“The crystal could have a database you might be using,” Alex noted.
“Of course. So how do you test me? If I told you something that can’t be found in widely available databases, you’d have no way of knowing if it were true or I was just making it up.”
Alex nodded.
“All right. You’ve convinced me. So you know that I am a pilot-spesh. You should also realize that pilots don’t lie.”
“As a general rule, they don’t.” The boy burst out laughing, plucked a blade of grass, squeezed it between his teeth. “But I’m a thief, after all. And you’re an honest citizen.”
“You’ve run away. You were deprived of your body. That’s not fair.”
“But I have also stolen the crystal, haven’t I? It costs more than a thousand human bodies.”
“What are you going to do with it, once you have a body?”
“Send it back to the lab on Edem. Empty. Let them kick themselves.”
“Then it’s not a theft. I have no reason to turn you in.”
The skinny boy, who had no real body, sat a long time looking down the river, watching the sun, which was setting, but never seemed to be able to roll below the horizon.
“These are just words. A lot of words. I can’t trust you. I can’t trust anyone.”
“No one at all?”
Edgar didn’t answer immediately.
“Only Kim. I’m like a brother to her… or like a child.”
Alex bit his lip.
“Don’t hold a grudge against her.”
“What is it to you?” sneered the boy.
“When you get a body, everything will be different. You know I’m incapable of love. I’ll be happy for her… for the two of you.”
The boy pierced Alex with a look that spoke volumes.
“How I’d love to turn you into a toad and… squash you!”
He looked away again, making no attempt to fulfill his threat.
Damn, damn, damn! Alex sighed. Now, on top of everything else, he also had to deal with a moody, jealous boy incarcerated in a gel-crystal.…
“Well, go ahead, do it, if it makes you feel better. You can do anything, right?”
“In my toy land, yes. But who will stay your foot, when you crush the crystal?”
Alex reached out, touched the boy’s shoulder. Edgar tensed.
“I have no intention of getting back at you. I won’t harm you. But I can’t reject Kim, either. You see, she hungers for love. I’ll try to make our encounters as… rare as possible. Though I won’t lie to you—I find them pleasurable.”
“Give her a neuro-shunt,” asked Edgar. “I haven’t seen her for a long time.”
“If she doesn’t have one, she can have mine. No problem. Don’t be angry.”
“Slaves don’t have the right to be angry.”
Alex felt rage boiling up. He wasn’t mad at Edgar, of course.
“What has been done to you, Edgar, is a heinous crime. I’ll make every effort to help you.”
“Maybe it is heinous.” The boy slowly lifted his hand, and the sun suddenly started slipping quickly below the horizon. “But it’s commonplace in the galaxy. Everyone’s creating slaves. Strong arms, sharp eyes, excellent mind, beautiful figure—what else to demand from a slave? Ah, yes! Loyalty. Well, it’s easy to increase people’s need for a leader. But I had no need of a body, so they left me none.”
“And made a huge miscalculation.”
“Yeah. Loyalty, obedience, submission—these are just biochemical reactions. I lost my body, but gained my freedom from those invisible chains.”
“Why do you choose to look this way?”
“This is exactly the way I would look. I managed to find my own genetic map, so I reconstructed my appearance.”
“But why the glasses?”
Edgar touched the thin frames. And said curtly:
“I’m very nearsighted.”
“No one wears glasses. It’s the simplest correction.”
“But I have nothing to correct, mister pilot.”
It was already dark. Stars lit up one by one in the sky. Alex dropped his head back, looking at the constellations. The Southern Cross glowed right overhead, and a little farther off were the Sextant, the Spy Glass, and the Dolphin.
“I won’t betray you,” Alex said. “The gel-crystal will remain in my cabin. That’s the only terminal that can provide a normal connection for it. Kim can come into your virtual space any time… and I’ll ask her to do it often. You can use all the information from the ship’s infonet. I’ll keep the access to the closed-circuit cameras blocked, though. I’ll probably just disconnect them altogether.”
“But why?”
“Edgar, trust me, to feel that someone could be watching your every step is really unpleasant.”
“Suit yourself. I’ll have plenty to occupy my time. This is a very powerful crystal.”
“I’m sure you’ve amassed quite a library.”
Edgar nodded, barely visible against the darkness.
“Yup. Quite a library.”
“And you’re really a top-notch genetic constructor?”
The boy smirked.
“Yeah.”
“Tell me about Kim. She has a strange specialization, right?”
Edgar was silent for a moment before he answered in an even, calm voice:
“My whole world is a fiction, mister pilot. A tiny island of organized data, held together in a quasi-alive goo. I don’t exist. Neither does this river, or this sky. All I have is information. So I am very cautious about sharing it. We’ll talk about Kim, if you want. But not now.”
Alex got up off the grass. His pants were soaked. His waterlogged shoes squelched.
“I understand you,” he answered gravely. “But I’m not your enemy, trust me. And, come to think of it, I’m also nothing but an island of information, locked in the goo that’s called a brain. You’ll be all right.”
“Best of luck to you, Pilot,” said Edgar in his even voice. Paused for a moment, and added, “You can drop in and see me. Once in a while.”
“Thanks. I will. From time to time.”
He strained his mind, ripping himself out of the dark summer night, leaving the other on the bank of the geometrically perfect river.
The virtual world faded away.
Kim watched him from her armchair. She had dressed and looked like a nondescript young woman again rather than a raging hetaera. Alex couldn’t decide if he was pleased about it, but in any case, it was better this way. After all, Edgar was watching them from his transparent prison.
“How is he?” asked Kim quickly.
“Fine.” Alex took off his headband. “Alive and well.”
“So, now you know I wasn’t lying?” Kim demanded.
A tiny eye of the optical sensor on the cabin ceiling…
“You weren’t lying,” he replied, endowing his words with all the conviction he could muster. “But he got really upset.”
“Why?”
“Because of what you and I were doing. Edgar is still watching us through the cabin’s sensors.”
Kim winced.
“Edgar, that’s stupid!” she shouted. “Don’t be jealous!”
“Kim, he can’t reply,” interrupted Alex softly. “Tell you what. You go see him right now, so you two can settle all the misunderstandings. In the meantime, I’ll take a nap. For at least a couple hours.”
“Will you help him, Alex?” demanded Kim.
He thought for a moment before making his answer:
“Kim, this story is horrendous. Of course I consider it my duty to help a boy who has been so viciously mistreated.”
The girl nodded, relieved and reassured.
“Go talk to him,” Alex repeated, “if you’re not sleepy.”