A chance for an out, not a graceful one, but an out, and Brogen took it 'Hardly,' he replied brusquely. 'The Chief of Neurosurgery and Neurological Research usually does not meet a simple professor on behalf of an ordinary child.'
'Tia is far from ordinary, Professor,' Doctor Sorg responded, never once losing that hint of smile. 'Any more than you are a 'simple' professor. But, if you'll follow me, you'll find out about Tia for yourself'
Well, he's right about one thing, Brogen thought grudgingly, after an hour spent in Tia's company while hordes of interns and specialists pestered, poked and prodded her. She's not ordinary. Any 'ordinary' child would be having a screaming tantrum by now. She was an extraordinarily attractive child as well as a patient one; her dark hair had been cropped short to keep it out of the way, but her thin, pixie-like face and big eyes made her look like the model for a Victorian fairy. A fairy trapped in a fist of metal... tormented and teased by a swarm of wasps.
'How much longer is this going to go on?' he asked Kennet Sorg in an irritated whisper.
Kennet raised one eyebrow. 'That's for you to say,' he replied. 'You are here to evaluate her. If you want more time alone with her, you have only to say the word. This is her second session for the day, by the way,' he added, and Brogen could have sworn there was a hint of, smugness? in his voice. 'She played host to another swarm this morning, between nine and noon.'
Now Brogen was outraged, but on the child's behalf, Kennet Sorg must have read that in his expression, for he turned his chair towards the cluster of white uniformed interns, cleared his throat, and got their instant attention.
'That will be all for today,' he said quietly. 'If you please, ladies and gentlemen. Professor Brogen would like to have some time with Tia alone.'
There were looks of disappointment and some even of disgust cast Brogen's way, but he ignored them. The child, at least, looked relieved.
Before he could say anything to Kennet Sorg, he realized that the doctor had followed the others out the door, which was closing behind his chair, leaving Brogen alone with the child. He cleared his own throat awkwardly.
The little girl looked at him with a most peculiar expression in her eyes. Not fear, but wariness.
'You're not a Psych, are you?' she asked.
'Well, no,' he said. 'Not exactly. I'll probably ask some of the same questions, though.'
She sighed, and closed her soft brown eyes for a moment. 'I'm very tired of having my head shrunk,' she replied forthrightly. 'Very, very tired. And it isn't going to make any difference at all in the way I think, anyway. It isn't that, but this,' she bobbed her chin at her chair 'isn't going to go away because it isn't fair. Right?'
'Sad, but true, my dear.' He began to relax, and realized why. Kennet Sorg was right This was no ordinary child; talking with her was not like talking to a child, but it was like talking to one of the kids in the shell program. 'So, how about if we chat about something else entirely. Do you know any shell-persons?'
She gave him an odd look. 'They must not have told you very much about me,' she said. 'Either that, or you didn't pay very much attention. One of my very best friends is a brainship, Moira Valentine-Maya. She gave me Theodore.'
Theodore? Oh, right. The bear. He cast a quick glance over towards the bed, and there was the somber- looking little bear in a Courier Service shirt that he'd been told about.
'Did you ever think about what being in a shell must be like?' he asked, fishing for a way to explain the program to her without letting her know she was being evaluated.
'Of course I did!' she said, not bothering to hide her scorn. 'I told Moira that I wanted to be just like her when I grew up, and she laughed at me and told me all about what the schools were like and everything.'
And then, before he could say anything, the unchildlike child proceeded to tell him about his own program. The brainship side, at any rate.
Pros and cons. From having to be able to multi-task, to the thrill of experiencing a singularity and warpspace firsthand. From being locked forever in a metal skin, to the loneliness of knowing that you were going to outlive all your partners but the last.
'I told her that I guessed I didn't want to go in when I figured out that you could never touch anybody again,' she concluded, wearily. 'I know you've got sensors to the skin and everything, but that was what I didn't like. Kind of funny, huh?'
'Why?' he asked without thinking.
'Because now, I can't touch anybody. And I won't ever again. So it's kind of funny. I can't touch anyone anymore, but I can't be a brainship either.' The tired resignation in her voice galvanized him.
