The Black Chains came to a halt beside Swanne on the ramp and stared at Kas and Mack with expressionless faces.
'What have you done...?' Mack grimaced.
'What everybody said was impossible,' Swanne replied, revelling in Kas and Mack's blatant horror. 'These three are some of the most disobedient scum in the solar system, and now they serve me like dogs. Kneel!'
The Black Chains dropped to their knees at once.
'Impressive, don't you think?'
Kas didn't know what to think. She had hated the Black Chains for years and had yearned to see them punished, but what Swanne had done to them was beyond evil. Kas still felt anger and hatred towards them, but now she was surprised to find she also pitied them.
'They're monstrous,' she said.
'To you, maybe. I think they're rather beautiful. Perhaps you just need a demonstration.' Swanne's and Vima's eyes started to glow in unison, and new life was suddenly breathed into the metal mistress. She stood up and began studying her hands, flexing her fingers as if testing her dexterity. She turned to Kas and smiled.
'Don't look so afraid,' she said, her voice a strange combination of Vima's and Swanne's. 'You're witnessing history.'
Kas had no words. She looked over at Swanne and saw her in some kind of a trance, stock-still.
'I can control her as easily as a puppet,' continued the possessed Vima. Beside her, Otto's head twitched as he started making a strange static noise.
'Kkkk... kkkk...'
It looked as though he was malfunctioning. His neck was twitching more and more aggressively like he was trying desperately to turn his head but it was being held in place by an invisible claw. Vima twisted around to look at him.
'Stop that!' she snapped.
'Kkk... kkkk... kkk...'
Vima's eyes dimmed and became a dull green as the glow passed to Otto. Bewitched, he brought his trembling arms out in front of him. His large metal hands curled into sledgehammers.
'Kkkkk.... kkkk...'
He stared at his fists for a couple of seconds before driving his left hard into his face with a sickening crack. He started pummeling his face repeatedly with both hands.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
While it didn't seem to cause him any pain, each strike hammered another dent into his silver face and flattened his crooked nose. When his right arm pulled back for another shot, the shaking subsided. He held it there much longer this time, just looking at it, waiting for the next punch to come... but it didn't. Calmly, he rose to his feet and looked across at Kas with emotionless, bright green eyes.
'Much better,' he said in his familiar raspy voice before his pupils dimmed. The glow in Swanne's eyes also faded as she breathed a small sigh, returned again to her own body.
'As you can see, I am still training them,' she said. 'Otto likes to test me from time to time, but he is gradually learning his lessons the hard way. Remi - up!' Remi, who was the only one still kneeling, stood at once.
'So they're aware?' Mack said. 'They know what's happening to them?'
'No. What you just saw was a typical bio-mech response. The brain's limbic system is trying to reject the software. It can take days, sometimes weeks... but eventually, the software always wins. They're quite unconscious.'
'Don't look unconscious to me,' Kas muttered. Swanne ignored her and scanned her eyes across the room.
'I almost forgot. You two stole something else from me - not that I need it anymore. Where is the X1 computer?'
Neither Kas nor Mack answered.
'If you prefer, I can have one of these three ask you?'
Kas looked again at the Chains and shuddered. She was spared having to lie when a loud clunking noise sounded behind her. She turned to see RoboWorm standing in the cockpit doorway.