"I trust this not," Bane muttered.
"Trust is not a factor when dealing with a Citizen!" she said. "They give the orders, the serfs obey them."
They arrived at a pedestal similar to the one Bane had played on before, with the female robot. "Wait here," Foreman said tersely.
In a moment a stout clothed man walked up from the other side. This was obviously the Citizen. His apparel was white, and he wore a ring set with a huge purple amethyst.
"Purple!" Bane exclaimed.
"Say Sir to the Citizen!" Foreman snapped.
But the Citizen hoisted a restraining hand. "You know me from somewhere, apprentice Adept?"
"Aye," Bane agreed. "Thou art the Purple Adept."
The Citizen smiled. "So you really are from Phaze! And my other self retains his position there."
"Aye," Bane agreed warily. Purple was one of the Adverse Adepts, a dragon lurking. Now Bane was quite sure that this man was not to be trusted. But he did have power, whether as Adept or Citizen, and had to be handled carefully.
"So it seems we have a wager," the Citizen said, smiling coldly. "One game to settle the issue. I win, I get your secret; you win, you go free."
"Aye," Bane agreed, not quite sure of himself. He might have contempt for the idiosyncrasies of the society of Proton, but the power of Adepts he understood and feared. He had in effect challenged a dragon barehanded, and he was apt to rue it.
"Then play, apprentice," the Citizen said, touching his side of the pedestal.
Bane looked at the grid. The numbers, letters and words were there by the squares.
"But this is wrong!" Agape said. "Both are lighted!"
So they were. Which was he to choose from?
"This is not your ordinary entertainment-type game," the Citizen said. "In this one, you choose all your parameters, and I choose mine."
Agape fidgeted beside him. Bane knew she was bothered by this, but he was prepared to play one version of the Game or another. He touched PHYSICAL and NAKED, 1A. He felt most comfortable with that.
"But the Citizen isn't limited to that!" Agape reminded him.
He hadn't thought of that. In immediate retrospect it was obvious. He had blundered, but it was too late to take it back. The second grid was already on the screen.
"You choose," he told her, knowing that her limited experience was more comprehensive than his own.
"I will go with you," she said, touching 8. COOPERATIVE. "And maybe slopes are best." She touched F, which covered FIRE or VARIABLE SURFACE.
"And I have chosen 2C6H," the Citizen said. "Machine-assisted intellectual interactive general-format."
Bane was baffled by the description. "What meaneth that?"
The Citizen gestured toward the door beside the pedestal. "Enter the Game and find out, apprentice. You and your alien friend are a naked team. If you suffer a Game-death, you lose."
Bane shrugged. He went to the door, and Agape followed him. It was an opaque panel that fogged at his touch. They stepped through.
They were in mountains. Ahead was a thickly wooded slope. The peak of the mountain had a purple hue.
"The Purple Mountain range!" Bane exclaimed. His confidence increased. He knew this range; he had crossed it several times, by magic and by foot, sometimes with Fleta. This was of course a mere mockup, like the Vampire Demesnes of Citizen White; even so, he was much more at home here than in ordinary Proton.
"Challenges to be mounted singly," the voice of the Game Machine announced. "Time limit: seven days."
"So we have seven days to avoid the Game-death," Bane said. "But how will the Citizen try to kill us? What be a machine-assisted intellectual format?"
"I do not know," Agape said. "I thought it was a computer, but I don't see how that can hurt us."
"I think, as he said, we shall find out."
"This is made to resemble Phaze? Could the hazards be natural ones of that frame?"
"If they are, I'll know how to handle them. But there be no computers in Phaze."
"Sometimes computers run things."
"Like what?"
"Well, like robots, or-"
"Robots!" he exclaimed. "Like this body?"
She nodded. "Oh, Bane, I fear this will be bad."
"But singly," he reminded her. "Since there be two of us, mayhap we can handle them. One can sleep, the other watch."
