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asking a lot of me. Whatever it is that you are, I might have to become."
Even without the aid of PSI insight, Minor felt the boy's fear of losing his
personality, of drowning and turning into someone unknown to himself. He
realized instinctively that it was time to end this first meeting. His
anticipated hopes hadn't materialized, but it was time to end it.
Minc, still monitoring him on a shallow level, caught his decision before he
voiced it. "Is that all for now, then?"
"Since I'm just as confused as you are, yes. It hasn't been all I had planned,
but then I've never met myself before."
Minor went to the door. As he reached for the knob, Minc said from behind him,
almost wistfully, "Minor? I do want to be with you. I really do have plans and
needs in my life, and I don't think I can manage them alone."
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Minor swung back to look soberly at this young duplicate of himself. "I'll
come back tomorrow, and we'll see how we get along then. It depends on your
willingness, Minc. Just remember I'm ready any time you are."
He opened the door and left the boy standing alone, wanting to smash down that
image because it reminded him that he was still standing alone, too.
He walked slowly back to Bates's office on previous instructions to return and
report. Still caught in the throes of determining his own emotions, he was
reluctant to report anything. Was he more disappointed than angry? Or vice
versa?
All he knew for certain was that the one moment in his life that was supposed
to have been entirely his hadn't even happened.
He had learned to live with disappointment years ago, but this one was too
personal. He couldn't let Stams or Bates know, not when they viewed him only
as a valuable tool. Mostly, he couldn't let them know because they wouldn't
care, and he wanted someone to care. So, to conceal his mixed feelings, he
homed in on the anger. It might carry him through their questions.
All three men were in the office, Stams and Bates seated near the desk, and
Ellis alone in an orange chair in the corner. Ellis almost jumped to his feet
at Minor's entrance, his expression asking silently, "Was it all you wanted it
to be? All you dreamed?"
Minor only grazed Ellis's expression with his glance, holding fast to his
anger.
Stams spoke first. "How did it go? What's your estimation, Counselor?"
"Yes, what do you think of him?" Bates was eager.
"I think he's exactly what he is. My eighteen-year-old copy," Minor hedged.
"That's not an answer," Stams said. "We're already aware of that. What we're
after is your judgment of the meeting."
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"I don't want to talk about it yet. I'm not ready for discussions. My
reactions are still too personal to be objective."
"That's one thing they definitely are not." Stams hammered in his authority.
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"You're duty bound to "
"When I have something to report, I'll do it." Minor raised I: his voice to
overpower Stams's. "Now that the boy is in my I hands, I intend to handle the
relationship in my own way and at my own speed."
"There's no time for dallying. What's more, you don't have the authority to do
as you please. You're here solely to instruct I Minc and to do it quickly.
I've granted you an extended leave, not a vacation to use for your own
purposes."
"I'll begin the instruction as soon as I can. First we need | time to get
acquainted."
"You said that would be instantaneous once the two of you were together,"
Stams pointed out.
"So I did. But he's more complex than I expected. Maybe | because I'm more
complex than I realized. Or you realized. I intend to take my time and keep
things confidential while I do it."
"Minc is still in my charge," Bates protested, guarding his own territory.
"I'll back
Dr. Stams in forcing your reports if I have to."
"Force all you want, but you won't have reports until there's something worth
reporting. On the other hand, try this I for a starter, Bates. I disagree
totally with the way you raised I him. I wasn't allowed a voice in it, so
naturally you blundered."
Bates defended himself. "I raised that boy perfectly. I saw to it that he has
none of your character faults, which Dr. Stams carefully pointed out to me as
overzealousness, insecurity, and a state of being conscience-ridden."
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"Minc is one of the most insecure human beings I've ever laid eyes on," Minor
argued. "Are you aware that he thinks of himself as nothing more than a copy?
As a nothing? You didn't teach him self-worth, and that was the main area
where his life could have been different from mine. Instead, you made him grow
up alone, just as I did." The blaming felt unreasonably good, burying the
deflated dreams
Minor had carried into the room.
"Minc has never pictured himself as a freakish misfit," Stams said, nastily
underlining Minor's own feelings.
"No?" Minor let the word hang for a delicious moment. "The only difference
between us is that he thinks he's an accepted freak. To bungle eighteen years,
a fortune in expenditures, and a man's "
"Enough!" Stams drew himself up to his full height, which could never bring
his head level to Minor's, no matter how hard he tried. "The Clone was handled
scientifically and will continue to be dealt with that way. Your role is to
get him on a solid working basis, not to reshape his personality."
"Most definitely," Bates said, taking unusual courage from Stams's attack.
"Just because he didn't quite perform as you wanted him to& "
Bates froze at the sudden turn of Minor's eyes, which caught him in
mid-sentence.
"Did you have a listening device in that room?" Minor demanded. He held his
breath, waiting for the answer. If they had overheard the entire encounter,
then they already knew of his failure and how he was trying to hide it He
would seem a fool.
Bates reacted nervously, as though he were impaled on the end of Minor's
pointing finger. "No! I never considered it, Counselor. Believe me!"
"Then don't consider it," Minor ordered, and protected himself by adding,
"That's one area of your mind I'm not going to keep my hands off. If you place
an eavesdropper, I'll know it. If you press the boy for information, I'll know
that, too.
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I'll figure out your consequences afterward."
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With Bates shrinking from the threat, Minor strode out of the office, trailed
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