“Most of the stories are true. More to the point, it’s banned because, on top of everything else, it dissolves zivvy.”

The zivvy or Zhivyye provoda, the living wire that grew out of the control chip into a person’s brain and allowed them to be controlled en-masse by a mentalist, was what had allowed the growth of the Alliance. When a new world was discovered that was deemed worthy, the True Men would invade, use biological, chemical, and even nuclear weapons to overcome the local population, and would then institute a campaign of mass chipping of the survivors, or at least the survivors in the areas the True Men wished to control. Something that would dissolve the zivvy was as much a threat as the Plague that took away a mentalist’s power.

“Shit!”

Gentaro nodded and took over from the General.

“Exactly. We got hit with the plague, which was bad enough. On Natori, the Enemy or someone spread the orgy drug via agents all around the main cities, which they managed to keep quiet. It takes three days to dissolve the zivvy, and the underground timed it perfectly. Suddenly, two-thirds of the army was their army, most of the police, and probably eighty percent of the servants all rose up and created a bloodbath throughout Europe, China, and Nippon.”

“We lost all three of our portals to the insurgents. Only North America was left relatively untouched. But we had no portal. Your people opened a portal there for your regular wheat shipment, and now we are coming here as well. Well, those who live in North America and the refugees that have managed to get there.”

“Damn! But what about Sendai? Can’t they send troops?”

Gentaro shook his head. “All their portals are down, and we have no idea what’s happening there.”

Toshiro just looked at him while he processed that. All of Sendai’s portals were still down? That had to mean that not only had the big attack on the rest of the Alliance failed, but they hadn’t been able to reinstate any of their portals! No zivvy would mean no new portal operators. Dman! It was turning into a major problem for the whole Japanese third of the Alliance! With Natori having no portals either, it meant that they were all technically out of contact and ripe for another arm of the Alliance to lay claim to them, although perhaps not, with everyone who had been chipped running amok and the supply of zivvy dried up.

“We’ve been using our portal to evacuate people from Natori. Their council has decided there is no chance of regaining the planet without outside help. Not only that but, well.” He stopped and peered at Toshiro narrowly. “This is top secret, you understand, so tell no one. The Orgy drug not only dissolves the zivvy, but if used every day for three weeks, it dissolves the chip itself!”

“Damn!” “It gets worse. A lot of the servants have power, as many of them are halfers or even more. The zivvy suppressed it, but with the zivvy gone, they can regain some of their power, and with the chip gone, a lot of them are strong enough to be a serious threat, especially the women, a lot of whom have axes to grind about how they were treated.”