The Dragon Man - Brian Stableford [21]
Unfortunately, Sara had no credit of her own with which to make direct purchases in the virtual world. When she became a teenager, an account would doubtless be set up for her, but there would be little point in asking for one now, even if she had not rendered herself open to an automatic refusal by climbing the hometree less than a week before. If she wanted to ride a dragon, or to be a dragon for a while, she would have to ask one or all her parents to fund the trip—and it was a lot to ask, even if she could convince them that the experience had real educational value.
There seemed little point in raising the matter at a house meeting, where it would only provide yet another issue about which her parents could argue. Father Lemuel was the only one who possessed a cocoon’s whose inner lining could interact with her smartsuit cleverly enough to simulate the physical sensations required by the “dragon experience”, and he also seemed to be the parent with the most money, so the sensible thing to do was to approach him privately. That wouldn’t be easy, given that Father Lemuel spent so much of his time in the cocoon that he was rarely around to answer requests, but it was certainly possible. He was not a man who welcomed interruption, so it would be necessary to wait for the right moment, and to make the approach in the right way, but Sara was convinced that it could be done.
Fortunately, there seemed to be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Sara was intrigued by dragons because she was intrigued by the Dragon Man, and—as more than one of her parents had pointed out to her—Father Lemuel knew the Dragon Man. At least, Father Lemuel had known the Dragon Man in some previous era of history, long before Father Lemuel had come together with her other parents to form the household in which she was now being brought up.
Sara knew that there was no need for Father Lemuel to emerge from his beloved cocoon to eat, excrete or exercise, but she also knew that he was not a man to ignore good medical advice. Even though people came to no particular harm if they remained in virtual space for weeks on end, popular opinion judged that it was healthier for the mind and body alike to spend time in the real world at regular intervals. Father Lemuel’s excursions into reality were unpredictable, except for house meetings, and often occurred while Sara was at school, but she was confident that an opportunity for private conversation would present itself eventually, and she was prepared to be patient.
As it happened, patience wasn’t required. Father Lemuel was as enthusiastic as all her other parents to follow in the footsteps of Father Stephen and Mother Quilla by taking her aside for a quiet chat. She didn’t have to lie in wait for him—he came to her, while she was playing in the garden on Thursday evening, ostentatiously keeping a generous distance between herself and the hometree’s wall. Mother Verena was weeding the vegetable patch and Father Aubrey was grooming his herbs, but they were both out of earshot from the swing on which Sara was sitting, rocking gently back and forth.
“Would you like a push?” Father Lemuel asked.
“No, that’s all right,” she said. “I can manage.” She felt that she was now too old to require any assistance, or to take pleasure in such simple things.
“Did you enjoy yourself at the junk swap last Sunday?”
“I made some good swaps, but I’ll need to find some new junk for the next one. Father Stephen did well, but he didn’t get as excited as he sometimes does. Mother Quilla looked around, but she didn’t swap very much.”
“Quilla doesn’t have quite the same attitude as Steve,” Father Lemuel observed. “Her heart’s not in it.”
“She likes looking, though,” Sara said. “She’s not a real junkie—but I’m not sure that I am, either. I just like dragons. I saw the Dragon Man at the swap.”
“Did you? How did he seem?”
“I don’t know,” Sara said, realizing that she didn’t have any standard for comparison. “He was in a robocab that pulled up behind us. He saw us, but