Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling [147]
“That’s wonderful news.” Maya laughed. “That makes me feel so happy! It’s so lovely to know I have brothers and sisters.… And you’ve even given me my pictures back! They’re bad pictures, but at least they’re real proof I’m not Mia.”
“They’re not proof of anything.”
“They are. Well, they will be. I’ll prove that I’m better now. I’ll prove that I’m better than Mia. Go ahead, cut me off of treatments. I’ll prove I’m valuable, I’ll make everybody admit it. I’m worth much more to this world than a hundred thousand lousy marks.”
“You won’t prove it to me.”
“We’ll see about that. What do you know, anyway? You’re rich and famous, and a lot of men adored you, and you’re one of the major art collectors of the twenty-first century. Big deal, what does all that prove? Tell me who’s your favorite photographer.”
“I’d have to think.” Helene thought about it. “Helmut Weisgerber.”
“What, the guy who did that Arctic landscape stuff? The mountain climber? You really like Weisgerber?”
“I liked him well enough to marry him.”
“You really think Weisgerber was better than Capasso? But Eric Capasso was so sensual and lively. Capasso must have been a lot of fun.”
“Capasso had a great gift, but he was melodramatic. At heart he was a stage designer. But Weisgerber—nothing can touch a classic Weisgerber.”
“I have to admit I really love Weisgerber’s Dead Leaf series.”
“I commissioned those.”
“Really, Helene? That must have been fantastic.… ”
There was a timid knock at the door.
“I ordered us a mineralka,” Helene explained. “They’re very slow here.” She raised her voice. “Entrez. ”
The door opened. It was Brett.
“Come in, Brett. We were just having a little discussion on aesthetics.”
Brett put her backpack on the floor.
“Brett, this is Helene. Helene, Brett. I mean Natalie. Sorry.”
“This is a restricted area,” Helene said, rising from her chair. “I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“So I broke in,” Brett said, adjusting her spex. “I thought you might be beating her with a rubber hose or something, so I came in to document it.”
“We were talking about photography,” Maya said.
“She gonna give you behavior mod?”
“No, I think the plan is to shut down my extension treatment. Apparently it’s been causing a lot of civil trouble.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s real important. A bunch of rich gerontocrats and some twisted extension treatment. That must be really fascinating.” Brett wandered to the window and looked out. “Nice view. If you like power plants.”
Helene stared at her in astonishment. “Miss, this is a police interrogation. It’s confidential. You have no business here.”
“What are you going to do to those artifice kids?”
“That subject hasn’t come up yet,” Maya said.
“You mean, they’re disturbing the universe, and you two old cows are sitting here talking about photography.” Brett flipped the window latch with her thumb. “Typical.”
“I really must ask you to leave,” said Helene. “You’re not merely being rude, you are breaking the law.”
“If I only had a gun,” Brett said, “I’d kill both of you.” She opened the window.
“Brett, what are you doing?”
Brett ducked under the window frame and stepped out onto the ledge.
“Stop her,” Maya said quickly. “Arrest her!”
“Stop her how? I don’t have a weapon.”
“Why don’t you have a weapon, for heaven’s sake?”
“Do I look like I carry a weapon?” Helene walked to the window. “Young woman, please come in at once.”
“I’m going to jump,” Brett said indistinctly.
Maya rushed to the window. Brett sidled away rapidly out of their reach.
“Brett, this is stupid. Please don’t do this. You don’t have to do this. You can talk to us, Brett. Come back inside now.”
“You don’t want to talk to me. I can’t say anything that matters to you. You just don’t want to be embarrassed, that’s all.”
“Please come in,” Maya begged. “I know you’re brave. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
Brett raised her cupped hands to her face. There was a stiff breeze outside and her hair was flying. “Hey, everybody!” she