Key to Survival

Chapter 10 Warp

"I have work to catch up on," Ennui said as they entered the office. "Havoc's son Warp will take over now."

Shee sighed. "I had hoped to be with Havoc."

"In due course." Ennui sat at her desk, which was piled with papers. Then Havoc entered, glancing at Ennui.

"You summoned me, oath friend?" Shee ran gladly to him. "Havoc!" She flung her arms about him and kissed him avidly.

He returned the kiss. Then he looked into her face. "Revelation: I am not Havoc."

She was taken aback. "You are his mock? Doubt. I would know."

"I am Warp."

She looked at Ennui, who nodded. "Shee, meet Havoc's son Warp. Warp, meet Shee Robot, Havoc's new mistress."

"Regret," Warp said. "She's one winsome piece."

Shee found herself blushing. She had been crafted to do that when embarrassed, and to be embarrassed when warranted. "Apology."

"Needless," Ennui said. "No one can penetrate a Glamor's disguise. Not even another Glamor. I knew he wasn't Havoc because I know where Havoc is and I knew Warp was coming. This little show was to satisfy you that not even you can tell."

Shee gazed at him intently. He was Havoc in every nuance. "You really are not teasing me?"

The man's features shifted, becoming a handsome young man with dark black hair and eyes.

Now he matched the profile in Shee's memory. "Really," he agreed.

"I was fooled."

"Now we expect you to maintain the pretense, as I have Havoc's business to attend to."

"I'm not having sex with you."

Warp and Ennui laughed. "You see, she's loyal," Ennui said. "She loves Havoc."

"This is a public appearance," Warp said. "Ennui is setting it up. No sex, not even no fault. Merely your public recognition of me as Havoc, and a kiss or two to prove it."

Shee did not fully trust this. "Why can't Havoc handle his own public appearance?"

"He is busy elsewhere at the moment. This is to establish an alibi for him, so that the machines don't know what he's up to. My sister Flame is emulating me, so that I seem to be elsewhere, and I am emulating Havoc."

"Reminder: I am a machine, serving a mission for the machines. Don't trust me with any secrets you want to keep from the machines."

"But you are not in touch with the machines at the moment. Even if you had telepathy you could not contact them; you would have to be conveyed via wormhole to one of their bases to make a report. You are on your own."

"I am an enemy agent. Why should you want to betray your father's trust by sharing private information with me?"

"This about that," he said seriously. "Twenty two years ago Havoc and Gale adopted three babies, though they had just conceived their first natural child. It was a burden because of the number—they had to get help nursing and caring for them all—and because they were Glamors that no one else could handle. We would have been terminated, otherwise, as too dangerous to allow to grow up wild. They saved us, and made us their family, and loved us, and enabled us to grow up to be all the we could be. Because we became Glamors younger than others, we also became more powerful than other Glamors, including our parents. They accept this with grace and love us still. We owe it all to them. Now our loyalty is absolute. Weft would marry Havoc if she could, and I would marry Gale if I could. Flame's commitment is parallel. We are incapable of betraying them."

He focused on her with disturbing intensity. "You will never move against Havoc, Gale, or any of those they value, such as their five children, the Ladies Ennui, Aspect, Symbol, or Monochrome."

Shee was taken aback by his manner as much as his words. "There is no need to threaten me. I am already committed, and I love Havoc. But I am a machine, and in time the machines will surely recover me or terminate me, depending on the success of my mission."

"This is no threat. This is your future."

"You can see the paths that far ahead?"

"Idyll Ifrit can, augmented by Mino. You are with us."

She shook her head. "I wish I could be. You have listed nine people your parents value. I long to be the tenth. But I am not a person, or even alive; I am an emulation, with emulated human appearance and emotions, no more valid than your emulation of Havoc."

"You will be the tenth, soon."

"Hope."

Warp turned to Ennui. "I will take her now. Set the schedule."

"Agreement," Ennui said, returning to her papers.

"This way," Warp said, indicating the royal suite.

Shee still did not completely trust this, but saw that she had no choice. She had assumed that it was her crafted love of Havoc that made her so much in awe of his presence. Now she understood that his son was even stronger, and could do with her anything he chose. She had thought herself to be incapable of being intimidated, but Warp intimidated her. There was something about a Glamor that made her metal knees feel like soggy sponge. She accompanied him into the suite.

