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The Clocks
Vol 4 - Ch 17 The Psi-worm

Vol 4 - Ch 17 The Psi-worm

When they arrived, Mimi answered the door. Fortunately she had just returned from doing a "quick errand" for The Master. As always, their explanations left a lot to be desired. She'd winced when they'd told her that it would "only take a few minutes". While technically true, it had required her to blink across three planes, each way. It wasn't that she was going to complain. Even if she'd wanted to it wouldn't have done her any good. Master would have just cocked their head and given her a "what's the big deal" look and then explained that besides finishing the errand quckly, she'd also get some much needed practice in shifting across planes quickly. In other words, "O'Malley" came out ahead, and so did she. That it left her exceedingly tired wasn't something The Master would ever consider wasting time or thought on.

As Stavros bustled through the door, he threw out, "I screwed up, and Dani's legs are really bad. Please ask Dr. Fukui to come by later, and please take the books. I'm taking her straight to the bath."

Mimi's shoulders fell. That human saying, "It never rains but it pours," certainly fit. Fortunately, she didn't need to get Kaho personally.

"Ailin. Kaho is needed for Danica. It's not urgent, but today rather than tomorrow please. I can't go myself right now, so, if you would?"

"Right. I can get free within the hour. Will that do?"

"Surely. Thanks love. I'll thank you in person tonight."

"Ummmm. Looking forward to it. It's been a while. See you later."

Mimi almost blushed. The feelings that man could transmit across an emotional link were incredibly strong. Though she had to admit that, now that he'd mentioned it, she felt some intense anticipation herself.

Oh well, that was for later. For now, she needed to put these books away and... WHAT THE HELL was The Master thinking when they gave her book on portals to Danica?!

"I was thinking about everything and everywhere, just like always. I told Danica that there was nobody else on the planet who could read that particular book. At the time I told her, you were not on the planet, so it was literally true. That's because I'd rather not have you discussing it with her. It would totally ruin the case of hero worship she's going to be developing if she learns that the author she's about to adore was working as a maid in her home.

"As for why I gave it to her... Assuming my visualization is correct, she's going to need to know what's in your book for a very important project she'll begin in about 629 years."

Mimi felt O'Malley withdrawing their consciousness. Hah! "Assuming my visualization is correct" my foot! She couldn't think of a single time in the past three or four thousand years that The Master had been off by as much as a single day when they made a prediction.

As for herself, she predicted that, right now, she needed to put the books away and then be standing by when the rest of the family learned that Danica and Stavros had been bathing together every night for almost two years. After today, there was no way they'd be able to hide it any more.

Or so she thought. For unknown reasons, not a single family member or servant was evident anywhere near the bathing room during the next hour and a half. By the time Kaho arrived, Danica was propped up in bed and Stavros was kneeling on the floor facing the door.

As always, Mimi took Kaho's scarf as she entered the house. Unlike always, she contrived to touch Kaho's wrist for several seconds while she was helping Kaho with the scarf.

"Something is very, very wrong. For several months, I've occasionally felt a malicious presence in the house. Today, just as Dani and Stavros entered the bath, I felt it again, AND the second level of my psi shield was triggered. Be careful if you please."

Kaho nodded and then proceeded to behave as she always did, but her mind was churning. What in the world could be going in? By the time she reached Danica's door, she decided that watching would be enough for today. If nothing presented itself, she'd take more aggressive action at a later date. For now, she had a patient to terrorize.

As she briskly opened the door, Stavros bent forward and put his forehead on the floor. He began with, "I'm so, so sorry. I..."

"Be silent. This has nothing to do with you, unless you're now claiming to have the same gift of Foresight as Priss? No? I thought not. On your feet and get out of here. I have a patient to examine."

As Stavros gaped at her, Kaho crossed her arms on her chest and glowered at him. "Why are you still here?"

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"Oh, yes, certainly. Leaving the room. Immediately. Yes." With that said, he bustled out of the room and carefully closed the door.

Danica was looking at Kaho as if she were afraid of being bitten and at the same time wondering if Kaho were venomous.

Kaho stared back, carefully scanning her face, then threw back the covers and checked her legs. Occasionally Danica winced, but, other than that she evinced no signs of tenderness.

When she was finished, Kaho recovered Dani's legs, crossed her arms again, and stared at the ceiling, seemingly deep in thought. As she did so, she caught Dani's lips twist ever so slightly into a sneer and her eyes narrowing in self-satisfaction.

When Kaho turned back to actually look at Danica, the only expression on her face was one of worry.

"I have nothing new to say to you child. In a day or two, when I'm less angry, I'll return and speak to you. Until then... Bah. That's enough. Goodbye!"

