Unicorn Point

2 - Mack

Mach felt the disorientation of the exchange. It was both physical and emotional: physical because he moved from a living to a machine body, and emotional because the frame of Phaze was so different, with its magic and his unicorn wife and son. He hated to return to Proton, though his existence here was hardly a negative one. It was merely a less feeling one.

Then things firmed, and he looked around. He was standing in Bane’s apartment in Hardom, and before him was Bane’s wife. Agape, and Bane’s daughter, Nepe. Mach spent as much time in Proton as in Phaze, alternating months, but each time he saw Nepe she seemed to have grown another notch. She was in human form, a four-year-old child, and rather pretty. Of course she derived from alien stock, and could assume any living form she chose, with sufficient application and practice, so could be just as pretty as she was able to imagine.

Mach smiled, a trifle grimly. “The exchange has been made; I will leave you now.”

“Of course,” Agape said. She was pretty too, possessing the same ability as her daughter. It was always a bit of a jolt to encounter her naked, after a month of life in Phaze, where human nakedness was often a signal of sexual readiness. In Proton, of course, all serf’s were naked. He normally adapted to the situation in minutes, just as he did to the change to a body that was a machine. He had existed many years in this body before discovering what life was like; he could endure it for another month. Bane, after all, was suffering the same readjustment, returning to his home frame, separated from the woman and child he loved. Agape, three syllables, with the accent on the first; Nepe, two syllables, accent on the first. His computer brain always clicked through such details as he oriented on his other selfs family. He turned to the door panel, and extended one hand. The panel irised open, showing the hall beyond.

“Uncle Mach!”

Mach paused. “Yes, Nepe.”

“Can I go with you?”

Agape was startled. “Nepe, he is going to report to the Tan Adept, whom we don’t like. You would not be welcome there.”

“I don’t give a—what’s a bad word?—about the Tan Adept!” the child said stoutly. “I want to see.”

“Pollution,” Mach said.

“Beg pardon?” Agape said.

“The bad word.”

Nepe considered. “No, plution’s too legitmet. Maybe one about excement.”

“Nepe!” Agape exclaimed.

Mach smiled. “I am a robot. I have no need of a bad word for excrement.”

“Don’t patonize me!” Nepe exclaimed furiously.

“Horse manure,” Mach said contritely.

Nepe smiled victoriously. “I don’t give horse manure for the Tan Adept!”

“Now see what you’ve done,” Agape said sternly. “She will be using that word everywhere.”

“She has to learn adult usage some time,” he pointed out, amused. Then he spoke directly to Nepe: “But if you say that to his face, he might swell up and burst, and the smell would be horrible.”

“Really?” she asked, delighted.

“No, not really!” Agape said, darting a frustrated glance at Mach. “But don’t do it, anyway. We have to try to get along with these people.”

“Why?”

“Let her come along, and I will try to explain,” Mach said. He was flattered by the child’s wish to accompany him; normally she treated him with supreme indifference. In fact, for the first time she was making him feel like a real relative, causing his humor and flattery circuits to activate very much the way they would in life.

“But she has to go visit her grandfather, Citizen Blue,” Agape protested. “The plane is ready to take her to his country dome estate.”

“I can catch it after!” Nepe cried. “I know the way. Be sides, it’s autmatic.”

“What has gotten into you?” Agape inquired. “Your father would have taken you there, if you had asked!”

“It’s all right,” Mach said. “I will take her. Probably my son Flach is pestering Fleta similarly, in Phaze.”

Nepe turned sober. “I want to meet Aunt Fleta.”

“It wouldn’t work,” Agape said. “Even if she came here, she would be in my body.”

“Over there,” Nepe said. “I want to meet the uncorn!”

“I’d better take her to the Tan Adept,” Mach said. “She will be all right, and I will see that she boards the plane on schedule.”

Agape nodded, yielding without liking it. It was hard to see her as an alien creature at a time like this; her reactions were completely human, as were those of her daughter. Nepe took his hand, and they stepped out of the chamber. The panel closed behind them.

“Why did you make that scene?” Mach inquired as they walked down the hall.

“I heard something,” the child confided. “Something fun, maybe.”

“The Citizen Tan doesn’t serve ice cream,” he cautioned her.

“Bettem that! But it’s a secret!”

“Oh.” He knew better than to question her further. He might learn the secret, but it would spoil her fun. He checked his watch. He was early for his appointment with the Adept, by about an hour. Normally he would have retreated to his own suite and used the time to check for accumulated messages, as well as verifying the operation of his body. Bane tried to take care of it, but Bane had been brought up as a living creature, and still tended to assume that minor scratches would heal on their own. Also, Bane spent a lot of time with Agape, and that would be wearing on certain circuits. It was generally best to check those circuits, not with any intent to snoop on his other self, but to ensure that they remained fully operative. But this time Nepe was with him. The child would not be very patient about an hour of stasis on his part. As a living creature she could not turn off or internalize the same way. Her closest equivalent was sleeping, and like most children, she would rather die than sleep during daylight hours. Very well; his systems check could wait; certainly it wasn’t urgent.

“It will be a while before I meet with Tan,” he said. “If you would like something to eat first—”

“I want to play a game with you. Uncle,” she said.

“Such as piggy-back riding?”

“No piggy-bank riding! A real game!”

