Project Pope Read Online Free PDF Page A

know how much to believe.”
    â€œPerhaps all of it,” said Tennyson. “Men do strange things to cash in on their dreams.”
    â€œJason,” said Jill, “I like you. Do you know why I like you?”
    â€œMy honesty and trustworthiness,” he said. “My humanity, my compassion, my integrity …”
    â€œNo, none of those. I like you because you can look at me without flinching. You don’t pull away. People, to start with, always pull away and flinch. I have come to terms with it myself; I wish other people would.”
    â€œI scarcely notice,” he said.
    â€œYou’re a cheerful liar. You do notice it. No one could help but notice it.”
    â€œThe shock, what initial shock there is,” he said, “comes from the fact that otherwise you are so beautiful. Without the cheek, your features are classic. One side of your face arrestingly appealing, the other side marred.”
    â€œYou can even talk about it,” she said, “and make it sound all right. No pity for me. Not even sympathy. As if it were quite normal. And that helps a lot. To be accepted as I am. I tried so hard. I went to so many different clinics. I was examined by so many people. And always the same verdict. Capillary hemangioma. Nothing to be done. One specialist—can you imagine it?—suggested I wear a mask, a half-mask covering the bad side of my face. He assured me that one could be molded and fitted—”
    â€œIf it’s a mask you are looking for,” he said, “you have the best one that there is—your self-acceptance.”
    â€œYou really think so, Doctor?”
    â€œOf course I do.”
    â€œThe bottle, please,” she said. “Let us drink to that.”
    They drank to it, solemnly, in turn.
    â€œOne question,” he said. “Not to change the subject, but a practical question. Once we get to End of Nothing, what kind of accommodations will we find? What kind of place to stay?”
    â€œI have reservations,” she said, “at a place called Human House. I don’t know a thing about it except that it’s expensive—if that’s any criterion.”
    â€œWhen we arrive, may I take you to dinner that first evening? To take the taste of this ship out of our mouths.”
    â€œWhy, thank you, sir,” she said. “That is thoughtful of you.”

Chapter Four
    They sat in the control room, sprawled out in the chairs.
    â€œDon’t make the mistake,” the captain warned them, “of thinking of the robots of Project Pope as happy little servitors. They are high-powered electronic contraptions. Some people think they have managed to construct organic brains for themselves, but this I somehow doubt. Such a thought stems from the prejudicial viewpoint of a biological being. There is no reason to believe, once you think of it realistically, that a technological thinking and reasoning apparatus, given the present state of the art, need be one whit inferior to a human brain, or, actually, any kind of brain. These robots, for centuries, have been continually upgrading their capabilities, improving themselves in many different ways, as a human mechanic will keep on dinging up an engine to make it run better.”
    â€œHow well are you acquainted with them?” Tennyson asked.
    â€œNormal contacts only,” the captain replied. “The necessary contacts for the conduct of my business. I have no friends among them, if that is what you’re asking.”
    â€œI’m sorry if I seemed to question you,” said Tennyson. “I was simply curious. It seems I’m being plopped down into a situation I know nothing about. I’d like to find out as much as I can.”
    â€œI have been told,” said Jill, “that the robots have humans working for them.”
    â€œI don’t know if the humans are working for them,” the captain told her. “Maybe they are working together.