Chapter 3

After a while, Bix began to dream.

Maybe it wasn't a dream exactly, but he knew that he was outside of himself, and that certainly felt dreamlike.

He could tell that his brain was still lit up like a dumpster

fire, and that must be hurting, but he didn't feel a thing anymore. Not really. Not the hymn part

of him, the hymn that was floating in a kind of swirling vortex of light. The energy spiraled

around him, and Bix could see images and concepts flashing within

that storm, appearing for a fraction of an instant and then vanishing faster than his eye could

register it. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands, every second. It was like the biggest, most traumatic

set of flashcards of all time, and if the robot was telling the truth, they were teaching him an alien language right now.

The dream form of Bix just laughed.

If only he could learn algebra like this.

Or read every book in the library in an instant.

How easy it would be to study for exams.

Just move your consciousness out of the way and plug in so a computer could rewrite your brain!'

"'Bick shifted uncomfortably.

"'That actually made it sound really bad,

"'and he began to question the wisdom of submitting to this exercise,

"'though he felt fairly certain that it was too late to do anything about it now.

"'He floated for a while longer.

How long, exactly, he could not begin to say.

And then the vortex began to swirl faster, to glow brighter, and to shrink in upon itself.

...