Mindguard

by Andrei Cherascu

  “He learned from the best,” Villo said.

  “He did. This was while Sheldon was still a child, though there are claims that Kinsey was already preparing Sheldon to become a mindguard. If he did, then he acted unlawfully, as it is prohibited to train a child under the age of eighteen for this particular profession. The effects of that kind of mental conditioning on a developing brain are not yet completely understood. By all accounts, however, Kinsey took the risk. He was known for being a rule breaker.

  He might actually have trained Maclaine and Sheldon at the same time, which would account for Sheldon’s loyalty to his friend. After completing his training, Maclaine Ross appealed to his Heads of Operations to allow him to become a mindguard and bodyguard at the same time, which is unheard of even to this day. They refused, so he left the company and built his own, which he simply called ‘Ross’. As you already know, he went on to become the first and only man to perform both tasks.”

  “His fixation with clearing his family’s name,” Tamisa observed.

  “So it appears. Sheldon, who at the time had become a junior mindguard, immediately handed in his resignation at Thames-Rhys-Johnson and joined Maclaine.”

  “While his grandfather was still working for Thames-Rhys-Johnson?”

  “No, that was after his grandfather’s controversial retirement.”

  “You think that was also because of Ross?”

  “We doubt it, but no one knows for sure. His sudden retirement remains a mystery. One day he just stopped being a mindguard and dedicated his time to the study of history, specifically, but not exclusively, the history of Old Earth. It’s also interesting to note that, at the time, Sheldon was living with his grandfather. They were basically inseparable.”

  “Really?”

  “It appears that Sheldon had little interest in his parents, two moderately successful businesspeople, and instead, exhibited a great fascination for his grandfather, the mindguard.”

  “Predestined,” Tamisa said.

  “Perhaps. But let’s get back to Maclaine Ross. There’s something else that is important. This was almost impossible to find out. Just two hours ago, I have received clearance from the Council of Presidents to access the internal records of Ayers-Ross.”

  “You hacked into Ayers-Ross? I can’t believe this!”

  Kernis frowned and Tamisa knew she had committed a big mistake. It was well known that the timekeepers detested being branded with the archaic term ‘hackers’.

  “I accessed their accounts and found out that Ayers-Ross is witnessing a steady decline in business. It’s been going on for the past seven years, even before the semi-retirement of Sheldon Ayers. The major cause is the growing market preference for artificial mindguards. Maclaine Ross vehemently refuses to integrate AI mindguards in his offer, which is slowly starting to affect his contracts.”

  “Why is he refusing AI?”

  “We cannot know that. Perhaps it is connected with his religious views, but that is merely speculation. Ayers-Ross survives on the market because of its image as a high-end niche business, what is known as a ‘vintage’ thoughtprotection agency. The term ‘vintages’ refers to human mindguards. However, with time, his refusal to embrace artificial intelligence will be seen as a refusal to upgrade and will earn him market distrust. Sheldon Ayers’ decreased involvement in the company is also hurting its public image. Coupled, these two factors will gradually take their toll on the company.”

  “To what extent?”

  “Upon analysis of the company’s current trajectory, we have projected several scenarios for its development in the next three decades. In all of the scenarios Ayers-Ross does not survive.”

  “Wow. And you think Ross knows that?!”

  “We have every reason to believe that the company’s legal advisor, Kriss White, has informed Ross of their grim outlook for long term survival.”

  “And that’s why Ross is taking on this mission, to save his company!?”

  “Most likely.”

  “But his legal advisor must have apprised him of the legal status of this mission and the consequences of going forward. Ross must know that we will attempt to prevent the delivery of this information package. That means that, as a bodyguard, he is contracted to protect it via force.”

  “Correct.”

  Tamisa let out a nervous laugh. “Come on, we’re not desert dwellers here. No thoughtprotection agency in the world can engage in armed combat with the Enforcers. There is a good chance they won’t survive the mission.”

