The Mind Element

Author's notes: Lots of plot and only one sex scene this time - but it's a long one which I particularly enjoyed writing and even manages to advance the plot a little! I hope you like it too.

All characters are over 18, as established in this or earlier Chapters or in "Master of Elements" to which this is a sequel.

The Mind Element Chapter 5

"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable." ― Seneca, Essays and Letters

Christopher Ward was facing a dilemma when the radio message from the island came. He had always possessed some ability to locate the whereabouts of the Mistresses of Elements - without that he would never have found them in the first place - and his increased familiarity with them over the subsequent two years had made this stronger, at least when they were awake and free and Randall Ness wasn't interfering with drugs or electro-magnetic fields. This sense was telling him now that Jenny was no longer on the island.

The Mistress of Earth was moving away from him fast, obviously on a boat. He could get no trace on Athena, but he reasoned that she was most likely there as well, so his initial inclination was to forget the island and go in pursuit. Chris guessed that Ness had a lead that couldn't be overtaken by normal means, but maybe Matsu or Freya would be able to do something to slow him down.

Then the call came and, with reluctance, he changed his mind. The voice was that of a young sounding man with an American accent, who was certainly not Randall Ness, nor the previous operator he had briefly spoken to. This person seemed more than a little confused, but promised free and unopposed access to the island and the return of 'prisoners'.

Chris couldn't afford to ignore this reference to captives. If Marco and Fay, and perhaps even Athena, were on the island, he couldn't leave them there - they were part of his failed plan and he had an obligation to rescue them. The only question was whether he could trust the promise of safe passage. He reminded himself that not long ago he had been prepared to take the risk when he expected opposition, so landing now was no greater danger.

"Ladies, we're going in," he said to Brigit, Freya and Matsu, "be ready for anything in case it's a trap. If it is, then don't hold back."

As it proved they had nothing to worry about. Their yacht circled the island and was able to moor at the dock on the landward side without the slightest sign of resistance. They were greeted on the dockside not by a welcoming party, but by a single man, around 23, in military-style fatigues and African-American by appearance and accent. He introduced himself, oddly politely in the circumstances. By his voice he was clearly the person to whom Chris had spoken earlier.

"Hi, my name is Carter Jackson. I assume you are Christopher Ward. My Master - that's to say Mr Ness - has ordered me to surrender the island to you and to take you to the prisoners."

"Your Master?" muttered Chris and then turning to the girls he added, "Looks like Ness has been messing with people's minds. This is bad."

Chris told Matsu to stay with their yacht and asked Brigit and Freya to accompany him. They stayed on their guard as they left the jetty, passed through a door and entered the subterranean world Randall Ness had created at great expense inside the island, but nothing untoward happened. In fact, the people they met seemed even more confused and disorientated than Jackson, who at least still had instructions to fulfil. Chris was reminded of an ant's nest where the queen had died and the workers simply ran around randomly before expiring.

Jackson led them to an elevator and they travelled up three floors, before emerging onto a corridor. A few moments' walk along it and they arrived at a series of conventional looking cells, similar to those a police station might have. Two were empty, their doors standing open, but Jackson produced keys and unlocked the third. From it emerged Fay and Marco looking miserable but unharmed.

They started to apologise for getting caught, but Chris waved that away, saying it wasn't their fault. He was far more interested in the details of what had happened, and Marco gave a swift explanation of all that had occurred in their ill-fated attempt to rescue Athena, from the time they left harbour until they were locked in that cell.

Chris listened intently, nodding once or twice as if the story confirmed his thoughts, and then said, "Right, now we've got you two, we'd better get back down to the yacht and give chase. We're hours behind Ness now, but at least I need to try to find out where he's going next."

"I can tell you that," said Fay, "he's going to California. He is an important person there and has many friends and allies. He believes that the American authorities will be slow to believe any suggestion he has done wrong and will protect him."

Chris stared at her for a moment and then realisation kicked in, "You read his mind."

