If theres a game to be played here , I thought, whether in reality or a VE drama, then it has to be won . I understood that from the very start. I had understood it all my life, and I could see no reason to change my mind, no matter what miracles had transformed the world during the millennium I had lost, while I was away with the Fays.
If youre really going to wake Christine Caine tomorrow, I said, by way of making my first real move in the game, I think youd better let me do the talking. Im the only one who might be able to make her understand at least to the extent that I can understand.
Thank you for the offer, said the wonderful child. Well certainly consider it.
It was her manner more than her choice of words that belatedly tipped me off to the fact that the kind of English she was talking wasnt her first language, even though it might be a variety thereof. I realized that she might well have learned it in order to talk to me or to the heroic Adam she considered the true creator of her world.
I knew better than to offer to be the first to talk to him , and told myself that he would probably have far less need of my intercession than poor Christine Caine.
Im less confident of that judgment today than I was then, but Im less confident of many things now than I was then. Thats one of the effects of growing ever older, if you do it properly.
Five
The Staff of Life
The food was awful. It even looked awful, but I managed to keep my hopes up for a few moments longer by telling myself that appearances could be deceptive. Once I had taken the first mouthful, though, there was no further room for optimism.
Davida Berenike Columella was watching me closely, but she wasnt partaking herself. I knew that I was still being tested, but I wasnt sure how to pass this one. I wanted to be polite, but I didnt want to give her the wrong impression, so I lifted a second forkful thoughtfully, hoping that it wouldnt be quite as bad.
It wasnt. The stuff was edible, and the first bolus hadnt set off an emetic reaction in my stomach, so I had to figure that it wouldnt do me any real harm but Id have felt better if Id known which bit of my tongue was adapting to the taste. I couldnt take any comfort from the notion that the extra layer of skin that extended into my mouth from my smartsuit might include among its duties the responsibility to conceal the fact that I was eating crap.
While I chewed I made a careful study of the food on the plastic plate. The rice was a peculiar shade of yellow, but practically all genemod rice had been a peculiar shade of yellow in my day, so that wasnt surprising. Anyway, the worst thing about the rice was that it was bland to the point of tastelessness. It was the sliced vegetables that seemed to be seriously nasty, but I couldnt work out whether it was the things faintly resembling peppers or the bits with the slightly woody texture that were the worst offenders. The muddy brown sauce was definitely off, but there wasnt a great deal of that and it was mostly round the edges, so there hadnt been much of it on either of the forkfuls Id taken in.
I looked up again at the impossible child, and met her gaze squarely. Other possibilities were occurring to me now.
You made this especially for me, didnt you? I said.
Yes, she admitted.
Using a thousand-year-old recipe and ingredients nobodys grown as food plants for centuries?
It was the best approximation we could contrive, she told me, apologetically. Shed caught on to the fact that I didnt like it.
So why didnt you just give me whatever you eat? I wanted to know.
We have different nutritional requirements, she told me.
I took this guarded observation to mean that she was genetically engineered not to require vitamins and all the other quirky compounds that real humans had to include in their diet. The implication was that everything I thought of as real food had gone out of fashion centuries ago. In my own day, it had been the worlds poor who were still exceedingly numerous who had the dubious privilege of existing on whole-diet mannas compounded by machines to supply exactly that combination of amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and trace elements that a human body required to keep it going. Now, apparently, such contrivances were the staff of posthuman life. What else, I wondered, had the aged children of Excelsior given up? If they didnt get their kicks from food, or wine, or sex
Did you, by any chance, take the trouble to manufacture any liquor for us? I asked. Adam Zimmermans probably going to expect champagne and cognac when he wakes up, but I could be content with a decent bourbon.
Adam Zimmerman only drank red wine, she informed me.
Ill take that as a no, then, I said. Tired of being polite, I pushed the plate away, although the effect of the gesture was ruined by the lack of available space on the flat ledge that the smart wall had extruded to serve as a dining table.
I ran my fingers over the surface of the wall, speculatively. How clever is this stuff? I asked.