She makes you a difficult offer to refuse

“Ah Val, Do take a seat,” The Dutchess says in her normal superior tone, not even turning away from the view screen to look at you. Her hand gives a sweeping gesture to one of the seats behind the large desk.

You resist the urge to comment on this, and quietly take a seat and try and make some small talk, anything to get this over and done with. Something about the office was putting you on edge, as though the entire room was designed to remind you that you don’t belong here.

“Nice office,” You remark, trying to look around to disguise your discomfort.

The Dutchess glances over and gives you a small smile. “Apologies my dear, I don’t get much free time and this meeting affords me a little to unwind,” The Dutchess comments. “Do help yourself to some refreshments, I’ll not be much longer,” The Dutchess adds gesturing a hand at her desk, and a panel next to your chair recedes and a small cabinet rises up.

This time as The Dutchess turns back you see that she’s adjusting something around her neck, some sort of small scale device if you had to take a guess, but it’s function was a complete mystery to you. You turn and open the cabinet hovering beside you selecting a bottle of fruit infused water.

By the time you had finished your bottle The Dutchess had finished fiddling with the device around her neck, and suddenly that sense of oppressive unease you felt dissipated almost immediately. Suddenly, and with a sense of panic you realise exactly what the device around The Dutchesses neck was.

“Very astute Val, Not many have made that conclusion before,” The Dutchess says coldly taking a seat in front of you a cold smile across her soft featured face.

“Well I’ve only heard rumours up till now, but I see there’s truth in the tales people tell about Psycana users,” You reply now entirely afraid that all your thoughts were an open book to your captor.

“Well even the most outlandish tales often begin from a grain of truth,” The Dutchess replies with a smile.

“So do I need to even speak anymore or would you rather save time and pluck my answers from my head,” You reply sourly.

“And miss my chance hearing your dulcet tones, not a chance Val” The Dutchess replies with a cold laugh. “In all seriousness though skimming surface thoughts is taxing enough for me, the idea of conducting our business in your mind would be far to exhausting,” The Dutchess replies.

“Alright then, So down to business then,” You say, the urge to be elsewhere growing.

“So first up I have all the information you could want on this surviving relative from your maternal lineage,” The Dutchess says, sliding a small tablet towards you. A quick skim showing you that the tablet contained a large volume of information files with pictures and holo’s of this mysterious relative.

“Thank you,” You say making an effort to get up to leave.

“Now before you leave to read up on your lost kin, I have another proposition for you,” The Dutchess says hold up a hand to stop you.

“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like this next part,” You reply taking a seat again.

“A healthy dose of paranoia,” The Dutchess responds with a cold grin.

“Sounds about right,” You reply. “Alright let’s hear the offer then,” You ask.

“Well needless to say that my clients have enjoyed seeing more of you in the recent games, especially your performance with the forfeit,” The Dutchess begins stressing the word performance and fixing you with a knowing look.

“So you saw through that bit then,” You reply, a slight feeling of dread rising up inside of you.

“Of course, but more importantly my clients did not, as such you bore no ill consequences,” The Dutchess states with a smile.

“So I was correct in assuming that players are rewarded or punished more on their popularity with the crowd than on their actual performance,” You ask

“There you go again, impressing me once more with that razor sharp mind of yours,” The Dutchess replies with a grin. “You are quite correct, had you of not made the effort of making your punishment seem punishing, then the game would have been rigged to ensure your failure,” The Dutchess confirms.

“Because there are always more people happier to see the underdog suffer than to pull through,” You say with a sigh. Still confirming this insight might help you out in the future, you can’t guarantee you can game the system, but you could try and trap your opponents with this knowledge.

“What can I say the universe is a dark and loathesome place, I merely provide its inhabitants with what they desire,” The Dutchess replies trying to offer you a look to say her hands were as tied as your own.

“So I’ve got somewhat of a fan base growing, and I assume they’re looking for me to risk more than a bit of humiliation?” You ask.

“Quite correct,” The Dutchess confirms.

“So what am I in for, and what am I getting from it?” You ask after a short pause.

“No few than 3 high risk games,” The Dutchess replies, leaving a pause for it to sink in. Even she knew what she was asking was big, given high risk are what people **** enough to believe their freedom could be won play. They were told to be very difficult and the punishments often very cruel. You had heard that it was considered lucky if you merely had to serve as a month as a pleasure girl for the visiting dignitaries.

“The prize better be worth it,” You reply already declining the offer in your mind.

“Well aside from the more limitless boons you can ask for winning, such as a more reliable form of contraceptive, like a mentally linked implant that you can activate and deactivate at your leisure,” The Dutchess begins. You knew the implant she meant, and knew that it’s price was in the same region of some small ships.

“Not a bad start, but what’s the hook,” You ask, waiting to see what The Dutchess felt was valuable enough to get you to risk yourself.

“Firstly contact details for your kin, and a number of unmonitored and unrestricted calls to anyone of your choice equal to how many of the three games you win, and Finally the price to secure the freedom of you and your green lover,” The Dutchess asks with a casual smile, leaning back and evaluating the look on your face.

“The price of my and Gab’s freedom, how can I be sure you’ll honour it,” You ask.

“Well ultimately you can’t, but I’ll tell you know the price is extremely high and the means to acquire it would be beyond most that find their way here, but should you find a sponsor willing to foot the bill, then you have my word that you and your lover are free,” The Dutchess states.

“How long before you need an answer,” You ask

“I’m afraid I’ll need it before you leave,” The Dutchess replies.

You consider everything for a moment, about what you might be able to do with the calls and if it would be possible to secure your freedom or not. You could use a call to make contact with this relative of yours, but there was no guarantee they’d want to help you let alone be in a position to help you.