"A what?" the Citizen rapped. Then: "But no signal can get out either!" Which meant they had picked up the signal, and were about to trace it down. That would take them some time. When they finally located it, they would not know how the signal unit had gotten there.
"Check the alien bitch!" the Citizen said. "He's bound to try to spring her!"
But of course Mach hadn't done that, yet. Agape was supposed to wait till night, then make her break. Mach hoped to remain hidden until after she started her action; then he could relax. All this was only a distraction, to keep the Citizen and his minions occupied until Agape could escape.
The Citizen's voice faded out; Mach could hear with preternatural acuteness when he tried to, but there were limits, and the Citizen had passed out of range. The commotion continued, as the serfs launched a methodical search for the signal-unit and for Mach himself. At first, surely, they would believe that he was in the vicinity of the signal generator, and comb through the Game region – which would be a tedious chore indeed! Once they ascertained that the generator was a separate item, they would go through the remaining premises with determination. He would inevitably be found – but probably not before Agape started her escape and enlisted the aid of the self-willed machines.
When they did catch him, he suspected, they would ask him about the signal he had been sending: what was its nature, and to whom was it directed? He would tell them that it was a phony signal, meaning nothing, merely random noise, that could not penetrate the Citizen's signal-barrier. And they would not believe him, because why would he have gone to such an extraordinary effort to put out that signal if it could not accomplish anything? So the quest would continue, and that distraction would give Agape more leeway for her escape. And once she escaped, it would be only a matter of time before Citizen Blue had news of Mach's location. Then the real fun would begin!
He was only a machine. But he was a machine in love, just as his mother Sheen was; he understood her better than he had before. As far as he was concerned, the Experimental Project was a success; as part of it, he had become as human as any of his kind had ever aspired to be. And he found that he enjoyed making a fool of Citizen Purple. He hoped Bane was doing the same to the Purple Adept.
Now it was time to dream of life, and of Fleta, and what he wished might have been. Time for machine dreams.
Mach tuned out, waiting.
12. Apprentice
Bane, conscious of his agreement with Mach, gave no sign as he found himself in the passage lighted by magic– glow rather than scientific effects. He had been walking naked; now he was fully clothed, and that seemed strange after more than a week in the other state. He did not want anyone to know, yet, that the bumbling visitor had been replaced by the skilled native. "He is near," he said. "I know I can do it. But show me Fleta first, in good health."
"Do it now, or she shall lose her horn now," Purple said sternly.
Rage flared in Bane. They were going to dehorn Fleta? That would deprive the unicorn of all her magic power and most of her will to live! The Adverse Adepts had done that to her uncle Clip, before Bane was born, and only Stile's total magic had been able to mend that horn. Any chance that Bane might have worked voluntarily with these Adepts dissipated with this news. Fleta was hardly his love, but she was an old friend, and such a threat against her alienated him instantly.
He did not need to conceal his emotion, for Mach felt as strongly about the mare as Bane himself did, if in a different manner. The propriety of Mach's relationship with the unicorn was questionable, but since Mach was now back in his own frame, that didn't matter. It would be ironic if Fleta were mutilated to punish a person who might never see her again anyway.
"Thou hast made that threat before," Bane said grimly. "How can I know that thou hast not already done it?"
"So now thou dost affect native speech?" the Purple Adept remarked contemptuously. "Forget it, alien; thou canst not fool anyone."
Oops – it seemed that Mach had maintained his own dialect. Well, Bane had been in Proton long enough to pick it up. "I thought it was close enough," he muttered, as if disgruntled. "Anyway, show me she's all right, or I'll know she isn't." Indeed, he had no respect for the word of this man, and realized he would be foolish to deliver the message from Proton without ensuring that the terms were met.
The Adept scowled, but yielded. "One time, then – but try not my patience further."
They went to the cell where Fleta was confined. She was in her natural form, and an amulet had been tied to her horn, nullifying it. She was also in a halter, with her head tied in place so that she could not move it to scrape off the amulet, and trolls kept watch.
Appalled, Bane approached the cell – and felt the presence of an invisible magic barrier. He knew its nature immediately; it was a standard Adept spell that was used to confine animals or ordinary folk. This was a strong one, that could restrain a unicorn despite the antimagical powers of the species. Even with her horn free, Fleta could not penetrate this barrier; she would merely be able to change her form in her cell.
But he knew what to do, now. He had to provide her with a spell for spot nullification without alarm. "What holds me?" he demanded, as if he didn't know.
"Never mind," Purple said, and the barrier dissolved. Bane approached the tied animal. He put his mouth to her ear, as if whispering an endearment. "This spell, new role," he sang quietly. "Make horn-sized hole." And the powerful magic of his will reached out to change the amulet on her horn.
Her near eye widened, showing white momentarily. He knew she felt his spell, and knew that Mach could not have performed magic of this level. She realized that the amulet no longer locked her into her present form; it had been turned to his purpose. She would know what to do, and when.
He turned away. Without a word he walked out of the cell, feeling the magic barrier snap back into place behind him, and proceeded back down the tunnel toward the point of rendezvous.
