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Claudi mused as they walked out of the alcove. Will Lopo have ? Her voice
caught. She had just seen something odd, a flicker in the gloom, off to the
right of where the aquaria softly bubbled. She squinted. What was that?
A voice like Baako s? Joe said, finishing her question for her. More or
less. It ll take him a little while to learn to speak. But yes, he ll be able
to talk with us.
Huh. Claudi blinked, thinking again of Lopo. She liked the idea of him
talking. She was sure he would be friendlier than Baako, and she said as much
to Joe and Sheki.
Probably, Joe agreed. But I think Baako was just out of sorts today.
Claudi nodded and tensed. There it was again a faint glimmer in the air! For
an instant, it had looked like a human face but larger than life. Now she saw
nothing. She suddenly felt a little nervous.
Hello
? she murmured, her voice trembling.
Joe glanced at her. Hello, what? Who are you talking to? Those are just fish
and plants over there.
I saw something, Claudi said. Like a face. Maybe it was a holo or
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something.
Joe scratched his head. Couldn t have been a holo. There aren t
any in here. It was probably just a reflection from the tanks. He
shrugged. Maybe you re like me. I m always seeing things when I walk
through here with the lights down.
Sheki was frowning. He edged a little closer to Claudi. I s-saw it, saw it,
too. A f-face.
The look of puzzlement deepened on Joe s face. Huh. Well, I ll take a look,
then. You two stay here. He crossed the gallery to peer around behind some of
the other displays, dim in the gloom. He stepped momentarily into an adjoining
room, then returned to the kids, shaking his head. I don t see anything.
Sheki disagreed vigorously. He pointed toward another gallery. I
s-saw something there. It looked like, like a man.
Joe sighed. Okay. I ll look there, too. Motioning to the kids to stay
put, he disappeared around a corner into the next room.
Claudi looked at Sheki. His eyes were wide, but filled with the same certainty
that she felt.
She stared back at the gloomy space where she had first seen the peculiar
thing.
The air moved, shimmering with the faintest of light. Claudi s
breath whistled out. She raised a hand, pointing, as her heart began to
race. Something was forming in the air, in front of them. Do you see it? she
whispered.
She felt, more than saw, Sheki s nod.
It looked like a man, just from the waist up. But it was a ghostly figure,
more like a poor holo than a real person. It didn t glow
, exactly, and yet it seemed lighted against the gloom.
Claudi s heart thumped with fear, but perhaps not as much fear as she ought to
have felt. The man seemed to look straight at her, as though he knew her.
Wh-who ? Sheki whispered.
Claudi shook her head. Hello? she thought she said, but her own breath failed
her, and no sound came out.
The man raised an eyebrow.
Who & are & you? Claudi whispered at last.
On the ghostly man there was an appearance of deep concentration,
as though he were trying to understand her words. He slowly tilted his head
in an expression of puzzlement. His face seemed to change as she watched first
broad-faced and rugged, now slight and fair. But the eyes never shifted from
their focus on her.
Claudi swallowed hard. Who are you? she whispered, just a little louder.
There were footsteps as Joe walked back into the room. There s nobody here,
he said.
Claudi pointed.
What? What do you see? Joe moved closer.
Claudi heard Sheki draw a breath, and hastily looked from Joe back to the
spot. She was pointing at nothing, just empty air in a dark gallery.
Where d you go? she cried.
Where did who go? Joe asked. Claudi? He was gazing, not at the place
where the face had been, but at her.
I that man Claudi s breath went out in a rush, and she couldn t answer his
question.
She tried to, but she just couldn t make the words come out.
Joe sighed. Okay, kids let s go. There was a tone of finality in his voice
as he urged them toward the exit. I think we ve seen enough for
today. What was it Baako s talk of seeing things?
No, Claudi protested, half to herself. Beside her, Sheki was walking
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quietly. No, he was really there, she said at last, putting all of her
belief into her voice.
From Joe Farharto there was only silent doubt.
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Chapter 6
It-it s okay he didn t believe us, Sheki said, stepping into the
lift. We know it was th-there.
Claudi was silent and unhappy. Joe hadn t even seemed to want to hear them
explain about
& whatever it was. He d thought they were just making it all up. A man,
appearing out of the air? If she had made it up, she would have said so. We
don t even know what it was, she said finally, so how can anyone believe
us?
Sheki shrugged. He didn t seem bothered. It r-reminded me of the sim, he
said, when we saw you, for a second, looking and he seemed to
grope for words, before saying, sp-spooky. Sort of like that man. Claudi
frowned. When we s-saw you, it made us want to do what you said, right away,
Sheki said. He looked at her intently, then turned away.
Claudi scratched her head, staring at him. That thing that had happened
in the sim she didn t understand it any better than she understood what had
happened just now. She hadn t tried to do anything strange. Unable to think
what to say, she sighed. Well, want to know
I
who that was, there. Even if no one else believes us. She thought a moment
longer. I think it was a ghost.
Sheki nodded, peering at the decks whizzing down past them. You want to come
see my entity? he asked suddenly.
She blinked, startled again. Your what?
My entity. He turned, his eyes shining bright. His name s Watson. He s not
really a , I
he guess, but we call him that because we don t know whether he s a boy or
girl, or what.
Claudi squinted at him. Where is it?
He.
He
, I mean.
At home. It d be kind of hard to take him to school.
Okay. Let s go see it. Him. She shrugged, bewildered. After that ghost, a
plain old entity ought to be nothing at all.
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