Children of the Mind by Frank Herbert

Author:Frank Herbert [Herbert, Frank]
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Frank Herbert
Published: 2010-03-24T17:23:54.050000+00:00

"Thank you," said Jane. There wasn't a trace of irony in her voice, butMiro knew the irony was there all the same, because it was inherent in thesituation. Miro, this uniprocessing human, was telling this brilliant beingthat she had thought well -- as if he were fit to judge her.

Suddenly he was angry, not at Jane, but at himself. Why should he have towatch every word he said, just because she had not acquired this body inthe normal way? She may not have been human before, but she was certainlyhuman now, and could be talked to like a human. If she was somehowdifferent from other human beings, so what? All human beings were differentfrom all others, and yet to be decent and polite, wasn't he supposed totreat everyone basically alike? Wouldn't he say, "Do you see what I mean?"to a blind person, expecting the metaphorical use of "see" to be takenwithout umbrage? Well, why not say, "Good thinking," to Jane? Just becauseher thought processes were unfathomably deep to a human didn't mean that ahuman couldn't use a standard expression of agreement and approval whenspeaking to her.

Looking at her now, Miro could see a kind of sadness in her eyes. No doubtit came from his obvious confusion -- after joking with her as he alwayshad, suddenly he was embarrassed, suddenly he backtracked. That was why her"Thank you" had been ironic. Because she wanted him to be natural with her,and he couldn't.

No, he hadn't been natural, but he certainly could.

And what did it matter, anyway? They were here to solve the problem of thedescoladores, not to work out the kinks in their personal relationshipsafter the wholesale body swap.

"Do I take it we have agreement?" asked Ela. "To send messages encoded withthe information contained on the descolada virus?"

"The first one only," said Jane. "At least to start."

"And when they answer," said Ela, "I'll try to run a simulation of whatwould happen if we constructed and ingested the molecule they send us."

"If they send us one," said Miro. "If we're even on the right track."

"Well aren't you Mr. Cheer," said Quara.

"I'm Mr. Scared-From-Ass-To-Ankles," said Miro. "Whereas you are just plainold Miss Ass."

"Can't we all get along?" said Jane, whining, teasing. "Can't we all befriends?"

Quara whirled on her. "Listen, you! I don't care what kind of superbrainyou used to be, you just stay out of family conversations, do you hear?"

"Look around, Quara!" Miro snapped at her. "If she stayed out of familyconversations, when could she talk?"

Firequencher raised his hand. "I've been staying out of familyconversations. Do I get credit for that?"

Jane gestured to quell both Miro and Firequencher. "Quara," she saidquietly, "I'll tell you the real difference between me and your brother andsister here. They're used to you because they've known you all your life.They're loyal to you because you and they went through some lousyexperiences in your family. They're patient with your childish outburstsand your asinine bullheadedness because they tell themselves, over andover, she can't help it, she had such a troubled childhood. But I'm not afamily member, Quara.

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