[This is a background vignette that contains some material I cut from The Maker’s Ark. It occurs just after the scene with Donner and Stella in Chapter 26. Links to my other work are here. I try to post new chapters or vignettes every two weeks.]



Donner watched the tree branches sway in the wind at the isolated campsite where he’d met Stella. It hadn’t rained yet, but the clouds still looked ready to soak anyone who got too complacent.

“No,” he said. "I just can’t. The more I think about it, the more scared I get. If I start putting more power into my regular singing again… Yeah, the effects from Concert in the Dark seem good so far, but that was one song, once. Who knows what would happen if there were millions of people listening regularly mixing with others who don’t? I sure as hell don’t. And neither do you. Keep sorting through what already happened with DASI. I’ll have other questions. But I’m not about to try anything else like that without a good reason.“

"As you wish,” said Stella. She smiled faintly.

“You’re really giving up? Just like that?” he said. "I expected more of a hard sell.“

"When you say no, I listen.”

Donner remembered their first meeting, all those years ago. "Yeah, you do. But that smile worries me. You were pretty damned convincing. Did I pass some kind of test?“

"In a way,” said Stella. "This was what you wanted, fifteen years ago. And some of the reasons you stopped are gone. I wanted you to think hard about this before we hit a crisis. I gave you my best pitch–because I wanted you to hear it from me. Not Osk. And not Flicker.“

"Oh. Yeah, that’s…” Donner trailed off, and he realized his hands had started to sweat.

“There. Now you’re scared for the right reasons. Mass mind control is terrifying. I’ve been studying it for most of my life, and we still need better defenses. That’s what I’m really after. I’d like it if you were involved in the research. Popular impressions to the contrary, neither DASI nor I are omniscient. DASI will be happy to talk to you whenever secure conversation is possible. As will I, when I’m not in the middle of a crisis.”

“Really? You’re–”

“I am very short on safe ways to relax.” She took a drink, then studied her glass, still half full of gratuitously expensive Scotch. "Discussing the theory and practice of mind control with you is one.“

"Ways to relax. Right.” Donner took a drink from his own glass, and watched a flock of birds swirl in the distance. "I guess finding out more about it is better than not knowing. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll help.“

"Excellent. Want to hear another interesting and slightly alarming tidbit DASI uncovered about the concert?”

“Whoof. Okay, go for it.”

“Disentangling the effects of your song from the psychological relief at the end of the battle was rather tricky, so DASI examined a lot of data to correct the correlations. She looked at hospital childbirths, because they’re good at recording exact times, and music is a common aid for pain management. And she found something very interesting. Complications and pain reported by women who were in labor or gave birth during the last song of the Concert in the Dark were quite low.”

He frowned. "You mean, low for the women who listened to the broadcast?“

"No. That’s not what I mean.”

Donner digested that. "Okay, what do you mean?“

"Since the effects of your song on those DASI could confirm were listening seemed so positive, she decided to compare to a control group of women who gave birth at the same time. And ran into a little snag.”

“I’m listening,” said Donner. Stella seemed to enjoy building up to something scary just a bit too much for his comfort.

“DASI first tried to limit the control group to women who were listening to some other music. But some of those later commented that someone changed the station, mix, or track. Even when that definitely did not happen. They heard you anyway. But it was difficult to pin down, because there was a strong correlation with someone else nearby listening, so audio leakage was possible.

"But there were a few cases where we could completly rule out nearby music… Like one from rural Madagascar. No one was present at the birth except the mother and a midwife. Neither was aware of the concert, the Xelian attack, or even your existence. DASI could verify the time, because the midwife was using a smartphone to help monitor vital signs. The mother reported hearing a man with a nice voice, singing in some language she didn’t understand, just before the birth. And her pain went away.”

“Oof.” Donner looked down. "Halfway around the world. Without even hearing me. So the wrong song could really go far.“

"Or even the right one,” said Stella. "Which brings me to another topic I’d like to discuss. Fifteen years ago, Doc asked you to serve as Earth’s last line of defense against mass mind control. I’m sure you’ve thought about what you’d do, if someone started taking over the world with mind control, and you had to recover it, with no holding back.“

Donner eyed her warily. "I’m… not sure that’s something that’s safe to talk about. Are you?”

“It doesn’t matter what I say.”

He only hesitated for a moment, but it was already too late. "…Shit. How long have you–scratch that, does anyone else know?“

"I seriously doubt it. A few might have guessed, but there’s been no recorded discussion. And DASI did check, thoroughly.”

“How did you figure it out?”

Stella smiled. "It’s been one of my favorite songs for a long time, for some of the same reasons you chose it. I wasn’t certain when I first studied you. But the ubiquity of the instrumental structure was a point in its favor, in case you needed to use it on short notice without recent practice.“

"Everybody knows Pachelbel’s Canon. It’s a running joke for musicians. But that can’t have been enough.”

“No. But I understand your unique relationship to song lyrics better than anyone but you.”

“Ah. Yeah. I can control reactions while I’m singing, but people always bring their own baggage to lyrics, so they’re gonna diverge as soon as I’m not actively preventing it. And the more people who hear, the further the extreme ones go, in all directions. If I sang full power to mind control a big audience, and it’s broadcast or recorded–like it would have to be–it would be real hard to keep from killing anyone with side effects.”

“Unless the song is about mind control,” said Stella. "But none of the organizations that are paranoid about you understand that, or how serious you are about not hurting people. And your excuse for never using the song in concert was very well thought out.“

"Well, it’s true. I might need ten mil in a hurry someday, and I can only sing it for the first time once. And anyone studying the lyrics would catch the connection to the last line. So I figured that would keep them from realizing I might be saving it for some other reason.” Donner looked down. "So what’s wrong with it?“

"Nothing,” said Stella. "Except that it would work.“

Donner stared at her, then laughed, ending with a groan. "Yeah,” he said, wiping his eyes. "You see the problem. It works. I say jump, everyone jumps. But then what? How do I let go? That’s the part I’ve never been able to figure out. I could sing another song to release people–but it’s not going to get everybody, it would spread differently, there’d be an unholy mess while it’s working, and a whole bunch of people would be pissed at me afterwards. Even if I did it to save the world.“

He waved a hand. "And that’s not the worst part. There’s no way we’d be able to get rid of all recordings of the original song these days. They’d still be out there, sitting around like a bunch of stray nukes for anyone with a mixer and an agenda to try to use. The genie would be out of the bottle once and for all.”

“Not necessarily. With advance warning and the right kind of broadcast, DASI can track every recording.”

“Seriously?”

“It might give away some capabilities that we would prefer to leave unrevealed, but this isn’t something you’d do without an overriding threat. As for the rest–we can study potential solutions without it being obvious. Some of them are likely to come out of the defense research I’d like to work on anyway.”

She met his eyes. "I hope you never need to sing the song that way. But if you do, I want to minimize the damage. Just like you do.“

"Yeah.” Donner nodded slowly, then looked down. "Listen. This has been… educational. And I appreciate finally learning about my family. But I’ve got a lot to sort through. So I think I’d better go, before you drop anything else on me.“

"I understand. Do you want a ride home? My flyer has an autopilot, I have space for your bike in the back, and it’s no trouble.”

“Nah, I’m fine. It’s only…” He looked over at the Scotch bottle, almost empty now. He knew his limits. He should be fine. But there was no reason to turn her down, except reflex. "Okay, yes, I would.“

Stella didn’t talk much on the flight back. She asked him a few leading questions, then just listened while he blathered about concerts, goddesses, aliens, and the music industry. After they unloaded his bike, she paused for a moment.

"Donner?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being understanding. And kind. And human.”

“No problem. You take care. I never know what Flicker will drop on me next, but whatever happens, I’ll be in touch.”

She smiled wryly. "I know. It doesn’t take a hook to bring you back.“







[“Hook” by Blues Traveler.

Lyrics.]