Tania held out her hand. “Touch me with thy horn, and verify.”
Neysa bowed her forehead, touching the horn-button to the hand. The touch was true; the woman was speaking truth.
“Now believe this too,” Tania continued, drawing back and waggling her finger as if making a savage point. “There be a geas o’ silence on Flach, imposed by Purple. Translucent liked it not, but came so close to losing the lad that Purple gained leverage and imposed this. Flach dare not commune with Nepe in the other frame, lest his dam and her alien mother be killed. In this way our side gains power and thy side does not.”
“The geas!” Neysa exclaimed.
“Now have I told thee. Now have I truly betrayed my side. An thou wishest to see me die, thou has but to tell o’ this, mare.”
“But why? Why dost thou do this thing?”
“When I came to love Bane, I came also to assume some o’ his values, strange though they be. Now I be friend to Fleta. I would not see her die, or Agape in Proton. Or kept prisoner till my side wins, and then needed not more, and die anyway.”
“But an that happened, thou wouldst have clear access to Bane!”
“Aye. But now I would take him not that way. This be the measure o’ my fall.”
“But—”
“Enough, mare; the spell dissipates. Now it be in thy hands. Fleta knows not.”
Indeed, the little bubble was fading out; their privacy of vituperation was gone. Tania turned away as if smoldering; Neysa stood amazed.
Fleta and Flach were looking at her, as if trying to judge the outcome of the encounter. What was she to do?
She had to get away from here! Now she knew what was wrong with the boy—and knew why he had pushed her into the encounter with Tania. He had known Tania would tell what he could not, for he was watched as she was not. The watching Adepts would not have been concerned about the quarrel between Neysa and Tania; that was peripheral. She must not give away its true nature.
She had to hide what had happened. But how? She knew her life would not last long, if the Adepts realized what she had learned. She would have an accident on the way back, or she would die, seemingly of age. The Adepts were not bound by scruples—not the Purple Adept.
Then she realized what she had to do. But she had to hide it from whoever observed, by making a diversion. She had to provide some other seeming effect of her encounter with Tania.
She walked toward Fleta. “An the wicked Adept woman be friend to thee, can I be less?” She opened her arms.
“O my dam!” Fleta cried, and flung herself forward. They met in a solid embrace, Fleta’s tears flowing. “O my Dam! Thou hast forgiven me at last!”
“There be naught to forgive,” Neysa said, and realized it was true as her own tears flowed. By this unexpected device she had been brought to do what she should have done eight years before, and accepted her foal’s decision. The barriers between species were breaking down, with Fleta’s union with Mach, and Bane’s with the alien female, and Suchevane’s with Trool the Troll. Neysa knew she should have been the first, not the last, to accept this new reality.
Then, not daring to dally here, she bid farewell to Flach, resumed her natural form, and set off for the realm of the land. Tania still faced defiantly away. Neysa ignored her, as was proper in the circumstance.
Would she make it safely back? At this stage she didn’t know. The Adepts would not dispatch her without reason, because it would be a pointless act of provocation at a time when they wanted things quiet. But if they suspected…
Then, just as she was about to pass through the bubble wall, she realized that she shouldn’t risk it. She had to act now, to ensure that the situation changed. Going back and telling Stile would take too long and was too risky. There was a much faster and more certain way—one that Flach should have thought of himself, had he not been cowed by the pressure of the situation.
She changed back to woman form. “I forgot the charm!” she exclaimed. Indeed she had; she would need it to pass through the water without drowning.
“I have it!” Flach cried, running up to her.
She accepted the charm, and embraced him. “I be old and forgetful,” she murmured. Then, directly in his ear, she whispered: “Tell Bane as he exchanges. Then wait.” She kissed his ear and drew back, changing back to mare form.
Flach stood, apparently stunned by the simplicity of this solution. He could not commune with Nepe directly, because the Adepts were alert to that, but they would hardly expect him to commune with the man he had so recently seen in person. Bane would tell Mach, and then the two most concerned would know the threat against those they loved. They would know what to do.
Neysa walked on. Even if the Adepts suspected, now, it would do them no good to act against her. The moment Bane and Mach learned of the threats against their wives, hell would begin fermenting in the Adverse ranks!
Chapter 8
Bane
Uncle Bane! An I commune with Nepe, my dam be killed!
Bane, in the process of exchanging with Mach, felt as if he had been knocked out of the connection. He stood in Proton, tuning in, but there was nothing more. Mach! he thought after a moment. Didst thou hear? Yes. That was Flach.
Ne’er did he send to me before! Dost believe he tells truth? Yes. I think we now know why the two have ceased contact. Bane pondered momentarily, as things fell into place. Wouldst call it a violation o’ the covenant? Yes. Our wives were not to be threatened. Then thou hast aught to do in Phaze, and I in Proton. Agreed. We must not commune again until it is done. Thus quickly had their loyalties changed. They had known almost from the outset that they served the wrong side, but had been bound to it by honor. Now that the Adepts—and surely the Citizens—had violated the terms, the two of them were free to do what they wished. They would join Stile and Blue.