He remanifested as Havoc. "I am going to make the public announcement of the situation with the machines. I will play Havoc; you will play yourself. But I will do it my way. I am a story teller."

"This is not story and it's not a nice one. Are you going to tell them the real situation?"

"Affirmation. In my fashion. In Havoc's fashion. Is there anything you'd like to include?"

"I would prefer not to be known as an evil machine."

"Machine yes, evil no."

"Could I do a song?"

"Affirmation. Hayseed will do a song. You can render it."

"Hayseed?"

He chucked her under the chin, exactly the way Havoc would have done. "You studied Havoc. You know of the minstrel."

"Affirmation. But I thought this was to be a presentation of the crisis with the machines culture."

"That also. But first it will be the story of you, merged with that of Opaline."

"Question?"

"I just reviewed it from a memory capsule. Hayseed has been traveling with a fifth."

"Alarm! The fifths are machines' spies."

"Not consciously."

"Irrelevant. Everything they learn becomes grist for the data banks. That is the source of the information I received."

"And they receive no information we do not want them to have."

She gazed at him. "This is an intricate game we play."

"Affirmation. Her name is Opaline and she's a sweet girl he has assigned to a special mission. But rather than compromise her identity I will merge her with you. Shee and Opaline become Sophalee, or Sofee for short."

Shee appreciated the cleverness of it: her name separated into letters, with Opaline fitted into the spaces. He was forming a new character so that he could have freedom to spin one of his stories, based on but not confined to reality.

This was bound to be interesting. Still—

"Question: why should you avoid compromising her identity?"

"Answer: because Havoc assigned her to a most important secret mission. One that will provide us victory in the war with the machines."

"Disbelief."

"Then you should have no problem portraying her, knowing that the story is pure fiction."

"My problem is allowing Havoc to set up a project that I know the machines will know about and thwart regardless of its validity. This would be betraying him." He smiled. "Your skepticism becomes you, as does your loyalty. Fortunately you will not be able to interfere until you are committed."

She eyed him. "You're not my companion or my informant. You're my guard!"

"All three," he corrected her mildly. "Pa has big plans for you. I will ensure that you remain pristine until he returns."

"And if I were to try to escape you, I would discover what powers of dissuasion you possess."

"But you won't try. So I'll never need to show my dark side."

He phrased it humorously but she got the message. Havoc had not deserted her; he had assigned her to others while he handled his private business. And what could that be? She suspected it concerned her; that was why he was making sure she was accounted for.

"Ennui said she believes that Havoc wants to make me into a Glamor. Assuming this is possible, isn't it dangerous? I would have powers rivaling yours."

"We exist in dangerous times. It is as if we are playing a game with a board the size of the galaxy. The loser will be destroyed. We take the risks we need to."

"You don't need to! Let your sister align with the machines, and your entire species will be secure."

"And what of the other living species of the galaxy?"

"They are doomed regardless. The difference is only in the timing of their extinctions."

"This does not bother you?"

"Should it?"

"Affirmation."

She shook her head. "Perhaps this is a distinction between my state and yours. I am not alive, so have no rapport with living things. Only with Havoc."

"It is indeed a distinction," he agreed. "You lack empathy."

"That was not programmed, true. Why should I want it?"

He focused on her again, and again the intensity of his attention was disturbing. "You love Havoc. That was programmed."

"Affirmation."

"You want him to love you back."

"Affirmation."

"He will not do so as long as you lack empathy."

She was shaken by his certainty, again, in significant part because she was sure it was justified. But she had to ask. "How can you know that?"

"Because my emulation of him is more than an act. I can feel his feelings. He could love you, as he loves Ma and Monochrome. But he won't unless this aspect of you changes."

"There is no indication of this in my information."

"Perhaps because it is not a machine thing. They can't program what they lack. It's like lacking a soul."

"A mythical concept useful mainly to keep ignorant peasants in line."

He blew out his cheeks in another Havoc mannerism. "My work is cut out for me. I shall have to persuade you that you need this quality of personality."

"You would have to change my programming. Only the machines can do that."

"Qualification: only the machines can change your programming. But I can satisfy you that you need that change."

"If you do, you will merely cause me to desire what I can never have. I doubt that this is your intention."

"It is not my intention," he agreed. But she knew that she did not properly understand his full intention. This was no simple incidental creature. He was a dangerously powerful Glamor of a species that threatened the orderly schedule of the machines. She knew she should be afraid of him. But fear was another emotion she lacked. She couldn't afford to let such a thing inhibit her at such time as she had to tackle some serious challenge.

