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Loud retching sounds came from the bathroom.

Oh, shit. He hadn't meant to upset Luke like that. He must have a really vivid imagination.

Nathan hurried in to try to help. He remembered his mother's hand on his forehead, supporting his head while he had upchucked as a kid. That had been reassuring. Maybe it would be for Luke, too.

"I'm really sorry, Luke. Here." Luke's head was rather heavy, Hopefully that was just because his neck muscles had relaxed and the position was awkward. Luke seemed to have stopped vomiting for the moment. Nathan flushed the toilet with his other hand.

"Do you... do you really think...." Luke gasped.

"Luke, I'm sorry. It's just one of my crazy guesses. I make lots of them. Most of them are completely wrong."

"Plants, worms ... growing inside...."

They were just dry heaves this time. Nathan winced. That must hurt.

If they were organic, they'd probably be more like fungi, but he didn't dare say that. Maybe it was image of them being in his brain that Luke found so disturbing. And that Ben, who he'd really cared for, had infected him by licking.

"No, Luke, that was just my imagination running away with me. We don't know how they do it. Maybe all their plush fibers turn into an incredibly sensitive antenna. 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,' remember?"

Luke coughed. "We don't know, though, do we?" His voice was hoarse.

"Nope. Not unless we can get them to tell us." But how could you believe whatever they said?

"Anyone we told would think we're crazy."

"Yup. They'd lock us away with the people who wear tinfoil hats."

He paused.

"How are you feeling? Well enough to get up?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Nathan put an arm around him and helped him up, then pushed down the toilet cover.

"Sit down. Please. You're still wobbly." He wet a washcloth under the hot water faucet and gently wiped Luke's face. He seemed a little dazed.

"Here, rinse out your mouth and brush your teeth. I'll go get some ginger ale. That should help settle your stomach." He handed Luke the traveler's kit he'd kept in the cabinet under the sink.

When Nathan got back with the ginger ale -- in a glass, with ice cubes -- he found Luke seated in the library, his face in his hands.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"I'm really sorry, Luke," Nathan apologized again, "I should have seen how much my guesses were bothering you. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I'm thinking that I just don't notice what's going on."

He knelt next to Luke's chair so he could see his face.

"That's OK, I guess. That last thing you said kinda took me by surprise, though." He sipped carefully at the ginger ale.

"It's just too easy for me to think of the worst things possible. I think some really good things could come out of this."

"Like what?" He sounded rather dispirited.

"Well, simply having a good time, for one. I really enjoyed it when I was with Sasha on the tundra. What about your dreams with Ben?" Bonding could go both ways.

Luke smiled a little wanly. "Yeah, they were fun."

"Sometimes things seem to happen faster, too, like a whole week crammed into a single dream. Think what that can do for education." Or for brainwashing.

"The dreams I had last night helped me understand my math homework better. You mean like that?"

"Exactly. Companions could provide personalized tutoring. They'd know immediately if you understood what they're trying to teach you." Whatever they're teaching, even if it's lies. For your own good.

"Don't forget, they can't hurt anyone, either. PCInc's pages were quite explicit about them having Asimov's Laws built into them." But what definition of 'hurt' did they use?

"So we can really trust them," Luke concluded; hopefully not mistakenly, Nathan thought.

"There's another thing I've been wondering about, too. This mental communication seems to be very short range." Unless it could be relayed among Companions. "What happens if several people and Companions sleep close together? Would they share the same dream? Or is it strictly one-on-one?" And if people fought in that dream, could they get 'hurt'?

"Right. Shared dreams." Luke smiled and nudged Nathan.

Maybe he'd managed to cheer Luke up, but now Nathan was more depressed than ever.