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had disappeared.
And Gaziel
Telzey watched a girl in a gray business suit come into the lounge, sent out a
light thought to her.
Over here!
Acknowledgment returned as lightly. The girl came up to the table, sat down
across from Telzey.
You re taller than I am now, aren t you? Telzey said.
Gaziel smiled. By about half an inch.
Taller, more slender. The hollows under the cheekbones were more pronounced.
There d been a shift in the voice tones.
They tell me I ll go on changing for about a year before I m the way I want
to be, Gaziel said. There ll still be a good deal of similarity between us
then, but no one would think I m your twin. She regarded Telzey soberly. I
thought I didn t really want to see you again before I left. Now I m glad I
asked you to meet me here.
So am I, Telzey said.
I ve become the sort of psi you are, said Gaziel. Ti guessed right about
that. She smiled briefly. Some of it s surprised the Service a little.
I knew it before we left the island, Telzey said. You had everything I had.
It just hadn t come awake.
Why didn t you tell me?
I didn t dare do anything about you myself. I just got you to the Service as
quickly as I could.
Gaziel nodded slowly. I was on the edge then, wasn t I? I remember it. Have
they told you how I ve been doing?
No. They wouldn t. They said that if you wanted me to know, you d tell me.
I see. Gaziel was silent a moment. Well, I want you to know. I hated you
for a while. It wasn t reasonable, but
I felt you were really the horrid changeling who d pushed me out of my life,
away from my family and friends. That was even after they d taken the puppet
contacts out of my head. I could think of explanations why Ti had planted them
there, in the real Telzey. She smiled. We re quite ingenious, aren t we?
Yes, we are, Telzey said.
I got past that finally. I knew I wasn t Telzey and never had been. I was
Gaziel, product of Wakote Ti s last and most advanced experiment. Then, for a
while again, I was tempted. By that offer. I could become Gaziel Amberdon,
Telzey s identical twin, newly arrived on Orado step into a ready-made family,
a ready-made life, a ready-made lie. Everything really could be quite simple
for me. That was a cruel offer you made me, Telzey.
Yes, it was cruel, Telzey said. You had to have a chance to see if it was
what you wanted.
You knew I wouldn t want it?
I knew, all right. You d have stayed a copy then, even if no one else guessed
it.
Gaziel nodded. I m thanking you for the offer now. It did help me decide to
become Gaziel who ll be herself and nobody s copy.
I d like to think, Telzey told her, that this isn t the last time we ll be
meeting.
When I m free of the Telzey pattern and have my own pattern all the way, I ll
want to meet you again, Gaziel said. I ll look you up. She regarded Telzey
a moment, smiled. In three or four years, I think.
What will you be doing?
I ll work for the Service a while. Not indefinitely. After that, I ll see.
Did you know I was one of Ti s heirs?
One of his heirs?
He isn t dead, of course. I drew my inheritance in advance. I used your legal
schooling and found I could make out a rather strong case for paternal
responsibility on Ti s part toward me. It was quite a lot of money, but he
didn t
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argue much about it. I think I frighten him now. He s in a nervous condition
anyway.
What about? Telzey said.
Well, that Martri computer he had installed on the island is supposedly
deactivated. The Service feels it s a bit too advanced for any general use at
present. But Ti complains that Challis still comes around now and then. I
wouldn t know nobody else has run into her so far. It seems he arranged for
the fatal accident the original Challis had. . . . Gaziel glanced at her
watch, stood up. Time to go aboard. Good-bye, Telzey!
Good-bye, Telzey said. She looked after Gaziel as she turned away. Klayung,
who wouldn t discuss Gaziel otherwise, had said thoughtfully, By the time
she s through with herself, she ll be a remarkably formidable human being
Gaziel checked suddenly, looked back. Poor old Ti! she said, laughing. He
didn t really have much of a chance, did he?
Not against the two of us, Telzey said. Whatever he tried, we d have got
him one way or another.
THE SYMBIOTES
1
Trigger had been shopping at Wehall s that morning, winding up with lunch on
one of the store s terrace restaurants.
She had finished, and was leaning back in her chair contemplatively when a
tiny agitated-sounding voice spoke to her.
Good lady, it said, you have a kind face! I m a helpless fugitive and an
enemy is looking for me. Would you let me hide in your handbag until he goes
away?
The words seemed to have come from the surface of the table. Someone s idea of
a joke . . . Trigger looked casually around, expecting to discover an
acquaintance. People sat at tables here and there about the terrace, but no
one was at all near her. And she saw no one she knew.
Good lady, please! There isn t much time!
She shrugged. Why not go along with the humorist?
Where are you? she asked, in a conspiratorially low tone. I don t see you.
Between the large blue utensil and the smaller white one. I don t dare show
myself. The abominable Blethro wasn t far behind me!
Trigger glanced at the blue pitcher on the table, moved it a few inches back
from a square white sandwich warmer. Her eyes widened briefly. Then she
laughed.
One of Wehall s advertising stunts! A manikin, a miniature male figure,
crouched beside the pitcher. Straightened up, it might have reached a height
of eight inches. The features were exquisitely mobile and lifelike. Blue eyes
looked imploringly at her. It wore a velvety purple costume the finery of an
earlier century.
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