“It’s the sort of thing we would have to talk around for a long time,” I said. “If I tried handing you too simple a program, it could be disastrous. And I’m hardly qualified in this area, anyway…”
“Nevertheless, you are the only one. You will try teaching me?”
“If you want me to be the serpent in your Eden,” I said, “I’ll give it a try. But in some ways, you know, you might be a better person than I am.”
“Whatever the case, it is good to be talking with you again. Go back now to Cora. I will provide. We will meet again.”
“All right. Take good care of the Ann program,” I said. “I believe she meant well, but she suffered from misplaced trusts. There’s at least a caution for you there.”
“I hold her near to me.”
Ann’s form merged with the larger, shadowy one. An instant later, I seemed lightyears away, and the static was back, and the bubbling and a kind of wild spiraling…
Cora still looked startled, but not afraid, as I straightened. By some intuition, I knew that I had only been away from her for a few seconds of real time.
“It’s okay,” I said, putting my arm about her shoulders and turning us toward the thrumming sound in the sky. An empty ’copter from one of the pads at the airstrip was coming to pick us up and take us away, I knew. “Everything’s going to be all right now,” I said, “and you can have the fun of getting to know me all over again. By the way, my name’s Steve.”
She swayed against me.
“Hi, Steve.” she said.
As we rose above the installation, I took a last look at Angra Test Facility Number Four. My feelings were a compound that I could not separate into its elements, but it was good to be going away again. It was good to be me again, too. I held Cora’s hand. The world turned.
Clickaderick.