“Oh, you mean a Game!” he said, understanding.

“A Game,” she agreed.

“Some of those games are unsuitable for a person your age.”

“Yes,” she said zestfully.

“But your mother would smite me if I played one of those with you.”

Nepe frowned, acknowledging the truth of this concern.

“But I know the difrence. We’ll play a suitble game.”

“Very well.” He guided her to the Game Annex. They came to a Game Console. This was set up with screens on either side, for the two players. He fetched a bench for Nepe to stand on, and lifted her up so that she could supervise her screen. “Do you know how to do this?” he asked.

“Natchly,” she said. “Get to your side.” Mach went to his side. He knew that Bane and Agape had increasing concern about the child, who seemed to be a slow learner. She did not seem slow to him, but he realized that he had little proper basis for comparison. She seemed to be fully as alert as and somewhat more expressive than his son Flach.

But that of course was the problem. Flach was not keeping pace with either fully human or unicorn children his age. He spoke more slowly, and lacked interest in academic pursuits, and had mastered only two of the three forms expected of a unicorn. They had hoped he would go beyond the ordinary in both the human and unicorn respects, and for a time it had seemed that he would, but then progress had slowed. That was why Mach had intercepted Stile in Phaze—to no avail, as it turned out, because Stile had refused to acknowledge that the problem existed. Stile liked his grandson, without doubt, and that went far toward mitigating his early objection to the unusual marriages of Mach and Bane, but Mach had not expected that to distort his judgment about the boy’s progress.

Could it be overcompensation on Stile’s part, or advancing age? Technically Flach was the child of Bane, because Bane’s body had generated him; genetics took little note of which mind occupied the body at the time. Thus Mach’s son was Stile’s grandson, and no one debated this, but the question always lingered in the background: was this entirely legitimate? Stile might compensate for that doubt by seeing no evil in the boy. But Mach had too high a regard for the ability and character of the man to be satisfied with this explanation. Stile was on the other side, and he was clever; his optimism about the boy might be a mere mask, preventing acknowledgment of a developing liability in the assets of his enemy. But how could Stile profit by such a pose? Mach had become the leading Adept of Phaze, thanks to the input of the Book of Magic, but he never deceived himself that he was the smartest person. He suspected that Stile was playing a game whose nature he hardly understood.

“Are you going to choose. Uncle?” Nepe asked. Mach glanced at his grid. As always, it showed the four major categories across the top: 1. PHYSICAL 2. MENTAL 3. CHANCE 4. ARTS, and four types down the left side: A. NAKED B. TOOL C. MACHINE D. ANIMALS. He had the letters. Quickly he touched A. NAKED. Here in Proton the word had no social significance, as all serf’s were naked; it simply meant that no tools, machines or animals would be used. He felt this was the safest course for a game with a child, because it eliminated most of the most complicated ones.

Immediately the new grid formed: 2A. NAKED MENTAL. He had not needed to worry about inappropriate tools; her choice of MENTAL had negated most of that. Across the top were 5. SOCIAL 6. POWER 7. MATH 8. HUMOR, and down the side were E. INFORMATION F. MEMORY G. RIDDLE H. MANIPULATION. He had the numbers this time, so selected 8. HUMOR.

She had chosen as quickly as he, and the third grid appeared: HUMRUS MANPLASHUN. Good enough; he should not get into much trouble there. The point of this Game was to satisfy Nepe, not to win or lose. Then he glanced back at the grid heading, startled, but the title had already faded. Had he imagined Nepe’s language there? How could that happen to a robot? He looked at the child, but she had assumed a mask of complete innocence. They set up the final grid, filling in improbable choices relating to illogic and jokes. Nepe’s choices evinced a proclivity for naughtiness that would have distressed her mother; apparently the child felt free to express herself more openly in the company of her uncle.

They played the grid, and the final choice of games was made: STRUCTURED LYING.

Mach shook his head. “Your mother—”

“Isn’t playing,” the child said quickly. True. So Nepe had her way, and could now tell lies with impunity. This variant, as structured, required that each make a statement, while the other challenged any lie. If a lie was accepted as valid, or a true statement challenged as a lie, a point was scored by the originator. If the statement was called correctly, the point went to the challenger. The trick was to cause the opponent to challenge some seemingly outrageous but actually accurate statement. A lead of two points decided the game.

Mach made the first statement. He was not very good at lying, because it was foreign to both his training and his robotic programming; a good lie required imagination of the quality only a living brain could achieve. Fortunately his opponent was a child, and a childish example would suffice. He presented one of the classic ancient riddles.

“I know of a chamber filled with gold. The gold is wrapped in a silken shroud, and set in a transparent liquid, which is sealed in a container that has no doors or windows or openings at all. Yet—“

“An egg,” Nepe said, not waiting for him to finish. “So it is true.”

“You’ve heard it before,” Mach said, chagrined to be thus readily bested.

“No, I guessed. I figured you’d start with something pretty elmentry.”

Elementary: indeed he had. Still, Nepe did not strike him as even minimally retarded. She had made a swift and accurate connection, after correctly analyzing his strategy. She showed potential for master gamesmanship. Now it was her turn. “The man rode on the horse, and yet he walked beside it,” she said.

