*
/I think I want a beer,/ he said, working his way toward the rec lounge.
The quarx was silent for a moment, before saying,
/// I find I have some pharmacological data
in my memory.
I’m not sure that it would be a good idea,
with that medication you’re on. ///
Bandicut frowned. /Can’t you just take care of any side effects?/
/// I’m not a miracle worker.
I’m just an alien. ///
/Ha ha./ Bandicut chuckled, then realized that the quarx had not meant the statement as a joke. /Well, okay—if not a beer—what, then?/
/// Well . . . at some point,
I’d like to see that game again.
EineySteiney pool. ///
/All right./
/// But first,
how about taking me to the place
where my predecessor . . . ///
/Yes?/
/// . . . linked you in. ///
Bandicut smiled and hobbled a little more quickly down the corridor.
Chapter 15
Datafry
SETTLING INTO A booth just off the lounge, Bandicut put on the headset and waited for the quarx to begin. /Well?/
Charlie hesitated.
/// Actually,
I don’t seem to remember how he did it.
Do you? ///
/Me? Hell, no. I didn’t understand it when he was doing it./
/// Well, did he say anything about
how he did it? ///
Bandicut thought back. /He said he was . . . altering the neural matrix of my brain. He said it was something like the way he talked to me . . . directly in my brain./
/// Ah. ///
/Does that help?/
/// I’m not sure. ///
He felt the quarx scrabbling in his mind, trying to fit together fragments of memory.
/// Wait, here’s something.
Not a direct memory, but a hint.
Altering the matrix—?
Wait . . . I think I’ve got it. ///
Bandicut stared at the console, imagining the quarx’s face peering back at him.
/// May I try? ///
/Go ahead. You have the con./
/// Stand by . . . ///
He nodded and closed his eyes. Nothing happened, and he was about to question the quarx, when he was startled by an eruption of sparks in his closed eyes.
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>——>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>——>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>——>>>>>>
>>
>>>>>>
>>>
>
——>>>>———
>
He shuddered at the jarring entry.
A burst of fireworks expanded in his vision, then crystallized into a network, which hung against the darkness for a heartstopping instant. Then it melted and drained like rivulets of glowing water toward him, into his vision, his eyes, his brain, his consciousness . . .
Neptune Crossing Page 28
