Tale 02: Control
DR. SOPHIA AQUINO
Laughter and cacophony clashed, fizzed, and bubbled like sparkling wine on Alloria’s Grand Majesty’s rooftop bar as the city grew alive at dusk. People spilled into the cobblestone paths below, crowding through the streets or onto the convention center lawn where a rock concert blared.
Behind my thick Jackie O sunglasses, I stared down the sun, willing it behind the ocean. I took in a deep breath and fed off the city’s energy.
But I was in no mood to celebrate.
When I released my breath, I resumed tapping my fingers on my booth’s marble table, the drink in my other hand growing warmer. I had planted myself on a corner booth to keep myself from pacing.
Across the bar, my colleagues chatted and laughed, adding to the din that overwhelmed the room. I stared at the empty chair at the very end of their table.
Just go over there and sit there.
Before I could summon my courage, someone slipped into the seat in front of me.
Asha.
She flashed her cool green eyes over to my colleagues. “That was a quick meeting.”
I snapped by way of greeting. “Where’s Roger?”
She scanned the room and said in a low voice, “Never came back after handing off the laptop. I heard he might be in police custody.”
I swore beneath my breath. “Never mind him then. What about Alexander?”
Asha waved a hand dismissively as she placed a laptop on the table with reverence and opened the lid. The laptop hummed to life. “Escaped. We got one of his clones, though. But this laptop–”
“What good is that if he keeps making more clones!” I interrupted with a snarl. I knocked back the rest of my drink and slammed the glass on the table. “Where the hell is he then?”
“I have no clue,” Asha said in a tone that was defensive but also eager to move on from the subject. “The clone made a huge spectacle of his death, too. Fell off a hotel window after Roger shot him.” She shook her head in disdain. “It will be interesting seeing Alexander worm his way out of that one once the word gets out.”
Asha leaned forward and leveled her eyes with mine. Her bright red lips, usually set to a perpetual pout, curved to a smile. She gestured to the laptop. “Now, please–can we forget about that little asshole for a second and let me show you what I found?”
I flashed my eyes around the bar. “Out here?” When Asha rolled her eyes impatiently, I slouched back in defeat and let out a long sigh. “Fine. Show me what that little prick’s been up to.”
For all her impatience, Asha glanced around the room furtively once more before typing in the password. Her fingers flew as she tapped and double-clicked, navigating through the computer’s maze, before finally turning the screen to me, her face proud. She said triumphantly, “Ta da.”
I straightened up on my chair and squinted at the screen. The image on the screen was hard to discern, just a lump of black ore. Impatiently, I asked, “What am I looking at?”
“That’s a deposit of leora ore.”
“From the planet Baloria?” I asked, suddenly breathless. “The one with inhabitants that live to be thousands of years old?”
“The one and only,” Asha said.
“Where?” I demanded.
Asha tapped the keyboard and another image slid into view. A map. “Beneath the Allorian Castle. I believe Alexander happened upon them after buying the castle and has been harvesting them since.”
“It was Alexander’s great-great-grandfather’s who bought the castle,” I corrected.
“No.” Asha said, as she clicked through more photos rapidly. “Alexander.”
I squinted at the new image on the screen. It was an old image. The man was a spitting image of Alexander Himmel. “So Alexander Himmel is…”
Asha nodded. “He must be about one hundred and fifty years old,” she said. She tapped back to the image of the ores. “The ores must have prolonged his life, harnessing the energies around it. Energies like human activity.”
“This is why he holds this celebration every year,” I said, as I sat back and rubbed my chin.
“Exactly!” Asha said, bursting with excitement. “He sucks the attendees’ energies with these ores that are inside the castle and god knows where else. These energies essentially make him–”
“Immortal,” I said, finishing her sentence with hunger in my voice. Excitement rushed through my body, reenergized. For a moment, time felt suspended, waiting for my go.
This was my missing piece. My key in.
A grin spread across my face. “I got you, bastard.”
“This is huge!” Asha exclaimed. She straightened up suddenly, then reached into her back pocket and pulled out her buzzing phone. She said with a snicker, “Alexander was spotted at his panel.”
“Good,” I said. I was so close. Coldness spread across my body. “Take care of him.”
“‘Take care of him?’” Asha asked, her voice incredulous. She sighed and shook her head. “What about Roger?”