At the proper place he paused, overlapping Mach and verifying that the robot had done his part. Then he changed his expression. He touched his clothing. "Then I be back!" he exclaimed.
"Contact!" the Purple Adept said.
Bane turned to him. "I bear a message from thine other self: Contact be established, and the next move be thine."
"But that's the message I sent him!"
Bane shrugged. "He be thine other self."
Purple's visage clouded suspiciously. "How do I know thou hast really made the change? Thou couldst be the same one I captured!"
"Perhaps thou willst believe it by this," Bane said. Then he sang: "Make a funnel to a tunnel."
The floor of the passage opened up in a circular depression, deepening in the center. It did indeed soon come to resemble a funnel. Below it there was evidently a new tunnel: one leading out from this fastness.
Without delay, Bane jumped into the funnel and slid down into the tunnel. He landed on his feet and started running along it.
But in a moment shapes loomed up ahead of him. Trolls! The Purple Adept had summoned more of his minions, and they were blocking him off.
Bane halted, knowing that he could not pass these nefarious creatures of the underworld. They could tunnel naturally as fast as he could by magic, and they could move more rapidly here than he could. He backed to the funnel, and hiked himself up, scrambling up its slope until he stood again before the Adept.
"Then perhaps this," he said. He sang: "Let me fare, through the air."
The ceiling opened, revealing open sky above. Bane spread his arms and sailed up, quickly leaving the structure of the Purple Demesnes. But from the horizon came a monstrous flock of harpies, that quickly converged on him.
Bane looked at the ugly half-birds, and reversed course. He plunged down again, and in a moment stood again before the Purple Adept.
"Or this," he said. Then he sang: "Make me most like a ghost."
Nothing changed in appearance – but now Bane walked directly into and through the wall,
and on through the rock, as if he had no more substance than a ghost. No troll or harpy could touch him now.
Then something manifested that could touch him. A genuine ghost! It was in the form of a worn old man, but it paced him through the rock, and closed on him, and when the withered old hand closed on his arm, it had the grip and force of the supernatural. Bane was a pseudoghost; he could not stand up against the real thing.
Thus he found himself a third time back before the Purple Adept. His attempts to escape by using his magic had been foiled. He was only an apprentice Adept; he was unable to match the power of a mature Adept. He could not get away this way.
Purple nodded. "Aye, I believe thou dost make thy point. Thou art the apprentice."
But Purple had also made his point: Bane remained captive.
A serf hurried up. "Master – the mare be gone!"
The Adept wheeled on him. "She cannot be!"
"She – one moment she was tied. The next, her harness fell to the floor, and there was only a tiny bird, and it – "
The floor of the tunnel opened up beneath the serf. The luckless man fell in, screaming. The floor crunched closed on him. The Adept wheeled and strode back toward Fleta's cell. Bane followed, keeping his face straight. He knew that the unicorn had acted while the Adept was distracted by Bane's attempts to escape. She had changed to hummingbird form and used the remade amulet to make a hole in the magical barrier the diameter of her horn – which was just large enough for the hummingbird to squeeze through. She had flown so swiftly and carefully that they had quickly lost track of her.
The Purple Adept swung his angry gaze around to bear on Bane. "Thou hast wrought this deed!"
Bane shrugged. "If thou dost say so."
"Then learn the consequence of thy defiance!"
The ground shook, and began to crumble beneath Bane. There was tremendous magic in the air. He realized that the Adept, in his fury, meant to kill him. Bane sang a spell to protect himself, but he was after all only an apprentice; the force of the magic being brought to bear against him was overwhelming.
Then a new face appeared. "Hold thy malice, Purple!"
Bane recognized the face, as it hovered in the air between himself and the Purple Adept in three-dimensional detail within a watery bubble. It was the Translucent Adept, as strong as any but not as malicious as some. Yet this man was allied against Blue; why should he act on Bane's behalf?
"What business be this of thine?" Purple snapped at the face.
"I made the first offer for this lad's service," Translucent replied. "I braced him, or his other self, in the Brown Demesnes."
"And got nowhere!" Purple retorted. "I took effective action."
"And blew it," Translucent pointed out. "Now the mare be gone, and thou hast no hold on the boy. What will it gain any of us, an thou destroy him, other than the warfare of Blue?"
"Fornicate Blue!" Purple swore.
Translucent smiled grimly. "Easier said than done. He will have thine entrails strung across the landscape of thy Demesnes, and thy minions transformed to toads. And for what? For vengeance against thy rashness that should ne'er have been started! Thou didst ne'er have a chance to coerce that lad into serving thy will; thou didst only interfere with the job I was doing correctly."
"Oh, thou couldst have bought cooperation from the apprentice?" Purple demanded unbelievingly.
"Assuredly, an thou hadst not interfered."
Purple got canny. "Thou couldst accomplish it now – without the hostage mare?"
"That be more challenging, after thine alienation of the lad. But yes, methinks I can."
"Wouldst wager on that, Trans?"
Translucent's face hardened. "Thou dost desire it thus? Then wager me this: an I succeed, the leadership of this enterprise be mine for the duration."
