Simon made me happy. He made me happy. It was such a strange idea. Another person able to produce happiness.

I had known the sensation when performing well, viewing beauty, or hearing or smelling a wonderful thing. But a person? Another being, able to make me happy? That was only in ancient films.

But Simon, Simon looking at me, Simon talking to me, that made me happy. He asked me to lie beside him on the cushion. I wondered if he would make love with me, but he didn’t. He went to sleep. I held him in my arms until it was morning.

I forgot to check the messenger for the time of day’s appointment. How I wished there was no appointment and I could have him to myself! But there was an appointment. And it gave us a little space of time.

I went to the Office, cleaned it again, changed the cover, putting the one used yesterday in the cleanser. I opened the vents, perfumed the room, set the music, checked the plugs, then to the kitchen.

Dizzy, I forced myself to eat. If I got ill, they would give Simon to another Scout. I couldn’t dare that. I must be healthy, I must be strong. I ate, then forced myself to the gym. In time Simon entered.

“How much can you lift?” he asked. “I never pushed it beyond…” I indicate the weight I am lifting.

“That’s five hundred pounds.”

“Okay,” I say.

“You’re not even out of breath,” he exclaimed.

“No, I can breath air or water,” I tell him. “That’s not what I meant. I meant if I had to lift two hundred pounds, after ten times, my breath would be… louder, and after fifteen, I would be panting, and after…how many times have you lifted that weight?” “I didn’t count,” I reply, putting it on it’s hinges.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes, I did.”

“The appointment is in two hours, so you should rest, so you won’t be tired.”

He went on the treadmill, began walking, “I’m glad this gym is here. I can’t deal with forced inaction.” “On the day after tomorrow, I can take you back to the island and we can swim. You can stay underwater with me, in the suit. Would you like that?”

“I suppose. I’d like a suit like that on Earth.”

“You’d need the liquid to fill your lungs as well.”

“What is the liquid?”

“I don’t know. But you can breath it.” “Liquid oxygen? But that would be very cold…” “I’m not a scientist, just a scout. I don’t know how things work, I know how to use them.”

“You know”, he says, “in Crossworlds, in other sci-fi, everyone knows the science inside out. If this was Crossworlds, you’d be able to tell me the exact chemical combination, how it was made, why it works.”

I asked the A.I., it relayed the information to me. I was not much for science, so it did not make great sense. I requested the A.I. repeat at less profound level. “I don’t really understand,” I admit to Simon, “but it is our thick water..The water at the bottom of the …pond? Lake? Water …a deep pool?…”

“When you are in the Earth sea…?”

“I don’t breath with my nose in the sea, my gills…” and I touched my sides.

“Jane, do they have schools here?” he asks.

“Schools? Fish schools?”

“No, places where people like you go when you’re little, when you’re young, to learn…?”

“Oh training? Yes. We have training. A lot of training, depends on what you have aptitude for. You know the word aptitude?”?