Hyperthought Read Online Free PDF Page B

All at once, he gripped my hand. “There’s so much to know, Jolie! Twelve billion people on the planet Are there really twelve billion separate personalities, or is it a trick with mirrors? Are we all the same person? Am I the only one?”
    His intensity surprised me. Earlier, he had seemed so—detached. He ran fingers through his hair and continued in a subdued voice. “The way we live is terribly off-balance. And moral sense tells me I have the resources to make things better. If I only knew what to do! But as your friend Judith says, my frail brain constructs layers of distorted perception that lead me in circles. Jolie, I’m tired of dreaming. I need the truth.”
    What a load of drivel, I thought But I didn’t say so. I didn’t want Jin to think I was ignorant. So I said, “You could study science.”
    His nostrils flared. “Alchemists and quacks. My father hires them by the gross. I’ve read their reports. The more they discover, the less they know.” Jin brushed imaginary dust from his trouser leg with a gesture of disdain. The move was so characteristic of Com arrogance, it had the effect of reminding me who Jin Sura really was. I watched the waitress refill our beer glasses. Jin still held my hand.
    “Nobody can know everything,” I said. “We’re only human.”
    “I have to know.”
    Mes dieux, how he lifted that noble chin. Just a Commie prick after all. “What makes you so special?” I snapped.
    “That’s precisely the question, Jolie. Why am I special? Look at my position, my wealth, my intellect. Even my physical appearance—just look at me. Why have I been singled out for so many gifts?”
    Sacred Laws of Physics, what a peacock! I tried to pull my hand away, but he held it.
    “I may be the only real person in the universe,” he said. “Everything may depend on the decisions I make. But I don’t have accurate information. I can’t decide what to do!”
    Pitiful, I though. “If you’re the only person in the universe, what does that make me, a cyberscrawl?”
    “You might be a figment of my imagination. Of course you would be convinced of your own reality to keep up the illusion for me.”
    My jaw dropped. By this point, you can imagine my pique. “So let me guess,” I said, spitting saliva, “If everyone is a figment of your imagination, then no rules apply.”
    Jin swallowed beer and watched me over the rim of his glass.
    I sailed on. “The brawls or whatever juvenile behavior landed you in the scandal ezines, so what? It doesn’t matter if you hurt people, or shame yourself, or embarrass your father. No one is real but you. Life is a dream.”
    He said, “I told you before, you were right about me.”
    “Rotten. That’s the word you used.”
    “To the core,” he replied.
    “Or maybe you just dreamed that personal history with your latest heartbeat.”
    I think that caught him off guard. For a long moment, he sat unmoving, searching my face with his liquid glance. Then he burst out laughing. “Jolie, you’re a better guide than you know.”
    He squeezed my hand. Then he kissed my knuckles, and my fingertips, and my rough, callused palm. I’m thin and pale, but people do say I have a sweet face. Anyway, Sir Jin was definitely coming on to me.
    I can’t deny I wanted him, despite my anger. Jin was a beautiful man, and I hadn’t been with a man in quite a while. Female hormones have a mind of their own, n’est-ce pas? His hair felt silky against my cheek, and I could taste the heat coming off his body. My fingers wandered to the back of his neck. I was more than tempted. Then I remembered the way he had flicked that dust off his trousers, and I could picture him flicking me off just like that. So I said something dirty and pushed him away.
    “Jolie, have another beer.” He spoke through laughter. “Pretty little Jolie. Drink with me.”
    I had to push him off me again. “D’accord, let’s get drunk. That’s a real smart way to find the truth.”
    “Tonight