Flinx in Flux (32 page)

“We’ll talk later, then.”

The four Ujurrians formed a circle around him and put their paws lightly on his hands. “Later,” they said in unison.

They turned and jumped into the hole in the middle of the floor. He heard their minds bidding him farewell, listened until the last had faded from his consciousness.

Several minutes passed. Then the ground heaved as if the building had been kicked from below. Rock and dirt oozed up into the pit. Flinx and Clarity raced for the stairs and stayed there, until the dust began to settle.

“Filled in the tunnel behind them,” he observed thoughtfully. “Good idea. You don’t want to leave something like that standing open for someone to fall into.” He turned to Clarity. “Now you’re going to ask me to take you with me wherever I’m going because you think you love me.”

“I don’t think it,” she told him. “I know that I love you.”

He shook his head slowly. “Sorry, but I think I’ve got it right. You think you love me. You’re intrigued by me, and you might even find me attractive. But you must see that you can’t come with me.”

His rejection made her flinch. “You still don’t trust me. That’s it, isn’t it? After what I did, I can’t blame you. But that’s all over and behind us now. I see you the way I first saw you, for what you really are.”

“Do you? That’s very interesting, because
I
don’t see me for what I really am. I spent a long time trying to find out who my parents were. That didn’t turn out so well. Maybe I’ll have better luck finding out who I am. But that’s not the reason you can’t come with me. I can’t take you along because I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. Isn’t it strange, but I find myself siding with old Vandervort, after all.

“There are things at stake here that make individual relationships pale into insignificance. I’m going to have to devote all my time to understanding them. That wouldn’t be fair to another person. Especially someone like you. I guarantee that after spending a few years moving incognito from world to world, studying obscure references in files, and accumulating arcane knowledge, you’d become deathly bored. I may myself, but I have no choice. I have to do it. You don’t.

“There are other worlds to visit, other challenging jobs in your own profession.”

“I don’t care about that anymore.” She was trying very hard not to cry, he saw.

“Maybe not right now you don’t, but you will. There are other men out there, most of them more mature than I. Probably better-looking, certainly less mentally burdened. You can be happy with one of them, or two, or three, or however many men you eventually choose to sample. Happier than you could ever be with me. I’m not prescient, but I think I can promise you that much.” He carefully wiped away the beginning tears.

“I think Scrap’s taken a permanent liking to you. He’ll be a good companion, and he’ll certainly help you weed out the better men from the rest.” He grinned. “The independent woman’s ideal accessory. Protection and affection all rolled up in one scaly little package. Goodbye, Scrap.”

He extended a finger toward the minidrag. Scrap could not understand the gesture, but he could feel the emotion of the moment. His pointed tongue flicked out several times to touch the warm human skin.

“We’re peculiar creatures, we humans. The builders of the alarm didn’t predict us. There’s a lot out there they didn’t foresee. Some of it I saw. I can’t tell you any more about it now because I don’t know any more than that myself. Evolution has a way of defeating the most advanced methods of predicting the future. In this case that may be for the better.” He turned to go up the stairs.

“Flinx, wait! You can’t just leave me like this. You can’t just leave me
here.”

He hesitated. “You’re right. You have no place to go, do you? No telling what kind of lies your ex-supervisor is going to spread about you as she tries to save her own skin from the Scarpanians. Let’s see—you know she sold out Coldstripe. I think the company’s backers would be interested in that information. Might even have a job for you somewhere else. You contact them and explain things, and I’ll bet they keep you safe from Vandervort. There are ways to check the truth of your statements—and hers.” Suddenly he sounded wistful.

“It’s all part of the game, isn’t it? Civilization. We spend our lives playing at it. I think what’s happened to me is that I’ve just graduated to the next level. Keep at your gengineering, Clarity, and maybe one day you’ll even be able to help me understand me better.”

He reached down to her, and she took his hand. Together they ascended the stairs.

“I’ll help in any way I can,” she told him when they reached the deserted outer office. “I’ll do whatever you recommend.”

“Whatever you do, do it for yourself, not for me.” He stood there, thinking to himself. “This warning system has been in place for more than a few years, and I think we have a little time at least before the threat it’s monitoring requires our undivided attention. In order to understand it properly, I first have to understand myself, and in order to understand myself, I need to learn about my own kind. I can’t promise you any kind of permanent relationship, but now that I think about it, I don’t see any reason why you can’t assist in my studies.” He hesitated. “That is, if you’re interested.”

She stared at him for a long time before shaking her head slowly. “Just when I think I’ve got you figured out, I have to dump everything I think I’ve learned and start in all over again.”

“If it’s that complicated for you, consider how frightening it must be for me,” he told her somberly.

Clarity was delighted by his change of heart and content to stay with him for as long as he would allow, but no matter how enjoyable their time together might be, she knew she would never be able to put that last thought out of her mind.

Commonwealth Chronology

(NOTE: Where “c” is used, the date given is approximate.)