Kaho stalked out the door and down the street, her anger apparent to everyone she passed. As this was not unusual behavior for her, most of the passers-by paid it no mind. They made way for her, then went on about their business.

When Kaho was far enough away that she could no longer sense the minds of anyone in the Donetti home, she picked up her pace and allowed her face to assume its normal, professional expression.

Minutes later, she strode into Brewster's Books and motioned with her eyes for O'Malley to follow her. As they approached, she "accidentally" brushed their sleeve and touched O'Malley's hand. At that instant she took both of them into Un-Time.

"Master... Good news, bad news, and worse news. I found a psi-worm, it's in Danica, and it's probably been there for over a year. It's so deeply entrenched that I'm not sure I can remove it without damaging Danica's brain, and, even if I could do it safely, her personality would likely be damaged."

O'Malley nodded and stroked their chin several times. When Blue activated the program creating this universe, they'd noticed a bug 12,347 lines deep in a sub-sub-sub-sub routine. Whenever this particular bug appeared, one or more psi-worms were always the result. It was common in the first works of younglings such as Blue, but it was always caught by their professors, which would have been the case here also had Blue not hidden this program and piggy-backed it on those being implemented by the others in her class. The biggest problem with this particular bug was that there was no way to anticipate when or where in the universe it would manifest.

No matter. What was was. Now all they had to do was fix the problem. Thus they turned to "Kaho" and said, "As you wish. I shall correct the error. Since psi-worms always become sentient if they've been in residence for over half a year, I'll need to make some adjustments so as not to destroy it. Even so, I expect that I'll have this wrapped up by the time you return to your current home. Fare you well youngling."

Kaho found herself back in the entrance of the bookstore. She turned, exited, and headed back uphill. She still had several appointments before she could rest for the day.

O'Malley, on the other hand, remained in Un-Time. Psi-worms craved strong emotions, which was why they tended to push situations toward the darker ones. Truth be told, in most beings they lasted longer than happy ones. That being the case, they spent a bit of time finding just the right place to put it, and...yes. There. That would suit all involved.

As for the worm, it was satisfied. Danica's horror at Kaho's reaction pleased it no end. As exhaustion finally overtook Danica, she gradually fell into a fitful sleep. The worm, on the other hand, fell deeply asleep, its feelings being entirely those of satiation.

Stavros also had fallen asleep, both due to mental exhaustion and his physical tiredness. He was in good shape, but running uphill with another person in your arms would tire out almost anyone.

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Both Stavros and Danica were awakened by Mimi informing them that they'd "best hurry along" if they didn't want to irritate Madame Miranda by being late for dinner. As they hurried to get ready, Danica explained what Kaho had told her after her exam. First she'd explained what had happened. Apparently Danica's judgment had been interfered with by something called "fatigue toxins", whatever those were. They decided that wasn't all that important, but what was important was Kaho explaining how to prevent them from building up in the future. That, and her warning that if it happened again, she would not be happy.

By then, both of them knew that Kaho allowed one mistake, especially if one didn't know that one was making said mistake. However, they also knew that she didn't allow a second one after she'd explained the first time.

They promised each other not to do so again, after which they inspected each other's clothing, nodded, and then Stavros carried her down to dinner.

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The psi-worm awoke slowly. Something wasn't right. It was warm, yes. That was like always. But, for some reason, it couldn't see. Also, it felt wet all over its body. Not only that, its mind seemed to be unusually sluggish. It was finding it very hard to concentrate.

One thing that was within its expectations was that it was bathed with emotions. Anxiety, some fear, and, surprisingly strong feelings of hope and anticipation. What was unusual was that there were definitely multiple sources instead of the normal one or two. It was also surprised to discover that there was such intense pleasure in feeling said hope and anticipation.

As it pondered, it found its thoughts becoming more and more sluggish. Not only that, but its memories were fading. It struggled to get up, but found itself being squeezed tightly and unable to move. Not only that, there was a great deal of pressure on its head. Truly it was extraordinarily uncomfortable.

Suddenly, the emotions around it became even more intense, distracting it, and it reveled in them. An indefinite time later, it felt itself moving more quickly, and it became afraid. It had never before been afraid, or for that matter, felt much of anything by itself. It had always fed on the emotions of others. Something was very, very wrong.

Again, it began to struggle, but, the more it did so, the more its memories faded. Suddenly it was surrounded by blinding light and it felt cold. It tried to speak, but it no longer remembered how. Nothing was left but its fear and it screamed out, "WAAAAAAA!"

"It's a girl! Congratulations!"