Tania finally was able to speak. “It be not that; it were a shock I knew false e’en as spoken. It be that an our search end, we three or four need travel together no more.”
“And thou canst be with him no more,” Fleta said.
“She has no call to be with him!” Mach said. “He loves Agape!”
“In Proton-frame,” Fleta said.
“That suffices. Would you have me loving the Proton Tania?”
That gave Fleta pause. “An she be like this one, now—”
“Nay!” Tania cried. “We all know this be but a trap reversed! I sought to snare Bane, and was myself snared. My fate be justice. I bring it up only to show I can comment not on whether to bring in thy son, Fleta, ‘cause I want the search to end ne’er, fool that I be to ‘fess it.”
Mach looked squarely at her, abruptly quite interested. “Tania, are you saying that if we bypassed this village, you would not object?”
“Nay! That be treachery to my cause!” But she was speaking only part of the truth. “Yet, an Bane asked me…”
“Yes, I see you speak truly. But I agreed to serve your side, and I shall not betray that agreement, though my heart lies elsewhere. I shall recover my son, and he shall work on your side. We shall deliver the final power to the Adverse Adepts. Then, perhaps my onus will be abated.”
“O’ course,” Tania agreed sadly.
“Aye,” Fleta said, as sadly.
“It is a matter of honor,” Mach said. “Translucent trusts me, and trusts Bane, because of it. This is the way it is.”
“Aye,” the two said together, and turned away.
“In the morning we shall do it.” Then he conjured an entire house, stocked with everything a house required, including a separate bedroom for Tania.
But before she slept, Fleta knocked. “Aye, I would share him, with thine other self in Proton-frame,” she said. “But it be, as he put it, moot.”
“Thou dost be a nice person.”
“What willst thou, anon?”
“Thou didst show the way, once.” For Fleta, believing her love doomed, had once tried to throw herself off a cliff to her death.
Fleta was shocked. “But he would come rescue thee not!”
“Aye. Then it be soon o’er.”
“I beg thee, rush not into such!”
Tania shrugged. “Doubtless I lack the courage, anyway.”
That was all; there was no more to be said. Both of them were crying, silently.
Chapter 6
Nepe
Citizen Purple put through a query: “Troubot, what is the latest pattern on werewolves?”
“Sir, it is unchanged since your last query,” the troubleshooter robot responded. The machine was not at Purple’s site; it was on a special network that connected only selected personnel. It was one of the few self-willed machines still used by the Contrary Citizens, because it was uncannily good at its job, and related well to each client. There was a difference between machines, and compatible ones were valued.
The Citizen said a bad word. “Query the boy.” This was part of it: Troubot knew what and whom he meant when he wasn’t specific.
“Query initiated. Will you wait, sir?”
“No. Buzz me back when you have the new pattern.” Purple was a surly brute, but he never refused a call from this machine.
Troubot did not answer. It proceeded about its business. It was paging the residence of Bane, the man from Phaze, who had just transferred in to Proton. When there was no response after a reasonable interval, it paged him at the residence of Agape, his wife.
“Damn thee, Troubot, canst thou not wait?” Bane responded irritably. “I be romancing my love at the moment.” There were no secrets from this machine; it did not tell.
“Your love must be delayed a moment,” the machine responded. “Citizen Purple requires the latest pattern. You forgot to post your survey report, as usual.”
“Thou impertinent golem! It be a full month I have suffered the temptations o’ the evil female Tania, longing always for mine own female. I be near to bursting!”
“I have no sympathy. Make your report.”
“Nay! This be more urgent!”
But Agape interceded, managing to control her mirth. “Make your report, my love. We don’t want to set Purple off.”
“The merry hell with Purple! He be no better than his other self in Phaze, and that be too low to fathom with a magic measuring rod! I have a better subject to fathom.”
Agape cocked her head at him. “And just what were these temptations Tania worked on you, that got you so much more lusty than you ever are with me?”
“Needs must I do that report for Purple,” he said quickly.
“Because her other self here in Proton is just like her, and she seems much smitten with Mach, and so also perhaps with you. If you really believe she can offer you more—”
“I be on my way!” he cried, leaping up despite his evident state of readiness for their liaison. Agape smiled; she knew how to manage him.
So, grudgingly, Bane listed the information gleaned during the last week of his stay in Phaze. This consisted of routine statistics about Packs checked and wolf pups shifted between Packs. Such reports had been made throughout the four-year search, as the party of Bane/Mach, Fleta and Tania methodically canvassed human villages, unicorn Herds, vampire Flocks and other groups, narrowing down the remaining hiding places for the child Flach.
“Thank you, Bane,” Troubot said as he concluded. “Now you may return to your prior endeavor. I note however that your state of readiness has diminished; do you need any assistance?”
Bane had to laugh. “None thou couldst provide, rovot! Go about thy business, and bother me not again this hour.”
