“She wasn’t upset, Director Gearing, she was rude!” the woman insisted with sullen belligerence, sending a glare of hatred in my direction. “She tried to treat me like an Eject, and I want her punished for it!”
“Calm yourself, Resson, I’ll see to the matter personally,” the man Gearing assured her in firm tones of authority, his tongue wetting his lips as he looked at me. “I have the situation well in hand, so you may leave us now. ”
The woman Resson couldn’t have missed his reaction to the sight of me, and she didn’t miss it. What she did more than that, however, was resent it, and her frustrated anger quickly found the outlet it wanted so badly. Without realizing it I’d stopped in a place that kept her from closing the door and leaving the way shed been ordered to do, and rather than asking me to move she chose a more satisfying method of accomplishing the same end. Her hand hit the middle of my back, shoving me forward, the blow so hard that I nearly went down on my face. I caught my balance with a couple of quick running steps then turned furiously to face her, the anger I’d been feeling suddenly boiling up and over. If the woman had been smart she would have left as soon as she’d accomplished her revenge, but shed already proven that smart wasn’t a word in her vocabulary. She was standing there smirking when I first turned toward her, but the smirk lasted only until I reached her. Without thinking about it I put my own hands to her shoulders and pushed, hard enough to send her flying backward and down to that plush carpeting wed crossed so recently. She screamed in shock and fear until she hit the floor, then sat there making appalled noises of utter disbelief.
“Here now, here now, we’ll have no more of that!” the man Gearing said with outraged sternness, waddling forward to break up a confrontation that was already done. “Young woman, you take yourself over to my desk right now, and Resson, you get off that floor. As soon as I’m through with the Prime, we’ll have a long talk about your inexcusable behavior. I don’t intend seeing anything like this ever again.”
With that he closed the door on the woman who was still sprawled on the carpeting, and waddled back behind his desk to sit again. I’d been looking around in the moment or two I had until then, and had noticed that despite the richness of the furnishings and decorations in the office, the only chair it held was the one that now held the director. I was just coming to the conclusion that their hospitality toward their “guests” was the least bit on the lean side, when Gearing cleared his throat.
“Now then, young woman, I believe a word or two with you is in order,” he said, his voice and eyes still deliberately stern. “I have seldom seen such disgraceful behavior, and I certainly have no intentions of seeing it again. When you and I are through here you will apologize to Resson, asking her to excuse your barbaric behavior. Is that clearly understood?”
“If I apologize to her, she’ll only do the same thing to someone else at another time,” I answered, wondering why the man was so dense that he couldn’t see that. “Since I was able to stop her it was my job to do it, to protect others who might not be able to do the same thing. She doesn’t deserve an apology, so she won’t be getting one.”
“My dear Prime, it happens to be my place to remonstrate with and discipline my underlings,” he came back with a rumble of incensed anger, a heavy air of territorial protection about him. “If one of them offers you affront you report it to me, and then I take care of the matter. I am in charge here, and no one else has the authority to do the same.”
“But that just means that anyone who enjoys tormenting people has only to stay out of your way in order to continue with the practice,” I pointed out, trying to be reasonable and show him how wrong he was. “On the other hand, if they try it with someone who bounces them on their head for their trouble, they’ll probably hesitate the next time before doing the same thing. They won’t know, you see, if they’ll be bounced again, so that will make them cautious-not to mention help to keep innocent people safe. Don’t you want your-guests-here to be safe?”
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking like a fish trying to learn how to breathe air, and then he ended the fumbling by snapping his lips closed with a frown.
“Where in the world could you have picked up such outlandish ideas?” he demanded, close to total outrage. “I’ve never heard such barbaric nonsense, and I’ll listen to no more of it. All you need remember is that I am in charge, and our future association will be an extremely pleasant one. Now then, let’s get on to the reason you were summoned to my office.”
“Is our conversation going to be so short that it isn’t worth sitting down for?” I interrupted to ask, giving up on trying to teach him anything. He was obviously too concerned with privilege to understand right and responsibility, but I wondered fleetingly just where I had gotten such ideas. As soon as I had a moment, I would have to think about that. “What I mean, Director, is that if it is going to be that short, why are you sitting?”
“I am sitting, my dear, because I am director,” he answered in very careful and overly sweet tones, back to giving me that condescending smile. “If you consider the matter carefully, you’ll find it’s quite proper for you to be standing there before me, waiting for great honor to be bestowed on you. Honor must be balanced with humility, you know, and so it shall be. The arrogance of a Prime must be left behind as you travel the road to meaningful immortality.”
By the time he was through speaking, the words were echoing in my head rather than simply being picked up by my ears, and I was definitely feeling dizzy. I put a hand up to the echo, having no understanding as to why it was happening, having no idea how to make it stop. What he’d said-leaving arrogance behind and being suitably humble-humble and grateful-yes, that was the way it had to be. It was so obvious I was surprised I hadn’t seen it sooner, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be given my honor.
“Yes, of course you’re right,” I answered, looking up at him with a smile that felt as shy as I did. “I’m sorry, Director Gearing, I must have forgotten that for a moment. Did you say-immortality?”
“I most certainly did,” he agreed with a broader, warmer smile, the expansiveness of his generosity coming through clearly as he sat back in his chair. “What lesser thing might be given to one who has served the Amalgamation so well, a Prime of your quality and caliber? You’ve earned immortality, my dear, and that is what you will have.”
“Oh, I can’t possibly be worthy of that great an honor,” I protested, needing to speak the truth I felt, feeling the blush in my cheeks as my fingers twisted together. “Really, Director Gearing, it’s too much . . . ”
“Nonsense, my dear, and do call me Johnston for the moment,” he came back, a sleek smoothness coating his assurance, his eyes heavy-lidded. “I have the pleasure to inform you that you’ve been chosen as one of those few who are permitted to pass on your qualities and abilities to those who will come after you, those who will attempt to equal your service to the Amalgamation. We bestow this honor with glad pleasure, but also ask that you accept it as another of the many indications you’ve given of loyalty and dedication and selflessness. Will you accept the honor in such a way, with eagerness and gladness?”
“Eagerness and gladness, yes,” I breathed, my hand to my head again as the words echoed a second time, the privilege so great that it made me dizzy. “I can’t believe that I’ve been chosen for this, Johnston, I just can’t, but I’ll do everything in my power to be worthy of it. What must I do?”
“Quite simply, Terrilian, you must be a woman,” he said, his expression now sober as he rose again and came around the desk to take my hand. “In the main complex we have quite a large number of male Primes, and it will be your duty to interest as many of them as possible in you. Without them you won’t be able to fulfill your destiny, you know, but there are other female Primes already there, already attempting to fulfill their own destinies. You must be more attractive than they are, more beautiful and desirable to the only men who can help you achieve immortality. You must do everything and anything to attract and please them, but then, you don’t have to be told that, do you? You already know that and mean to succeed, don’t you?”