Of Man and Manta Omnibus

by Piers Anthony

  The unit phased into the forest-frame, orienting on the location of the two mams.

  "Watch out!" Veg cried. "One of the machines is after us!"

  "I am an emissary of Machine Prime," the unit said. "As you will recall, we made an agreement for the exchange of enclaves between our frames."

  "That's true," Tamme said, but her body was tense. She no longer carried the frame homer: evidence of her bad faith.

  "You will note that I address you in your own dialect rather than the one we worked out in our prior interview."

  "I noted," she said tightly.

  "Peace is being established between the alternates. We are in touch with your home-frame and are making contact with others. There will be no exchange of enclaves."

  "Meaning?" She was trying to assess the best method of disabling the machine.

  "We never intended conquest despite your suspicions. We wished only rapport, a stronger base against what we deemed to be a common enemy. You misjudged our motive, and we misjudged the patterns. Such misconceptions are being resolved. If you will accompany me now, you will be satisfied."

  Veg shook his head. "I have this strange feeling we should believe it. A machine never tried to talk to me before. It sure knew where to find us, and it didn't attack."

  Tamme shook her head. "I don't trust it. We know how vicious these machines can be."

  "I must convey you to Çatal Huyuk," the unit said. "You have merely to remain in your places."

  "A machine can move us across alternates?" Tamme asked.

  "A machine always has," Veg reminded her. Uncertain of the situation, she made no overt resistance. The unit moved them. They phased smoothly from forest to city without the intercession of Blizzard.

  Aquilon saw the machine and opened her mouth in a soundless scream. Cal looked up from a partly dismantled machine. "Is this an answer to our message?" he inquired guardedly.

  "You may call it such, Dr. Potter," the unit said. Then Cal saw Veg and Tamme. He relaxed. "Hello," he said, raising his hand in greeting. "It must be all right. The machines are our friends -- I think."

  Tamme glanced from him to Aquilon. "And are we friends, too?"

  "You've changed," Aquilon said, looking closely at her.

  "I have gone normal."

  "We are all friends now," the unit said. "I will convey you to Çatal Huyuk ancient, where -- "

  "Çatal Huyuk!" Cal and Aquilon exclaimed together.

  "Amplification," the unit said. "This frame is Çatal Huyuk modern. Our destination is Çatal Huyuk ancient."

  "This is Çatal Huyuk?" Cal asked. "Ten thousand years later?"

  "Time becomes irrelevant. We shall return you to your own frames after the decision-assembly or to any you prefer."

  Tamme and Aquilon were grim lipped; the men were more relaxed. What kind of decision was contemplated by the machine?

  "Çatal Huyuk," Cal repeated, shaking his head. "The splendor of early man, forgotten..."

  The two mantas settled, watching the unit. The surrealist city faded out, and the ancient Çatal Huyuk faded in.

  A pattern-entity and the white-robed alternate Aquilon were waiting in the shrine-room. The two Aquilons were startled by each other, turning their eyes away. Tamme appraised the almost prisonlike closure of the room warily, judging whether the machine and pattern could be destroyed and an escape effected without the loss of Veg.

  "We are all friends," the unit repeated. "We are gathered here for the denouement so that we may resolve prior confusions and dispose the protagonists suitably."

  The assembled entities looked around: five human beings, two mantas, and the pattern. No one spoke. Sparkles from the pattern radiated out, passing through the physical creatures without effect.

  "In a certain frame," the unit said, as though oblivious to the tension that now gripped even the men, "Calvin Potter died. His cessation was witnessed by his close friend and potential lover, Deborah Hunt. It had a profound effect on her -- so strong that the trauma extended across a number of related frames."

  "My nightmare!" the informal Aquilon whispered.

  The white-robed Aquilon glanced at her. "So you felt it, too..."

  "This is a common effect," the unit explained. "It accounts for many of the instances of human déjà vu, precognition, spectral manifestation -- "

  Cal nodded, comprehending. "We call it supernatural because the natural laws of our single frame do not account for psychic phenomena. But if they are merely reflections of actual occurrences in adjacent frames..."

  "This man," the unit said, indicating Cal, "crossed over to the frame of that woman -- " it indicated the priestess Aquilon -- "and impregnated her. He returned to his frame and dismissed the matter as a fantasy. She bore his child and cared for it with the aid of her friend Veg and the four mantas and the family of sapient birds."

  Informal Aquilon stared at robed Aquilon. "You said you had a baby -- "

  "Yes..."

  Informal Aquilon turned to Cal. "And you were the father?"

  He spread his hands. "It appears so."

