The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty Read Online Free Page B

followed.
    * * *
    After a time, Bernie’s thoughts slowly untangled and began to make sense. He’d come a long way, but it wasn’t over. Everything depended on getting hired by The Business. He’d put in his application over a week ago.
    “Why is it taking so long?” he asked as he walked along.
    If his cloud heard him, it did not respond. But then, it never did. Clouds didn’t talk. In fact, even listening was rare. They seemed to know what was going on, but it was more of an emotional understanding than an intellectual one. A cloud had access to your senses, but it didn’t process things through a full brain. It used the primitive, instinctual part that houses your needs and your desires. And it never thought about consequences. If Bernie could have changed one thing about his cloud, he would have made it think about the consequences of its actions before it did something. But there was no cloud anywhere that did that. Bernie’s strategy was simple: keep himself calm, which tended to keep his cloud calm. Usually. Sometimes. But not always…
    Bernie had been to The Edge twice already today. He tried to relax in the moss-covered clearing near the stream, but his nervous energy wouldn’t let him sit still. Doubts he didn’t know he had emerged to trouble him. So he walked.
    “My grades were good—I was in the top third of my class,” he said, as if trying to convince someone else. How long did it take to speak with his teachers? Did they talk to all of them? There were some he hoped they didn’t talk to at all.
    “Beatrice would say good things. She was the best,” he said, thinking immediately of his favorite teacher. “But what would the others say?” Most of them would only remember him as the kid who fought with Billy. No matter how many times he thought about the fight, the intense feelings never diminished. Going over the edge like that was the worst thing he’d ever done. Ouch!
    Bernie felt the pull on his hair and quickly slapped it down before it could tie itself into a knot. He calmed his mind and turned away from thoughts of the fight, lest his cloud become even more upset.
    As if on cue, he found himself at The Edge. Had some part of his sub-consciousness sent him here again? What is it that keeps calling to me out there? At this point on the rim, the land sloped gently downward. It would be a leisurely stroll down into the unknown territory. Did such thoughts make him insane? No. He was as sane as anyone else. It was just the pressure.
    A tug on the cuff of his pants brought him back to reality. “Stop that,” he said automatically. He wasn’t surprised to see a snarl of unraveled threads dragging behind him. The threads, once part of his pants, had been used to capture small twigs, leaves, and even an unwary stone that had failed to move out of range. It was one of his cloud’s favorite pranks. “We can’t afford to buy more clothes right now. We already bought new clothes for my interview,” he said, hoping he would have a chance to use them.
    The threads twitched once and stopped.
    “And don’t even think about doing this to the new clothes. They have to be perfect for my interview.”
    The threads and their stranglehold on the collection of sticks and stones loosened in response to Bernie’s words. Suddenly the captured sticks raced off in different directions, free at last from the threads that had held them tight. The stone rolled drunkenly down the path.
    “That’s not funny,” said Bernie. “And please don’t do it again.”
    After a time, Bernie resumed his walk. He found no answers. Everything was already in motion. There was no test he could retake, no class he could study for, no extra-credit assignments to do.
    There was nothing he could do except wait.
    * * *
    And so, the watchers with the tiny eyes, they waited with him.
     

 
    Bad Ethics
     
    Ezrah found Gabriel’s office easily. After all these years, he knew his way around The School very well. He didn’t