"And it's not real death," she said, taking heart. "We won't really be hurt. But if we lose-"
"Then I will show the Citizen what he wishes," Bane said grimly. "I like that not, for I trust him not, but I gave my word."
She glanced at him sidelong. "Your word is important to you."
"It be a matter of honor. My father has honor, and I be his son."
She nodded. "It's a good way to be."
"It be the only way to be. A man without honor be not a man."
"And what of those who are not men to begin with?"
Now he looked at her. "Elves have honor too, and unicorns and werewolves."
"Women - or creatures from other worlds?"
He laughed. "If thou dost have it not, tell me now, ere I trust thee to guard me in my sleep!"
"I may define it somewhat differently in detail, but I think the essence is the same."
They moved on through the forest, warily. "This be not Phaze, so I have no magic here," Bane said. "That makes me feel naked."
"You could fashion some clothing."
He laughed again. "Mayhap thou dost resemble Fleta some! E'er doth she tease. Her dam be always serious, and doth stay mostly in equine form, but Fleta-" He shrugged.
"Then perhaps a weapon. 'Naked' in the Game parlance means that you are provided with no tool, but you can make what you want from the surroundings. We don't know what kind of a robot will be attacking us, but it may not be wise to meet it barehanded."
"True." Bane looked about. "I would cut a staff, but have no knife."
"I can form a sharp edge," she offered.
"Sharp enough to cut wood?" he asked dubiously.
"I form substance hard enough to serve the function of bone and teeth; I can form harder if I try."
"That be right! In minutes thou dost go from jelly to full human form. Canst make a metal knife?"
"In facsimile," she said. She lifted her right hand, and it melted into a glob, then extended into something like a dagger. The edge firmed until it gleamed, looking wickedly sharp.
"Like magic," Bane breathed admiringly.
"What do you want cut?"
He checked around, and found a suitable sapling. "This."
She put her blade-extremity to its base and sliced. The edge cut in. She withdrew it and set it again, and in a moment a wedge of wood fell out. She made other cuts, and soon the sapling had been felled.
"Thou dost have thy uses," Bane said. "With powers like that, what use dost thou have for this Proton society?"
"My kind has individual abilities, but not technological ones," she said. "We need to learn, so that we do not remain a backplanet species."
"Methinks I prefer this backplanet," he remarked.
"I was speaking for my species, not necessarily myself."
Under his direction, she cut off branches and topped it, forming a long pole. Bane hefted it with satisfaction. "A sword would be better, but this be enough for now."
There was a stir from the side. Bane whirled about. "Mayhap none too soon!" he muttered.
It was no false alarm. A stocky goblin was approaching. The goblin had a small sword, and he waved it menacingly. "I'll destroy you, miscreant!" it cried.
"Goblins use not swords," Bane muttered. "Unless disciplined into an army, and they be more likely to hurt each other than the enemy. And they talk not of destruction; they just attack."
"It's the Citizen-using a remote-controlled robot," Agape said. "Don't let it get too close."
"Scant danger of that!" Bane agreed. "Do thou get behind me, so it can attack thee not." He faced the goblin, his staff ready. H
e had not used a staff in some time, but his father had required him to train in a number of hand weapons, and he knew how to use it effectively. Normally goblins came in hordes, making them formidable; a single one was not much of a threat.
The goblin simply charged in, swinging his sword. Bane sidestepped it and clubbed the creature's arm, jarring free the weapon. It fell to the ground.
"Nicely done," the goblin said in the voice of the Citizen. "Perhaps this will be a pleasant challenge after all." It stooped to recover the sword.
Bane rammed the goblin in the head with the end of his staff. He intended only to knock it down, knowing that a goblin's big head was the least vulnerable part of its body and could hardly be hurt by any blow. But the staff stove in the side of the head. Sparks crackled, and the goblin collapsed.
"Ooo, you killed it!" Agape exclaimed. "That is, you put it out of commission."