Mach pondered that. Surely it was a trick statement, appearing impossible, just as his riddle of the egg was supposed to be. But what was the rationale that made it true? Either the man was on the horse, or he walked beside it. Unless there were two selves in the two frames, Phaze and Proton, with one self riding and the other walking. But that would require alternate selves of me horse, too, and mat made four creatures in all. The Game Computer was unlikely to allow so farfetched an interpretation; structured humor had to be narrowly defined.

One man, one horse: how could it be? Mach was somehow sure it could be, but his robotic logic did not fathom it. “That’s a lie,” he said.

Nepe smiled, as he had known she would. “Yeti is the name of the dog,” she said. “That one’s as old as your egg.”

Mach groaned, seeing it. Not “yet he” but “Yeti,” sounding the same when spoken. An interpretation that was valid in humor, if not elsewhere. He had indeed blown it.

“So did I win, huh?” she inquired joyfully.

“You won,” he agreed.

“Gee—my first and last,” she said with a mixed smile. “Thank you. Uncle.”

Her last victory? He doubted it! He wished Flach had her ready wit.

They were at the Tan Adept’s office precisely on time. Serfs were always punctual when dealing with Citizens, because a rapid process of selection eliminated all who were not. The normal manner of elimination was firing, which meant that the serf had to leave the planet unless he could find a new employer—a forlorn hope. But there were few questions when serfs simply disappeared, though all knew this could not hap pen by the serfs choice. No serf ever gave any Citizen reason for annoyance if it was possible to avoid it. As it happened, Mach had given Citizen Tan reason for annoyance, and Fleta (in Agape’s body) had given him reason for rage. But they had survived because Mach was an essential resource and Agape was under his protection. Bane (in Mach’s body) and Agape called themselves married, but this was an affectation; there was no marriage among serfs, merely an informal tolerance of a continuing association. If the closeness of Bane and Agape ever abated, she would have to get offplanet in a hurry, for her protection would be gone. There seemed to be no danger of any separation, considering the presence of Nepe; nevertheless. Agape normally remained well clear of Citizen Tan.

They were on time, but the Citizen was late. That was the Citizen’s prerogative. They waited in the office antechamber, watching the pretty and efficient human secretary brush her lovely hair. This was not any abuse of her position; it was a tacit demonstration by the Citizen that he had no legitimate use for her, and maintained her only for show or for any other purpose he chose. A serf with a brush was unusual, and none would perform any personal toiletry on the job without the express directive of the employer. The implication was that the person waiting for the appointment was virtually nonexistent; not even the secretary cared for his opinion. Tan did not like Mach, but had to work with him. Their direct encounters were always formal and polite; the animosity showed only in this indirect fashion. Tan was making Mach wait—and Mach had brought a visitor. No other serf would have had the audacity, perhaps not even Bane. But Mach knew his power, and used it to counter the subtle manifestations of the Citizen’s ire.

Why had Tan chosen to be the one to work with him? That had always been a mystery. The Contrary Citizens could have arranged to have any of their number, or some trusted high placed serf, deal with Mach and Bane, yet it was Tan. Tan, whose genitals Agape’s body had squeezed during Fleta’s escape from him, before Bane had joined the Citizens and thereby guaranteed her safety. No other person had ever committed such an act against a Citizen and lived a day, let alone five years!

“Gee, you’re pretty!” Nepe said to the receptionist. The receptionist glanced at a panel on her desk before answering. Discovering no signal of negation there, she smiled. “Thank you, Nepe.” Indeed, she was more than pretty; she was as well formed and featured as a serf could get, considering that serfs were allowed no enhancements. Her hair was silvery and shoulder length, almost shining, and her gray eyes seemed almost like silver too. Mach had not seen her before; she either was new, or had been transferred in from another office.

“Howd you know my name. Tsetse?” She pronounced it “Setsy,” with the accent on the first syllable. Mach knew the word as the name of a fly, the carrier of sleeping sickness, and wondered how the woman had come by it. Again the secretary glanced at her panel, careful to say nothing not authorized. “We know all who associate with your uncle,” she replied.

“You mean you watch us?”

“Yes. To be sure that nothing happens to you.”

The child shrugged. “Not close ‘nough.”

Then the secretary did a delayed doubletake. “How did you know my name?”

“Uncle Mach told me.”

Mach would have jumped, had he been alive. He had not even known the woman’s name before Nepe gave it! What mischievous game was the child playing? Then a signal flashed. “The Citizen will see you now,” the secretary said. “Nepe will remain here.”

“Of course,” Mach said, though he did not like this. He knew better than to counter any directive of the Citizen, but if Nepe were subjected to any ill treatment, even purely psychological, Mach would be in an extremely difficult position.

“I’ll be okay. Uncle,” Nepe said brightly. “Tsetse’s nice.” Mach hoped so. He braced himself and stepped through the opaque force-curtain into Citizen Tan’s inner office. Tan was standing, garbed as usual in his tan robe, his hair tinted tan, and his eyes matching. He was actually a fairly handsome figure of a man, and Mach suspected that the lovely new secretary really did not mind the uses to which he surely put her. But he was arrogant in the manner of most Citizens, and ruthless, and he used women as he used men: with complete indifference to their sensitivities.

“Sir,” Mach said respectfully.

