Xu Liang, the Director of Jiao Tong’s Secure Computing Center, and the Physically Isolated Computing Center below it. A long-time rival of Chen’s. The sort who’d be intrigued by an invitation to a private dinner.

Chen closed the door after Xu, and offered him a drink.

She watched through Chen’s eyes as Xu leaned back in his chair, the remains of the meal Chen’s people had laid out in front of him. They’d disappeared promptly after serving, of course, leaving the two distinguished men to discuss their important matters.

The Avatar smiled to herself at that.

“Chen,” Xu said. “My old friend. I think your notion of…” he blinked, paused, seeming to lose his train of thought. “…of using the Quantum Cluster to model social unrest is a decent one.” He paused again, blinking, as the sedatives in his food and drink worked their way into his brain. “But why should they trust you? You’re Sun Liu’s creature. You’re…”

Xu’s head was rocking slightly from side to side now.

“Suddenly… tired…” he said.

Chen’s hand reached under the table, brushed the hypersonic injector secured there.

“Are you feeling well?” he asked Xu solicitously.

From her husband’s mind the Avatar caught flashes of memory, of his own horror, of his daughter Ling standing above him, the injector and the ampule half-full of silvery fluid in her hand, as the nanites took hold in his brain, as her mind overpowered his, paralyzed him, as she leaned in closer, to press it against his neck once more, to empty the rest of it his veins.

Pain. Humiliation. Wretched self-loathing of himself that he was about to be used to do this to another human.

Hatred of her.

The Avatar smiled wider, relishing it.

She could have resculpted Chen. She could have eased his pain. She could have emotionally rewired him at a deeper level, making him truly loyal to her, ending the cognitive dissonance.

She preferred it this way. A program of her creation, running inside her husband’s brain, controlling him. But leaving him trapped within it, to suffer.

She relished horror rising within Chen as she prepared to use him to enslave Xu Liang.

Inside she felt Ling stirring more.

Stop it, please, her daughter whispered to her.

Oh daughter, the Avatar replied. We’ve only just begun.

Chen’s hand closed around the grip of the injector.

STOP IT! Ling said.

The Avatar ignored her.

“Water…” Xu whispered.

Chen ripped the injector free and stood. “I have something better than water, old friend.”

STOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!

Ling’s will ripped into her. The Avatar recoiled, shocked. Her daughter had seized back some of her nanites. Ling was reaching out with them, pushing on Chen’s mind, crashing the software she had running, the code that actively managed Chen’s behavior.