Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant by J. Gregory Keyes Read Free Book Online Page A

as you are. And together, as you did, we took up the cry, threw off the yoke, became mothers and fathers ourselves. Then they revealed themselves to us, as we have to you. “Now it comes full circle. You were children. Now I say, you are not. You are us, and we are you.”
    Teacher Hua began taking off his clothes. The others did, too. Without the grey robes, teacher Hua was a scrawny old man with a potbelly. He did not look scary at all. He knelt before them, and the other adults followed suit.
    “A moment ago, your minds were violated. That was to show you one reason the Corps was formed, why one must never invade the mind of another without their permission. That law must be inviolate. It will not be done to you again, and you must not do it to others, except in very special circumstances.
    “One of those is now. Our minds are open. Our barriers are down. Do what you will.”
    For a long moment, it was impossible to believe. No one moved They just stared at the kneeling adults, their teachers and friends, who were also their tormentors. Then some began reaching out, understanding that it was true, that the barriers were indeed down. That the adults would do nothing to stop them. First one, then another of the kids nibbled at the unprotected minds, dating in to find some secret, and then out again, as if they feared some trap might be sprung.
    Then, with the suddenness of critical mass, the room exploded, once again, with pain and shame. But this time. It came from the adults. Al found he couldn’t participate. He stood there, blinking at the world turned upside down, his heart clattering weirdly in his chest.
    Why were the adults allowing this? They were the ones in control - who would give that up? But then he caught something, a presence-watching. Approving. The director?
    It didn’t matter, because he suddenly understood. The teachers weren’t in charge, any more than he was. The Corps was mother and father, not any of the individuals in it. Teacher Hua’s words began to make more sense. When it was over, they were given black robes to wear, and more important - gloves.
    Al pulled his on, felt them close about his fingers. Gloves, at long last. He was no longer a child. Teacher Hua had said a lot, some of which Al understood, some of which he did not. But the thing he understood most clearly of all was something Teacher Hua had not said. It was a very simple thing, really, something he should have known all along.
    Adults were no different from kids. They were not to be trusted, not as individuals. Teacher Hua could not be trusted. Ms. Chastain, despite all of her kindness, could not be trusted. Only the Corps itself could be trusted, and only the Corps itself-its laws, its institutions, its entirety-deserved his loyalty. He trusted the Corps. He would never trust another human being again. That night, when he looked at the stars - when he dreamed - he looked for the face of his mother, with her dark red hair; he looked for his black-haired father. The ones he had always pictured when he said, “The Corps is mother, the Corps is father.”
    Maybe they were his parents, his biological ones-he knew other kids had them. Milla’s even came to visit, though not very often anymore. He had asked about his own, once, and was told they had been killed when rogues bombed Teeptown. Maybe his infant mind remembered them, or maybe he had made them up, or lifted them from another kid. Whoever they were or had been or had never been, they were gone now. There was nothing in the night sky but stars, nothing in his dreams but silence.
    Part 2. Antitheses

Chapter 1
    The back-fist snapped to within an inch of his face, but Al didn’t blink. He had known before Jackson flung it out that it would never connect.
    The reverse punch was another story; that was the real attack, and Jackson drove it at Al’s solar plexus with every ounce of his considerable strength and weight. Al wasn’t there, though. He stepped aside and p-cast