ALMOST CHILDLIKE NOW

1563 4D

Andrew thought for a while. This creature inside him could regulate his body, even maybe change it. If it could bring Leil back to life from burning, maybe it could do something less. He fingered the panels by the door: high-security sensors and probes, set to recognize specific human patterns and reject others. Gene-based resonance detection, or something else? He prodded a corner of one of the panels. If only he had his nanotools. But maybe he didn’t need them.

“Can you change my body? I mean, in minutes, maybe in some small ways?”

Yes, I can do that. But it depends—

“Make an eye for me, on a stalk as long as my finger, but real thin, like a probe.”

That’s not a small job. A grumbling undertone from Turiosten.

“I don’t care. Make it grow out of the end of this finger.” Andrew held up the little finger of his left hand.

And you want to see with it?

“No, I want to wipe my ass with it.” Andrew‘s excitement rose with his impatience. “Of course I want to see with it. I want it to read letters no higher than the thickness of the hair on my arm. Oh, and I need to have a little electrical power coming out of a nerve ending on the stalk, too, beside the eye, maybe five volts at three microamps. One connection to give light, another for real power.”

What’s a volt?

“Never mind, just try it and we’ll work on it. How long will it take? Can you do it?” Andrew held his breath.

Why am I doing this?

Andrew‘s heart lifted. “Because you want me to get you out of here.” This might actually work. “How long will it take?”

I’m working on it now. How do you want this eye to project in your visual field? Flickering appeared in both of Andrew‘s eyes, flashes that settled into a soft undulation.

“So fast? Are you in my brain? Don’t mess me up.”

You haven’t answered my question. A tremendous itching seized the end of the designated finger.

“Just let it overlay the normal vision when the stalk is extended.”

You want it retractible too?

“Not if it takes too long. Just let it unfold.”

Good.

“Damn.” From the tip of Andrew‘s left little finger grew a lengthening brown rod the thickness of a heavy wire. “Why don’t you play with all these other people this way? You could do anything you wanted to.”

No. To do this without the wishes of the host is forbidden. Your own laws forbid it.

“But you eat people. Why do you care about what they— we want?” The stalk stopped growing. At its end a tiny star of light appeared like a drop of diamond.

To explain all this is very difficult. And I have broken the law of sentattar already, and I will be sanctioned enough as it is.

“You think someone’s gonna get you out of here and put you on trial?” Andrew‘s vision flickered, dimmed; the leaves overhead shadowed against a backdrop of the door in front of him. He waved the stalk, and the leaves whipped back and forth in his eyes. “Nice work. Have you done the electrical wiring yet?”

How do you want to control it? I would suggest your nostril muscles. And yes, two hundred thousand years from now I will be called to account.

“Okay, do it. Two hundred thousand years? Morons!” Awed, Andrew waited; a burning heat abruptly lined his left forearm.

Sorry. That doesn’t work. Hold on. The burning went away. Turiosten made some sounds in Andrew‘s head that he couldn’t make out, then said, It’s done. And I am very tired. I will need food.

“Let’s see what we’ve got.” Andrew fitted the rod through a tiny access port beside the door. He closed his eyes. A softly-lit chamber appeared, just as if he had put on an eyepiece. He pushed the stalk a little further in, brought it closer to the surface of a panel, and the rillets of glass and metal of the security system shone back at him.

“Hey, you did a good job. I can see a lot with this. Let me try the electrical part.” He touched the eyestalk to a thin line that ran along the edge of the panel. A ground, most likely. He flared his nostrils. A huge spark and flash nearly blinded him, and he jerked the stalk out. “Oh, shit!” He smelled ozone and burnt flesh. “You made it awfully strong.”

I can’t work on it any more. I’m too tired.

“Never mind. This is fine.” Andrew reinserted the stalk and inspected the panel for damage. Apart from a crisped spot, it seemed intact. He studied the panel’s connections. Here, here, there. Logic inputs, modulation lines. The lock release, most likely. He placed the stalk’s end squarely against a junction of two metal lines and triggered the electrical release. Again the flash caught him by surprise, but he kept the probe inserted. A pause, and the door clicked. Yes. Now, where would the special circuit for Turiosten be? Andrew traced lead after lead. Finally he found lines leading to an adjacent panel.

What are you doing? Aren’t you done yet? Turiosten sounded half asleep.

“No. I can’t find the connections to the system that stops you. Just the ones for this door, that’s all I’ve found so far, and they’re optical. Shut up now and let me work.” He traced the metal interpanel lines, tried a smaller experimental pulse of current on each of them, got nothing. Starting over with stronger pulses, on the eighth line, the charge in the air diminished. He tried again, but the charge remained at its new lower level. “Turiosten?” Nothing. “Turiosten?”

I have to sleep now. I need food.

“I found the circuit. How do things feel

now?”

Still bad. Not so bad. I don’t know.

“Let’s go. Wake up Leil for me.”

I can’t.

“Look, I’m getting you out. Now help me out.” Andrew moved back to Leil, knelt by her side, and put his lips near hers. “Come on, wake her.”

I’ll try. Just put your lips to hers. Andrew obeyed. His throat roughened and filled, with no pain or gagging, and his mouth flooded with a soft viscous liquid that moved of itself. It flowed to his lips and eased to Leil‘s, and then retracted, fading once more into his throat and chest. Moments later she opened her eyes to stare at him.

Leil coughed. “Who are you? A—Andrew? But you look so old. What is happening to me?” She waved one hand as if to reach for something to help her steady herself. Her voice had lost the throaty roughness that had always warmed and attracted Andrew so much; it sounded almost childlike now.

Andrew reached out and folded her hand in his. “Yes, Leil,” he said, and his tears rose, “It’s me, Andrew.” He fell across her for a few long sobbing breaths, warming to her softness, and hugged her tenderly. They would have to move now; no time left. “I’ve got to get you out of here. Can you walk?”

“Yes, I think so.” She struggled to hands and knees, then he helped her up. She stared at him, frowning. “Isn’t this just another dream, a nightmare like the others I keep having?”

He wanted to tell her everything, ask her everything, dance with her, shout and cry and run and laugh with her; but that would have to wait. His smile widened as he said, “No, this is as real as it gets. Come on.” He led her to the door. Now to see if he could free them. Turiosten‘s silence bothered him. What if the thing died inside his body?

He reinserted his finger probe in the door access port. Leil watched, not moving, a few feet from him. He flicked to the probe’s ocular: There, his burned spot. A simple stepper link, ranging ID markers, probably for Arlen and his guests. And this looked like an override. Ah, for Turiosten, some optic and wave links. If he just broke this one lightwire — too bad the probe only had electrical power. He selected an optic conversion point and aimed the probe’s power at it. Maximum required, for this. He flared his nostrils as hard as he could, squeezing his eyes shut in reflex.

Again, the flash and spark. When his vision cleared, a darkened spot, a gap, lay between the sooted end of the lightwire and its junction. The low hum still carried. Not enough. He tried again on another point. Working without the schema took time. And time ran on and on, and he had no way to know when Arlen would return.