The Mind Element: Ch. 01

Ness came to the point, "Colonel Baker, you have a progress report for me?"

Dan Baker had decided to start with the good news first. "Yes Mr Ness. Last time I told you who I thought would be the best secondary target and we have now confirmed this. She is geographically remote from the others and also closest to where you have asked them to be taken. We have completed the observation of her movements and established her patterns. She can be taken at any time. I foresee no difficulty."

"Hmmm, perhaps," replied Randall Ness thoughtfully, "but remember what I told you, for your own sake. In all cases the target must be taken by surprise, rendered unconscious immediately and then kept drugged until you reach the facility I have prepared to receive them, where I have containment measures ready."

It was true that Ness had given this warning before, but Baker was even more surprised by it now he had had the chance to research all the potential targets. One man and five women, they hardly seemed dangerous. None had any military or secret service background. In fact, apart from that they were all perhaps somewhat above the average in intelligence and looks, there was nothing special about them at all. Or rather there hadn't been until the man - Christopher Ward - had mysteriously come into a lot of money a couple of years back. It also seemed Ward was in some kind of polyamorous relationship with all the women; Baker cynically assumed his wealth explained how that had come about.

Baker had a detailed dossier on each of the potential targets. The one selected as the secondary target was Sarah Chen, commonly known by her middle name of Matsu. She worked for the Taiwanese Institute of Marine Biology, researching fish stocks. It was true that one of her hobbies was martial arts, but although in her early 20s and physically fit, she was still a small slip of a woman. Since he intended to employ a squad of eight burly ex-special forces soldiers to kidnap her, trained in all forms of armed and unarmed combat, he hardly felt there was much danger, and he now said so.

"Of course we will follow your instructions, Mr Ness, just as you wish. But I can assure you my men are highly capable. I hardly think a young woman like that will cause us any trouble."

Randall Ness fixed Baker with a steely gaze that had quelled many a boardroom and stockholder meeting. "Colonel Baker, it might interest you to know that two years ago your six targets fought an enemy that would have slaughtered you and all your men in less time than it is taking me to tell you this. And that enemy is now gone, dead as far as I know, and they are still here. Believe me, each one of them is lethally dangerous. I have hired you to do this job because you are the best that money can buy - I only hope that will prove sufficient."

Baker was a little shaken by the strength of Ness' conviction on that point, which he still could not understand. For one thing he had no idea what enemy Ness was referring to. It was true that his research had found that the group was caught up in some kind of natural disaster in Greece a couple of years back, involving an earthquake, a landslide and some kind of flash flood, but he couldn't see what that had to do with anything.

Dan Baker's composure was not improved by the fact that he had now reached the 'bad news' part of his report and he was expecting a negative reaction from Ness; in the event he was to be pleasantly surprised.

"Turning to the primary target," he began, "I'm afraid we have we have been having some... difficulties."

"Really," said Ness urbanely, "how interesting. Tell me more."

The primary target - the person Randall Ness had hired Daniel Baker and his team to capture - was Athena Makris, 28, Greek born but currently Professor of Physics at a southern Italian university. When Ness had contacted him, Baker had quoted two months as the timescale for kidnapping this woman. In reality he had expected to have it done in a fortnight. Most people follow predictable routines in their lives and it is just a case of mapping them then picking the point at which they are most vulnerable. Matsu Chen fitted this pattern and he could have taken her at any time in the last month, except he had strict instructions that the two women had to be seized simultaneously - and Makris was proving a problem. The two months had passed and she remained at liberty.

"Well... it's strange," Baker said uncertainly, "The target is just as predictable as most people and we have mapped her routines and identified her vulnerable points and yet every time we set an ambush and are ready to capture her, she suddenly does something different - takes a route not used before or goes and seeks out company or something - and we have to abandon the operation. That's happened five times now. It is almost as if she knows something is wrong and acts accordingly."