“You have the information?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tan smiled with genuine warmth. “We are very close, after a tedious delay. This may be the batch that puts us over.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Because once we have enough basic information from the Book of Magic in Phaze, and the Oracle here is able to compile it, we shall finally have the mechanism to achieve key leverage in the monetary arena. It is amazing how closely magic parallels financial dealings! You know what that means?”

“Yes, sir.”

“State it in your own words.”

“The Contrary Citizens will be able to use their wealth to control the government of the frame of Proton, and Citizen Blue and his allies will no longer be able to prevent this. Thus victory for you.”

Tan rubbed his hands together. “It has been long in coming! Blue has used every conceivable mode of interference and delay. But under the terms of the agreement he had to allow you and Bane access to the Oracle, and that has made the difference.”

“For the precise hours that his grandchild visits him,” Mach agreed. For that had been the nature of the hard-fought compromise: Oracle for Nepe, in Proton, and Book of Magic for Flach, in Phaze. That was why the Citizens and Adepts put no obstacles in the way of these visits. Indeed, they would be glad to allow more time.

“In two hours you will have your session with the Oracle, and obtain the translation of your information,” Tan said. “I believe that this will indeed mark the turning point. The matter will therefore no longer require my personal attention. I will assign an associate to work with you.”

“As you wish, sir,” Mach said, surprised. Citizen Tan had always evinced keen interest in this project, despite his enmity to Mach and Bane.

“I shall turn this matter over to her now,” Tan said. He snapped his fingers.

A young woman entered the room. She was a serf, for she was naked, and well formed. Mach’s gaze traveled to her face—and he stifled his dismay. “Tania,” he said.

“Naturally I trust my sister to represent my interests competently,” Citizen Tan said. “You have some objection?”

“No, sir,” Mach said quickly. But this was a meaningless denial, as the others knew; he preferred to remain well away from this dangerous woman. He had snubbed her other self in Phaze, and made mischief for her here in Proton, when he was helping Fleta escape. Tania had a score or two to settle with him.

“How nice,” Tania said, approaching him. Her eyes, hair and skin were tinted tan like those of her twin brother; she was naked but clothed in this color. “I’m sure we shall get along intimately.” She came to a stop immediately before him, and put her arms around him, and pressed in closely. Mach was a robot, and he was in his own body now. That meant that he had complete control over his physical reactions. This was fortunate, for Tania had undeniable sex appeal, and evidently intended to tease him with it. She was a bad woman, selfish and cruel, but that seemed not to detract from her allure.

Citizen Tan disappeared. Mach was alone with Tania. At least he did not have to say “sir” to her. She had great power, because of her relationship to the Citizen, but she was legally another serf. “What is your intent?” he inquired, attempting to disengage.

“It occurred to me that you have no romantic interest in this frame, Mach,” she said. “Since we have to work closely together anyway, we might as well enjoy it.”

“You know I am a robot,” he said tightly. “You should have no interest in my type.”

“If truth be told, I am bored with human men, and with androids,” she said. “You are not just any robot; you are the most advanced model on the planet, and you have demonstrated abilities worthy of any living male. I believe you will be interesting.”

“I am married.”

“Not in Proton. Come, Mach, kiss me.”

“There is no requirement that I do such a thing.”

“Shall I tell my brother that you are uncooperative?”

“Obviously Citizen Tan will react in whatever manner he has decided to. Why should you wish to initiate a type of relationship that can only complicate a strained situation?”

“I doubt you need to know that,” she said. “But I don’t doubt you can figure it out for yourself. Now kiss me, and we shall proceed.”

“Proceed with what?”

She laughed, her breasts moving against him. “Assimilation of your new information, of course. Did you think to have your desire of me within minutes?”

“I have no desire of you!”

“Perhaps not yet.” She lifted her face, waiting. Mach realized that she intended to establish her control over the situation by making him do what she chose. She could have no physical desire for him; it was not in her nature as either an aloof woman or the sister of a Citizen. Obviously sex was merely a tool to her—in this case, a tool to embarrass him. If he didn’t kiss her, she would require more of him, making him regret his resistance.

He lowered his face and kissed her. He felt a surge of guilt, thinking of Fleta. But he damped it down, realizing that he really had no choice. Perhaps after playing with him for a time, Tania would lose interest, as a cat did with a dead bird. Tania broke, with a flicker of irritation. “As if you mean it,” she said. “Again.”

“Whatever I show, I will not mean it,” he said.

“Perhaps not yet,” she repeated, waiting. He kissed her again, as if he meant it. Unfortunately his circuits were cued to a degree to his actions; it was a feed back loop that normally enhanced his human emulation. That meant that to an extent he did mean it, at least for the moment. This time she was satisfied. “Now speak the formulae,” she said.

“They will be meaningless to you.”

“But they will be recorded. They may not be meaningless to our analysts.”

He doubted that, because in five years no one other than the Oracle had been able to make sense of the strange statements he had brought from the Book of Magic. It was as if the magic were in some alien language that only the Oracle spoke. That was another reason that progress had been so slow.

However, he was obliged to humor her. He spoke the formulae, and Tania listened as if interested. It did not take long.

“Now we shall send the child on her way, and go to the Oracle,” she said.

