Mind of My Mind Read Online Free PDF
Author: Octavia E. Butler
the guy who ran the company for him come to our house to talk. Even
then I knew that was a hell of a put-down to the guy. Our house was a shack compared to
what he was used to. Anyway, Doro wanted to find out whether the guy was stealing,
having real trouble, or was just plain incompetent. It turned out the guy was stealing. Big
salary, pretty young wife, big house in Beverly Hills, and he was stealing from Doro.
Stupid.
The guy was Doro's—born Doro's, just like me. And every dime of his original
investment had been Doro's. Still, he cursed and complained and found reasons why, with
all the work he'd done, he deserved more money. Then he ran.
Doro had shrugged. He had eaten dinner with us, got up, stretched, and finally gone
out after the guy. The next day, he came back wearing the guy's body.
You didn't cheat him. You didn't steal from him or lie to him. You didn't disobey him.
He'd find you out, then he'd kill you. How could you fight that? He wasn't telepathic, but
I had never seen anyone get a lie past him. And I had never known anyone to escape him.
He did have some kind of tracking sense. He locked in on people. Anybody he'd met
once, he could find again. He thought about them, and he knew which way to go to get to
them. Once he was close to them, they didn't have a chance.
I put my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. "Let's get out of here."
He took me back to his hotel and bought me lunch. I hadn't had breakfast, so I was
hungry. Then we went up to his room and made love. Really. I would call it screwing
when I had to do it with his damn fool son. I had been in love with Doro since I was
twelve. He had made me wait until I was eighteen. Now he was going to marry me off to
somebody else. I probably loved him in self-defense. Hating him was too dangerous.
We had a week together. He decided to take me to Karl when I started passing out
with the mental stuff I was picking up. It surprised him the first time it happened.
Evidently I was closer to transition than he had thought.
Chapter Two
DORO
Actives were nearly always troublesome, Doro thought as he drove his car down Karl
Larkin's long driveway. He already knew that Karl was not in his house, that he was
somewhere in the back yard, probably in the pool. Doro let his tracking sense guide him.
He had thought it would be safest to visit Karl once more before he placed Mary with
him. Both Karl and Mary were too valuable to take chances with. Mary, if she survived
transition, could prove invaluable. She would never have to know the whole reason for
her existence—the thing Doro hoped to discover through her. It would be enough if she
simply matured and paired successfully with Karl. Eventually the two of them could be
told part of the truth—that they were a first, that Doro had never before been able to keep
a pair of active telepaths together without killing one of them and taking that one's place.
This would be explanation enough for them. Because by the time they had been together
for a while they would know how hard it was for two actives to be together without
losing themselves, merging into each other uncontrollably. They would understand why,
always before, actives had been rigidly unwilling to permit such merging—why actives
had defended their individuality, why they had killed each other.
Karl was in the pool. Doro could see him across a parklike expanse of grass and trees.
Before Doro could reach him, though, the gardener, who had been mowing the lawn,
drove up to Doro on his riding mower.
"Sir?" he said tentatively.
"It's me," said Doro.
The gardener smiled. "I thought it must be. Welcome back."
Doro nodded, went over to the pool. Karl owned his servants more thoroughly than
even Doro usually owned people. Karl owned their minds. They were just ordinary
people who had answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Karl did no
then I knew that was a hell of a put-down to the guy. Our house was a shack compared to
what he was used to. Anyway, Doro wanted to find out whether the guy was stealing,
having real trouble, or was just plain incompetent. It turned out the guy was stealing. Big
salary, pretty young wife, big house in Beverly Hills, and he was stealing from Doro.
Stupid.
The guy was Doro's—born Doro's, just like me. And every dime of his original
investment had been Doro's. Still, he cursed and complained and found reasons why, with
all the work he'd done, he deserved more money. Then he ran.
Doro had shrugged. He had eaten dinner with us, got up, stretched, and finally gone
out after the guy. The next day, he came back wearing the guy's body.
You didn't cheat him. You didn't steal from him or lie to him. You didn't disobey him.
He'd find you out, then he'd kill you. How could you fight that? He wasn't telepathic, but
I had never seen anyone get a lie past him. And I had never known anyone to escape him.
He did have some kind of tracking sense. He locked in on people. Anybody he'd met
once, he could find again. He thought about them, and he knew which way to go to get to
them. Once he was close to them, they didn't have a chance.
I put my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. "Let's get out of here."
He took me back to his hotel and bought me lunch. I hadn't had breakfast, so I was
hungry. Then we went up to his room and made love. Really. I would call it screwing
when I had to do it with his damn fool son. I had been in love with Doro since I was
twelve. He had made me wait until I was eighteen. Now he was going to marry me off to
somebody else. I probably loved him in self-defense. Hating him was too dangerous.
We had a week together. He decided to take me to Karl when I started passing out
with the mental stuff I was picking up. It surprised him the first time it happened.
Evidently I was closer to transition than he had thought.
Chapter Two
DORO
Actives were nearly always troublesome, Doro thought as he drove his car down Karl
Larkin's long driveway. He already knew that Karl was not in his house, that he was
somewhere in the back yard, probably in the pool. Doro let his tracking sense guide him.
He had thought it would be safest to visit Karl once more before he placed Mary with
him. Both Karl and Mary were too valuable to take chances with. Mary, if she survived
transition, could prove invaluable. She would never have to know the whole reason for
her existence—the thing Doro hoped to discover through her. It would be enough if she
simply matured and paired successfully with Karl. Eventually the two of them could be
told part of the truth—that they were a first, that Doro had never before been able to keep
a pair of active telepaths together without killing one of them and taking that one's place.
This would be explanation enough for them. Because by the time they had been together
for a while they would know how hard it was for two actives to be together without
losing themselves, merging into each other uncontrollably. They would understand why,
always before, actives had been rigidly unwilling to permit such merging—why actives
had defended their individuality, why they had killed each other.
Karl was in the pool. Doro could see him across a parklike expanse of grass and trees.
Before Doro could reach him, though, the gardener, who had been mowing the lawn,
drove up to Doro on his riding mower.
"Sir?" he said tentatively.
"It's me," said Doro.
The gardener smiled. "I thought it must be. Welcome back."
Doro nodded, went over to the pool. Karl owned his servants more thoroughly than
even Doro usually owned people. Karl owned their minds. They were just ordinary
people who had answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Karl did no