Canto 150 – Trav Goes Hunting
The reanimated thing that had been Trav Dalgoda was still tinkering with repairing himself using what computer pieces he could acquire in Castle Orpheum’s under-water dome’s marketplaces.
“This goop percolating in the terrarium-thing is actual Trav-Dalgoda flesh being cloned?” asked Dana Cole, staring at the amorphous blob of Traviness as it wriggled with life and growth.
“That’s right, old Dana jester. I need actual living tissue to create the new me. But I need some other things as well that I can’t get on this planet without getting wet.”
Dana was a bit stunned. “You just called me jester?”
“That I did. You know me. I always talk like that because nobody else in the universe does.”
“Am I still talking to Tyrrix? Or is this Trav?”
“Well, now… that’s complicated. I guess you’d have to say that I am a bit of both. The Trav part of this brain is very good at absorbing and taking over the Ancient personality. But that’s because the old brain and the new are so basically compatible. Tyrrix was the trickster mind in the Crown of Stars. And the Trav mind fits into that mind like puzzle pieces made of clay that molds to fit into the spaces where Tyrrix is basically missing parts of his old noggin. I definitely feel as much like I’m Trav as I do Tyrrix.”
“Oh, no!”
“But you love me as Trav, don’t you?”
“Yes, but… my gawd!”
“Yes, I can answer to that too. I have big plans.”
“So, what did you mean about getting wet?”
“Well, Dancer is not only a water planet with no dry land at all, it is also the site of an Ancient library. I am going to have to go out underwater and find the Ancient minds that are archived there.”
“Um… oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. And while I am at it, I need some more robotic-synthetic parts too.”
“…And you’ll get that from the library?”
“No, I will get the parts I need from Sorcerer 13.”
“He’s here in Castle Orpheum? This underwater city?”
“No. He’s out there looking for the same prize I am going after. We will intercept him. Kill him. And borrow his parts.”
“We? You said we will do it?”
“Oh, yes. You can’t survive underwater without a pressurized diving suit. But there are plenty of those in this city.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course not. That part of Trav is mostly in control of this body now.”
Catch a Falling Star 