A Slice of Unkindness Read online

  “What lovely, strong, healthy looking legs you have, my dear,” he said in a lustful tone. “I might put them to good use once I’ve finished with you. I didn’t attach the last pair correctly and they went gangrene. Such a waste!”

  He spun his steaming, sputtering chair around and looked her up and down. She was able to get an equally good look at him as he did this. His wheelchair appeared to have a life support system built into it as well, judging by the wild assortment of tubes and fluids that flowed into and out of the back of the vehicle. The chair was literally keeping him alive.

  “Sushi Dan,” he called over his shoulder. “Bring me my bag and assemble my blood kit.”

  Daniel silently hastened to carry out the doctor’s orders.

  Edgar wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  “Oh, you disapprove of me calling him ‘Sushi Dan,’ do you?” he sniffed in observation.

  “It seems quite rude to me,” she replied.

  Dr. Mutter only sneered. “I have no use for manners,” he said. “People hide behind them. You may not like me but at least I am honest. And I need no one’s approval. Besides, it’s not like Sushi Dan can talk back to me.”

  Daniel looked up and met Edgar’s gaze. No words between them were needed.

  “Still, it’s not very nice of you,” Edgar said as she watched Daniel’s reactions. He turned back to his task.

  “But it is accurate,” Dr. Mutter said. “Daniel is not fully human. He’s the product of a scientific experiment. You probably also wondered about his gender, eh?”

  Daniel still had his back to them as he assembled items. Edgar blushed a bit and nodded.

  “That’s because he is transitioning. Daniel has had his DNA combined with that of a fish. Because of this he spends some years as a male and some years as a female. He is between his Daniel and Daniella phase. So you see, ‘Sushi Dan’ is accurate.”

  Daniel turned about and brought a leather medical bag to Dr. Mutter and a silver tray.

  “It’s still not very nice,” Edgar muttered.

  Daniel avoided looking directly at Edgar or Mutter.

  The doctor noticed. “I’m sorry,” Mutter said to him in a teasing voice. “Did I hurt your feelings? Dear me! I did!”

  Mutter guffawed at his servant.

  “Oh, go soak your eyeballs, Flipper!” he jeered.

  Mortified, Edgar shuddered.

  He turned back to face her. “When he gets mad, he forgets to blink and his eyes dry out, you see,” he explained.

  Edgar just shook her head. “You’re a monster!”

  “Monster?” the doctor laughed maniacally. “I have yet to prove to you how truly monstrous I can be. Just wait. Before the hour is out you will see that ‘monster’ is quite a mild description for what I am.”

  The doctor rummaged about in his doctor’s bag and began pulling out items. He took out a vial of some viscous chemical and a small box and opened it. Within, couched on red velvet, shone a large hypodermic needle in pieces. He began to assemble the assorted parts.

  “They told me they had found the key,” Mutter said. “I knew what they meant.”

  Edgar swallowed with difficulty. “You work for them, don’t you?”

  Dr. Mutter’s Cheshire cat grin grew wider, if that was even possible.

  Edgar had her answer.

  “One would think you had learned some wisdom in your former career as an archeologist,” Mutter went on. “All would have been okay… if you had only done what they wanted you to. If you had become a government sanctioned historian, they would have let you go on all the exploring you wanted, dig up all the old bones, ancient trinkets and learn all the secrets of the dead, just as long as you reported your findings back to the home base at the government office. But no. You wanted to be an independent. Go where you will and do as you please.”

  Mutter waggled a scolding finger in her face.

  “It’s never that simple. And there’s always a price to pay. In your case the price was very high.”

  Dr. Mutter turned to his servant.

  “Sushi Dan,” he declared loudly, just to watch her wince. “Do you know what she did? What Edgar’s crime was?”

  Daniel turned to Mutter, seemingly surprised to be personally addressed. He then looked at Edgar. Daniel blinked. He shook his head once in denial. In spite of his flat look, Edgar saw a spark of genuine curiosity fire in his bulbous, eyes.

