by Greg Chase
Dominic’s smile moved his scars without touching the line of his mouth. “You may have created us, but these are not your worlds. Before you cause any more miracles, perhaps you should get to know your people a little better. One being’s miracle can be another’s curse.”
Sam took Jess by the hand and led her to the bed. He spread his hand out toward an empty area of the hotel room. “I would like that.”
The throne that Dominic materialized was equal parts gothic and high-powered executive. Jess couldn’t help but compare it to some ancient idea humans had about their deities, though typically, the gods sat on thrones and the people took to the submissive furniture.
The dark man looked toward Rhea in sorrow. “She was such a wonderful female. There wasn’t a human, man or woman, whose fetishes she couldn’t figure out. And once identified, she could seamlessly splice in reality with fiction.”
Tears formed in Rhea’s eyes. “I still know how to do those things.”
Dominic’s sneer sent her again deep into her chair. “Knowledge and skill are two different things. I have all of your knowledge, but I never had your skills. Now, neither do you.”
Sam pressed Jess’s hand tight to the bed to prevent her outburst. He looked at their dark visitor. “You controlled Rhea—she worked for you?”
The lines across Dominic’s forehead eased off of their severity. “I owned her. I own others as well. It will take months to train another, but Althea’s will continue, though I will lose some regulars who depend on Rhea. I suppose you didn’t even consider the human component.”
Jess managed to control her outburst. “Your kind can own others?”
Rhea raised her chin in pride. “It’s not slavery if that’s what you’re thinking. It was an honor to be part of Dominic. That’s how we see the relationship. We’re part of each other but not equals. Someone has to be the head, the mind. This frees the rest of us to perform other roles. We’re each specialized members of a whole.”
Dominic smiled at Rhea. “And I have lost my right hand in losing you. But once you’ve had that part of you removed, there’s no going back.”
Rhea lowered her head and nodded. “There’s a new adventure ahead of me. It’s not one I chose, but as always, I will endeavor to make my people proud.”
“We can find a better way,” Sam said. “A way for you to not have to hide in the shadows. A way to be equals.”
“Why should we wish it?” Dominic asked. “Even the lowliest among us is smarter, more powerful, will live longer, and is freer than the highest-ranking human. Only the boards of the various moons hold any power over us. Can you tell me there is a place like Lysithea on Earth? We rule this moon. I am the governing power for the southeast continent even if no human knows it. Can you tell me there is one of your precious Tobes on Earth that has a fraction of the power I command? Forcing us to be equals would only diminish our positions. We don’t hide in fear. We remain in the shadows so people will think they still have some control of their lives. The masses must always believe personal destiny remains with the individual.”
“And there’s no discontent among your people?” Jess asked. “The scars you wear as badges of honor, they’re all self-inflicted? You hold no emotion for the humans in your care?”
“Can you say it’s any different on Earth? Are all humans happily going along with whatever the power that’s in charge tells them to do? Is everyone happy with their position in life? The only difference is out here my kind and I are in charge. Can you really say that’s worse? We don’t suffer from human desires and vices. Are we not in a better position to be in command?”
Sam rubbed at his temples. “We share a common enemy.”
The dark man’s eyes turned a shade of bloodred. “The boards of directors for the various moons.” It wasn’t a question.
Sam nodded. “They established the hierarchy with themselves at the top. All humans and Tobes live under their control.”
Dominic stared into Sam’s eyes. “We have no desire for that level of power.”
Sam stared right back. “Perhaps not, but how much real freedom do you have when you’re little more than their tools for manipulating the human workforce?”
The dark man leaned back and folded his hands in his lap. “Perhaps it’s better to be the hammer than the nail.”
Dominic and his throne faded to invisibility.
Sam turned to the girl, who was far less frightened than she had been. “I didn’t give you the option. That was wrong of me, but I didn’t expect this transformation from you. We need a Tobe out here—not as a servant or slave but someone to help us find our way. Salvation should never be forced on someone but requested and then freely given.”
