"Is this to expose the juveniles at an early age to the concept of optimization?" Richard asked.
"Not really," Archie replied. "What we are trying to do is to prepare the young for the real task of living, which involves regular interaction with others, with many behavioral choices. Each juvenile is strongly encouraged to use the case studies to develop his or her own value system. Our species believes that knowledge does not exist in a vacuum. Only when knowledge is an integral part of a way of living does it achieve any real significance."
Archie's case studies presented Nikki with simple but elegant ethical problems. The basic issues of lying, fairness, prejudice, and selfishness were all covered in the first eight lessons. The girl's responses to the situations often drew upon examples from her own life.
"Galileo will always say or do whatever he thinks will allow him to have his own way," Nikki remarked during one lesson. "To him, what he wants is more important than anything else. Kepler is different. He never makes me cry."
Nikki napped in the afternoon. While she was sleeping, Richard, Ellie, and Archie often exchanged comments and insights that highlighted the similarities and differences between the two species. "If I have understood correctly," Ellie said one day after a lively conversation about how intelligent, sensitive beings should handle members of their community who exhibit antisocial behavior, "your society is much less tolerant than ours. There is clearly a 'preferred way of living' that is advanced by your communities. Those octospiders who do not embrace that preferred model are not only ostracized early, but also denied participation in many of life's more rewarding activities and 'terminated' after a shorter than normal life span."
"In our society," Archie said in reply, "what is acceptable is always clear—there is no confusion, as there is in yours. Thus our individuals make their choices with full knowledge of the consequences. Incidentally, the Alternate Domain is not like one of your prisons. It is a place where octospiders, and other species as well, can live without the regimentation and optimization necessary for the continued development and survival of the colony. Some of the alternates live to be very old and are quite happy.
"Your society, at least what I have observed of it, seems not to understand the fundamental inconsistency between individual freedom and the common welfare. The two must be carefully balanced. No group can survive, let alone thrive, unless what is good for the overall community is more important than individual freedom. Take, for example, resource allocation. How can anyone with any intelligence possibly justify, in terms of the overall community, the accumulation and hoarding of enormous material assets by a few individuals when others do not even have food, clothing, and other essentials?"
In the basement Archie was not as reticent and evasive as he had sometimes been in the Emerald City. He spoke openly about all aspects of his civilization, as if the common mission he was undertaking with his human colleagues had somehow freed him from all constraints. Was Archie consciously sending a message to the other humans who were almost certainly monitoring the conversation? Perhaps. But how much of the conversation could Nakamura's men have understood, since they knew nothing of the language of color? No, it was more likely that Archie, better than any of the humans, realized that his death was imminent and wanted his final days to be as meaningful and stimulating as possible.
One night before Richard and Ellie went to sleep, Archie said that he had something "personal" to tell them. "I do not want to alarm you," the octospider said, "but I have consumed almost all of the supply of barrican that is in my intake buffer. If we stay here much longer and my barrican runs out, as you know I will begin to undergo sexual maturity. According to our files, I will become more aggressive and possessive at that time."
"Don't worry about it," Richard said with a laugh. "I have dealt with teenagers before. Certainly I can handle an octospider who no longer has a perfect temperament"
One morning the guard bringing their food and water told Ellie to prepare herself and the girl to leave. "When?" Ellie said.
'Ten minutes," the guard replied.
"Where are we going?" Ellie inquired.
The guard said nothing and disappeared up the stairway.
While Ellie was doing her best to freshen herself and Nikki, she reviewed with Richard and Archie what she would say if she was able to meet with Nakamura or any of the other colony leaders.
"Don't forget," her father stressed in a rapid whisper over in one corner of the room, "although it is all right to say that the octospiders are a peace-loving species, we will not be able to stop any war unless we convince Nakamura that he cannot possibly win an armed conflict. The point must be made that their technology has advanced far beyond ours."
"But what if they ask for specifics?"
"You wouldn't be expected to know any details. Tell them that I can supply all the specifics."
Ellie and Nikki were taken by electric car to the colony hospital in Central City. They were whisked through the emergency entrance and into a small, sterile office with two chairs, a couch or bed used for examinations, and some complex electronic equipment. Ellie and Nikki sat alone for ten minutes before Dr. Robert Turner walked into the room.
He looked very old. "Hi, Nikki," he said, smiling and squatting down with his arms outstretched. "Come give your daddy a hug."
The girl hesitated for a moment and then ran across the room to her father. Robert picked her up and swung her around in his arms. "It's so good to see you, Nikki," he said.
Ellie stood up and waited. After several seconds Robert put his daughter back down on the floor and looked at his wife. "How are you, Ellie?" he asked.
"Fine," Ellie replied, suddenly feeling awkward. "How are you, Robert?"
"About the same," he said.
They met in the middle of the room and embraced. Ellie tried to kiss him tenderly, but their lips merely brushed before Robert turned away. She could sense the tension in his body.
"What is it, Robert?" Ellie said softly. "What's wrong?"
"I've just been working too hard, as usual," he replied. He moved over beside the examination bed. "Would you take off your clothes and lie down here, please, Ellie? I want to make certain you're all right."