  “She wanted to go on a certain expedition to explore the secrets of an extinct race of aliens. It was said these aliens knew how humanity would end… down to the exact day. Government officials had a surprise meeting with her. They tried to convince her not to go. They even threatened her. But she didn’t listen. She went anyway and discovered the secret. So they kidnapped her and wiped her mind of all recollection of the expedition.”

  Here Edgar laughed. “Only the mind wipe didn’t work. Their machine was faulty.”

  “I’m telling the story!” Mutter growled. “Now where was I? Oh yes. It wasn’t that the machine didn’t work. It worked fine. You see the psychic power the boy has is, apparently, hereditary. Edgar has a tiny slice of it as well. Anyone messes with her mind and it defends itself.”

  Dr. Mutter paused just for dramatic effect. “She fried the machine! That was you, my dear, all you!”

  Mutter seemed pleased he had shocked her with his revelation and plunged on. “But we got you back now, didn’t we? Tell Sushi Dan what you did.”

  Here Edgar growled. “The government waved a trinket in front of my face, a special item that could only be found on Castor 5. I located a guide I thought was clean. He assured me he could get me onto Castor 5 secretly and just as quietly, ghost me off the planet. He lied! It was all a set up!”

  Dr. Mutter smirked. “I’m surprised you didn’t see that coming!” He shook his head, and laughed. “You know all of this could have been avoided a long time ago if you had just picked a side. You’re such a natural deka. But there were all those times you sympathized with the drones.”

  Edgar smiled. “What can I say? I never liked blanket terms or boxes. Some poor soul always gets caught in the corner.”

  “ ‘Some poor soul’… like you?” Mutter posed.

  Edgar’s eyes glittered fiercely. She refused to respond.

  The doctor waggled his head and continued. “Nevertheless you persist in hovering on the border, perpetually on the fence with every issue. Someday you will have to choose which side you wish to graze on.”

  Edgar simply shook her head. “But I already have chosen. I have chosen to choose. And that is all.”

  Mutter shook his head at the futility of it. “All this sniping at one another is pointless. You fail to comprehend that if you had just accepted the government’s offer to be their archeologist, none of this would have happened. You never would have been kidnapped, they never would have tried to wipe your mind and you never would have been trapped on this planet. All because you refused to conform as others expected. Now what has bucking authority ever gotten you?”

  Her eyes spat venom at the doctor. “All I wanted was to be left alone to live my life in peace!” she said with some heat. “Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. That’s all I wanted for Warren, too. What’s so wrong with that?”

  Mutter’s eyes glittered dangerously. “What’s so wrong is that you have proven time and time again that you cannot be trusted.”

  Edgar laughed. “The government trusts no one. Never has and never will!”

  The doctor parried with words. “They could tolerate leaving you alone… after they had trapped you here. But he was never yours to begin with.”

  His chair steamed and hissed as he rolled back and forth in front of her, explaining, “Every person on Castor 5 is owned by some big corporation. The drones pretty much belong to the refineries whether they are employed there or not. This boy was born as a ward of the state and is therefore government property. And they have taken a special interest in him. He will never truly be up fo
r adoption, not him. He’s their little puppet king.”

  She sniffed in defiance. “He’s my blood and therefore my family,” Edgar insisted. “And I have very few family members left, thanks to your bosses.”

  Mutter smiled and narrowed his eyes. “Then you should have given him back to the orphanage when you had the opportunity.”

  Edgar frowned and shook her head.

  The doctor raised his eyebrows. “Very well, as you wish. I’ve been ordered to give you one final chance to redeem yourself.”

  Edgar couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What are you saying?”

  “Well, it’s like this,” the doctor began, obviously relishing the words to come. “I’ve been told to negotiate a truce. One last time, join the government. Do everything they tell you no matter what your personal feelings and things may not go so badly for you. They could really use someone with your… skills.”