"Yes, of course," said Fay lightly. "Unfortunately, we were only together for a short time, and so I wasn't able to probe deeply, but I got the things he was thinking about most urgently. Top of the list was where he could go next to be safe. He's afraid of all of you - but you in particular, Chris."

"Really," said Chris in surprise. He has been so consumed lately with the cleverness of Randall Ness, that it had not occurred to him that Ness might fear him. He felt slightly better for the thought. "Why?"

"Well, in part your raw power, but also your cleverness. He'd intended to be in this place many months while he researched mind control and elemental powers and was alarmed that you found him so quickly. It's disrupted his plans and although he's adapted quickly, Ness is worried that you will find a way round whatever he does."

"That's nice to know," said Chris, "but it changes nothing. We should still go in pursuit of Athena and Jenny. Ness might harm them."

Fay looked at him as solemnly as he had ever seen her; it was impressively out of character and made him take her next words more seriously. "No, my Emperor, you should not. There are things here we need to do and see. As for the safety of my lady Athena, you can rely on Queen Kitaka for that. I saw her mind too, when Randall Ness captured her; she was not fully under his control."

"How?" said Chris in surprise. "Whatever Ness did to the zombies wandering around this place seems pretty effective and, if she's free, why did Jenny go with him?"

"Queen Kitaka's mind and will is strongly conditioned by the legacy of what the ancients of your world did. Her ultimate loyalty is to you and the other Queens. She will obey Ness in many ways, but she is incapable of harming you and her sisters or of allowing you to be harmed. I believe that she will protect Queen Athena. Oh, and - since this seems to be worrying you - she will refuse to have sex with Randall Ness."

Chris flushed scarlet. He knew the jealous thought that had been hovering in his mind since he had known Jenny had been captured was of no importance in the big picture, but he had been unable to get rid of it. Fay's words were a relief he supposed, but it was embarrassing to have his fears aired publically.

Seeing that Chris was at least momentarily out of things to say, Brigit asked Fay the next question. "What did you mean when you said there are things we need to do here?"

"There is a huge amount of information in this place about what Ness was trying to do, why and how far he got. We should know this - it will help predict his next steps." Chris looked at Fay in surprise. He liked her, but had thought of her as slightly scatty and not really serious, but the point she had just made was a strong one. Now she had said it he realised he really should check this place over.

"Secondly, Chris must free the minds of the people Ness has experimented on. I can sense their turmoil. Unless something is done they will slowly go mad."

"That's not my problem, Fay", said Chris, "I owe these people nothing."

"No, and I agree some of them are bad people - I can see their thoughts, remember - but don't forget they are all victims of Ness. And not all are evil; I believe there are a few that could help us." Here, Chris noted, Fay glanced at Carter Jackson.

As if on cue, Jackson, who had said and done nothing since releasing Marco and Fay, rather diffidently spoke. "If I may, Mr Ward, I think your friend is right. There is a lady down a level, lying in her own room, who is in a very bad way. I think she's dying. Her name is Talia Hendry and she had nothing to do with the kidnapping of your friends. Is there anything you could do to help her?"

Christopher Ward looked round at the people circling him - Brigit, Freya, Marco, Fay and Jackson. They were all looking expectantly at him; waiting for the Master of Elements to live up to his title and do something worthy and never doubting he would. He felt tired and disillusioned, all too conscious of his terrible failure. He had come here to save Athena and ended up losing Jenny.

Chris gave a weary sigh. "All right then, since we need to stay and check this place out anyway, I suppose I can take a look. Where is this woman?"

*****

On his yacht, now far from the island, Randall Ness collected Colonel Baker and one of his men before he went down to the locked cabin where Athena Makris was resting, still drugged unconscious. When it came to it, he didn't want to get his hands dirty with the murder of a defenceless and innocent woman, and there was no need to when you had mind-controlled people used to death and killing who could do it for you. He would simply give the necessary orders and Baker could deal with the details.

As soon as they reached the cabin, Ness knew something was wrong. The door, instead of being shut, was partly open and the reason was clear enough. The place where the lock should have been was absent, replaced by a hole as if both metal and wood had been melted, or just scattered into nothingness. There was only one person on board who could have done that.

