Page 53 of Master
"The drug does not make one into a cannibal," I reassured her. "It does, however, make them mindless and easily controlled. Entire planets have fallen under the influence of mumje."
Her shoulders slouched in defeat. "What can we do?"
“Nothing until the mumje is purified from the air.”
“How do we do that?”
"Wait for rain," I shrugged, turning toward a couple of small stools beside a table strewn with beakers and tubing.
“Great, we have to wait for the weather. How long will that take?" Clara muttered, taking the nearest stool. I settled on the other, rolling so my body sat between Clara and the window. It felt silly. If the windows weren’t airtight, we’d already be drooling and mindless, but it calmed me to think I offered her at least one more modicum of protection.
“Tau Ceti is an agricultural planet. They engineered the atmosphere to allow for rain every five days, so the crops flourish," I explained.
Clara huffed, crossing her arms over her ample chest. She looked so beautiful, the red silky fabric clinging to every curve. "We’ve been here two days already. So, we have to hide in here for three days while our friends are out there getting gassed?”
"Mumje is a powder, not a gas," I teasingly corrected, drawing a begrudging smile to her lips. "Besides, without knowing the last rain cycle, it’s hard to gauge when the next will come. It could be five days or five hours.”
"How can we help them?" Her whisper sounded broken and fretful as violet eyes again studied the landscape outside the window.
“We wait and at the first sign of rain make sure no one makes claim as master.”
“Claim as master... what does that mean?” The furrow between Clara’s brows deepened.
"Mumje makes a person pliant to the will of another. The first being to give a directive to someone affected by mumje becomes their master." The words tasted like thick, bitter bile.
Clara sighed so deeply and sadly it felt like an iron bar encircling my heart.
“It doesn’t make them zombies. It makes them slaves.”
She sighed, going silent, ingesting the information. The momentary lull in our conversation allowed me to realize I no longer perceived the whirr of drones. Clara noticed too and hopped off her stool, going to peer out the closest window.
“So what? Will everyone just wander around until someone tells them what to do?”
"Yes." I said to Clara’s horrified gasp.
She turned her back to the window with a deep shudder and took the few steps needed to bring her to my side. "Do you think there are others that made it to safety? Like us?" Her voice was small, as though she feared the answer.
“I don’t know. The way the drug deployed... unless one makes it to an airtight environment, there’s no way to avoid infection.”
“Who did this?”
Her question wasn’t to me specifically, but spun into the cosmos in a desire to understand rather than a request for knowledge.
The idea of one suspect tugged at my brain.
Earlier today, I'd accompanied Peacekeeper Munroe to a small farm outside the village to investigate a report of people seeing Kerzak-like creatures. Several animals had gone missing, but we found no trace of slaughter or theft as one would if the perpetrator were a wild animal. Perhaps one of the many cows on the farm went rogue—I still didn’t trust those creatures. The farmer's wife described something lurking in the shadows when she tended the animals last night. From her description, it definitely favored a Kerzak. Still, I didn’t find a single shred of evidence to support that theory. Seeing the drones flying into town from the direction of the farm made me think the two might be related.
“What is it?”
Clara’s question made me consider my expression—hopefully not worrisome to her.
“The peacekeeper told me several villagers reported seeing creatures resembling Kerzak in the last several weeks. I went with him this afternoon to investigate the most recent sighting.”
"That's where you got off to. Did you find anything?"
“Nothing, just like all the other sightings.”
"Do you think it could be the Kerzak?" The undercurrent of worry and dejectedness she’d worn for the last few minutes burned away, replaced by a flash of spirit that turned her eyes a sparkling dark purple.
