"I have it pretty well figured out," McKie said. "The place where you are was constructed from your connectives -- your memories, dreams, wishes . . . perhaps even from things you expressly described."
"What nonsense!" She sounded worried.
"You asked for a place that would be safe from the apocalypse," McKie said. "f.a.n.n.y Mae warned you about ultimate discontinuity, of course. She probably demonstrated some of her powers, showed you various places available to you along the connectives of you and your a.s.sociates. That"s when you got your big idea."
"You"re guessing," Abnethe said. Her face was grim.
McKie smiled.
"You could stand a little session with your Beautybarbers," he said. "You"re looking a bit seedy, Mliss."
She scowled.
"Are they refusing to work for you?" McKie persisted.
"They"ll come around!" she snapped.
"When?"
"When they see they"ve no alternative!"
"Perhaps."
"We"re wasting time, McKie."
"That"s true. What was it you wanted to say to me?"
"We must make an agreement, McKie; just the two of us."
"You"ll marry me, is that it?"
"That"s your price?" She was obviously surprised.
"I"m not sure," McKie said. "What about Cheo?"
"Cheo begins to bore me."
"That"s what worries me," McKie said. "I ask myself how long it would be until I bored you?"
"I realize you"re not being sincere," she said, "that you"re stalling. I think, however, we can reach agreement."
"What makes you think that?"
"f.a.n.n.y Mae suggested it," she said.
McKie peered at the shimmering unpresence of the Caleban. "f.a.n.n.y Mae suggested it?" he murmured.
And he thought, f.a.n.n.y Mae determines her own brand of reality from what she sees of these mysterious connectives: a special perception tailored to her particular energy consumption.
Sweat dripped from his forehead. He rocked forward, sensing that he stood on the brink of a revelation.
"Do you still love me, f.a.n.n.y Mae?" he asked.
Abnethe"s eyes went wide with surprise. "Whaaat?"
"Affinity awareness," the Caleban said. "Love equates with this coherence I possess of you, McKie."
"How do you savor my single-track existence?" McKie asked.
"Intense affinity," the Caleban said. "Product of sincerity of attempts at communication. I-self-Caleban love you human-person, McKie."
Abnethe glared at McKie. "I came here to discuss a mutual problem, McKie," she flared. "I did not antic.i.p.ate standing aside for a gibberish session between you and this stupid Caleban!"
"Self not in stupor," the Caleban said.
"McKie," Abnethe said, voice low, "I came to suggest a proposition of mutual benefit. Join me. I don"t care what capacity you choose, the rewards will be more than you could possibly . . ."
"You don"t even suspect what"s happened to you," McKie said. "That"s the strange thing."
"d.a.m.n you! I could make an emperor out of you!"
"Don"t you realize where f.a.n.n.y Mae has hidden you?" McKie asked. "Don"t you recognize this safe . . ."
"Muss!"
It was an angry voice from somewhere behind Abnethe, but the speaker was not visible to McKie.
"Is that you, Cheo?" McKie called. "Do you know where you are, Cheo? A PanSpechi must suspect the truth."
A hand came into view, yanked Abnethe aside. The ego-frozen PanSpechi took her place in the jumpdoor opening.
"You"re much too clever, McKie," Cheo said.
"How dare you, Cheo!" Abnethe screamed.
Cheo swirled, swung an arm. There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh, a stifled scream, another blow. Cheo bent away from the opening, came back into view.
"You"ve been in that place before, haven"t you, Cheo?" McKie asked. "Weren"t you a mewling, empty-minded female in the creche at one period of your existence?"
"Much too clever," Cheo snarled.
"You"ll have to kill her, you know," McKie said. "If you don"t, it"ll all be for nothing. She"ll digest you. She"ll take over your ego. She"ll be you."
"I didn"t know this happened with humans," Cheo said.
"Oh, it happens," McKie said. "That"s her world, isn"t it, Cheo?"
"Her world," Cheo agreed, "but you"re mistaken about one thing, McKie. I can control Mliss. So it"s my world, isn"t it? And another thing: I can control you!"