herself, him handing her a bottle of oil from the bathroom cabinet, she looked at it and sighed.

  “So, I should lube up the back hole, finally? I’m really not used to that kind of thing.”

  He didn't want her that way, so shook his head. After all, one way or the other, this was going to be their last time, he didn't doubt. To that end he did the work himself, with her pretending for him again. The action itself was a bit m
echanical. It still felt nice, and she tried harder to push back against him, as she knelt on her hands and knees. As he finished, he leaned over her and grunted. Then, staying inside of her for the moment, he spoke. Gently. Lovingly, even.

  “That was nice. So… You really aren’t my great-great-grandmother, are you? That was pretty close to the first lie you told me. It was the viral-nano-hive shot, right?”

  She moved then, even if he was still inside of her. Pushing back against and wiggling her narrow hips.

  “Nope. That was just what I told you. The agent I used for that was just in the mist that sprayed into the room. I set up the attack that day just to introduce that to you. I’d thought that I’d been fooling you pretty well, what gave me away?”

  He smiled, starting to move again, inside of her. The feeling was intense and he hardened again. Excited that she was actually able to move on her own. It was different than anything he’d ever done before.

  “A lot of things. It was mainly how you moved during sex. Magda was a sex doll, compared to what you were doing. Then, the thing with the great-grandma lie… That one was a bit of a giveaway, even at the time. So, I don’t suppose you want to tell me all about how you and your friends prevented the saving of the world for all this time? Why, as well. I mean, that’s kind of evil, isn’t it?”

  He kept working away, his hips slapping against her firm buttocks, speeding up a little bit, which got a real sounding groan from her. It didn’t sound displeased at least.

  Finally, between gasps, she spoke.

  “About… A hundred years ago, we, a group of people from the different secret societies, decided to take over. The thing… Connor, we don’t have to kill everyone. We’ve had free energy and the ability to make almost anything we need for over seventy years. My group and I… Well, we tried to stop this from happening. It’s too late now. They figured out the electrical signals that was suppressing the chemicals from the food. That was going out over the power lines. As for the other things, the half dozen diseases… Someone hit us from out of the blue there. None of us saw that one coming at all.” She just fucked him for a bit, working almost desperately.

  Probably to keep him entertained, instead of to take her own pleasure in things. Then, for the first time, she orgasmed with him, or at least faked it. That felt interesting, since she tightened around him, setting him into motion at the same time.

  Finally, he moved back, getting a soft gasp from the woman. One who was probably exactly as old as she’d claimed. That had been mentioned before she’d dosed him with whatever it was that had made her immune to him.

  That got him to smile, as he pulled his pants up. The handgun, which had been beside them, on the floor, was put back into place again. At his waist, ready to be deployed at need.

  “Oh… If you can make yourself immune to me, can you just… Block my power? I mean, on my level? So I can be normal again.” He felt hopeful, for about ten seconds. Then she spoke.

  “Not really. I could make anyone you want immune for about six weeks at a time. It’s a nano cluster, that organizes on your signal. What you give off that forces the truth out of people. You have to have it at the same time, but we could do a few people at once, if you want. Maybe even hundreds at once, if you ever learn to use your powers efficiently. That… That part, with the increased field, was all you.”

  That wasn’t perfect, but could be enough for him to live with, he decided.

  “Ah. Well… I guess the trick now is just if we get to live or not then? Just to be clear, you and I killed off most of the world. It wasn’t anyone else. I don’t mean that you lying to me was what did it either. The diseases are the ones from your lab refrigerator. All of them, since I didn’t know what to try in order to make it work. Sure, it looks like it was planned that way, since that many major diseases can’t happen all at once like this. Not in the real world, without help. I suppose that we could stop that, if you have a trick for it planned? Otherwise… Well, we probably shouldn’t live, if we didn’t really need to kill all those people. The suicide chemicals wasn’t me. That was the rest of the Order, if I have it right. I was pretty much just your distraction.” Not that it was really all about the naked woman in front of him.

  She didn't get dressed, just turning to him, sweeping her long hair to the side and sitting up to look at him. Her brown eyes were pretty, behind her glasses.

  “I’d wondered. Technically… Well, I know what I had in my lab, so I can stop a lot of it. Millions will die, most likely. You just managed to do too good of a job. A lot of governments will go down as well. Still, people always die. Do you want to do that? Save them? For that matter, are you planning to kill yourself? Part of that is the chemicals, sure, but you’re really not mentally well. There’s no real reason for you to die now, though. We can fix a lot of this, if we work together. It really… Well, we set things up to try and make it possible to control the most evil and vile people on the planet. It worked for a long time, but… Yeah, this isn’t totally on you. You were given information that wasn’t real and made to believe it. That’s on me. On my people.”

