As time passed, Carl found the work increasingly interesting. There was a plasticity in how things operated here that suited him rather well. And, because he was motivated by his curiosity and helped along by his natural intelligence, he very quickly became knowledgeable, and even expert, in a lot of areas—until at last he had to admit he was happier than he had ever been in his life, moral qualms notwithstanding.
The incident with Armand slipped day by day further into the past, and Carl’s attitude toward it evolved, sometimes in the oddest ways. Had it been a test of some sort? Had a tape been made of it, to compromise him in the eyes of the OS? Had Armand been less than thrilled with the encounter?
One positive result of the non-repetition of the visit was that Carl’s volcanic self-re