Baker was anticipating an angry response - after all Ness was paying him a ridiculously large sum for this operation and was entitled to expect results. To his surprise, at this news Ness beamed happily - the first smile Baker could remember from any of their meetings, rubbed his hands together with some glee and said: "Good, good, yes, really excellent. So it's true." Then Ness paused and added, "I suggest you try tinfoil hats."

Baker stared at him for a moment and then started to laugh. He had heard of the internet meme where wacky conspiracy theorists who believed the government was trying to control them were said to wear tinfoil hats to stave off mind control. Clearly Ness was making a joke. Then his laughter died on his lips; Randall Ness was not laughing, instead he was giving the sort of look Baker had expected to get for his bad news.

"You're... you're serious?" Dan Baker asked incredulously.

"Yes, Colonel, I am. Give it a try. You may find it helps. One other reminder before you go; except for the minimum amount of violence that is required to acquire the ladies and keep them subdued, no harm or injury is to be done to them. I want both delivered to the facility I have prepared intact and unharmed. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course. My men are disciplined professionals. They have their orders."

"Excellent. I will see you next when you have completed your mission. Good hunting Colonel."

*****

Athena Makris was finding her day bearable, but a little odd. She was successfully screening out the 'noise' of other people's emotions and for the most part nothing felt out of the normal. But not fully so - there was a faint something at the back of her consciousness, like the buzz of an annoying mosquito. Athena did her best to ignore the sensation and not let it irritate her, especially when at the end of the working day she was visited by Marco Ricci.

They had spent the latter part of the afternoon going through some new ideas he had about parallel dimensions for the thesis he was working on. The underlying maths was highly ingenious but also flawed, as she had carefully pointed out. If those flaws were corrected, he might well be onto something interesting, which, as it happened, would support Athena's own work on the subject.

Finally, he had left to work through the points she had made and Athena had locked her office and left the university campus to go home to the flat she rented. As she reached the place where her car was parked, the faint mosquito hum she had been feeling on and off all day intensified enough to draw her attention. Athena turned and saw two men approaching. They were wearing hoodies that partly concealed their faces and, weirdly, she noticed sliver foil peeking out from underneath them... but she never saw the third man behind her who now hit her with a Taser. As she lay on the ground stunned, the first two men shot her with tranquilizer darts and she knew no more for some time.

Near simultaneously - despite the 6 hour time difference - Daniel Baker's second snatch squad entered Matsu Chen's apartment and finding her asleep were able to surprise and abduct her without difficulty. The first part of Randall Ness' plan was complete.

*****

The first person to notice that something was amiss was not a resident of planet Earth. It was Fay who discovered something was amiss with the mistress she adored and worshipped. Entering the Queen's bedchamber she discovered Athena alive but unresponsive in her bed. Seemingly asleep, she could not be woken by any means. Alarmed, Fay had gone directly to the Emperor. The one they tolerated most of the time was lazy and feckless, albeit harmless, but that was because the god Christopher was not present in him. In a crisis such as this the god could be summoned and he would know what to so.

A short while later and Christopher Ward's consciousness had entered his Aether world body and not long after, he was joined by Brigit, Freya and - as Jenny was known here - Queen Kitaka. But Queen Matsu did not answer the call and that was when they discovered that Athena was not the only one who was missing. A check established that her Aether world body was also lying alive but comatose in her water palace on the shores of one of the plant's oceans.

Given that the bodies functioned, but were clearly cut off from their controlling minds, there was one obvious conclusion. "This must mean Athena and Matsu are alive but trapped somewhere on Earth, unable to contact the Aether world - or even us back home" Chris surmised. "There is nothing more we can do here. We need to get back to our world and start looking for them."

He turned to walk out of the bedchamber where Athena lay and Brigit, Freya and Jenny turned to follow him, but he stopped when Fay suddenly ran forward. Greatly daring, she tugged at the Emperor's sleeve and then fell to her knees by his side. She gazed up into Chris' face and with tears in her eyes pleaded her case: "Please, your majesty. Take me with you. I love Queen Athena with all my heart. I want to help find her and save her. I... I couldn't bear to be left here, waiting, doing nothing."

