Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls - Jane Lindskold [69]
Fourteen
OUR NEXT SESSION IS MUCH LIKE THE FIRST. WHEN BEING brought in for the third, my guard is reaching to ring for admittance when suddenly he stops. I am about to try and ask why when I hear the faintest sound of voices raised in argument. Stretching my hearing, I am able to make out the words.
“…endangering her!” The voice is Jersey’s.
“No, I am saving her and us.” Dr. Haas is cool. “If she doesn’t adapt to the interface quickly, our creditors will be very unhappy and if they get unhappy…Do I need to spell it out?”
“No.” I can almost hear Jersey shake his head. “But…”
The guard steers me away before I can hear more. When we come back five minutes later, Jersey is hooking himself up, his anger only subdued. Dr. Haas smiles her unfriendly smile and, with a few bright comments about the weather (which never changes in our climate-controlled building), hooks me up.
Jersey is waiting across the white mist in the now-familiar room and barely gives me time to set down my dragons before speaking.
“Okay, Sarey, today we start work. This is something of a test. I’m going to show you a variety of items and you are going to tell me what they say to you. Got it?”
“You bet, boss.” I smile. “But how can I hear what not-real things are saying? Isn’t this place all in the mind?”
“Yes, but Dr. Haas will be handing you the ‘real’ object at the same time. It should work. It has in the past.”
I don’t need to ask: with Dylan. Instead, I nod.
“Ready when you are, Jersey.”
The first thing he hands to me is a book. The cover and spine are blank, but this hardly matters. We’d already learned that I cannot read here any better than I can outside of the interface. Apparently, skills cannot be merely wished for.
Holding the book, I listen; the voice is soft at first, then easily understood, then even familiar. Tears spring to my eyes and I clasp the battered text to my breast.
“Oh, Jersey! It’s Mary Poppins—the one my nurse read to me when I was small. I kept the book in my room and would listen even when she was gone. I thought it was lost!”
Jersey makes a note on a computer keyboard identical to one I had seen in the annex.
“Very good, Sarey. How about this?”
He hands me a small cedar block made of varitoned shades of wood, polished to a high finish. I caress its smooth sides and admire its red-gold color. As I do so, I hear a soft giggle.
Betwixt and Between are busy eating a bowl of ice cream. Athena is chasing a moth by the ceiling.
The giggle comes again and I focus on the cedar block.
“Puzzle,” it giggles, “puzzle puzzle puzzle puzzle puzzle.”
I giggle, too, for its delight is infectious.
“It’s a puzzle box,” I tell Jersey. “Let’s see. To solve it…”
Listening to the happy noise and the occasional groan, I press on the wood strips and in moments have revealed a small cavity large enough for a ring or a small deck of cards.
Jersey applauds and writes down some more notes.
“Tired, Sarey? Or can you do some more?”
“I’m a little tired. Let me have a small rest and then I’ll try another. Am I doing okay?”
“Just great.” Jersey leans back and reaches for a milkshake.
“Jersey, what were you and Dr. Haas arguing about this morning?”
He sputters into his shake. “How did you know?”
“The guard brought me by when you were—I heard.”
“But those rooms are soundproof. The guard looked in through the window on the door. I waved him off. You…”
I shrug. “I am brother to dragons, a companion to owls. Tell me why you were arguing. You said I could ask about anything except Dylan.”
“Well, that’s not exactly what I said.” He pauses. “Think about it. However, Dr. Haas has been mixing the drug that eases interface. I found she was going a bit heavy on some components in yours. We got into a fight and she reminded me of my place.”
“Which is?”
“Sarey, hon, you’ve lived in a fairly protected world. I don’t know all the details, but you’ve always had people looking out for you. Not so for me—my computer work is my world and yet I’ve had funding troubles all along.”
Remembering his madness,