Mind of My Mind Read Online Free PDF Page B

entertaining—was
    almost a hermit except for the succession of women whom he lured in and kept until they
    bored him. The servants existed more to look after the house and grounds than to look
    after Karl himself. Still, he had chosen them less for their professional competence than
    for the fact that they had few if any living relatives. Few people to be pacified if he
    accidentally got too rough with them. He would not have hurt them deliberately. He had
    conditioned them, programmed them carefully to do their work and to obey him in every
    way. He had programmed them to be content with their jobs. He even paid them well.
    But his power made him dangerous to ordinary people—especially those who worked
    near him every day. In an instant of uncontrolled anger, he could have killed them all.
     
    Karl hauled himself out of the water when he saw Doro approaching. Then he leaned
    down and offered his hand to a second person, whom Doro had not noticed. Vivian, of
    course. A small, pretty, brown-haired woman whom Doro had prevented Karl from
    marrying.
     
    Karl gave him a questioning look. "I was afraid you were bringing my prospective
    bride."
     

 
    "Tomorrow," said Doro. He sat down on the dry end of the long, low diving board.
     
    Karl shook his head, sat down on the concrete opposite him. "I never thought you'd
    do something like this to me."
     
    "You seem to have accepted it."
     
    "You didn't give me much of a choice." He glanced at Vivian, who had come to sit
    beside him. As he owned the servants, he owned her. Doro had been surprised to find him
    wanting to marry her. Karl usually had little but contempt for the women he owned.
     
    "Do you intend to keep Vivian here?" Doro asked.
     
    "You bet I do. Or are you going to stop me from doing that, too?"
     
    "No. It will make things more difficult for you, but that's your problem."
     
    "You seem to do all right handling harems."
     
    Doro shrugged. "The girl will react badly to her." He looked at Vivian. "When's the
    last time you were in a fight?"
     
    Vivian frowned. "A fight? A fist fight?"
     
    "Knock-down, drag-out."
     
    "God! Not since I was in third grade. Does she fight?"
     
    "Fractured a man's skull last week with a frying pan. Of course, the man deserved it.
    He was trying to rape her. But she's been known to use violence on far less provocation."
     
    Vivian looked at Karl wide-eyed. Karl shook his head. "You know I'm not going to
    let her get away with anything like that here."
     
    "For a while, you might have to," said Doro.
     
    "Oh, come on. Be reasonable. We have to protect ourselves."
     
    "Sure you do. But not by tampering with her mind. She's too close to transition. I've
    seen potential actives pushed into transition prematurely that way. They usually die."
     
    "What am I supposed to do with her, then?"
     
    "I hope talking to her will be enough. I've done what I could to make her wary of you.
    And she's not stupid. But she's every bit as unstable as you were when you were near
    transition. Also, she comes from the kind of home where violence is pretty ordinary."
     
    Karl stared down at the concrete for a moment. "You should have had her adopted.
    After all, I'd be in pretty bad shape myself if you had left me with my mother."
     
    "You would never have lived to grow up if I had left you with your mother. Her
    mother wasn't quite as bad. And her family tends to cluster together more than yours.
    They need to be near each other more, and some of them get along together a little more
    peacefully than your family—not that they really like each other any better. They don't."
     
    "What's the girl going to do about needing her family when you bring her here?"
     
    "I'm hoping she'll transfer her need to you."
     
    Karl groaned.
     
    "I'm also hoping that you won't find that such a bad thing after a while. You should
    try to accept her, for the sake of your own comfort."
     
    "What if talking to her doesn't quiet her down? You never answered