Coming of Age Read Online Free PDF Page B

different sizes of the disks’ central holes let them rest a few centimeters apart on the pole. As Jarvis watched, the bottom disk—painted a bright red—wobbled once and began to rise. It picked up the disk above it without slowing; and the next, and the next. When the pile finally came to a halt, it consisted of eight disks and was almost able to lift the ninth.
    â€œThat’s fine, Colin; very good,” Jarvis said, marking the figure down in a small notebook. Average, or perhaps a bit weak for his age, though Jarvis had no doubt a careful brain and metabolism analysis would show the boy to be on the proper teekay curve. Again, that could wait until tomorrow. “You can let the disk down now.” The pile returned smoothly to its original configuration, and Jarvis turned back to the boy. “Now, Colin, I’m going to give you a shot. I don’t want you to feel it, though, okay?”
    Colin nodded. Picking up the third needle, Jarvis prepared the arm and, with only a slight hesitation, injected the brown fluid. His hand was trembling noticeably when he returned the hypo to the table. “Very good, Colin. Now, there’s just one more thing, and then I’m going to let you go to sleep. I’m going to have to give you these shots every couple of days for a while, and I don’t want it to bother you in any way. So whenever you hear the word ‘Miribel,’ I want you to go immediately into a deep sleep. You won’t wake up again until you hear the word ‘Oriana.’ Do you understand? Repeat the two words to me.”
    â€œMiribel,” the child murmured. His eyelids were drifting shut as the hypnotic began to lose its hold on him. “Oriana.”
    â€œThat’s fine, Colin. Now in a minute you’ll go to sleep, and when you wake up in the morning you won’t remember this conversation. We’re going to have a good time here together, and you’re going to learn a lot about woodland life. Above all, don’t worry about anything, because I care a lot about you. All right? Good. You’re a good boy, Colin, and you may go to sleep now.”
    A moment later the boy was fast asleep, his mouth slightly open, his breathing slow and regular. Checking his pulse one final time, Jarvis carefully covered him with the blanket he’d had ready. Just as stealthily, he gathered his equipment and drugs and locked them away in his work table.
    With one last look at the sleeping child, he turned out the study lights and softly closed the door. Strangely enough, though his hands were still trembling a bit, the earlier tension was gone … and the reason for that was obvious. By illegally injecting that drug into Colin’s body, he had placed himself neck-deep in the Rubicon.
    For all intents and purposes, the decision to proceed was now irrevocable.

Chapter 4
    T HERE WAS NO WAKE-UP buzzer on Saturdays, but the excitement of the previous night carried over into the morning, nudging Lisa out of bed well before her usual weekend rising time of seven o’clock. Dressing quickly, she headed downstairs to the dining room. Despite the hour, a reasonable number of others were already there, most of them the younger boys and girls who always woke up with the sun no matter what the calendar said. Taking her tray to her table, she was mildly annoyed to find a yellow triangle waiting there for her.
    Someone had probably seen that illegal balcony takeoff, she decided, and had complained loudly enough for Gavra to feel she had to take action. From Lisa’s point of view the fingering couldn’t have come at a worse time—along with a minor loss of points, the usual punishment for such infractions usually included one or more weekends confined to the hive. If Gavra hit her with that one, she would have to postpone her trip to the library until after work on Nultday at the earliest. Hurrying through her breakfast, she went to the Senior’s