Chris stared at her for a moment. The whole notion was ridiculous and he was in a hurry. His fear and haste made him more abrupt than he intended, for he was not a cruel man.

"No, I'm sorry, but that's not possible. We don't have time for this. Come on." The final remark was addressed to Brigit, Freya and Jenny, and the first two followed him out, although not without a pitying glance at Fay, who remained kneeling, tears running down her pretty face.

Jenny, however, stopped and pulled Fay to her feet. She gave her a hug and then said: "Don't worry Fay. I think it can be done."

"What... will you help me Queen Kitaka?"

"Yes. I will try. Athena asked that I prepare a body for you and it is nearly ready. Finishing it will need the others to cooperate, including Chris - I mean your Emperor - but I'll win him round. He wasn't angry with you a moment ago, just scared for Athena."

"We all are your majesty. That's why I want to help," the handmaiden said, earnestly.

"You have a good heart Fay - and that is worth a lot in any world. Try to be prepared for anything; the world you will enter is very different to this one and I'm not sure what will happen."

*****

Back on Earth the first person to notice the disappearance of Athena Makris was her post-graduate student, Marco Ricci. Her first official business of the day was a lecture at 10 a.m., but she had agreed the day before to see him briefly in her office an hour earlier so he could discuss any changes he had made to his paper after their talk.

When Marco arrived, the professor was not there. It was unlike her not to be punctual, but he waited, steadily becoming more alarmed. At 9.30 he reported her absence to the university authorities, but they only became concerned when Athena did not appear for the lecture. She wasn't answering her mobile or emails either. Finally, they reported her missing to the local police, who broke into her flat and established she wasn't there. In fact, Athena Makris seemed to have vanished.

An official search commenced, but Marco found he couldn't just sit and wait for news; he had to do something to help. So over the next few days he took to every social media platform he could and put the word out. This didn't produce any results, but did draw him to the notice of Freya Nordlander, Mistress of Air, who Chris had put on monitoring social media for any sign of Athena or Matsu. So it was that when a week later Chris ordered a gathering in Italy of those who might be able to help find Athena, Marco Ricci, to his surprise, got an invitation. Still keen to do what he could to assist, he accepted.

*****

"So what is this?" Chris asked, unusually abruptly for him, pointing at the lab table in front of him. He had spent the past few days organising the search for Athena and Matsu by means both mundane and mystic. The latter had drawn a blank. Whatever had happened to the two women had severed the mental links they had with him and the rest of the group. He knew they were alive because their avatars in the Aether world were, albeit unconscious due to being cut off from the minds of gave them their animation, but that was all.

Chris' hopes now lay in a more conventional approach, and he had hired private investigators to check leads in Italy and Taiwan, while also managing to gain access to the police records in both places - his money could open a lot of doors. To date this had been no more successful, but then these things took time. He was flying out to Italy himself tomorrow to lead the search for Athena in person.

In truth, Brigit, Freya and Jenny had been just as busy in the search as he had and cared every bit as much about finding Athena and Matsu as Chris did, but they - and Jenny in particular - had devoted a little of their spare time to another project. It had no impact on their work on the main business at hand, but Chris was afraid, and that made him somewhat unreasonable.

And, admittedly, the sight in front of him was somewhat macabre at first glance. Lying on the table was what appeared to be a human corpse. Specifically it was that of a young woman, of around 20, of somewhat elfin appearance, but still recognisably human, except for one feature - strikingly purple hair, not dyed, but naturally that colour.

"What is this thing?" Chris said again, although he had recognised the likeness to the handmaiden Fay from the Aether world. "It had better not be made of anything human."

"I made it myself, through the manipulation of appropriate raw materials," said Jenny, a rare note of defiance in her voice. "No one was harmed in the process. It was easier than I expected - I think my training as a doctor helped there - and Brigit and Freya hardly spent any time on it at all. All they had to do was add the fire and breath of life respectively. It is largely finished - but that is where you come in Chris."

