She looked up at me again, but did not say anything.
***
The view from the observation platform on the top of the tower was spectacular. We could see the entire city, glowing white in the sunlight, sprawling all around a lake of molten gold dotted with pleasure craft. The library and museum were prominent landmarks. Millie pointed out City Hall, her midschool, a couple of public swimming pools, the stadium, and the residential areas out in the suburbs.
People milled around us. School was out, and kids were everywhere. We stood on the outside balcony, breathing in fresh air. It seemed cooler up there, although it was a fine bright day.
"I never had anyone fight for me before," Millie said.
"I am sorry he was bad to you."
"You are the strangest person I have ever met," she said. "Are all the boys from Peta Jaya like you?"
"I don't understand."
"Why did you sit at my table?"
"I saw you. Alone. I was lonely."
"Lonely? You were lonely?"
"Yes. I wanted to talk with you."
"You wanted to…" She broke out the tissues again. "Good lord!"
"You are pretty and I wanted to talk with you."
"Pretty! Stop it! I am not pretty!" She glared at me through her goggles.
"I think you are very pretty. I…"
"Stop it! People are not supposed to say that!" She tore off her glasses, dabbing at her eyes with the tissue.
"I say it. I am lonely. You are pretty. I say greetings. I am sorry my Trib is very bad." I sighed, and looked out at the view.
"Do you think you can just come out of nowhere and…" She jammed her glasses back on.
"May I hold your hand?"
"What?"
I gently touched her palm with mine, and folded my fingers over her hand. She looked into my eyes with unconcealed amazement. And I thought, I am holding hands with a girl who lived and died thousands of years ago. I'm romancing a ghost. Only she's not a ghost, she's real, a real live person, and I am an intruder—an alien. I'm the ghost.
She made no effort to pull her hand away. She just continued to stare at me, seemingly in fascination. And I vowed, to myself, that I was not going to hurt Millie S-Fam. I would use her to get what I needed, if I could, but I was not going to hurt her.
We stood there, hand in hand, for some time, not saying a word. Then I gently guided her back to the railing.
"Where do you live?" I asked her.
"Over there," she pointed it out, "in the S-Fams."
"What is an S-Fam?"
"It means I don't have a family. It's a home for orphans."
"What happened to your family?"
"My mother and father died when I was very young. Lakeside takes care of me. I will study to be a nurse, to repay the community—to help people."
"I am also alone," I said.
"Are you still in midschool?"
"No."
"What do you do?"
"Nothing. I will…decide."
"Everyone must do something."
"A policeman. I will be a policeman. To help people."
"Yes." She gaped at me again, through those awful goggles. "You would be a good policeman."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
She blushed scarlet, shaking her head. "You are so direct! Is everyone from Peta Jaya so direct?"
"I am alone. I walk my road. If I want, I ask."
"We are not so direct in Lakeside. People do not say what they think."
"I say what I think."
"You frighten me, West-One Outfam. What is it you want from me?"
I backed away from her, slowly. "I want to be your friend, Millie S-Fam. Sorry. Sorry you are…afraid. I leave. I thank you. I am pleased to meet you. Farewell."
I gave her a little bow, and headed for the elevator.
"Wait. Wait! Don't go!" She was stricken, ripping her tissue to shreds. "Oh…don't go!"
I smiled, and returned. "I stay," I said. "Do not fear me, Millie S-Fam."
"You are so direct! I am not used to it!"
"You do not have a boyfriend?"
"No. No…I have no one."
"You do. You do have someone. West One Outfam, at your service. I am your sword and your shield. No one will hurt you with me at your side." It was a phrase the probes had picked up in Peta Jaya, and I had memorized it.
Applause. A little crowd had gathered around us to witness the drama. They clapped and smiled. Millie blushed scarlet again, snatched at my arm and pulled me towards the elevator. I could see her eyes were again filling with tears. She was a very emotional girl.
