“Rather small of them,” said Dalton irreverently, before conceding, “Fine. Let them try.”
“No.” Atlas spun. “You must change their minds. You must survive.”
“Why?”
“The Society needs you, whether they see it or not. What can they do with him? There have been others like him before. Men like him become wealthy, become rich, that’s all. They contribute to the global oligarchy and that’s it, that’s the end. You are necessary in other ways.”
There was a rip, a small tear, and then Dalton was sitting before her again like a sunspot Parisa tried fruitlessly to blink away, returning to her armored form within his mental tower’s small room. They were alone this time, and Dalton—this young version of him—was leaning forward, inches from her.
“They got used to me,” he said. “And I didn’t like killing. I’m an animator,” he added, as if that explained everything. She supposed it did, in part.
“You bring life,” she remarked.
“I bring life,” he agreed.
She could see the evidence that he had been tampered with, the jerks of his motions so unlike the fastidious Dalton she knew. It was unclear how honest he was being with her; his memories had clearly been altered, either by the corruption of his past experience or by the clever hand of his present self.
“Are you using me?” she asked him, wondering if she might have permitted herself to be lured somewhere unwise.
His younger self smiled brilliantly.
“I wish you’d seen the other room,” he told her. “We’d have both enjoyed it immensely. This one is dull.”
“You lied to him,” she observed. “You told him you would bring him back?”
“He never actually agreed to do it,” said Dalton. “I think he knew I wouldn’t.”
“Kill him, or bring him back?”
“Neither, I suspect.
”
“So he told the others to kill you?”
“Yes.”
“And you persuaded them otherwise?”
“Yes.”
“Was it difficult?”
“No. They were just happy it wasn’t them.”
“And why didn’t you bring him back?”
“Too much work,” said Dalton, shrugging. “And anyway, I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“About everything.” Another shrug. “Someone always dies. They have to.”
This version of him wasn’t at all what she imagined.
“What’s the Forum?” she asked him.
“Boring,” said Dalton. “Society rejects.”