Nepe! He had almost forgotten her! He was getting more human all the time, and suffering the liabilities of the state. A true machine forgot nothing that was not expressly erased. Of course he was no longer a true machine; half his current experience was human, in Phaze. There he was called the Robot Adept (or, as the natives had it, “Rovot”), but he was really a living man with considerable power of magic. Per haps it wasn’t surprising that the human liabilities as well as the human delights carried across the frames. They emerged to the front office. The child was sitting on the desk, watching a cartoon on the receptionist’s screen, her little legs swinging and tapping the desk. Nepe looked up immediately. “Were you surprised, Uncle?”

“You knew?” he asked, surprised again.

“Oh, sure. Did she vamp you yet?”

Mach froze, appalled at both the question and Tania’s likely reaction.

“Not yet,” Tania said, laughing.

“Oh, goody! Can I watch, then?”

“But—“ Mach started.

“Certainly,” Tania said. She turned back to Mach, and put her arms around him, drawing herself close. “Kiss me,” she said.

“This is pointless and unnecessary,” he said, not yielding.

“If you don’t,” Tania murmured, “I shall make demands on you that are apt to embarrass you before the child.” He knew her well enough to have no doubt of her sincerity. Fuming in a manner that would have done credit to a living person, he bent his head to kiss her.

Nepe clapped her hands, applauding. “She’s making you do it!” she exclaimed. “I bet Tsetse she would!”

“Tsetse?” he repeated, chagrined at the openness of this matter.

“Tsetse—my receptionist,” Tania explained, misunderstanding. She pronounced the name as Nepe had, but with the t’s sounded. “I brought in my own personnel, since I am to handle this case. I named her, because she is good at making men sleep. Does she please you?”

“I have no interest in her,” Mach said. What a name to hang on such a pretty woman! Tania’s cruelty was showing. Tania turned to the woman. “Take Nepe to her ship.”

“No, I’ll do that!” Mach said.

“So you do have an interest in her,” Tania said, “because she affects the welfare of your niece.”

“To that degree,” Mach agreed. What was Tania trying to do? He saw no consistent pattern in her actions. Tania read his doubt. “I am showing you that there are ways and ways I can affect your interests if you cross me. We have a covenant, and no one will be hurt. But you could have to do things you dislike, and the child could witness things you prefer she did not. Now Tsetse will escort her safely to her ship, and you and I will dally on the way to the Oracle. Need more be said?”

This ruthless woman would do whatever she thought would be effective in bending his will to hers. Already she had let him know that he would do what she wished in a social sense, or see her ire taken out on little Nepe. His robot logic made it clear: it was better to do whatever Tania wanted. If she overstepped her bounds, Citizen Tan would call her up short. But that could mean having an affair with her. As a man or robot in the frame of Proton, he had no technical reason not to; his marriage to Fleta had no bearing here. But emotionally the prospect appalled him. His body was the one Bane used, when they exchanged, and so Agape was concerned, while his mind was in love with Fleta, making Fleta concerned. Thus it was not a simple matter of catering to the demands of a demanding woman without any emotional involvement, as a normal robot could do. There were deep social conflicts. That seemed to be why Tania was doing it. Was it merely her normal cruelty, or was there some more sinister reason? He was profoundly dismayed by this devel opment.

“I’ll be fine. Uncle, and so will you,” Nepe said, jumping off the desk to take Tsetse’s hand. “Thanks for the game and the demstration!”

“You are welcome, Nepe,” he said, wishing he had never brought her here. Obviously he had played into Tania’s hands. Yet the child seemed quite satisfied, and she was evidently not entirely innocent of the games adults played. This could not be accounted for by the malice of either Citizen Tan or his sister.

Nepe and the receptionist departed. Mach braced himself for Tania’s dalliance, seeing no alternative. But she surprised him. “I have no greater personal or social interest in you, Mach, than you have in me, “she said. “Certainly I have no need to coerce you into anything. I can have any plaything I desire, with no difficulty. I do confess that a challenge is intriguing, and you are a challenge, but at this stage I want only to impress on you the current realities.”

“You have done so,” he said gruffly.

“With that understanding, we may proceed to the Oracle.” Mach nodded grimly. The worst of it was that her evident personal interest in him, for whatever cynical reason, evoked a complementary interest; he was now aware of the beauty and texture of her body. Even her mind intrigued him. Fleta was straightforward and honest and positive and nice, and he loved her; Tania was devious and dishonest and negative and cruel, and he knew little of this type, and found it uncannily fascinating. Fleta was completely open; he always knew where she stood and how she felt. Tania was the opposite, which gave her the quality of mystery—and that lured him in the manner of a candle with a moth. He was disgusted with him self, but the lure remained.

She nodded in return, her eyes narrowing appraisingly. She was experienced enough to know the type of appeal she had for men. “The time will come when I do not have to tell you to kiss me,” she said. “Like all males, you are fascinated by bad women.”

Mach did not answer, as there was no honest refutation he could make. He set up a circuit mask that would detune his awareness of her physical features and prevent him from reacting to them, but there was no simple way to do the same for his emotion. He had learned too much of the living response, these past five years, and hardly cared to diminish that lest it affect his relationship with Fleta. “Oracle,” Tania said to the desk. It responded to her voice, and put through the call to the Oracle. This took a minute, as the Oracle was a highly restricted apparatus. It had resided for many generations in Phaze, until Stile had engineered its exchange with the Book of Magic, making both fully operative.

“Sit at the desk,” she directed him.

