Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

they’d played. So, they kept to themselves, being their normal prying, lousy selves, and everyone tried to ignore them as much as possible.

In truth, working and playing with Ching, I almost did feel fourteen years old once again, and I really enjoyed it—but not to the point of not concentrating on my main task, which was to put together a plan that would eventually dispose of Talant Ypsir. I pretty much gave up my ideas of doing anything beyond that—although that was surely enough!—because of the restrictive nature of the society. They could be entertaining aliens and churning out humanoid superrobots in every third office building in Gray Basin, and I would neither know it or have any real way of finding out.

Still, any move against the government of Medusa would have to be based upon what was, as of now, only a theoretical possibility. The society was locked in too tight, and was too well run, to do any real damage unless the monitor system could be negated. To do that, I would somehow have to learn if this malleability principle was really possible, and, if so, how to take advantage of it myself.

Just how closely we were monitored was brought home at our every-other-week private sessions with a liaison between the Guild and TMS. We were generally asked to explain this or that action or comment we had made, often out in the open. I quickly understood that this was not really an inquiskion, nor were we accused of sedition or any sort of wrongdoing—it was merely a reminder that we were always observed, and, as such, better just start totally accepting Hie system and thinking and acting right at all times.

Close to the end of my third month on Medusa I had become increasingly aware of changes in both Ching and myself—physiological changes that were hard to ignore. When I’d first met her, she’d been thin and spindly and, while cute, not really what you’d call well endowed. She was filling out now, and it didn’t take long to realize that this was no late pubescent growth but a direct Warden action in reaction to my stimulus. She was fast becoming an extremely sexy woman with all the right equipment. Clearly the hormonal triggers the Wardens employed to bring about the physical changes were also having the expected psychological effects.

As for me, I was undergoing the same sort of transformation. I was filling out, becoming hard, lean, and muscular, sprouting body hair, and experiencing substantial sexual sensations. This helped my overall plan in the sense that I was beginning to look less like a fourteen-year-old kid. It also helped in that playing the role of the sexually repressed kid was driving me nuts anyway. Still, I was kind of nervous. It was within my acting abilities to simulate almost anything, but the role of a fourteen-year-old inexperienced virgin might well be beyond me. Fortunately, it was Ching who finally brought up the subject, and also allayed my real fears on that score.

“Tarin?”

“Uh huh?”

“Do you feel—anything—when you look at me?”

I thought a moment. “You’re a pretty girl and a good friend.”

“No, I mean—well, beyond that. I do when I look at you most times. Real funny feelings, if you know what I mean.”

“Maybe,” I answered cautiously.

“Uh… Tarin? Have you ever… made love to a girl before?”

I acted startled at the question. “I was twelve when they arrested me. When did I ever have a chance?” I hesitated a moment. “Have you?”

She looked suitably shocked. “Oh, no! What do you think I am? A Goodtime Girl?”

I laughed, walked over to her, and patted her soothingly. “Take it easy. So we’re both new at it.” Or very good liars, I thought. Still, she sounded sincere, which made the job much simpler. In a society where sex is generally available to all, one of the more boring things is watching two people make it through some kind of closed-circuit hookup. Even if TMS got their jollies that way, we’d be such a small and uninteresting lot considering the whole population it would hardly be worth noticing. But if she were experienced, she could tell.

And so, finally, tentatively, we made love, and that was a real mental release for me. As for Ching, she was in fact awkward and inexperienced and the whole thing was new to her, but she wound up with a happy and radiant high the likes of which I’d never seen before. In the days that followed the psychological changes in her were incredible. She was happier, far more self-confident, and given to spontaneous and automatic displays of affection, even on the job. This was a bit embarrassing at times; I wasn’t used to such displays, let’s face it, nor to any kind of attachment. I’d always been a loner and proud of it—you had to be in my kind of business.

But we had sex a lot, which only reinforced everything.

On a different note, I found an electronics hobby club sponsored by the Guild, and actively joined it. It occurred to me that this was the best way I had to see the engineering philosophy behind Medusa’s society, and it would give me access to the tools to counter that technological threat when the time finally came.

That time was bothering me, though. Here it was three months along and I was really not ready to begin. I was still outside the establishment, still denied the tools and positions I needed, and even more cemented into the fairly pleasant daily regimen of low-grade Guild work. I had as much information and as much access to tools and technology as I needed to perform my duties, and I would get no more without some really dramatic or radical changes, changes I simply could not initiate.

Interestingly enough, TMS provided me with the kick in the rear I needed. We were returning from work one day, holding hands and talking about nothing much, coming across the street from the bus stop to the dorm, when a small vehicle pulled up across the street and its driver looked over at us. Now, individual vehicles were rare enough to cause attention and apprehension, and there was no mistaking the military green of the woman at the controls or that look of inner power on her face.

We tried to ignore her as best we could, but the TMS agent got out of the car and walked briskly and confidently toward us. When it became obvious that we were the object of her attention, we stopped. Ching gripped my hand so tightly I. thought it was going to be pulled off.

“Tarin Bul?” the Monitor asked, although she knew who I was from the time she’d left her headquarters.

I nodded. “Yes?”

“This is a routine check. Ching Lu Kor, you will proceed to the dorm and go through your normal routine. He should be back in a few hours.”

“Shouldn’t I go with him?” Ching protested. “I mean, we’re paired…”

Brave girl, I thought, but I said, “No, it’s all right, I’m sure this is just routine, Ching. You go on. Fll tell you all about it when I get back.”

She let go of my hand, hesitantly, and seemed to appeal to the Monitor with her eyes—but met only a steely blank response. The Monitor turned and walked back to the car and I followed, after kissing Ching lightly and giving her a reassuring pat and squeeze. But she was still standing there, looking frightened and upset, as the Monitor and I climbed into the car and sped smoothly out and away from the Guild sector.

It was the first time I’d been in an independent vehicle since coming to Medusa, and I paid a good deal of attention to how the officer drove the car. It seemed a simple affair, basically electric-powered and limited to city duty, with a small steering wheel and one-knob accelerator and brake. There was also an on-oflf switch, I noted, but no key or code pad. These TMS folks were pretty confident.

I knew I was supposed to be terrified and all that, but I couldn’t bring myself to look or act that way. The fact was, this was the first odd or unusual thing that had happened to me since I’d started work at the Guild and it sure broke the monotony. Besides, maybe the experience would yield some new information. One thing was sure—it was no routine check as the agent had said; I’d seen a lot of folks picked up for those routine checks, and they always took the pair or family as a group and never, never sent a personal car for them.

We went through and beyond downtown, to a small, low, black building on our right. We turned into a back alley on the side of the building, then made a sharp left and actually drove inside, gliding smoothly into a prepared stall in a garage with automatic hookups for recharging, energizing, and cold protection that came out and started work the moment we stopped and the “off” switch was flipped. The cold-weather protection was something I was well aware of; machinery wasn’t as tolerant of temperature as we Medusans, and special care had to be taken to make sure they worked correctly in our lovely climate.

“Follow me,” the Monitor instructed, and I did, walking with her to a nearby elevator, then into it, and up two floors. The doors slid back to reveal a somewhat familiar scene to me—squad rooms looked like squad rooms the galaxy over.