They communed no more, for any prolonged contact at this stage would become suspicious. The Adepts and Citizens could monitor the fact of their contact, but not its substance, just as they could monitor the children’s contacts. For a long time the children had communed without being detected, because they did it only when Mach and Bane were communing, and made no separate signal. But after Flach and Nepe exchanged, and almost secured their freedom despite the net closing on Flach, their amazing ability was known, and the monitoring technique had quickly been refined to distinguish their contacts from those of Mach and Bane.
But this single communication was so surprising that Bane knew no provision had been made for it. Flach sending to Bane! And what a message! At one stroke this had solved the riddle of the children’s recent attitude, and sundered the agreement that bound Mach and Bane to the forces opposing Stile and Blue. The parity of the impasse had supposedly been replaced by the parity of mutual connections between the frames. Now it was evident that one side was cheating, in an effort to make the critical breakthrough and assume power.
Bane kept his face straight as he pondered this. He had no trouble concealing his emotions, in this robot body! He had to act normal until he decided how to proceed. If Fleta was threatened in Phaze, Agape would be similarly threatened in Proton.
Yet how was this possible? Neither Mach nor Bane had set up anything like this in either frame—and they represented the only contact the Citizens and Adepts had between frames. Fleta might indeed be in danger in Phaze, but how could Agape be under a similar threat?
Bane knew the Citizens: they would have made it tight. Somehow they had done it; he could not afford to assume otherwise. Perhaps they had made Flach send to Nepe—
But Nepe would not have relayed such a message to the Citizens! A death threat against her mother? She was an amazingly clever girl, and even a stupid one would have realized that the threat could only be real if she told the Citizens. She would have kept it quiet, thus defusing it.
How, then? He came to no answer, yet he was sure there was one. Meanwhile he was proceeding to his rendezvous with Tania, to make his routine report.
He sm
iled internally, grimly. For the past four years, in Proton, Tania had been his liaison with the Citizens. She had tried to seduce Mach, suggesting that he had no woman in Proton and that she was appropriate. Mach had consistently put her off, but never with prejudice, because she could make a lot of mischief if she chose. Bane had made it clear that his love was in Proton, and he would consider nothing else. Still, it had been evident that she would take either of them if she could.
He had agreed with Mach to say nothing to her or anyone else in Proton of the situation with Tania in Phaze. Only to Agape, from whom he kept no secrets, and Troubot, who could be trusted. Troubot! Who had turned out to be Nepe! But still could be trusted.
In Phaze, Tania had used her blandishments openly, and despite the defensive spell Mach had given him, he had felt the impact. When it had become apparent that her ploy had reversed, and she had fallen in love with him, it had been hard not to yield to some degree. When she adopted what he considered to be decent ways, leaving her cynicism and cruelty behind, he was impressed despite his suspicion that this was artifice. When she befriended Fleta he had been more impressed, for Fleta was exceedingly choosey about her associations.
He wished he could discuss the matter with Agape. To what extent was there merit in the proposition that the two frames were separate, and that a man could have a woman in each? Stile and Blue, as alternate selves, had different women. But Mach and Bane, as alternate selves, already had different women. For each to have two—that seemed too much of a stretch of ethics. Yet the temptation existed.
Now he realized that Tania could be useful. He knew a lot about the one in Proton, because of his experience with the one in Phaze. He was sure he could get her help, if it could be done covertly. Perhaps she had been involved in Flach’s action in sending the message; she was there with Fleta in Phaze, now, because the Adepts suspected her of trying to let Flach escape the net. The boy would not have known what to do about the threat against his mother, but Tania’s more cynical mind could have handled it. Still, he could not see the boy confiding in her, so that matter remained in doubt. Could he trust her?
He reached Tan’s office. Tania was there alone; the provocative serf secretary was absent.
He decided to gamble on her. “Tania,” he said without preamble, “I need thy help.” He knew that this was private; the office was always sealed off from unwanted intrusion.
She was surprised. “What, no sneer today, Bane?”
“Swear to me that thou willst betray my confidence not, and I will tell thee much that interests thee.”
Her eyes assumed the look of those of her other self, though they lacked the magic power. “You want me to do something for you, and not tell, and you will tell me what I want to know? I believe I am safe in assuming that you are not thinking of asking me for sex.”
“Aye. I promise naught more, but I think it be enough.”
“I don’t trust this, Bane. You never gave me the time of day before.”
“I ne’er had need, before.”
She walked around the room, considering. Bane, accustomed in youth to the clothing of Phaze, had never completely adjusted to the nudity of Proton serfs. She looked exactly like her other self, except for her lack of clothing, and he found that illicitly fascinating despite all the deliberate glimpses her other self had proffered. In Phaze he had a spell to ward off her seductions; here he did not.
“I won’t kill anyone, or do anything against my side,” she said.
“It be against thy side.”
She laughed. “And why would you suppose I would do that?”
“Because, an thou didst, I might pursue thy case with Mach.”
She halted abruptly. “You’re serious!”
“Aye.”
“Listen, Bane—if I go against my side, I can wind up dead!”
“An they learn o’ it, aye. But things be changing, and mayhap the other side would protect thee.”