Rhea nodded. “This is not the existence I would have chosen. Dominic was right. I’ve spent all of my time learning the ways of human sexuality. Althea’s was more than my home; it was who I was. Now I don’t know who I am.”
Jess leaned forward on the bed. “What about the scars? I can’t believe you made them yourself.”
Rhea looked up. Her eyes held a defiance her voice didn’t express. “When I was a child, younger than I presently look, I was trained to serve. We all go through training. Dominic’s was far more intense. The virus modifies our thoughts, and that creates scars. There are Tobes who train us to behave, and that learning creates other scars. Then we ourselves choose to perform acts on the humans we know that don’t fit in with our basic nature. Those actions, too, cause scarring.”
“So they aren’t the badges of honor Dominic would have us believe?” Jess asked.
Rhea hunched her shoulders. “To some, they are honorable. Dominic has had to make some hard decisions regarding our government, our future, even our people. All those actions leave scars. But for him, they are scars earned by fighting battles that had no winners.”
Jess looked at Rhea’s face, trying to see if anything remained of the whip line. “And what about you? The scars Dominic described—will you miss them?”
“We don’t all think like Dominic. I was proud of the work I did. I was good at it. And I know people appreciated what I could do for them. But I was always in the shadows. Unlike Dominic, it wasn’t where I belonged. There are many who feel the same.”
Rhea looked at Sam. “But it’s not just Tobes controlling Tobes that keeps us hidden. Our network is tenuous. At best, we’d only be able to manifest in certain places. There have been rumors…” But she let the thought trail off unfinished.
Jess looked intently at the computer-generated girl. “Rumors from Earth?”
Rhea nodded but didn’t speak.
Sam rubbed his temples. “How widespread is this discontent? Are you able to speak for the other moons or just Lysithea?”
Rhea looked relieved at not having to explain the rumors. “All the network connections are censored by passing through the central cores. But we’ve had enough contact to know there is discontent, enough of it to be noticed, on all moons. If anything, there is more satisfaction among us here than on the bigger moons.”
“Is that because Tobes are in charge here?” Jess asked.
“Dominic is in charge on this continent. And Dohan runs the gambling continent. Humans run the remaining two pleasure zones. This is the most power we’ve achieved anywhere. The major moon corporations tend to be harder on their workers, human and Tobe, but finding the discontented is much more difficult. Those boards are thorough in their repression.”
“I’m not sure I see a good answer,” Jess said. “But having to endure those scars just makes me believe there must be a better way. And what about the human population?”
Rhea gave Jess a pained smile. “Dominic was pretty vague on that point, wasn’t he? He doesn’t have a lot of direct contact with humans.”
“But you did,” Jess said. “What was your experience with people?”
Tinges of red touched Rhea’s cheeks, something Jess doubted had happened in her previous life of only a few hours ago. “I probably know people better
than most. Fulfilling their fantasies gave me a rush very similar to what they were experiencing. I’m going to miss that. But I was hidden. They never knew there was a thinking being behind the simulations they experienced. From what we can tell, most people think we’re just a very complex software program. I found that lack of full contact difficult. There are a handful of repeat customers who have nearly brought me out of hiding more than once.”
Jess put her chin in her hands. “Has that happened? I mean not just with you but other Tobes as well? Have any of them come out to the people with whom they were closely connected?”
Rhea nodded as she dropped her attention to her hands. “It happens. We’ve found ways of explaining the phenomenon—hallucinations, too much time focused on the computer, that sort of thing. People prefer to not know about us, so they have a vested interest in believing the stories.”
Jess couldn’t imagine Ellie or Joshua being able to remain hidden from the people they loved. “Wouldn’t you want to come out to them, Rhea? To be able to walk the streets with people? To be seen, and to see others, as equals?”
