"Oh, no, you won"t!" the robed Aquilon said. "You may be the biologic father, but my Cal died, and I mourned him, and I will not have an impostor take his place. In that interim I was dependent on the grace of another man, and so was the baby. I may not love him -- yet! -- but he is the one to raise the baby with me -- if he chooses to."
Suddenly Tamme"s deadly readiness had another object.
"Who?" informal Aquilon asked, perplexed. "This is all so confused -- "
"Veg. I think he always was the one I really -- "
Veg jumped. "Uh-uh! I loved you once -- one of you, anyway -- but that didn"t work out. Now I"m with Tamme -- "
Cal looked at him. "It would not be wise to place undue credence in an agent"s expressed interest. An agent is the ultimate manifestation of the omnivorous way."
How cleverly the machine had maneuvered them! Now they were quarreling among themselves and would be unable to unite against the real menace. "I love him," Tamme said. "I go where he goes; I eat where he eats, figuratively and literally. It doesn"t matter who doubts it, so long as he believes. I can understand why she loves him, too -- but I shall not give him up."
"Not him," the robed Aquilon said. "I mean my Veg. Maybe he"s dead, too, now, but -- "
"He is not dead," the unit said. "The surviving agent of that frame, Tanu, is in the process of taking him back to the major transfer point on Paleo so he can be returned to Earth to stand trial for treason. We can recover him for you."
"Yes!" she cried.
That agreement seemed to finish any thought of opposition. If the machine could fulfill its promise -- and there was no reason why it couldn"t -- they all stood to gain far more by cooperating.
"There remains the disposition of the other ent.i.ties of the enclave," the unit said, as though all this had been routine. "The manta Dec and the bird Ornet, now too young to comprehend their parts in this matter -- "
"Bring them here, too," the robed Aquilon said, seeming to radiate her joy at the recovery of her baby and her man. "This fertile plain is a paradise for their kind. That"s why I tried to bring the egg here -- " She looked at her double. "I"m sorry -- "
"If I had known, I would have given it to you," the informal Aquilon said. "Ornet and Dec belong to your frame."
The unit activated a relay. A small manta, a large chick, and a human baby appeared in the middle of the room. They drew together defensively, the manta and the chick standing on either side of the baby, facing out, poised.
The robed Aquilon went to them, extending her hands to the manta and bird, winning their confidence. She picked up her baby, hugging him, smiling with tears streaming down her cheeks. "You"ll like it here -- I know you will!" she cried. "The people here won"t hunt you; you"ll be sacred, as I am." Then she looked around the room. "Why don"t you stay, too?"
Veg and Tamme exchanged glances. "The baby I might bear would not resemble me..." she cautioned him.
"I know who it would resemble!" he said. He frowned. "I sort of like the forest..."
"You will be free to travel between frames at will," the unit said. "I will convey you."
"Even to Earth?" Cal asked.
"Anywhere in alternity, Calvin Potter. This privilege will not be extended indiscriminately, but these present here are the parental ent.i.ties to the enclave, insofar as those ent.i.ties survive. There will be access to the entire fabric, as required by the compact."
"I am interested in the comparative evolution of the several forms of sentience -- pattern, machine, and life," Cal said. "The machines, for example, must have been created, perhaps by an early compromise between energy and physical states of sentience. There must be a fascinating history -- "
"There is," the unit agreed. "This, too, is available to you."
The robed Aquilon looked up. "I meant all of you, and OX and the machine, too, if their frames will give them up. The whole enclave could grow up normally, in a better environment. Learning to live and work together, showing the way for all the sentience of alternity..."
"What a marvel that could make of this city," Cal said. "Representatives of all the sentients."
"catal Huyuk modern..." the informal Aquilon said. "This is where it starts -- right here, in this room, now..." The pattern ent.i.ty in the corner sparkled. "This is OX," the unit said. "He accepts your invitation. Of course he will be in touch with his own kind, too. but he wants to continue his a.s.sociation with the spots -- that is, physical sentience."
"But what about the machine?" the robed Aquilon persisted. "From what you say, it belongs with the others. It"s not a bad sort. It should be with the ent.i.ties of the enclave, and those of us who -- understand. It shouldn"t be sent back to -- "
"Mach has been temporarily incorporated as a unit of Machine Prime," the unit said. "The matter has therefore been resolved."
"Now wait a minute," Veg said. "That little machine has a right to decide for itself whether it wants to be swallowed up in -- "
Cal put a hand on his friend"s arm. "It"s all right."
"Who are you?" Tamme demanded, already guessing the answer.
The unit made a gesture with wheels and blade that was very like a smile. "I am Mach."
AUTHOR"S NOTE.
Some readers may be curious about the games of "Life" and "Hexaflexagon" described respectively in chapters 9 and 11. A number of readers wrote to inquire about the game of "Sprouts" described in my earlier novel Macroscope, so I hope to save us all trouble by identifying my sources here.
"Life" is derived from Martin Gardner"s column in Scientific American magazine for October and November 1970, and January and February 1971. (Martin Gardner is not to be confused with John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, another worthy ent.i.ty.)
"Hexaflexagons" are real figures that can be made from folded paper; I have made several with three, six, and twelve faces and recommend them as entertainment for children and adults. The source is The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions, by Martin Gardner, first published in 1959 by Simon and Schuster.
And for Macroscope readers: "Sprouts" is also from Mr. Gardner"s column in Scientific American for July 1967.
ALTERNITY.
HEXAFLEXAGON CHART.
Key:
1. Forest
2. Orchestra
3. Fognose
4. Jungle gym
5. Blizzard
6. Walls
7. City
8. Planes