Serpent's Gift (36 page)

"You know, this isn't just me helping you, Heather," Rob said. "I'm not a telepath. I couldn't do this by myself."

"Who's helping you?" she said suspiciously, fearing police. Authorities.

"There are friends taking care of you back at the school, making sure you don't get hurt--your body, I mean. And here, inside, there's someone with me.

Someone different. Someone you've never seen. Someone kind, but not human. Don't be afraid when you see this someone, okay?"

"You'll be there?"

"Right there." He squeezed her tight, made her feel secure.

"I won't be scared."

"Good."

Then they were on grids again, bumpy ones, but familiar.

"Almost home," he said.

Home?
she thought dazedly. "Do I have a home?" she muttered.

She was suddenly overwhelmed with sleepiness, felt her eyes Close without her volition, felt herself drifting away, safe in Rob's arms.

210

* * *

"Here she comes," said Ch'eng Hao as Heather's eyelids began to flutter.

Rob nodded, watching her face, seeing the eyes move back and forth as if in REM sleep. He was only partially aware of Ch'eng, of Janet, of the small bed on which he sat, even of the physical presence of the little girl he held snugly against him, with Doctor Blanket covering them both, linking them.

"Hold her tight, Dr. Gable," the nurse had told him. "And talk to her if you can.

You never know what they can sense when they're out like this."

Ch'eng had set up a brainwave scanner, attaching a small patch to Heather's forehead.

It had been hard, remembering to speak aloud even as Doctor Blanket took his mind on a dizzying descent into the depths of the computer brain. He'd seen so much, understood so little, until Blanket found Heather. A little spark of true intelligence amid all those dispassionate decision-making synapses.

She'd shone like a diamond chip almost buried in coal dust.

"Heather," he said, his voice sounding more like a croak, "can you hear me, honey?"

Doctor Blanket assured him.

"Heather, look at me. It's Dr. Rob."

Obediently, she opened her eyes, the lids fluttering weakly. She was still so pale that her freckles stood out in sharp relief even in the dim light. "Dr.

Rob?" she whispered.

He summoned a reassuring smile, then hugged her, and weakly she smiled back. She glanced around, trying to figure out where| she was, who was here. Her eyes met Ch'eng's and he grinne toothily at her. "Hey, little one!

Welcome back!"

She blinked acknowledgment, looked around some more. Janet leaning against the wall. The child stiffened slightly, looked back at Rob worriedly.

"Sshh," he murmured. "We'll talk about all that later, when you're feeling better. You need to sleep for a while, so I'm going to give you something so you'll sleep, peacefully."

"But what if I dream about those things?"

"Don't worry, Doctor Blanket will make sure you only have good dreams."

For the first time, she glanced at the fluffy white rectangle cloaking them both, seeing how it glowed in the darkness. Her eyes widened. Would she be terrified? Rob swallowed, ready to jump in with soothing reassurances.

211

The glistening cilia rippled, undulated like a miniature grainfield. The child stared in awe, reached out stubby fingers, touched the creature.

"Oh..." she breathed, "it was
you...
you and Rob... Oh, aren't you
beautiful!"

Rob felt his whole body sag in relief. Her voice was the voice of a child, even a younger child than her actual age. Gone was the brittle cynicism Heather had always exhibited, of someone pushed too hard, too fast, with knowledge that she'd stolen instead of learned.

"Heather, this is my friend, a very special friend, Doctor Blanket. Doctor Blanket is an Avernian, a neuter, not a male or female. So when we speak about this person, we use the Mizari pronoun 'seloz,' because it's not very nice to call someone as special as Doctor Blanket an 'it,' is it?"

"Seloz saved me?" she murmured.

"Yes. Seloz pulled you out of the computer. I just went along for the ride."

"Can he, I mean, seloz, see me?" she asked, wonder-struck.

"Sort of. Doctor Blanket certainly knows you're here. Seloz is really worried about you, Heather, so Doctor Blanket's going to stay with you while you rest, make sure you don't have any bad 'dreams, okay? And when you wake up, you, and me, and seloz are going to have a few talks. Understand?"

Heather's green eyes lifted to meet Rob's. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She nodded solemnly.

"Okay." Rob nodded to Ch'eng.

The nurse looked over his readouts and made an adjustment. Within moments Heather's eyelids dropped. Rob gently eased her back onto the bed. But just before she lapsed into deep sleep, Heather reached out and gently gathered
the
alien to her. The Avernian flowed, until seloz lay cuddled in her arms, exactly like a real child's security blanket.

Rob smiled. It was the first really childish thing he'd ever seen her do.

"Are you okay?" he asked the Avernian, speaking aloud because his mind felt drained. "She's not squashing you, is she?"

d
give her some pleasant, but restful, dreams.>

Rob got up, stretching, feeling all his bones and muscles creak. He bowed to Ch'eng, who only grinned and waved. Then he walked over to Janet.

