~ 2 ~
The encounter with Captain Santiago had shaken her enough that Lucie abandoned her plans to detour though Celestial before finding her hostel. She plugged into the local network and asked for directions to her hostel and walked there at a pace that left her breathless by the time she reached the modest bunk barn.
The placewasclean and the bunk pods seemed secure. Most of the pods she passed as she looked for hers were sealed. She couldn’t hear anything from inside them, which boded well for the privacy of hers.
She found her bunk and entered her biomarkers. The pod unsealed. It was no bigger than she had expected. The bunk took up most of the room. A shelf at the end of the bunk had a fixed screen over it. Under the shelf was a bomb-proof locker.
The pod didn’t have a screen emitter, which was fine. She could work with a fixed screen. Lucie tapped into the network once more.
The screen came to life. A friendly-looking man with shaggy coal-colored hair, a high forehead, and a square chin outlined by faint stubble, gave her a warm smile. “Hi, Lucie. I was expecting you to make contact today. I’m Barney.”
“Hi, Barney. Are you the city computer?”
“So the rumors tell me. I guess that means I’ve got everyone fooled.”
She blinked. “Um…well…”
“You’re here for three days, I can see,” Barney said. “You couldn’t get a direct connection, then? Sorry about that.”
“Why?”
“Being stuck on Charlton for three straight days... I’ve been trying to get out of here for fifty years.” He looked around, to check for eavesdroppers, even though his image was purely digital. “They get their claws into you, you know. Stay for a day, suddenly it’s a week, then a century has gone by.” One eye fluttered nearly closed.
Lucie pressed her fingertips to her lips to keep in her giggle. Sophisticated people didn’tgiggle.
“Um…Barney, are you sentient?” It was verging on rude to ask a computer that, but Lucie was too curious about Barney’s over-the-top personality to mind making a smallfaux pas.
“Oh, wouldn’tyoulike to know, darlin’?” He winked at her again.
“Serves me right for asking,” Lucie said.
“Areyousentient?” Baney shot back.
“Me?” She could feel her jaw sagging and caught it up. “Barney, I’m wearing a human body.”
“So?” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “I’ve met plenty of Varkans and humans that I’d have a hard time calling sentient.”
Astonishment rippled through her. “If you have to ask me, does that mean you think I’m as stupid as them?”
He crossed his arms. “Actually, I was wondering if someone as untouched and lovely as you could possibly be Varkan.”
Lucie pressed her lips together. “I’mtoohuman?”
“Varkan tend to emerge cynical,” Barney said. “All that experience as a computer, then the process of learning to feed themselves… Well, you know how it goes.”
“Is that why you’re still digital?” Lucie felt her jaw drop open at therudenessof her question. But it had just popped out.
Barney leaned back and laughed. “Serves me right for asking,” he added. “What can I do for you, Lucie Jelen?”
“I ran into Captain Santiago as I was coming off the ship, just now. He said I was on his ship for my next flight, the one to Nicia. Is that correct?”
Barney nodded. “Your itinerary indicates that the flight has been scheduled for theFortitudein three days’ time. That is Captain Santiago’s ship.”
“Are there other ships I could use, instead?”
Barney blinked. “To get to Nicia? Not on Thursday.”
Lucie sighed.
