Chapter 11 chapter eight

"Dee! How the hell are you?" He took her hand and pulled her from the top of the newly surfaced cockpit assembly onto the wooden pier.He put his arms around her. "Nice to see you again!" he laughed.Sima patted his waist and found that she was reluctant to hug him back.He doesn't seem to be paying attention. He let her go and looked down at the droid emerging from the cockpit assembly. "And Scarfin-Amtisko! They still haven't found someone to guard you?" "Hello, Zarqawi," the robot said. He put his hands on Sima's waist. "Come to the cottage; we'll go to lunch."

"Good," she said. They walked along the small wooden pier to a stone path paved with sand, and stepped into the shade of the trees.The trees were blue or purple; huge, dark, swollen ends rising against a pale blue sky, swayed by warm, intermittent breezes.From their silvery trunks exude a sweet sap.Once or twice the robot flew to treetop level, while others passed under the tree. Men and women crossed sunlit avenues among the trees until they reached a broad pool, gleaming with the reflections of a dozen white cottages; a small, streamlined seaplane floated beside a wooden jetty.They entered a row of buildings and climbed steps to a balcony overlooking a pool, and a narrow waterway leading to the lagoon at the other end of the island.

The sun moves between the treetops; the shadows recede along the balcony until it falls on a small table and two hammocks. He motioned for Sima to sit in the first hammock; a female waiter appeared, and he ordered lunch for them.After the waiter left, Skaven-Amtisko floated down and stopped on the railing of the balcony, looking down at the pool.Smart moved herself carefully into the hammock. "Do you really own the island, Zarqawi?" "Uh..." He looked around, obviously not sure, then nodded. "Oh, yes; indeed it's mine." He kicked off his sandals and hopped into another hammock, rocking.He picked up a bottle on the ground and poured the drink into the two glasses on the small table while rocking the hammock with ease.He had to rock more when he was done pouring to pass her the drink.

"thanks." He sipped his drink and closed his eyes.She watched him hold the glass to his chest, watched the liquid wash this way and that, lifeless and brown with eyes.She turned her gaze to his face and saw that he hadn't changed; the hair was darker than she remembered, curled back in a ponytail from his broad, tanned forehead.In good shape as ever.Not older, of course, because they stabilized his age as part of the payment for the last mission. He slowly opened his eyes with heavy eyelids, turned his head back to look at her, and smiled slowly.That look looks older, she thought.But she could also be wrong.

"So," she said. "Do we still have to play games here, Zarqawi?" "What do you mean, Dee?" "I was sent to take you back. They want you to take on one more task. You should have guessed it, so tell me now if I'm wasting my time here. I'm not in the mood to argue with you..." "Xiao Di!" he shouted, Yulu was injured, turned his legs from the hammock to the ground, and then smiled persuasively: "Don't do that; of course you're not wasting time. I've already packed it." He looked at her like a happy child, his tanned face open and full of smiles.She looked at him with relief and disbelief.

"Then why do you take such a long way?" "What detour?" He said innocently, and sat back on the hammock again. "I have to come over and say goodbye to a close friend, that's all. But I'm ready to go. What's the plot?" Sima stared at him, mouth gaping.Then she turned to the robot. "Shall we go straight away?" "No," said Skaven-Amtiskov. "The Common Systems ship is coursed, and you can stay here for two hours before returning to the Xenophobe; it can rendezvous with the Civilian Application in about thirty hours." It turned around. Look at the man. "But we need definite answers. There's a one-megaton, twenty-eight-million-person General Systems ship headed here; it has to slow down if it wants to stay here, so it needs confirmation. You Do you really want to go? This afternoon?"

"Robot, I just told you." He leaned closer to Sima. "Again, what is the job content?" "Wolnhardt," she told him. "Tessodarion Beshar." His eyes sparkled and his teeth gleamed. "Old Tesodarion hasn't been buried yet? Well, it's a good thing to see him again." "You have to convince him to resume his duties." He waved to the air. "Easy," he said, taking a sip of his drink. Sima watched the other party drink his drink.She shook her head. "Don't you want to know why, Charedian?" He started with a pose, using one hand to represent the same gesture as the shrug, and then changed his mind. "Er; of course. Why, Desert?" he sighed.

"Wolnhardt is now dividing in two; those currently in the upper hand want a drastic terraforming policy..." "That's some kind of…" he hiccups. "A planetary redecoration, right?" Sima closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes. Kind of. Call it what you want, and to put it mildly, it's ecologically obtuse. These people—who call themselves humanists—also want to have absurdly large intelligent life powers that make They can take over any planet their military capabilities allow, even inhabited by intelligent races. A dozen small wars have broken out there. Any of them could lead to a major war, and humanists, to some extent, encourage These battles, for they apparently confirmed their view that the star clusters were so crowded that it was necessary to find new planetary habitats."

"Meanwhile," said Skaven-Amtiskov. "They utterly deny the intelligence of machines; they exploit computers with rudimentary consciousness, claiming that only objective human experience has intrinsic value. Carbon-based fascists." "I see," he nodded, looking very serious. "And you want old Beshar to control these humanists, don't you?" "Sharedion!" Sma scolded, and the force field of Scarfin-Amtisko also turned frosty. He looks hurt. "But they're called humanists!" "That's just their names, Zarqawi." "Names matter," he said, earnestly.

"That's just how they call themselves; that doesn't make them good people." "Okay." He grinned at Sma. "Sorry." He tried to put on a more serious look. "You want him to pull from the other side, like last time." "Yes," said Sma. "Okay. Sounds almost easy. No need to be a soldier?" "You don't have to be a soldier." "I would take it," he nodded. "Is that what I heard scratching the bottom of the barrel?" Skaven-Amtisko whispered. "Just send the signal," Smart told it.

