Great Hall, Deb'shar Barony, early evening..."...not contaminated, you dolt, they're going to be sold to slavers, off-world!" Maggie-in-remote snarled. Gauian cowered-the appearance of that much working tech was enough to impress most of the locals, and he was no different, "Your colleagues, Doctor-man, are selling your neighbours and family for a
profit...probably equpipment or weapons, maybe trinkets and glass beads, for all I know...off-world, get it? Men in skyships."
The Doctor-man cowered-as much as the pair of Tachis holding him would allow.
"What are we to do, then?" The Baron asked, "They have skyships, you have..?"
She straightened her posture, "they aren't military-men, they're traders and pirates. a show of force might be enough, and if it isn't...well, they aren't the only ones with a skyship, milord..." she made a dismissive gesture, "The great problem, of course, is the doctor-men themselves..."
Gauian struggled against the machines holding him. "One-thirty-four, if he does that again, break his right wrist." Maggie said mechanically.
The doctor-man glared up at her. The Baron's men gathered around the scene, looked worried-the "Doctors" had special protections...
"so, 'Doctor'...what is it you're selling your neighbours and families
for?" she asked, placing a hand on his chin. The man's eyes widened at the lifeless cold of her touch.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about, monster!" he barked back.
"Sure you do-is it guns? I saw some nice weapons by the power-wagons, or is it parts for the trucks, maybe generators, or batteries?" she asked smoothly, "I can beat it out of you If I must...I know several human anatomy charts with the locations that will cause the most pain, if you insist on being uncooperative."
He struggled again, "Break it." she said.
134's claw twisted, applying fifteen pounds to the bone at ninety-degrees to its axis of strength. The bone snapped, and the man screamed.
"It's MEDICINE! okay??" the man's local accent vanished, "Medicines, because the plague never got cured..." he was breathing hard.
Maggie frowned, "You're offworlder, yourself." she said.
He nodded, "I was part of the Explorer Corps team, I volunteered to stay..."
"Okay, so if they're plague-ridden, why are you selling them off-planet? Shouldn't the pandemic be confined?" she asked.
"it is...we've been checking them for immune-factors and getting the ones that aren't immune, and aren't infected, and sending them off..." he huffed.
"Yah, humane, that, you ass. I know and you know that anything sporic or viral that can be isolated that way can be dealt with using modern medical." she said it with a low-growl undercurrent designed to impress the fighting men around them-playing the demon. "Where's your serum?"
"We can't synthesize it here." he replied, "We've tried, something in the local biosphere..."
"Bullshit." she said, "One more lie, and I start making it really HURT..."
"Why does a hand of the Master care about these people?" he suddenly demanded.
"Who said I was
Manei Domini?" she asked, "I'm older technology than
That." Maggie was in a hurry-either the locals would fall in, or they'd try to burn and blast the remote now.
"What do you mean??" he asked, warily. The Baron looked interested, as did Sillin.
"SDS, ******. My primary's in orbit, and I'm running this body by remote." she said, "Caspar Series D."
"Impossible!" he answered, "They weren't Sentience-capable!"
"Wrong." she said, and released the catch on the facial panel, letting it drop to the floor in front of the locals, the Doctor, and whatever peasants were looking in. "VERY capable, and I've decided that these people are mine to protect from human predators like your friends-now, you're going to tell me what you're getting out of this little slave-trading you and your 'colleagues' have been doing, because I'm no human, I can do things to you that you can scarcely imagine without feeling the first guilty pang." She picked up the face agian, and put it back on, "believe it."
Gauian started blabbering-not out of fear, but because seeing something the teachings of Blake said was both an atrocity, and impossible, had broken his mind...
Very nice, glad/scared to see Maggie back.
I assume she was watching his eye dilation, respiration, pulse, and using the Tachikomas to measure other indicators to see if he was lying? She did a good job.
If you [thought] Manei domini were bad... :p
Yeah, Maggie in full Traveller Virus mode, strain VB IIRC, God(ess). She's too hard core to be the Mother strain.