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Behind me, Sherman chuckled "She didn’t say ‘no,’ Ronnie You do knopeople with neural shorts isn’t nice," Ronnie snarled She cli the door behind herself and leaving Sherman outside

I didn’t even have ti the front door and sliding into the passenger seat He waggled his fingers at eratedly at thebehind the wheel I couldn’t see the newbrown hair and broad shoulders The hands that gripped the wheel were each individually large enough to have covered my entire face

"This is Kristoph," said Sherman "He doesn’t talk, but he’s an excellent driver, aren’t you, Kristoph?"

As if in answer, the rumbled to life, and he carefully reversed out of the space where he’d been parked I fued by the care he was obviously showing Maybe he really was an excellent driver, and this was going to be okay

Kristoph’s foot slammed down as soon as my seat belt clicked into place The van lurched forward My stomach leapt into my throat, and I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t breathe--

"Oh, da sound, and then his hands were grasping h the fugue state that had been threatening to overwhelm me "Sal? Sal, can you hear me?"

I didn’t respond It didn’t seeh the night, and I couldn’t control it, and I couldn’t stop it, and I was going to die I knew it There was no way out this tiht, Sal," said Sherman, his voice pitched low and earnest There was no trace of mockery or frustration in his tone: now that I really needed hied "You don’t know Kristoph, but I proet away from here before soo slowly But Kristoph will get us home safely You’ll see It’s safe"

I forcedto focus on the pressure of Sher repetition of the word "safe" Once, when I was back at SymboGen, he had tried to explain why it was so nice to hear the sa about psychological conditioning and forcing the world to conform to an implanted expectation I honestly didn’t care why it worked Just as long as it did

Sally Mitchell died in a car crash I nearly did, too The traued her body in ways that were nearly fatal forthat I was Then, after I woke up, everyone was happy to telland horrible and hoas responsible for all ical problems, like the amnesia that everyone was convinced would eventually clear, leaving Sally Mitchell restored to her proper place once more That didn’t happen, obviously, and I shouldn’t have been as terrified of car crashes as I was The phobia was her christening gift to er who had claiift, and SymboGen’s--I spentabout the terror of vehicular transit Was it any wonder that the idea of being in another car crash was the worst thing I could possibly iine?

Eyes still closed, I focused on the steady beat of my heart until it see the distant, reassuring sound of dru to ten each time, until the hot war in the world could hurt ain I was safe, down in the dark, surrounded by the co?" Ronnie’s voice was distant, confused, al," said Sher his hands clamped over ood short-teret her killed one day" He sounded sad about that, or I thought he did, and it was nice to think that, so I let the thought res that hen I was down in the hot warain that I would have to face reality

I didn’t like that idea I sank deeper, away fro that could possibly rese too slowly, out of synch with theht have explained so theood for me, I was sure of that much, even if I wasn’t sure exactly why

Bit by bit, the drums responded, and the hot warm dark returned to the equilibriuot that I had ever wanted to leave This was hoently, snapping me out of my reverie "Much as I hate to disrupt what’s proven to be a fascinating exercise in biometric control, I need you to wake up now," he said "We have reached our destination"

"That means move, or we’ll move you," added Ronnie

I opened ood It was rare forit, but after the night--or nights, I didn’t know anymore--that I’d had, I couldn’t count on that The druh if I focused, I could hear the distant beating of my heart, which seemed to have resuh it was hard to say whether that was a function ofanymore