Of course, they send me troublesome cases all the time.Of course, they send me troublesome cases all the time... People who don't understand really why they've come to Rhysh, or wanna-be's who need to be pushed too far the first time, so they'll call out and be sent back into the real world. When they told me who I was doing, I was more terrified than I had been in my entire life. "You see, you claim not to have made me. I am human, just a few changes here and there to make me... 'tougher.' But my father grew in a tank, Shardik, and so did my mother. You made them, and you made me. "When I was told who you were, I was concerned, because you were the one person I couldn't push too far, couldn't embarrass." "That's silly," I protested. "You know as much as I do how much I loved my time at Rhysh!" "But that's not the point. In the beginning, I didn't know. I didn't know just how... accepting you wanted to be. I worried about being villified by Vatare'. How did you put it once-- 'One wrong move'?" "You needn't have worried," I said. "Oh, I know that now," he replied. "But that didn't help then, when I was quaking inside my boots." "Well, I'm glad you got over it." "I'm pleased, too," he replied. "You were an admirable slave, Ken." "Were?" "Are, if you prefer. Although you put on the collar much less often in these times." "True, and thank you, Sir," I said, smiling. "Now then, shall we go find Ramsey Cougal?" We found him standing by a holograph workstation, busily examining the layout of an interlocking molecule I recognized as some sort of SAE. "Hello, Ramsey," I said. He turned to look at the voice addressing him. "Ken!" he said, straightening up. "And Borodir," he said, with even more pleasure in his voice. "Talk about making my day," he said, "It's been one bear of a day, and I thought I'd go find someone to spend the evening with. |