Candidate (Selected Book 4)

by Robin Roseau

  "Got it."

  "The third way is to think of nothing at all. While thinking of nothing at all, your orbs will not reset, and I can't pull them from you. And it will break the distraction."

  "I don't think I'll be able to do that."

  "Probably not the first time, but with practice, you could."

  "You said there would be a handicap."

  "Yes. There are a few. The distractions I have for you are considered easier to ignore than the ones you have for me, but they require the same level of concentration to apply."

  "Okay."

  "You start with more distractions available to use against me."

  "I like having more."

  "And I have calibrated the game for a new player against an experienced player. It will require less purity of thought for you than it will for me. I do not know if this will be enough for a good game."

  "Will you be disappointed if I play poorly?"

  "Only if you do not enjoy yourself."

  "I'll do my best, but perhaps we should have a few practice games."

  "My thought as well. But there is one more aspect to the game you must understand. The orbs themselves are a distraction. One orb is easily ignored and you may not even notice it, but the effect grows."

  "Oh no," I said.

  "This game has variations. There is the opposite game where I try to stick the orbs to you. I am switching to that variation and setting the game to be between two beginners. Then I will show you."

  The game blanked and then reappeared. Everything was as it had been before. "Try to push orbs towards me," she said. "We will not use the distractions."

  So I selected an orb and concentrated on it. It began to move towards Cherish. But in the time it took me to move one orb to her, she moved three to me. And then while I was selecting my next orb, it became five.

  "My legs are tingling," I said.

  "Yes," she replied.

  She added more orbs to me, and more, and the tingling climbed higher and higher. I tried blocking it out, and I managed to push five to her, but by the time I was covered almost to my chest, I just couldn't take it any longer. I began squirming badly, trying to escape the orbs. It took Cherish no time at all to finish covering me, and I thought I was going to go insane.

  Then the game reset, and slowly I calmed down.

  "I have turned down the level of distraction they offer you," Cherish said. "The goal is for it to be difficult to play, but not impossible."

  I was sure I was going to lose badly, but really, it seemed like fun.

  "So, a practice game?" she asked. "We'll play with half as many orbs and no distractions. Then we'll play another, and I'll add the mild distractions."

  "Okay," I agreed.

  Half the orbs disappeared plus the list of distractions. Then a timer counted down, and when it reached zero, I selected an orb and began pulling on it.

  It took little time before we had collected all the free orbs, most of them clustered around Cherish, but I had a few. We began fighting over the ones I had. She won those fights, but I made her work for each one.

  Then when she stole my last orb, I selected one of hers and pulled it away.

  "Good," she said. Then she corralled both orbs at the same time and drew them to her. "What do you think?"

  "I think I'm bad at this, but this is fun."

  "I'm glad you think so. Again, with distractions this time?"

  "Like you need to distract me."

  "It is the game we play."

  The game reset. We both grabbed orbs. I collected two. She collected three. She grabbed her fourth orb just as I grabbed my third. But then a ringing began in my ears. I continued to work on my orb.

  The ringing grew louder and then began to pulse in pitch. Then it grew discordant, and I lost my orb. I tried to clear my thoughts to make it end, but all my orbs reset before the ringing ended.

  In the meantime, she'd collected three more orbs.

  Two could play at that game. I scanned the list and then selected a distraction called Spiders. I could only imagine what that was, but I thought perhaps I'd had a taste during yesterday's challenge.

  I began concentrating on it.

  Cherish collected two orbs, and there were only two more left, but she wasn't collecting them as quickly, and I saw her computer image was squirming.

  Oh, two could definitely play this game!

  But that thought broke my concentration, and I lost control of the Spiders. Cherish squirmed a little more, but then she settled down and pulled the orb to her. I grabbed one and she grabbed one.

  But then she hit me with a new distraction. At first it was a hint of a scent, but before I could get my orb halfway home, the scent had grown into the worst swamp gas I'd ever smelled.

  Cherish stole my orb from me, and I didn't even struggle as she pulled it to herself.

  The game reset, and the stench immediately disappeared.

  "Okay, that last distraction was just mean."

  She snorted. "And sending a horde of spiders at me is nice?"

  "Hey, you picked the available distractions. How did you work on orbs while distracting me?"

  "You can't think about two things at once?" she countered.

  "I thought we had to think about one at a time."

  "If you stop thinking about them, they don't end immediately. So I think about the distraction, then the orb, then the distraction, then the orb."

  "Oh. I can do that."

  "We'll see," she said.

  "Get us started."

  In all, we played six practice games. Yes, I could run a distraction and pull an orb at the same time. I was shaky, but I could do it.

  Finally I said, "This is fun. I could play this all night."

  "Really?"

  "But I'm hungry, so we should have our challenge."

  She snorted. "Resetting."

  There were a lot of orbs out there, it seemed.

  "If I were playing alone for practice with these settings," she said. "A game is about ten minutes. Are you ready?"

  "I want to know what these distractions do." The list was longer than we'd been playing with.