  "This is another occasional effect," the unit said. "When there is a sudden, overwhelming need in one frame, and the capacity to alleviate it in a nearby one, spontaneous crossover can occur. In this case it was facilitated by the presence of an aperture projector left by an exploratory party from a farther-removed frame. Their agents were of the VI series -- "

  "We haven't reached VI yet," Tamme said. "TE is the latest -- "

  "That frame is ahead of yours," the unit explained. "Vibro and Videl projected in, left their spare projector in a secluded location in case of emergency, and went to study the reptilian enclave. They were misfortunate, being caught in a severe tremor, injured, and consumed by predatory fauna before they could reach that reserve projector. So it remained where it was, on that frame, until used by Mr. Potter."

  Veg sat down on the edge of the raised level. "This is mighty interesting," he said. "But why were we picked up by the sparkles, and who left all those other projectors around? Can't all have been survey parties gobbled by dinosaurs -- not in Fognose, or Blizzard, or -- "

  "The other projectors were left by people like you," the unit said. "You and the TA agent projected to another frame, leaving your instrument behind. The same thing happened on the other frames. Because each was a frame-site selected by the pattern-entities for temporary storage of experimental subjects -- "

  "White rats," Tamme interjected. She had not relaxed. " -- they were in phase with each other. Instead of opening on random frames and locations, each projected to the immediate site of another storage area. This kept the subjects contained -- which was one reason the patterns arranged it that way. The aggregate formed patterns -- again no coincidence, as this is inherent in any endeavor of the pattern-entities."

  "It figures," Veg said. "So there was no way off that Möbius loop."

  "That system has been dismantled," the unit said.

  "But what about all the other people?" Veg demanded.

  "They are being interviewed by other units."

  "You mean the machines have taken over all alternity?"

  Now it was out. Tamme, seeming relaxed, was poised for action -- and Cal, both mantas, and the informal Aquilon were ready to follow her lead. There would be violence in an instant -- the moment they were sure there was no better course.

  "The term 'takeover' is inapplicable," the unit said. "Machine Prime now serves as coordinator for existent frames. This will be clarified in a moment."

  "Let it speak," Cal murmured to Veg. "This is a most revealing dialogue." And now Veg also was ready for action.

  "The follow-up mission of the agents was delayed for a year, in that frame where Aquilon was gravid. When the agents came, the mantas and sapient birds died, Vachel Smith was captured, and Miss Hunt projected to this frame: a world in the human neolithic. She found the projector left here by another party -- "

  "How many parties are there buzzing around?" Veg demanded
.

  "An infinite number. But most were incorporated into the pattern arranged by the pattern-entities; there was no mechanical way to break out of those loops. Miss Hunt experimented with her projector, visited her counterpart on the desert setting, inadvertently destroyed the egg, and returned here in remorse to destroy her projector."

  "You did that?" the informal Aquilon asked. The robed Aquilon nodded sadly. "What happened to my baby?"

  "The bird Orn attempted to save both his eggs and your baby. He was stalked by an agent whose assignment was to recover both for return to Earth. The agents did not believe there had been time for a human infant to be conceived and birthed, so it was important for them to investigate the phenomenon fully. Orn perished -- but a pattern entity salvaged one egg, the baby, and a fertile spore from the deceased mantas. These were conveyed to a restricted locale with a newly manufactured machine entity -- "

  "The scene we saw on the stage!" the informal Aquilon cried. Now her resolve to fight was wavering. The machine seemed to know too much to be an enemy.

  "A nascent pattern was also created there," the unit continued. "Small, mindless shoots of the type generated on Mr. Potter's three-dimensional screen were sent across the limited element accesses in such a way as to combine and form a complete, sentient entity. This is the way new patterns are formed; they do not reproduce in the fashion of physical entities. There is a certain parallel in the manufacture of sentient machines, however. Such a machine had just been fashioned on the so-called Desert frame; one of its builders had obtained the necessary ingredients from the human supplies projected there -- "

  "So that was why it was hungry!" Veg said. "It was a mother machine." Now he, too, was wavering as further comprehension came.

  "The analogy is inexact," the unit said. "However, the new machine was the one transferred to the enclave elsewhere on that frame. That enclave was then complete. The patterns, observing, hoped to ascertain the nature of the physical entities. They were not successful in that -- but the enclave nevertheless achieved success of its own."

  "But the enclave-baby died!" Informal Aquilon protested. "We saw the horrible machine slice it up -- "

  Robed Aquilon froze.

  "The pattern-entity, reacting to the need of the other entities, restored the infant," the unit said. "Its death became apparent but unreal -- as was Mr. Potter's death in your frame. You called that a nightmare."

  "My baby -- lives?" robed Aquilon asked.

  "Yes. The component entities of the enclave combined their resources and developed a system of intercommunication that is now transforming sentient relations in all alternity. The adult enclave then assigned the duty of application and coordination to Machine Prime, and this duty we are now executing."

  There was a pause. Then: "Why tell us all this?" Veg asked. "Why not ship us back to our homes, or execute us, or ignore us? What do you care what happens to us?"

  "Machine Prime does not care. It merely honors the terms of the agreement. The enclave specified that those of you who were instrumental in its formation be catered to. Now it is being dismantled, and we -- "

  "Dismantled?" informal Aquilon asked. "What's happening to -- to Ornet and the baby -- ?"