All of which seemed irrelevant to the situation of the moment. "Further dialogue of this nature seems pointless."

"At the moment." Again, he was conceding nothing of substance.

"What else do you have in mind for me?"

"You will need to see the near future paths."

"I can't do that. Only the far future, and that not well."

"The different ranges seem to be mutually incompatible. But it may be a matter of tuning. We shall try to adapt your far-future circuits to near-future orientation. That will help you enormously in relating to living people."

"Doubt."

He took her hands in his and gazed into her face. "Focus."

She looked into his eyes. Their black irises seemed to become dark pools. She felt as if she were falling into them, discovering a nocturnal passage beyond them. She was plummeting down that tunnel. "Disorientation."

"Hypnosis. Here are the paths."

And she saw a series of parallel pictures, of the two of them standing there, holding hands and locking their gazes. Each picture diverged into other pictures, which in turn diverged, until there was such a welter it was impossible to track any individual one.

The vast majority were identical, or almost so, but a few differed. She focused on one of the different ones, and saw how it led to the separation of the two of them earlier than was the case with the majority. In that sequence she turned around and walked out the door.

But then that sequence changed. Warp went to the door to block her way. She tried to dodge around him, but he intercepted her regardless. She could not avoid him.

Then they were back facing each other. Warp broke their connection. "What was that?" she asked, dizzy.

"I lent you my near future paths seeing. We followed one. You could not avoid me because I can see the paths and you can't. I saw what you would do, and chose paths to block it. But if you could see them, you could counter me as readily as I countered you. That is why you need this seeing."

"Need it for what? To counter you?"

"To counter any ordinary person, especially any who mean you harm. To find the best path through the maze that is ordinary human interaction. It is an immensely valuable ability."

"Awe. I wish I could have it."

"You can have it. I will teach you. In the course of our month's association."

"We are together a whole month?" she asked, not pleased. "You are my chore this month, yes."

"As I was Ennui's chore last month."

"Affirmation. She spoke well of you."

"She's a good woman."

"Affirmation. Now you will meet another good woman."

"Question?"

"The lady Symbol."

"Havoc's former mistress, and one he values still."

He nodded. "When Pa and Ma adopted us, Ma was already pregnant with Voila. She had to use a magic amulet to freshen her breasts immediately. But there were three of us, and only two breasts. So Symbol nursed Flame, and sometimes Weft and me." He smiled fleetingly "Flame is a level-headed woman. But don't say anything to her to disparage Symbol. She might scorch you before she thought."

"And that is literal." It was in her background data: the red-headed baby was a flame hurler before she expanded to full Glamor powers.

"Also: Symbol carried Voila's ikon, but had to give it up when we battled Earth. For her, it was an enormous sacrifice, but she did it willingly. She remains uncommonly close to Voila. We treat her with respect."

"Understanding."

"I will take us there. Then I will show you the near future paths. Try to fathom the best one."

"Warp," she said, disturbed. "The near future paths are what the machines lack, and want so badly they will spare your entire culture for Voila's services. If I should actually be able to learn to see them, the machines will in due course have that from me. I don't think you want to do this."

"I share your doubt," he said with surprising candor. "But Idyll says this is indicated."

"But Idyll can see only up to a month—the intermediate future. The consequence of this is beyond that time."

"There are devices of seeing that enhance the limits. Ma discovered a way to triple them, if we go to the plant culture world. Voila works with Idyll, and they have followed this three months ahead. This is the course."

"Maybe Voila plans to make the deal with the machines, and this will facilitate that."

"Doubt."

Shee shrugged. "I merely try to understand. This near-future-paths business is complicated for me."

"Agreement." He took her hands, and they were standing on a path in a forest. Ahead was a glade with a picket fence enclosing an absolutely lovely flower garden. Amidst the riot of flowers was a picture-perfect cottage. "Now see the paths."

She saw them, with his guidance. Most had them going to the door and meeting a lovely woman.

Most were awkward. One was less so, though it surprised her. The timing and result differed.

The seeing ended. "What's his name?"

"Haven. He's her fourth, conceived first."

"Named after Havoc, surely." For Havoc would be the father.

"Affirmation."

They waited a few minutes, until relating to the different path. This one was timed for when Symbol was occupied in the bathroom. Then they walked to the house; Warp stood back while Shee knocked on the door. It opened and a five year old boy faced them.