***
The library had everything I needed—a desk, paper, pen. My needs were simple. Jason projected the design onto the paper, and I traced it with the pen. The problem was I needed money. A Holo-X is only an artificial image, even though it looks and feels very real. I couldn't carry anything real with me, like gold. And if anything artificial became separated from my image it would disappear once it was out of range. We had already decided we were not going to do anything to attract the attention of the authorities, so armed robbery was out. All I had was knowledge—but we figured that was enough.
When I was through, I tried one of the library vidphones in a soundproof booth, and slipped Rex's comcard into the slot. He answered immediately, peering down at the screen from above. It looked like a handcom set. There was a swirl of movement around him in a darkened room, with music in the background.
"Yeah?"
"Rex—I am West One Outfam. Do you remember me?"
"West One—well I'll be…how ya doin', buddy?" A female form slid in front of the screen and dropped out of view with a giggle. "Watch it, honey. Westo! What's doin'?"
"I wish to meet you. I have something for you."
"Something for me? You want to meet? Well, where are ya, buddy?"
"I am at the library."
"This is my new buddy from Peta Jaya," he explained to someone. "You'll love him. Well sure, Westo, you hang there at the library steps and I'll come and get you, how's that?"
"I thank you!"
***
The yellow E-car pulled up to the curb blasting music, the top still down, revealing Rex Two Lammafam in all his glory, blond locks flowing in the breeze, one girl sitting to his left, two more in back. The door slid open and I hopped into the vacant seat up front.
"Westo! Buddy! Great to see ya!" We struck palms. "Lala, Stana, Titi, this is Westo. Lala's taken, Westo; Stana and Titi are up for grabs."
"Pleased to meet you," I smiled to the girls as we took off, gliding smoothly along Park Road. The orange sun was going down, and the lake glowed like lava. It was really beautiful.
"I must talk with you," I said urgently to Rex.
"Sure, we're heading for my crash pad—Lala's place, actually. We can hoist a few and talk there."
"Good."
"You're really yummy," Titi said to me dreamily. "Where have you been hiding all my life?"
"Ah…Peta Jaya," I replied carefully.
Rex laughed. "Take your time, Titi. He's still learning the language."
***
Rex looked the diagram over carefully. We were at the kitchen table in Lala's little cube, and the girls had been cleared out of the room.
"Where did you get this?" Rex asked.
"I wrote it. It is my design. It is a magnetic lock. It is very strong. It cannot be opened, unless you use the key card. If not, you must disassemble the lock. But with the master code, you can change the number code whenever you want. Every day, if you want."
"Why are you showing this to me?"
"You are a locksmith. I told you. I met a girl, but I have no money. I want to take her to dinner. I need money. So I will sell this design to you."
"But I must check with my guildmaster first. We have to build it, we have to test it, to see if it works. Then we'll know how much it's worth."
"I need money now. You give me a small advance. You check the desig
n later. You pay the rest when you see it works. If it does not work, I give you back the advance. But it will work." I was reading it word for word from the text that was dancing before my eyes.
"But if this works—I've never seen anything like this. It could be worth a lot!"
"I only need enough now to take a girl to dinner at a nice place. How much would that be?"
"Well…maybe fifty credits. At a really nice place."
"Give me a hundred credits advance. I sell the design to you. You decide the price and pay me later."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"This must be some bunny!"
"Yes."
"Are you a locksmith?"
"I am an inventor. Will you give me an advance?"
"Yes. Yeah, sure, buddy, hell, I can spare a hundred credits from the till. Well, this sure is a surprise. I mean, I know something about locks. This design is brilliant! It sure looks like it would work. You're something. Hold on—here's a hundred." He handed me a credit card. "Must be some bunny! Titi's going to be disappointed. She was all set to take a big bite out of you."
"I thank you. We are friends!"
"How do I get ahold of you, buddy?"
"Leave a message at the library reading room. I will check it every day."
"You didn't touch your brew."
"Next time. Thanks! I must see my girl!" I was on my way out the door.
"I'd like to meet her sometime!"
"Yes—can! Goodbye!"