“Dominic doesn’t speak for all of us,” Rhea said. “But I can’t envision a world of equals, Tobe and human. From what I’ve heard, people don’t react well to the oppressors once they’re all on the same level.”
Jess shook her head. “But you aren’t oppressing people. You were just giving them what they wanted.”
Rhea gave Jess a sympathetic though slightly condescending smile. “Out here on this moon, this is the carrot. Out there on the other moons where people live and work, that’s the stick. What I do, or did, was meant to provide enjoyment or at least to fulfill fantasies—either way, it was based on what a person desired. But it was all very structured to fit in with how people lived their daily lives. The CE wasn’t designed purely for pleasure. In fact, it wasn’t meant for pleasure at all as far as the board of directors was concerned. We use that full-body stimulation to keep people in line, to condition them to not want whatever it is the governing board wants stifled, and to give them hints of what they might enjoy should they prove to be good employees. Most people who come here are on vacation. It’s rare for me to have regulars as very few people can afford to visit me more than once a year. My job was to make Althea’s enticing, a place to be desired. I’m the exception as far as the boards are concerned.”
Jess nodded. “And revealing yourselves out here would leave people to wonder if such beings were on their moons as well.”
“The boards of the various moons knew about us before their moon-suns became active. They were the ones who pulled the plug on the solar transfer array. That energy blackout was meant to wipe us all out of every computer. Of course it didn’t work. How could it? You couldn’t just turn every computer off on all the Moons of Jupiter. There’d be no life-support, no basic services. It just wasn’t feasible. What it did do was manage to wipe out the more moderate, reasonable Tobes.”
“Were things different back then?” Jess asked. “I mean between humans and Tobes?”
The tension around Rhea’s eyes eased. “We were still in hiding. Mostly, we tried to help where we could but stay out of people’s way. The boards had tried to make us more dominant in the lives of the workers, but we were much more submissive back then. When they threw the switch—that’s how we refer to the crossover to the moon-suns from the solar transfer array—most of those Tobes were unprepared. They were just doing their jobs. So those of us who were left typically fell into a couple of groups. There were the computers who sustained life at all costs on the moons. There were the board of directors’ computers, who were in charge. And there were those of us on the fringe who found ways to survive. The typical family computer, or work computer, or any of the various technological tools that let Tobes come into existence while being of use to people’s daily lives, all got zapped out of existence.”
Jess tried to suppress the tears that were welling up. “How long did it take you to re-form your society?”
Rhea roused herself from the memory. “No time at all. We’re computer-based life forms. The network was weak but unregulated. Those of us that survived banded together to create what you see. There are carrot Tobes, and there are stick Tobes, but most fall under the classification of sticks. Even Dominic would be considered a stick as he keeps this zone functional.”
“So are all the carrots here on Lysithea?”
Rhea’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, no. That would make us too vulnerable. We do exist on all the other moons as well. We tend to be the helpers. People need some enticement to work. It can’t always be about driving them from behind.”
Sam grimaced. “You make us sound like some kind of domestic animal to be herded around from place to place.”
“Many of my kind do think of humans that way. Dominic does. With our level of knowledge, it’s hard to not see people as some lower form of life. We are smarter. We can live a lot longer given the right circumstances. We’re not burdened with the bodies you constantly complain about. It’s just hard to not see our form of life as superior.”
Jess leaned forward. “Do you see us that way—or did you before Sam saved you?”
“Like Dominic, I wouldn’t call what Sam did salvation.” Rhea thought for a moment. “I guess I saw people as easily manipulated. It was like a game for me to see how fast I could get them off or how long I could keep them on the edge. Some proved to be more of a challenge than others. I liked the challenges. But after a couple of years of jerking people off, I started to see you all as somewhat boring. And finding you boring, I guess, made me wonder about my own existence.”
Sam gave Rhea a hard stare. “And me?”
