Read Manifestations for Free Online Page B

are hiding something,’ Zach said triumphantly.
     
    ‘Of course I am. That is the challenge of the exercise. I’m glad you have finally grasped the aims. Have you considered a medical explanation?’ Mister Lizney asked. He must be trying to confuse him. To dilute his perception. Zach must be on the right track,
     
    ‘I haven’t heard of anything like that,’ Zach answered.
     
    ‘Have you looked into it at all? I can assure you such studies do exist, and are freely available.’ Zach quickly flicked to the Weave, data mode, searching by phrase and keyword. ‘I’ll wait,’ Lizney goaded. He wasn’t lying, there were many documented cases where a symbiot connection was denied for health reasons. There was even a routine medical check before inception was allowed. ‘Perhaps I have religion.’
     
    Zach cursed as again his search showed that there were numerous belief systems that imposed bans on the wearing of symbiots. Lizney had done it, he’d made him uncertain.
     
    ‘Zach, I give you points for your query. Even when one is uncertain, one should not hesitate to tell their teacher what they are thinking.’
     
    ‘I felt so sure.’
     
    ‘And you were right to express yourself. You deserve the reward. Now, for next week. When I noticed you’ve been reading What We Can See, I made a reading list for you of other classic works that I think have equal merit. Please have a scan of them before our next session.’
     
    Musashi sagged as he read a list of fifteen titles. Fifteen! A children’s picture book, A Stream Runs Through It, to the larger The Eight-day Empire of the Fourth Weave. A tome of eight volumes. Lizney knew all along what Zach was doing and was now throwing obstacles in his path.
     
    Zach picked up his bag, folded his visor down and shoved it in his pocket. ‘Thank you, Mister Lizney.’
     
    ‘Thank you, Musashi. I’ll see you next week.’
     
    Sure enough, when he hit the tracks to his next lesson, the surveillance feeds he had connected to Lizney’s apartment had been disconnected. He still had the footage recorded from before though, so his stream hadn’t been rummaged. But if Lizney had known he was watching, he couldn’t trust what he had seen.
     
    Zach looked at the time and swore. ‘Kutzo! I’m late.’ Zach left the tracks at Corona and took an express bus across the city. The rest of his day he went from one tutorial to another. Watanabe for general math, Kelso for code and Belinda Maxwell for Weave history.
     
    By the time he got home his feet were throbbing and his eyes itched. He was a cycle behind on his scouting thanks to Bronwyn and he would have to skip some of his sleep time to catch up and claim his endurance badge. He dropped his bag in his study room and went for a shower.
     
    It didn’t help as much as he had hoped. The warmth made him sleepy and he yawned as he put his visor on and it slipped off his nose. He tried again, but it kept sliding around his face. The inside was greasy with something, it smelt like butter ...
     
    Oh, Bronwyn. Why would you want to bring the wrath of Musashi down upon you?
     
    Wearily, he wiped it clean and began imagining what his revenge should be. Bronwyn didn’t immerse, so there was no opportunity for pranking her on the Weave. He thought about having one of her soft toys replicated on a roboform, and then having it attack her in the night. She’d be terrified! He grinned.
     
    At least it gave him something to pursue. He looked around his neighbourhood for who had a replicator and might allow him to use it. Dozey down the street had one, but he was a mesh-head and the kids were forbidden to associate with him. There was a boy not that much older than Zach who had one too. He lived a short scoot away, but Zach didn’t know him.
     
    He looked at the boy’s stream. Garry Antram, sixteen. Only child. He went to classes centred around culture studies, architecture and organisation. His father had bought him the replicator