Free When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

been ruined can be made good again through effort. Do not fear danger—crossing the great water. Success depends on forethought; be cautious before beginning. A return of ruin must be avoided; be cautious before completing.
    “The superior man arouses the people and renews their spirit.”
    I looked at Yasmin. “I hope you’re getting something out of all of this,” I said, “because it doesn’t mean a camel’s glass eye to me.”
    “Oh, sure,” said Yasmin in a hushed voice. “Now, go on. Press L for the Lines.”
    I did as I was told. The spooky machine continued: “A six in the fifth place means:
     
    Repairing what the father has ruined.
    One’s actions are praiseworthy.
     
    “A nine at the top means:
     
    He does not serve kings and princes,
    Sets himself higher goals.”
     
    “Who’s it talking about, Yasmin?” I asked.
    “You, darling, who else?”
    “Now what do I do?”
    “You find out what the changing lines turn the hexagram into. Another hexagram. Push CH for Change.”
    “Hexagram Forty-seven. K’un. Oppression.”
    I pressed J.
    “Judgment:
     
    Oppression. Success. Perseverance.
    The great man causes good fortune.
    There is no blame.
    When one has something to say,
    It is not believed.
     
    “A great man remains confident through adversity, and this confidence leads to later success. It is a strength greater than fate. It must be accepted that for a time he is not granted power, and his counsel is ignored. In times of adversity, it is important to maintain confidence and speak but little.
    “If one is weak in adversity, he remains beneath a bare tree and falls more deeply into sorrow. This is an inner delusion that must be overcome at all costs.”
    That was it: the oracle had spoken. “Can we go now?” I asked plaintively.
    Yasmin was looking dreamily into some other Chinese dimension. “You’re destined for great things, Marîd,” she murmured.
    “Right,” I said, “but the important thing is, can that talking box guess my weight? What good is it?” I didn’t even have the motherless good sense to know when I’d been told off by a book.
    “You’ve got to find something to believe in,” she said seriously.
    “Look, Yasmin, I keep trying. Really, I do. Was that some kind of prediction? Was it reading my future?”
    Her brow furrowed. “It’s not really a prediction, Marîd. It’s kind of an echo of the Moment we’re all part of. Because of who you are and what you think and feel, and what you’ve done and plan to do, you could have drawn no other hexagram than Number Eighteen, with the changes in just those two lines. If you did it again, right this very second, you’d get a different reading, a different hexagram, because the first one changed the Moment and the pattern is different. See?”
    “Synchronicity, right?” I said.
    She looked puzzled. “Something like that.”
    I sent Ahmad off with the check and a stack of kiam notes. It was a warm, lush, dry evening, and it would be a beautiful night. I stood up and stretched. “Let’s go find Abdoulaye,” I said. “Business is business, damn it.”
    “And afterward?” She smiled.
    “Action is action.” I took her hand, and we started up the Street toward Hassan’s shop.
    The good-looking American boy was still sitting on his stool, still gazing off toward nowhere. I wondered if he was actually having thoughts, or if he was some kind of electronically animated figure that only came to life when someone approached or he caught the crackle of a few kiam. He looked at us and smiled, and asked some question in English again. Maybe a lot of the customers who came into Hassan’s place spoke English, but I doubted it. It wasn’t a place for tourists; it wasn’t that kind of souvenir shop. The boy must have been all but helpless, unable to speak Arabic and without a language daddy. He must have been helpless; that is, dependent. On Hassan. For so many things.
    I know a little simple English; if it’s spoken