Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [39]
“What it’s really about is the reason for questing,” said Thelia. “Neither the woodcarver nor Calatina asked for what they really wanted, because they did not understand what that was. He asked for her to come to life, when what he wanted was for her to love him. She asked to be made capable of love, when what she wanted was to love the woodcarver.” She smiled.
“I suppose that means she did not have to be flesh and blood to love.”
“Yes,” Data mused, “that fits a story my gr-a teacher of the man who made me once told me. It was about a man made of tin, who yearned to have a heart. He, too, went on a quest, only to discover in the end that he had had a heart all along.”
“He was not transformed?” Thelia asked.
“No, but he was satisfied,” said Data, who had looked up the entire story. “Yet you wish to be transformed.”
“Yes, Thelia, my fondest wish is to know what it would be like to be human, but what happens in legends and fairy tales is one thing. What can happen in actuality is quite another.”
“Data, do you wish to offend the gods? They give such gifts as the Voice of Power or the Kiss of Bonding-surely nothing is beyond their power.” “More folktales?” he suggested.
“No. I have personal knowledge of these gifts. No one can disobey the one with the Voice of Power, while the Kiss of Bonding binds the one kissed in total and selfless love. These are rare and dangerous gifts, and seldom bestowed, for they may cause mischief, even disaster, if misused.” “Those gifts are easy enough to understand,” Data replied, knowing the power of suggestion on unsophisticated people like the Elysians. “They operate because people believe they do.”
“They also affect those who do not know of their existence,” Thelia said. “If I-was She halted, curbing the first signs of anger Data had seen in her. Obviously he had offended her with his skeptical attitude toward her sacred beliefs.
“Data,” she went on, “if you do not believe in the powers of the gods, how can you quest?”
“I know they have great powers,” he assured her.
“That is why I wish to speak with them, to try to understand how they do what they do. But I will not ask for the impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible for the gods,” she asserted. “Even gods cannot break the laws of nature, Thelia.”
Thelia looked into Data’s eyes with concern.
“Be very careful what you wish for, Data. If you deny your true desire, you will find the gods’ gift no boon at all.”
Thelia seemed confident now that they would both make it to the sanctuary. Data was aware of the dangers of overconfidence, but as Thelia sleepily made a nest of her abused cloak and prepared to rest, Metamorphosis he realized that he was coming to agree with her. She knew the powers of these gods after all. What might happen if he did ask for his true desire? As he had told her, even severe damage did not cause him to require sleep. were two organic being on this Quest, he was sure there would be a test of alertness at this point, when both would be exhausted.
Weariness, however, was another human experience Data could only observe without understanding.
He could malfunction from damage, but not from being overtired. Data left Thelia to sleep, and explored the small habitat they had been provided, to determine which way to go when they left it.
On the other side of the lake he could see a trail that seemed the most likely exit. It was a small lake; Data should be able to walk around to the other side in less than. fifteen minutes. When he attempted to round the end, however, he rare into the wall of the illusion.
With his sight restricted to human range, he could not see even a holodeck wall at the moment-but the Elysian gods produced illusions he could not detect even with all sensors fully functioning.
He turned in the opposite direction, but encountered a similar wall at the other end of the lake. They were not to be allowed to walk around it. They must either build some kind of boat, or go through the water. Swimming such a short distance would be no problem for Thelia, Data was sure,