Psy (Alien Castaways #3) - Cara Bristol Page 0,42
donning colored contact lenses to hide her distinctive over-large brown irises. He didn’t doubt she’d recognized his eyes the instant she’d met him and had feared what he might discover if he continued to link minds with Cassie.
He’d allowed her to believe her attempt at mind control had been successful because he needed time to devise a plan to save his genmate. Rosalie had implanted false ideas in Cassie’s mind the same way she’d tried to do with him. She’d attempted to sneak into his head without him noticing, but he’d sensed her presence immediately, had locked down his psyche and created a shadow copy for her to toy with.
Brainwashing a child would be no challenge for any Verital. This explained why Cassie couldn’t speak—she’d been programmed to believe she couldn’t.
Why would a mother do that to her child? What was Rosalie afraid Cassie would say? And why had none of her telepathic abilities been passed down to her daughter? He recalled the mental smudge and wished more than ever he’d investigated when he’d first spotted it. He had to get his genmate away from her mother, determine the extent of the damage, and fix it.
He needed to gather information on his enemy. Only one person would have the answers he needed.
* * * *
“This is Edwin,” said the CEO of Mysk Industries.
“This is Psy in Argent.”
“Everything all right?” Concern edged the tech magnate’s voice. “Did something happen to Shadow…Tigre…”
“No, no. They’re fine,” he reassured him. While he and Mysk had met before, the ’Topian had grown much closer to Tigre and Shadow since the former acted as the contact between the castaways and Mysk Industries, and the latter had haunted the manufacturing facility in hopes of meeting a genmate.
Mysk Industries employees had fled ’Topia at the same time as the castaways. Mysk’s ship had carried several hundred people. In going through jump space, they’d been hurtled back in time and arrived on Earth fifty years before the castaways. ’Topians had longevity on their side. Now in his prime, Mysk had established a thriving tech firm in the five decades it took the castaways to arrive.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
“Well, I encountered a rogue Verital who attempted to implant false thoughts in my mind.”
Mysk swore. “That’s a huge violation of the code.”
“That’s not the half of it. She’s kept her daughter a virtual prisoner, and I have reason to believe she has prevented her from speaking.”
“Who is she?”
“She goes by Rosalie Steward, but that’s not her real name.”
“A female named Mentira was an infant when we arrived. She enrolled in Earth schools under the name Rosalie Mentira, but I haven’t heard from her in twenty-five years. We Veritals can pass for human, so those who arrived with me integrated into Earth society and are now scattered across the globe. But, with a couple of exceptions, Mentira being one them, they keep in touch.”
“Then you haven’t met her daughter.”
“I didn’t know she’d had one, but like I said, I haven’t seen her in twenty-five years. Mentira met a genmate, then?”
“She must have, but he’s not in the picture now. Does the name Wayne Alan Steward mean anything to you?” He doubted the baby’s father’s name on the legitimate birth certificate had any connection to Mentira, but he had to cover all bases.
“Never heard of him.”
He had expected as much. What still stunned him was what Rosalie—Mentira had done to her own flesh and blood. He intended to get to the bottom of this. “Mentira needs to be brought to justice.”
“That’s going to be…difficult,” Mysk said. “We haven’t experienced anything this egregious before, so we never established a tribunal. You recall on ’Topia we used sensory-blockers to incarcerate rogue Veritals. Here on Earth, we have no way to contain her. We could turn her over to Earth authorities, but violation of the code isn’t illegal under the law here, and, as you know, they couldn’t handle a Verital.”
The assessment echoed his grim suspicions. “She would do a mind wipe on the police. She’d never be arrested and brought to trial.”
“Unfortunately, the only thing controlling a Verital is his or her personal ethics and adherence to the code.”
And Mentira had no ethics. It looked like she’d get away with her crimes.
She’d been mentally abusing Cassie for more than two decades. What if the damage she’d inflicted upon Cassie’s mind was permanent? What if she could never speak? What if she never remembered she was his genmate?
Chapter Eighteen
Cassie wrinkled her nose