Already certain what must have occurred, Ness entered the cabin. There, as he expected, was Athena, lying still unconscious on the bunk where she had been placed, and Jenny, quietly sat in a chair, as if watching over her. He took in the scene for a moment and then calmly asked Jenny, "Why are you here? I didn't order you to find Athena."

"No Master, but nor did you say I couldn't. As you will have realised by now, we have a bond that transcends all other allegiances, so it was vital to check my sister was safe. I guessed she would be aboard, and it wasn't difficult to work out where. It's not that large a yacht."

Ness just looked at her for a moment and then said, "Suppose someone - and this is just hypothetical of course - wanted to harm Athena. What would you do?"

"Well, Master, this ship is made of metals and wood and other such things of Earth that men have attached together in various clever, but to me, weak, ways. It would be a simple matter to will them to come apart again. I could reduce this vessel to so much floating debris in seconds - perhaps leaving intact a nice life raft for Athena and I - and the 'hypothetical' attackers could see how they got on with swimming back to land."

This was said in a tone of seeming deference, but the threat was clear. For a moment Ness wondered if he needed to order Colonel Baker to kill both women while, perhaps, he had the chance - although he also thought Jenny was ready for just such an attempt. Then he dismissed the idea. This wasn't him; he hadn't got where he was in life by random acts of violence. His wealth, power, even his new ability to control minds, had come from the exercise of his intelligence; he needed to start using it on this problem.

Thinking rapidly, Ness framed the question to be solved. Jennifer Kitaka would obey his orders, except where it contradicted her existing programming - and that was an overwhelming loyalty to Christopher Ward and the Mistresses of Elements. Given this clearly could not be overcome, the correct question was how could he use it to his own advantage. Jenny's main interest at present seemed to be protecting Athena. The beginnings of an idea formed in his mind.

Ness turned to Dan Baker. "Colonel, you and your man can leave. I want to talk to Miss Kitaka alone." Once the mercenaries had departed, Randall Ness sat in the second chair in the room, leaned forward, and said, "Jennifer, I would like to put some thoughts to you, being completely honest and open, and see what you have to say. Is that alright?"

"Of course, Master."

"First of all, I want you to know that it was never my intention to cause any of you long term harm. I just wanted to get the information I needed, and then I would have let you go." This was not entirely true, although Ness himself had always been undecided about exactly what the end game looked like. However, the partly controlled Jenny seemed to accept it at face value.

"That is still true," he continued, "but circumstances have altered and created a situation where I might be tempted to change my mind. If you were to help me with my problems, then such thoughts would be unnecessary. I would much prefer to keep Athena alive and well - it is in my own interests as well as hers - provided she is not a threat. Would you be prepared to help me in order to help her?"

Ness knew this was simply blackmail; Jenny was being asked to cooperate to remove a threat that he himself was making. But he counted on the idea that his partial control and her wish to obey, combined with her instinct to protect Athena from threat, would make her see it differently. And it seemed the gamble worked; Jenny's response was to ask, "What are these problems, Master?"

Ness smiled encouragingly. "On the island I had built holding, umm, rooms (he had almost said cells), that kept you ladies safe but also neutralised your powers while inside them. These were complex and expensive, and I have no others. Because I can't keep Athena safely inside one, that makes her dangerous to me and so places her at risk. It would take months to create new ones elsewhere. Could you do anything to help?"

Jenny practically clapped her hands with glee. Here was something to help her new Master and protect Athena at the same time. "Oh, Master, I can promise you that anything an engineer can do in a week I can do in a day and a month's building work in an hour. Just give me the plans and I'll have suitable rooms ready in no time! Athena and I can share one if you like."

Ness' smile this time was genuine. This was his biggest problem solved. Athena was back to being an asset again. "In the meantime," he continued, "I'll need to keep her drugged and I need you to be ok with that." Ness didn't want Jenny objecting when the next dose was due.

