Spirits in the Wires by Charles De Lint

been quiet. I had to learn to be that way.
    Saskia nods. “I suppose we are.”
    I meant it as a joke, but she seems to take it seriously. I study her for a moment, her gaze going past me, out the window, but she’s not looking at anything. She’s gone someplace deep inside herself and I’m not here anymore. Not for her. Everything’s gone—the cafe and everybody else in it.
    After a moment I get up and get us each another drink—chai tea for her, black coffee for myself. Saskia’s back when I return, her gaze focused, tracking me as I approach where we’re sitting.
    I set her tea on the table in front of her and she smiles her thanks.
    â€œI was reading this science fiction book about A.I.s,” Saskia says when I’ve settled back into my chair. “You know, machines with artificial intelligence?”
    â€œMmm.”
    â€œThat’s what’s got me thinking about all of this. Life’s not that much different than that book, really. If they knew what we were, humans really would hate us—just the way they do androids and A.I.s in fiction.”
    I shake my head. “We’re as real as humans.”
    â€œBut they’re flesh and blood.”
    I lean forward and pinch Saskia’s arm.
    â€œSo are we,” I say.
    â€œMaybe now we are, but—”
    â€œWhen … how—what’s the difference? We have spirits. We have souls. How we got them isn’t important.”
    â€œIt is to humans.”
    I smile. “Screw humans.”
    But she doesn’t smile back.
    â€œAnd maybe it’s important to me, too,” she says. “I guess you’re okay with what you know about where you came from, but I don’t even know that. I start to think back and I’ve got a head full of memories, but they only go so far before I hit a wall. Did I come out of nothing? Can I still have a soul?”
    â€œWell, there’s an easy way to find out,” I say.
    She gives me a puzzled look.
    â€œWe’ll go back to where you came from—you and me. I’ll take you back into the Wordwood. The answers might not be here, but they’ve got to be there.”
    â€œI… I don’t know.”
    â€œWhat are you worried about?”
    â€œWhat if once I get there, I can’t come back? What if I’m only a piece of whatever the Wordwood is and once I get there, it just absorbs me again? What if it absorbs you, too?”
    I shrug. “That’s just the chance we’ll have to take, I guess. I mean, it all depends on how badly you need to know this thing.”
    Saskia gives me a considering look.
    â€œAre you really this tough?” she asks.
    â€œDon’t forget fierce, too,” I say, adding a smile.
    â€œI wish I was. Tough and fierce. Sure of myself.”
    â€œIt takes work,” I tell her. “And it doesn’t mean you don’t get scared anymore. It just means you don’t let the fear stop you from doing what you want, or need, to do. That’s where the work part comes in.”
    She gives me a slow nod.
    â€œAnd how do you plan for us to get there?” she asks.
    â€œI’ll take you by way of the borderlands.”
    â€œWe can get to the Wordwood through these borderlands?”
    â€œYou can get anywhere from the borderlands,” I tell her. “And if you’re right, if there is some great big voodoo spirit running that Wordwood program, he or she probably lives in the otherworld.”
    â€œThe otherworld …”
    I nod. “Mind you, I can only bring you across—you’ll have to figure out where we’re going once we’re over there. Depending on how good your homing instincts are, it could take awhile, so we should probably go sooner than later. At least that’s what I would do. I mean, why wait?” I have a sip of my coffee and raise my eyebrows. “Hell, we can go right now.”
    â€œNo, I’d have to talk