ng his
cheek, his mind stunned by the anaesthetic he drew in with each breath.
He was as one lost in thought, his eyes open but unseeing, observing but
not interpreting.

There was no sense of duration, of the passage of seconds or minutes.
There was only a dream in which, suddenly, a gentle mind made its
presence known. Concepts tapped lightly at his own mind and an automatic
process of interpretation winnowed and equated until a gentle voice
seemed to speak. The words were few, merely computed associations
keyed to understanding, and with them were perfectly and intimately
synchronized fragments of emotion and vision, softly washing over the
surface of his mind.

* * * * *

_(Urgency) Attend--attend! Challonari! Attend!_

* * * * *

An impression of convolutions drifted through his mind--a shape,
perhaps, and a color. He felt no curiosity, and let the impression
drift. As a sunbather drowsing on a crowded beach, hearing the
background hum of the crowd and now and then a more clearly spoken
phrase, so he caught the edge of this communication. It was not for
him. A second mind entered ... _was_ it a mind? Yes, and yet very
different. It was strong, but limited--perhaps childlike, in some ways.
Alive after a fashion, it was receptive of emotion up to a point and
even capable of emotion--up to a point. It seemed an embryo mind, in
some ways well developed and in others with no potential whatever.

* * * * *

(RELIEF) IDENTITY BLURRED ... KNOW/NOT KNOW. (PERPLEXITY)
NO PRECEDENT ... REQUIRE INSTRUCTIONS. (CONFIDENCE/TRUST)
INSTRUCT PLEASE.

_Instructions (Decisive) Sleep ... sleep ... sleep._

(AGITATION) IDENTITY NOT MENTOR ... INSTRUCTIONS INVOLVE
BASIC DISOBEDIENCE (CONFUSION/DISTRESS) CANNOT OBEY/DISOBEY
... DILEMMA INSOLUBLE TO CHALLONARI (PLEADING) REVISE
INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE.

_(Sorrow) Cannot revise. Identity mentor/not mentor.
Challonari must obey identity._

(GREAT AGITATION) ACCEPT IDENTITY MENTOR/NOT MENTOR ...
CANNOT RECONCILE BASIC CONFLICTS ... CANNOT OBEY/DISOBEY
(SUDDEN HOPE) LOGICAL DIVERGENCE PERMISSIBLE ... SIMPLIFY
EXPLANATION PLEASE.

_(Reluctance/hesitation) Intelligent identities here ...
unable communicate ... Challonari. Result ... so. (Pain)
Communication ... so. (Wave pattern)._

(UNHESITATING) ILLOGICAL/REJECT