"What are you using?" she asked, and Ness was reminded that she was in training to be a doctor. Jenny was indeed a girl of more than one skill set.

"I'll send Doctor Gupta down to see you. He'll give you the details. He promises me that it is nothing that will do any permanent harm, just a simple sedative." That much was true. "Another thing," he went on, "I apologise for my attempt earlier to make you my concubine. It was just a stupid, spur of the moment thing. I promise that you and Athena are entirely safe from that." Ness had learnt from innumerable business deals that treating things you have no control over as if they were concessions was always worth a try. "I'll leave the use of women as sex toys to the likes of Christopher Ward," he added maliciously.

"Thank you Master," said Jenny, "but I must tell you that there is no coercion in our relationship with the Master of Elements. We love to be with him; he is an amazing lover." She smiled happily. Ness winced; that last part had backfired. He'd better stick to what was important instead of trying to score cheap points.

"That ring you are wearing - the one with an emerald stone - please give it to me." Jenny was reluctant to part with it, but she did. Whatever, strong influences controlled the minds of the Mistresses of Elements, they didn't extend as far as the rings. To those they just had an emotional attachment.

Ness held it up to the light and considered its strange green sparkle. "I have three of these now; yours, Athena's and Matsu's. I've found a way to make Athena's useful, but I can't do anything much with Matsu's and I expect yours will be the same. I would like you to help my scientists with this problem."

"I'll try Master, although I don't know much about the rings. Athena knows the most I think."

"Never mind, Jenny, just do your best. You've been very helpful. Remember that by helping me, you keep Athena safe."

"I understand, Master," she replied, looking pleased he had said she was helpful. Randall Ness left the cabin, also pleased. Matters were getting back on track.

*****

The next few days on the island were busy. Matsu spoke to Juan Santos to tell him what had happened and also reassure him that none of it was his fault. Despite this the fisherman was saddened to hear Jenny had been captured. Chris toyed with the question of whether to involve the Filipino authorities and finally concluded that doing so would produce too many difficult questions; better to keep matters as a personal feud between himself and Ness. Then there was the question of reversing the enslavement of the people Ness had mind controlled.

Chris and Fay had been doing this for three days now and were almost finished. Only a dozen of Randall Ness' former employees remained to be deprogrammed. They worked as a team. Fay had obtained the personnel files of the staff, which gave some indication as to their background. When told to present themselves for the procedure - which they were happy to do, given their craving for orders to obey - she then read their thoughts. From this Fay was able to give Chris an idea of what sort of person they were dealing with, so he could decide how to approach the process. Some of them were really not very nice people and it paid to be cautious. Suitably forewarned, Chris then did the actual deprogramming.

Talia Hendry had been the first. Chris and the others had gone to view this victim of Randall Ness and her pitiful state had left him with very little choice but to help her; anything else would have been inhuman. They had found her lying on a bed, almost comatose from her feelings of grief and loss. At first, he had been unsure what to do, other than that her problem was not physical but clearly related to the mysterious element of Aether, which dealt with the immaterial world of thought, emotion and other dimensions.

Chris had asked everyone except Brigit - mainly for moral support - and Fay to leave. Then he had asked Fay what she could 'see' in Talia's head. Mostly that had proved to be utter confusion, although Fay had said that Talia was not dangerous; a bit of a gold-digger perhaps, but certainly not someone who deserved what Ness had done to her.

Still uncertain how to act, Chris drew out the amulet he always wore round his neck, next to his skin. He held the diamond at the centre - the gem connected to Aether - and tried to relax his mind, un-focus from the reality around him and be aware of the other unseen dimensions that he knew existed. At first there was nothing, but then he began to be aware of a pattern - it looked almost like shimmering, golden threads. He asked Brigit and Fay whether they saw anything, but for all his wife's elemental power and Fay's alien ability to read minds, this was a world closed to them.

He noticed that Brigit also showed faint signs of the flickering golden threads - a legacy no doubt of her many visits in mind to the Aether world. With Fay it was stronger, for he had used this power to bring her consciousness into this world.