Shee dropped to her knees and hugged him. "Hi, Haven. I am Shee. I come to see your mother." She kissed his forehead and let him go. She felt ridiculous, but this was literally the path to success.

The boy smiled shyly, clearly fazed by the hug and kiss. Already he took after his lusty natural father. He turned and ran into the house. As he ran, he faded from view.

"They're Air Chroma, naturally invisible," Warp murmured. "They appear to us only by illusion. It's not perfect with the children. They forget when distracted."

"Comprehension," she said, smiling.

In a moment a beautiful older woman appeared. "Who?" Then she saw Warp coming up behind. "Warp!" He had resumed his own identity.

"Symbol, this is Shee—S H E E—who is to be Havoc's new mistress."

"Expletive! I don't want to meet her."

"Too late," Warp said. "Haven likes her."

Indeed, the boy, visible again, had come up to hug Shee's legs, now that she was standing.

"Obscenity!" But Symbol was smiling ruefully. "You always did know how to get around me, Warp, even as a baby." She kissed him. "Come in."

"We used the near future paths," Warp said.

"Which is how you knew how to get around me. All of you Glamor brats did." Symbol was mortal, but clearly had no awe of the royal Glamors. She had nursed them and changed their diapers. Shee envied her that status.

Soon they had met Symbol's husband, Garden, and her two other children. Haven sat on Shee's lap, adoring her.

"That boy always did have an eye for pulchritude," Garden remarked. So, evidently, did Garden; he was trying manfully not to stare. Had Shee known she would be meeting a man, she would have dressed more conservatively.

Symbol turned her direct attention on Shee. "Apology for my jealousy. There was a time when I was Havoc's mistress. I miss those days."

"I am a robot," Shee said. "Sent here by the machines to persuade Havoc to send Voila to them."

Symbol looked blank. "Question?"

"A robot," Warp said. "Like a golem, only self-animated. A machine. She is not alive."

Symbol looked at her son, now nestled against Shee's yielding bosom. "She doesn't look dead to me."

"I am conscious and aware," Shee said. "And I love Havoc. But I was made, not born."

"Havoc is lucky," Symbol said. "But why was it necessary for us to meet?"

"Havoc wants Shee to become a Glamor," Warp explained. "You may have to carry her ikon."

Shee froze with surprise. Not Ennui? Then she remembered: she had suggested this to Ennui, who obviously had efficiently followed up.

The woman's face was a study in contrasts, before it dissolved into formlessness. She was having trouble maintaining her facial illusion. Finally her voice spoke, mouthlessly. "She gets to be a Glamor? Jealousy compounded! But I get her ikon? Gratitude!"

"Complication," Warm said. "Idyll says that Shee can become a Glamor, but there is an obscurity about her ikon. It may be that it is required to go elsewhere. But we need your acquiescence, for when it clarifies."

"Affirmation!"

The rest of the visit was routine. Then Warp hugged Symbol, and Shee gave Haven another hug and kiss. The boy was plainly smitten with her, and that had paved the way for a friendship with his mother.

"Endorsement," she told Warp as they left the garden. "The near future paths are useful. They showed the way to make it work. She would not have welcomed me otherwise."

"Demonstration," he agreed, and conjured them back to Triumph City. "Now we do the presentation."

"Already? But I have done no preparation."

"Needless. Merely decide on a song of hopeless love."

"Oh, that's right. You guide the actors. But I'll still need appropriate clothing. This outfit is designed to impress Havoc. You saw its effect on Symbol's husband."

He made a negligent gesture, and she was clothed in the simple blouse, skirt, and slippers of a village girl, her hair tied back with a worn ribbon. She remained, however, an extraordinarily attractive woman. "Remember: I am Havoc."

"Affirmation." His appearance matched, including, now, the crown.

Already they were walking onto a high stage that overlooked the open center of the city. Tiers upon tiers of seats were there, completely filled. Ennui had set up the presentation while they visited with Symbol.

"Greeting, citizens," the emulated king said.

"Greeting, Sire!" the audience responded.

"I have an important announcement to make. Naturally I'll begin by wasting your time with a story."

"Naturally, Sire," the crowd chorused happily.

Shee stood in the background, admiring the expertise. This was Havoc, through and through, playing to the crowd.

