Then they swam for the castle. Squid knew she had won the first challenge. The key had not been to kill her friend, but to get rid of the Hag.
When they got there and climbed onto the pavement in front of the entrance, Win kissed her, stepped back, and became Santo.
Santo? How did he relate? The next challenge was upon her with no respite between them. Had Win been real, or a simulation? Did it matter?
“Why are you here?” she asked him.
“Your challenge: I know what it is,” Santo said as they entered the castle. “You have been given the power to change me.”
“Change you?”
“To hetero.”
“Why would I do that?”
“To save the universe.”
Oh, no! But as she searched within herself, she knew that it was true; she had been given special magic for this purpose. The question was not whether she could do it, but whether she should.
“Santo, you have a better mind than I do. Let’s discuss this rationally.”
He smiled. “Let’s.”
“Santo, I don’t want to change you. I love you the way you are. Your orientation is a fundamental part of you. You would not be the same person with it changed.”
“Precisely. I don’t want to change either. But the choice is not mine. It’s yours.”
Squid focused on it. “If your changing meant saving the universe, would you do it?”
“Of course.”
“Would you want to do it then?”
“No. But the sacrifice of one person is a very small thing compared to the universe. For one thing, all my friends are part of it, and I would not want to sacrifice them.” He laughed. “In fact it would not be much fun without them.”
“So I have to do something to you that neither of us wants, to save the universe?”
“So it would seem.”
“How would Noe feel about it?”
“As it happens, I have asked her, since with the mini portals we can now change genders. This is not at all the same, yet there is a parallel. She answered that she loves me as I am.”
“Did you ask her whether she would rather leave you alone and let the universe go, or change you and have you as a hetero?”
He smiled again. “I did not think to ask her that. Our dialogue was before the Demon Chaos appeared.”
“But you must have a notion how she would have answered.”
“Yes. She would prefer me as hetero. But she would regret the necessity.”
“You love her?”
“Yes, as a friend. And when she uses the mini portal, as a lover, for all that we have not done that at our age. But the question is not what we have done or would do at present, but what we would prefer for the future.”
“You are marvelously rational.”
“Thank you.”
Then a notion came to her. “Santo, I believe I have the answer. My trial here is to determine how to save the universe, when I don’t know what is right or wrong in this specific case. I want to save the universe as it is, not as the Sea Hag or someone else might want it. If I changed you, that would be in a small way a different universe. So I believe the correct decision is not to change you.”
“If you feel that is right, that is your prerogative.”
“Oh, Santo, I don’t know what is right. I am deeply unsure. But it is what makes most sense to me.”
Then she faced away from him. “My decision is not to change him.”
There was a quiver in the environment. The decision had been made.
“Oh, my,” Santo said. “I am told that is wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“I am informed that life itself is a process of change, so that to maintain the universe as it is we must embrace change. This is the answer the Demons agreed on.”
“Well, I disagree.”
He quirked a smile. “So do I. However, it was your prerogative to make the decision. It is theirs to judge whether that decision is correct. You have done so, and they have done so.”
“I think the Demons are Ethics-challenged. In fact, Wrong.”
“But their Will governs,” he said sadly.
Squid was chagrined. “So I stand at one to one, by their reckoning. I had better be right on the third challenge.”
“By their definition.”
“By my definition. Right is right, regardless who differs.”
Santo spread his hands. “At any rate, I thank you for leaving me alone, though the universe pay the price.”
Then he faded, and in his place stood Larry.
“And you were the worst one, in my vision,” Squid said. “I had to decide whether to kill my friend, or change my friend. What do I have to do with you, my boyfriend?”
“I am not your friend,” Larry said in the voice of Chaos. “Neither am I Laurelai, whom Demoness Fornax animates. I am animating this form of this host in order to have an even dialogue with you.”
The Demon actually wanted to talk with her? The amazement continued to pile on. “And what do I have to do to you?”
“You have to convince me to spare the universe.”
Squid stared at him. “But that’s the object of the three trials! I have to win the third one in order to tilt the victory to the other Demons so you won’t destroy the universe.”
“You can win it by convincing me. That is the challenge.”
“Convincing you to let the other Demons win?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes.”
“How could I ever hope to do that? Apart from the fact that you are on your own side, by definition, you have all the resources of the universe you wish to destroy to draw from, while I have only my tiny juvenile alien cuttlefish brain. It’s inherently unfair.”
“It is fair, because for this purpose I am limited to the intellectual, informational, and emotional resources that you yourself possess. We are evenly matched, by the decree of the Demons you support.”
She gazed at him, confused. “I’m not certain I believe this.”
He smiled. “Then default and let me win. That is your prerogative.”
“The hell!” Then she paused. “I used a bad word. How can that be, when the Adult Conspiracy limits children to good words or euphemisms?”