Troubot did not reply; it had been given a direct command, so obeyed it. However, within its frame of service it had fair latitude for discretion, and would indeed bother Bane again if it came across news it knew he desired immediately. It addressed each client in the manner specified by that client; with some it was always serious, and with others, such as Bane, it bantered. Living folk soon became bored with pure business, so Troubot embellished its business just enough to provide some variety.
This was of course well within the capabilities of a self-willed machine. Indeed, it could be difficult at times to tell whether one was dealing with a machine or a living person. Those on Troubot’s net had come to depend on it increasingly for small services, and some even, in a manner, liked the machine for its personality.
No one, however, suspected it of being anything other than a robot. This was its victory—because it was not precisely a machine. It had come into existence in its present role four years before, just before the child Nepe had disappeared. The records showed that it had been manufactured, educated and tested, but had proved to be out of tolerance for the purpose for which it had been crafted, so that it had been rejected. Because it was a self-willed machine, it begged indulgence: to be retrained rather than recycled, so that it would not lose its present consciousness. This appeal had been rejected; it was not a humanoid machine, so lacked serf status, and had no right to its present existence.
Troubot had fled this judgment. It had shown up at the residence of Citizen White and begged sanctuary.
“Sanctuary—for a machine?” the Citizen had asked derisively.
“I will give good service!” Troubot said. “Train me in whatever you will, and I will serve loyally. Only keep me from being scrapped and recycled!”
It happened that Citizen White had been having trouble with machines, requiring more sophisticated services than could be well provided by rote robots. The Contrary Citizens as a group had eschewed the use of the higher-class robots, fearing their subversion by Citizen Blue. It occurred to her that she might indeed have uses for a renegade self-willed machine, unconnected to the main group of them. She could not have it modified in the regular manner, because that would have entailed access to its circuits by self-willed technicians,
so she tried training it by hand: telling it what she wanted, and letting it train itself. Troubot became her personal attendant, fixing her hair, applying her makeup, and dressing her for special occasions. It did indeed give good service, being pathetically eager to please.
Later she had the machine run errands for her—private ones that she did not want passed through official circuits. It showed aptitude, and other Citizens noticed. In due course it was running errands for them, too. When there were private trysts to be made, Troubot coordinated them. Tania’s lovely serf receptionist Tsetse was much in demand in this respect.
Citizens could hire any serfs they chose, and do with them what they chose, but Tsetse was Tania’s employee, and Tania reserved her for herself, and her brother Citizen Tan supported her in that. Citizen Purple, working through Troubot, had gained access to Tsetse without Tania’s knowledge. Tsetse had been willing enough for male contact of any kind, and kept the secret, knowing that Tania would destroy her if she learned. Thus Purple owed White, in whose residence the trysts occurred, and accepted Troubot as an entity of consequence, because the robot was the intermediary.
In such manner, over the years, Troubot had become secure in the employment of the Contrary Citizens, trusted by all. The self-willed machines had long since given up the effort to have Troubot recycled; the protection of the Citizens was too potent.
Physically, Troubot was a wheeled cylinder with appendages. Most of the time Troubot did not move about, but plugged into the standard networks in order to do spot research or contact specific Citizens. It moved from Citizen White’s residence only when directed to do so. During White’s absences, Troubot became caretaker of the premises. Citizen White regarded it as indispensable, and others did not argue.
But Troubot was not exactly a machine. The records had been slightly modified by sophisticated means, so that, after the first few hours, no discovery was likely. Troubot was two entities: one a machine, the other an alien creature with human genes, and abilities few imagined. Troubot One was as described, but was not working under its original title. Troubot Two had taken its place, and had once been known as Nepe, Agape’s child.
This secure masquerade was about to be placed in peril.
For Nepe was naturally the first to appreciate the significance of the new pattern Purple had demanded.
In Phaze, the searching trio was about to close in on the werewolf Pack of Kurrelgyre. They had cross-checked the pups traveling between Packs, and discovered one that didn’t fit. This was the one that was Flach.
Nepe had served the Citizens with absolute loyalty, excepting only the revelation of her identity. She had even assisted in their search for her, knowing it to be futile; they had never suspected that she could assume the form of a robot. In this manner she had been not only safe, but kept current on their searches in both frames. She had also been able to associate with her parents, so that she had not been nearly as lonely as she might have been. Indeed, she had come to understand a great deal more about their private life together than she had before, and in the process had learned more about sexuality than a child was normally told. She had compared notes with Flach, who had the input of wolf ways, and both had profited. But now she knew that the crisis was upon them again, as it had been when Flach sent her the “hide” message. Her hiding place was secure, but his was not—and the moment he was caught, she would be too, because of their linkage.
She paused a few minutes, considering. She dared not wait long before notifying Citizen Purple, but she had to decide her course of action first. She was older now than she had been, and vastly more experienced intellectually, but she knew she would have no chance to resist the Citizens if she were discovered. What should she do?
She had thought this through before, and decided on a risky effort. It seemed to her that its chances of success were at best even—but the consequences of inaction would guarantee the loss of their freedom. Now that the crisis had come, as she had known it would despite hoping for some reprieve, she saw no better alternative than that risky course.