212

The engineer was leaning against the wall, arms and ankles crossed. She cocked an eyebrow at him and asked,
"You
okay, good Dr.
Clarence?"

He started at the reference, then realized it was pure coincidence. She'd stopped in his quarters, and
It's a Wonderful Life
had been playing.

"I ain't up t'goin' ten rounds wit' you at the moment, shweethart," he warned her in his best Bogie imitation.

Janet's eyes never left the sleeping child. "Rob, do you have any idea what she
did?"
Her voice was even. Modulated. A good indicator of how tightly she was reining in her emotions.

"No one yet knows exactly
-what
she did," he countered.

"Oh, come on! I know Kkintha told you about the redheaded woman that predicted the crash. That program originated from here, from Heather.

You've got to know that. I know it. And pretty soon StarBridge Station Security's going to know it."

Rob shook his head. "I don't believe she had anything to do with the crash of the
Night Storm." A
sudden thought struck him. "Serge! Hing! Has there been any news?"

"They were trapped in an airlock for a while, but they're fine now. The hospital at the station is keeping them for observation. They asked me to transmit all the files on how Serge's hands work. Apparently they're going to have to do some repairs on them. But they have a Mizari healer with experience in microengineering up there, so she ought to be able to handle just about anything."

"That's the best news I've heard all day," Rob said, feeling relief so profound his knees sagged.

Janet was still looking at him. Rob sighed. "Janet. Not now. I can't take any more right at the moment. I told you, my gut reaction--and I was right about the toilet blowup, remember--is that
this
time, Heather is innocent."

Janet bit her lip. "I'd like to believe you, but..."

Rob "heard" Blanket's communication, as did the engineer. She started, but only for a second.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked the alien.

the Avernian paused, and Rob knew seloz was hunting for words to express seloz's thoughts. Discussing anything technical was very difficult for the alien.

213

None of them touched, or even came close, to that area the Mind knew as

'Traffic Control," either here at the school, or at the station. Heather did not cause the disaster today.>

Blanket hesitated again, searching for words.

Janet nodded. "That figures. Everyone and his brother are busy comparing the two systems, trying to find something, a difference maybe."

"A patched-on program?" Rob suggested. He hated talking computerese with Janet. In moments he'd be in over his head.

To his surprise, she didn't immediately shoot him down. "There are always patches, changes being made to programs," she muttered, thinking.

She frowned. "Okay, but that's down here. The program failed at the
station."

"Could the patch have been added on here," Rob asked, "but designed solely to affect traffic at the station, in the hopes no one would look over here?"

Janet mulled that over for a while. "Yeah. But that only makes
her
look worse." She nodded at Heather's still form. "If she was responsible, that's how she'd have to do it. From here."

Blanket sounded positive.

Janet still looked skeptical. The Blanket was a completely nontechnological creature. Rob knew Janet would have to question Seloz's judgment on this.

"With all due respect, Doctor Blanket,

214

you've said yourself the artificial intelligence is hard for you to fathom.. ."

"Maybe Heather's adult image got transmitted for a second, because of some kind of crossover?" Rob mused aloud. "A crossover with that patch?"

"If
there even
is
a patch," Janet said, sounding like she was at the end of her rope. "But in case there is, I'll have Security start trying to trace it. If it's as sealed as Blanket says, I'm not sanguine about them finding it, though."

She rubbed her forehead as though she could erase the troubles within.

"This is making me crazy. All I know for sure is that kid is
dangerous]
She can go mind-dancing with the AI, Rob! No one's ever done that, no one!

Having her here is like sitting on a bomb! What are we going to do? She's only
eleven.
What's she going to do to us when she's twelve? Fifteen?"

Rob put a hand on Janet's shoulder. "I know. It is frightening. But I was in her mind, and I saw how terrified she was. I can't believe she'd go back in the AI again voluntarily. She was scared almost literally
to death,
Janet. And with Doctor Blanket to keep tabs on her, she can't do anything without us finding out immediately! What else
can
we do?"

"Send her back to Earth," Janet said stubbornly.

"Sure ... to a system that won't understand her, has no
concept
of what her needs are, what her capabilities are? A system that was turning her-into a hardened criminal without even trying? No way, Janet. I won't do it. Heather needs to be right here, where we--especially Doctor Blanket--can watch her.

Sending her back to Earth would be as immoral an act as any committed by that monstrous uncle of hers who abused her. I won't do it!" Rob's voice rose in a ringing declaration.

Janet opened her mouth to argue, studied the expression on the doctor's face, then gave in with a shrug. She nodded bleakly and stared at Heather.

"Okay, okay. I hate it when you're right,
Clarence."

"That's
George
to you, shweethart," he shot back with a grin.

Janet watched Heather as Blanket lay silently with her, watched the rise and fall of her flat, childish chest.
"Pobrecita,"
she murmured, and left them there to care for her.

215