She stared at him. “Are you changing sides? What of the covenant?”
“Swear, and we deal.”
She paced again, and he watched her breasts and buttocks moving. She had been foolish to go after Mach, when she could have had any other man she chose. But perversity was evidently her basic component. She was fascinated with the notion of Phaze, and of magic, and with the notion of power; thus Mach became the object of her interest. Had there been any other available male with similar connections, she would have been as interested in that one. Indeed, her other self pursued Bane, because of his connection with Proton.
Then she nodded. “I’m a fool. I swear.”
“In Phaze thine other self hast spent the past four years seeking to seduce me, just as thou hast done with Mach. Thine actions have been parallel. But with her the ploy turned; instead of corrupting me, she fell in love herself, and her nature changed. She be in bad grace with the Adverse Adepts, because she tried not hard enough to capture the lad Flach, Nepe’s other self.”
Tania nodded. “So you believe I am similarly vulnerable, and ready to help you.”
“Aye.”
“Aye,” she echoed ironically. “Damn it, I know it’s true; I felt her emotion. I echo it. I do want Mach—and Phaze, as she wants you and Proton. We are locked in this foolishness, letting a man rule us instead of the other way around. And you—you gave her no more satisfaction than Mach has me!”
“Aye.”
Those eyes bore on him again. “But did you wish to?”
Bane was silent.
“You promised to tell, Bane! I need to know.”
“Mach gave me a spell to ward her off. I ne’er touched her.”
“You still haven’t answered! Did you want to?”
“Aye,” he said reluctantly. “When I returned here to Agape, at times she teased me, assuming her likeness.”
“My likeness! And you had sex with her like that?”
“Aye,” he said, even more reluctantly. “But I knew it was Agape, else ne’er would I—”
“You desire me now!” she exclaimed triumphantly.
“I love thee not!”
“Again you haven’t answered! You desire me!”
“Thou knowest I may not answer that.”
She nodded, satisfied. “And Mach would wish to—?”
“Aye.” That much he could fairly answer.
She nodded again. “You were right. This interests me. If I help you, Mach may have reason to treat me more compatibly. And, judging by you, he would also have the desire.”
It was his turn to nod.
Then she glanced at him sharply. “And what of you, if Mach is dealing similarly in Phaze?”
“I would have to talk with Agape.”
“Who might not understand,” she said, smiling.
“Who might understand too well.”
She laughed. “What do you want me to do?”
The worst was over. “Make a reservation for departure from this planet.”
“You could do that yourself!”
“And yield that berth to Agape.”
She sobered. “Then you know.”
There was his confirmation that Agape was similarly threatened. “Aye.”
“But she can’t just walk out, you know. The moment she steps beyond her suite—”
“Aye.”
“And the child. She won’t leave the child behind, after losing her for so long.”
“That be a separate problem.”
“And you. You had better be gone the same time.”
“Aye.”
“And me. They’ll know as soon as it happens, and I’ll be finished.”
“Thou must go to Blue for asylum.”
She faced him squarely. “If I do this, and Mach does not settle with me, you do.”
“I can not!”
“I am not putting my life and career in jeopardy without that promise. I save Agape, one of you owes me, and you know how. In fact, Mach never settled for his prior debt to me, and this makes two. Both of you owe,
now. No loophole.”
He had not even come to terms with what Mach might commit him to in Phaze, and now he had to deal with it in Proton. But he knew her, and knew she would not yield. She wanted what she could get of Phaze, and she was used to hard dealing.
He thought of Agape, and knew he had to do it. “Aye.”
She went to the desk and checked the screen. “Do you care where she goes?”
“Nay, I care only that she not be suspected. She will assume thy likeness. Once away, she may change her route.”
“Of course. Then here’s a ship to ConGlom; I go there on occasion for relaxation. It’s fun to be able to wear clothes, offplanet; I have a trousseau there she may draw on.”
“An they catch on, they will seek that planet. She dare not use thy trousseau.”
She shrugged as she touched a button. “Reservation made; that ship leaves the port in two hours. I will go there, and if she doesn’t board, I will, to cover my complicity. Tell her to meet me in a privacy stall—let’s say number four hundred and one. Can she get there fifteen minutes before boarding?”
“She must.”
She left the desk and approached him. She kissed him, and he had to accept it. He felt guilty for liking it. “Nice doing business with you, Bane. Now our time is up; go meet your love.”
He left the office. The first step had been taken. Tania was a sharp, motivated woman; she had understood immediately, and driven her hard bargain. But this was a three-step project, being formulated on the spur. Step one: get Agape away. Step two: get Nepe away. Step three: get himself away. Each step had more than one substep, and any misstep could be disastrous. Had there been only one, he could have taken Agape to Citizen Blue for sanctuary. As it was, that sanctuary would have to be saved for the last resort.
He had to try something he had never tried before. If it failed, he would have to try something else, but he had no notion what. He had never thought this action was possible, until Flach had called to him mentally; that should mean that no one else had thought of it either. That was a critical advantage—if it worked.
Nepe! he called mentally, as if contacting his other self across the frame. Nepe!