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There’d been no quibble, no uncertainty. The mind-control-reversal expert had confirmed that our second son had been brainwashed by the Galactic Justice Warriors, their propaganda replacing his own beliefs and values in a sleeper effect. He would appear normal until certain trigger words were uttered. But she’d documented that she’d removed the false ideations and deactivated the triggers.
So what the zigqat had happened? How could she have been so wrong? “She is incompetent, and our son has paid the price!” I thundered.
“It would appear so,” my bond-mate agreed.
“What is keeping Nadir? Doesn’t he realize how critical the situation is?”
“It’s only been a quarter hour. Give him time.”
“We do not have time!” I massaged the base of my horn. My head ached. My gut churned. “Who knows what Lomax could be doing?”
He could be making matters worse. Would he be lost to us forever? Could he ever recover from this? Could the kingdom? For a royal, my own son, to have joined an insurgency group would remain a permanent tarnish on Araset.
The dinner had been a small gathering of our closest relatives to celebrate his clean bill of mental health. Confident our son had been cured, I’d let security relax, which had enabled him to flee. Guards were searching for him while Nadir had been tasked with locating the expert who had cleared him.
I demanded answers! There would be accountability. I would see that the programmer got terminated for gross incompetence. I wished the termination could be literal. She had claimed to be the LOP’s best mind-control-reversal specialist. If she was the best, I shuddered at the level of ineptitude of the others.
The crown jewels in my horns representing the mantle of responsibility had never felt heavier than they did right now. What would become of my son? Would he spend the rest of his life in detention? Up until now, I’d believed he’d been innocent of any acts of terrorism, that his moral core would overrule the indoctrination, but his actions today had shattered my faith. He had become someone I didn’t recognize.
In a room full of witnesses, he’d spouted terrorist propaganda and taken a hostage, the ovwet he cared about.
He was still my son.
“I pray the mind-control-reversal specialist is incompetent,” I whispered to myself.
Citrine startled on her throne. “Why would you wish that?”
“Because perhaps then someone else can fix him. If she is the best the LOP has, then Lomax is doomed.” What if he was too far gone to be saved? What if we’d lost Lomax forever?
The door slid open, and Nadir entered. I whipped around, and Citrine sprang from the throne. “Well? Where is she?” I demanded.
His expression controlled, Nadir glanced between us. “The deprogrammer is nowhere in the palace complex, Your Majesties.”
“Then, where is she?” I demanded.
“She hasn’t left the planet, has she?” Citrine asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?” I bellowed.
Citrine placed a hand on my arm. “Saar, please…let Nadir speak.”
“Seeher had arrived on a commercial space flight—”
“Not an LOP vessel?” Citrine frowned.
“No, Your Majesty. But that enabled me to check the commercial departures from yesterday, today, and tomorrow. She is not on any outgoing flight manifests.”
“Then, where is she?” I repeated.
“She could be anywhere on Nomoru. I have alerted the guards searching for Prince Lomax to bring her in as well. Perhaps she had an assignment in another province or in the kingdom of Copa. Perhaps she has gone sightseeing.”
“Sightseeing? Sightseeing? When she left Prince Lomax in a worse state than he was before?” Blood rushed to my face and head on a surge of rage.
“My apologies for my conjecture, Your Majesty. I only guess that she may have gone sightseeing.”
“I am not interested in conjecture. Give me facts.” I struggled to control my anger.
