smart! He knew just what to do. He knew the mother was the key, that she couldn't let go.." the little girl stopped. "Maybe I should go, mother. I think I would be all right now."
Connie took her hand and shook her head. "You're a lot better!" she sighed. "But not yet. You know it as well as I do. It's all right! Give it time! Her mother said even when we can be free we might not want to stop because we're doing so much good! Well, I think I need a little real sleep. Good night, dear!"
Connie felt herself being drawn back into her body. She felt comfortable and then felt another presence.
"Please?" a timid little voice said. "Your daughter got all she needed, all she could take. Let me have the rest? I'm really hungry!"
Connie smiled. "Some day you're going to have to show yourself to me!" she remarked. "He told me it's all right when there's leftovers. But I'd really like to know you!"
"Oh no!" the little voice came back, "I'm too scared. You're too powerful. But thank you."
Connie went to sleep. She woke in the morning and looked at the child beside her. She was smiling. She looked perfectly at peace. There was no sign of distress, whatsoever. Connie took off the bedcovers, unfastened the bottom sheet from the clips that kept it in place, and folded it over her in a precise pattern. She got dressed and buzzed for the guard. The morning man came in with a gourney. They lifted the girl on it and made the walk across the compound to the crematorium. There the doctor put a stethoscope underneath the blankets and listened.
"No heart beat," he announced, "no respiration. You may sever the head."
An attendant slipped a device under the sheets. Connie knew he was putting a thin wire around the girl's neck and attaching it to a device that would pull it through an opening. There was a crunching sound that made her cringe.
"Head separated," the attendant snapped.
The doctor looked at his watch. After a time he remarked "Five minutes. You can put her in now."
"As many times as we do this," Connie remarked, "I still wonder why we separate the head."
"Just to be absolutely sure," the doctor answered. "If by some odd chance we were mistaken and she wasn't dead, and she woke up in there...."
Connie nodded as the incinerator shut and the fire came on. When it was well going she nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute!" she remarked, "We didn't take the head for separate cremation."
"Somebody's been given special consent," the doctor remarked. "Her ashes won't be spread to the wind. She's going home to be buried beside her sister, no marker. They'll just put her urn down beside hers."
Connie smiled. "I'll bet that's how he got the mother to come!" she muttered.
When she got back to the residence and went to get breakfast Carrie Ann was there.
"Hid ie ho!" she cried. "Heard you had a real hard one. Everything o.k.? Need a girl talk?"
"No," Connie answered. "You look brighter than usual!"
"Only because I woke him up!" her partner replied, "And got rid of all the stuff that was in my mind. Oh, some of these guys are nasty! Sometimes I wish I had your job and only had to help them cross over. Getting into some of these guys' minds..well, you better hurry up! We're heading out. Your favorite guard is coming in and we're all headed for Pakistan while mother goes to San Francisco again. We think we've broke them! We think we can really finish the gay marriage people this time. California may be the first state to pass the anti gay ordinances! He will certainly be happy! That's one we really want."
Connie finished her eggs and steak, sopping up the last little bit with her toast. "Did the CIA lady recruit you too?" she asked. "We've been together off and on for almost a year, sharing some of the worst possible conditions and I really don't know that much about you, except I really like you and he praises your work. And I'm glad mother doesn't have to do it. I'm just curious. I know wer'e not supposed to ask. But you know all about me."
The woman across the table from her smiled. "They say I killed the pimp that was selling me and several of his customers. I took quite a while doing it. But I really don't remember. I only remember that I couldn't get the thoughts in their minds out of mine. Then he came and asked me to write it all down. I did, then he took it. He took it all. It was just gone! I can't imagine how he deals with it, how he keeps any kind of sanity. Sometimes when I have to go do readings I'm just about crawling out of my skin until I get back here and get rid of it! You love him too, don't you? I mean, all of us do. We can't help it. You can't shut it off. I don't think we could do what we do without it. You know what all the girls intend when they're eighteen. They won't be leaving! They're waiting for the tests to find out if he's vital again. I'd like to be the first to try!" She blushed and stopped talking. Connie returned her smile.
"He was mad as hell when he found out!" she remarked. "They were only supposed to take some samples, they weren't supposed to hook things back up! He doesn't like any kind of deception. How did they ever keep him from perceiving them?"
"Because they didn't tell me!" her friend answered. "And he won't violate anybody's privacy and read them without consent. They made sure no one directly around him knew what they'd planned. He's hard to deceive, but once and a while, if you're determined!" Both of them giggled.
"All right, you two!" came his voice. "Come on! Let's get going! Go grab a shower, Connie. Make sure your travel kit's ready. The Islamic Protector is coming home from school. As soon as she's here we're heading for the