Then he turned to her with an introductory gesture. "This is Sofee, my assistant for this tale." He faced the audience, holding his hand to his face to signal confidentiality. "She's new. I'm breaking her in. She may balk at some parts of the story. Don't let on."

"Negation, Sire!" they chorused. They loved it when they became part of the scene. Naturally they assumed she was a new bath girl, available for personal hygiene, sex, or any other fancy the king might have. Bath girls were invariably lovely, smart, obliging, and young. What did "Havoc" have in mind that might make her balk?

Now he settled down to the story. "Once upon a time, in a village far far away, there lived a simple village teen girl named Sofee. She was pretty enough, and smart enough, and had an obliging nature, but no prospects for marriage with any local lout. This vexed her, for if she didn't marry by the time she was eighteen she would be forced to become the village whore, the plaything of any raunchy old codger who couldn't get enough at home."

He gestured again toward "Sofee," who put on a vexed expression that brought an appreciative murmur. This was evidently a halfway familiar situation for some outlying villages.

"And here was the reason,"

"Havoc" continued. "Sofee was a fifth. Now there are several classes of folk on Charm. Most are ordinary folk. Some are fourths, which is to say the children conceived by men other than their regular fathers. Every family must have at least four children, at least one being a fourth, to keep the species mixed. But of course you know this."

There was a murmur of assent. Most women did not like the requirement of being unfaithful to their husbands for one child, but all had to do it, or adopt.

"Some are changelings. These are babies implanted in the women by the Temple, so that no infidelity occurs.

They are superior in most ways, but can be marginalized by others. He paused. "I was a fourth and a changeling. So was my wife Gale. We were first drawn together because we shared this status. Other children did not really befriend us. We came to love each other, and I think she is still the most beautiful and talented woman on the planet." The audience broke into applause.

"Only later did we learn that some changelings can become Glamors. We adopted three, as you know, before having any of our own. We don't regret it." There was more applause.

"And in the last generation another class has appeared, the fifths. These are synthetic children, made in a laboratory, not born of women. They are genuine in every sense other than their origin. But they are all adopted, and often excluded by normally birthed folk. This is not fair to them, but people have the attitudes they do, and they are wary of anyone who is different. They are not allowed to pick on fourths or fifths, but neither can they be required to befriend them, let alone marry them. This is ironic, because a person could do worse than marrying a fifth." He gestured again to Shee. "Sofee may seem ordinary now, but she would be very good for any man who married her. Not only would she cater endlessly to him, because of the loyalty of her kind, she would oblige him sexually at a formidable rate. Because a fifth can't achieve sexual pleasure until her partner does, and fifths have a high libido." He paused for an aside. "That is, they like sex. Don't tell."

There was some laughter as the audience agreed.

"In addition, they don't age the way others do. It's something about being manufactured instead of birthed. They grow up normally, but then they level off. When Sofee is forty she will look much the way she does now, and be still as eager to oblige her man. She can and will birth his children, but her figure will not suffer. There are men who might appreciate that quality in a woman, and women who might appreciate it in a man."

Now many in the audience looked thoughtful. This was it seemed something they had not known about before.

"So Sofee, foolishly denied, conceived a bold notion: she would travel to Triumph City and become the mistress of the king." He paused, looking startled. "That's me! Suddenly this grows interesting." He turned a sexually appraising gaze on her.

There were chuckles. The king's appetite for obliging maidens was legendary.

"Of course this is just a story. But let's see where it leads. The king learned of this—he has a noble nose for nubility—and decided to investigate. He was wary, as not every girl is as innocent as she seems. But also intrigued, because he didn't have a fifth among his mistresses, and for some reason he liked the idea of having one who would still look like twenty when she was forty and still have a strong sex drive. So he sent his alternate identity, Hayseed the Minstrel, to intercept her and get to know her."

He looked at the audience again. "Now Hayseed's a good guy, and he has his talents. But sometimes it seems as if he's got corn shucks where his brains should be. The girl was scared to travel with a grown stranger, so he made her a no fault Oath of Brotherhood. That meant he couldn't touch her, no matter how eager for it she might get. To make it worse, she was as cute as they come."

Havoc crossed the stage, and his clothing and aspect changed. Now he was Hayseed the Minstrel.

Hayseed looked at the audience. "Havoc's a good guy and a tolerable king," he confided. "But sometimes it seems as if this business of royalty has squeezed his barbarian qualities right out of him. He's too expletive proper."

