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For a long stretched moment, K Block’s director stared dangerously at them both. Then he cleared his throat. “The Goddess,” he said tersely, “has chosen the two of you for special training. You must understand this is a great honor, one you must cherish deep in your hearts. Only a few are ever granted this, and never until they reach full agent status.”

Astonishment leapt through Nellie. Full agent status? That was at least ten years away. With an elated grin she glanced at her twin, then froze. Arms crossed, the other girl was eyeballing the director mutinously. Quickly Nellie elbowed her. Her twin elbowed her back.

Col. Jolsen surged forward. “Cadets!” he boomed, jutting his face into theirs. “At attention!”

Instantly Nellie stiffened and snapped off a salute. Fear buzzed her ears, the air hummed and sang like overheated electrodes. A cautious sideways glance revealed her twin also in salute mode, her eyes fixed vaguely above Col. Jolsen’s head.

“I would suggest,” the colonel hissed, his eyes gripping them both, “that you hold your current position and
listen
as the director explains the blessing that is about to enter your lives.”

Slowly K Block’s director turned and pointed to the exit. “When you pass through this door,” he intoned solemnly, “your lives will change completely. For you are about to receive the gift of angels and become like the Gods, even the Goddess Herself. Hidden mysteries will be revealed, your eyes will be opened in ways you never imagined. In return, you must honor the secrets shown to you. They are sacred, known only to the chosen few. The masses cannot comprehend them, for they have not been given the necessary wisdom. So understand that you are bound to silence on pain of death, as are all who learn these secrets until the Second Coming.”

Until the Second Coming,
Nellie thought reverently, a shiver running through her.

For what seemed an interminable moment, the director continued to stare at the two girls. Then he nodded to Col. Jolsen.
Without a word, the colonel opened the door and stepped aside as the director passed into the hall.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” snapped Col. Jolsen, and Nellie forced herself forward, her fear rising so sharply as she passed through the doorway that her eyes squeezed shut and she missed the actual moment in which she stepped into her new life. Briefly she stood, her eyes closed, trapped inside the massive thundering of her heart as she waited for the promised rush of angels. When she felt only the waft of cool air on her face, she opened her eyes to find herself standing in an ordinary hallway, one hand still glued in salute position to her forehead. Twenty feet to her left, K Block’s director was striding swiftly down the hall.

“Go on, get moving.” Col. Jolsen jabbed a finger at the director’s back and Nellie took off after the man.

“What’s going on?” hissed her twin, scurrying to catch up.

“You heard him,” Nellie said excitedly. “Great mysteries are about to be revealed. Ivana’s going to give us the gift of angels.”

Her twin snorted heftily. “Ooly-goolies,” she muttered, but Nellie kept her eyes on the director’s back. It was a day when minor blasphemies could be overlooked. The two of them had, after all, just been chosen for a great honor. That meant the Great Mother had finally noticed the devotion of Her humble servant; out of millions, She’d chosen Nellie Joanne Kinn —

Without warning the director stopped at a door, then opened and stepped through it. Coming to a halt outside the open doorway, Nellie stood trying to catch her breath. This must be the one the director had meant when he’d said a door was about to change her life. Quickly she stepped toward it, but was stopped by a hand on her arm.

Wet hot lips pressed to her ear and her twin hissed, “It’s all lies. The ooly-goolies.”

Startled, Nellie began to shove her away, but as she did a second voice surfaced into her mind. Guttural and frayed with old age, it quavered,
Golliwash. Lies and superstition.

Blinking, Nellie stood in the brightly lit hallway as the old woman’s voice faded from her thoughts. Now, where had that come from? She must have heard someone say those words or they wouldn’t be in her head, but where and why? And why was a sense of such importance attached to them? Irritably, she shook off her twin’s hand and stepped through the open doorway. Her first glance showed a white room filled with medical equipment. Then the details of the room disappeared as it filled with a pinkish blue light. From all sides voices sang eerily, and transparent luminous figures appeared midair, coming and going like shafts of sunlight.

“Nellie Joanne Kinnan,” said the director, and Nellie turned to see him standing across the room, surrounded by luminous figures. “What you are seeing is a holograph, a holograph of the world you will be able to see continually once your eyes have been opened. Look now, and fill your senses with the land of the Gods.”

