frightened Yishna.
“Yes, I know about your brother Orduval.” Gneiss lowered his hand. “Unfortunate—but let us return to you. Your own interests span a wide area, covering physics, electronics, computer science and many other subjects. So you claim you are not here just to clarify your family history?”
She stared back, couldn't help putting something lascivious in her expression, and realised that this response was purely due to her fear. “Knowing my interests and my abilities, where lies the frontier of research for me?”
He smiled tightly and without true emotion. “Corisanthe Main, obviously.”
“But you are not going to let me go there.” She chose her words carefully so as not to appear arrogant. Reading only the surface of them, the Director's choice of words had telegraphed his intentions. She gave a moue of disappointment and let him get to it in his own time. Let him enjoy his munificence, even if it was only a skin over reality.
“I did not say that,” he replied. “I just wanted to be sure your aims did not stem from some misguided urge to find out the truth about your mother. I take the same view that Fleet took with your brother Harald, of this being an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. You are undoubtedly brilliant, Yishna, so the alterations you made to your record will be corrected, and you will go to Corisanthe Main. The only proviso is that, once there, you will report regularly to the base psychologist.”
“I'm going?” Now she was delighted.
“Yes—but you heard what I said about reporting to the base psychologist?” His reply was toneless, playing the game to its conclusion without any emotional investment.
The rise of practitioners of psychology to positions of power had been increasing apace with the growth of mental illness on Sudoria. Yishna often speculated that their increased numbers had in fact resulted in the growth of mental illness, rather than been merely a response to it.
“Why do I need to do that?” Yishna asked meekly, though knowing precisely why.
“Because, though you are brilliant, your emotional development is still that of a fourteen-year-old girl.” He sat back. “It is understandable how you got so far. Nutrition has substantially improved since the war years, and girls develop a lot faster now than then. But you are still a girl nevertheless.”
He gazed at her steadily and it seemed, almost palpably, that between them some kind of understanding formed. He secretly knew she was no girl and somehow she knew him. This understanding was not open to logical analysis, it was just there, and real.
“I understand,” said Yishna, bowing her head to his ostensible wisdom, and wondering what kind of little-girl persona to adopt for the psychologist. It had been such a relief to stop playing that part when she had finally departed Sudoria. Really, from the age of four she had felt a hundred years old, and necessarily played the child because others never understood the real Yishna, and just became very frightened of her. But to play that role again...why not? It might be amusing to probe the depth of the base psychologist's understanding of the human condition. Yes, she would play such games with whoever came to analyse her—but there would be no such games with Gneiss.
He was...something else.
—Retroact 3 Ends—
McCrooger
Our journey back into the inner system took two weeks, and towards the end of that time I was suffering fewer of those episodes that struck me as worryingly like the onset of schizophrenia. The length of time taken to travel such a short distance (in Polity terms) made me realise how badly these people needed U-tech, but I was glad of the extended opportunity to come to my senses. I kept busy, perpetually accessing Sudorian histories through my palm screen and taking time out only to get to know the layout of the ship better—wherever Fleet personnel allowed me—and to discuss with Duras the potential siting of the
“Yes, I know about your brother Orduval.” Gneiss lowered his hand. “Unfortunate—but let us return to you. Your own interests span a wide area, covering physics, electronics, computer science and many other subjects. So you claim you are not here just to clarify your family history?”
She stared back, couldn't help putting something lascivious in her expression, and realised that this response was purely due to her fear. “Knowing my interests and my abilities, where lies the frontier of research for me?”
He smiled tightly and without true emotion. “Corisanthe Main, obviously.”
“But you are not going to let me go there.” She chose her words carefully so as not to appear arrogant. Reading only the surface of them, the Director's choice of words had telegraphed his intentions. She gave a moue of disappointment and let him get to it in his own time. Let him enjoy his munificence, even if it was only a skin over reality.
“I did not say that,” he replied. “I just wanted to be sure your aims did not stem from some misguided urge to find out the truth about your mother. I take the same view that Fleet took with your brother Harald, of this being an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. You are undoubtedly brilliant, Yishna, so the alterations you made to your record will be corrected, and you will go to Corisanthe Main. The only proviso is that, once there, you will report regularly to the base psychologist.”
“I'm going?” Now she was delighted.
“Yes—but you heard what I said about reporting to the base psychologist?” His reply was toneless, playing the game to its conclusion without any emotional investment.
The rise of practitioners of psychology to positions of power had been increasing apace with the growth of mental illness on Sudoria. Yishna often speculated that their increased numbers had in fact resulted in the growth of mental illness, rather than been merely a response to it.
“Why do I need to do that?” Yishna asked meekly, though knowing precisely why.
“Because, though you are brilliant, your emotional development is still that of a fourteen-year-old girl.” He sat back. “It is understandable how you got so far. Nutrition has substantially improved since the war years, and girls develop a lot faster now than then. But you are still a girl nevertheless.”
He gazed at her steadily and it seemed, almost palpably, that between them some kind of understanding formed. He secretly knew she was no girl and somehow she knew him. This understanding was not open to logical analysis, it was just there, and real.
“I understand,” said Yishna, bowing her head to his ostensible wisdom, and wondering what kind of little-girl persona to adopt for the psychologist. It had been such a relief to stop playing that part when she had finally departed Sudoria. Really, from the age of four she had felt a hundred years old, and necessarily played the child because others never understood the real Yishna, and just became very frightened of her. But to play that role again...why not? It might be amusing to probe the depth of the base psychologist's understanding of the human condition. Yes, she would play such games with whoever came to analyse her—but there would be no such games with Gneiss.
He was...something else.
—Retroact 3 Ends—
McCrooger
Our journey back into the inner system took two weeks, and towards the end of that time I was suffering fewer of those episodes that struck me as worryingly like the onset of schizophrenia. The length of time taken to travel such a short distance (in Polity terms) made me realise how badly these people needed U-tech, but I was glad of the extended opportunity to come to my senses. I kept busy, perpetually accessing Sudorian histories through my palm screen and taking time out only to get to know the layout of the ship better—wherever Fleet personnel allowed me—and to discuss with Duras the potential siting of the
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