"Right this minute?" an incredulous Ellie asked. "Before we even talk about what has happened to us during the months that we've been apart?"
"I'm sorry, Ellie," Robert said with a trace of a smile. "I'm very busy tonight. The hospital is terribly understaffed. I talked them into releasing you by promising—"
Ellie had walked around the bed and was standing very close to her husband. She reached down and took his hand. "Robert," she said gently, "I am your wife. I love you. We have not seen each other for over a year. Surely you can take a minute…"
Tears formed in Robert's eyes. "What is it, Robert? Tell me." Ellie had a sudden fright. He's married someone else, she thought in panic.
"What has happened to you, Ellie?" he said suddenly in a loud voice. "How could you possibly tell those soldiers that you were not kidnapped, and that the octospiders were not hostile? You have made me a laughingstock. Every single citizen in New Eden has heard me on television describing that terrible moment that you were abducted… My memories are so horribly clear."
Ellie backed up at first when Robert began his outburst. As she stood there listening, still holding his hand, his anguish was obvious. "I made those comments, Robert, because I was, and am, trying to do whatever I can to stop any conflict between the octospiders and us. I am sorry if my remarks caused you pain."
"The octospiders have brainwashed you, Ellie," Robert said bitterly. "I knew it as soon as Nakamura's men showed me the reports. Somehow they have tampered with your mind so that you are no longer in touch with reality."
Nikki had started whimpering when Robert had first raised his voice. She did not understand what the disagreement between her parents was about, but she could tell that everything was not all right. She began to cry and to cling to her mother's leg.
"It's all right, Nikki," Ellie said soothingly. "Your father and I are just talking."
When Ellie glanced up, Robert had taken a transparent skullcap out of a drawer and was holding it in his hand. "So you're going to give me an EEG," she said nervously, "to make certain that I haven't become one of them?"
"It's not funny, Ellie," Robert replied. "My EEGs have all been weird since I returned to New Eden. I can't explain it, nor can the neurologist on my staff. He says he has never seen such radical changes in an individual's brain activity, except in the case of severe injury."
"Robert," Ellie said, taking his hand again. "The octospiders planted a microbiological block in your memory when you departed. To protect themselves. That could be part of the explanation for your peculiar brain waves."
Robert looked at Ellie for a long time without speaking. "They kidnapped you," he said. "They tampered with my brain. Who knows what they may have done to our daughter? How can you possibly defend them?"
Ellie submitted to the EEG and the results showed neither irregularities nor major differences from the routine brain testing that she had undergone during the early days of the colony. Robert seemed genuinely relieved. He then told Ellie that Nakamura and the government were prepared to drop all charges against her and would let her return home with Nikki—under house arrest temporarily, of course—if she would provide information about the octospiders. Ellie thought about the request for a few minutes and then agreed.
Robert smiled and gave her a brisk hug. "Good," he said. "You'll start tomorrow. I'll tell them right away."
Richard had warned Ellie during the ride on the ostrichsaur that Nakamura might try to use her in some way, most likely to justify his continued prosecution of the war. Ellie knew that by agreeing ostensibly to help the New Eden government she was committing herself to a very dangerous course.
Nikki was unfamiliar with her old bedroom at first, but after an hour or so of playing with some of her toys, she seemed quite content. She came into the bathroom, where Ellie was taking a bath, and stood next to the tub. "When will Daddy be home?" she asked her mother.
"He'll be late, darling," Ellie replied. "After you've gone to bed."
"I like my room, Mommy," Nikki said. "It's much better than that old basement."
"I'm glad," Ellie replied. The little girl smiled and left the bathroom. Ellie took a deep breath. It would have served no purpose, she rationalized, if I had refused and we had been returned to confinement.
4
Katie had not finished with her makeup when she heard the buzzer sound. She took a drag on the cigarette burning in the ashtray beside her and pushed the TALK button. "Who is it?" she said.
"It's me," came the reply.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the day?"
"I have some important news," Captain Franz Bauer said. "Buzz me up."
Katie inhaled deeply on the cigarette and stubbed it out. She stood up and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. She adjusted her hair slightly just before the knock on her door.
"This had better be important, Franz," Katie said, letting him into the room, "or your ass is mud. You know I have a disciplinary meeting with two of the girls in a few minutes and I hate to be late."
Franz grinned. "You caught them skimming again? Jesus, Katie, I'd hate for you to be my boss."
Katie looked at Franz impatiently. "Well?" she said. "What was too important for the telephone?"
Franz had begun to walk around the living room. The room was tastefully decorated, with a black and white sofa and loveseat, two matching chairs, and several interesting objets d'art on both the end tables and the coffee table. "There's not any chance that your apartment is bugged, is there?"
"You tell me, Mr. Police Captain," Katie said. "Now, really, Franz," she added, glancing at her watch, "I don't have—"
'There is a reliable report," Franz said, "that your father is in New Eden at this very moment."
"Whaat?" said Katie. "How is that possible?" She was stunned. She sat down on the couch and reached for another cigarette from the coffee table.