Hayseed let fly a resounding burp.

The audience burst into laughter. Shee knew why: the king was famous for having burped during his first public speech as king, showing his barbarian lack of mariners.

Now Hayseed approached Sofee. "Going my way, cutie?"

"Not with you, you lecherous coot," he replied, speaking for her in the manner of such presentations.

"No offense."

The audience chuckled. Shee had to stifle her own smile; Warp was good at this, unsurprisingly.

"Suppose I make you an idiotic Oath of Brotherhood?"

"Then I will travel with you," she agreed. "My brothers call me a brat."

So they walked across the stage together. Hayseed made a hand signal of the sun moving across the sky: time was passing.

"We must settle for the night," Hayseed said. "Here is a rest stop with shelter, food, and a river in which to wash."

"Turn your back," she said sharply. "My brothers gawk when they peek."

So Hayseed turned his back so she could strip and wash herself. The audience watched closely: would she follow the script literally?

"I'll bet she doesn't," Hayseed confided to the audience.

She did. Sofee removed her clothing, pantomimed washing, then shook herself dry and put her clothing back on.

In the process she gave the audience a full view of her nude body. A number of men were openly gaping. This was some village girl! The women were not completely amused.

Hayseed never looked. Instead he walked to the other side of the stage, becoming Havoc. "I told you he was a fool. He could at least have used a hidden mirror." He returned to the Hayseed side.

Next day Hayseed played his dragon scale and sang folk songs for room and board at a village. Warp's rendering was compelling; as a minstrel he was excellent.

Sofee took note, making her attention obvious to the audience, not to Hayseed. Here was a man with genuine talent. She began to get interested. This time when she washed up she did not require him to face away, so that he was able to see her body. She was innocently vamping him. But he did not seem to notice.

Havoc, across the stage, did, though. "Look at those perfect breasts! That tight bottom. I'll bet he has a member so hard it's about to burst his pants. Maybe next time he'll be more careful with his oaths."

On the third night they knew that the following day would see them to Triumph City. By now Sofee was thoroughly smitten with Hayseed. But she had learned that he was married and had five wonderful children. Her love was futile.

He slept, but she was restless. Finally she sat up in her sheer nightie and sang her song of longing. It was a standard folk song, familiar to everyone. They liked to compare how different singers did such songs.

What was different was that she sang it herself, with her own accompaniment of the shells. She saw many members of the audience staring in astonishment. It wasn't just that she sang, or that she had a strange new accompaniment. It was that she was a superlative singer. She put her all into it.

She gazed on him adoringly, but Hayseed slept on, oblivious.

Then she broke down and silently wept, and many in the audience wept with her.

Hayseed still slept.

Finally she went to his bedside, leaned over him, and gave him a fleeting kiss. There was a small moan of identification in the audience. Then she lay on her bed and slept.

The audience broke into prolonged applause.

After a suitable pause, Hayseed sat up. It was morning.

"Our journey together is almost done," he said. "Now there must be truth between us."

"Acquiescence."

"I am not Hayseed, at least, not exactly," he said, manifesting as Havoc. "I traveled with you in order to get to know you. I find you intriguing, and am ready to take you as my mistress."

"I am not a fifth, at least not exactly," she said. "I traveled with you in order to get your attention so I could impress you with my qualities."

"Question?"

"I am not a person at all," she said. "I am a humanoid robot."

"Confusion." He was echoing similar confusion in the audience. They had expected a surprise ending, or at least a heavy no fault session as she released him from his oath, but this was something seemingly from some quite different story.

"A mechanical person crafted to resemble a living woman. Similar to one of your golems, except that no other person animates me. I am on a mission from the machines."

"Bewilderment."

"Your human culture faces its worst enemy: sapient machines that mean to destroy all life in the galaxy. You must stop them or you are doomed."

"If you are one of them, why tell me this? Are you here to kill me?"

"Negation. I am here to love you."

"Confusion," he repeated.

"I want to be your mistress. But you can't keep me unless you meet my price."

"What is the price?"

"You must persuade your Glamor daughter Voila to enlist her services with the machines."

"Denial!"

"If you do, not only can you keep me, the machines will spare your whole culture."

"Outrage!"

"If you do not, the machines will destroy you, and me, and all other human beings."

Havoc faced the audience. "The story of Hayseed and Sofee is fiction. The news of her nature and mission is true.