"So that was the first challenge," Bane said, surprised. "A real goblin would die not so readily." He picked up the goblin's sword. It was small, but of sturdy steel: a good weapon. "And this be a spoil of war, methinks."
"But there will be other threats," Agape reminded him.
"Aye. And if I understand rightly, of different types; we be through with goblins."
"Let's get somewhere else," Agape said nervously.
He found a vine and cut it to length and formed it into a crude belt. From this he hung the sword, so that he didn't need to carry it in his hand.
They moved on, climbing the slope of the mountain. Its general contour seemed familiar, but he realized that it could be the same mountain in Proton as the one he had known in Phaze, covered by one of the scientific domes and provided with fresh air and planted, so as to duplicate the original more closely. The Citizen had good taste in landscape!
But soon there was another sound, this time from the air. They peered up between the trees and saw a gross bird-shape. "A harpy!" Bane exclaimed.
"Is that worse than a goblin?"
"Depends. True harpies have poisoned talons and can move them very quickly in close quarters. But a robot harpy may be clumsy."
"I hope so."
"Clever blow, last time," the Citizen's voice came from the harpy. "But you'll not catch me again that way."
Bane backed under the canopy of a tree. "Get beyond the trunk," he told Agape. "If it flies at you, just circle around the tree, staying clear."
"But what about you?"
"I want not to flee it, but to kill it."
"But-"
"Move, woman!"
She moved. The harpy oriented and swung low; then it folded its wings and dived down at him.
Bane stepped aside, as he had before, and the harpy swerved. But this time he had stepped to the other side, and the Citizen had been geared for the first side. Thus the harpy missed completely-but Bane's staff didn't. It caught the harpy on the back, knocking it down and out of control. It plowed into the ground. Bane rammed it in the side of the head, as he had the goblin, with the same result: sparks and cessation.
"Methinks I like this game," he said, smiling.
"Bane, I don't like it," Agape said. "I fear the Citizen is only toying with you. There is something-"
"Something? What?"
"I don't know. Something that doesn't quite match. It scares me. Let's get far from here."
Bane thought her concern was exaggerated, but it made sense to keep the Citizen guessing about their location. It was possible that these were indeed simple ploys, intended only to feel out Bane's defenses. Once the Citizen knew his opponent better, he might send in something more formidable.
They cut to the south (assuming the orientation of this mountain was as it was in Phaze), traveling at right angles to their former route. The forest was thick here, and they were careful not to scuff the ground. It would not be easy to spot them; probably the Citizen would have to do some searching. Bane intended to see just how good a searcher the man was, in a robot body.
There was a noise to the side, but not a threat. It was a brown deer bounding away, its white tail flashing. It paused, glancing back, then ran on out of sight.
"Stocked with real wilderness animals!"Agape exclaimed, delighted.
"Mayhap I can kill one and have it for food," Bane said.
"Kill a deer?" she asked, horrified. "How could you!"
Suddenly there was a roar right ahead. A demon leaped at them. Agape screamed and fled; Bane whipped his staff up and caught the creature in the belly, shoving it back.
"Surprised you, didn't I!" the Citizen's voice came from the toothy maw of the monster. Then it lurched right over the staff, those teeth coming for Bane's face.
Bane snatched the goblin sword from its mooring with his left hand. He drove the point at the demon's gaping mouth. The blade went in, puncturing the back of the mouth. Again there was a crackle, and the monster became nonfunctional.
Bane pulled out the sword and replaced it in his belt. "Aye, this be an easy game."
"But don't you see," Agape said. "Each time you kill one, another comes. And they seem to know where we are! The Citizen must be able to see us, before he animates a robot!"
"What wouldst thou have me do?" Bane asked, irritated. "Not kill a monster?"
"Maybe that would be best," she said.
"Let it kill me instead?" he demanded acidly.
"No, Bane. Just-avoid it for a while. So that no new one can come. Better to retain the known danger, than to bring on an unknown one. After all, there's a lot of time-a whole week, and-"
"Flee from a goblin or a harpy I could readily kill? What kind of man would folk take me for then?"
