Two massive guards flank him on either side and two walk behind. Through electrodes implanted in their brains they are telepathically controlled by the Countess.
'I'll show you my conservatory, Audrey. I'm sure you will find it interesting.'
She leads the way into a red-carpeted room. There is a plastic sheet across one end where plants are growing. A horrible black smell of filth and evil fills the room, a smell of insects and rotten flowers, of unknown secretions and excrements.
'Come along, I'll show you my little plants.' She stands at one end of the plastic screen, which is open and leads to a narrow path that encircles the garden. 'Look there, Audrey.'
Audrey sees a pink shaft growing from the ground, a penis-shaped shaft, red and purple, and as he watches, the shaft moves and pulses. The Countess leans forwards with a hoe and turns the plant out of the ground. The shaft is attached to a pink sac with insect legs like a scorpion or a centipede. It scrabbles to cover itself up with dirt.
'That was once a silly boy like you, Audrey, and that's where I'm going to plant you.' The Countess stands with her hand on the door. 'You'll find out how it's done, Audrey. You'll have six hours to learn.'
The courtiers, lounging on a colonnade high above the river, see a flotilla of boats, rafts, and landing barges approaching. This must be General Darg returning in triumph with hundreds of captives. They squirm and moan in vile anticipation, stretching forth languid fingers to a basket of golden figs warmed by the noon sun.
'My God, something's
The principal defense of Yass-Waddah are the towers, manned by a few skilled technicians, capable of throwing electric blasts like lightning bolts. Now the towers open fire, blowing boats out of the water.
The insurgents take heavy losses but they spread out and keep coming. Landings have been made all up and down the river and Yass-Waddah is surrounded by confused troops without a plan of attack.
The Cyclops Boys go into action. These beings have one eye in the center of the forehead. They can activate the death chakra in the back of the neck until a laser boom shoots out the third eye, cutting through stone and metal, seeking the electronic control centers of the city.
Instrument panels are blowing out, magazines exploding. The screaming crowd pours through the walls, now broken in many places.
'Death to the Council of the Selected!'
'Death to the Green Guards!'
'Death to the Foreign Sows!'
'Death to the Courtiers!'
But the courtiers are deaf to everything but their own screams as the kundu do their work.
Audrey felt the floor shift under his feet and he was standing at the epicenter of a vast web. In that moment, he knew its purpose, knew the reason for suffering, fear, sex, and death. It was all intended to keep human slaves imprisoned in physical bodies while a monstrous matador waved his cloth in the sky, sword ready for the kill.
From the depth of his horror and despair, something was breaking through like molten lava, a shock wave of uncontrollable energy. Audrey felt the chakra at the back of his neck light up and glow like a tiny crystal skull brighter and brighter. A hum filled the room and a smell of ozone.
The Countess turned from the door, eyes blazing with alertness, and Audrey saw what had happened. He orders to the guards had not been obeyed. An interfering frequency had blanked out her control of them.
Audrey smiled and licked his lips. He started forward, hands outstretched to block a groin kick. The Countess screamed like an animal, dodged past him and out the door.
