Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 367
The crowd was beginning to mutter.
"Ka! Return to me at once!"
"What are you?" Jordan asked the fluttering thing.
"I am Ka. I am test probe of the Ventus terraforming
infrastructure. I am a nano-fibre chassis with distributed
processing and solar-powered electrostatic lift wires. I am--"
Jordan had been wondering for days what he should ask
the next thing he spoke to. "Do you speak to the Heaven
hooks?"
"No. I report to desal 463."
Faintly, he heard the magician announcing that today’s
performance was over. The crowd broke into guffaws and
jeers. Someone demanded their money back.
"Jordan," hissed Tamsin. "What are you doing? Let’s
go?"
"Wait." Then, to Ka, he said, "Will you tell desal 463
that you spoke to me?"
"Yes."
"No, don’t do that!"
"Okay."
Jordan opened his eyes. Okay?
"The show’s over," said Tamsin. "Let’s go."
"I’m doing something."
"No you’re not. You’re standing there like a slackjawed
idiot. Now come on." She pulled on his arm.
"Ka, where are you! Please Ka, come back!"
"You are not empty," said Ka.
It took Jordan a moment to figure out what it meant.
When Jordan closed his eyes, he could see the mecha all
around him, a ghostly landscape of light. The crowd, the
magician and even Tamsin were visible only as shadows, holes
in the matrix.