***
The place Millie took me was quite nice—an open-air snack bar, on a pier jutting into the lake. It was a cool night, the clear sky was full of alien stars and the city was a magical wonderland of soft lights reflected in the lake. The pier was decorated festively and the tables were full of young people. I had wanted to take her out to an expensive place. I had suggested a restaurant I had seen on the top of Memorial Tower, but she said it was too expensive. I had never actually taken a girl to an expensive restaurant, not even when I had been young and desperate, but I knew you were supposed to do it because Tara had once complained that I never took her to anyplace nice. When I had finally tried to do so, Tara had said my choice was too expensive, and she had taken me to a snack bar. And here we were again. It looked like things had not changed much, over the ages.
"You're not eating!" Millie objected.
"Ah…I am not hungry. I am happy…to look at you." Eating was a problem for a Holo-X. The holo would vaporize food or drink, but there was a limit to how much it could take before a wet little puddle appeared at your feet. Taking a girl to dinner was not the top of the line recommended recreational activity for a Holo-X, but I knew if you were going to romance a girl you had to take her to dinner. Tara had told me so.
"Stop it! You're flattering me again. Why would you want to look at me?"
"You are beautiful."
"Oh stop it! I am not!" She blushed again, but smiled in delight. She actually did look lovely. She was wearing a short sleeveless black dress that emphasized her slim arms, long legs, and shapely firm breasts. Her short dark hair was soft and full. It didn't look as ragged as before. I reached over and gently removed her glasses. She blinked. Fine, delicate facial features. Dark liquid eyes, soft full lips. Couldn't she see her own beauty? She was lovely. All girls were lovely. They were angels, fallen from above, gifts from the Gods for brutes like us, shuffling through the dark.
"I can't see."
"You should not say you are not beautiful. You are beautiful. I say so."
"I'm Millie the Mole. I'm nobody. Everyone says that."
"Then they are fools! Here—take these glasses back. When you get home, look at yourself in the mirror. Really look! There is an angel in there! How can you be so foolish, to believe those fools!" I was getting angry. She was lovely, and she couldn't see it!
"You are the strangest person I have ever met."
"Believe in yourself, Millie S-Fam! Stand up and hit the world right in the face!"
"You make it sound so easy."
"You are a princess!"
"Stop it. You're the good-looking one. My room-mates are seething with jealousy. They saw you out the window, when you were waiting under the streetlight for me to come out. They couldn't believe Millie the Mole finally had a date—and they almost fell down when they saw you!"
"They are not important."
"I told them how you destroyed Mega and Jocko. They had so many questions!"
"Do not answer them. You and I…one and one." I touched her hand. She gazed at me wordlessly. I wasn't acting. Millie S-Fam—good Lord! So long ago, impossibly long ago! I could almost feel her heartbeat. How many billions of poor, lonely Millie S-Fams had lived and died since then, crippled by their own imagined shortcomings? I wanted to rip the veil from her eyes, I wanted to worship her like a Goddess, I wanted to peel that little black dress off and cover her lovely flesh with hot kisses—but I didn't. I held back, sitting there in the cool night across from her, watching her smile. What had Tara said, before the Odura mission? Every moment's delay costs a human life. Well—maybe so. But that was God's affair. My only concern was to discover how the people on this world had whipped the White Death. If I could do that, we'd counter it too, and all the dying would stop. Millions—maybe billions—would breathe free again—and the Legion would have done it. I would have done it. But I was going to do it right. Millie S-Fam was going to help me, if she could, but it was not going to be tonight. Tonight belonged to Millie, and I was going to let nothing at all spoil it.
The bill was only 12 credits. It had been a vegetarian meal—some kind of wheat and tuber mixture. The natives had given up on meat. I don't eat animals, either. I get all the energy I need from Legion rats.
We strolled through the park along the shore and found a bench, looking out over the lake, a shimmering black lagoon shot through with liquid lights. It was quiet—not like we were even in a city. Quiet and peaceful and calm, under a velvet sky full of brilliant stars. We could hear children laughing faintly, and a hushed murmur of conversation.