Quivering with excitement, Nellie simply stared. The many figures moving about the room seemed to be made of a prismatic light that gave off erratic flashes of color. Every now and then one came so close it actually passed through her body, and then for the briefest of moments she resonated with a pure sweet sound and smelled wondrous scents. Instinctively she stepped toward the center of the room where the figures were congregating, but as she did a hand grabbed the back of her bodysuit and an arm wrapped around her neck.

“It’s a mindjoy,” her twin said contemptuously in her ear. “Just a bunch of pretty pictures in the air. There’s no hidden mystery here. Any stupid could see that.”

Abruptly the pinkish blue light shut off and the prismatic figures disappeared. Yelping with dismay, Nellie watched them fade. It had all been so beautiful, she’d never seen a holograph like it. For one brief moment, everything solid seemed to have been transformed into music, and she’d felt as if her own body was part of a huge mysterious song.

“It’s your fault,” she snarled, whipping her twin’s arm from her neck. “You shut it off with your lack of faith. I’m sick of you and your whin —”

But the shorn-headed girl wasn’t listening. Instead, she was staring in wide-eyed horror at something beyond Nellie. Breaking off her tirade, Nellie glanced about the room. The white walls had returned, lined with cupboards and medical equipment. In one corner stood K Block’s director and two lab-coated men, leaning against what looked to be a row of domed cubicles. The strangest thing, Nellie realized as she gazed around herself, was that it all looked familiar. But how could that be? Other than these past few days, she’d never been to K Block in her life.

From behind came the sound of running, and Nellie turned to see her twin headed for the door. A shout went up from the men and they barreled past Nellie, chasing the fleeing girl. Alone in the room, Nellie felt an odd quivering take over her body as she listened to their footsteps pound along the corridor. An image began to form in her mind — that of a short shorn-headed girl streaking down an off-white hallway, carried by the force of her own screaming.

She felt the moment the men grabbed her twin. Fear pierced her like iced lightning, her mind split into darkness, and she slumped headlong to the floor.

Fourteen

N
ELLIE CAME TO
, lying on her back, and immediately became aware of a weight on her chest. Without opening her eyes, she shifted slightly and felt several straps running across her body. From somewhere nearby came the sound of men’s voices. A door opened, and the men entered the room. Keeping her eyes closed, Nellie quieted her breathing and listened.

“Still out?” asked Col. Jolsen.

“Yeah, it’ll be a while,” replied an unfamiliar voice. “She hit the floor pretty hard. My guess is this confirms they’ve made the mind link we were hoping for. If that’s the case, it also means this one isn’t as strong as the other. Her twin was barely fazed by the blast we gave her in the hall, but when this one picked up on it, it took her out completely. I gave her a dose of Blennerol. She should be coming around soon, and then we can start coordinating and aligning their frequencies. How strong is their emotional bond?”

“As strong as can be expected,” Col. Jolsen grunted. “Emotional bonding isn’t an Advanced cadet’s forte.” He grunted softly. “But the star program is. So make sure you give the cadet a lot of blather about the sweet, ever-loving Goddess.”

Nellie’s eyes almost flew open in shock, but she managed to keep a grip. “She’s not as docile as she looks,” the colonel continued, “but the stars and the Goddess are her basic programs and should keep her on track.”

“Colonel, we handle kids like this all the time,” the other man said casually.

“You
think
you do,” Col. Jolsen snapped. “Remember her lineage. She’s got vibrations you’ve never even imagined. Anytime you merge subjects like this in a mind link, they’re difficult to control.”

“Yes, sir.” The man’s desire to appease was obvious in his tone. “I’ll remind my colleagues to be doubly cautious, sir,” he added quickly.

“You do that, private,” said Col. Jolsen. “And someday you might make colonel and get out of this place.”

Brisk footsteps crossed the room, a door opened and closed. In the brief silence that followed, the remaining man took a long slow breath. “That guy hasn’t defecated in years,” he muttered to himself. Still lying with her eyes closed, Nellie fought the urge to stiffen as he approached and leaned over her, bringing the scent of tobacco and aftershave. “Sacred lineage are you, my little wickawoo?” he whispered into her face. “So that cat on your wrist is just a disguise. Well, we’ll see what kind of vibes we can get out of you.”

