Chapter 7
SIX LAY IN bed talking to Diva. They had got into the habit now of speaking to each other for ten minutes or so before they went to sleep, each in their respective bubble. Under the cover of the top blanket of orthogel they were able to push down on the surface of the bed without the movement being seen from any possible cameras. Six thought it was unlikely Atheron would invigilate them when they were supposedly sleeping, but he wasn’t going to take any chances either.
It was amazing how fast they were able to communicate with each other. Their fingers flashed as the spelled out the words, gradually using a shorthand to make the conversation even quicker.
“How are the classes with Atheron?” signed Diva.
“He puts on that patient, long-suffering face, and I want to kick his virtual teeth down his virtual throat.”
“Virtually impossible!”
“Ha! I fell on the D2 square the other day. Atheron was most displeased. No commontime for two months.”
“I failed relativity basics. No commontime for three months.”
“That false smile of his makes me want to puke!”
“Know just what you mean. If he had been one of my father’s subjects we would have had him set in a wall.”
“Set in a wall?”
“Common people who break the law are set into special rexelene blocks which are transparent. Then we use the blocks to build museums, and charge people to look at all the dead criminals.”
“And I thought Kwaide was diabolic! Even they haven’t thought of charging to look at dead people. Yet.”
“Very profitable.”
“I can imagine. Bit gruesome though, don’t you think?”
“It’s a good deterrent.”
Six shivered. “I can see it would be. It sure deters me from going to Coriolis!”
“It’s only for common people.”
“You can’t get much more common than me!”
“Very true. Never mind, no-name, if we ever go to Coriolis I will make sure they don’t set you into a rexelene block.”
“How generous! It doesn’t seem very likely we ever will.”
“No, … I wish,” Diva admitted. It was the closest she had ever come to showing debility.
“Homesick?” he asked.
“Certainly not,” she signed back. “That would be weak.”
“And you never show weakness.”
“Only ordinary people show weakness.”
“Like me?”
“Exactly. Though now I come to think about it, you don’t show weakness either.”
“Is that a compliment from the great Diva?”
“I suppose it is.”
“I am flattered.”
“Don’t be, I didn’t mean it.”
“Goodnight, Diva.”
“Goodnight.”
THE FOLLOWING MORNING Six found himself facing Atheron again for another long school day. He had made up his mind to become proactive in his education. He was going to slant things towards the subjects he thought might be useful to him, as far as he could. It was one way to make sure he was ready when the opportunity came.
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Valhai (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 1)
Science FictionAt four, Six had been thrown out to fend for himself in the uninhabitable zone. Ten years later he is doped and shipped off to another planet as an apprentice. He is inclined to think that things couldn't get much worse, but that was before he was...
