"Did you feel like that?" I asked with surprise. "Of course. I wanted to make my own choice." "But you never told me." "There was no need. I came around to the Council's view before I met you. And Edith will come around to mine. Don't worry. I know how to handle this." And she did. I helped a little by altering a few reflex arcs and basic attitudes, but Ven wouldn't allow me to modify the higher centers. "There's no need to make her a mindless idiot," Ven said. "You didn't do that to Donald." "Yes, but Donald controls his emotions. He doesn't like me any better than Edith likes you, but he doesn't work himself into an emotional homogenate every time I make a suggestion. We argue it out like rational intelligences. Often I can use his experience and viewpoint. And when I can't agree, he will cooperate rather than operate under control. He's not like that bundle of glands and emotions you are trying to make into a useful proxy." "She _is_ a problem," Ven admitted, "but if I had her here--" "That can be arranged," I said. "I'll give you two weeks. And if that doesn't work you let me perform a prefrontal block." "That isn't very long." "That's all we can afford, I told her. "All right, I can try. In a month I know I could do it." Donald protested violently when I told him what we planned for Edith, but when I gave him the alternative, he reluctantly agreed. He passed a story that Edith would be visiting friends, and brought her to the ship. At once Ven went systematically to work to reduce the mammal to an acquiescent state that would permit control. Since sleep is unknown to our race but necessary for mammals, the task of breaking down the female's resistance was simplified by physical exhaustion. Ven also found that the mammal's sleeping time could be used to strengthen the new reflex channels built during her waking periods. The results were amazing, even to me, and I'm fairly well trained in neuromanipulation. Halfway through the second week the mammal's surrender was complete. * * * * * "Another day and she can go back," Ven said. "I can finish her training at long range. Now that I have the channels established, I don't think she'll be any further trouble." I took the helmet and scanned Edith. "Hmm," I said. "Do you know what you've done? You've built yourself into an Authority image." "I know," Ven said smugly. "She is essentially a dependent type. Her mate was her decision maker. That's why I had to get her alone. It wasn't too hard once I knew where to look. As a girl, her mother made the decisions for her. As a woman, Donald has done it. And when I faced her with situations where she had to decide and where the decisions were invariably wrong, she transferred the decision-making power to me." I looked at her sharply. "I had no idea that you intended to make a pet out of her," I said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have permitted this."