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you can call us back in.' He indicated to the rest of the team that they should leave, was
last to go and closed the door behind him.
Then Jake pulled a wheeled chair out from under an ancient-looking computer
console, sat down in it, and looked around the room. He looked around Harry's Room,
and wondered why it looked and felt so familiar. For what was it after all but a small and
outdated hotel room? Oh, it had been fitted out with a computer console, but that had
been a long time ago, in Harry's time.
Genius loci? Well, maybe. On those previous occasions when he'd been in here,
he hadn't really had the time to think about it. But now, on his own, with nothing
pressing...
...Nothing pressing? said Korath, apparently or ostensibly astonished. These
friends' of yours want to call up some freak out of space and time, some ghost who has
already tried to take over your mind more than once, and you don't feel any pressure?
What, are you insane? You'd swap me for him? But why should you, when I'm nothing
more than what Trask called me  an unwanted tenant? That's all I am, Jake  a tenant
to whom you've let a room, for which you're now sorry while I'm very grateful. But as for
this Harry: how do you know he doesn't want the whole house? Oh, and by the way, I
heard what you said about me. About my word games and arguments. But of course
they're to my advantage! Naturally they are! Isn't that the very nature of arguments?
Jake shook his head and chuckled, however wryly. He couldn't help it. And: 'You
know something, Korath?' he said. 'If Malinari and those others hadn't rammed you into
that pipe  if you had somehow managed to die a "natural" death  do you know how
you would have ended up? You're so twisted, they would have had to screw you into the
ground!'
Ah, a joke! said Korath. While considering my expulsion
'Your exorcism,' Jake corrected him.
 You find room for crude jests! Be warned, Jake: whatever else you do, don't
make an enemy of me. And remember this: that whatever Trask says about the human
mind's capacity, its mechanisms are delicate things. The mansion of your mind is
furnished, and I am in here with all your treasures! Suppose I should, er, stumble and
bring something crashing down? Ah! Who can say what damage such an 'accident'
would inflict upon you?
'Treasures?' said Jake, a little warily.
Memoriesss, Korath hissed. Habitsss, instinctsss  and what of emotionsss? For
example: can human love become lust? Ah, but the dividing line is narrower than you
think. Far narrower than the centuries separating you from barbarous ancestors. So
then, what if I were to pick the lock on the primal  you,' the avatar that lies buried in your
genes, to let him loose?
'You've been reading over my shoulder again,' said Jake.
But so illuminating! said Korath. So fascinating, and oh so revealing of your
current penchant. All those great heavy books on psychology
' Were required reading,' said Jake. 'If I were carrying a tapeworm I'd need
treatment, medicine, a physical solution. But in your case  since you're a mindworm 
the answer has to be metaphysical: some kind of exorcism, yes. But I wasn't about to let
anyone else mess with my mind before first reading up on it myself. And it was useful. I
learned quite a bit.'
And I have been learning about you, said Korath darkly. But then, as if afraid of
divulging too much, he quickly continued, As for the books: the reason for my interest is
simply stated. Since you sought an answer to me, I must seek an answer to the answer!
(And 'despairingly'): But see how low I am fallen! How are things come to this, that I am
now considered a mere parasite?
'But you always were,' said Jake. 'You and every other vampire who ever existed.
So stop playing with words and listen to me. Do you know why I'm bothering to talk to
you at all?'
To torment me? To gloat over me, perhaps for the last time, before these
mentalist friends of yours attempt my removal? Ah, but what if they fail? What then of
our relationship, our 'partnership'. Jake? Do you think I'll ever trust you again?
'About as much as I trust you,' said Jake. 'But in any case you're wrong. I'm not
gloating, not yet. For I know well enough that you won't be a pushover. But on the other
hand, if they do succeed in banishing you back to that black sump where Malinari left
you... well, I just want you to know that I won't let you rot there. That's why I'm talking to
you.'
Hah! said Korath. Another  joke,' for I have already rotted there!
'I meant,' said Jake, 'that I'm not about to let your bones lie there in the dark. I
wouldn't sentence anyone  not even a rabid dog  to an eternity of night. And despite
that you're a loathsome parasitic Thing, you have saved my neck several times over.
For that... well, I owe you a decent grave at least. And I'll see that you get one. You can
take that as a promise.'
And after a moment's silence: Your vow? said Korath wonderingly, yet with
something in his voice that hinted that Jake's offer hadn't been totally unexpected.
'My vow, yes,' Jake gave a deadspeak nod  and frowned. For he was just as
surprised at himself as Korath should have been.
What? said Korath, trying not to gurgle his pleasure, which by all rights should
have been his astonishment. Are you really offering to take my bones out of there? But
why? And what's in it for you? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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