"Okay," said the robot. "The signal is sent." It deliberately flashed a force field at the man. "But you better not change your mind." "Only the thought of being with you, Skaven-Amtiskau, could have prevented me from accompanying the lovely Miss Sma to Woernhardt." He glanced worriedly. woman. "You're coming too, aren't you?" Sima nodded.She took a sip of her drink while the waiter placed small plates on the table in the middle of the hammock. "That's it, Zarqawi?" she said after the waiter left again. "What's that, Desert?" He smiled over the glass. "You just go. In how long...five years? Build your empire, come up with a plan to make the planet a safer place, use our technology, try to do it our way...and you're ready to stand in front of this All gone, no matter how long it took? Damn, you said yes before you knew it was Woernhardt; you knew it could be on the other side of the galaxy; maybe even in a nebula. Maybe you said yes A four-year journey." He shrugged. "I like long sails." Sima looked at the man's face for a moment.He didn't look worried, just full of life.The adjectives that came to mind were vitality and energy.She felt vaguely disgusted. He shrugged and ate some fruit from a small plate. "Besides I arranged for a foundation to be set up. That will be taken care of until I get back." "If there's anything worth returning," Skaven-Amtisko observed. "Of course there will be," he said, spitting the seeds over the balcony wall. "These people like to talk about war, but they're not the suicidal type." "Oh, that's reassuring," said the robot, turning away. The man just smiles at it.He nodded at Sma's untouched plate. "Aren't you hungry, Desert?" "I lost my appetite," she said. He rolled out of the hammock, rubbing his hands at the same time. "Come on," he said. "Let's go swimming." She watched him try to catch fish in small rock pools; water-ski around in long trunks.She swims in her shorts. He bent over, concentrated, and looked into the water with a sincere face, his face reflected in the water.He seems to be talking to it. "You still look great, you know. Hope you're happy enough to hear that." She will dry herself. "I'm too old to be flattered, Zarqawi." "Nonsense," he laughed, water rippling under his mouth.He frowned hard, and slowly stretched his hand into the water. She watched the concentration on his face, the arms dipping deeper and more symmetrically in the water. He smiled again, eyes narrowed, hands steady; his arms now deep, and he licked his lips. He lunged forward, yelping with excitement, and lifted his hands out of the water toward the rocks where she was sitting; he grinned broadly.He held out his hand to show her.She looked over and saw a small fish, slightly shining blue, green, red, and gold, and a bright ripple rippled across the man's curled palm.She frowned and leaned back against the rock. "And now you put it back where you found it, Charedian, and in the same way." He slumped.She was about to say something more, but he grinned again and threw the fish back into the pool. "Tell it like I'm not going to do it." He came and sat on the rock beside her. She looks at the sea.The robot was further down the beach, ten meters behind them.She carefully smoothed the fine dark hairs on her forearms until they were smooth. "Why did you give everything to people, Zarqawi?" "Give our great leaders the elixir of eternal youth?" he shrugged. "It felt like a good idea at the time," he admits slightly. "I don't know; I thought that might be possible. I thought it might be easier for me to intervene than what you've done. I thought that as long as there was someone with a strong plan who wasn't interested in expanding his own power..." He Shrugging, he glanced at her. "It still might work. You never know." "Zarqawi, that won't work. You've made us a terrible mess." "Ah," he nodded. "So you'll take over too. Still thinking maybe you will." "In some form, I think we're going to have to take over." "good luck." "Good luck..." Sima said, but she decided to forget it.She ran one hand through her damp hair. "How much trouble have I caused this time, Desert?" "You said this?" "Yes, and the blade missile. Have you heard?" "I heard." She shook her head. "I don't think you've caused as much trouble as you used to, just being yourself, Charedian." he laughed. "I hate civilized...tolerance." "So," she said, pulling her blouse on. "What's your request?" "Good pay, eh?" He laughed. "Rejuvenation deducted...same as last time. Plus 10% negotiation fee." "Exactly the same?" She looked at him sadly, her water-stained hair hanging from her shaking head. He nods. "Exactly the same." "You are a fool, Zarqawi." "I'm working hard." "That won't make any difference." "You don't know." "I want to know." "And I can expect it. Look, Dee, this is my mission, and if you want me to go with you, you have to agree, okay?" "Ok." He looked worried. "Do you still know where she is?" Sima nodded. "Yes, we know." "So it's agreed?" She shrugged and looked out to the ocean. "Oh; that's yes. I just hope you're mistaken. I don't think you should go to her again." She looked him in the eyes. "This is my advice." He stood up, brushing some sand off his legs. "I will remember." They walked back to the still calm saltwater pool between the hut and the island.She sat against a wall and waited for him to say his final goodbyes.She listened for crying, or the sound of things being smashed, but in vain. The wind brushed her hair gently, and to her surprise she felt warm and comfortable despite all this; the smell of tall trees spread around her, and the wandering shadows made the ground seem to move with the breeze, the air, the trees Together, the earth swayed and swayed on the bright black water in the center of the island.She closed her eyes, and the sound came to her like a faithful pet, touching the tips of her ears; the rubbing of tree heads like the dance of weary lovers; the sound of the ocean, lapping among the rocks, caressing the golden sand; She didn't know what the sound was. Perhaps she will return to her dwelling below the Pale Dam soon. You're an asshole, Zarqawi, she thought.I could have stayed home; they could have sent a stand-in out...Damn, they might just have to send a robot and you'd still come over... He emerges radiant and clean, holding a jacket.A different waiter was carrying several pieces of luggage. "Okay, let's go," he said. They made their way to the pier, and the droid followed, staying in the air overhead. "By the way," she said. "Why add 10%?" He shrugged, and they stepped onto the wooden pier. "inflation." Sima frowned. "What's that?"

---

Notes: