"You're showing signs of obsession," Fawn observed calmly."You're showing signs of obsession," Fawn observed calmly. "You mean, I've never shown signs of obsession before?" I asked, leaning back in the leather armchair that dominated my office. "Fawn, if we're right I'm going to spend most of eternity with plenty of company, but today is my thirtieth birthday and I haven't seen another human face in nearly four years. I'm lucky I haven't gone crazy." "Your dedication to your self-proclaimed project is impressive. I don't understand why you have a need now for company, and I don't understand why you want this particular woman." "One, because she's female. I would hardly get along so well with another man, Fawn. Two, because if the legends are right she has exactly the resources I need. And three, because I feel sorry for her. Is the last one okay with you, miss AI? Abused, battered, raped and abandoned... you think I'm not supposed to feel sorry for her? By the way, how's my ancient Greek?" Fawn paused. If she could sigh, I swear I would have heard one right then, but Fawn is relatively bereft of emotions. "Your Greek is fine. It had better be with the way I've been teaching you. I have the location you want in seven coordinates." "Thank you, Fawn." I turned the chair around and headed down to the hanger bay, where Fawn sat waiting in the Destiny. How she moved around like was beyond me; even more beyond me was why she moved at all. Just hook a data coupling to her and she was happy; why she drew no power was another of those things I had long ago decided not to question. She did what I wanted. Pendor! I could open up the skylights and watch it spinning, illuminated by the only star in this tiny, pocket universe. According to Fawn, this universe hadn't even existed until we came here; the introduction of four photons moving at odd angles to one another defined the new space. With the dumping of our G7 (previously G8) star here, the universe was now expanding as a sphere, at three hundred thousand kilometers every second. |