  “We believe Ross knows that.”

  “So he is willingly sending his men to their deaths?”

  “It appears so.”

  “Why?”

  For a long time, Villo had remained silent. When he spoke, he was adamant: “Because, Tammy, Maclaine Ross is the type of man who would gladly sacrifice his team for the reputation of his company. For his own legacy.” When he pronounced the word ‘legacy’ his voice had an unnatural, metallic effect. It sent chills down Tamisa’s spine. There was a change in Villo’s disposition. Tamisa couldn’t tell exactly what it was but there was something strange about him. It was slight, almost imperceptible, the type of change a woman can recognize only in the heart of the man she loves.

  “But how could Ross imagine that this will save his company?” she asked.

  Villo did not let Kernis speak. Instead, he offered the answer himself, as if he was claiming any assessment on Maclaine Ross’ character.

  “Because he believes he can beat us.”

  Tamisa looked skeptical but Villo maintained his position. “He thinks he can finish the mission even if he and his team don’t survive. Their mission is to take the carrier, Sophie Gaumont, to a certain place and drop her off there. That much we know. If they manage to protect her during that time, and safely deliver her to her destination, then the mission is complete. Then, whatever happens to them, Ayers-Ross will be forever known as the thoughtprotection agency that defeated the Enforcers. Maclaine Ross will be remembered as its Head of Operations at the time. That is how he’s planning to go down in history. That will be his legacy.”

  Tamisa’s expression grew dark, almost vengeful. Her eyes were possessed by a glacial, reptilian spark.

  “He’ll be in for a surprise then,” she hissed.

  Chapter 12

  Strength is a burden, stamina is insignificant, speed is key!

  Villo Kantil

  When the doors to her private chamber quietly closed behind her, Tamisa let out a roar that would have frightened the hungriest lioness. She was steaming; she felt like driving her fist through the walls. She felt like tearing down the entire building brick for brick. If someone had been standing in front of her at that moment, she would have broken them in half, perhaps even her beloved Villo.

  Villo had, in fact, cautioned her about her anger many times, but it was only because of his wise guidance that she managed to keep it under control, at least most of the time. Now she was livid. She dropped to the ground and started doing pushups to drain her energy, tens of them, hundreds; until she lost count.

  Her adrenaline had already been pumping when she left the timekeeper’s office. Inexperienced, she had been thrust into a situation that could make or break her. But it was good energy, raw intensity, the kind off which she could feed. Then, she accidentally overheard a conversation between two members of her team.

  “Well, I don’t feel safe, that’s all I’m sayin’.”

  “It’s unusual but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad.”

  Tamisa had just gotten a quick workout in, which always helped her think. As she was about to exit the locker room, she heard the two voices conversing right around the corner. She recognized the first voice. It belonged to the large man with the shaved scalp, who was going to be on her team. Her team. She couldn’t recall his name but she definitely recognized his voice. She tried to remember what he had said at the meeting, after the commander had announced that she would be Field
Unit Commander.

  “Sir, with all due respect, she is on her first mission -”

  Then the Commander had cut him off: “Do you have an objection against my order, Mr. Calladan?”

  That’s it, that was his name: Winston Calladan. Tamisa remembered skimming through her colleagues’ profiles a few days ago, when she was preparing for the mission she never really expected to happen. Well, it seemed like Calladan did, after all, have an objection. She remembered how revolted the man had been at the notion of Tamisa leading the unit. Was it because she was a rookie, on her first mission? That would be understandable. Or was it perhaps because -

  “And now we have the girl leading us into battle,” Calladan said.

  “Look, man, the commander picked her for a reason. The old man never, I mean never slips. In two and a half centuries at the helm, he has never made a bad call.”

  The second voice belonged to the goateed man, also part of her team. Tamisa remembered that his name was Dieter Muench. He was also the only member of the team who had ever been to the Djago Desert before.

