Did you know Damon Hart personally? I asked, abruptly.
Slightly, Lowenthal admitted. Its not surprising that he never mentioned you in conversation, but I cant find any reference to you in the files he left behind. Its almost as if someone deleted you from the record of his life and from all the other records to which he had access.
It was obvious that he didnt mean almost as if at all, and that
he thought the someone in question must have been Damon.
It must be easy enough for a person as unimportant as me to be forgotten, I said, trying to match his bland tone. Damon was my friend for twenty years, but he lived for three hundred more after I was frozen down. He must have become a completely different person. I expect he forgot about such trivialities as my upkeep long before he died.
Perhaps so, Lowenthal agreed, insincerely. I took note of the fact that although Solantha Handsel seemed perfectly relaxed she was still within arms reach, and the way she occasionally glanced at me was neither unwary nor incurious. If Lowenthal knew more about me than he was prepared to say, or even if he merely had more cause to be suspicious than he was prepared to reveal, what he knew or suspected seemed to be enough to put him on his guard.
I understand that the delegation from the Outer System will be here soon, I said, mildly. Im looking forward to meeting them all the more so now Ive seen your cyborganizer.
Im looking forward to it too, Lowenthal assured me. I didnt believe him. Solantha Handsel seemed to be about to say something perhaps to deny that she was a cyborganizer in the strictest sense of the term but she shut up as soon as it became clear that her boss had more to say.
To be perfectly frank, Lowenthal went on, seeming to me to be speaking anything but frankly, its good to have an excuse to meet Niamh face to face. All kinds of problems seem to get in the way of people like her traveling to Earth, or people like me visiting Titan. This little party should provide a very valuable opportunity for a frank and informal exchange of views. To be honest, thats the real reason Im here and presumably the real reason for her presence. But thats not to say that Im not interested to meet you, and Adam Zimmerman too. My offer of useful employment is perfectly sincere, and I hope that youll accept it.
I havent made up my mind, I told him. Maybe Ill wait to see what Adam decides. And Christine, of course. We true humans may need to stick together for a while, until we figure out exactly whats what.
He condescended to laugh at that and having made whatever point he had intended to make, he passed on, leaving me to face the curiosity of Mortimer Gray.
Im delighted to meet you, the historian said, with what seemed like touching honesty after Lowenthals practiced diplomatic manner. Its not often one has the opportunity to meet a witness to history as remote as yours.
There are thousands more just over the way, I reminded him. Although you might need to let some of them lie for a few decades more, until they ripen to the appropriate remoteness.
He actually blushed. Im sorry, he said, just as honestly. Michael told me what happened to you. It must be a terrible shock, to have been forgotten like that.
The shock, I told him, drily, is in being remembered. Everyone tells me that Ive been lucky, because there are so many more possibilities open to me nowadays.
Thats true, of course, he conceded, but I can understand why you might think youve paid a heavy price for the privilege. To be separated from everyone and everything you knew, and not even to know whyit must be difficult. Youll adjust, though. Michael and I belong to the last generation raised by mortal parents, so we understand loss a little better than the generation which came after us. Weve also lived through major catastrophes the Coral Sea Disaster, the North American Basalt Flow so we have a better understanding of grief and its associated emotions than we might have expected or wished for. You and I arent so very different, even though youve yet to decide which particular form of posthumanity to embrace. Youre very young, by our standards. In time, youll adapt fully to the new Earth, no matter how strange it may seem at first. By the time youre my age
I havent made up my mind whether to go to Earth, I told him, figuring that it was about time I interrupted. May I ask you a question about something thats been troubling me?
Of course, he said, with all the enthusiasm of an authentic sucker.
Why does Michael Lowenthal have a bodyguard with him?
Unfortunately, Mortimer Grays act was no act. He laughed, as if at a simple misunderstanding. Solantha isnt a bodyguard , he assured me, blithely. Cyborganization is mostly a matter of fashion, on Earth at least. Life in the outer system requires a degree of functional cyborgization, but its purely a matter of aesthetics at home. Did you think he was worried about meeting Christine Caine?
No, I said. I figured that I might