«Exactly. But these things would have to work both ways, wouldn't they? That would mean that I could learn to use the button to find my way to the flower thrower.»
«That could be dangerous.»
«And not doing it could prove more dangerous in the long run. No, you can throw the rest of them into the sea, but not the button.»
«All right. I'll keep it pent for you.»
«Thanks. Jasra is Luke's mother.»
«You're joking!»
«Nope.»
«That explains why he didn't lean on her directly about the later April thirtieths. Fascinating! It opens up a whole new lane of speculation.»
«Care to share them?»
«Later, later. In the meantime, I'll take care of these stones right now.» She scooped them all out of the circle and they seemed, for a moment, to dance in her hand. She stood.
«Uh - the button?» I said.
«Yes.»
She put the button into her pocket and kept the others in her hand.
«You're going to get attuned yourself if you keep the button that way, aren't you?»
«No,» she said, «I won't.»
«Why not?»
«There's a reason. Excuse me while I find a container for the others, and someone to transport them.»
«Won't that person get attuned?»
«It takes a while.»
«Oh.»
«Have some more coffee - or something.»
She turned and left. I ate a piece of cheese. I tried to figure out whether I'd gotten more answers or more new questions during the course of our conversation. I tried to ht some of the new pieces into the old puzzle.
«Father?»
I turned, to see who had spoken. There was no one in sight.
«Down here.»
A coin-sized disk of light lay within a nearby flower bed, otherwise empty save for a few dry stalks and leaves. The light caught my attention when it moved slightly.
«Ghost?» I asked.
«Uh-huh,» came the reply from among the leaves. «I was waiting to catch you when you were alone. I'm not sure I trust that woman.»
«Why not?»
«She doesn't scan right, like other people. I don't know what it is. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about.»
«What, then?»
«Uh-well, did you mean what you said about not really intending to turn me off?»
«Jeez! After all the sacrifices I made for you! Your education and everything… And lugging all your damn components out to a place like that where you'd be safe! How can you ask me that?»
«Well,I heard Random tell you to do it»
«You don't do everything you're told either, do you? Especially when it comes to assaulting me when I just wanted to check out a few programs? I deserve a little more respect than that!»
«Uh-yeah. Look, I'm sorry.»
«You ought to be. I went through a lot of crap because of you.»
«I looked for you for several days, and I couldn't find you.»
«Crystal caves are no fun.»
«I don't have much time now…» The light flickered, faded almost to the point of vanishing, returned to full brilliance. «Will you tell me something fast?»
«Shoot.»
«That fellow who was with you when you came out this way- - nd when you left - the big red-haired man?»
«Luke. Yes?»
The light grew dimmer again.
«Is it okay to trust him?» Ghost's voice came faintly, weakly.
«No!» I shouted. «That would be damn stupid!»
Ghost was gone, and I couldn't tell whether he'd heard my answer.
«What's the matter?» Vinta's voice, from above me.
«Argument with my imaginary playmate,» I called out.
Even from that distance I could see the expression of puzzlement on her face. She sought in all directions about the patio and then, apparently persuading herself that I was indeed alone, she nodded.
«Oh,» she said. Then, «I'll be along in a little while.»
«No hurry,» I answered.
Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding? If I knew, I'd walk over and stand there. As it was, I felt as if I stood in the midst of a large map, surrounded by vague areas wherein were penned the visages of particularly nasty-looking random variables. A perfect place for a soliloquy, if one had anything to say.
I went back inside to use the john. All that coffee.
Chapter 6
Well, maybe.
With Julia, I mean.
I sat alone in my room, thinking by candlelight.
Vinta had stirred a few sunken memories to the surface.
It was later on, when we weren't seeing much of each other…
I'd met Julia first in a Computer Science course I was taking. We'd started seeing each other occasionally, just coffee after class and like that, at first. Then more and more frequently, and pretty soon it was serious.
Now it was ending as it had started, a little more each time…
I felt her hand on my shoulder as I was leaving the supermarket with a bag of groceries. I knew it was her and I turned and there was no one there. Seconds later, she hailed me from across the parking lot. I went over and said hello, asked her if she were still working at the software place where she'd been. She said that she wasn't. I recalled that she was wearing a small silver pentagram on a chain about her neck. It could easily -,and more likely should - have been hanging down inside her blouse. But of course I wouldn't have seen it then, and her body language indicated that she wanted me to see it. So I ignored it while we exchanged a few generalities, and she turned me down on dinner and a movie, though I asked after several nights.
«What are you doing now?» I inquired.
«I'm studying a lot.»
«What?»
«Oh, just-different things. I'll surprise you one of these days.»
Again, I didn't bite, though an over-friendly Irish setter approached us about then. She placed her hand on its head and said, «Sit!» and it did. It became still as a statue at her side, and remained when we left later. For all I know, there's a dog skeleton still crouched there, near the cart return area, like a piece of modern sculpture.
