“Sorry to hear that.” Chandra actually sounded sorry. “I bet you’d like to be more popular.”
“To confess the truth, I don’t care much. I wanted to sell better during my first life because I needed the money. Today, I just want to be checked out often, because they won’t burn me as long as I am. But if every library on this continent had a copy of me, I myself, this copy”—I tapped my chest—“would be checked out somewhat less, not more. Do you think you’d recognize your father if he sat down at our table now?”
“Probably.” Chandra paused. “From the pictures, mostly. I really don’t remember him all that well.”
“Seven years? I think that’s what your mother said. Were you on the boat with them?”
She shook her head.
“You can’t have been here. Your mother didn’t rent this house until she came back; so where were you?”
“At Aunt Laura’s house in High Plains. I kind of remember it a little. Not much.”
“Naturally. Let’s get back to the original question. Why were three of us—that’s Millie Baumgartner, Rose Romain, and me—all borrowed from the same library at the same time? I think I may know the answer, although I could be wrong.”
Chandra put down her sandwich. “And you’re going to tell me, right? Because it has something to do with me?”
“Yes, but it’s mostly just to clear my head. Your mother thinks your father has gone to some mysterious island. The map she showed me is supposed to be of that island.” When Chandra said nothing, I added, “You probably know about her map.”
“Sure. You don’t think it’s real?”
“No. I think it’s probably a red herring—a false clue created by someone who wanted to throw your mother, and anyone she might find to help her, off the track. There are a number of small islands northeast of this continent, Cape Breton, Prince Edward, and a good scattering of others smaller still.” I smiled. “I’ve been looking at maps on one of the library screens. No doubt it shows.”
“Sure you have. Nobody’d know about that unless they looked it up.”
“Go along the ragged coast of Greenland, and there are still more. East of Greenland you’ll find the island called Iceland, which our ancestors considered the end of the world. It’s right on the Arctic Circle; and if this world needs an end, that’s as good a place as any.”
“All these islands must be awfully cold.”
“They are, cold and rocky.” I smiled, trying to keep it light. “If you’re looking for a tropical paradise, you’re headed in the wrong direction.”
“You don’t think that island my father’s supposed to be on is real. Am I right?”
“You are. Let’s forget for a minute or two about your parents’ voyage and the lugger. Put those aside. Where has your father been, and what has he been doing? What do you think?”
Chandra considered. “He can’t have been around here, or anyway not much.”
“Because your mother would see him?”
“Most likely, she wouldn’t. She doesn’t go out a lot.”
“Because you’d see him, in that case.”
“Well, maybe. Only I’m not really sure I’d know him from the pictures if he didn’t stop to talk or something.” Chandra paused, thinking. “This is an awfully small town.”
“He could have grown a beard, couldn’t he? Changed his name? Maybe had plastic surgery?”
“You’re putting me on, Mr. Smithe. That’s not nice.”
“Only a little bit. I saw him in the library, as I told you. He didn’t have a beard then. Does he have one in those pictures we ought to look at?”
Chandra shook her head.
“I didn’t think so. I’d think that plastic surgery wouldn’t be much use unless he changed his name as well. You’ll agree, I hope?”
“Sure.”
“When I asked the librarian whether the man I’d seen was Dr. Fevre, she agreed at once that it was. Clearly she knew him as Dr. Fevre. As for where he was—how long has it been since you’ve spoken to your Aunt Laura?”
Chandra looked baffled. “Forever. She never visits or anything.”
“Is she your mother’s sister? Do you know?”
“Sure I know—I know all about that. She’s my father’s kid sister.”
I thought that over. “Do you have a screen in your room?”
“You bet I do. You just about have to have one for school.”
“Fine,” I said. “We can use that. Since we know your Aunt Laura’s first and last names and where she lives, we shouldn’t have a lot of trouble finding her; but if we do, there’s the university. We can check with them.”
“You think he’s there?”
I nodded. “It’s very probable. From what I’ve been told, he’s a tenured professor. People with tenure rarely move around—or resign, either. Every fully human needs some source of income. We reclones have none, which makes us much more conscious of that than we ought to be.”
“Don’t you get your food at the library?”
“Certainly. We eat whatever the librarians choose to feed us, which has to be enough to keep us looking like the pictures taken during our first lives. We sleep on our shelves, and we’re issued clean clothing every morning. I bought us two steaming creamys, remember?”
“Sure.”
“I’m an adult and you’re still a child—”
“I’m almost thirteen!”
“Meaning that you won’t be considered fully grown for another five years. I was going to say that most reclones couldn’t have done that, because they wouldn’t have enough money.” I was skirting a lie here; the reason should be obvious.
“I could give you a little if you want me to.”
I could not help smiling. “You’re very kind. I won’t ask for it unless I need it.”
“All right.” Chandra took a bite of her sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully. When she had swallowed, she said, “Suppose my father is back in High Plains, like you think. What are we going to do then?”
I sighed. “First, let me say that I don’t think he’s there now. Shall I explain why?”
She nodded.
“First, because I just saw him in the library here picking up Millie Baumgartner and Rose Romain. If he has returned to High Plains already he must have a flitter, which I think is actually quite possible. Furthermore, he must have taken them there with him, which I think extremely improbable.”
Stubbornly, “He could do that if he wanted to.”
“No doubt he could. Still, I doubt very much that he did. Just look at it. They were in the Spice Grove Public Library with me. He requested that the library here get them on interlibrary loan just as it was getting me. Why do that if he intended to return them to Spice Grove as soon as he had them?”
Chandra thought that one over. At last she said, “It would have to be because he wanted to show them to somebody here.”
“I would reverse that. I’m quite sure that there’s someone in Spice Grove whom he wants to prevent from seeing them—certainly from seeing them with him.”