and let me rest.”
“You shouldn’t spend so much time
alone,” Max said.
“I’m not alone. Echo is teaching me
some branch of Magi mathematics I hadn’t even heard of until this trip.”
He shuddered at the topic of math.
“I’m glad you’re doing it. I can compute dosages based on body mass, but don’t
ask me for much more than that.”
Ivy made a gagging gesture.
“Remembering flavor ratios for mixed drinks is my limit. All of that ‘two
trains approaching each other on the same track at different speeds’ stuff
seemed like a waste of time.”
Roz peeled off the monitor strips
with increasing irritation. “So you’ve replaced me on all the valuable tasks
aboard except the mental equivalent of janitorial service. If you’ll excuse me,
I’m taking my required vacation day in the jungle room. Jeeves is waiting down
there for me.” She swept out of the room before the others could object.
Playing with Jeeves was just what
she needed to relax. His favorite game was hide-and-seek. In the rare event
Jeeves made a mistake or taunted her with an easy hiding place, she would try
to sneak up to him. The moment she tripped over a branch, however, he would
shriek with joy and scamper back to the safe spot without getting tagged.
“Turkey,” Roz said, limping back to
home base to give him his treat.
The only time she could fool him,
even briefly, was by standing motionless between several good hiding places but
choosing none of them. He would search each possible location, ruling out each
until he caught her in the last available place.
Sometimes the mimic would let her
read while he took a victory nap on her lap. The math transformation exercises
Echo had assigned were harder than hull ceramic. Homework assignments could
easily take three hours a day. Then Echo would demonstrate a solution to each
in minutes. The only term Roz could come up with for the latest technique to
convert complex flow graphs into alternate graphs was mind-expanding. The
equations were drastically different ways of modeling the same system—like
viewing a star from above and below Einstein’s rubber sheet. She felt like
everything in graduate school had been Tinkertoys by comparison.
The days blurred together as she
synchronized to the jungle’s light schedule instead of the ship’s. Several
“afternoons” later, Max appeared behind her, silent as a shadow. “I wasn’t
finished with your examination.”
Roz hopped up, spilling her
homework and Jeeves onto the ground. The mimic immediately flattened himself
and turned the same green as the undergrowth. She glared at Max and flicked
soft dirt off the corner of her computer pad.
“Sorry to startle you,” Max said.
“I was just reading about the
effects of malnutrition on child development. Now I’m not sure if Jeeves walks
hunched over because that’s what his species does or because his growth’s been
stunted.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Don’t
borrow trouble from medical libraries, please.”
“So I shouldn’t have him tested for
Attention Deficit Disorder? He doesn’t always listen to me when I’m trying to
explain things.”
He opened his mouth to reply but
changed topics instead. “Are you avoiding me? I haven’t seen you at dinner
since Alyssa started cooking.”
“She makes me sack lunches,” Roz
explained. “The first night, she cooked Ropa Vieja for me. It was like
being home again.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“No, I’ve only really met her
once.” Roz recalled the wan face that could have graced a museum painting, with
dark hair and a mysterious heritage. Alyssa’s ancestry could have been
Mediterranean, Arabic, or even Indian “Honestly, it’s like she’s hiding from
me.”
Excited by the word “hiding,”
Jeeves approached to sniff Max’s feet. Hopping up and down, he squeaked,
“Seeeek-seek.”
Roz rolled her eyes. “I played with
you almost an hour today, greedy boy.”
Max looked stunned. “He … speaks?”
“When
“You shouldn’t spend so much time
alone,” Max said.
“I’m not alone. Echo is teaching me
some branch of Magi mathematics I hadn’t even heard of until this trip.”
He shuddered at the topic of math.
“I’m glad you’re doing it. I can compute dosages based on body mass, but don’t
ask me for much more than that.”
Ivy made a gagging gesture.
“Remembering flavor ratios for mixed drinks is my limit. All of that ‘two
trains approaching each other on the same track at different speeds’ stuff
seemed like a waste of time.”
Roz peeled off the monitor strips
with increasing irritation. “So you’ve replaced me on all the valuable tasks
aboard except the mental equivalent of janitorial service. If you’ll excuse me,
I’m taking my required vacation day in the jungle room. Jeeves is waiting down
there for me.” She swept out of the room before the others could object.
Playing with Jeeves was just what
she needed to relax. His favorite game was hide-and-seek. In the rare event
Jeeves made a mistake or taunted her with an easy hiding place, she would try
to sneak up to him. The moment she tripped over a branch, however, he would
shriek with joy and scamper back to the safe spot without getting tagged.
“Turkey,” Roz said, limping back to
home base to give him his treat.
The only time she could fool him,
even briefly, was by standing motionless between several good hiding places but
choosing none of them. He would search each possible location, ruling out each
until he caught her in the last available place.
Sometimes the mimic would let her
read while he took a victory nap on her lap. The math transformation exercises
Echo had assigned were harder than hull ceramic. Homework assignments could
easily take three hours a day. Then Echo would demonstrate a solution to each
in minutes. The only term Roz could come up with for the latest technique to
convert complex flow graphs into alternate graphs was mind-expanding. The
equations were drastically different ways of modeling the same system—like
viewing a star from above and below Einstein’s rubber sheet. She felt like
everything in graduate school had been Tinkertoys by comparison.
The days blurred together as she
synchronized to the jungle’s light schedule instead of the ship’s. Several
“afternoons” later, Max appeared behind her, silent as a shadow. “I wasn’t
finished with your examination.”
Roz hopped up, spilling her
homework and Jeeves onto the ground. The mimic immediately flattened himself
and turned the same green as the undergrowth. She glared at Max and flicked
soft dirt off the corner of her computer pad.
“Sorry to startle you,” Max said.
“I was just reading about the
effects of malnutrition on child development. Now I’m not sure if Jeeves walks
hunched over because that’s what his species does or because his growth’s been
stunted.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Don’t
borrow trouble from medical libraries, please.”
“So I shouldn’t have him tested for
Attention Deficit Disorder? He doesn’t always listen to me when I’m trying to
explain things.”
He opened his mouth to reply but
changed topics instead. “Are you avoiding me? I haven’t seen you at dinner
since Alyssa started cooking.”
“She makes me sack lunches,” Roz
explained. “The first night, she cooked Ropa Vieja for me. It was like
being home again.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“No, I’ve only really met her
once.” Roz recalled the wan face that could have graced a museum painting, with
dark hair and a mysterious heritage. Alyssa’s ancestry could have been
Mediterranean, Arabic, or even Indian “Honestly, it’s like she’s hiding from
me.”
Excited by the word “hiding,”
Jeeves approached to sniff Max’s feet. Hopping up and down, he squeaked,
“Seeeek-seek.”
Roz rolled her eyes. “I played with
you almost an hour today, greedy boy.”
Max looked stunned. “He … speaks?”
“When
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