After what felt like forever, the awkward elevator ride ended and Tarken quietly led them onto another floor. Kinson glanced at the number and was surprised to see they weren't on the entrance level. Instead, they were in a deep sub-basement.
"Why are we here? They'll find us, you know. They've got cameras everywhere around these levels," Celeste tried to sound threatening, but her bewilderment seeped through.
Tarken ignored her, and led them down the hallway. Kinson looked around curiously, finding the sub basements rather different from the office floors above. The floor was stained cement, which had actually cracked in some places. The walls were devoid of fancy wallpaper and the lights lacked the warmth of Earth's sunlight. Instead, it was a harsh white, but still left shadows in the corners. The heavyset doors, spaced far apart, were all reinforced steel with locks on the inside and outside. Several of them even had heavy bars on the outside, but all had a steel plate on it with a label.
"The experimentation rooms," Kinson muttered darkly.
"Don't look like that. We simply need a quiet space to talk," Tarken said lightly.
They traveled for around a hundred feet or so, passing six or seven doors. The pirate captain finally stopped before a door that appeared like any other. He checked the label, and then banged on it loudly. The knock bounced off the door flatly, and Tarken frowned. He looked over at the grunt and jerked his head towards the steel door.
The bodyguard shrugged his shoulders and pounded on the steel. This time, the knock penetrated and a resounding echo shook the hallway.
"I hate these things," Tarken muttered, giving the door a dirty look. For once, Kinson could empathize.
After a moment, Kinson winced as the sound of metal against metal resounded around the hallway. The door gradually opened and revealed another large man wearing a suit. Kinson peered in, but found the room otherwise unoccupied.
"Let's go," Tarken pushed him into the room roughly.
Kinson rubbed his back, but reached up and steadied Celeste as she likewise staggered into the room. "I don't like this," she whispered to him, looking around in fear.
Kinson also looked around, and found the testing room was a lot smaller than the others. It looked more like an interrogation room, or something. Metal panels covered the walls, floor and ceiling, and a dim light set in the ceiling proved to be the only source of light. Two chairs were bolted to the ground facing each other, about 4 feet apart.
He looked up at Tarken. "What are you going to do with us?"
"I told you. Just a little chat. Gentlemen, please," he gestured towards the open doorway. "Don't disturb us until I knock the code."
The two men in suits who had escorted them this far nodded, and stepped outside, pushing the door closed behind them. The hideous shriek of metal echoed around the room, bringing Kinson's hands to his ears in pain.
"Now then, shall we get started? Take a seat, deathdreamer," Tarken pointed to one of the identical chairs. He casually sat on the other.
Kinson looked at Celeste and found trust in her eyes. He nodded, and decided to take a seat. There was still the other bodyguard who stood by the locked door, and both that man, and Tarken, had unknown abilities. His own was rather useless in this scenario, and Celeste's didn't have much control yet.
The seat was cold against his body, making him shiver. Tarken leaned forward and looked him in the eye. "Relax, and don't resist. I only need to read your memories, just like the President instructed," he said, reaching his hand over and placing it on Kinson's forehead.
"Couldn't you have waited and done it without kidnapping us?" Kinson asked angrily, but reluctantly followed the pirate's orders.
"No fun that way. Besides, my… methods… aren't always appreciated or understood by those of authority. Or "morals," as they put it," Tarken said, smiling coldly.
Kinson shivered and glanced at Celeste. For some reason, her presence gave him courage. "Do what you need to. Just promise not to hurt her," he said resolutely.
"I give my word, if you can trust that of a pirate," Tarken said sarcastically.
Kinson simply waited and said nothing more. It would have to do. Tarken frowned in concentration, and Kinson felt a strange energy sweep through him, much like when he had been evaluated by Charlotte. This time, however, a sharp pain pierced his skull. He screwed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to cry out in pain.
Memories began to run through his mind, fragmented experiences which felt as though they were torn from him. As he thought about it, the experience was much like when he was nearly absorbed into the deathdream, except much more painful. Tarken was certainly rough, and didn't even spare the effort of replacing these memories smoothly. A splitting headache soon resulted, which added to the pain of Tarken's invasive power.
There was no particular order to the memories Tarken went through, he seemed to just be sucking on a straw and scanning through whatever came. The first thing to appear was the deathdream of Vietnam, of all things. After that, it was his scattered memories which covered the first few years of his life on Titan. After a few more miscellaneous scenes from Kinson's life, his most recent deathdream journey finally appeared.
Tarken slowed down once he found what he wanted. Fortunately, Kinson's pain relented, and he could return to reality. He looked past the replay going on in his mind, and found Tarken slumped over, his hand only barely resting on his head. The grun in the corner looked at him alertly with folded arms, a challenge in his eyes. Celeste sat in the corner, hugging her knees and looking down. He could see some tears in her eyes, which brought him a rush of anger.
He returned to the memories in his mind, and wished they would end soon. Unfortunately, he had no control over the speed at which Tarken shuffled through them, and saw they were still midway through the pirate meeting. It was that moment, though, that Kinson felt a memory rise to his mind, unbidden by anyone.
Tarken was focused on the meeting, deeply immersed in Kinson's perspective and thoughts on the matter. Although most of the events were the same, He had received a lot as he watched from another perspective. Suddenly, the memory he was watching disintegrated and a new one took its place. Shock filled the pirate. It was his first time ever losing control of someone's memory. What kind of thing would be able to overpower him?
Curious yet wary, he waited for the memory to take place. It was another fragment from the boy's early life. But this one showed complete and utter darkness. Some of Kinson's emotion was relayed, but even that small amount completely paralyzed Tarken with terror. Unable to control himself, he watched on in fear as two red eyes appeared within the ever shifting shadows. Those eyes contained all the death, bloodshed, and horror in the world, something Tarken, for all his crimes, failed to comprehend before this moment.
Inside the room, Celeste looked up in alarm as Tarken began shaking. Both he and Kinson's faces were pale, and their bodies trembled. She rose at the same time as the man in a suit, who ran to Tarken and pulled him off Kinson.
Kinson came to first and opened his eyes. He shook his head but speedily regained control of his rampaging emotion. IT wasn't his first time reliving this experience, but rather it was an almost nightly occurrence. Still, it shook him to the core. He almost felt sympathy for Tarken, who experienced something that made adults of the time cower in fear even to this day.
Tarken finally awoke, and his body slowly stopped their gentle convulsions. He looked around wildly, but his gaze finally settled on Kinson.
"Wha-what kind of monster do you have living in your head?" he stammered, staring at Kinson in disbelief.
"You tell me. When you look through a man's memories, you should be prepared to meet his demons," Kinson replied evenly.
Tarkon said nothing, but continued to stare at him. Despite his attempts to suppress it, Kinson could see the tremors which continued to rack him. Sweat collected on his forehead, and his face looked paler than death.
"O-open the door," he finally said. "I've seen e-enough."
Kinson looked over at Celeste, feeling relieved. She was watching Tarken thoughtfully, but turned to meet his gaze. He gave her a reassuring smile, but her solemn look remained. She leaned in close to him.
"It's not over, yet. I think you know too much," she whispered worriedly.
"Let's see what happens," he replied optimistically, but inwardly felt the same. Although though he had already revealed everything to the council, The pirates were now aware of the danger deathdreamers could pose. Wouldn't it be better to take care of threats early on?