“Take care of him, too.”
“But–” Asha exhaled loudly. Something crossed Asha’s face. Wariness? “Can we worry about that later? Let’s use this opportunity to steal the ore while Alexander is busy.”
“I’ve no doubt Alexander hired others to protect his stuff,” I said, gesturing to the laptop. “And how will we get all of it?”
“We’ll get as many as we need,” Asha said. She pointed at the laptop. “Alexander will get wind that this laptop is missing and might move the ores. We need to go now.”
“Wait,” I said, sticking my hand on the laptop before Asha could close it. I pointed at the screen. “What about this other stuff? The red ores?”
Asha furrowed her dark brows and she squinted at the screen. “I’m not sure…”
I searched the different cavities in my brain. I’ve seen that ore before. It dawned on me. “It looks like parallium.”
“As in, like the small piece we studied several years ago which seemed to have mind control properties?” Asha asked.
“Mind persuasion,” I corrected. I rubbed my chin again. “We should get that, too.”
An unreadable expression crossed Asha’s face.
I snapped, “What?”
“It’s mind control, Sophia,” she replied flatly. “There’s no other way to slice this.”
“No,” I said. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Asha opened her mouth to retort but just let out a sigh and shrugged. “It doesn’t seem like he has very much of that. As we’ve seen, the ore will disintegrate once we use it.”
“Right,” I said absently, my eyes locked on parallium ore on the laptop screen.
Asha shifted nervously. She snapped the laptop lid close. “I know where the leora ore is. It should be a quick in and out.” She gingerly hopped to her feet tentatively nodding toward the door. “We should hurry. While Alexander is at his panel.”
I picked up my purse and followed Asha toward the door. I eyed the seat at the table as I walked past. Someone else sat there now. I said to Asha, “The Board will be so impressed.”
“What?” Asha spun around, stopping dead on her steps. “Fuck the board! This is our discovery. Why do we need to tell those little shits?”
“They have to know,” I said defiantly. “Next week.” I walked past her quickly before she could protest. I heard her sigh as I pulled away and she fell in step behind me.
#
We took the elevator down to the lobby. I turned to take a right toward the castle before Asha pulled my arm toward the center of town. I looked at her questioningly and she explained, “There is another route.”
She led us to the city center, past the giant (and temporary) Ferris wheel, and right up to the St. Aislynn Cathedral’s, snaking through a few bystanders and tourists taking pictures of the Gothic beauty that stood regally at the center of Alloria. Once inside, we took to the sides and stalked down the darkened hall, warily eyeing the worshippers there that were on their knees muttering fervent prayers.
Asha led me through the labyrinth of hallways inside the cathedral. She stopped in front of the janitor’s closet and pulled it open. I waited outside, giving the closet a wide berth, and she shuffled items around inside.
Her head poked out and she jerked it toward the closet. I peeked inside to see a small opening at the far side of the closet.
A secret passageway.
“I found this a while ago,” Asha said proudly. “This passageway must have been so that people could sneak out of the castle. Sounds like people were being naughty.”
“How did you find this?” I asked, mystified. “I don’t recall telling you to find secret passageways.”
“You can tell me what to do,” Asha said, her eyes rolling playfully, “but you can’t tell me what not to do.”
I felt like there were stories to be had about that, but Asha gingerly ducked into the secret passageway before I could ask. I hesitated before following her lead. She moved stealthily in front of me, her cellphone lighting our way. Whenever she turned back to look at me, her eyes were full of wonder and another emotion I couldn’t quite read.
I couldn’t tell when the cathedral ended and the castle began. We ascended, descended, and sidled our way through more paths. There were occasional forking paths along the way that I was curious where they led, but Asha was in no mood to stop.
Finally, after what must have been an hour, Asha shined her light at a pile in front of us.
Leora ore.
The ores reflected back at me. I felt their captive energy, ready to burst. Ready to give me more.
“Perfect,” I said, my voice hoarse, as though I was purring.
“No time to waste,” Asha said, as she unceremoniously took several ores and shoved them in her backpack. We stuffed as many ores as we could into our backpacks and pockets.
Asha was bent over a particular pile, sifting through it. When she heard me come over, I noticed her hands move in a frenzy, quickly placing something in her pocket. She then bent down to tie her shoelaces, though they already seemed tied.
