The guy looked uncertain. “Don’t forget that I’d been having doubts about Navuh’s so-called holy war long before I met you, and his hold on me was already weakening. That being said, I had nowhere to go. The Brotherhood was my home, my family, my entire world, so even though I had doubts, leaving was extremely difficult. I needed a major catalyst, and I don’t think I would have jumped ship and dove into the deep for anyone other than you. A good friend would not have been enough.”
“That’s precisely the power of cults,” David said. “Even those who somehow realize the truth of their situation can’t leave because they have nowhere to go. They are led to believe that they have no support system on the outside, no safety net. For better or for worse, the cult is their entire world.”
“Hmm.” Sari put her hand on David’s thigh. “You might be onto something. Let’s take a random former Doomer for an example. He was brainwashed to hate us, and the prime objective of his conditioning was the annihilation of our clan. If we were to capture him and offer him our support, give him decent living conditions, and assign him one of us as a Big Brother of sorts to form a bond of friendship with, would that be enough to break apart his indoctrination?”
“Not every Doomer,” Kalugal said. “When I planned my escape, I carefully assembled a unit of men whom I could trust. I had the ability to override my father’s compulsion and set them free, but only a select few were worth the effort. Most were so rotten that they were beyond salvage. Don’t forget that Navuh’s breeding program favors thugs, and then the training camp reinforces those inborn traits. Some of the men were lucky to inherit their mothers’ personalities, but my observation is that the thuggish genes are dominant.”
“What do you think, David?” Amanda asked. “Is it possible to redeem the sons of thugs and bullies who inherited their fathers’ violent tendencies?”
“That’s a tough question. If you are asking me whether nurture or nature determines a person’s personality, I would say that nature is the dominant force. But from what you are telling me, in the Brotherhood’s case, nature and nurture were combined to produce monsters. What I’m going to say will not sound politically correct, and I wouldn’t say it in a faculty meeting, but I doubt that anything could be done about those men.”
Kalugal sighed. “That’s what I’ve tried to tell my brother. He has those naive fantasies about freeing the island’s population. He thinks that once the men bond with mates, they will have a new and positive purpose for their lives, start families, and live happily ever after.”
From the corner of his eye, David saw the goddess’s expression turn from impassive to determined.
“We can save at least some of them,” Annani said. “Not all of them were born bad. The problem is determining who is who.”
Leaning back in his chair, Kalugal crossed his arms over his chest. “I have an idea for an interesting experiment. You have all those Doomers in stasis in your catacombs. We could start waking them up one at a time. Either Annani or I can compel them to break Navuh’s compulsion if it’s still affecting them, and then we can try to implement David’s theory of healthy attachments.”
Kian regarded him as if he’d lost his mind. “And how do you propose to do that? Bring them to the village and show them how good life can be?”
“Why not? If I compel them to behave, they won’t be a threat. Besides, you can put one of those exploding cuffs on them. That’s one hell of an incentive for good behavior.”
Kian shook his head. “As long as I’m in charge, that is not going to happen. Those Doomers were murderers and rapists, and the only reason we spared their lives was that my mother didn’t allow us to kill them.” He looked at Annani. “With all due respect, Mother, that was and still is your biggest mistake. The world is a better place without those vermin, and I have no intention of ever releasing them so they can once again hurt innocent people, humans or immortals.”
5
David
Kian was an intense guy, but his vehemence had taken David by surprise, especially given the familial setting and at whom his anger had been directed.
Was it wise to antagonize she-who-must-be-obeyed?
Except, the goddess didn’t seem offended by her son’s outburst. Regarding him with indulgence rather than anger in her eyes, she smiled. “We agreed to disagree on the subject, Kian. You are not going to change my mind, and I am not going to change yours, but my decree stands. If even one of these men can be saved, then it is worth the effort of keeping them all entombed. There are not many of us left in the world, and I will not contribute to the extinction of our kind.”
Letting out a breath, Kian deflated like a balloon. “My apologies, Mother. Your heart is in the right place.”
The goddess nodded. “I think Kalugal’s idea has merit. We should give it some further thought.”
Kian did his best to school his features, but it was obvious that he wasn’t happy about the direction the conversation had taken. “Perhaps in the future. Right now, I see no merit whatsoever in waking up any Doomers. We just don’t have the resources for that. Kalugal and his men are about to move into the village, and that’s a major undertaking for all of us. Let’s focus on making that work first.”
“Very well.” The goddess turned to her butler. “You may serve breakfast now, Oshidu.”
“Yes, Clan Mother.” He bowed and turned around.
As soon as Oshidu opened the suite’s front door, the other two butlers rolled in carts loaded with covered trays. The food must have been delivered from the castle’s kitchens while the family had been talking, and the butlers had just waited for the goddess to give them the okay to serve it.
David watched them as they removed the lids and put trays on the table. It was hard to believe that they were cyborgs. Perhaps part of the illusion was that they didn’t look young or handsome. They were stocky, had a few wrinkles, mainly smile lines around their eyes, and although their facial expressions were equally mellow and servile, they were not identical.
The one named Oshidu seemed in charge, and the other two looked to him for cues. Their movements were not mechanical but rather fluid, which was probably the best telling sign that their middle-aged appearances were misleading. They moved like young, agile men.
David was incredibly curious about them and how far their cognition went.
It was a shame that the goddess refused to let them be examined. Their internal logic structures could serve as a model for the development of human-looking artificial intelligence that was safe. According to Sari they were ancient relics, but despite having thousands of years to learn, they hadn’t become sentient, which was the biggest fear of those working on AI.
As a psychologist, though, he might be able to get a good picture of how their cyborg minds worked without having to take them apart.
David still hadn’t had a chance to talk to Sari’s butler and ask him about Annani’s past. If their brains operated like computers, chances were that Sari was right and that the goddess had ordered them to forget whatever she didn’t want anyone to know. That was the best way to ensure her secrets were safe.