  “Yeah, two and a half centuries, that’s what I’m sayin’. He’s been at the helm for a long time. He’s bound to make a mistake once and I just wouldn’t want to be there when he does. I sacrificed too much to get here.”

  “Winston, you’re still a kid, I understand your concern, that’s why I’m going to let this slip. I’ve been with the Enforcement Unit since you were still a little thug in Pacon, hustling tourists.” The joke was followed by a forced laugh. “However, there’s one thing you gotta get through your head: you don’t question the old man! Ever! He has done more in his life than we ever will combined and he always takes care of his men. The Enforcement Unit is his creation. He never jeopardizes it and never makes a bad call. You always trust the old man, no matter what. Even if you can’t understand his orders, you always follow them, all right?”

  “I’m just sayin’, what if… you know… the Commander’s still a man, after all. What if he’s sleepin’ with her?”

  Tamisa was enraged. She was about to walk over to Calladan and knock him out cold with no regard for consequences, but there was no time. A short, tense silence was followed by Muench’s glacial voice.

  “Listen you… you little shit. You don’t talk to me anymore… not now… not during the mission, you understand that?”

  “What? What’s the -”

  Tamisa heard a sound that she recognized as the result of the collision between the old agent’s palm and Calladan’s shaved scalp.

  “Ow… what the… the hell’s wrong with you man?” Calladan screamed.

  “You understand now? You don’t talk to me anymore. And if I ever hear you talkin’ like that again, I’ll rip out your goddamned heart and bury you where no one will ever find you. And I’ll make sure nobody’ll ever ask what happened to you either.”

  “Damn, Muench, I -”

  “Shut up! You keep talkin’ like that you’re not going to be making any friends around here. And you’re already short one.”

  With her mind still focused on the memory of the conversation, Tamisa wasn’t even aware that the countless pushups were causing a throbbing pain in her muscles. She dropped to the ground exhausted, but she still felt angry. That asshole Calladan assumed that she was sleeping with the commander. She suspected that most enforcers shared Dieter Muench’s opinion, but that was only because of their love and respect for the commander, not because they thought that it was beneath Tamisa to sleep her way to the top. Most of them didn’t even know her. They knew nothing about her life, her struggle to get to where she was. All they knew was that she was a woman.

  She recalled the day she left Aanadya. At first, she had felt so special. She was being granted a unique opportunity for a fresh start. She was going to leave Aanadya as the bastard child of the enforcers, but she would become one of the greatest enforcers of all time, second only to Thomas Liam Anderson. She knew that she was special. The Anderson brothers had seen something in her, something she had always known was there. This was her opportunity to carve out her own future. She would no longer be a slave to her condition. When she entered the spacecraft, she was faced with a brutal disappointment, the memory of which haunted her every single day.

  There were children, many of them. Children of all ages. The youngest appeared to be around seven, while the oldest seemed eighteen or, anyway, close to reaching the legal age. She was heartbroken. She was overcome by a feeling of unhappiness the likes of which she had never experienced in her otherwise unhappy life. She withdrew into a corner and didn’t speak to or look at anybody but she picked up from their conversation that they all wanted to become enforcers. All of them had found a way to talk to someone, if not Commander Anderson directly, then some other high-ranking officer. All of them had begged and pleaded their way off that horrible planet.

  All of a sudden it dawned on Tamisa that they were all kindred souls, and all of them were there for the same reason. Disappointed, she also realized that this was probably standard practice for the Enforcement Unit, recruiting young people from the desert planets they visited. She was not special at all. She had not been chosen due to the workings of some grand destiny or because the Andersons had seen something magical in her eyes. She had been harvested along with a number of other kids for future enrolment.

  Some were girls but the most were boys. Some of the girls were taller than Tamisa, more robust, some were more beautiful. She tried to take solace in the fact that she was probably the smartest but she was terrified that maybe that too would turn out to be untrue. Maybe she was just like everybody else. Maybe there was nothing special about her at all. She looked at the dozen of kids in the room trying to form an opinion about them. What would happen to those who failed the tests? Most will probably fail but some, the really outstanding ones, would go on to become enforcers. Could she be one of those fortunate young prospects? The more time passed the more she started doubting that.