  She paused a moment to consider. Her eyes turned to the still form of the boy on the exam table. “And do I get Warren back?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Oh no! He’s not part of the deal. They get him and chances are they will be very careful to never let you see each other again. He belongs to them.”

  Edgar frowned and raised her chin. “Then there’s no deal,” she said with determination. “I want my family back.”

  She aimed a meaningful glance at Daniel. He stayed mute but raised a thin eyebrow.

  Dr. Mutter sighed and then smiled in almost gleeful eagerness. “I knew you’d say that. And that means I get to play with you!”

  He stabbed the hypodermic syringe into the vial.

  “What’s that?” Edgar said, automatically withdrawing back into the chair’s cushions.

  Dr. Mutter’s smile again rivaled that of the Cheshire cat. “I have no idea. Suppose we find out?”

  He withdrew the plunger, suctioning a large amount of the chemical into the syringe and primed it.

  For just a moment, Edgar remembered the shock of the chair.

  On the other hand, she wasn’t restrained in any way. If she dove out of the chair fast enough…

  “Oh, screw it!” she replied to herself.

  She kicked the syringe out of his hand. It flew clattering across the floor.

  Mutter cursed loudly and turned his wheelchair about with a hiss and a sputter.

  Edgar took her chance and cast herself headlong out of the chair. Daniel moved at the same instant. Fingers of electricity arced up from the chair and then quite suddenly winked out before reaching her. Edgar landed in a roll, spun onto her back and came up in a defensive crouch wondering what had happened to the chair.

  Daniel had switched the power off.

  She looked up to see that Mutter had somehow regained the syringe and was advancing on her again.

  “Oh good!” he chortled. “I get to chase you. What fun! I had hoped you would make a run for it.”

  Edgar didn’t know whether to be surprised or horrified. She decided she would think about that later. Her eyes darted about, looking for something, anything she could use as a weapon against the mad doctor who was quickly advancing on her.

  Then Daniel stepped in front of her. He had a tiny needle in his hand filled with a black substance. In one smooth movement, he stabbed the needle into Dr. Mutter’s chest, shoved the plunger down and then jumped back.

  The doctor stared at the syringe jutting out from his torso in shock. His eyes then turned back to Daniel.

  “What was that?” he gasped.

  Daniel smiled and spoke to his master for the very first and last time.

  “Blue spot octopus venom,” he said softly. “Enough to kill several men… in minutes.” He turned to Edgar. “He can’t hurt you now… or anyone… anymore.”

  As if in response to his words, the doctor’s torso began to convulse and seize. His eyes bulged wide and the spectacles toppled off his nose and hit the floor. Several of the lenses shattered, the rest just spider webbed.

  “How long do we have?” Edgar asked as she jumped to her feet.

  “Depends how long he can hold his breath,” Daniel explained as he circled around the mechanical wheelchair and began to tinker with the controls. “The poison works by paralysis. Its stops his lung function. He’s totally aware of everything going on around him. He just cannot react to anything.”

  Edgar was bending over Warren. She checked his pulse. It still beat. She held the metal bracelet on her wrist to his mouth and saw the shine on the metal go cloudy.

  Warren still breathed.

  She heaved a relieved sigh. Then she noticed Daniel’s frenzied activity behind the wheelchair. The doctor still shuddered, his pupils were wildly zipping about but they were starting to slow.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He paused and met her gaze. “Were you serious about helping me find my children?”

  Her brows wrinkled in concern. “Of course!” she assured.

  He turned back to his task. “Then I need to set up a ventilator so that he can breathe. He’d never willingly tell me what happened or where they are. But with your son’s help, maybe we can bypass the permission part.”

  The realization of what Daniel was suggesting gradually sunk into Edgar’s mind. “You want Warren to scan his brain and see what he knows?”

  Daniel’s hands flew as he nodded in return. “Didn’t I just say that?”

  Edgar smiled. “You were a bit more… verbose.”