"A sensible one!" she flared.
"It be not sensible to leave an enemy creature on my tail!"
"But Bane, don't you see, there are things we don't understand-"
"I understand well enough!" he retorted. "Thou dost not like to hurt robots!"
"That's not true! It's just that-"
"Get away from me, woman!" he cried. "I need not counsel of the like of this!"
"Well, if you feel that way-!"
"Aye. Go thine own way, and let me be."
She gazed at him for a moment, then turned and walked away. Bane watched her go, furious at her betrayal, then struck for higher ground. He wanted to get where he could look about, to see whether there was something watching him, such as one of the magic screens.
Just to be sure, he made a loop: he circled carefully,
and stopped just before he crossed his own prior trail. If something were following him, this should foil it. Nothing did; all he saw was another deer, browsing amidst the leaves of a copse of small trees. He settled down and kept quiet, so as not to disturb it. When it spooked, he would know something was coming.
His thoughts returned to Agape. She had supported him so loyally, until now; why had she started second-guessing his strategy, that was so obviously successful? He had proved himself readily able to handle the assorted imitation creatures the Citizen had sent against him; she should have been satisfied with that!
There was a thunk beside him. Bane jumped. There was a feathered arrow in the trunk of the tree he squatted near. He was being attacked!
He scrambled away as another arrow whistled through his region. He dived behind another trunk. This time the Citizen was striking from a distance; neither staff nor short sword could do much about that!
How had the man found him, and come up behind him, without even alerting the deer? Bane's loop had made no difference. The Citizen had not followed his trail, but had simply arrived at his location.
Bane poked his head around the tree, trying to spot the Citizen. But another arrow swished by, too close. The Citizen has good aim!
"Now let's see you club me in the head!" the Citizen called.
Had the man come in person, this time? If so, the Citizen was taking a serious chance, for he was fat and slow, while Bane was young and fast.
Another arrow thunked into the ground just beyond Bane's
tree. But this one was different. It sparkled. In a moment the dry grass and leaves of the forest floor were burning. A fire-arrow!
Bane went to stamp out the fire-but another normal arrow whizzed by his head, and he had to retreat. But the fire was spreading rapidly toward him. Soon he would have to move, or get burned. But when he moved, he
would become vulnerable to the arrows of the Citizen!
He had no choice. He saw the deer running by, spooked by the smoke, in its alarm actually cutting past the fringe of the fire and leaping toward the Citizen. Well, maybe that would distract the man for the necessary instant!
Bane charged for the next tree. But an arrow passed ahead of him, making him dive to the ground.
"I've got you covered, apprentice!" the Citizen called, striding forward, his bow ready, the next arrow already nocked. "You weren't as much competition as I had hoped, after all. Too bad."
Bane scrambled up. The Citizen's bow moved to track him with unerring accuracy. He had no chance!
Then the deer hurtled into the Citizen. Both fell to the ground. Bane, amazed, nevertheless grasped his opportunity; he launched himself in that direction, intending to club the Citizen before the bow came back into play.
But he discovered that the job had already been done. The deer was striking at the man's head with its sharp front hooves, and the head was crackling. It had been another robot, fashioned into a man's image, and it had been put out of commission.
But by a wild animal?
Then Bane caught on. "Agape!" he exclaimed.
The deer looked at him and nodded. Then it began to melt. Soon it was reforming into Agape's more familiar human form.
"Thou didst save my life!" Bane exclaimed. "Or at least my freedom. Thou wast with me all along! But why, when we quarreled?"
"Friends can disagree," she said as her human face became complete. "I couldn't let you lose the game if I could prevent it."
He took her in his arms. "We spoke of honor. Thou didst say that thou didst define it differently. I like thy definition."
"I just did what I had to do."
"Must I needs apologize to thee," he said.
"No need, Bane. Just win the game."
"Aye. But now will come another threat - and methinks it will know where we be."
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