I look at her askance. Is she mad? The answer to that, I think, is yes. Is she above attempting to blackmail me for sex? Possibly not, but this seems out of character for a woman of iron will and drawers, according to popular rumor. This is not typical behavior for the Head. She is usually decorous to a fault.
“Listen,” I say. “You know that’s not going to happen.”
“It is lonely out here, isn’t it?”
“Not that lonely.”
I don’t believe she actually wants to be with me. No sane person would choose this as a method of seduction, and for all her sadism, the Head is not insane. She is calculating. I suspect this is a test. She wants to see how desperate I am, and what I will give up in order to free myself from this frozen prison.
It is tempting to try to hurt her, but I am a doctor first and foremost and my oath to do no harm stands even in situations such as these. I have to trust that Ken will look after Electra. He will find a way to do so, even if it seems impossible. And, truth be told, I trust Electra to look after herself. She has survived much worse than this for as long as she has been alive.
The Head’s smile thins and becomes mocking. “I’m hurt.”
“No, you’re not,” I say calmly. “I know I’m not your type.”
“No?”
“No,” I say firmly. “I’m fairly certain anyone short of a despot or dictator would find it impossible to survive your bed.”
Her cheek twitches. Have I amused her?
“It is a pity that you are caught up in this,” she says. “I must tell you, your brother is not pleased.”
“Of course he isn’t. Is it worth destroying his morale and loyalty just to punish two people for a momentary lapse in respect?”
“Absolutely.”
“Alright.”
“Not the answer you expected, I suppose,” she smiles. “It’s not easy, having my position, Doctor Ares.”
“I imagine it isn’t,” I say. I am not in the mood to commiserate with the woman holding me and the woman I love hostage, but there is little point being openly hostile.
“There are many factors at play. Even the smallest decision has endless consequences, and nobody truly sees the larger picture. People are small players by nature, Doctor Ares. Do you understand what I am saying?”
“It sounds like you’re trying to tell me there’s a reason for what you’ve done to me.”
“Precisely.”
“Something which would make it acceptable to have manipulated Electra into a relationship and then deprived her of it, to have made her heart whole and broken it again.”
“Very poetic, Doctor Ares, but I can assure you, there was such a reason.”
“I’m tempted to reference something about means and ends, but I think it would be lost on you.”
The Head sighs. “I thought you might make a suitable companion, Doctor Ares. I should have realized that men always prefer the manic pixie to the ice queen.”
She’s lying again. Fishing for more words. I give them to her.
“People are more than tropes,” I say. “I love Electra because of who she is. I’ve watched her blossom these past months. Her personality has grown. She’s become deeper in so many ways. She’s discovering parts of herself that science never touched.”
“Good for her.”
“That’s what you wanted for her,” I say. “And do you know what else?”
“What, Doctor Ares?”
I call her bluff.
“I don’t think you want me now. You want to see if I am truly committed, or if I’d sell Electra out for my freedom. Well, I can tell you now, I won’t. I’d die in ice if it meant knowing she was safe. You don’t have to test me. I took her as mine, and I meant it.”
“Yes, you took her in more ways than one,” the Head notes. She pauses for what feels like a very long time, and I wonder if she is going to address the elephant in the room in the form of what I just said to her.
“Am I right? Is this a test?”
“Evidently a rather unsophisticated one,” the Head sighs. “Yes. Very well. It is a test.”
The Head is mad, not in the sense of being removed from reality, but in the sense of knowing she can bend it to her will. Electra was right all along. We are pawns, and only a thin sliver of benevolence in the Head’s nature prevents her from destroying us all.
“You have not done anything to earn Electra’s trust, you know.”
“Electra is never going to trust me. She’s got too much of me in her.”
I look at the woman who runs her facility with an iron fist, always keeping herself perfectly separate from everybody. She appears to have no weaknesses, but suddenly I am realizing that she has just casually entrusted me with what must be her most precious secret, if it is true.