Tamara was too preoccupied to sense Tiffany’s approach from behind, until two strong arms thrust up against the dresser, on either side of Tamara. Startled, she slammed the drawer shut and spun around. The Maid stared at Tamara coldly, and Tamara was afraid of her for the first time. As Tamara studied her lifeless blue eyes, there was a bright strobe of light in her eyes which left her momentarily blind.
“Maid! What are you doing? Let me go!”
There were more flashes, and she only saw stars and darkness. She couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or closed. Tiffany’s arms pinned Tamara in place and prevented her from blocking the light. As she struggled in vain, there was a loud screech of noise, a pulsing beat that seemed to drill into Tamara’s skull. Tamara’s head hurt from the combined sensory assault.
“Stop this right now! I am ordering you to stop!”
The sound changed, it modulated a few times into different discordant noises, until it seemed to settle into a humming pattern that was more tolerable. Tamara felt the strength drain from her arms and her struggles became weaker. The pulsing flashes continued, but they seemed muted now. In her periphery was only darkness, and in the center of her vision the Maid’s cold unrelenting stare.
The Maid’s neural network was modeled after the physiology of the human brain. So understanding a human brain, from a physiological standpoint, was an easy task for her. The signals that operated within Tiffany’s mind were similar to those that operated Tamara’s. All of Tamara’s decision-making behavior, stored knowledge, even long-term memories, were encoded into a complex electrical signal. Tiffany needed only to find the right frequency that was compatible with this human’s mind. Once the color drained from Tamara’s face and the strength faded from her struggles, Tiffany knew she found the right frequency.