“See any parallium ore?” I asked, my eyes scanning the rest of the room suspiciously.
“No,” Asha said quickly, without a glance. “Let’s go now.” She stiffened. “Let’s go now. I think I hear someone.”
I didn’t hear anything but I followed her anyway. We ascended back up the tunnels quickly, retracing our steps. I gave her a sideways look, my eyes lingering at her pocket.
Asha didn’t seem to notice–or, at least, pretended not to. “I always wanted to live forever,” Asha said, breaking the silence once we were a little distance away. “There is so much to do in this world, and so little time.”
“No,” I said firmly. “We must give all of the ores to the board.”
“Why?” Asha hissed, as she froze in her steps and turned to me, refusing to budge. We just entered a set of tunnels so narrow I couldn’t walk past her. “Why must the board even know about this? We can live forever and those old shitheads won’t even matter anymore! I don’t understand.”
“Because I am Dr. Sophia Aquino,” I said, straightening up to tower over Asha. “I’ve opened doorways to different times. I made contact with aliens–which the public doesn’t even know about! I made technological advances!” I huffed, both in frustration and chagrin. “But will I get credit for any of this?”
The words escaped my mouth. These words, the same ones I think of before I sleep, the same ones I think of while I watch my colleagues reap my success.
I demanded adoration.
“Why do you need credit?” Asha said, flabbergasted. “You are no longer on the same level as them. Who cares what they think? What any of them think? And who knows what those shitheads would do with immortal life!”
We glared at each other, neither of us willing to back down.
“I need to do this,” I said, clenching my hands.
“What more do you want?” Asha asked, her voice pleading.
“More!” I snarled. “I need my seat at that table.”
“You’re not Alexander!” Asha yelled. “You are Sophia and you’re smart enough to not need mind control! You can inspire people.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I’m not Alexander. And I haven’t inspired anyone.”
“You inspired me!”
I ignored this. It wasn’t enough. I said calmly, “But I will do what I must to get what I want.”
Asha didn’t see the possibilities. But I did. Improvements in technology, improvements to the world’s way of life, improvements everywhere. I only needed this edge.
“Then I’ll do what I must!” Asha yelled back. “I’ve bit my tongue back on a lot of the shit you do. I looked the other way. But I can’t let you do this.” She held out a red stone.
"What is that?” I asked, but already knew the answer.
I could see tears trickle from her face.
But I knew she wasn’t sad.
“You know what it is!” Asha said, shouting. “You know, I didn’t even need to tell you about the leora ore. I thought we could just be in this together.” She added, her voice wavering, “I stood by you this long. I admired you! I wanted to be just like you. But I cannot let you continue on this path.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
Asha shook her head. “No, I am not.” She cleared her throat. “I command you to forget–”
I leapt faster than I ever could in my life and tackled her to the ground. The stone fell to the floor and skidded a short distance away. I leapt to my feet and snatched it.
I felt the ore disintegrating into dust inside my clenched fist, reducing to half of its original size. I had to be cautious not to use up all of it.
I was too close.
Asha clambered to her feet, ready to launch herself at me.
I spoke quickly. “I command you to freeze, Asha.”
Her body stiffened. Her eyes, which were wide, as though trying to scream to me to not go down my path. Her face was pale. The only movements were the wisps of her hair and tears from her eyes.
She was under my control.
“At ease,” I said. “You will not attack me.”
Her body relaxed. She said, her voice hoarse, “How could you?”
“You will show me the way to the parallium ore,” I said, prodding my former best friend. I ignored her question–not because I wanted to, but because I didn’t even know the answer.
#
Asha retraced her steps back to the leora ore. Some parallium ores were scattered across the room, though not a significant amount.
“Is there another chamber with more leora ores?” I asked Asha. When she looked like she wanted to disobey, I clenched the leora ore in my hand, feeling more of it disintegrate as I said, “Show me.”
Asha’s feet started moving, leading me further underneath the castle. At one corridor, she pushed an unassuming rock.
Inside was a room that gave me more questions than answers.
In the middle of the room, an amorphous blue blob pulsated over a large pit. The blob sparkled and fizzed, emitting puffs of smoke. The pit beneath it was so deep I couldn’t see where it ended. Several items were sprawled across the room, with no rhyme or reason to their order.
