THE CATERPILLARS QUESTION

"So that she won't turn that gun on you?"

"That is not our concern. If the Imago were to desire our destruction, we would destroy ourselves. But we can not allow the Imago to be misdirected."

They had a point. "Okay. Survey me."

"Here." She led the way into the closest step-through panel.

Was it coincidence that they were right here, or could any chamher serve? He decided that the chambers were as interchangeable as the AI themselves were.

Then Candy was gone. Jack stood alone in what appeared to be a rocky desert. But the rocks were giant crystals, and the sand was confettl, and the sky was purple. Evidently the AI notion of an Earthly landscape.

Had your desire, what would it be?

"You mean, apart from Tappy's welfare?" he asked.

Without qualification.

"Well, first I'd see that Tappy was okay. In fact. I'd like to see her cured of everything that ails her. I want her to see again, and be happyDo not speak. Imagine.

Imagine? "Maybe I could paint it," he said. "If I had my paints."

Paint.

He pretended he had a brush, palette, and canvas set up on an easel. He touched his brush to blue, and made a sweep to paint the sky blue.

The blue appeared. He moved hig hand farther, and the blue spread accordingly. Then he let his hand drop and just pictured it-and abruptly the entire sky was blue instead of purple. "Like a computer painting program"' he exclaimed.

Clarify, your reference.

He ran through the mechanism of computer painting in his mind. There was agreement: this was somewhat like that.

Then he really got into it. He painted a picture of Tappy, not as she was now, but as she would be if he had his wish. She stood before him in a green dress with a yellow sash, her hair tied back with a matching yellow ribbon but nevertheless falling to her waist. Her face was without blemish; the scar was gone.

Her eyes focused on him. "Jack, I see you!" she exclaimed. "I'm happy!" She made a pirouette, her skirt flaring, showing her legs to the knees, no brace.

And for yourself."?

Jack was at a loss. He discovered that his original ambition of being a successful commercial painter had left him. That would require returning to Earth alone and rejoining its culture. "How can you send them back to the farm, after they've seen Paree?" he asked, repeating an imperfectly remembered quote. He had not seen the best of what the galactic society had to offer; in fact, he had seen mostly pursuit and oddity and ugliness. But behind it lay the amazing technology of the advanced cultures, and now all he wanted to do was know more of it. No, that wasn't all, but somehow he was unable to settle on the rest.

"I don't know," he said.

The chamber became ordinary again. Candy stood where she had been; apparently she had never left. "Thank you, Jack," she said.

He smiled ruefully. "I guess I washed out on that one! My mind just went blank."

"No, Jack, you provided us with the information we required.

We now trust you."

"But you didn't learn anything about me! I couldn't answer the simplest question about the nature of my ambition."

"You have no selfish motive."

"Sure I have selfish motives! I just wasn't able to define them.

I mean, there's so much here that I want to learn about, only I have no way, and I know I don't belong here, but I don't want to go back-what a mess!"

"Jack, if I had emotion, I believe I would like you." She took him by the elbow, guiding him from the chamber.

It opened immediately on the larger room where he had eaten -,with Tappy, but she was no longer there. He was suddenly nervous. "Tappy-where is she? You haven't isolated her while you were distracting me, have you? I tell you, all bets are off, if-"

"She will join you in a moment," Candy said. "Now we have Important material to impart. Which of us would you prefer to do this?"

"All of you!" he snapped. "Something's up; I know it. If you '-,-"t my cooperation, bring Tappy here now."

The other AI appeared, stepping together through the opaque panels around the room. Their clothing now fit perfectly. One man was unfamiliar; that would be Cole. "In a moment," they said in unison. "First we must acquaint you with the situation."

"Oh, for God's sake! I didn't mean it literally! Abe, you be the spokesman. The rest of you just settle back and twiddle your thumbs or something. What's going on?"

Abe stepped forward. The other five stepped back, putting their thumbs together. Jack's a

"The Gaol will isolate this retreat in as little as three days," Abe said.

"Three days! Candy said the Gaol were coming sooner than you expected, but three days? How did that happen'?"

"We surmise that they located this site in the globular cluster during a prior quest for the Imago, several centuries ago, and retained awareness of it. There are a limited number of suitable planets in such clusters. In this ma

"Extreme isn't exactly the word! You need seven years you were going to cram it in in one year, and now three days? I don't know much about how you operate, but that seems pretty chancy to me."

"You have understated the case , Abe said.

" Sometimes I do that, too. Or do you mean there is more I don't know?"

"Yes. We have treated Tappy in the ma

Jack felt an ugly thrill of apprehension. "All I said was to null that mental block that stops her from speaking English! You mean she can only speak some words?" He knew it was more than that.

'We also eliminated her physical deformities." Abe said. "She now has no weakness of limb, and should be able to see normally."

"You cured her blindness?" This was more than he had hoped for It is your desire," Abe said. "You wish her to see and speak and dance. When we made her aware of that, she acquiesced, and we proceeded."

"My survey! You told her what I imagined?"

"She wished to know. She had supposed that you might prefer her unchanged. Learning otherwise, she chose to change."

"Of course I want her to see!" Jack said. "I want everything that is best for her. But I didn't know it could be done. What's this about your not succeeding? What happened to her?"

"We eliminated her physical defects. But this does not appear to be sufficient. She can see and speak, but she does not. We suspect that despite her acquiescence to your will, she lacks motivation to do these things."

Jack thought about that. There had been a hint back on Earth that Tappy might be able to do more, but didn't try. He could understand that; her case had been hopeless. But she had come alive with him, in more than one sense. Now she should be eager to see everything, and to talk about it. What was holding her back?

"Once the Imago is ready," Jack said slowly, "what then? I mean, what does Tappy do?"

"She will serve the Imago implicitly, as do we."

"Will she have any time to herself.? Any social life? Will she get to read any books, or splash in the ocean, or sleep an hour late?"

"Such things are meaningless to the Imago."

"Well, then, I think I have a glimmering of what you don't. I can see why she might hesitate just to step into this role."

"Please explain this to us."

"Tappy wants to live!" he exclaimed. "She's not a robot! She's had so Iittle joy of life and now maybe she has a chance-and she'll have to throw it all away and get into harness as the Imago.

No chance at all to be a child or a girl, just to change from one kind of freak to another. No wonder she's afraid to move ahead! "