“I know how you want to handle this part of the examination,” Cyprus said. “But remember, you can’t contact any of your people. If they contact you, that’s all right. But you can’t correct any of their errors. I want to see how they’re progressing, so this part of the exam involves you only as a bystander. Knowing how impetuous you are, let me emphasize that point. Later, of course, how well you communicate with your personalities will be an important factor.”

All at once Oversoul Seven felt apprehensive. He heard the voice before Cyprus did, because it was directed to him.

“Tweety! Tweety!”

“That’s a human voice,” Cyprus said. “How can that be? No humans should be able to reach us here.”

“Maybe it’s a mistake,” Seven said weakly. But already it was too late.

“Is it time yet?” asked the voice.

“Go back where you came from,” Seven said desperately. “No it’s not time yet, and for all I know it may never be.”

“But I’m all ready,” said the voice.

“No you aren’t. That’s just the trouble,” Seven said. “If you were, you’d have better sense. This is my superior, by the way.”

“Oh, Tweety!” cried the voice, desolate.

“Tweety?” Cyprus asked.

“Uh. We’re old friends. It’s Daga. Whenever Daga’s a female she calls me Tweety. Right now she’s a female and helping me with my independent study. At least we think she’s female. When I am, I call her Tweety.” In confusion, Seven took on the fourteen-year-old form again. “Earth language doesn’t have any words for what we really are, no, uh, pronouns for beings that are male and female at once, so it makes explanations difficult.”

“We aren’t ready to go into your independent study yet,” Cyprus said. “But I must admit that I’m curious. And I must note that you seem to have some difficulty in keeping track of your various projects.”

“See?” Oversoul Seven said. “Daga, please go away.”

“If you insist,” the voice said. “But I’ve got my birth date planned, and—”

“Go away!” Seven cried, in consternation.

Cyprus pretended not to hear. She said: “I presume that you’ll have a good explanation for this later on. Now if you don’t mind, let’s get down to the scheduled phases of your examination.”

Oversoul Seven tried not to be nervous. “All right,” he said. “Let’s look in on Lydia. I certainly hope that she’s having a good day. First, there’s a few things I’d like to explain about her. She—”

“Sorry. From now on I must see for myself,” Cyprus said.

Seven sighed. He thought of Lydia, lovingly brought her image into his awareness until it filled him, taking precedence over all the other memories of his many selves. Together he and Cyprus blinked off and on, rode piggy-back on a million molecules, and emerged.