Symbiography by William Hjortsberg Read Free Book Online Page B

been trying to set up a conference with you for almost a week. Naturally, I grew worried when all I could get out of your computer was that you were incommunicado.”
    Sondak shook his head. “How stupid of me. I should have left a message.”
    “Have you been dreaming all this time?” There was an anxious note in the Executive’s voice.
    “No. Sorry to disappoint you, Omar, but I’ve been conducting a little experiment. Desert exploration, you might call it. I was monitoring someone out there wired-up for D.E.M. transmission.”
    “You got to be careful, Mr. Sondak,” Security Agent Sattermeyer said. “I had a friend working for Vicarious Heroics; he was monitoring a D.E.M. of a rocket race when the electron accelerator exploded. The ship went up like a star going nova. The pilot wearing the probe never knew what hit him. My friend never knew what hit him either. His heart couldn’t take it. By the time they got to him it was too late for a transplant.”
    “That must have been years ago,” Omar Tarquille said. “Dream-tables nowadays come equipped with an automatic safety cut-off.”
    “Yeah, but Mr. Sondak wasn’t using his table, he was locked in there with those receptors strapped on his head.”
    “Well, I’m in good shape, as everyone can see,” the Dreamer said, laughing as if he’d made a joke. “What did you want to confer with me about, Omar?”
    “It’s in the nature of a private matter …” Tarquille used his eyebrows like daggers but the Agent stood his ground, armored by a bored expression, oblivious to such subtleties. “If both parties are agreed,” he said, “I’ll wait outside. But you better both be alive when you’re finished.”
    “Now, now, Mr. Sattermeyer, your profession has infected you with cynicism.” The Dreamer stepped down and gave the Security Agent a friendly shoulder-pat, chuckling good-naturedly. “Omar and I are like Siamese-twins; we depend on each other for survival. I’m sure neither of us has anything to fear from the other.” And Agent Sattermeyer was eased to the door with the nicest of smiles and a soft, wet handshake.
    When the two men were alone, the Dreamer’s expression changed. “I’m also certain that your explanation of all this will be amusing, Omar.”
    “I don’t think you’ll laugh,” Tarquille replied with a knowing smirk. “Six days ago, the Committee voted to include dreams, hologramatics and D.E.M.s in the frequency-of-use quotas along with other commercial products. Under the terms of the new ruling, Par, all but fifty-seven of your dreams are being recalled from public circulation. I hate to think what your credit rating will look like unless you can come up with something better than your last vague effort.”
    “I stand chastened, Omar.” The Dreamer’s mocking smile never varied. “But, as the effort was mine, I can hardly understand the condemnation of a parasite who owes his existence to my toil.” Sondak waved off the Executive’s sputtered retort. This was the first time he had ever seen Omar Tarquille face-to-face, except for projection-booth conferences where the illusion of rural tranquility served to diffuse the hostility they felt toward one another. Here, in the closeness of his studio room, the mirrored walls multiplied their differences a hundred times. In a moment, they would be at each other’s throats. Sondak broke the tension. “Spitting like cats isn’t going to solve our problem. I do appreciate the seriousness of what you’ve told me, Omar.”
    “If only you had a new Dream ready to go.”
    “I may have considerably better than that. Let me put something interesting on the table for you. Can you spare two hours?”
    Par Sondak led the way into the hall, evading the Executive’s questions. He made his guest comfortable on the dream-table and, after consulting with the computer, played the section of the D.E.M. where Buick led the mounted warriors of the Grand Dragon into battle against the