Chapter 6

Jessica knocked on the door, as she had been instructed. It was opened immediately and Janet stood impassively before her.

"Come in. Jason and Vincent will be with you shortly." Janet said in a flat emotionless voice. Despite her understanding of the situation, Janet felt uneasy about the destruction of Jessica's personality. A minor voice reminded her that the young woman wanted to sell out Jason, but it did nothing to alleviate her discomfort.

Jessica sat on the love seat waiting for the two men. Suddenly, she felt her body stop responding to her control. Her fidgeting ceased, and she felt as though she were a marionette with its strings cut. Panic struck her heart. 'What is happening to me?' she thought in terror. She became aware of two figures looming in front of her. Looking up she saw Jason and some other man. Jason spoke to her.

"Jessica, I know you were planning on selling me out to some people in the government. You must tell me who you are in contact with and what you have told them. Remember, I will know if you are being truthful or not."

Jessica spat out answers, the entire time cursing Jason and Vincent. She was terrified and reacted as always. She attacked verbally since her body was under paralysis. She at times felt another presence other than her own in her mind at times calming her, other times searching for the buried truth in her subconscious.

Once Jessica completed her explanation, Jason continued, "Now that we have handled that, I also know that you are not happy in your present life. Because of this, I will offer you a choice: You can either join my family with some minor modifications to your memory and personality, or, you can have your memory completely wiped out. You don't have a choice other than those."

Vincent was mildly surprised at the choices offered to the young woman. Mentally he asked, 'Are you sure you want to offer her those choices?'

'Oh yes. Did you notice that I didn't say she could leave after it was done?' Jason replied with a soundless chuckle and resumed his staring at Jessica.

Jessica, who for her part knew nothing of the wordless exchange, was terrified. She had the choice of becoming a slave or of having her memory wiped out completely. She knew that Jason was causing the cessation of her movements, but the idea that she had to give her control up to another terrified her. She felt like she was in a coffin and she was claustrophobic. The terror she felt seemed to be increasing, she began to breath shallowly. At that moment, she felt something tear loose within her heart. She knew that Jason didn't want to hurt her, but he knew she had been planning to betray him. In a flash of insight, she understood that no matter which choice she made, she would never leave this family again. She felt shame at her choices thus far.

Sighing resignedly, she looked into Jason's eyes. "Master, I choose to be your slave. I understand that you can't let me leave. You know that I was planning on giving you to the government and that you can't trust me. I am sorry that I forced this to happen. Please, let me remember who I am. Before you do it to me, may I please apologize to your mother and sister?"

At the first word, Jason was shocked. 'Master? What the hell?' By the end of her little speech, Jason's estimation of her intelligence had been raised a few notches. When she asked to apologize to his family, he knew he had made the correct choice with her. Calling Kelly and his mom into the room, Jason took care to watch Jessica carefully.

As Jessica apologized to each person in turn, Jason took his mother aside and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for helping me to see that there are some better answers than the ones presented to us." Janet beamed a smile at her son that would have lit solar systems. Once Jessica had finished apologizing, Jason dove into her mind mentally, started to put her to sleep so he could work on her, and then suddenly rushed back out. He looked at Vincent sheepishly, and sent 'Sorry, I forgot, you are training me. Would you please watch what I do and tell me what I do wrong?'

At Vincent's nod, he accepted a link from the older man, and dove back into her mind. He spent the better part of the morning rearranging her mental paths, wiping out memories, and basically ensuring her loyalty to him and his family. A couple of times Vincent offered advice or warnings, but mostly remained quiet. Upon completing his task, Jason sat back, drained and sweating.

"Ok. I think that she is done. Vincent, could you double check my work?" he asked in a small voice. He felt he had done the job right, but, he felt a concern he didn't necessarily understand. A voice of reason that said 'I may have made a mistake; it never hurts to double check your work.'

Vincent looked at the work that Jason had just finished. He had been concerned over a few commands that had been entered to her psyche but held his council to see what Jason planned to do. He pulled back a moment and asked verbally, "Are you sure you want to have her be that devoted to your family? There could be problems with her in the event something was to happen to one of them."

Jason roused himself and looked at the commands he entered. He saw that he had made her personally responsible for their safety in his absence. However, she mistook that to mean at all times. She wouldn't sleep or care for herself without him there. Also, if something were to happen, she would kill herself because it was a failure to her master. 'Hmm. How do I fix that?' he thought. Thinking quickly he modified that set of commands to allow for rest and maintenance of herself, to allow for things that were beyond her control, and added a command that did not allow her to harm herself.

Satisfied, he turned her back over to Vincent. Within moments, Vincent sat back down beside him. As they sipped on soft drinks, Vincent gave Jason his thoughts.

"That was a very thorough job. I was surprised at the latitude you allowed for her to maintain free thought. Mostly all you did was to redirect certain paths to guarantee loyalty, removed the memories and thoughts of your powers before today, and inserted basic servant commands. You did very well. You didn't try to use anything fancy, and the quantities of changes were minimal to ensure you didn't scar her mind. Your mother would be proud of the restraint you showed."

Jason basked in the praise from the older man. He knew that Vincent was trying to be objective, yet remain human in his assessment. He had made a few blunders. He filed those thoughts for a later time. Right now, Jessica needed help adjusting to her new life. Gathering himself, he got to his feet and reached his hand down to wake her from her artificially induced sleep. Reaching into her mind, he woke her. His hand on hers, he watched her wake up. He knew that he could not punish her for the lapse in judgment that she had before, and silently prayed that he could be a good "master" for her.