en she said, "When
you didn't come back to the room, I thought maybe you'd gotten into more
trouble."
Around some steak, Cade said, "Uh, huh. Glad I'm wearing boots, ma'am." He
cut another piece and said, "Got a question. Am I just processing mass into
energy?"
"Partly. You're being restructured, which requires quite a bit of both mass
and energy."
"So I could probably just drink a lot of water or eat a phone book and it
wouldn't matter a damn to the process?"
Mandi snickered and asked, "A phone book?"
"Bulk. Mass. Something to convert. It doesn't necessarily have to be food,
right? Just a steady supply of mass."
"I suppose so. Will you want gravy on your phone book?"
"Probably wouldn't be a bad idea. You seemed surprised that I squashed that
rail in the stairwell. Why? Am I ahead of schedule or something?"
Nodding, she said, "It would seem so. A little, anyway."
"Why would that be?"
Mandi shrugged. "Your system is accepting conversion easily and you're
having sex with Beth."
"What does sex have to do with it?"
Filching his tomato slice, she said, "All human bodily functions are closely
tied to the reproductive system. Stir things up and the process can speed up
considerably."
"Speed up only, or also enhance the process? Could I wind up being a bit
more... 'super'... at the other end?"
"Yes, you could. Others have, for the same reason."
With a nod, Cade met her gaze and asked, "Do you want optimum conversion, or
would plain old average do?"
"Optimum would be nice, of course."
Cade sliced off a chunk of meat and ate it, then said, "I think so, too,
also of course. There's nothing quite like knowing your support people are as
good as they can possibly be. Beth is good for another few hours, then she'll
leave for D.C. or I'll become too much for her. Doesn't matter which; that'll be
the end of it. If we're going to try to optimize me, I'll need someone to take
her place."
"Her name is Andrea. I've already talked to her."
"Why not you?"
Mandi sighed and said, "Sorry. You're still several days away from being
able to make love to me, Ed."
Another chunk of steak later, Cade asked, "So this Andrea -- who's never
even met me -- is willing to take over for Beth in my bed, huh?"
"If she likes you. She's very fond of sex. If she doesn't like you enough,
she'll simply supervise your normal conversion."
"I'll need