“There is no need,” he said. “I do not fatigue.”

“I see you are after all a slow learner. Sit.” Mach circled the desk and took the comfortable chair vacated by the receptionist.

Tania followed, and sat in his lap. He had to do an emergency short-out of his tactile receptors in that region to prevent a reaction as her firm naked buttocks made contact. There was no subtlety whatsoever in her approach, but it remained effective. “Every time you balk, I will react unpredictably,” she said, reaching across him to touch a button in the chair.

Abruptly his receptors turned on again. “What?” he exclaimed, startled.

“I have nulled your shorting mechanism,” she said, tensing and relaxing a buttock. “Did you suppose I knew nothing of robotics? This office is appropriately equipped.” He should have known. His machine defenses were useless here. He was no Adept, in this frame, and that made him vulnerable. She could make him react when she chose to.

“Oracle.” It was the connection. With relief, Mach plunged into his recitation of formulae, tuning out his body’s awareness of hers.

But all too soon the information had been covered. The Oracle signed off; it would now devote itself to integrating the new information with the old, and compiling the whole into something useful to the Adepts. Mach’s job was done, for the moment.

“Have you learned your lesson?” Tania inquired, turning so that her left breast pressed against his chest.

“Yes.” But he doubted this would satisfy her at this stage. She considered him a challenge, and that would motivate her even if she found him sexually repulsive.

“How nice. But perhaps I should make certain. I must say, I had forgotten the pleasure of seducing an unwilling male. I think we shall be seeing a good deal of each other this month.” She twisted around, her thighs sliding across his thighs, her breasts making better contact. The sensations sent electrical pulses through his body, and both his mind and his loin responded. Damn that override she had turned on! He was unable to curtail any of his natural reactions. She reached up to draw his face into hers. Her tan hair spread out, framing her face, descending to brush against his body. Her tan irises seemed to grow large. She kissed him, and he was aware of his resistance crumbling. She was an infernally attractive figure of a woman, never mind her unattractive nature, and his body wanted hers. There was a ping from the screen. Tania paused, a quirk of annoyance twisting her mouth.

“What?” she rapped.

“Notice of problem,” the screen said, showing matching words. “The child Nepe has gone astray.”

“What?” This time it was Mach, unable to damp down his alarm circuitry.

“She boarded her plane,” the screen said and printed. “It took off. It disappeared from surveillance. It seems unlikely to arrive at its destination.”

“That’s impossible!” Tania exclaimed. “Recheck!” She started to get up.

Mach’s arms clamped around her body with the power of machinery. “That child is covered by the covenant!” he said. “As is Agape—and my wife and child in Phaze.”

“I know she is!” Tania said. “We haven’t done this!”

“Haven’t you?” One of his hands closed on her upper arm and began to squeeze. Now the override prevented him from moderating his developing emotion of anger. “You thought to distract me while you acted against my niece?” He was hurting her, but she refused to cry out.

“I thought to seduce you, yes. Nothing more. No harm to Nepe. Now let me go so I can pursue this matter.”

He realized that it would make no sense for the Contrary Citizens to make such a move, even after they gained suffi cient information to achieve their power in Proton. He and Bane remained the Citizens’ only contact with the opposite frames. He released her. His desire for her body had been nullified by his awareness of the threat to Nepe. Quickly Tania ascertained that the plane, flying preprogrammed, had at first suffered what appeared to be a malfunction of the tracking equipment. It had ceased to show on the screen. But when they compensated by orienting with another tracker, they had been unable to locate it. A direct physical check had also failed to turn it up. A crash in the polluted desert was a strong possibility; a robot search party was now proceeding to the site of last observation.

“The timing remains suggestive,” Mach said tightly.

“What reason would we have to take her out, knowing it would jeopardize your cooperation?” Tania asked, looking genuinely nervous.

“This is what I am trying to ascertain. Your receptionist conducted her to the plane. She could have planted something on the craft, or sent a signal to an accomplice. While you made sure I was not there, because I might have interfered. It all fits together rather neatly: Citizen Tan stepping aside at this time for you, your hireling taking the child—”

“No!” she cried. “The timing is coincidence! We were trying only to—”

“You did set this up?” he asked, stepping toward her.

“No! Not to hurt the child! We have nothing to do with mat! We don’t want anything to happen to her! We want her on our side!”

“What are you talking about? Nepe is only four years old! She’s no part of the struggle between Citizens.”

“But she will be! She—“ Tania stopped, realizing that she had said too much.

“I think I had better question you more authoritatively.”

She drew herself up angrily. “You have no right!”

“Listen, Tania, you are a serf, just as I am. If your brother dies, you may inherit his Citizenship—but if my father dies, I may inherit his. You are human, I am a robot, but you are no better than I am either legally or socially. Not till your side wins it’s case against Citizen Blue and starts subverting the new order. You gained my acquiescence to your advances only because I care for the welfare of my niece. Do you wish to try whether your good will is more precious to the Citizens than mine? Do you wish to try whether I will not destroy you as readily as I would have played sex with you, if that child is in peril by your device? Whether I can do this with impunity, as long as I continue to bring across the formulae your Citizens require? In that case, summon your brother and put it to him before I do. It was my love for Fleta that brought me to your side, but I believe the Adept Stile would accept our union now. It is honor, not love or fear, that keeps me in your camp, and it is dishonor on your part that will break that tie. You have one way to establish the nature of your complicity in this matter, and you will do that now or suffer the consequence.”

