Zima led me to the edge.

"A swimming pool," I said. "You weren't kidding. Is this what the stands are all about?"

"This is where it will happen," Zima said. "The unveiling of my final work of art, and my retirement from public life."

The pool wasn't quite finished. In the far comer, a small yellow robot glued ceramic tiles into place. The part near us was fully tiled, but I couldn't help noticing that the tiles were chipped and cracked in places. The afternoon light made it hard to be sure—we were in deep shadow now—but their colour looked to be very close to Zima Blue.

"After painting entire planets, isn't this is a bit of a letdown?" I asked.

"Not for me," Zima said. "For me this is where the quest ends. This is what it was all leading up to."

"A shabby-looking swimming pool?"

"It's not just any old swimming pool," he said.

He walked me around the island, as the sun slipped under the sea and the colours turned ashen.

"The old murals came from the heart," Zima said. "I painted on a huge scale because that was what the subject matter seemed to demand."

"It was good work," I said.

"It was hard work. Huge, loud, demanding, popular, but ultimately soulless. Just because it came from the heart didn't make it good."

I said nothing. That was the way I'd always felt about his work as well: that it was as vast and inhuman as its inspiration, and only Zima's cyborg modifications learnt his art any kind of uniqueness. It was like praising a painting because it had been done by someone holding a brush between their teeth.

齐玛领着我来到游泳池的边缘。

“一个游泳池。”我说，“你不会开玩笑吧。建这么多看台就是为了这个游泳池？”

“这就是揭幕式举办的地方。”齐玛说。“我将在这里揭开我的最后一件作品，然后从公共生活中退休。”

游泳池还没有全部完成。在远处的角落里，一个小型的黄色机器人还在那里帖瓷砖。靠近我们这边的部分都已经贴好了瓷砖，但我还是发现有些地方的瓷砖有破损或者裂痕。夕阳的余晖有些暗淡，我也看不清自己是不是在阴影中，但是那些瓷砖的颜色看上去跟齐玛蓝非常接近。

“跟那些能占据整个星球的画作相比，这是不是有点档次太低了？”我问道。

“对我来说不是这样。”齐玛说。“对我来说，这里是探索结束的地方。这里也是一切开始的地方。”

“一个寒碜的游泳池？”

“这不仅仅是一个古老的游泳池。”他说。

他和我一起绕着小岛散步。太阳即将沉入大海，一切颜色都变得苍白。

“过去我的画作的灵感来源于心灵。”齐玛说。“我之所以画出那么大规模的画作，是因为那是主题的需要。”

“画得非常棒。”我说。

“那只能算是苦力活。巨大、花哨、流行，但根本没有灵魂。就是因为这些画的灵感来源于心灵，所以画得并不好。”我什么都没说。其实我一直都觉得他的作品就是这样的：壮丽但缺乏人性，而且齐玛身体上的机械化改造必然给他的作品带来某种独特性。就像是人们赞扬某个作品，只是因为它是某人用嘴咬着笔画的。齐玛的画之所以被人赞扬，只是因为他并不是一个“正常人”。

Zima Blue 齐马蓝 16