life, I wished I’d paid more attention in biology class. I must have passed out then; the only other thing I remember was waking briefly, with my head resting on a rock, and looking at the green water and listening to the birds sing and thinking how Eliza had been right: this really was a pretty peaceful place, and that was the most important thing after all.
II THE ARTIFACT
1
It felt as though I were floating. It was a warm, pleasant feeling. I opened my eyes briefly, but they were bleary and I couldn’t make out much, except that was I lying down in a dimly lighted room. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open, and I kept drifting back into sleep. I had no sense of time, and I couldn’t tell how many minutes or hours passed while I was asleep. As far as I knew, years could have been going by, but the way I felt, I hardly cared. Then I woke once, and I heard something. It sounded like a mumbling of somebody talking far away. I tried to make out the words, but couldn’t; it sounded like some foreign language, the whispered words running together, impossible to understand. I kept my eyes shut, and listened as hard as I could. After a while, the words started to get louder and more distinct, and I could recognize a word here and there.
“…I … thought… needed… for once….”
Slowly more words became clear, and a dialogue formed.
“…it’s utterly incredible. I simply cannot believe you could be capable to doing something so irresponsible. Exactly what was going through your mind? Can you tell me that, at least?”
“I had to be absolutely sure.”
“Oh, so sure you had to deactivate the air bags. No, I shouldn’t even mention that. I don’t want to give you the idea that I would think the entire thing is any less insane if you’d left the air bags alone. And before you conceived this master plan of yours, did you ever consider what would happen if you got hurt and he just left you?”
“I never for a second thought he would.”
“Well, if you were that sure, you hardly needed to test him. And what if he’d been the one to get knocked out? What then? How would you have felt if he drowned?”
“I just had to prove out fate.”
“Fate? Fate had nothing to do with it. You were lucky, plain and simple.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it. Some things you just know.”
“So, you’re sure, then?”
“Yeah, he’s the one. He’s perfect.”
There was a heavy sigh. “All right, what makes him so perfect?”
“Comes out of a weak family structure. Doesn’t feel he fits in with his family. Still has a suspicion he may be adopted, probably. Doesn’t have any friends-- not in the normal sense of the word. Has an inferiority complex when it comes to intelligence. But he has a flexible, open mind. Strong as a moose. Capable of great loyalty.”
“Hah! He’d have to be…. What about his actual intelligence?”
“I’d have to estimate him at about 120.”
“Hmmm. Smarter than he realizes, hunh?”
“See what I mean?”
“You know how important this is. What if you end up being wrong?”
“I’m not.”
“But what if…”
“ ‘What if’ doesn’t apply here.”
“You’re that certain.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not.”
“Look, you knew this day would come sooner or later.”
“Yeah, but I thought it would be
II THE ARTIFACT
1
It felt as though I were floating. It was a warm, pleasant feeling. I opened my eyes briefly, but they were bleary and I couldn’t make out much, except that was I lying down in a dimly lighted room. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open, and I kept drifting back into sleep. I had no sense of time, and I couldn’t tell how many minutes or hours passed while I was asleep. As far as I knew, years could have been going by, but the way I felt, I hardly cared. Then I woke once, and I heard something. It sounded like a mumbling of somebody talking far away. I tried to make out the words, but couldn’t; it sounded like some foreign language, the whispered words running together, impossible to understand. I kept my eyes shut, and listened as hard as I could. After a while, the words started to get louder and more distinct, and I could recognize a word here and there.
“…I … thought… needed… for once….”
Slowly more words became clear, and a dialogue formed.
“…it’s utterly incredible. I simply cannot believe you could be capable to doing something so irresponsible. Exactly what was going through your mind? Can you tell me that, at least?”
“I had to be absolutely sure.”
“Oh, so sure you had to deactivate the air bags. No, I shouldn’t even mention that. I don’t want to give you the idea that I would think the entire thing is any less insane if you’d left the air bags alone. And before you conceived this master plan of yours, did you ever consider what would happen if you got hurt and he just left you?”
“I never for a second thought he would.”
“Well, if you were that sure, you hardly needed to test him. And what if he’d been the one to get knocked out? What then? How would you have felt if he drowned?”
“I just had to prove out fate.”
“Fate? Fate had nothing to do with it. You were lucky, plain and simple.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it. Some things you just know.”
“So, you’re sure, then?”
“Yeah, he’s the one. He’s perfect.”
There was a heavy sigh. “All right, what makes him so perfect?”
“Comes out of a weak family structure. Doesn’t feel he fits in with his family. Still has a suspicion he may be adopted, probably. Doesn’t have any friends-- not in the normal sense of the word. Has an inferiority complex when it comes to intelligence. But he has a flexible, open mind. Strong as a moose. Capable of great loyalty.”
“Hah! He’d have to be…. What about his actual intelligence?”
“I’d have to estimate him at about 120.”
“Hmmm. Smarter than he realizes, hunh?”
“See what I mean?”
“You know how important this is. What if you end up being wrong?”
“I’m not.”
“But what if…”
“ ‘What if’ doesn’t apply here.”
“You’re that certain.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not.”
“Look, you knew this day would come sooner or later.”
“Yeah, but I thought it would be
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