"And if thou dost fail, domain o'er the watery East Pole be mine!" Purple said.
Translucent paused, evidently wary of such a risk. Then he nodded. "The East Pole," he agreed. "Now give me the apprentice."
"Take him, then," Purple said.
The floating face shimmered as if dissolving; then the liquid bubble expanded, almost filling the passage. "Step in," the face said to Bane. "An thou prefer my company to his."
Bane knew what kind of treatment to expect from Purple! He did not like to remain a captive, but certainly
Translucent was more civilized than his present captor. He stepped into the shimmering bubble.
The surface tension of the globe pressed against his face and form, then traveled around his body and snapped into place behind him. He was inside, and though it seemed like liquid, he had no trouble breathing.
Then the globe shimmered, and the scenery outside it was lost in the play of distortion. When the bubble firmed, the exterior had changed. Now it was a deep sea, with fish swimming and seaweed waving.
The globe dissolved, but there was no change; Bane still stood and breathed normally. The water surrounding him seemed illusory, though he knew it was not. Translucent's magic enabled him to survive.
"Come, we must talk," the Adept said, and walked along the floor of the sea, showing the way.
Bane followed him, knowing that he could no more escape the power of this Adept than he could the other. Translucent could cause the water to become unbreathable at any time, forcing Bane to try to swim for the surface before drowning, or could summon a water monster to consume him. True, Bane could use his own magic to protect himself – but how well would his spells work, when garbled through water? He would do best to treat Translucent with respect, at least until he knew what the man intended.
Translucent brought him to a bower in the water, a palatial cave guarded by a water dragon. Surprisingly comfortable stones were sculpted as chairs, and large fish hovered in the manner of servants. A mermaid brought a platter of sea delicacies: nutlike and fruitlike treats, and seaweed very like salad vegetables. They ate at leisure, and even had wine to drink; the fluid remained in its goblets despite the environment. Bane had never been here before, and he found it most interesting. Translucent had always been a somewhat shadowy figure to him, seldom participating in the interactions of Adepts.
After the meal, the Adept got down to business. "Thou dost know my purpose be similar to that of the others who oppose thy father," he said. "Merely my means be other."
"What purpose be that?" Bane asked somewhat tightly.
"To reestablish contact with our brothers of Proton. We had always thought it theoretically possible, but hitherto no avenue had manifested."
"It be not much of an avenue," Bane pointed out. "I can exchange places with mine other self, carrying with me my knowledge and memories. I cannot carry anything physical."
"Messages alone suffice. Dost thou not grasp their importance, Bane?"
Now the Adept was calling him by name. The man was certainly being courteous, but as he had said, he was a member of the forces opposing the Blue Adept, and therefore hardly to be trusted. "What importance?"
"There be information existing only in Proton, that we of Phaze could use to increase our power. Likewise, some exists in Phaze, that the Citizens there require."
"What information?" This was new to him.
"When the frames separated, twenty years ago, the Oracle went to Proton, and the Book of Magic came to Phaze."
"The Book of Magic – that the Red Adept possesses?"
"The same. Dost think a mere troll could become Adept without it? The spells in that one volume be so apt that a common earth-borer, hardly human, be now, an he choose, the most powerful Adept of all. He supports Blue, who gave him the Book, and that makes Blue the strongest. Whoever possesses that Book holds the key to the governance of Phaze."
"Aye," Bane said. "But what would anyone of Proton want with it? Magic works not there."
"That be a matter of interpretation. What we call magic, they call science, and both be powerful tools. The formulae underlying the spells of the Book also underlie the scientific application
s of the technology of Proton. If those spells be conveyed there – "
Now Bane grasped it. "Whoever has that information has a phenomenal advantage in his frame! Proton could have an Adept of science!"
"Aye. And whoever here in Phaze has access to the powers of the Oracle, called a computer there, can profit similarly. The combination can shift the balance of power."
"So if you other Adepts had such contact, you could force my father to retreat, and you would dominate Phaze."
"Aye, in time. But there be problems. The exchange of information be necessarily slow, perhaps one spell at a time, and must necessarily be through thee and thy opposite self. Without thy cooperation, nothing be feasible."
"That's why Purple was trying to pressure me into working with him! To make me carry spells and things back and forth between the frames, so he could increase his power."
"Aye. And make no mistake, Bane, I want the same. I merely oppose Purple's method, not his design. And of course I prefer to have that added power for myself."
"But it be to my interest to use that power for my father! And the Book of Magic be in the hand of our supporter, Red. How canst thou think I would give such power to thee?"
Translucent smiled. "That be why special mechanisms be necessary. Purple thought to coerce thee; I prefer to persuade thee."
"How canst thou hope to persuade me to act against the interest of my father?"
"It seems, to save thy life, I have made a wager that I can do that thing."
That set Bane back. It was true; he would have been dead, had not Translucent intervened. He did owe the man something.
Or did he? The Adepts could be devious; suppose they had set it up to make him seem to be beholden to Translucent? Purple could have made the threats, knowing Translucent was waiting to step in at the last moment. In that case, Bane would be doubly the fool to cooperate.
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