  He thought about it, and then shrugged.

  “Would it be wrong to mutter whatever and go off to brood for a while?”

  Those words got a laugh from the tiny woman. She reached up to rub her face, still sitting on the carpet.

  “Not really. This is all my fault, at least your part in it. I shouldn’t have left those things in the lab, unguarded like that. All of the work on this, all of it, was mine. I’m… Really, I need to get out of here and see about saving the world. Do you want to come with me? I know it’s going to be hard to trust me now, but you honestly don’t need to take out the whole world in order to save it. That… well, my group put that idea together about fifty years ago, to get the other groups all on the same page. It made it a lot easier to control everyone, I swear that was our only reason behind it. That… Might be done now. We can do better. We have the technology to stop climate change and even get us off the planet, so overpopulation won’t be a problem. Immortality even, for the masses. It will take work, to get everyone on the same page. Too many people are assholes that want power. That was always the real issue. The Vile Machinations of those who were too selfish or stupid to understand that our real power was in working together.” She paused then, and moved in, to kiss him on the lips. “I don’t think you’re like that, Connor Harriman. I don’t know why that’s the case, but it really seems to be. You aren’t good, of course. You also aren’t totally evil.”

  The offer was nice enough. He nearly shot her anyway, for having created the current problem, then didn’t. If they truly didn’t need to kill everyone, if they could save the world without doing that, then doing that was the right plan. Even if he wanted to die at the moment. That had been around for a while though and he might survive it, knowing why he felt that way.

  “Sure. I want proof that we don’t have to kill everyone first. If we don’t then… Let’s save the world? We should get everyone in on this, if we can.”

  She pulled back then, her eyebrows going up.

  “You mean unify all the groups? That… Hasn’t worked well, in the past. Really, that’s why we’ve had to do everything the hard way.”

  Connor shook his head.

  “No, I mean that we need to unify everyone else. The good people of the world that don’t torture their kids into being brainwashed monsters. I’m… I don’t feel bad, about killing millions of people. Is that the kind of person that should be left alive?”

  The words got him hugged. That was probably manipulative of her, since only one person in the whole world could really hold him that way, at the moment. When she spoke, her voice was meek sounding, which had to be fake.

  “No. You should probably kill yourself. Except, if you and I don’t save the world, I’m not certain anyone else can. The fact that you’re alive means that my people were truly blindsided by what you managed to do, working alone. Otherwise, if they ever knew ab
out it in the future, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything that would work. Are you in on this? If so, we need to leave now. Otherwise we’ll probably be hit with a kill bot swarm in about half an hour. Everything here is monitored, after all. I know that because I helped built the system in the first place.” She grinned, starting to put her clothing on. At the same time, she removed her glasses and threw them on the floor.

  Not needing them any longer.

  Connor thought for a moment, then nodded.

  “Let’s do it? I was always trying to save as many people as we could. If that can be done with everyone getting out alive, then we should make that happen. Really, if we can stop most of the deaths from these things… We should.” He wasn’t able to feel bad about what he’d done.

  Really, he wasn’t able to feel much of anything, which probably meant that he deserved to die, or needed to, in order for the world to be a better place.

  The real issue was that he didn't know what to do.

  Instead of killing himself, like he really felt like he should, Connor found himself with a new job suddenly. Undoing his screwup. Bennet had told him that what he did was his own responsibility. To that end he took Bertie by the hand and pulled her to the door.

  “We can do this. Let’s go… Save the world from… Well, us, in the moment. I feel a bit like a tool now, I have to admit.”

  His friend, possibly his girlfriend, nodded at him, jogging down the hallway as soon as they got to the door.

  “I can see that. One thing I’ve learned, if you live long enough, you’ll eventually end up fucking up in major ways. All we can do is figure out why and fix it. That isn’t always possible. This time, it mainly will be. Welcome aboard, by the way. In my group, you don’t even have to eat a baby or survive a satanic initiation to get in. Just be willing to try and be a good person. I think you can do it.”

  Connor doubted that, really. He wasn’t a good person at all. Then, that wasn’t what Bertie had just asked of him. She’d simply asked him to be willing to try and be good. That, even if it didn’t work, was something he might be able to manage.