He turned away from the scene as if losing interest. "I note you have control of gravity here."
"Yes .
"How is it that you have such high-tech features, yet have to hide from the Gaol?"
"The Gaol are conquerors. We are not. We lack emotions, therefore have no desire for aggrandizement. We exist only to serve the Imago."
"But you are machines! Some living species must have made you. What happened to those folk?"
"I know of no such species."
"You're saying that you robots evolved on your own?"
"I have no knowledge of this."
Jack dropped the subject, but filed it away in his "unfinished" mental compartment.
They continued walking. Then Candy paused as if startled.
"Jack, we have le amed that the Gaol are quartering the galaxy, and will locate us sooner than we anticipated. We shall have to accelerate our program. Your cooperation is essential, because Tappy knows and trusts you. But we of the AI do not know or trust you well enough to risk the Imago with you. Will you allow us to survey you?"
"You've been risking Tappy with me all along!" Jack exclaimed.
"Last night-"
"No. You were monitored, Jack, as you know. Had you sought to bring her to harm of physical, mental, or emotional nature, we would have interdicted it. Now we must allow you greater access to her, for you relate to her in a way we do not."
"I'm human," he said wryly.
"That is true. You also have a relationship with her that has greater leverage than we can muster at the moment. We had hoped to learn the human ways, and relate to her, so as to train her adequately in the time available. But now we must work through you more directly."
"What happens if she isn't properly trained?"
"This much we have learned of your recent culture: you hava weapon called a gun?"
"Yes, we have guns," he said, scowling. "So do the Gaol. If you expect me to use a gun-"
"No. But if one were to place a gun in the hand of a small child-"
"The power of the Imago-it's like that? Dangerous?"
"The analogy is imperfect. But in degree, it is like a gun capable of causing a planet to rupture. I think you can not at present appreciate the actual nature of the power of the Imago.
Perhaps gun is not the appropriate term. Perhaps grenade, or detonator-"
."I'm getting the gist. That girl is dangerous."
"Only if her power is improperly used. But with appropriate direction, it means the salvation of galactic culture. It is essential that its proper potential be realized."
"So you want to use me to make Tappy do something. I'm not sure I care to be used."
She turned to him, taking him by the arm, staring into his face.
Now she was animated, and startlingly pretty. "Jack, we need you!
I beg of you: help us."
How well she had learned! Every inflection was right, every aspect of her facial and bodily expression. Her hair was turnbled back, her bosom was heaving, her eyes were w'de. On top of that, he believed her: the AI were now desperate. There was no way he could turn down her plea without feeling like a heel.
"What does this 'survey' entail?"
"We will put you in a chamber and question you. Your responses will be analyzed. By this we shall know whether it is appropriate to place the Imago in your charge."
"My charge! Tappy's a person! She should be free to make her own decisions."
"Tappy is a person," she agreed. "The Imago is not. If I may return to my crude analogy, the Imago is like the gun in her hand.
You must tell her how it is to be used. When we are sure that your judgment and motive are suitable."
"So that she won't turn that gun on you?"
"That is not our concern. If the Imago were to desire our destruction, we would destroy ourselves. But we can not allow the Imago to be misdirected."
They had a point. "Okay. Survey me."
"Here." She led the way into the closest step-through panel.
Was it coincidence that they were right here, or could any chamher serve? He decided that the chambers were as interchangeable as the AI themselves were.
Then Candy was gone. Jack stood alone in what appeared to be a rocky desert. But the rocks were giant crystals, and the sand was confettl, and the sky was purple. Evidently the AI notion of an Earthly landscape.
Had your desire, what would it be?
"You mean, apart from Tappy's welfare?" he asked.
Without qualification.
"Well, first I'd see that Tappy was okay. In fact. I'd like to see her cured of everything that ails her. I want her to see again, and be happyDo not speak. Imagine.
Imagine? "Maybe I could paint it," he said. "If I had my paints."
Paint.
He pretended he had a brush, palette, and canvas set up on an easel. He touched his brush to blue, and made a sweep to paint the sky blue.
The blue appeared. He moved hig hand farther, and the blue spread accordingly. Then he let his hand drop and just pictured it-and abruptly the entire sky was blue instead of purple. "Like a computer painting program"' he exclaimed.
Clarify, your reference.
He ran through the mechanism of computer painting in his mind. There was agreement: this was somewhat like that.
Then he really got into it. He painted a picture of Tappy, not as she was now, but as she would be if he had his wish. She stood before him in a green dress with a yellow sash, her hair tied back with a matching yellow ribbon but nevertheless falling to her waist. Her face was without blemish; the scar was gone.
Her eyes focused on him. "Jack, I see you!" she exclaimed. "I'm happy!" She made a pirouette, her skirt flaring, showing her legs to the knees, no brace.
And for yourself."?
Jack was at a loss. He discovered that his original ambition of being a successful commercial painter had left him. That would require returning to Earth alone and rejoining its culture. "How can you send them back to the farm, after they've seen Paree?" he asked, repeating an imperfectly remembered quote. He had not seen the best of what the galactic society had to offer; in fact, he had seen mostly pursuit and oddity and ugliness. But behind it lay the amazing technology of the advanced cultures, and now all he wanted to do was know more of it. No, that wasn't all, but somehow he was unable to settle on the rest.
"I don't know," he said.
The chamber became ordinary again. Candy stood where she had been; apparently she had never left. "Thank you, Jack," she said.
He smiled ruefully. "I guess I washed out on that one! My mind just went blank."
"No, Jack, you provided us with the information we required.
We now trust you."
"But you didn't learn anything about me! I couldn't answer the simplest question about the nature of my ambition."
"You have no selfish motive."
"Sure I have selfish motives! I just wasn't able to define them.
I mean, there's so much here that I want to learn about, only I have no way, and I know I don't belong here, but I don't want to go back-what a mess!"
"Jack, if I had emotion, I believe I would like you." She took him by the elbow, guiding him from the chamber.
It opened immediately on the larger room where he had eaten -,with Tappy, but she was no longer there. He was suddenly nervous. "Tappy-where is she? You haven't isolated her while you were distracting me, have you? I tell you, all bets are off, if-"
"She will join you in a moment," Candy said. "Now we have Important material to impart. Which of us would you prefer to do this?"
"All of you!" he snapped. "Something's up; I know it. If you '-,-"t my cooperation, bring Tappy here now."
The other AI appeared, stepping together through the opaque panels around the room. Their clothing now fit perfectly. One man was unfamiliar; that would be Cole. "In a moment," they said in unison. "First we must acquaint you with the situation."