“You damned arrogant machine!” she flared. “You should be junked! No one talks to me that way and lives!”

“I am not alive. What is your decision?”

“I hate you!”

Mach smiled. “I take that to be your acquiescence.”

“Yes,” she whispered, defeated. In that moment of her genuine humiliation, he found her more appealing than she had been when arrogant. Stripped of her imperialistic manner and her cruelty, she could be a truly attractive woman.

Mach spoke to the desk. “One interrogation unit to this site,” he said. He realized that the receptionist was late returning; probably she was under orders to stay clear until her mistress had completed the seduction of the robot. That particular plot had gone awry! But if Nepe was in trouble—

“But a condition,” Tania said.

“No conditions! I mean to have the truth!”

“You pride yourself on honor,” she said, speaking so low that her voice hardly carried. “Deal with me with honor.”

“You never dealt with me with honor!”

“That is irrelevant. You are not me.”

She had a point. “What are you asking?”

“If I demean myself in this manner, and prove out, you owe me.”

“Owe you what?”

She merely looked at him.

Mach was shaken. Could she be telling the truth? If so, his humiliation of her would prove to have been unjustified. He would, indeed, owe her, by his code. But she was a clever, nervy woman; she could be bluffing, trying to make him change his mind without proof.

“Granted,” he said shortly. And felt a twinge of guilt. Had he any right to make such a bargain, regardless of the situation?

Tania went to the desk. “Admit the machine, then seal off all communications until further notice,” she said. She sat in the chair.

Thus this questioning would be only between the two of them. The interrogation unit would not tell; it would be erased after use. No one else would know what happened here, unless one of them told.

The unit arrived. It was a standard cylindrical robot, with several extensible arms and assorted recesses. “Subject?” its speaker grille inquired.

“Me,” Tania said.

The machine rolled to her. Efficiently it fastened metallic bracelets on her wrists, ankles and head. She submitted to this with unconcealed aversion, but made no move to interfere.

“Testing,” the machine said. “Speak truth: what is your name and station?”

“Tania, human, serf, heir to Citizen Tan.”

“Speak false: what is your name and station?”

“Mach, robot, serf, heir to Citizen Blue.” Mach had to smile; she had given his identification, true for him but a falsehood for her.

“Speak half-truth: a statement of your choosing.”

“I am in love with Mach.”

Mach was startled. Could any part of that be true? He had assumed that her play for him was entirely cynical. “Alignment is complete,” the interrogator said. “Proceed.”

Her half-truth had aligned? This promised mischief of another nature!

Though shaken by her statement, Mach knew he had to make this count, because he would never get another opportunity. He could not afford to let any aspect of the truth slip by him.

He started obliquely, because now he wanted a broader truth than he had initially. “Why did you attempt to seduce me? Provide such detail as you believe is warranted to clarify this matter.”

“That is not relevant!” she flared.

“I believe it is, because Nepe disappeared while you were doing this.”

Indeed, the interrogator challenged it. “Subject’s statement is false,” it said.

She grimaced. She was in no sense drugged or under any duress other than the need to tell the truth or be immediately exposed in her lie. “It was my brother’s plan. Fleta humiliated him and got away. Now she is back in Phaze; he can not reach her, either physically or by the terms of the covenant. But he can not rest until he has his satisfaction of her. Therefore he asked me to win you away from her. That would be a fitting vengeance for him, that can reach her wherever she is. In addition, this would bind you more firmly to our cause, so it is practical; that is why the other Citizens agreed. Nepe is involved only in the sense that she would be affected by the breakup of the marriage of her parents.”

She paused. After a moment the interrogator spoke. “That is not the whole truth.”

Tania’s lips tightened. “I had no need to agree to this, because I am his sister and his heir. He could have used Tsetse for this purpose; indeed, that was the original plan. But I volunteered, because it is better to keep it in the family; it would be dangerous to have my employee gain your loyalty. She might get notions of independence. With me, there would be no risk, because never would I betray the interests of the Citizenship I am slated to inherit.”

Another pause. Then: “That is not the whole truth.”

“It is enough of it!” she snapped.

“True,” the interrogator agreed.

Mach was surprised again. She had backed off the machine! But his own curiosity had been aroused. “Give the rest anyway,” he said.

“You owe me,” she reminded him.

“If you prove out.”

“I was influenced by more than loyalty to my brother and my side,” she said. “For a decade I have known of this sophisticated robot, Mach. I am older than he, but this has little relevance in our society. At first I was outraged that he should be designated heir to a Citizen. But when he established communication with his other self, and went to Phaze, I realized that he was much more than a robot. I saw the mischief he made for our side, and I learned how he became an Adept in the other frame. I know how hard it is to do that. I studied him, and was fascinated with him, as a machine who had become human. That was all there was to it, until the time of our dominance neared, and we knew that the enemy had to make his countermove soon or be forever lost. Then it seemed wise to bind Mach more tightly to us, and the Citizens were ready to give my brother his vengeance. Then, as I considered the advantage of doing the job myself, I realized that my interest was more than this. I have found no man worthy of more than occasional dalliance; but Mach, though he is a robot, may be worthy. I became intrigued to the point of fascination. My mission may be one thing, but my heart is another, and I want him. It was my intent to seduce him first, then wean him away from Fleta by repeated demonstrations of my effectiveness as a lover, and, perhaps, to love him myself. In the end, perhaps, to win Bane also. Because these two represent our only known contact with the frame of Phaze, and Phaze remains a dream for all of us, even those of us who have never seen it, a magic world like none other. I would give my power and pride to live in Phaze, the frame where enchantment is literal. If Mach could take me there, or exchange me with my other self there for a time, as he did with Agape—the very notion, however farfetched, fills me with an unutterable longing, and I would love him for it no matter what else occurred between us. And that is the whole of it.”

