Personal danger was only one more calculation in Zel's balance sheet of life. "Wait. If you think something's wrong with the plangents, why were you hunting Eined to force her into the procedure?" Warian demanded. Zel's hands went up in a placatory gesture. "Hold on, hold on. I wasn't going to turn her in, you numbskull!" "Is that so?" "Yes!

When I found her, I planned on fleeing the city with her. I wouldn't force the crystal on my own blood kin, for doom's sake!" "But she's going to the site, right? That's what you told me at the meeting today," Warian accused. Zel smirked and nodded, but held up a hand again. "You're a smart kid, Warian. I know you have more going on up there than the rest of the family gives you credit for. Plus, you seem to be half plangent. You have their strength and speed, maybe even more than they do, from what my boys said…" "Only when it's triggered, and then it drains me near to death," Warian interrupted.

"Sure, sure-but you get to access the good stuff, without the downsides I've noticed." Zel cast his eyes to the floor. Warian waited a moment, then said, "Please, go on. I know you love center stage, Uncle." Zel smiled his agreement and continued. "It's nothing definite-just circumstantial events, and weird feelings I sometimes get when I talk to my brother or sister. We all were pretty close growing up. Of course, we grew apart as adults-we each fell into the role that best suited us in Datharathi Minerals. But I've known Xaemar and Sevaera since we all toddled to nursery school together. And ever since they've taken the crystal, they've been different." "Better, you mean?" "Yes, but also…" he cleared his throat. "Every so often, I'll be talking to one of them, and out of the blue I feel like I'm talking to someone else. The same someone else-every time, and with both of them. And I tell you what. Whoever that someone is, he seems a right bastard." "Have you ever called this 'other' out on its supposed presence-told it you knew it was there?" wondered Warian. "Almost.

Right after the family meeting today. I found Xaemar to get his signature on a requisition. As we spoke, he changed. I looked up and saw a darkness-a hunger behind his eyes that made my skin crawl. It seemed unholy. I said, 'Brother, what's got you so excited?' He just laughed. I pretty much ran out of there. His laughter chased me. "When I got that report about Eined's escape, I sneaked up to the roof and stowed aboard. I never want to see what lives inside my brother again." "Sounds sort of crazy, Uncle. But now that you mention it, I did notice everyone acted a little strange at the meeting-more thoughtful than their usual charge-ahead style. Maybe it's just another malfunction, like my arm, but psychological." "Maybe," said Zel, doubtfully. "Well, we'll talk to Shaddon about this tomorrow.

He's the lead on the plangent project. He'll help me repair my arm, and maybe he can calm your fears about your siblings." "Or confirm them." "Maybe Shaddon needs to tweak his crystal implantation technique," Warian conceded. "There's another possibility," said Zel.

"He could be contaminated, too. After all, he's subjected himself to the same plangent treatment. Actually, he's taken more crystal than any other plangent. He could be as mad as a Veldorn monkey all alone in his sanctum under Adama's Tooth." Warian looked away, worry suddenly creasing his brow. Then he said, "I'm not contaminated, or at least I don't feel any different. If I'm free of this hypothetical taint, perhaps Shaddon is, too. I doubt he'd allow himself to come to any harm. He's the most accomplished mage this family has ever produced, if you can believe his claims." Zel looked at Warian, calculation narrowing his eyes. "Yes, but if you were contaminated, would you know it? Would he?" "Come on, you're just trying to spook me! Of course we'd know it. This could all be a minor glitch in the plangent program that you've blown up into your own personal conspiracy theory. It could be nothing." "Or we could be going to face the man from whom all the contamination flows."

Shaddon gazed into a massive crystalline boulder suspended on an iron chain. It was the largest uncut stone his miners had ever discovered. His first thought was to use it as another crystal for his prosthesis project. But this particular globe of purple mineral proved far more significant than every earlier specimen he'd prized from the great dark. Shaddon grinned so fiercely his face nearly split. In this piece of mute stone, he had found untapped energy-energy eager to jump into all the previous mineral he'd cut to such exacting standards. The arrival of this massive sphere marked the transition where his prosthetics research graduated from sub-par replacements to superhuman relics. With this orb, he was able to fashion plangents. The limbs, organs, senses, and even reasoning faculties he installed in plangents were superior to anything mortals were born with. He could truthfully claim the ability to make people better! True, he had a few bad nights when the energy source fueling his plangents proved itself sentient.

What had he unleashed? Those fears had passed. This entity showed him advantages he'd never dreamed possible. With the great orb, he could seize absolute control over everyone who accepted a plangent implant.

In the two years since this great discovery, Shaddon's attitude had slowly migrated from vague unease to glorious satisfaction with his newfound power, despite a single downside. He pushed his mind away from that topic. His was the power of absolute mastery over a growing number of better-than-normal wealthy merchants, nobles, and other people of note. Shaddon Datharathi reached out his artificial hand to change the focus of the colossal globe. Each rough facet glowed with an image, as if from a different viewpoint. Each image was, in truth, from the perspective of someone who had submitted to Body Shop improvements. The plangents, who came to the Body Shop as rich, powerful elites, thought they were gaining membership in an exclusive club. It was true-in submitting to the implant, they gained the powers of a super-normal human, as promised. What they didn't know was that wearing a Datharathi prosthesis of recent manufacture put the wearer's soul in thrall. Shaddon grinned even wider. He was the thrall master.

The project had exceeded his wildest hopes. His subjects of control continued to proliferate. Each offered him a new window on the world-and a new vessel that would accede to his utter bidding. Why not smile? He giggled, the tone high and tittering. He watched from the eyes of a nobleman of the Kant family as he sneaked away to a tryst with a secret lover. Shaddon shifted his focus, and with only a twinge of pain, mentally propelled his senses into his thrall. The next instant, he was the noble. He could feel the man's breath, feel his crystalline heart, move his hands, twirl his body, whatever he desired. He let out a hoot in the man's deep voice, then retreated back into his own body, leaving the nobleman turned around and confused about the moment of lost time. Shaddon would have time enough for idle fun later. At the moment, he needed to ponder a recent development-his grandson Warian had returned to Vaelan. And with such an interesting story. His prosthesis was acting up, surging with a strength it had never before possessed. How could that be? None of the pre-plangent prostheses were linked to the orb. Had some sort of spontaneous linkage occurred? Possibly, except no matter how he tried, he couldn't find his grandson on the great orb. Did he have a plangent's strength without the bondage? He needed to get a look at that arm. It had been simplicity itself to puppet his son, Xaemar, into sending Warian directly to Adama's Tooth. He seized control of Xaemar so often these days it was like putting on an old glove.