"A lieutenant of mine is close friends with one of your father's guards. He was told that Richard and one of those octospider creatures are being held in the basement of a private residence not far from here."
Katie crossed the room and picked up the telephone. "Darla," she said, "tell Lauren and Atsuko that the meeting today is off. Something has come up. Reschedule for two o'clock tomorrow afternoon… Oh, that's right, I forgot. Dammit… All right, make it eleven in the morning. No, eleven-thirty. I don't want to wake up too early."
Katie returned to the couch and picked up her cigarette. She took a huge drag and blew smoke rings into the air over her head. "I want to know everything that you have heard about my father."
Franz informed Katie that, according to his sources, her father, her sister Ellie, her niece, and an octospider had suddenly appeared, carrying a white flag, at the troop encampment on the southern edge of the Cylindrical Sea about two months ago. They had been quite relaxed and had even joked with the soldiers, Franz said. Her father and sister had told the troops that they had come forward with an octospider representative to see if an armed conflict between the two species could be avoided through negotiation. Nakamura had ordered that the entire affair be kept secret and had taken them.
Katie was pacing around the room. "My father is not only alive," she said excitedly, "he is here, in New Eden. Have I ever told you, Franz," she said, "that my father is absolutely the smartest human being who ever lived?"
"About a dozen times," Franz said. He laughed. "I can't imagine how anyone could be smarter than you."
Katie waved her hand. "He makes me look like an absolute idiot. He was always such a dear. I could get away with anything." She stopped her pacing and inhaled on her cigarette. Her eyes sparkled as she exhaled the smoke. "Franz," she said. "I must see him. I absolutely must."
'That's impossible, Katie," he said. "Nobody is even supposed to know that he's here. I could be fired, or worse, if anyone ever found out that I told you."
"I'm pleading with you, Franz," Katie said, crossing the room and grabbing him by the shoulders. "You know how I hate asking anyone for favors … but this is very important to me."
Franz was delighted that for once, Katie was requesting something from him. Nevertheless, he told her the truth. "Katie," he said, "you still don't understand. There is an armed guard around the house at all times. The entire basement is bugged with audio and video monitors. There is just no way."
"There's always a way," Katie said emphatically, "if something is important enough." She reached inside his shirt and began tweaking his right nipple. "You do love me, don't you, Franz?" She kissed him, a full open-mouthed kiss, with her tongue darting teasingly across his. Katie pulled away slightly, continuing to play with his nipple.
"Of course I love you, Katie," Franz said, already very much aroused. "But I'm not crazy."
Katie marched off into her bedroom and returned less than a minute later with two stacks of bills. "I am going to see my father, Franz," she said, throwing the money on the coffee table. "And you are going to help me. You can bribe anyone you want with this money."
Franz was impressed. The money was more than adequate. "And what are you going to do for me?" he said almost jokingly,
"What am I going to do for you?" Katie said. "What am I going to do for you?" Katie took him by the hand and led him to the bedroom. "Now, Captain Bauer," she said in an accented voice, "you just take off all your clothes and lie here on your back. You'll see what I am going to do for you."
Katie's apartment had a dressing room adjacent to her bedroom. She walked into the smaller room and closed the door. With a key she unlocked a large decorated box on the top of the counter and pulled out one of the full syringes she had prepared earlier in the day. Katie lifted her dress and tied a tight tourniquet around her upper thigh with a piece of small black tubing. She waited moment
arily until she could clearly identify a blood vessel in the mass of bruises on her thigh, and then she deftly inserted the syringe. After pressing all the fluid into her bloodstream, Katie waited a few seconds for the fantastic rush and then removed the tourniquet.
"What am I supposed to do while I'm waiting?"
"Rilke is in my electronic reader, darling," she said, "both in German and English. I'll only be a few more minutes."
Katie was flying. She started humming a dance tune while she threw the syringe away and returned the tourniquet to the box. She took off all her clothes, stopping twice to admire her body in the mirror, and put them in a pile upon the vanity stool. Then she opened a large drawer in the vanity and pulled out a blindfold.
She paraded into the bedroom. Franz's eyes feasted admiringly upon her lithe body. "Look carefully," Katie said, "'cause this is all you're going to see this afternoon."
Katie draped her naked body casually across his and kissed him intermittently while she attached the blindfold. She made certain that the blindfold was snug and then jumped down from the bed. "What happens now?" Franz asked.
"You'll just have to wait and see," Katie said teasingly as she rummaged through a large drawer at the bottom of her dresser. The drawer contained a smorgasbord of sexual paraphernalia, including electronic aids of all kinds, lotions, ropes and other bondage equipment, masks, and assorted models of genitalia. Katie selected a small bottle of lotion, a vial of white powder, and some beads strung along a piece of thin cord.
Still humming and laughing to herself, Katie rejoined Franz on the bed and began to run her fingers over his chest. She kissed him provocatively with her body pressed against his and then sat up. After pouring the lotion on her hands and rubbing them together vigorously, Katie spread his legs, crawled onto his stomach with her back toward Franz's face, and began to apply the lotion to his most sensitive parts.
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