Steven Harper - Trickster

Elena opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and pressed a hidden switch. A small door in the back of the cabinet slid open, revealing a space just big enough for her key. She set it inside, closed the compartment, flushed the toilet, and went back into the living room. Devin was sitting on the couch, nervously drumming his fingers on his knees. He jumped to his feet when she entered the room.

"I was thinking," he said, "that I should probably be going. You have to work tomorrow, and I shouldn't-"

"Just stay right where you are," she said, heading for the bar and uncorking a bottle of champagne. "You can't leave without having at least one drink." She filled two glasses and dosed them both liberally from the little vial while Devin fidgeted nervously. He was so cute when he did that, so innocent-looking. Could he be a virgin? Wouldn't that be a kick!

The lighting was low, and Elena ordered the computer to put on some soft music. Then she brought the champagne flutes over to him. A sharp smell issued from the bubbling liquid.

"What is this?" Devin asked as she handed him one.

"Champagne," she said, "laced with a little something to give us both a hit."

"A drug?" he asked, looking doubtfully at the flute.

"I'm taking it, too," she purred. "It's meant to enhance our pleasure."

"Well… " he wavered.

"Drink it!" she ordered.

He gave her a wide-eyed look, then drank. In exultation, Elena emptied her own glass. The champagne had a distinctly acrid taste to it. She set her flute on the coffee table and drew an unresisting Devin down to the sofa. She kissed him, and he kissed back with tentative uncertainty. God, he was handsome. Her hands were shaking with desire. She kissed him harder. In a moment he would be hers, all- Ben backed away from Elena Papagos-Faye and waved a hand in front of her face. No reaction. He picked up one of her hands and dropped it. It fell limply. Her eyes were blank and staring beneath dark hair as she sat motionless on the couch.

Ben wiped his mouth with a grimace. He could still taste Papagos-Faye's tongue, and it seemed like her cold hands were still roving all over his body. For some reason, a memory from lower school popped into his head- — and made him snort. He wanted to contact Kendi, tell him that everything was going fine so far, but Elena Papagos-Faye had set up anti-bug screens all around her house, and outgoing transmissions were therefore only possible through her own com-link, something Ben didn't want to risk using. Best just to find the key and get this over with.

"Stand up," he said, and Papagos-Faye got obediently to her feet, her eyes still glassy. Steeling himself, Ben searched her carefully. She stood pliantly, not speaking or moving except as he moved her. First he checked for a chain around her neck. Nothing. Then he checked wrists, waist, and ankles. Nothing. The pockets of her dress contained only an SA identification holo and a small makeup kit. Ben did a more thorough search, opening her dress and searching the seams of her clothes and her underwear. He found a secret pocket on her belt, but it was empty. He even ran his hands through her hair in a strange parody of a caress. Nothing.

Ben was getting nervous now. The drug would wear off soon, and he had to find the key now. Where would it- The bathroom. She had gone into the bathroom. What if she had taken it off in there?

Leaving Papagos-Faye standing where she was, he dashed into the bathroom. Swiftly he checked all the drawers and all the cabinets. He checked the toilet and under the sink. With growing apprehension, he checked the time on his ocular implant. The drug would wear off in less than half an hour. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he checked the top of the doorsill, the top of the medicine cabinet, and inside various bottles of medicine. Nothing. The tension in his stomach grew tighter. There were a million places to hide something as small as a computer key, and it could be literally anywhere. He had been counting on her keeping it somewhere on her person, like Jeung had done.

Fifteen minutes. Ben searched through the piles of towels in the linen closet, checked the drains on the sink and tub. Nothing. He started to sweat. It had to be here somewhere if only he could- Ben smacked himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand and ran back into the living room. Papagos-Faye was standing exactly where he had left her.

"Elena," he said, "where did you put your computer key?"

"In the secret compartment in my medicine cabinet." Her voice was dreamy, just like Isaac Todd's had been when Harenn and Kendi were questioning him. "Or is it called a medicine chest? My grandmother always called it-"

"How do I open the secret compartment?"

She told him. Ben left her talking about the buttons on her dress and rushed back to the bathroom. He found the compartment, opened it, and found the key. A rush of exhilaration filled him. Quickly he pressed it against the copycat he took from his pocket. It flashed green to indicate a successful download. Ben returned the key to the compartment and dashed back to the living room. Nine minutes left. He took a small white card from a plastic envelope his pocket, pressed Elena's thumb to it, and returned the card to his pocket. Then he led Elena to the bedroom.

Seven minutes. Ben undressed her, messed up her hair, and tossed her clothing all over the room. He did the same to his own hair and clothes. Just for effect, he knocked a lamp off the night stand and tore a hole in one of the silk sheets. Then he ordered Elena to climb into bed and he lay down naked beside her.

One minute.

"Listen to me, Elena," he whispered in her ear. "This is what you're going to remember when you wake up… "

Sixty second later, Papagos-Faye blinked once, stretched languidly, and turned to look at Ben. He put an amazed and startled look on his face.

"That was… incredible," he said in a shocked voice.

"Wasn't it just?" Papagos-Faye said. "And now, Devin dear, I think we need to call it a night."

Five minutes later, Ben was staring at Papagos-Faye's front door as the locks engaged with a click. He shook his head, then touched the copycat in his pocket and walked away, whistling a happy little tune.

"How'd it go?" Kendi demanded. "Did everything work as planned? How do you feel?"

Ben plunked down onto a chair in the medical bay with a heavy sigh. It felt good to be back in the Poltergeist where the territory was safe, familiar. Kendi's presence also calmed him. Already the memory of Papagos-Faye's cold, busy hands was beginning to fade.

"Without a hitch, yes, and yuck," he said.

Kendi grinned a wide, white grin of relief and leaned over to clasp Ben in a quick, hard hug. Ben's heart swelled. Suddenly every harsh moment he had spent with Elena Papagos-Faye became worth it. A half-remembered quotation came back to him, about love being a condition in which someone else's happiness becomes essential to one's own. He understood it entirely. Kendi's happiness spread into Ben like warm gold, and in that moment, Ben would have braved vacuum without a spacesuit for him.

"You're welcome," he said, unable to keep his own smile hidden. "All right-I want my own hair and clothes back now."

"Momentarily," Harenn said. She was using an enzyme comb to carefully strip the red dye from Gretchen's hair. At one of the counters, Lucia was meticulously fluffing a blond wig that had black roots.

"You got everything, then?" Kendi asked.

Ben held up the copycat and the little card in its plastic envelope. "Key and thumbprint. The hypnoral worked just fine, and so did the antidote I took when Papagos-Faye wasn't looking. I told her to remember some pretty amazing things about me." His face clouded as something occurred to him. "What am I going to do when Papagos-Faye calls me again? I mean, you can tell people to 'remember' stuff when they come off hypnoral, but it doesn't do post-hypnotic suggestions. I couldn't tell her not to-"