"West Lake," Millie said. "They call it the lover's lake. But I've never been here with a boy. I've never had a boyfriend, did I tell you that? It's funny, I feel I can tell you anything. Nobody wanted to go out with Millie the Mole. Everyone laughs at me in school. They say I'm a bookworm. You know, I decided it doesn't matter. I decided I'm going to be a nurse. I'm going to heal the sick. That's what I'm going to do with my life. Nobody can criticize me for that. And if they do, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all."
I removed her glasses, again, and cupped her face in my hands and kissed her, gently. And then harder, as she responded, eagerly. We kissed like a couple of school kids just discovering each other, and soon hot tears were streaming down her cheeks and her nails were digging into my back. The Holo-X is truly remarkable, I'll say that. I could feel her heartbeat pounding against my chest, I could almost taste those salty tears and feel my tongue thrusting into her hot wet mouth. She was switching me on and I suddenly realized she had died a hundred thousand years ago, but I decided it didn't matter. It didn't matter at all.
***
We said goodnight outside her cube bloc. I did not want to go in because she said you had to register, so we said goodnight outside. One last kiss. I felt like a school kid again, lost in the wonder of a first love. Her neck was covered with love bites. Hers didn't register on my holo neck. She seemed giddy with love, trembling with emotion. So was I. I just hid it better.
"Call me!"
"Tomorrow!"
"Love you!"
I raised a hand. She went inside. I turned away.
Chapter 12
Superboy
When the image cracked off in the ES chamber and the door snapped open, I staggered out and collapsed into an airchair. Apples handed me a glass of ice water and I downed it in one gulp as she hooked me up to the medprobe. Jason came over as soon as he had shut down the system.
"You'd better get so
me sleep," he said.
"Yeah. Busy day tomorrow."
"You should be ashamed of yourself," Apples grinned, "taking advantage of that poor girl. 'I am lonely. You are pretty.' Ha! You haven't done this in awhile, have you?"
"I don't know. I kind of enjoyed it."
"You're fine," Apples said, unhooking the medprobe. "Get some rest."
"Tenners." She bustled away to make her report to the lab.
I sprawled in the chair, exhausted. Jason glided over in his airchair and sat there, watching me.
"What do you think of her?" he asked.
"She's a nurse. She should know something about the plague—or be able to find out."
"Yes. I suppose so."
"I didn't want to hit her with it the first day."
"No. Of course not."
"I'll ask her tomorrow."
"Good."
"I think she'll be a good source."
Jason nodded. He kept looking at me.
"So what do you think of her?" he asked again.
"She's a very nice person."
"Kind of…isolated."
"Unhappy. Obviously."
"She seems a lot happier now," he said.
"Yes. Well…yes."
"We're kind of…playing with her."
"Yes. I guess. Well, these things happen. I mean, there she was. She was the obvious target."
"Her feelings…are certainly of no consequence, considering the importance of the mission."
"Yes. Certainly. You're right," I said.
"But there's no reason to hurt her."
"No. I'm not going to hurt her."
"Promise. All right? I don't know why—but I feel kind of bad about this. She seems so—nice. And trusting."
"I feel the same way. Don't worry. We'll treat her right."
"All right. Good. Well—you'd better get some sleep. I'll prep the report."
"Keep it short and simple, all right?"
"Sure. The less you tell these people, the less they'll interfere—I know that."
***
"Want a lick?" Millie held out her iced fruit cone for me. I took a lick. It was faintly sour, according to the readout. We were hand in hand, strolling through the botanical gardens, totally relaxed. She was in shorts and a sleeveless top, her hair decorated with flowers. I had a new smock on. It was a lovely day, sharp hot sunlight, a cool breeze, an alien jungle of luxuriant trees whispering all around us, overhanging a walking trail running through endless flower beds. The Botanical Gardens was on the western outskirts of town. We had taken a public airbus. There were not too many visitors in the gardens. We practically had the place to ourselves.
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