  "All right. I can let you experience them."

  "I'm not sure about that."

  "You can self-inflict them, or I can do it for you. If you self-inflict, you won't be able to hold them for more than a few seconds."

  "Oh, I'm that weak-minded."

  "It is exceedingly difficult to torture yourself unless you are a self-destructive person. You are not."

  "Torture?"

  "English is not my native language. Perhaps there is another word."

  "Torment?"

  She paused. "Yes, this is a better word."

  "You're dying to demonstrate them, aren't you?"

  "A little, but it is your choice. Perhaps you should try one yourself, and if you cannot give yourself a proper taste, I can do it for you."

  "All right."

  The game reset, and all that appeared was the list of distractions. The first was Spiders. I already had a good idea what that was. The next was baby. What could be so bad about a baby? I clicked it and concentrated.

  A baby began crying. And crying. It grew increasingly shrill, and then it sounded like it was in true torment, and I ended it.

  "That wasn't very bad, Cherish."

  "Maybe later I'll explain why that one is difficult for me. But you also didn't hold it very long. Do you want me to do it for you?"

  "Maybe the next one, but they better not really be torture."

  And so she did them to me, one after another. Some of them weren't bad. Others were quite nasty. One felt like I was being sliced open. It didn't hurt, but it really freaked me out. Another had things leaping out at me, dead things. It was gross and startling, but I think it was the violent motion that was the greatest distraction. The worst though was the one that sounded exactly like a dentist's drill.

  Finally she worked through the list. I sat quietly for a minute. C
herish didn't say anything.

  "I'm so getting you with the leaping dead clowns thing," I finally said.

  "Good," she said. "Dead clowns?"

  "That's what they looked like," I said.

  "Last minute questions?"

  "Nope."

  "Here we go."

  She reset the game, and then it counted down.

  A full game took a lot longer than our practice games. I was outclassed, and I knew I would be, but I focused on pulling orbs to me.

  Cherish in turn split her attention. She worked on orbs, but she also hit me with a distraction: the hand tingling again. I focused on my orb, and focused, and focused, and while it slowed down, I captured it and turned to the next.

  Then the tingling ended.

  I managed to ignore about half the distractions. For the other half, I lost control of the orb, but I didn't get a full reset. I was happy about that.

  Cherish corralled about half the orbs, and I had significantly fewer when I went after her. I started with the crying baby, and I managed to do that and pull an orb to me at the same time. She lost control of her orb, and she tried to hit me with a distraction, but she lost that, too.

  Then the distraction ended, but I had caught two orbs. And she had to be running low on distractions for me. I waited until she got her next orb halfway back before I did the dentist drill. She managed to collect her orb, but I caught two that time.

  We ran out of orbs to collect. She tried to hit me with another distraction, really bearing down, but I gritted my teeth and plucked an orb from her. Once I got it halfway back, I gave her the spiders.

  I managed to catch her orb, and then before the spiders ended, she also had four more reset.

  We fought over them, and I decided she'd run out of distractions. I still had a long list, so I did them one after another, and I managed to catch my share of the free orbs.

  But then she hit me with one more distraction, and it was the last one she would use. This one was also a tingling, but it started. At. My. Center.

  It took only a few seconds before I was squirming.

  "That is so not fair!" I said.

  It grew. And grew, and it felt amazingly good. I lost control of my orbs, and she caught half of them before the distraction ended and I could catch my breath.

  After that, I didn't have enough concentration left to be effective, and soon the game was over.

  The screen blanked, and then I could see. Cherish was watching me.

  "You cheat," I said.

  She snorted. "I think you like the way I cheat."

  "What was that one called?"

  "Arousal. It appears you are susceptible."

  I blushed, but I had to admit she was right.

  While I was recovering, she removed her visor then collected both crowns, replacing everything in the case. Then she knelt down in front of me, our eyes on a level.

  "Do you agree you are mine until I return you to the care of this fine facility?"

  "I am yours," I agreed. "What will you do with me?"

  "If you are mine, that means I may touch you."

  "Yes."

  With that, she reached out and caressed my cheek. I closed my eyes and leaned into it. Her fingers brushed my lips, and then she withdrew. "Our food is here." She pulled me to my feet and led me into her kitchen. There were waiting platters.

  "As I have won, and you are mine, you will serve us," she said. "Mine are the gold covers. Yours are the silver covers. Do not sample mine. I don't know if it is safe for you or not."

  Then she left me there, heading for her dining room.

  I smiled after her and then saw to the meal. It took a few trips back and forth, and then she asked me to wait on her. I filled her water and dished her plate before asking if there was anything else.

  She paused before answering. "How far will you indulge me?"

  "How far do you wish to be indulged?"

  "Will you kneel here for a moment and set your head in my lap?"

  I consider for a moment then knelt down, doing what she asked. She caressed my head for a moment, saying little. Then she leaned down and whispered, "Thank you. You may sit and serve yourself."

  Once my plate was full, we turned to face each other. "I will explain that sometime. Thank you."