  She gazed down upon Warren. His face was peaceful underneath the oxygen mask. She wondered what kind of dreams he was having.

  “Can you wake up my son?” she asked.

  Daniel was muttering as his fingers flew over the controls of Mutter’s chair. He responded distantly, “Eh? Sure, sure. Piece of cake. But right now getting the doctor stabilized is more important. He’s no good to me dead. But mostly dead? That I can work with.”

  Edgar nodded. She squeezed Warren’s hand. “Hang in there, son. Help is coming,” she whispered reassuringly. “Can you remove the dial on his powers Mutter installed?”

  There was a long pause.

  “No,” he responded finally. She could hear the disappointment in his voice. “It’s far too delicate an operation.”

  Edgar looked about the room. “How are we gonna get outta here?” she half mused to herself.

  “Aha! Got it!” Daniel declared in triumph as he stood up. “As to getting out of here and removing the dial from your son, don’t worry. I have friends in high places.”

  Daniel removed his lab coat and tossed it aside with obvious distaste.

  “However, you are going to have to sleep again. It’s the safest way to get everyone out without raising suspicion. I am truly sorry to keep doing this to you…”

  As he said this he pushed a button on a device on his wrist. At the same time there came a piercing whistle. It was so shrill, it caused physical pain, knifing through Edgar’s brain like an ice pick. She cried out in agony and doubled over.

  She felt herself falling…

  Chapter 9

  The first sensation Edgar had was that her ears were ringing. She could hear things but they seemed distant and far away, all except for the ticking of what sounded like a very big, wind up clock. There was a warm weight on her chest vibrating in a most comforting way. She smelled tea and the faint aroma of biscuits fresh out of the oven. Her stomach growled.

  She seemed to be reclining on soft cushions and there was a handknit throw spread over top of her. Unlike before, her comfort had been addressed.

  She moaned, afraid to open her eyes. Distantly she heard voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Someone with warm hands gently took hold of her face and turned it to the side. She felt a liquid dripped into her ear canal and then the hands turned her head again and repeated the procedure on the other side. The liquid crawled into her inner ear where it felt like it evaporated. Almost immediately her hearing improved and the ringing ceased.

  Slowly, f
earfully, she cracked open her eyes. An orange, tabby cat with dark, green eyes was reclining on her chest, smiling as a very comfortable feline is wont to do.

  “Morris!” Edgar screeched in delight and hugged the animal tightly to her chest.

  The animal yowled in protest and squirmed. Edgar rained a flurry of overjoyed kisses onto the animal’s head. As she heedlessly smooched away, she felt the orange fur transform under her hands into long, curly red tresses. The cat’s body lengthened and thickened, furry limbs becoming white skin, spattered with freckles.

  “Enough!” Morris declared with some irritation and threw her back onto the couch. “Yer embarrassin’ me!”

  And there was Morris in all her red-maned glory, perched on the edge of the couch. She was dressed a bit more sensibly than last Edgar had seen her, all in brown leather leggings, spats and a white blouse.

  “Nae in fron’ o’ tha bairn, me dear,” she scolded with a glance over her shoulder.

  Warren was sitting at a small table drinking tea. Across from him was Daniel who was pouring himself a cup.

  “Hullo,” Warren said with a smile.

  Edgar sat up and looked about and squinted at the brightness. They were in a large room with many windows and sunlight; actual, real sunlight streaming in. The whole room was humming. She stood up and strode to the nearest window to discover they were in the capsule carriage suspended from a dirigible above the smog of the planet.

  She turned about. The room was sumptuously furnished with padded chairs and golden curtains. A large, wooden grandfather clock ticked away next to the door. Along one wall without windows was an assortment of fish tanks, their air filtration systems happily bubbling away. In each tank was a pet octopus of various sizes. Edgar peered in curiosity at the assortment of the entangle until she came to the top tank. Then her eyes widened.

  It contained a blue spot octopus.

  She turned and looked at Daniel. He smiled and nodded.