“The Adult Conspiracy is suspended for this engagement as an artifact hostile to serious reasoning. You are limited to your own resources, not that outside restriction.”
“That I really have trouble believing! You mean that I could violate the Conspiracy with impunity?”
He smiled again. She rather liked that smile, despite knowing he was the ultimate enemy. “In the interest of saving your universe, you could do so, yes. But you are not obliged to violate it; that is merely an option you now possess.”
“Except that I have done so already, by swearing.”
“Indeed. That is hardly the beginning of what you could do, if you chose.”
Squid was foolishly intrigued. All her young life she had chafed at the Adult Conspiracy, and wanted to abolish it. Did she really have the chance? Maybe she should discover its secrets right now, since if the universe ended, it would be too late.
And there was something about Chaos. Maybe it was the host he was using, her boyfriend, about whom she had become remarkably serious. “Show me.”
“Show you what? My side of our debate?”
“No, not yet. Show me the other side of the Adult Conspiracy. What I have been forbidden to know.”
He considered. “I said that my horizons were limited to yours, for this engagement, but I realize now that that is not strictly true. I do know what the Conspiracy hides, having observed all life forms as long as they have existed. But I am uncertain how this relates to our discussion.”
“I don’t know either,” she confessed candidly. “But if
I’m going to vanish along with the universe after this, I just want to know what I have been wondering about all my life. I want the answer to the big secret. It’s simply stupid curiosity.”
He nodded. “Simple, perhaps. But sensible, given your position. I will show you. Take my hand.”
“Your hand? Can I touch you without losing my argument?”
“Squid, this is a Demon contest. It is inherently fair. I will not betray you in any manner. Only when our dialogue is done will I render my decision. You direct that dialogue. I am obliged to answer your questions honestly, whatever they may be. Your current question is about the nature of the Adult Conspiracy. I will answer to your satisfaction. To do otherwise would be to default, and lose my case.”
She gazed at him. “It is getting hard to believe that you really are a Demon. You seem like a nice guy.”
He laughed. “I am trying to be nice. It is a struggle, because I have always been hostile to all the given forms of the universe, life included. But I can’t answer your questions honestly unless I relate honestly.”
She took his hand. “Show me,” she repeated.
“First I must age you and this host. Fortunately it is a power this host already has.”
“Yes, we have aged three or five years. I have become fourteen, or even sixteen. I had odd urges then, that I don’t understand now.”
“How old do you wish to become?”
“Older than I was. Make it ten more years. To age twenty one, for me.”
“And twenty two for this host,” he agreed.
Power animated his hand, and Squid felt herself rapidly aging. Then she was there, her body fully developed and rather pretty. Larry was handsome too. “What next?” she asked, getting excited.
“We kiss.”
“What has a kiss to do with it?” Actually she had a strong suspicion, but wanted a clear answer.
“It stirs the feelings.”
“Oh.” She stepped into him and raised her lips for a kiss. He met them with his own. Suddenly she felt a surge of love. So she kissed him again. And again.
Then they were lying on a soft green bank, and their kisses were building into something else. Their bodies were heating as they pressed tightly against each other. They were about to signal the stork!
That made her pause. She wanted to know the secret, but not to have the stork bring her a baby. She froze.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” she said with real regret. “I think I don’t want to do this after all.”
“Then you don’t have to.”
“Thank you for understanding.” She kissed him again, then separated.
Their ages reverted. “I think I have not answered your question.”
“I think I changed my mind. I will wait to grow up for real before I do anything as significant as bringing a baby here.”
“I don’t properly understand, but you impress me nonetheless. You just made a difficult decision.”
“That’s life.” She wasn’t sure she had done the right thing, considering that she had no certainty of existing beyond his dialogue. “I guess I have to do what I feel is right, regardless.” But what was really getting to her was how much she had liked the kissing, and had wanted to take it further. It wasn’t just that he looked like Larry; she knew he was the enemy Demon; but still couldn’t help liking him. Did that make any sense at all?
“That’s odd,” he said.
“Are you reading my thoughts?” she demanded.
“My parameters are limited to yours. You are to an extent the template for our connection. You relate to the minds of others. It seems that I do, too. So I know that you liked kissing me, even though you are aware that I am your opponent.”
What use to deny it? “True,” she said tightly. “I agree it’s odd.”
“What is similarly odd to me is that I liked it too.”
Now she looked hard at him. “Are you teasing me?”
“Teasing? That is a new concept for me. I was not trying to do it, but would have liked to, now that I understand it as a form of flirtation.”
“Flirtation!”
“I am learning that there is bad teasing when mean folk do it, but also good teasing when friends do it. I would like to be your friend.”
“You’re my enemy! You want to destroy me and the universe.”