“That is the whole of it,” the interrogator agreed. It did make sense. Tania might be arrogant and cynical, but she had desires too, and she wanted the best for herself. He understood her longing for Phaze; that longing had never left him. So there was genuine desire, under her artificiality. But what of Nepe?

“Tell what you know or suspect of Nepe’s disappearance.”

“I used her only as a lever to force your acquiescence. I know nothing of any plot against her, and do not believe that there is any. Her disappearance is a mystery to me. Indeed, I am chagrined by it, because it completely destroyed my initiative with you.”

There was the pause. “That is the whole truth,” the interrogator said.

Mach, amazed, tried once more. “Do you know of any other plot against me or Nepe or Agape, or have you any suspicion of such?”

“No.”

“That is not the whole truth.”

“Damn that machine!” she flared again. “Only in the sense that the child is valuable. She is developing powers that could make her a significant asset to our side. She might even learn to communicate with her opposite in Phaze. Therefore we have instituted a watch on her, to ensure that we know at such time as her powers develop. We have no plot against her, only the intent to keep her with us, by whatever means is required. Her disappearance is as much a concern to us as to you, Mach, and we shall make every effort to recover her unharmed. That is the whole truth.”

And the interrogator agreed.

Surely she would have known or suspected, had there been any plot. She had exonerated herself and her side. “But Nepe is considered retarded,” he said.

“She is not. She hides her developing abilities from you. We see this because we have tracked her constantly, when she is not in the protected suite of her grandfather. Recently we have observed less; we suspect this is not because she is slowing, but because she has learned of our observation.”

“But how could she have escaped your surveillance?”

“We are very interested in learning that. I can only conjecture that some third party has taken action.” Then she looked directly at him. “We really are on the same side, Mach, in this respect.”

“That is the truth,” the interrogator said. So it had come to nothing. Tania was relatively innocent, and he knew no more of Nepe’s disappearance than he had before. “I must go to her mother,” he said.

“Remember!” she called as he turned away. “You owe me, Mach!”

“That is true,” the interrogator said as Mach left. He went to Agape’s apartment and put his hand against the door panel. It recognized him and admitted him immediately. She was there. When he was inside, she touched a button, and an opacity closed about them. It was the privacy shield, normally invoked for lovemaking; but she knew he was not Bane, and there was none of that between them. She was out of focus, and he knew she had been, in her fashion, crying. Her alien flesh did not lend itself readily to this; instead it melted, making her features formless. Evidently she was holding her shape only with an effort, because of this crisis.

“I questioned Tania with an interrogator,” he said without preamble. “She is innocent of this. She wishes to seduce me and subvert me, in an effort to punish Fleta for humiliating Tan, but she has no complicity in Nepe’s disappearance. It seems that some third party whose identity we do not know is responsible. That means that Nepe is probably unhurt, but captive. The Citizens will do everything they can to recover her, because they believe that she has or will have powers we do not suspect. I came to reassure you of that.”

“Nepe is safe,” Agape said.

He paused, assessing this. “You have information of a tangible nature?” He did not want her to delude herself.

“Your father sent a message. It arrived just before you. He—he engineered this. Or they did. Stile and Blue. Nepe got the message, and knew it was time, and she escaped.”

“Nepe did it? But she’s a little child, and the Citizens were watching, and the plane was programmed! And—“ He stared at her. “Stile? How could he—I brought no message from him!”

“Nepe and Flach—they made contact,” she said. “They were waiting for the signal. Stile sent word to Flach, and he gave it as you exchanged, and Nepe knew then. She is hiding.”

Mach’s circuits were overloaded with this seeming nonsense. “No one else has contact between the frames! Only Bane and me!”

“And the children. We never suspected. They have gone into hiding.”

“From us?’ he asked, appalled.

“From the enemy we serve. They will work with the other side. The Citizens and Adepts suspected; that is why they watched. But the children eluded them, and now no one knows where they are, except perhaps Stile and Blue, and they will not tell.”

“So they were not retarded,” he said, remembering his conversation with Stile, and Stile’s certainty. Now, also, he remembered odd things Nepe had said, indicating her knowl edge of what she was about to do. He had been caught as flat-footed as the Contrary Citizens!

“They were far, far ahead of us,” she agreed. “They planned for most of their lives. Now they are gone. I can not say I am unhappy.”

Then, despite her words, she dissolved.

Mach knew how she felt, because he realized that he had lost Flach in the same manner. He and Bane were on the wrong side, but their children were not. What was to come of this? Would the children be able to remain hidden? Would they even survive? They had kept their secret, and keot it astonishingly well, but they were only four years

He almost envied her this most tan