Read The Wizard from Earth for Free Online

get her job back, with everyone suspecting that she'd have the same issues as the template and run away too.”
    “I did not know that your mother's template ran away.”
    “I'm not saying she did, I'm saying that's what people on the Project think.”
    “Is that what you think too?”
    “I used to think that Mom wasn't the type of person to run away from anything, but there she is, out beyond Pluto.” 
    The taxi alighted on the roof of the main building, and they rode the elevator to the lobby.  Beneath the dynamic mobile of the Fifty Nearest Stars, one of a pair of figures waved. 
    “Roth,” Matt subvocaled.  “And his mutant girlfriend.”
    “Matt,” his father said aloud.  “I don't know what you're thinking, but Galahad can sense your agitation and so can every neural implant within ten meters.”
    Ivan measured Matt registering embarrassment.  John Jackson waved at the Director of the Star Seed Project.  Eric Roth waved back and approached.  He flashed a smile at Matt that Ivan calculated as synthetic, and likely to be intended to be calculated as such. 
    Ivan could formulate no theories as to the motivation for that.  Ivan's nervous system functioned at the speed of light but interpreting human psychology required parallel and recursive processing and conclusions could take just as long for him to reach as for any unaided human brain.  He decided to think about the matter more, later.  A down cycle for his host of approximately forty years was scheduled soon.  Then would be good.
    For the moment then, he switched his attention to the woman accompanying Director Roth.  Ivan recognized her of course as Athena Spencer, Director of Bio-designs for the Project.  She seemed, however, to become radically different in appearance every time he encountered her, and this time was no exception.  She was slightly taller this time.  She had chosen to appear as if she were no more than twenty years old in appearance, though in fact she was more like a hundred and twenty.  Ivan contacted Earth Internet to inquire as to her exact age.  It was not on public file.
    In addition to what any human could have seen with organic eyes, Ivan saw with his sensors that her muscular density was enhanced with graphene fibers and overlaid with an organically-generated metallic nervous system that could operate nearly as fast as any implant.  As Matt had offhandedly mentioned, she had no implant within her brain, but the electromagnetic activity detected by Ivan indicated that her neural activity was almost an order of magnitude higher than that of a normal human.
    Ivan knew that to be the result of genetic modification therapy, but he had no idea why a human being would ever do that to herself.  Neural implants were less intrusive, leaving the natural brain intact while connecting directly into Internets (Earth, Solar, Lunar, Etc.), and had far greater processing bandwidth and memory capacity.  Why a human would risk instead such an unnatural upgrade was another mystery of human psychology that Ivan decided he would address during the upcoming down time.
    Ivan's analysis of the two greeters had taken less than a second.   
    “John, Matt,” Roth said, nodding.  “Well, this is it.  Your big day.”
    “Well,” John Jackson said, “Matt's of consent age and we decided not to put if off.”
    “Yes, one of the youngest persons we've ever sent to the stars.” 
    “You are the youngest,” Ivan said.
    “I know,” Matt subvocaled.  “I think he's playing dumb.”
    Ivan wanted to know why, but could sense that Matt wanted him to be quiet just then.  It seemed from their steady locked gazes, however, that Matt and Roth were engaged in a human game of dominance.  But it only lasted .53 seconds, barely an instant in human-time, so perhaps it was just happenstance. 
    “So when are you two heading for Tian?” John Jackson asked.   
    “We have so much to do here,” Athena said.
    “Still trying to get