King of Spades

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Madeline pushed at the double door at the end of the hallway to enter the control area of Sciphil Three residence. Ciaran hadn’t come back to the bed chamber. There was no way she would let him hide out in the control room and use the universe’s matter as his shield. They had to talk this out. It wasn’t like him at all to avoid a problem.

The security light above the double steel door glared down at her, blinking and scanning. She was sure that was a robotic eye-rolling gesture. If it could feel any pain at all, she would have given it a knuckle punch right now.

She tried to psychically peek into Ciaran’s mind several times without success. He knew her too well. Most importantly, he now knew how to block her out of his head. She couldn’t forget the look in his eyes when something had taken him over—and the look of those same beautiful eyes when he came back to her. Confusion. The fact that she’d lied to him about what had happened didn’t help. But she still thought they could always figure things out together.

The door didn’t budge. She stepped back and saw the control panel on the wall. She placed her right palm on it to verify.

“Good morning, Madeline LeBlanc, Sciphil One,” a robotic voice said.

“You are one hundred percent right, machine. I’m Sciphil One. Now open the door!” Nothing happened. “Please!” she added.

“Your access to this area has been denied.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”

“What would you like me to excuse you for?” the computer spat out.

“I need to talk to Ciaran.”

“Your access to this area has been denied,” the computer repeated in its monotone voice.

She waved her arms in the air, realizing there was no point arguing with a computer. She turned around and saw Robert, the home robot, approaching. “Good morning—”

“Ciaran didn’t respond to his wrist unit,” she interrupted. “I need to know what’s going on. Let me in,” she snarled, pointing at the door.

“I can’t alter Ciaran’s programs,” Robert said.

“Ciaran programmed it to lock me out? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Based on my calculation, there is a high probability that my answer would trigger negative emotions in you, Madeline. I can’t give you access, but I can give you this information. Ciaran isn’t in the control room. He left for the council meeting.”

“There isn’t a council meeting this morning!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, there is. It’s an urgent meeting regarding Sciphil Five replacement.”

Madeline narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t see any invitation. I’m the first councillor, and I don’t recall resigning!” She turned around and strode angrily away. Robert spun the little wheels on his feet and scurried after her.

“Madeline, I have a piece of data that I think I should reveal to you.”

“I’d think Ciaran would have programmed you to not talk to me as well! Aren’t you supposed to know what information I do and don’t have access to?” Madeline snarled again. She wasn’t sure if Robert could read her tone or merely understand what she said. His robotic eyes blinked rapidly, and he appeared to be processing an enormous amount of information. She swore she saw smoke coming out of his ears. “I’ve got to go to the meeting that I am uninvited to, Robert.”

“There is a ninety percent chance that the information I am going to give you is relevant to your interests. This is provided by an alternate program that Bran had given me. I can learn from human emotions. Ciaran didn’t know about this, and thus he didn’t block your access to this piece of information.”

Madeline arched an eyebrow. “Now you’ve got me interested. What do you have for me?”

“Ciaran blocked my access to the data of what happened in your bed chamber, so this analysis isn’t based on that.”

“Let’s keep it that way.” Madeline rolled her eyes. “Tell me the part that isn’t related to our bedroom activities, please.”

“I started my usual scan on Ciaran this morning before he could stop me. This partial scan revealed that there is a small amount of unusual energy running inside Ciaran. It is non-Eudaizian energy, and it’s not natural. I couldn’t tell Ciaran because the analysis was done using the program Ciaran didn’t have access to.”

“If he didn’t have access to it, why are you telling me?”

“Bran designed this program to protect Ciaran. When his mind is acting against him, Ciaran doesn’t have access, but a person who has his best interests in mind would have access. That person is you—his spouse.”

“Is that energy going to kill him or harm him in any way?”

“That’s inconclusive. If he meets the demand of the energy source, it will make him stronger. If not, it will explode his central nervous system. It arouses his s****l urges and requires a significant amount of s****l activity to match the demand of the energy source. Ciaran’s psychological profile indicates that he prefers female s****l counterparts, so I think—”

“That’s enough, Robert. So you’re saying there’s a source of artificial energy inside Ciaran that makes him strong, but he has to have s*x like a rabbit to meet its demand. Is that all, or is there something else he has to do to stay alive?”

“I don’t have any information about the s****l activities a rabbit needs. That is an Earth animal I don’t have data on. Nor do I have access to run experiments in order to collect data. However, Ciaran’s mental capacity is extremely strong, and he has the ability to resist the urge to engage in s****l activities with women other than you.”

Madeline nodded. “And he doesn’t know doing that is going to kill him.”

“Affirmative. He seemed to have had enough energy to run for today. But I am unsure about tomorrow. Given that it is a new source of energy, I am unsure whether we can drain it off. I don’t have enough data to draw conclusions on whether it’s a medical or metaphysical problem.”

“By any chance, do you know how the energy got into him?” Madeline asked.

“I located the entry point. It wasn’t airborne and wasn’t digested or injected. It came from a medical patch and penetrated via his left wrist.”

Madeline fell numb. Robert said something else, but she was no longer listening. Her head started ringing. She knew why the strange energy was inside him.

She had put it there.