(Photo by Branimir Balogovic)

There were a lot of things Chester disliked that he nevertheless still engaged in. Violence was one such thing Chester hated. It had been decades since he’d last needed to take a life, but now he was adding to his body count once again. First the Solar King, although that was mostly an accident, but then there was Smythe Hark who had forced Chester’s hand. Now, as Chester looked down on yet another of his necrologists, a promising, talented woman, he remembered why he hated himself so much sometimes. It was because, deep down, he always knew what he was willing to do in order to keep himself safe.

“Please, sir,” she begged as tears ran down her cheeks. “I promise I won’t tell anyone, just let me go. Please?”

She was already strapped down to the table. Chester hadn’t even needed to knock her out. He waited until she was beside the table and then pinned her down with one hand while the other secured the straps. At no point in time did she scream. She knew, like he did, that the lab was perfectly soundproofed.

Chester wanted to say something to her, to comfort her perhaps, but what could he say? In the end, he settled on telling her what he was about to try out on her.

“There’s a…situation,” he began. “I have someone under my control. It was an accident in the lab and…well, I had to use one of the older methods so the person is not very autonomous. I have to keep an eye on him far too much. I need help.”

“I have a neural uplink,” she said, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. “I can help any way you need.”

“I know,” Chester said. “That’s why I asked you to come.”

He had to look away from her. She’d been on the team for several months now, an accomplishment among her fellow necrologists. Like all the others, Chester did not spend a lot of time trying to remember their names. It made it easier for him. They’d come and go and as long as he kept them all at a distance, he didn’t have to think too hard about all the lost lives. Now, he tried to remember her name. It started with an ‘S’ he thought, or maybe a ‘T’.

“Samara?” he ventured.

“It’s Tamara,” she replied.

“Of course, sorry.”

“That’s…

For a moment he thought she was going to say ‘that’s fine’. Perhaps she was going to as just a reflexive reply. Either way she didn’t finish the sentence.

“So, who can I help you with?” she asked instead.

Chester closed his eyes and his shoulders drooped.

“Mister Hark was helping me, up until today,” he said. “we were doing rotations throughout the day so we could each get some sleep at night.”

“I can do that,” Tamara replied, eager, brimming with the same helpful energy she’d always had.

“I know. I really hope this works.”

“I promise I’ll do whatever it is you need me to do,” Tamara said, “You know I’m a fast learner and –

“The Solar King is the subject,” Chester cut her off. “I have been in control of him ever since his last inspection.”

He turned back to Tamara and her face was even paler now.

“Oh,” she said.

“Like I said, there was an accident in the lab. I did what I could but…I’ve been working on something new,” he shifted the conversation a little. “All this time we’ve been focused on creating perfect little soldiers and spies for the Solar King. Recently, I started wondering how someone might struggle to handle having dozens of people connected to their neural uplink. Even a perfect system would eventually be overworked by the constant input. This past week has really shown me how much we need a way to sort the data and take the strain off the one who’s managing the subjects.”

“Like a data hub?” Tamara suggested.

“Exactly,” Chester nodded.

“So you and Smythe need me to do that for the two of you?”

“I need you do that for me,” Chester corrected her. “Mister Hark had too many opinions about what we ought to have the Solar King do. I, uh, revoked his access this morning.”

Tamara’s eyes went wide.

“But what if he tells someone?” she gasped. “I can’t believe it. He was so calm today, too. I’d have thought he…he would…”

She met Chester’s gaze and understanding passed between them.

“You’re controlling him now too, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Neither moved or spoke for a while after that. Then, Chester began to pull out the tools and gel.

“Wait,” Tamara almost shrieked. “I can help you! What use am I as another subject?”

“You won’t be a subject,” Chester assured her, “and if I knew I could trust you then I would leave you completely alone and just share the responsibility with you like I did with mister Hark. But how well do we really know each other?”

Tamara searched for the right words to say but all that happened was her mouth opening and closing over and over.

“This is a different neural gel,” Chester said as he prepared the injectors. “This won’t turn you into a puppet, not exactly. You’ll still be you, and I won’t be able to make you do anything against your will. You won’t even remember this conversation if this all works how I think it should.”

“Then what does it do?” Tamara asked.

“It will let me borrow some of your mind, from time to time,” Chester said. “Basically, I tell your mind some things about how I want the Solar King to behave. Then, buried in your subconscious, your brain will keep things going. If something major comes up then your mind will notify me and I’ll take over until whatever’s going on is done.”

“You’re sure I’ll still be me?” Tamara asked.

“You don’t even need to be dead for this neural gel to take effect. Just a quick injection, and then you’ll forget all about this.”

“And you’re sure it works? Are there any other side effects?”

Chester was about to answer her honestly but then he saw the willingness, the relief even in her expression and he couldn’t bring himself to dash her hopes.

“Of course,” he lied, “and besides maybe feeling a little foggy for a few days, you should be fine.”

Tamara held his gaze for several seconds until she was satisfied.

“Alright,” she sighed, “let’s do this then. You’ve always treated us well, Chester. I’ll trust you to know what you’re doing. It’s not as if we can afford to lose the Solar King, so if this is what I have to do to help…I guess I’m alright with that.”

Chester hesitated. Why did she have to be like this? So trusting, so willing to accept her fate. She didn’t look angry or even terrified. There was still fear, of course, but it wasn’t the mortal fear she’d had just a few minutes ago.

His hand was on the injector. The neural gel was ready to go. Tamara wasn’t struggling. But still he didn’t move. He couldn’t move. Sure, he’d killed people before, but that was always to save his own life. Those people were a direct threat to him. Even with Smythe Hark, Chester didn’t have much of a choice. But Tamara? He’d invited her here, strapped her down, and was about to perform an unproven procedure on her that just as well might result in her losing all cognitive functions. She’d done nothing to deserve this.

“What am I doing?” he asked himself in a whisper so quiet that Tamara didn’t seem to hear him.

He lowered the injector, unable to go forward with it, not when he knew she was innocent. But if not this solution then what was he going to do? Tears began to form in his eyes and he began to blink them away.

“Chester?” Tamara asked. “Are you alright? I’m ready.”

“No,” Chester replied. “I…this is wrong.”

It was true that, in order to do what he did, Chester had long since taken a rather flexible approach towards morality, but there were still things he couldn’t deny as being right and wrong. His hands were shaking as he put down the injector and began releasing the straps binding Tamara.

“Sir?” she asked, confused and relieved.

“I’m sorry for putting you through that,” Chester said, trying to think fast and come up with a way to salvage the situation. “Having to do what I did to mister Hark this morning has me a bit rattled. I do need your help with the Solar King, but I had to be certain you were trustworthy.”

Tamara nodded, rubbing her arms where the straps had been.

“So, I’ve decided you can be trusted,” Chester went on. “Will you accept the shared responsibility of keeping the Solar King functioning?”

Tamara’s eyes went even wider as she considered the possibility.

“I’ll be the one to handle all the big problems,” he assured her. “All you need to do is just keep him moving, thinking, doing what he would normally do. A gentle nudge is all he needs most of the time.”

“I, I, uh,” she stammered as she thought before settling herself. “It’ll be an honor.”

Chester placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you,” he said and meant it. “Prepare yourself, I’m going to connect you to His Golden Eminence in three…two…one…