I moved across the pier and up to the front of the building. The door stood ajar. I entered.
It was a long, low room, completely Oriental in decor. She wore a green silk kimono. She knelt on the floor, a tea service laid before her.
Please come and be seated, she said.
I nodded, removed my shoes, crossed the room, and sat down.
O-cha do desu-ka?' she asked.
Itadakimasu.
She poured, and we sipped tea for a time. After the second cup I drew an ashtray toward me.
Cigarette? I asked.
I don't smoke, she said. But I wish you would. I try to take as few noxious substances into my own system as possible. I suppose that is how the whole thing began.
I lit one for me.
I've never met a genuine telepath before, I said, that I know of.
I'd trade it for a sound body, she said, any day. It wouldn't even have to be especially attractive.
I don't suppose there is even a real need for me to ask my questions, I said.
No, she said, not really. How free do you think our wills might be?
Less every day, I said.
She smiled.
I asked that, she said, because I have thought a lot about it of late. I thought of a little girl I once knew, a girl who lived in a garden of terrible flowers. They were beautiful, and they were there to make her happy to look upon. But they could not hide their odor from her, and that was the odor of pity. For she was a sick little girl. So it was not their colors and textures from which she fled, but rather the fragrance which few knew she could detect. It was a painful thing to smell it constantly, and so in solitude she found her something of peace. Had it not been for her ability she would have remained in the garden.
She paused to take a sip of tea.
One day she found friends, she continued, in an unexpected place. The dolphin is a joyous fellow, his heart uncluttered with the pity that demeans. The way of knowing that had set her apart, had sent her away, here brought her close. She came to know the hearts, the thoughts of her new friends more perfectly than men know those of one another. She came to love them, to be one of their family.
She took another sip of tea, then sat in silence for a time, staring into the cup.
There are great ones among them, she said finally, such as you guessed at earlier. Prophet, seer, philosopher, musician, there is no man-made word I know of to describe this sort of one, or the function he performs. There are, however, those among them who voice the dreamsong with particular subtlety and profundity, something like music, yet not, drawn from that timeless place in themselves where perhaps they look upon the infinite, then phrase it for their fellows. The greatest I have ever known ... and she clicked the syllables in a high-pitched tone ... bears something like Kjwalll'kje'koothai'lll'kje'k for name or title. I could no more explain his dreamsong to you than I could explain Mozart to one who had never heard music. But when he, in his place, came to be threatened, I did what must be done.
You see that I fail to see, I said, lowering my cup.
She refilled it, and then, The Chickcharny is built up over the water, she said, and a vision of it came clear, disturbingly real, into my mind. Like that, she said.
I do not drink strong beverages, I do not smoke, I seldom take medication, she said. This is not a matter of choice. It is a physiological rule I break at my own peril. But should I not enjoy the same things others of my kind may know, just as I now enjoy the cigarette we are smoking?
I begin to see ...
Swimming beneath the ashram at night, I could ride the mounting drug dreams of that place, know the peace, the happiness, the joy, and withdraw if it turned to something else ...
Mike ... I said.
Yes, it was he who led me to Kjwalll'kje'koothai'lll'kje'k, all unknowing. I saw there the place where they had found the diamonds. I see that you think it is near Martinique, since I was there just recently. I will not answer you on this. I saw there too, however, the idea of hurting dolphins. It seemed that they had been driven away from the place of their discovery, though not harmed, by dolphins. Several times. I found this so unusual that I was moved to investigate, and I learned that it was true. The place of their discovery was in the area of his song. He dwells in those waters, and others come to hear him there. It is, in this sense, a special place, because of his presence. They were seeking a way to ensure their own safety when they returned for more of the stones, she went on. They learned of the effects of the noises of the killer whale for this purpose. But they also obtained explosives, should the recording prove insufficient over a period of days.
The two killings occurred while I was away, she said. You are essentially correct as to what was done. I had not known they would take place, nor would my telling of Paul's thoughts ever be admissible in any court. He used everything he ever got his hands or mind around, that man, however poor his grasp. He took Frank's theory as well as his wife, learned just enough to find the stones, with a little luck. Luck, he had that for a long while. He learned just enough about dolphins to know of the effects of the sounds of the killer whale, but not how they would behave if they had to fight, to kill. And even there he was lucky. The story was accepted. Not by everybody. But it was given sufficient credence. He was safe, and he planned to go back to, the place. I sought a way to stop him. And I wanted to see the dolphins vindicated, but that was of secondary importance then. Then you appeared, and I knew that I had found it. I went to the station at night, crawled ashore, left you a note.
And you damaged the sonic, broadcast unit?
Yes.
You did it at such a time that you knew Paul and I would go down together to replace it.
Yes.
And the other?
Yes, that too. I filled Paul's mind with things I had felt and seen beneath the ashram of the Chickcharny.
And you could look into Frank's mind as well. You knew how he would react. You set up the murder!
I did not force him to do anything. Is not his will as free as our own?
I looked down into the tea, troubled by the thought. I gulped it. Then I stared at her.
Did you not control him, even a little, near the end, when he attacked me? Or, far more important, what of a more rudimentary nervous system? Could you control the actions of a shark?
She refilled my teacup.
Of course not, she said.
We sat for another silent time. Then, What did you try to do to me when I decided to continue my investigation? I asked. Were you not trying to baffle my senses and drive me to destruction?
No, she said quickly. I was watching you to see what you would decide. You frightened me with your decision. But what I did was not an attack, at first. I tried to show you something of the dreamsong, to sooth you, to put you at peace. I had hoped that such an experience might work some mental alchemy, would soften your resolve ...
You would have accompanied it with suggestions to that effect.
Yes, I would have. But then you burned yourself and the pain pulled you back. That was when I attacked you.
She suddenly sounded tired. But then, it had been a very busy day for her, all things considered.
And this was my mistake, she said. Had I simply let you go on, you would have had nothing. But you saw the unnatural nature of the attack. You associated it with Paul's raptures, and you thought of me, a mutant, and of dolphins and diamonds and my recent trip. It all spilled into your mind, and then the threat that I saw you could keep: alluvial diamonds and Martinique, into the Central Data Bank. I had to call you then, to talk.
What now? I asked. No court could ever convict you of anything. You are safe. I can hardly condemn you. My own hands are not free of blood, as you must know. You are the only person alive who knows who I am, and that makes me uncomfortable. Yet I have some guesses concerning things you would not like known. You will not try to destroy me, for you know what I will do with these guesses if you fail.