Page 2 of Dark Shaman: Love Found
"That's worrisome." Eluheed glanced again at the barman. "I worry for you. What if they turn against you?" And everyone else on the island, including their lord and everyone Navuh held dear, like his ladies.
"I worry about that too." Zhao grimaced. "But what choice do I have?" The bitterness in his voice could have curdled milk. "It's not like I can refuse. I'm stuck on this island, surrounded by thugs and… He caught himself, glancing at Eluheed. "Present company excepted, of course. You seem intelligent."
"I try to keep an open mind," Eluheed said.
"Yes, that's it exactly. You are open-minded. Not like these brutes who only care about killing." Zhao looked around for the barman, and spotting him, signaled for another drink. "Do you know what the real joke is?"
"What's that?"
"I've created the perfect formula, and it does exactly what it's supposed to do. The problem is that nobody, including me, thought about what happens when an invincible soldier decides he doesn't need to follow orders because he knows better."
As the bartender returned and supplied Zhao with a new drink, Eluheed waited until he left again to ask, "So what happens next?"
Zhao's laugh was hollow. "That's the billion-dollar question, isn't it? So far, I've managed to contain the incidents with mitigating drugs like the lord had suggested. But he still insists on perfecting the formula and producing even better specimens. More powerful, requiring less sleep, and so on." He sighed. "Navuh doesn't understand that you can't make someone powerful and expect them to remain powerless. The enhancement changes them fundamentally. I don't know what to do, and I'm not used to that. I always know what to do."
Talk about a god complex.
"What about fail-safes?" Eluheed asked. "Ways to neutralize them if necessary?"
Eluheed wasn't as knowledgeable about modern technology as he would have liked to be. Still, he'd read about chips implanted in the brain that could be activated remotely to neutralize operatives. The problem was that he'd read it in fiction novels and wasn't sure such things existed in reality.
Zhao let out a breath. "Don't you think I considered that? Their bodies reject implants. Besides, I'm a biochemist, not an engineer. I've prepared something as a last resort. A compound that can end even enhanced immortals in seconds. The problem is the delivery. I will need to put it in a capsule and build a gun that can shoot it. You don't happen to know anything about engineering, do you?"
Eluheed shook his head, still thinking about what Zhao said in regards to the immortals' bodies rejecting implants. He had never tried to have anything implanted, so he didn't know that immortal bodies rejected foreign objects, but it made perfect sense. The same way his body expelled bullets, it would expel a chip designed to terminate his life.
He was still thinking about it when a guard walked into the bar and strode toward them.
His gaze locked on to Zhao, but the scientist either didn't notice or was too drunk to care and launched into a long ramble about evolution and natural selection.
"Doctor Zhao," the guard said. "I've secured your appointment as you requested."
"Appointment?" Zhao blinked. "What appointment?"
"Your favorite servicer is ready for you, but you are once again too drunk to enjoy her. Why do you insist that I make arrangements for you when you have no intention of making use of them?"
Zhao lifted his hands in mock surrender while shooting Eluheed a conspiratorial wink. "Who says I don't make useof the lovely Sheila? She has many uses." Another wink, this one even less subtle.
Eluheed understood immediately. The appointments were Zhao's way to buy himself a few moments of privacy without the guard breathing down his neck.
"It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Eluheed said, playing his part. "I look forward to more philosophical discussions with you about the nature of the universe." He stood up and offered the scientist his hand.
As Zhao clasped it, his grin was sloppy, but his eyes were sharp with understanding. "Ah, yes. The eternal dance between order and chaos, between control and freedom. The universe tends toward entropy, my friend. Everything breaks down eventually. Every system, no matter how perfectly designed, contains the seeds of its own destruction."
The words might have sounded like drunken philosophy to the guard, but Eluheed heard the message underneath. Navuh's system of control was breaking down. The enhanced soldiers were entropy in action, chaos waiting to be unleashed.
"Profound," Eluheed said. "Perhaps we can continue this discussion another time."
"I'm here most evenings," Zhao said as the guard hauled him to his feet. "When I'm not working, I'm enjoying the lavish presidential suite Lord Navuh has graciously made available to me or sitting in this bar, enjoying the fine alcohol the lord pays for. Other times, you can find me in the brothel,enjoying the lovely girls without having to pay for their services either." He laughed. "I've died and gone to heaven, my friend. Or hell." He stumbled slightly on his way out but maintained enough composure to wave goodbye.
Eluheed remained at the bar, nursing another fine whiskey and processing what he'd learned. The situation was worse than he'd imagined. Navuh was creating an unstoppable army of enhanced soldiers that would eventually turn on their master. And when they did, everyone on the island would be caught in the crossfire.
Tamira. The other ladies. The innocents who served on the island and who had no part in Navuh's ambitions. They would all become collateral damage when the monsters broke free.
He would have to warn Navuh somehow, but without revealing his source or his own immunity to compulsion. A false vision seemed the only way, but the thought made his stomach turn.
Among his people, lying was considered a great sin. Since his arrival on Earth, he'd been forced to falsify the facts countless times to conceal his origins and his immortality, but he usually managed to skirt the truth rather than lie outright.
Tomorrow, when Navuh inevitably summoned him, he would have to subtly incorporate the enhanced soldiers into his previous vision of fire and mayhem on the island, without revealing how he'd discovered their existence.