"But what's it for," Chris asked, having already guessed the answer.

"Fay, Master," said Jenny, more submissively this time. "You know she wants to help and we need all the assistance we can get."

Chris grunted, still annoyed but also understanding. "I remember when you did something similar in the Aether world. Matsu added the waters of life and Athena linked the creation to your mind. I suppose with them lost to us you want me to do the same?"

"Yes, Master. You have some control of all five elements. As well as adding the power of water, I want you to help Fay's mind inhabit this body in our world, in the reverse of the way our minds transfer to the Aether world when we are there. Also, you will need to install some basic motor and language skills. Fay will not be used to a human body and without that she would basically have the physical abilities of a new born baby."

Chris' anger was fading but he was still sceptical. "Can that be done? Is it even possible? Our bodies in the Aether world are a creation of the mind, one step up from an illusion. This thing you have made is a real material body - flesh, blood and bone. I don't like it - and it's a distraction from what we need to be doing."

"I believe it will work and Fay is desperate to try. Please Chris, do this for me as well as her. Just imagine the implications if it works. Practical travel in two directions between dimensions! The possibilities are endless." Jenny was pleading and Chris always found it hard to resist anything any of the girls wanted. After all, it was his role and duty to help them.

Eventually, as was probably inevitable, Chris gave in. For one thing, arguing about it was going to take longer than just agreeing. So, after telling the girls that if this worked then Fay was their responsibility not his, he and Jenny put themselves into a trance and went to fetch the consciousness of Fay from her own dimension.

From the point of view of Brigit and Freya, watching and waiting, little time passed before Chris and Jenny returned and their bodies stirred back into life. Time passed differently in the Aether world. Then all attention was directed toward the table. Even knowing what was happening, it was an undeniably eerie sight as the previously dormant body lying there began to stir and move its limbs. Finally, Fay opened her new eyelids and spoke - in English with a slight London accent similar to that of Chris.

"So this is heaven, where the gods dwell," she said in wonder.

"I wouldn't call it heaven sweetie," said Brigit kindly, "It's just another world, like yours in some ways, different in others and far from perfect. Can you stand up?"

This turned out to be more difficult than it sounded; as Fay complained, having only four limbs took some getting used to. However, with a little practice she soon got the hang of it. It seemed that the body control programming Chris had put in her mind was working - for which everyone was very grateful, since having to potty train an adult didn't bear thinking about.

In fact, it soon emerged that physical issues were not the problem; it was going to be social skills that were the challenge. Chris might have gifted Fay an understanding of English along with his accent, but he had neglected to provide her with a detailed account of the customs and mores of his people - indeed, the subject was probably too complex to explain unless you had grown up with it. In consequence Fay proved remarkably literal and prone to saying exactly what she was thinking.

But there was little time to educate her. The search for Athena and Matsu was too pressing. Chris had decided to send Freya and Jenny to the Far East to look for Matsu, while he and Brigit would go to Italy - and Fay would come with them. In the rush, what none of them yet realised was that Fay's lack of understanding of human society was also disguising her own special power, an ability Fay herself was unaware that humans lacked and which to her was simply natural.

*****

Marco Ricci wasn't quite sure why he had been invited to this meeting in a Naples hotel, but he was still glad he was here. He was desperate to do something to help find Professor Makris and was pleasantly surprised to find that it seemed she had wealthy and influential friends who were just as keen to find out what had happened as he was.

An Englishman named Christopher Ward had addressed the small gathering, which mainly seem to consist of private investigators and journalists, although there were also a couple of dangerous looking characters who Marco suspected might be from the local mafia. It seemed Mr Ward was overlooking no possible source of information, and his sole interest was to find out what had happened to Athena Makris.

After this semi-formal briefing, there was a kind of reception with drinks and food, although Marco noticed the mafia types and some of the detectives didn't remain long, while the journalists happily tucked into the free booze. Marco did stay; having come here and booked into the hotel overnight, he had nothing better to do. Besides, he was wondering if he might get to talk to Mr Ward or his associates.