Crystal Dragon Read Free

the lesson.

    She extended her though, stilled the turmoil, blotted out the shredded I , unwove the nervous system, and withdrew again to the quiet of her own mind.

    Orange and yellow flames exploded across her perceptions.

    You will stand! The tutor's thought slashed at her. Explain what you have just done and your reasons for doing so ! The order rang in her head, and no sooner had it formed than she was yanked upward and released. She staggered, got her feet under her, and bowed to the tutor, where they stood on the dais, the dominant allowing her anger to be seen; the submissive staring over her head, to the farthest corner of the room—and beyond.

    I have—

    Speak against the air , the dominant snapped, and her thought burned.

    She cooled the burn site, bowed once more, and straightened, her hands flat against her thighs.

    "I returned the protolife to its quiescent state," she said, her voice thin and one dimensional. They seldom communicated so, amongst themselves. Lower forms spoke against the air, and by placing this demand upon her the tutor illustrated that she—a student and unpaired—was lower—weaker—than a full dramliza unit.

    As if that point required illustration.

    Upon what order did you undertake this action? Her tutor's thought fairly crackled, throwing out sparks of yellow and orange.

    She bowed. "Upon my own initiative," she said steadily.

    It is your LEARNED opinion that the remainder of the lesson was of no benefit to you?

    The rest of the lesson? The thought took shape before she could prevent it. She bent forward in a bow—and found herself gripped in a vise of energy, unable to straighten, unable to continue the bow, unable to move her legs, or her arms, scarcely able to breathe.

    So, you were unaware that there was more? the dominant purred, her thought now showing gleams and glimmers of pleased violet.

    "I was," she whispered against the air, staring perforce at the tile floor.

    Then you will stand in place of your construct, and finish the lesson out, the dominant stated. Anjo.

    Abruptly, she was released. She gasped in a great lungful of air as she collapsed, tile gritting against her cheek, her limbs weak and tingling unpleasantly with the renewed flow of blood.

    She set her hands against the tile, pushed herself up—and fell flat on her face as her left arm dissolved in a blare of pain so encompassing she scarcely felt it.

    Panting, she rocked back to her knees, to her feet—and down again, cracking her head against the floor, the place where her right leg had been an agony beyond belief.

    Grimly, she got up onto her remaining knee and hand, pain warring with horror as she understood that the tutor meant to—

    One eye was gone, its empty socket a cup of fire burning into her skull. She screamed, then, the sound high and wild—and cut off abruptly as her ears were taken.

    Observe closely , the tutor was addressing the rest of her cohort, the pattern of her thought weaving like a violet ribbon through the pain. Lesser beings may be governed by a system of punishment and reward .

    Acid ate her right arm.

    Judicious reward and implacable punishment ...

    Her left leg evaporated in a sheet of fire.

    ...will win unfailing service ...

    The biology lab vanished as her remaining eye was plucked out.

    ...and will enforce both your dominion and your superiority.

    The pain increased as the tutor exerted her will on nerve endings and receptors. She could feel the pressure of that terrible regard, as her thoughts skittered and scrambled. She tried to hide from the pain, all her perceptions obscured by it, so that she was blind in truth, and the pain, the pain...

    We have taken away much, as is our right, according to our ability.

    She was ablaze; the skin crisping on her bones; her reason spiraling toward chaos. Just like—

    We shall now bestow a small reward.

    Just like her poor creature, which had done so well, for a lower order, built to be dominated, manipulated