They couldn't have been more wrong.

I felt the conveyor slowing as we neared a small island, the only feature in any direction.

"You're the first to see this," the robot said. "There's a distortion screen blocking the view from space."

The island was about a kilometre across: low and turtle-shaped, ringed by a narrow collar of pale sand. Near the middle it rose to a shallow plateau, on which vegetation had been cleared in a roughly rectangular area. I made out a small panel of reflective blue set flat against the ground, surrounded by what appeared to be a set of tiered viewing stands.

The conveyor shed altitude and speed, bobbing down until it stopped just outside the area enclosed by the viewing stands. It came to rest next to a low white pebble-dash chalet I hadn't noticed during our approach.

The robot stepped out and helped me from the conveyor.

"Zima will be here in a moment," it said, before returning to the conveyor and vanishing back into the sky.

Suddenly I felt very alone and very vulnerable. A breeze came in from the sea, blowing sand into my eyes. The sun was creeping down toward the horizon and soon it would be getting chilly. Just when I was beginning to feel the itch of panic, a man emerged from the chalet, rubbing his hands briskly. He walked toward me, following a path of paved stones.

"Glad you could make it, Carrie."

It was Zima, of course, and in a flash I felt foolish for doubting that he would show his face.

"Hi," I said lamely.

Zima offered his hand. I shook it, feeling the slightly plastic texture of his artificial skin. Today it was a dull pewter-grey.

"Let's go and sit on the balcony. It's nice to watch the sunset, isn't it?"

"Nice," I agreed.

He turned his back to me and set off in the direction of the chalet. As he walked, his muscles flexed and bulged beneath the pewter flesh. There were scale-like glints in the skin on his back, as if it had been set with a mosaic of reflective chips. He was beautiful like a statue, muscular like a panther. He was a handsome man, even after all his transformations, but I had never heard of him taking a lover, or having any kind of a private life at all. His art was everything.

他们实在是错得离谱。

当我们靠近一个小岛的时候，我感觉到运输机在减速。无论从哪个方向来看，这座小岛都是整片海域唯一的地貌特征。

“你是第一个看到这个小岛的人。”机器佣人说，“岛的上空被一片扭曲的屏幕遮住了，从太空根本看不到这座岛。”

这座小岛方圆一公里，海拔很低，整个外形有点像乌龟，周围被一道狭窄的白色沙滩环绕。岛的中心附近有一块高地，这块高地上所有的草木都被清理掉了，留下了一块近似矩形的空地。我辨认出这片空地上有一小块区域很平坦，而且反射出蓝光，周围似乎被一排分层布置的看台包围着。

运输机降低了高度，也减慢了速度，不断地上下起伏，直到慢慢地停在那片被看台包围的区域外面。紧挨着停机坪的是一座由白色鹅卵石砌成的低矮小屋，在来的路上我还真没注意到。

机器佣人先走下台阶，然后帮助我下了运输机。

“齐玛马上就到。”它说完又回到了运输机。运输机载着它迅速地消失在天边。

突然间，我觉得自己很孤独、很脆弱。一阵海风吹了过来，把沙子吹进了我的眼睛里。太阳逐渐西沉，直奔地平线而去。天气很快就会变冷。就在我开始有点恐慌的时候，一个男人钻出了小屋，轻快地搓了搓手。他沿着一条铺着石子的小路向我走来。

“很高兴你能来这里，凯莉。”

这位当然就是齐玛了。我刚刚还怀疑他不会露面了，真是个愚蠢的想法。

“嗨。”我结结巴巴地说。

齐玛很有风度地伸出了他的手。我握着他的手，能够轻微地感觉到他身上人造皮肤的纹理。今天他皮肤的呈银灰色。

“让我们到阳台上坐坐。看夕阳的感觉真好，不是吗？”

“好。”我答应道。

他转过身去，领着我走向小屋。跟着他走的时候，我能清晰地看到在他银灰色的皮肤下面肌肉不断地隆起。他背部的皮肤上似乎有鳞片在闪光，估计是马赛克或者反射芯片。他强壮地像头黑豹，而且身材好得像雕像。他其实长得挺帅，更不用说他能变出这么多花样，然而我却从来没听说他跟谁谈过恋爱，连这方面的绯闻都没有。艺术是他生命的全部。

Zima Blue 齐马蓝 7