She would have to save Flach from capture.
Nepe set her situation in order as well as she could, arranging things so that they could proceed mostly automatically. When she had adopted this machinelike form, she had also adopted machinelike ways; her mind emulated robotic circuitry. A simple directive could accomplish a fairly complicated task. She made sure that her body could function with minimum input, so that it would not betray her nature in her absence.
Then she put in a call to Troubot One, using an access code that only the two of them knew. Troubot answered immediately; he was Nepe’s closest friend, and he knew he owed his consciousness to her. It had been her genius that had enabled him to hide while she emulated him and got him the placement with Citizen White. Once that was secure, they had exchanged places, and he had had an easy menial job. Later, when Nepe had to hide, she had taken his place again, and he had hidden. Since he was no longer the object of a search, that was easy to do; he simply merged with unwilled machines, intercepting their orders and performing their tasks himself. He had excellent adaptive ability, having been constructed as an all-purpose servitor. His flaw had been in the brain: it was out of tolerance on the upside. In short, he was too smart and too independent. But neither as smart nor as independent as Nepe!
“Troubot, I must do something dangerous,” she informed him. “I will be of limited function for a while. You must watch me, and substitute for me if I get confused. There is great danger.”
“Let me do this dangerous task for you!” he pleaded. “I love you, and would not let you be hurt.”
“I love you too, Troubot.” She knew how that could be, too, because her father used Uncle Mach’s robot body in Proton. It was natural that she should emulate her mother, and love a machine, or the equivalent. It was hardly necessary to be in humanoid form in order to love! “But this thing I must do myself. Here is my update on current activities.”
“I can readily handle these,” he agreed. “But this danger—”
“I may be going somewhere,” she explained. “Another mind may use my body. I fear it is not safe to tell you more. Just protect this one as you would me.”
“That I shall do,” he agreed. He sent a trace current that translated as emotion: concern, appreciation, loyalty.
“Thank you, Troubot,” she replied, sending a similar surge.
Then she braced herself for the supreme effort. What she contemplated had never been done before, but she believed it was possible. It was the only way to do what had to be done, so it had to be possible!
When she was as ready as she could be, she did another new thing: she contacted Flach without using the cover of their fathers’ contact. Flach! Flach!
His response was startled. Nepe! There be no cover!
This is an emergency, she returned. They know where you are. They are closing in. You can’t escape.
We have had wind of their approach. I must try to get away! I have a plan. If they capture me, they’ll make me betray thee, and then they’ll have us both.
I know, Flach. But they are not going to be fooled. That’s why I must save you. My hiding place is safe. We must exchange. You hide here; I will hide your body there.
But we can ne’er—
Yes we can! We are opposite selves. I know it!
But we be male and female!
Doesn’t matter. My substance can assume either sex. Now do it, before they tune in and locate us this way.
Flach, realizing that crazy as this seemed, it was their only chance, agreed. But first I must get to a private place, and warn my wolf-mates. They will help; they can be trusted.
I hope so. Nepe knew the names of the wolves; he had told her of the oath-friendships when they occurred. She gave him time to do what he needed.
It turned out to be more complicated than they had thought. The oath-friends insisted on helping. They pointed out that it would be the next day before the Adept party arrived
. They would go on a hunt, the four of them, and make their first Kill. That would be their pretext for ranging far from the Pack. When they were far enough away, they would make a break for it, and the Adepts would not be able to catch them. It would be dark, and the cover of night would help; the Adepts might even sleep through it.
Nepe had to agree that this was worth trying. If he could get free without having to exchange, it would save them a lot of trouble. She was afraid that the Adepts or the Citizens would tune in on their communications, but since they had never done this openly before, it might be that no one was checking now.
The wolves organized immediately. Kurrelgyre, pleased with their initiative, approved, and even suggested an appropriate region to hunt, where rabbits were plentiful this season. The four assumed wolf-forms and moved out together.
There were no communications for a time. Nepe knew that Flach was sparing her the dull details of a run through forest and fields, as well as protecting them both from discovery by keeping his contact limited. He would be in touch when something happened.
Just at dusk he called her. Nepe! I made a kill! I got a rabbit, all by myself. Sirel got another!
But you didn’t go to make a kill! she protested.
I didn’t expect to make a kill! he corrected her. But it be the pretext, and it be a significant thing in wolven terms. Now Sirel and I can assume our third syllables, and can commit to our first mating, and take the fourth.
Mating! Flach, you are too young!
Nay, wolves can do it sooner than human folk. It takes not, but be good experience. It would be abnormal for us to do it not as soon as possible. Of course the first mating be ne’er the one for later breeding; that partner be forbidden. It be a thing best arranged between oath-friends, which we be.
Nepe realized that Flach’s main protection was in his similarity to the other wolves of the Pack. The longer he could act like a wolf while ranging farther from the Pack, the better chance he might have to get away. Mate with her then, and get it over with! she thought ungraciously.