Weapons of the Mind by Paul Kivelson

Author:Paul Kivelson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Will Dreamly Arts
Published: 2024-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

The ship’s interior was every bit as slapdash as its pilot. Teomonious hoped his repeated harumphs were coming across as disapproving, but so far, the corvid had just asked if he had something in his throat. ((At least he was safe from the flies while they waited for the other two to towel off and change.)) {{More delays. It was almost intolerable.}} ((To that track, at least. And while some of its impatient rage bled into the rest of his thoughts, those had been tuned to a more rational course from the onset. He’d waited almost a year to see what was in Ceowograffach’s file; the remaining decihours were immaterial.))

Upon being led into the kitchen area, Teomonious immediately moved to claim the nicest-looking seat. Its qualifications for the title were all the more damning for their scarcity. True to the pilot’s word, there was indeed a holoemitter in the middle of the table—but was the kitchen really the only room on the ship that had one? {{It was like asking him to believe that their only comm system was in the wasteroom. This all seemed the leadup to an ill-advised prank.}}

The Renegade and her Vanguard joined them within the decihour, mostly purged of grime. The data core too was scrubbed clean—at least on the outside. ((Within, he hoped, was the accumulated filth of Ceowograffach’s dealings.))

The Vanguard started interfacing the data core with the table-mounted display. {{The itch in Teomonious’s exoskeleton was impossible to repress, bleeding over into his other tracks. It was time to see what seeds she’d pocketed. The rich soil of his curiosity was fresh and ready.}}

A lingering look of distress plagued the Renegade’s face, despite her apparent success. ((Like her other odd behavior, her Renegade status would certainly explain that, but he’d told the corvid the truth earlier: Simple generalizations had never been Teomonious’s style. One did not test a hypothesis by trying to confirm it.)) The Vanguard bore his own malaise, but it was made up of so many fractured specks of emotion, it was impossible to tell where one festering insecurity ended and another began.

“I’m running an image organizer,” the Vanguard said. “This could take a moment.”

((Teomonious wondered whether the two were lovers, or just ignorant of each other’s personal space. Such trysts were not uncommon, given the genetic similarity between humans and nordok.)) Two taps from the Vanguard brought the display to life, words and pictures filling the empty air.

Darfelatulaming Ceowograffach

Born 757 Cycle 16, day 241 (age 19)

Councilor of the 4525th Galactic Congress, 775-present

Constituents: Kitik (Hive)

Succeeded by: <>

Preceded by: Cernarvitalimun Teomonious

Just like that, everyone in the room was looking at him. {{At last, the recognition he deserved.}} ((It had been inevitable that they’d learn—if not now, then when they saw news of his reelection in the holos. Withholding his name would have delayed this moment, but the trust its revelation had purchased was more than worth the cost.))

“You’re a councilor?” said the nordok, the flesh around his nose wrinkling.

<<He hadn’t even been done in by a frequent habit, merely an idle weakness he found pleasure in on occasion.

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