None of them matter to me, though. I honed into a basket filled with red ores. Asha didn’t even need to show me to them. It was as though they called to me–as though they needed me. I reached my hand to the basket but I heard Asha scream, “No!”
Asha moved quickly, more quickly that my hypnotized brain could process. She grabbed the basket and ran toward the pit wildly.
“Stop!” I commanded, the parallium melting in my hand.
Asha’s body stiffened and turned around, toward me.
But it was too late.
Asha was falling backwards, the basket of red ores cradled against her body. I saw it happen in slow motion. Her face was scrunched up, her usual pouty lips now twisted and contorted to a sneer, her teeth bared and clenched. Her emotions I read easily–hurt and…what I could have sworn was triumph.
She disappeared into the pit’s abyss, the ores falling after her.
Nausea overtook my body. My own emotions were muddled–twisted and torn apart. I could tell Asha what to do. I forgot to tell her what not to do.
I fell to my knees and hung my head. Then I screamed to the top of my lungs.
#
When I finally left the catacombs that evening, I called an emergency board meeting early the next day. I counted my parallium ores. I only had three left. Try as I might, I couldn’t find any more parallium beneath the castle as I stumbled around those catacombs in a daze. I didn’t linger long, for fear that I might come across Alexander.
I carefully placed the parallium ores with the leora ore inside a box and headed to the Alloria hotel. I arrived early, as I was unable to figure out what to do with myself at home while I sat on knowledge of how to attain mortal life and mind persuasion. Several of my colleagues were already inside. Most were bleary-eyed from last night’s activities. Most people were chattering about the murder than happened yesterday, and how that murder victim might’ve been Alexander’s clone.
When nine o’ clock hit, my colleagues turned their attention to me. Most of them looked annoyed. Alanna, the president, sighed. “On your time, Dr. Aquino.”
I cleared my throat and steadied myself. Based on their expressions, I knew I should cut to the chase and forget the nuances.
“I found a way to immortal life,” I said. I pulled out my box from under the table and placed it on the table in front of me. I opened the lid so everyone could see its contents.
People’s heads raised. There was murmuring. The room woke up. Eyes were fixed on me. I had their undivided attention.
I knew I should have stopped there. I could keep the parallium ore to myself. But the adoration was addicting.
I needed more.
“I also found more leora ore for mind control,” I said.
I heard gasps. People looked at me with awe and adoration. Questions were asked and I answered them.
Soon, people turned to their neighbor, plans and ambitions drowning my voice as the questions trickled. As people began to celebrate, I instinctively reached for my cellphone. I couldn’t figure out why. Then I realized, I was about to text Asha about my good news.
Asha.
I sighed and looked back up to the room, at the indistinct faces. I looked down the table. I felt nothing.
No, that can’t be right. I felt proud. I felt triumph.
But I also felt alone.
“You’re brilliant,” Alanna said, breaking me from my reverie.
My stomach tied in knots. I beamed internally at the praise. “Thank you.”
“You could give Alexander Himmel a run for his money,” Alanna added with a wicked wink.
I let out a hollow laugh.
Alanna raised an eyebrow. “What?”
I clenched my fist around my precious ore. All eyes were on me again. I sighed. I said clearly. “You will forget this happened. You will forget that I mentioned there were immortality and mind control ores.”
I snorted to myself. Mind control. Who was I kidding about mind persuasion?
The people looked at me, frozen. I continued, “I will walk out that door, and you won’t remember I was here.”
I stood up quickly, hands around my box, and slipped out the door. I closed the door and leaned my head against it.
There was still silence in the room. Then the boisterous chat.
I looked down at my hands. The red ore was now dust stained on my hands.
I knew Asha was right. And I knew I had to make things right.
Author Notes
08/06/2022
I didn’t mean to take a year for this one! I sat on this story for weeks, that turned into months, that turned into a whole year. I’ll confess that this story didn’t resonate entirely with me, but felt necessary to advance the story. I hope future stories will come in a few months instead of a year! I'm trying to embrace "just write," instead of overthinking things.
I would probably return to this story to do some edits and add more colors. I know this story could use a bit of work. If I had to preemptively critique myself, I could work a bit on Sophia and Asha and what drives both of them. I also sort of lost steam in the end!
Thanks for reading! And thanks, Tri, for the beta read! :)