  When the spacecraft finally left the atmosphere and offered the last quick glimpse of Aanadya, Tamisa was surprised at how beautiful the planet appeared from space. It showed no hint of what it really was: a polluted wasteland. I’ll come back for you, mom, she thought, when the spacecraft entered the Muench-Henriksen gateway, turning Aanadya into a memory. She had no way of knowing then that her promise would never be kept.

  When she realized that she was once again lost in thoughts of her childhood, Tamisa decided to redirect those thoughts to the present, the mission in front of her. She was still lying on the ground, recovering after the exhausting pushups. She stood up and ordered the holocloud to produce an image of Sheldon Ayers.

  The life-size image of the famous mindguard appeared, facing her. He seemed to be staring into her eyes. His face was gentle and his gaze was very intense, as if his eyes contained within them his mind in its entirety. Sheldon’s eyes reminded Tamisa of Villo’s. They possessed the same spark of intelligence, the same depth, but also a similar hint of sadness. Villo’s eyes were light blue, but his clothes were always dark, as dark as Sheldon’s eyes. Villo always said he wore dark clothes because he was mourning the lives the enforcers were forced to take. Sheldon’s dark eyes appeared to be themselves signs of mourning. But who or what had the mindguard lost?

  Tamisa felt that the analogy with Villo made her connect with Sheldon empathetically, which was the exact opposite of what she was trying to achieve. And yet, she had to understand her enemy in order to defeat him. She took a step back from the hologram and analyzed it further.

  Sheldon was rendered wearing a brown leather jacket that looked very worn-out. His dark hair was flowing almost to his shoulders and he was clean-shaven. Tamisa studied his build; he was only a bit taller than Villo. Average height, average weight. While he appeared to be in very good shape, the contrast between his body and that of the bodyguards - especially Maclaine Ross - made him seem harmless. He was almost likable. It was frustrating. In order to be able to go up against thi
s dangerous man, Tamisa had to find a way to make him not likeable.

  She stared into his eyes and imagined that he was trying to read her mind, to invade her thoughts just like that man had tried to do on Aanadya such a long time ago. She remembered how she had been pinned to the ground, how helpless she had felt, how the man had hit her and hurt her and tried to claim her. She forced herself to vividly relive all the emotions she had felt then, all the fear and the hate. The anger. Throughout her life, the memory of that man represented the core of everything that was evil and dangerous. She remembered how she had repeatedly hit him in the face, so hard that it became unrecognizable. It could have belonged to anybody. He could have been anybody. He could have been Sheldon Ayers.

  She closed her eyes. She had always struggled to repress the horrible memory of that night, to lock it up in the farthest corner of her mind, where she would never again have to face it. Now she was forcing herself to relive it. Only this time, the man who was trying to destroy her was Sheldon Ayers. She could feel his body pressing onto hers, his hair falling on her face as she struggled to break free from his clutch. She felt him trying to read her mind.

  When she opened her eyes, the holographic image in front of her was different. Sheldon no longer looked harmless. Now, his undistinguished appearance was a mask, purposefully hiding a hateful and dangerous soul. His eyes were no longer sad; they radiated arrogance and contempt. A sense of entitlement flowed through his veins, along with cold blood. Now he was her enemy. Now she was ready to fight him.

  She ordered the holocloud to produce the entire team. Maclaine Ross appeared, followed by Isabel Mensah, Ray Manner, Simon Bayles, Luther Brinks, Jason Elden and finally Francois Gaultier. Now her enemies were surrounding her from every side. The holograms were so lifelike she had to suppress a panic attack. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to regain her composure. She studied every one of them with the utmost concentration. She swept her gaze over their bodies and the features of their faces, trying to take in every detail as if she was absorbing their life force.