Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sir, the effect of the last attempt was deleterious, with significant risk of a miscarriage. Dr.Verhoeven has strongly advised that you make no further attempts to test the theory until the fetus is born. I'm attaching his recommendation, as well as notes on Auden's medical status.

—Charisma Wai to Shoshanna Scott (21 June 2083)

THE WOMAN WHO had once been a Councilor and was now a being far more powerful, took note of Charisma's message, but put the documents aside until she'd dealt with a more pressing matter.

After she finally had a chance to sit down and go over the medical reports on both the fetus and Auden, she had to agree with Verhoeven's recommendation. Auden was expendable, but Shoshanna had spent far too much time and money on the infant to put it at risk now.

Well, no matter. She could wait a few more months to test her theory again—after all, she'd waited for years already, since the day the biograft burned her daughter's mind to cinders.

Leaning back in her chair, Shoshanna took a sip from a glass of clear liquid designed to refuel her brain. In the back of which whispered the word "mother" spoken by her true children, her Scarabs.

Soon , she promised them. My reign draws near. Soon you will be where you were always meant to be: at the apex of the Psy race.