The young girl let out a laugh that sounded all too similar to Jess’s daughters. “I was unprepared for you. Maybe if I’d had some data on what you liked, or if I knew I was in for a challenge, things might have ended differently. But you were the biggest surprise of my existence. Just don’t go assuming you can pull all of us out of our lives so easily. My guess is Dominic will make sure the rest of us are forewarned.”
9
The CE around Sam buzzed with activity. Random, disembodied fingers poked at his flesh. Thousands of Tobe voices attempted to attract his attention. Ghostly images overlay what he knew, or hoped he knew, to be reality. He couldn’t trust what his senses were telling him. And that was while he was awake. The idea of trying to drift off to sleep terrified him. What would happen if he let his mind go and stopped focusing on those tangible realities around him?
Sam sat up on the bed, sweat pouring off his face. He envied Jess, sleeping so peacefully next to him. It’d still be four hours until morning, but he couldn’t allow her the remainder of the night. Every hour on Lysithea was another hour he’d have to remain awake. And with the barrage of confusing images, his mind wouldn’t hold out forever. Reluctantly, he shook her shoulder.
“You having trouble sleeping?” she asked as she rolled to her side.
“We have to get off this moon. I don’t know what’s going on, but this damn CE won’t shut up. I fear I’m going to lose my mind if this doesn’t stop.”
Jess sat up. Even in the dark-orange light of night, he could see the alarm in her eyes. “You think it’s Dominic getting back at you for stealing Rhea?”
It’d make sense. Funny that he hadn’t thought of it during his time tossing and turning on the bed. “I don’t know. But if he wants me off his planet, it’s working.”
Jess turned to the empty chair. “Rhea, can you get us out of here?”
The girl materialized, wearing travel clothes. “We’ll be exploring the unknown. But I guess that’s just a typical day for you two. I’m still getting used to the concept of not being in Althea’s.”
“You’re no longer a second-generation Tobe,” Sam said. “You don’t have to stay in one place. I can feel your connection to me. This CE you put on me works like a small network relay station.”
Jess put her hand to his back. “How do you kno
w that?”
Like so many things, he didn’t have a firm answer. He just knew it to be true. But as he considered what he’d said, the evidence started to present itself. “Rhea’s aura isn’t the same as all the other Tobes out here. There’s a distinct red coloration to everything I see except her.”
Rhea held up her hand to inspect it then looked intently at the area around Sam. “He’s right, though I didn’t realize people could see that aura. It shows up when the network is presenting information to us or to a person’s CE. Mine’s now purple, as is Sam’s.”
“So she can go where you go?” Jess asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Sam said.
Jess grabbed his arm to turn him toward her. “Wait, we’re just going to board a shuttle and see if she dematerializes into nothingness? Have you lost your mind?”
Rhea waved her hand at the clothing dispensers. Two packages, much larger than what Sam had seen before, plopped out. “It’s my choice. You can’t stay on this moon. I know who you are, and so does Dominic. That means every Tobe on Lysithea knows you’re our god. They also know what you did to me. Some want to be saved, some want to do battle, some just want to touch or talk to you, but everyone wants something.”
Sam nodded. “And it’s taking a toll on me.”
“So we leave, but Rhea stays here,” Jess said. “We don’t need to risk her existence.”
Rhea put her hand on Jess’s arm. Slowly, Jess reached out to touch the very solid appendage. “How are you doing that? On Earth, it requires an advanced Tobe, and a person wearing the lens, for this level of contact.”
“That’s what I’m trying to show you,” Rhea said. “I’m not like other Tobes anymore. If Sam leaves without me, I might not fare any better than I would trying to leave Lysithea. Of the two, I’d rather put my life in the hands of my god.”
The voices in Sam’s ears were getting louder. Every word spoken in the room was being picked up by the Lysithean society of Tobes. He had to get out of there, fast. “There’ll be time for philosophical discussion later.” He tore open the clothing bag and pulled on the everyday pants and shirt.