  I nodded.

  And we ate.

  * * * *

  We made small talk over the meal, and then she asked me to clear the table. I moved it all back to the kitchen but then had to admit I didn't know what to do with everything. So she helped me, and then we washed, and she took my hand to pull me back to the living room.

  She sat, but I prowled for a minute, Cherish watching me. There was a coffee table, and on it of all things, a picture frame. I picked it up and discovered the image changed periodically. They were all of what I thought was a very young Tutor. "Who is this?"

  "My daughter."

  "You have a daughter? Where is she?"

  "On my home world. That is all I have of her."

  I looked down at the image. "You left your daughter?"

  "There is a long story involved."

  "Will you tell me, Cherish?"

  "I don't know." I could hear the pain in her voice. So I sat down beside her, leaning lightly while holding the picture frame. She turned to me then took the frame. She gazed at it for a while then set it back on the coffee table.

  "You left your daughter?"

  "She is not really mine," Cherish said softly. "I was her surrogate mother. But it hurts just as much to leave her."

  She turned away again. I looked at the side of her face for a while. "You don't have to tell me, but I think there is more to this story."

  "There is," she whispered.

  I reached over and pulled her to face me. "Did I so disappoint you that we will have no further challenges?"

  "No," she said. "I want more challenges."

  "Do you want more than challenges?"

  "That is part of the story, Andromeda."

  "Then I believe you should call me Andie and tell me this story."

  She paused, then nodded. But she looked away, and I let her. "You may not understand."

  "I understand being a surrogate mother. I bet it's hard. I have friends who raise puppies for Assistance Dogs. They keep the dogs for a year or so, then they have to give them away. They cry. It's heart wrenching. With a child it would be that much worse."

  "I have looked into your laws here," she said. "When someone is a surrogate mother, she usually gives the child away at birth. I was her mother for nearly a year."

  "Oh, Cherish," I said.

  "I carried her. I taught her while she was still in my womb. I gave birth to her. I nursed her. They let me believe I would remain in her life. But then they took her from me."

  "Oh, Cherish," I said.

  She looked back to me. "In a way I volunteered. In a way, I didn't."

  "I don't understand."

  "I do not know human psychology very well," she said. "But I know a few things. Tutor mature intellectually much earlier than a human. Our children emerge from our womb able to speak. Oh, not well, but it does not take the year or two it takes a human child."

  "Wow," I said.

  "But for a Tutor, emotional maturity requires adversity, and Tutor mothers are very, very protective of their young. We shelter them. We shelter them from the very forces that drive their emotional maturity. We cannot help it, and so intellectually we become adults, but emotionally, we are still children. But we are evolved for this. Our children are extremely obedient. We obey our mothers."

  "Mothers."

  She nodded. "We are like Catseye. We are always only female."

  "Oh," I said, making a wide "oh" face. "Oh," I repeated. "I knew you liked me."

  "I do like you," she agreed. "So, some of us remain children for a long time. It can be decades before we are emotionally mature enough to be given true responsibility."

  "I hear a but coming."

  "But, if we e
ncounter sufficient adversity in our life, it drives our maturity. I believe humans experience this as well, but perhaps not as extremely. However, as our mothers seek to protect us, we are unlikely to encounter this adversity. Many of us, far more than half, accept this."

  "You did not."

  "I wanted to attend this mission. I wanted to come to Earth. I wanted it a great deal. When a young Tutor has such aspirations, she is able to leave her mothers, but she is not truly safe on her own. Imagine letting a human 12-year-old live on her own."

  "I understand."

  "So it is common for her to offer herself to an older Tutor, sometimes a single woman, sometimes a couple or a family. We join the household. And we are introduced to adversity."

  "They mistreat you?"

  "Not necessarily. I will tell you what I did. I wanted to come to Earth. I had the skills required, but it would be two decades before I could be trusted, and that was much too long a delay. So I began to look for opportunity."

  "I think I can guess what happened."

  "You would guess half. There was a couple. You would call them married. Two women. They were both very busy women with busy careers. They wanted a child, but neither wished to carry her. When we carry a child, it is nearly impossible for us to think about anything but the needs of the child, and so she would have to take a hiatus from her job to do so."

  "And so you offered yourself."

  "They advertised their need. I may not have responded, but... can you guess?"

  I thought about it. "I wouldn't suppose they had influence in who was allowed to come to Earth."

  "Not influence. They were the ones to decide."

  "Oh, my."

  "Sometimes when a young Tutor offers herself to another family, she does not specify the nature of the adversity. I offered myself, and I offered to carry a child. I did not know how much it would hurt."

  "Cherish I'm sorry."

  "You understand that physically I was an adult. And this is a part of our culture down to our biology. But when a young Tutor offers herself, she becomes very obedient to the older Tutors."

  "That's why you wanted me to kneel."

  "Until I was too large with child to do so, I knelt that way each night before our meal and again before we climbed into bed together."

  "Did you offer your body?"