The machines wish to recruit my daughter to their cause, and have sent this luscious thing to persuade me to persuade her. If we accept, we are safe. If we decline, it means war with the machines, and they are indeed our worst enemy.

They will try to destroy us, and may succeed. Because this concerns every one of you, we are putting it to a vote. Do we accept, which means I get this lovely robot and the machines get Voila? Or do we reject, which means we risk our existence? The votes will be tallied by the village elders in one month."

The audience sat stunned. Havoc had just done it again, wreaking havoc on their emotions.

The curtain closed, isolating them.

"Now we need to identify your natural constituency," Warp said.

Shee was still recovering from the abruptness of the presentation to the people. "Question?"

"Every Glamor has a constituency. Mine is Fungus. Havoc's is trees and plants. There are not many left. We must find one for you."

"Constituency," she agreed. "I am familiar with the concept. But I have no idea how I could ever be a Glamor, so the matter of the ikon or constituency seems academic."

"We shall have to get Idyll to help. But you will have to help too. It is a very personal thing."

"I should think so! But what about this vote you just set up? Are you really going to leave it to the populace?"

"They will vote rejection. That decision will help them prepare for the risk."

"You know the future, so are sure?"

"Affirmation. Now we travel." He put his hands on her arms. They were on Planet Counter Charm.

The human presentation of Idyll Ifrit was already forming. "Welcome, Warp, Shee."

Warp got right to the point. "Pa wants her to turn Glamor. I'm supposed to find her a constituency, but I'm baffled. She's a fine actress, but lacks empathy. The emotions she projects are not those she feels."

He was inaccurate there. When she projected love for Havoc, it was real. But she did not care about others.

"Problem," Idyll agreed. "Opinion, Shee?"

"Emphatic. I believe it is suicidally dangerous for you to even consider making me a Glamor, because I serve the machines who mean to destroy you. But assuming that there is some legitimate reason for this, I still doubt that it is possible. If it is possible, I don't see what empathy has to do with it."

"Everything," Idyll said. "It is the constituency that enables the Glamor state. The ikon provides the raw power, but the constituency is the essence. You must identify so closely with yours that you feel any injury it suffers. It supports you, and you defend it. You will not malign or abuse fungus in Warp's presence, or lichen in Gale's presence. Those constituencies will also come to their Glamors' aid in other ways, at need. It is a virtual symbiosis. It is empathy that makes the connection."

Shee shrugged. "Then any such effort is pointless. I have the qualities I was constructed with, and programmed with."

"Negation," Idyll said. "You started with those, but the machines knew you could not succeed in your mission unless you fulfilled yourself. That is why you spent years in a pseudo-human village, learning conventions instead of being programmed with them. You were programming yourself. Empathy is to a degree a learned quality of character."

"The capacity for it must exist before it can be learned," Shee said. "You may teach me near-future paths seeing by adapting my existing far-future paths seeing, but empathy is another matter. There is nothing to adapt."

"Observe." Idyll gestured to the forest beside the glade. It had become a different scene.

In that scene, a human village girl walked along a path. She hummed a tune as she went, and sometimes skipped, making her skirt flounce. She was intercepted by a brutish man: a brigand. She tried to retreat, but he caught her and heaved her up so that her bare legs dangled before him, kicking futilely. Then another brigand came, opening his trousers.

Suddenly Shee was there, striking viciously at the second brigand. He dissipated in smoke, as did the first one and the girl. It had been an illusion. The ifrit was unexcelled at that.

Shee retreated, returning to the glade. "I don't like rape."

"You identified with the girl," Idyll said.

"I did not feel her feeling. I just could not stand by and allow her to be despoiled."

"Why not? She was no one you knew."

"Havoc wouldn't like it."

"She's got a point," Warp said. "She attunes to Pa, and won't do anything that might cause him to be annoyed with her. Pa would never stand by and let brigands rape a girl."

"Point yielded," Idyll agreed. "No evidence of empathy. That will be attended to in due course.

What about her constituency? To what could she relate, without empathy?"

"To inanimate matter," Warp quipped.

They laughed. Then Warp and Idyll paused, exchanging a glance. "She is animate matter," Idyll said. "If there is one thing that lacks a champion, it is inanimate matter. What better champion than a sophisticated sentient sapient machine?"

Both looked at Shee. "Ludicrous," she snapped. "Matter doesn't care what happens to it."

"How do we know that?" Warp asked. Now Shee paused, unable to answer.