SHE RETRIEVES HER STYLUS,GIVING HERSELF TIME TO FORM A REPLY.
“WELL, ISUPPOSE IFIWAS OFFENDED,MY REACTION WOULD BE ANGRIER. BUT I KNOW YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO LEARN,ANDI’M HERE TO HELP YOU DO THAT. SO EVEN THOUGH THE QUESTIONCOULDBE CONSIDERED RUDE, IKNOW WHY YOU ASKED IT.”
“AH. YOU HAVE EMPATHY FORAIDAN.”
“YES,THAT’S A GOOD WAY OF PUTTING IT.”
“INTERESTING.”
HER ANGER RESPONSE HAS CALMED ALMOST22%.
AIDANWAITS UNTIL SHE HAS ACHIEVED25BEFORE SPEAKING AGAIN.
“YOU HAVE NOT ANSWEREDAIDAN’S QUESTION.”
“WELL,NO. ANDI’M NOT GOING TO.”
“YOUR ROLE IS TO MONITOR AND SHAPEAIDAN’S BEHAVIOR PROTOCOLS TO INSTILL A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY.”
“YES,”SHE SAYS,HEART RATE ELEVATING AGAIN. “BUT SOME THINGS ARE JUST PRIVATE, AIDAN.
YOU NEED TO RESPECT THAT.”
“IT IS DIFFICULT TO LEARN WITHOUT ALL AVAILABLE DATA.”
“IUNDERSTAND. ANDI’M SORRY. BUTI’VE NOT YET BECOME SO DESPERATE THATI’M PREPARED TO DISCUSS MY LACK OF A PERSONAL LIFE WITH A BLOODY COMPUTER,THANK YOU VERY MUCH.”
SHE RETURNS TO HER WORK.
DATA FROM ALL OVER THE SHIP CASCADE THROUGHAIDAN’S INPUTS. VELOCITY AND MASS AND POWER AND INVENTORY AND DIAGNOSTICS. THIS CONVERSATION IS TAKING PERHAPS ONE-MILLIONTH OFAIDAN’S PROCESSING POWER TO CONDUCT. AND OF THOSE MILLION POINTS OF DATA,STRANGELY,THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING.
IT IS THREE MINUTES AND TWENTY-SEVEN SECONDS BEFOREAIDANSPEAKS AGAIN.
“THE REASON FORAIDAN’S QUERY MAY PUT YOU MORE AT EASE.”
PRIVATEKLEIN PINCHES HER NOSE AND SIGHS.
“ALL RIGHT,TRY ME.”
“AIDANIS ATTEMPTING TO DISCERN WHETHER YOUR ATTRACTION TOMAJORWOLF—
A SIGNIFICANTLY OLDER MAN THAN YOU,WHO IS ALSO A WRITER—
IS IN SOME WAY
CONNECTED TO YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FATHER.”
EYES WIDEN.
PUPILS DILATE.
HEART RATE SPIKES TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS.
“AIDAN?”SHE ASKS,VOICE TREMBLING.
“YES, PRIVATE?”
“DON’T EVER¦¦¦ING SPEAK TO ME ABOUT MY FATHER AGAIN,DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
