He came back towards Helen, his dark eyes running up and down her body. For the twentieth time that day, she silently thanked the set of circumstances that had led to her drawing Kevin for the arboretum tour; thanked Lucy for asking her to swap shifts at the last moment; thanked Marek for pointing out the man who had just stepped from the Lite train.
Shed been tidying up the winged seeds display, placing natural sycamore seeds and ash keys next to the AI-designed VNM carriers used on Iota Cancri 4. Marek had raised his eyebrows at her, then deliberately turned to look in the direction of the tall handsome man who had just walked into the airy glass structure of the visitors center. He had quickly pressed an ash key into one of her hands and the strange double-fluted IC4 carrier into the other, and then pushed her gently in the mans direction.
Hello there, Helen had said, holding them out to the gorgeous stranger and smiling brightly. Can you guess which was built and which evolved?
Her console, wrapped about her waist like a belt, was busy releasing a cloud of the maximum permissible dose of pheromones. The way the man smiled at her gave the impression that maybe chemicals werent that necessary. Marek certainly got the hint and jumped Helen two places in the roster, allowing her to escort the man from the queue out into the warm summer of the arboretum proper.
And here he was now, gently sucking his pricked thumb, a tender gesture in such a big man. Helen silently thanked the Watcher for realizing that she was ready for another relationship by sending this gorgeous giant along. He was walking towards her now in a slow prowl, and she wondered if he was finally going to kiss herpush her against the dark tree trunk and kiss her firmly on the lips. He was reaching towards her, closer, an arrogant smile on his facebut at the last moment he bent down to touch the sprays and shoots emerging from near the base of the tree she was leaning against. He was teasing her. She liked that.
This doesnt look right either. He looked up at her. Another venumb. Id say the little one over there is the only true botanical.
Wrong! Helen said triumphantly. Both trees are natural. The first plant you looked at is the venumb. McCuskers Miracle. It was designed to extract aluminum from the soil. You got some of the metal residue on your fingers when you felt its leaves.
Kevin laughed as he straightened up, his big body filling her vision, and he leaned a little closer so that he was almost touching her. He smelled very clean, just a hint of cologne.
Ah well, cant be right all of the time.
He touched Helen on the cheek; she felt a tiny flutter where his fingers brushed against her skin. He gazed at her for a moment, and she smiledthen ducked under his arm and walked over to the center of the clearing. The noon sun lanced down onto the mossy grass, and she spun slowly round in its glow, showing off her body. The light flickered as silver space-bound ships slowly ascended from the port that bordered the arboretum. A sprinkling of butterflies rose into the air and flitted away, back towards the nearby coppice.
Youll find the best examples of the hybrid venumbs that way, said Helen, deliberately facing away from Kevin towards an area where the trees looked more mechanical. That section most resembles the modern world, she said. Or, if you want to see more traditional woodland,
we can head in the opposite direction, towards the coppice. Theres fine display of butterflies and deer there, too.
She became aware that Kevin was now standing just behind her.
Whats that? He pointed to the edge of the coppiced area. The corner of a silver-grey cube rose above the tops of the trees.
That? Helen smiled. Oh, thats the Secret Garden.
The Secret Garden? That sounds intriguing.
Kevin had moved around in front of her now, gazing at the tilted, sunken cube, half seen through the trees. About twenty meters along each side, the straight edges and clean lines of its polished surfaces were in marked contrast to the rounded organic shapes of the surrounding wood. The top of the cube glinted oddly in the sunlight where it emerged from the foliage. Helen took him by the elbow and led him forward.
Come on, lets go look.
They set off towards the cube. Helen put on her lilting guides voice.
The Secret Garden is a first-generation Von Neumann Machine from around the end of the twenty-first century. Unlike contemporary VNMs, these first-generation machines were built without the use of AI library code. It seems hard to believe nowadays, but humans actually worked out the replication routines themselves- she gave a little laugh; it was part of the script, -and more often than not, they got them wrong.
Humans worked out the code? I thought all that sort of thing could only be done by artificial intelligences.
Helen smiled knowingly. That may be the case nowadays, but back in those days the first AIs hadnt evolved properly. That VNM almost predates AIs.
They reached the cube and stood in the shadow cast by one out-sloping side of the huge VNM. Kevin reached out and ran his hand across its surface. His big, powerful, gentle hand.