She was crying, and it was human but not masculine to cry. She was guilty of a social impropriety. "I am new to this planet," Agape said.
"Must be," the man said, and averted his eyes. The mountains pa.s.sed all too rapidly, and the shuttle began its drift downward, economizing on fuel by losing alt.i.tude. Then, approaching Hardom, it nosed up until it stalled, then dropped precipitously, leveling out just before reaching the dome. It plunged through the force-field and was caught by another field that netted it and brought it to the dock with a thunk. The ride was over. The belts retracted and the pa.s.sengers filed out. Lula pa.s.sed, glancing briefly down at Agape; evidently she had had her satisfaction of the robot. Contrary to what the android might suppose, Agape did have a notion how that could be.
She got up and joined the file. She emerged into the station, and ducked away before the android could remember she was supposed to be going to the same place. She went to a sanitary facility, entered a male booth, and changed to her normal female human form. What a relief.
She stepped out-and a pa.s.sing male serf stared at her. Too late she realized that this was a segregated facility, and she was in the male one. Yet what could she have done, in her male guise-entered the female one?
She hurried out and along the pa.s.sages, eager to get to the security of Citizen Blue"s estate. She kept thinking that some minion of Citizen Purple"s would leap out and capture her, nullifying her entire effort of escape and putting Mach or Bane into jeopardy again.
But she arrived without event; apparently the self-willed machines had spirited her out without notice. She approached the office marked Blue.
There was a secretary in the office. This was a woman of early middle age, a serf whose body remained well formed but whose light brown hair was beginning to turn gray. This surprised Agape, for hair color was easy to control, and desk-girls were normally young.
"May I help you?" the woman inquired, lifting her gaze to meet Agape"s. Her eyes were green and clear.
"I-have important news for Citizen Blue," Agape said.
The woman smiled. "I am in touch with him. What is your name?"
"Agape."
"He will see you immediately." The woman stood. "Please come this way."
Agape followed her through a door-panel into the Citizen"s office. Evidently Citizen Blue was ready for her, though Agape had been aware of no message to him. He stood facing her, smiling.
The Citizen was an unusually small man, shorter than Agape herself, and of no great girth. He was garbed in a simple blue robe. But his features were unmistakably related to those of Mach.
"Agape has arrived," the secretary said.
"Thank you, Sheen," the Citizen said. He focused or Agape. "You love my son, Mach?"
"No, sir," Agape said, taken aback.
"Who, then?"
"Bane, sir. His other self from Phaze."
"You believe it was Bane?"
"Yes, sir."
"You can tell the difference?"
"Yes, sir."
Blue gestured. A panel opened, and a figure entered.
Agape turned to look at it. And froze. It was Mach!
Or was it? Realizing that this was a test, she went to him, and put her arms around him. The man responded. Agape put her lips up to be kissed, and the man kissed her.
She pulled away. "This is neither," she said.
"I told you she would know," Sheen said.
Suddenly Agape made a connection. "Sheen! Mach"s mother!"
"Of course," Sheen agreed. "But you are a robot. How can you have aged?"
"Cosmetics can do wonders," Sheen said.
"And you are serving a menial task! But you are married to a Citizen!"
"I am a serf," Sheen said simply. Agape remembered her mission. "I must tell you- both of you-Citizen Purple has Mach captive. You must free him!"
"He remains intact?" Sheen asked.
"Yes. They don"t dare hurt him, because he represents their only contact with Phaze. But-"
"We were so concerned!" Sheen said. "When he was missing for a week-we knew someone had abducted him, but the records were wiped before we traced them. We could not even sound an alarm, until we were sure."
"Citizen Purple is an ugly, vicious man!" Agape said.
"Get Purple on the screen," Citizen Blue told Sheen.
The woman went to the desk.
Blue turned to Agape. "Sit down," he said, guiding her to a couch, where he joined her. "Citizen Purple kidnapped my son because he believed he has contact with the frame of Phaze?"
"Yes, sir. And he sought to use me as a lever against him, to make him serve the bad Citizens."
"Because Mach loves you?"
"No, sir. Bane-cares for me. Not Mach. Not that way. But Mach got me free, with the help of-" She broke off, uncertain whether she should mention the self-willed machines.
Citizen Blue smiled. "My wife is one of them. She knows. No more need be said. But you-it may be difficult for you to continue with the Experimental Project, now."
"Yes, sir. I think I must go home to Moeba."
"And leave Bane behind?"
"And make it impossible for the bad Citizens ever again to use me against him. Or Mach."
"You would stay, otherwise?"
"To perhaps see Bane again, if he returned? Yes, sir. With your permission."
"You suppose that we would disapprove a liaison between a robot and a living creature?"
And he had married a robot! "No, sir. Between a robot and an alien creature."
"That would be his choice to make. But I will tell you this, Agape. We have researched everything known about you and your species. We would welcome you into our family."
"Oh, sir!" she exclaimed, and leaned across and hugged him. Then, appalled, she jerked back. She had touched a Citizen!
"But it be Bane, not Mach, whom thou dost love," Blue said. "That be a problem thou canst not readily solve."
Agape stared at him. "Sir," she breathed.
Blue laughed. "I was reared in Phaze," he said. "Dost thou think I remember not? Surely Bane does love thee!"
"Online," Sheen murmured.
Citizen Blue swung around to face the large screen above the desk, visibly hardening as he did. He said no word.
Citizen Purple stared out of the screen. His eye fell on Agape, seated so close beside Blue. For a moment his mouth worked silently. Then he scowled. "It"s a bluff, Blue! That"s a mockup!"
Blue turned back to Agape. "Show him," he said.
