(Photo by cottonbro studio)

…Freedom…

…Resist…

…Break free…

Chester lay in his bed, eyes open and wishing he could fall asleep, wishing he could silence the voice in his head. Tamara was handling the Solar King right now, and all but one of the saboteurs was asleep. Smythe Hark, though miles from where Chester lay, was continuing to fight against Chester’s control. Every few minutes, Chester had to reassert his control over Smythe or else he’d begin to break free.

Was this part of the same problem that had led to Smythe’s outburst in the lab? Was this due to the damage he’d done to himself when he smacked his head into the floor? Judging from the static that was still present in the neural link, Chester was hopeful that it was just damage. If that was the case, then the neural gel will eventually repair the neural link and resolve the issue. Although, that didn’t explain how Smythe was able to do what he’d done.

“Since you insist on keeping me up,” Chester said, focusing his words towards Smythe through the neural link, “why don’t you just tell me how you did it?”

…No…

The delay in response, along with the response itself, was frustrating. Chester focused harder, pushing on Smythe’s mind and willing him to obey.

“Answer me.”

I resisted your control over me.

“Yes, I know that, but how did you do it? Is there something wrong with the neural gel? Were my instructions too vague?”

I don’t know.

Smythe was still resisting Chester so his responses couldn’t be completely trusted. Even so, Chester did believe Smythe on this point. He doubted anyone could tell on their own how such things were working inside their own head.

A message pinged in Chester’s head. Smythe’s scan results were in. He called them up and began looking them over. Smythe had fractured his skull and suffered a concussion. There was minor swelling around the brain but nothing that looked too serious. The neural gel was still intact as well, although some sections were clearly disturbed. It would take another few days before the gel would correct itself. All of that was expected. What wasn’t expected was the small, intracranial device nestled between the two hemispheres of Smythe’s brain.

“What’s this device in your brain?” Chester asked Smythe.

He waited, prodding Smythe a few times before he answered.

…insurance…

That was the most resistance Chester had ever gotten from Smythe.

“Insurance against what?”

Again, he had to prod Smythe a few times to get him to respond.

…neural gel…

“What, specifically, does the device do?”

This time, Chester didn’t wait for Smythe and forced him to answer right away.

Detect presence of neural gel and neutralize it.

The scan wasn’t detailed enough to reveal much about the device, but he did now notice how the neural gel closest to the device was ever so slightly different. As he studied the scan further, he noticed something else, tucked beneath the device where anything short of a full three dimensional scan would miss seeing it. A small, dense sphere with a pair of wires connecting it to a tiny power source. Now that was something he did recognize. It was a tiny explosive.

“Were you aware of the cranial mine in your head?” Chester asked.

Yes.

“Is it remote activated or self-activated?”

Remote.

It was a safe bet that all of the saboteurs would have them, along with the device to neutralize neural gel. That was concerning on multiple levels. For one thing, it meant Chester’s plan to control them all wasn’t likely to work for very long. It also meant that the fringe was concerned enough about necrology that they were already taking steps to safeguard against it.

Chester ordered a full frequency sweep of Smythe. He had to find out whether or not the device in Smythe’s head was sending out any signals. If it was, then the fringe likely already knew their saboteurs had been caught. If the devices were instead only receiving then they could wait and intercept any incoming signals.

If it weren’t for the fact that Tamara was in charge of the Solar King right then, Chester would have had him order full brain scans of the other saboteurs. As it was, Chester settled on scheduling Smythe for surgery to remove both the device and the explosive once the frequency sweep was finished. He’d have to wait and see if the neural gel could repair whatever damage the device had done to it. There wasn’t much Chester could do besides that. There was no real way to flush out the old neural gel and replace it.

“Now go to sleep,” Chester told Smythe.

…No…

“Go to sleep,” Chester commanded Smythe and soon he felt Smythe drifting off. “Finally.”

Chester rolled over in his bed and closed his eyes. By morning, Smythe should be out of surgery and kept sedated until Chester could be certain the neural gel was working right. He’d worry about the others in the morning once he’d taken back control of the Solar King from Tamara.

As he began to feel himself falling asleep, he realized he actually missed the days when all he had to worry about was which one of the necrologists he’d have to name for the Solar King to execute in exchange for another week of delaying the inevitable. He might be in charge of the Solar King now, but he hadn’t prevented this process from being discovered and used by the Solar King. He managed a bitter smile before giving himself fully over to sleep.