Straightening, he moved a short ways off, and Nellie cautiously opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a security alarm beeping faintly overhead. Then she glanced at her body and saw the straps holding her in place. She seemed to be lying on a stretcher in a small examining room. Close by stood a plump man with spectacles, studying a computer screen. Abruptly he let out a hiss and whirled toward her. “Awake, are you?” he snapped. “And exactly how long have you been spying on me?”

Eyes squeezed shut, Nellie lay motionless as he approached and began jerking at her straps. “Maybe you can fool me, but don’t ever
think you can fool the machines, missy,” he said grimly, yanking her to her feet. Letting her body go limp, Nellie slumped against him, but the man grabbed her shoulders and gave her a sharp shake.

“I would suggest you learn this now, and you learn it quick,” he hissed as her eyes flew open. “Your life ain’t worth a Goddess’s hangnail in this place. The only thing that’ll keep you alive is obedience — unswerving, kiss-ass, shit-scared obedience, got it?”

Numbly, Nellie nodded.

“Good,” he said, releasing her. “And remember, it’s also your job to keep your twin in line. Now take your shit-scared ass into that room, and we’ll get to work.”

He pointed to the door. Scuttling toward it, Nellie opened it and found herself once again in the white room with cupboards and medical equipment. Across from her sat her twin, strapped to a chair, her head slumped forward. The director of K Block and Col. Jolsen were nowhere to be seen. Carefully, as if hooked up to a full system of electrodes, Nellie crossed the room and squatted beside her twin. The shorn-headed girl didn’t acknowledge her presence, continuing to sit with her head down and her eyes closed.

“There’s something you need to know,” Nellie said in a low voice without looking at her. “I need you to know it, so listen good. You could kill me. You could get me dead real fast in this place. It’s my job to keep you in line and if you don’t behave, they’ll take it out on me. Because you’re the important one, not me. All along I thought it was me, but it isn’t — it’s you.”

No sound came from her twin, but Nellie could feel her listening. “I’m just a hook,” she continued, “to catch the fish and keep it caught. You’re the fish and if you don’t stay caught, if you don’t
cooperate
with staying caught, I’m dead. And I don’t want to be dead. Maybe this isn’t much of a life to you, maybe you think living in the Outbacks with all your fancy levels is a thousand percent better, but it’s all I’ve got. So just keep that hook in your mouth, bite on it real hard, and smile. Be a good little prisoner and learn
to like it the way I have. You get used to it after a while. It’s all just shit, y’know. You can wash it off your face.”

Her twin gave a soft grunt. “You’re wrong about me being the important one,” she said without opening her eyes. “If they shut off those extra two implants in your brain, you could do everything I do. That’s the only difference between you and me, and they know it. It’s not me they want, it’s you and me together.”

“Well, they’ve got us together,” Nellie said grimly. “And the reason they’ve got us is because you were stupid enough to come back here.”

Her twin opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment footsteps entered the room and Nellie surged to her feet, snapping her hand into a salute.

“No no,” said the plump man with spectacles. “No need to salute for me — I haven’t got rank. Now, we’re going to have to do something about your names. I can’t call both of you Nellie. How about each of you tells me your favorite nickname?”

Nellie’s upper lip curled slightly at the suggestion. “Nellie,” she said coolly.

“Nellie,” her twin said simultaneously, her voice overlapping Nellie’s.

A wry grin crossed the man’s face. “One of you is going to have to give,” he said. “Or I could call you both by your second names. Let’s see.” He flipped through two files he was carrying. “That’d be Joan and Joanne.”

Resentment reared through Nellie. Already she was being listed second. “
I’m
Nellie,” she said harshly. “You can call her Joan or whatever you want, but
I’m
Nellie.”

The man’s eyes flicked toward her twin, but she remained slumped in the chair with her eyes shut. “Okay,” shrugged the man. “We’ll make it Nellie and Joan.”

“No,” the shorn-headed girl said quickly, opening her eyes. “Nellie and Nell. Just shorten it.”

“Gotcha,” the man said easily. “Nellie and Nell. And you can call me Mr. Furnan. Now Nellie, if you’ll release your twin from that chair, we’ll get going. But first I want to remind you that the monitoring screen is always on, and I’m wired with security devices. If there’s any trouble, all I have to do is push a button hidden in my clothing, and this room will fill with a shock wave that will flatten you both. It will also set off every alarm in K Block. Got it?”