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set this up."
Both channels began to protest. But there was really nothing they could say.
Legally, Digen had the right of it. And he was the ranking channel, not only
in that room but in all of Westfield District. He even ranked Mickland, if it
came to a showdown. And as long as he didn't get involved in a lortuen with
Ilyana, nobody could really say anything.
Reluctantly, Hayashi and Mora Dyen left. Digen said, "Im', I've got to
apologize for doing this to you. I don't doubt that you could handle
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it honestly I don't. But it would be awfully hard on Jesse."
"It's all right. I understand." Im'ran was wholly professional, distanced
from the situation.
Ilyana came toward Elkar, who had leaned back on the lounge as the others
left, knowing his time was, almost there. Digen admired his control as Ilyana
approached and he didn't move a muscle. Ilyana said, "Do you really like
Im'ran so little that you want to break off with him?"
Elkar shook his head. "I like Im'ran fine. But I don't want any sort of
dependency. That's the law here, Ilyana."
Ilyana shook her head. "I don't understand how they can make laws governing
such a personal thing as transfer." She sat down beside the channel, reaching
for his arms, where his laterals were trembling uncontrollably. Digen and
Im'ran moved, then, to opposite sides of the lounge. Digen put his own hand
out to intercept Ilyana's touch, and her fingers closed on the back of his
hand. His own laterals vibrated in response to her, but he had himself under
firm control, functioning wholly in the channel mode, using his secondary
system to manage the fields.
"Not yet, Ilyana."
"I thought you wanted me to give him transfer."
"In a minute. Do you know how to link in trautholo?"
She flashed contempt at him. "You think I'm a child?"
"Just link with him as deeply as you can," said Digen.
She fell easily into that special state of pretransfer readiness, which was
handled with such dread respect by Tecton Donors. Elkar relaxed instantly, all
the driving pressures of need removed by the linked readiness of his Donor.
Digen said, "Now, Jesse, be ready to initiate selyn flow on my signal.
Ilyana, you remain wholly passive in this can you do it?"
Contempt again, but she didn't answer verbally. Digen coached them through
it, gauging the time spent in trautholo against Elkar's affinity for Im'ran.
When he had an exact match, he called in the transfer, which went as smoothly
as any he'd ever monitored. Elkar didn't flinch or waver, drawing his
satisfaction in one smooth sweep, with no sign of abort.
When it was over, Ilyana drew back, giving Elkar time to dismantle the
contacts. Then, standing, her body now low enough in selyn that she didn't
feel sick, she looked at her arms, then at Im'ran. To Digen she said, "When I
helped you heal the little girl whose stomach had been cut open. T felt good
about it. I thought maybe the Tecton wasn't so bad after all. But now I feel
soiled!"
Even with her reduced field, the self-disgust and loathing filled the room,
overpowering both Digen and Elkar. Ilyana turned then and fled out the door,
slamming it behind her. The two Simes exchanged glances, sharing a big sigh.
Digen said, "If word ever leaks out-Territory about us harboring a Distect
Gen, vigilantes will storm the walls or bum the Sime Center down."
"Oh. Digen, this isn't a householding, it's a Tecton Center. The days of
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raids and such are gone a hundred years."
Digen laughed. "It's a good thing Gens can't read fields. With her temper,
we'd never keep her a secret."
Im'ran came over from the bar carrying a tray of trin-tea glasses. "Digen,
would they really be so upset? One Distect Gen? I mean, a Distect Sime working
as a channel, I could understand them being upset but she's not even working
as a Donor. Jesse controlled that transfer, first to last, didn't he?"
"He did," said Digen. "She let him.Let him, mind you.If she'd wanted to, she
could have taken it away from him at any point, and he'd have had no choice in
the matter. It's not just her selyn-field strength, Im". It's something about
the way she conducts herself. She's used to dominating Simes."
Im'ran said, "They don't have channels in the Distect. So I guess all the
Gens are companions."
"Any way you figure it," said Digen, "Ilyana is something very special." He
was beginning to feel the ineffable fatigue as his systems strove to recover
from the high-focus functional mode he had been operating in. "Move over,
Jesse, I'm going to lie down for a moment."
Elkar moved, and Digen slid down onto the lounge, let-ting Elkar take his
glass of tea from his tentacles. Elkar touched Digen's left arm with the tip
of one tentacle, sensing how the scar tissue was impeding the selyn flows and
slowing Digen's recovery.
Digen, sensing that this, more than anything else, was what had been
bothering the channel, gripped Elkar's wrist and extended his laterals, using
one dorsal to point at the scar on the left outer lateral. "It's healed
nicely, see? I can do everything I could do before. Some things I'm even
better at. My only problem is this fatigue. My limit is about three class-A
functionals a day."
It was like a professional ballplayer now confined to a wheelchair saying
bravely, "I can even play on the paraplegic team." Elkar reached for contact
with Digen's laterals. "Oh, Digen& I shouldn't have let you& "
Digen permitted him the contact. "See, it's not so bad." But he knew Elkar
remembered too keenly the time when Digen had measured his recovery time in
seconds, when he'd carried a hundred classAs , seventyBs , plus dozens of
minors every day for weeks on end without showing signs of fatigue. The
channel couldn't face Digen's debility.
And Digen suddenly realized that this was why Elkar had not come to see him
during his long convalescence. He'd been afraid. The healthy often fear the
crippled in a peculiar way.
Im'ran said, "Let me get in there, Jesse."
Elkar relinquished his place to Im'ran. Digen felt the fanir's strong beat
sink into him and sort out all the kinks and eddies in his selyn flows. Elkar
said, "Do a good job for the Sectuib." And then he was gone, leaving them
alone.
After a while, Digen sat up. "I don't know how you did it, but I feel ready
to go to work."
"No," said Im'ran. "Actually, you feel rotten. It's just been so long since
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you felt even mediocre that you've forgotten what it's like."
"Well, relatively great, then. You really do have a magic touch, over and
above being fanir. Who trained you?"
"My father. He made first order on his fourth transfer."
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