  "The baby grew up to be a remarkably capable man," the unit said. "This was because the enclave pattern entity, OX, utilized special properties of alternity to age the entire enclave twenty years. The other inhabitants matured similarly. In fact, OX arranged for a baby girl from your home-frame to enter the enclave, and she also matured. She was intended as a mate for Cub -- the man -- but that did not occur. It seems your kind, like machine units, can not be raised in isolation and retain sanity. OX therefore arranged for the return of the girl and reverted the enclave to its original status after issuing the report of the five sentients."

  "So the baby is -- still a baby," informal Aquilon said. "And Ornet is a chick, and -- "

  "What's going to happen to them?" robed Aquilon demanded. "My baby -- "

  "Their disposition is for this party to decide," the unit said. "We suggest that the baby be returned to its natural parents -- "

  "Oh-oh," informal Aquilon said, looking first at her alternate, then to Cal.

  Cal put his hand on hers. "I may have strayed once -- but this was a confusion. At any rate, the matter is academic. I am not the father."

  "You are the father," the unit said.

  Veg chuckled. "Machine, if you can win an argument with Cal, you're a damn genius. Because he is." He shook his head. "Never thought he'd be involved in a paternity suit, though."

  "It is not a matter for debate," the unit said. "We have verified the information."

  Even Tamme relaxed. If the machine were ready to quibble about details, force might not be necessary. But if force were called for, it should be timed for that instant of confusion when the machine realized its mistake. For Cal had to be correct; Tamme anticipated the point he was about to make and recognized its validity. When it came to intellectual combat, Cal was supreme, as she and the other agents had learned on Paleo.

  "Let me explain," Cal said. "According to you, I crossed over, impregnated this woman -- " he indicated the robed Aquilon -- "and returned to my own frame in time to encounter the agent mission there. Meanwhile, in the other frame, she carried the baby to term and gave birth to it, subsequently becoming separated from it when it was about three months old. That baby entered the enclave and is now available for return."

  "Correct," the unit said.

  "Therefore, approximately a year passed in the other frame. But in my frame, a week has passed." He frowned. "Correction: two weeks. Time has become confused -- but hardly to the extent of a year. My companions will verify this."

  Veg's mouth dropped open. "That's right! Tamme got better in a week on Fognose, and there weren't many other -- "

  "True," Tamme agreed. She had assessed the mechanisms of the machine and judged that one projectile fired to ricochet off the treads and into the mechanism from below would cripple it. Slowed, it could then be reduced by a concerted attack. It was a small machine, not as formidable as some.

  "Yes," informal Aquilon said. "How can he be the father -- from two weeks ago?"

  "He is the father," the unit repeated. "I am undoubtedly the father of a baby in some other alternate -- or will be some eight months hence," Cal said. "But some other Cal, from a frame running a year or more ahead of us -- because this other Aquilon, in addition to her Paleo adventure, has evidently been here at Çatal Huyuk some time -- is responsible for the enclave baby." He turned to informal Aquilon. "There is no question of my leaving you even for your double."

  Veg smiled triumphantly, while Tamme made ready to act. "What do you say to that, machine?"

  "We have mentioned that the agent mission was delayed for a year in this woman's frame," the unit said, making a gesture to include the robed Aquilon. "The patterns were responsible for that. This occurred in the course of the institution of their holographic representation, the enclave. Time travel is not possible within frames, but the appearance of it can be generated by phasing across frames, as you found on Paleo. By instituting a type of feedback circuit, a pattern entity is able to accelerate a portion of a limited complex of frames. This occurred in the enclave. But that portion is then out of phase and can not interact effectively with normal frames until it reverts. The only way to adjust the time-orientations of individuals so that one entity may interact with another in a different frame despite a dichotomy of time is to enable that individual to cross on the bias. That is what the patterns did with you. When you crossed from Paleo to Desert, you jumped forward more than a year in time."

  "But we used our own projector!" Tamme protested, still trying to catch the machine in its error.

  "Your projector is a toy compared to the ability of the patterns. They altered your route during transit."

  Tamme saw her chance going. The machine was not at all confused and showed no weakness. From what she had seen of the patterns, they co
uld play tricks with time...

  "However, such bias must always be balanced," the unit continued. "The patterns could not jump you forward a year in one frame without performing a similar operation in the other. Therefore, the agents, similar in number and mass to your party -- "

  "Equations must balance!" Cal exclaimed. "Of course! We jumped to the desert, hurdling a year, while the agents hurdled the same year jumping from Earth into the other Paleo. So those agents lost a year without knowing it, and so did we."

  Tamme relaxed. The seemingly impossible had happened. Cal had been outlogicked, their chance to strike eliminated. That machine really had control over the situation!

  "Now I remember," the robed Aquilon said. "Tama said there hadn't been time, and I didn't know what she meant."