Agape understood. There was only one visitor from Moeba on the planet. She began to melt, her facial features dissolving into formlessness, her arms softening and withdrawing back into her torso.
"Enough," Blue said. Agape reversed the process, and began to reform her human features.
"But I"ve still got your robot boy!" Purple said. "If you ever want him back in one piece-"
"Is it then to be a test of strength between us?" Blue asked evenly.
Purple looked like a cornered rat. "You can"t do anything as long as I"ve got him, Blue!"
"If you force me to move against you," Blue said, "I will ruin you."
"I"m not giving up that machine!" Citizen Purple said. "You know why!"
"Then defend yourself, cretin," Blue said. The screen went blank.
"No!" Agape cried. "Don"t let them hurt him! I"ll go back!"
Blue put his hand on hers. "Be not concerned, lovely creature. We shall have him soon safe."
But Agape had seen the malice of Citizen Purple firsthand. She was terrified of what was about to happen.
14 - Appeal
When her keen equine ears picked up the distant commotion, Fleta knew it was time to act. Bane had used his magic to nullify the amulet tied to her horn; it no longer bound her.
She changed to hummingbird form, letting the harness drop. She darted to the magic screen, but could not pa.s.s. Her magic had been restored, but its magic had not been nullified. She needed the amulet.
She darted back and tried to pick up the fallen amulet, but it was too heavy for her present form to manage. Already the troll on guard was staring, about to cry the alarm. But the troll was outside the cell, and could not get in.
She changed to girl form, stooped, picked up the amulet, and hurled it at the barrier. There was a sparkle as it burned through, then dropped outside. She marked the place, then changed back to bird form and darted at that invisible hole. She folded her wings and slid through, feeling the terrible pressure of the barrier"s magic against her tiny body. A hole the diameter of a unicorn"s horn was a tight squeeze even for her present form!
She wriggled on out of it, spread her wings again, and darted under the troll"s ugly nose and on down the hall. She was out of the cell, but not really free yet. She had to win clear of the Purple Adept"s Demesnes entirely.
Fortunately her present form had a good sense of smell, especially for the things of nature, such as the bloom of flowers. She could trace the currents of fresh air. She flew upcurrent, following the freshness to its source: a vent-shaft leading to the surface. It was covered by a grille, but the holes in it were large enough for her to pa.s.s. She flew up and out-and almost into the clutches of a harpy.
Knowing that the harpy would s.n.a.t.c.h her and kill her, she changed immediately to girl form and dived for a stick with which to fight it off. Unicorn form would have been better, but she knew that any appearance of a unicorn here would alert the Adept; she couldn"t risk that.
Her ploy worked. "A vampire!" the harpy screeched, mistaking her fleeting glimpse of the hummingbird for a bat. "What do ye in Harpy Demesnes?"
"Just pa.s.sing through," Fleta said, holding the stick ready.
"Well, this will end thy travels!" the harpy screeched, and launched herself, talons extended.
Fleta smashed the dirty bird with her stick, with mixed result. The harpy was knocked to the ground, but the stick was rotten, and shattered.
"O, I"m going to skewer thee!" the harpy screeched, righting herself and spreading her gross wings again. Like all her kind, she was a tough old bird.
Fleta fled. She wanted no contact with those poisoned claws! As a unicorn, she was proof against most magic, regardless of the form she a.s.sumed. So the poison would not kill her, but it would make her sick and leave an ugly scar. She outdistanced the harpy and concealed herself in thick brush. Too bad it wasn"t that easy to foil an Adept! But of course nothing could foil an Adept, except another Adept.
But the harpy"s commotion attracted others of her kind. There was rustling all along the forested slope. Fleta knew she was in real trouble now; even in unicorn form she would have trouble breaking out of this. They would soon sniff her out.
Then she remembered Phoebe"s feather. She brought it out and set it on the ground. Then she changed to unicorn form and struck her hoof against a rock, making a spark. The spark jumped to the feather and started it burning. Then Fleta changed back to girl form, hoping Phoebe would quickly smell the smoke. That was the secret of that "magic," of course: each harpy could detect her own essence from almost any distance. Some harpies used their own excrement to mark off hunting territories.
But Phoebe was some distance away, while the other harpies were close. And the wind was wrong. If the smoke did not reach her, or if it took too long to carry Fleta"s summons. . .
"I smell a bat!" a harpy screeched, close by. That was an exaggeration; it was the hummingbird she had winded.
Fleta cast about desperately for some escape. She knew she could not make a break for it through the air; she could maneuver well, but could not outfly the harpies in a straight-line effort. But how could she hide, when they smelled her?
She spied a small hole in a nearby trunk. She did not trust such holes, for anything could be in them, but now she had to risk it. The harpy was already lumbering into sight. She shifted back to hummingbird form and darted in.
She was in luck. The hole was empty, though by the smell it had on occasion been used by a wren.
Almost immediately, the body of the harpy thunked into the trunk. A talon plunged into the hole. "Gotcha, batbrain!"
But again it was enthusiasm rather than accuracy. The hole was deep, and Fleta was able to wedge herself back beyond the range of the talon. The dirty birds couldn"t get her. Now she had only to wait. She hoped.
"So it be that way, eh?" the harpy screeched. "Well, I"ll spit on thee!"
Oops! A harpy"s spittle, like her poison, was vile stuff. If a globule of that caught Fleta, it would foul her unmercifully. It wouldn"t really hurt her, but it would be a singularly unpleasant experience.
The harpy spat. The stuff splatted against the side of the hole. The fumes from it wafted back, making Fleta want to retch. She had trouble breathing. How much of this could she take?