He pondered briefly. “The universe, yes. You, no. I would rather kiss you.”
“But if you destroy the universe, I go with it.”
“Unless I make an exception for you alone.”
“As you did for the Sea Hag?”
“Yes. But in the end she thought I would betray her.”
“And would you have?”
“Yes, because that was her standard.”
“And what of my standard?”
“You are honest, and keep your bargains. With you I must be honest, and keep mine.”
“I accept no such bargain. I will not betray my friends. I choose to survive only if the universe as I know it survives.”
“Yes,” he agreed sadly. “I have to respect that, as I am coming to respect you.”
That got to her in a weird way. “Let’s flirt,” she said, and kissed him.
“Oh, Squid, I wish—”
“I know. It’s impossible. I guess I was only teasing.”
“It is effective. May I tease you back?”
“Anything you want.” Because his mind indicated that he really did want to be with her. “Flirting is part of the game of Love, even if it is only window-shopping instead of the real thing.”
“Thank you.” He kissed her. She kissed him. He kissed her again.
She had to call a halt before she lost control of her rushing feelings. This was the other side! She drew away. “I can’t do this. It is the verge of betrayal of my mission.”
“Were we to meet in other circumstances, would you be interested?”
What could she say? Yes, he was the enemy. Yet along with his incalculable power, and arrogance when dealing with other Demons, there was a quality in him that appealed to her. Maybe it was that he, too, was an alien assuming human form. That he, too, found the passions of the human condition to be curious yet intriguing. Or that his interest in her was new and unfeigned. He had observed the whole of life, yet never participated in it. Now he wanted to, because doing was not at all the same as observing. He was in that sense a novice much like herself. Honesty compelled her, apart from the requirement that she answer candidly. “Yes.”
“May I make a request?”
She was startled. “You are asking me for permission to talk?”
“By the strictures of this Wager, you direct the interview. Your will governs. Were I to attempt to violate any part of it, no matter how minor, I would forfeit my case.”
“You Demons don’t fool around, do you!”
“We do not.”
She laughed, more in confusion than in humor. “You may make your request.”
“I ask you to teach me Love.”
“Teach you—” she started. “But haven’t you already seen every act of love that anyone anywhere in the universe has ever performed?”
“Yes. But I have not experienced it directly. There may be a difference.”
“There certainly may be! Emotion is apart from observation. I guess it’s an emergent phenomenon.”
“Agreed.”
“You actually want an eleven-year-old child to try to teach you about something the Adult Conspiracy has determinedly hidden from her?”
“The Conspiracy does not exist in our dialogue,” he reminded her.
“Yes, but it has kept me ignorant about the details.”
“Has it prevented you from experiencing the emotion, apart from those details?”
Squid considered, re
membering her encounters with Larry. If she didn’t love him, she was close to it. If only he weren’t in truth a girl!
“No, not really. The feeling is there.”
“Then I ask you, please, to share this feeling with me, so that I may come to understand it. You are free to decline without prejudice to your case.”
What the hell! He was asking her to do something she discovered she desperately wanted to do. It was crazy, because Chaos was the enemy, intent on destroying the universe and reducing it into sheer nothingness. She had no business giving him anything at all, least of all love. Yet at the same time he really turned her on. Larry was a decent boy, considerate of her concerns, honoring the boundaries. There was no sharp edge to him, no danger. Chaos, in contrast, was all edge, lethally dangerous. He was the ultimate Bad Boy, nothing but horrendous mischief. Why was she so infernally attracted to him? It made no sense at all. But suddenly she really wanted to make it with him in whatever way she could.
“One stricture,” she said breathlessly. “Those details you know about, that I don’t? Don’t let me do them, physically. Keep it on the emotional plane. So that I remain a child, technically.”
“Agreed.”
“You can read my mind, right? Feel my emotions? They may not be your own emotions, but you can feel mine. Vicarious experience. That’s how I can show you love, to the extent I am capable of it.”
“Agreed.”
“The flirtation is over. Now we are getting to the real thing.” She put her arms about him, her lips to his, and let herself go.
Suddenly she was cruising into deep space, plastered against him, her lips hungrily pressing into his. Her emotion of love expanded until it burst out of her heart, coursed through her body, and overflowed into his. They floated up off the floor into the sky, radiating beams of heat that not only transformed the air around them, but melted their bodies together until they were one. Sheer joy transformed them as they shone like a star gone nova, illuminating the galaxy in their vicinity.
Then they sank slowly back to the mortal realm, the brightness fading but their love still strong. They became two bodies again, quietly warming each other as they relaxed. She knew he had honored his promise to keep it strictly emotional. But what a wild emotional trip it had been! Marvelously forbidden love.
Skeleton Key Page 33
