Neptune Crossing

  *

  /I think I want a beer,/ he said, working his way toward the rec lounge.

  The quarx was silent for a moment, before saying,

  /// I find I have some pharmacological data

  in my memory.

  I’m not sure that it would be a good idea,

  with that medication you’re on. ///

  Bandicut frowned. /Can’t you just take care of any side effects?/

  /// I’m not a miracle worker.

  I’m just an alien. ///

  /Ha ha./ Bandicut chuckled, then realized that the quarx had not meant the statement as a joke. /Well, okay—if not a beer—what, then?/

  /// Well . . . at some point,

  I’d like to see that game again.

  EineySteiney pool. ///

  /All right./

  /// But first,

  how about taking me to the place

  where my predecessor . . . ///

  /Yes?/

  /// . . . linked you in. ///

  Bandicut smiled and hobbled a little more quickly down the corridor.

   Chapter 15 

  Datafry

  SETTLING INTO A booth just off the lounge, Bandicut put on the headset and waited for the quarx to begin. /Well?/

  Charlie hesitated.

  /// Actually,

  I don’t seem to remember how he did it.

  Do you? ///

  /Me? Hell, no. I didn’t understand it when he was doing it./

  /// Well, did he say anything about

  how he did it? ///

  Bandicut thought back. /He said he was . . . altering the neural matrix of my brain. He said it was something like the way he talked to me . . . directly in my brain./

  /// Ah. ///

  /Does that help?/

  /// I’m not sure. ///

  He felt the quarx scrabbling in his mind, trying to fit together fragments of memory.

  /// Wait, here’s something.

  Not a direct memory, but a hint.

  Altering the matrix—?

  Wait . . . I think I’ve got it. ///

  Bandicut stared at the console, imagining the quarx’s face peering back at him.

  /// May I try? ///

  /Go ahead. You have the con./

  /// Stand by . . . ///

  He nodded and closed his eyes. Nothing happened, and he was about to question the quarx, when he was startled by an eruption of sparks in his closed eyes.

  >

     >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

         >>

              >>>>

         >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>——>>>>>>

         >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>——>>>>>>

         >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>——>>>>>>

             >>

         >>>>>>

     >>>

  >

  ——>>>>———

  >

  He shuddered at the jarring entry.

  A burst of fireworks expanded in his vision, then crystallized into a network, which hung against the darkness for a heartstopping instant. Then it melted and drained like rivulets of glowing water toward him, into his vision, his eyes, his brain, his consciousness . . .