Subject: Owed to Joy (Viy continued)
From: burns@latcs1.lat.oz.au (Jonathan Burns)

.......................................................................

Well, hello!

She looks bright and confident, this one. She knows how to have a good
time, and that's what she expects. This is a bar, man, shape up.

"May I sit down?"

"Do, please. I'm J.J. And I'm pleased enough not to be alone."

"Emil. Yes, I give it a 5 for gruesome. Did those men stop you outside?"

She shakes her head. It does artistic things to her long red hair. "They
were expecting another sort of person. But I might be called away later.
Business. Are you going anywhere?"

"I'm settled in for the evening, brooding. Suddenly I think this
place should offer more. Should we ask the biker for a request?"

"In a bit. Why don't you brood aloud? I'm in a listening mood."

Actually, my angst all seems a little silly, four feet from this face.

"Give you the short form. I'm a small-time wizard, and I've had enough
of selling potions and lucky charms to small time people. But that's
how you get along. Should I try for the big time, or just take a well-
earned rest?"

"Oh, big time, definitely." She smiles and leans back. Hey, I've done
something for her already. "Glittering prizes, frightful risks! Go on."

"One and the same, really. I gain power over spirits, but I forfeit
part of my soul."

"Ah. The part that loves?"

"Hmm. Warm. The part that says, I can give it all, now I love, who needs
anything more. You know?"

"Oh, yes."

"What are _you_ smiling at?"

"Just, my last name is, Faust."

"I've come to the right advisor then."

"That'll be one coffee, with cream and a finger of whiskey."

"I hate to think of what they use for cream here." But we order two and
share the risk.

"The devil," I suggest, thinking fast, "comes to Doctor Faustus, and says,
you can have anything you want. And if you find you want it with a whole
heart and no regrets, then that's the deal, I won't bother you any more.
But if you give up the search, you're mine."

"That's about right."

"So Faust tries it all. Wealth, power, he gets Helen of Troy into bed,
scientific discoveries, great good works. But it turns out, what he
really needs is Christian salvation and the love of a good woman. In
other words, what everybody has, except he left those things behind him."

"Moral, don't ever get out of bed."

"At least not out of your back yard. But it's a double bind. If you give
the, ah, human values up, you find you could have had them without regrets,
but you can't have them. If you don't give them up, you'll always wonder
what you might have had."

J.J. plays with her spoon. "Isn't the trouble that you get stuck with
you having? Not having someone to give to?"

"Yes it is. And that sounds ridiculous, because you don't need to go
beyond wealth and power before you can buy a hundred wives."

"Not a hundred you respect."

"Why not? A woman who wants to live well, bring children up well. What
could be more worthy?"

She stares into the coffee. Meanwhile, a young man in a grubby suit that
doesn't fit, has entered and sat down morosely with a Kirin. J.J. checks
him, dismisses him. "Sexist" she murmurs.

"Moi?"

"Never mind. Listen, what exactly is your devil offering you?"

"The day after tomorrow, I go see some clever Chiba doctors. They rewire
my optical cortex. Now Viy sees into my brain, with a thousand eyes.
And I see with them too, into keyspace. All the time, encrypting, matching.
When I sleep, I'll be dreaming keys. Viy and I will be one. Nothing below
the snowline will be safe from us. Crack a lot of ice too."

"Uh. Sounds great."

"But how human will I be?"

"Walk, talk, eat? Make love?"

"Sure."

"Better off than a lot of humans then. That's not your problem. Your
problem is you think that if you love someone, they have the right to
expect you'll give that up."

"..... warm."

"Like the world's divided into, you know, Faustians and Mundanes. No
dual citizenship."

"Not far off."

" 'Get a life.' "

"Oh shit. Yeah."

"This is so familiar. Don't go fooling around with big ideas, they won't
satisfy you. Seek sanctuary in homely things. What Goethe was trying to
sell men on is just what they've always tried to sell women on, when they
weren't just forcing it on us. Let me tell you something, because I speak
from experience. For every man who looks for sanctuary in the mundane,
as embodied in the opposite sex, and finds happiness, there's another who
does exactly the same and gets screwed up completely. The next thing you
know, he wants obedience..." She goes off into her own thoughts. I drink
my coffee.

"Emil, listen. The way I see the world going, there are so many new kinds
of people coming out. Gene people, brain people, cyber people, nerve
people, space people. All so new, we can't keep up. They don't know what
they are themselves.

"I'm a mundane. I'll always live in a little world, because relationships
are the big thing for me. But what I need to know is that the new people
are looking out for us. Protecting the little worlds."

She stands up then, picks up her purse. Puts a hand on my shoulder. "I have
to be by myself for a while. Just remember. It's not the people with a
thousand eyes who've lost their humanity. It's the ones who have no
respect."

And she swings away and disappears among the biz boxes.

Well, that's nice. I'll remember that. Viy, you little vampire, you're
about to get your eyes. And your feelers in my brain, and the Eriksson
bank. We've been tending our own garden way too long.

Another patron has arrived, I see. Has a word to Ratz, buys a tequila
sunrise.  Sits down by himself, and commences to stare into space...

........................................................................

The 3 blacks are indeed a band, Mother Tongue to wit. Down the port
for a giggle.

Suit-Doesn't-Fit is also a muso, calls himself Stack. Had a bad day,
ask him and he'll tell you about it.

Miss J.J. Faust is (c) Kent Jenkins. Treat her proper.

Emil & Viy are in the market for adventure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jonathan Burns        | Clashing for the warrior, whose strength is not to fight
burns@latcs1.lat.oz.au| Clashing for the refugee, on the unarmed road of flight
Computer Science Dept | And for each and every underdog soldier in the night
La Trobe University   | We gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing    -Dylan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~