Part 23 (2/2)
”Aye,” Fleta whispered.
'Then why dost thou help him to return to his frame?”
”Because he and me can never be, and his world be there.”
”I am not sure of that,” Mach said. ”But if I stayed here, Bane would be trapped there, and I know that's not right.”
”So it be hopeless as well as forbidden,” Brown said. ”I think I cannot help the two of you in that.”
”No one can help,” Fleta said, turning on Mach a look of such misery that he leaped from his chair and went to hold her.
At this point there was an interruption. A globe of mist appeared above the table. It formed into a shape of a man's head. ”So the apprentice and the animal are getting friendly,” the head remarked.
”What dost thou do here, Translucent?” Brown demanded angrily.
”Our agents have discovered that the young man be not what he appears to be,” Translucent said. 'This be not the apprentice Adept, but his other self from Proton.”
”So I have already ascertained,” Brown snapped. ”Be it for this thy minions persecute this couple?”
”Persecute? Hardly. This young man represents the only known contact with the other frame in a score years. We have long regretted lack of contact with those of Proton, and would have this lad relay messages there for us. For this purpose we sought him, and are prepared to reward him handsomely.”
”By sending demons and harpies and goblins after him?” Fleta demanded hotly. ”Some reward!”
”Watch thy tongue, animal, lest thou lose it,” Translucent said to her.
”Don't call her animal!” Mach flared.
The foggy head surveyed him, then nodded. ”So it really be like that.” It smiled. ”I apologize, unicorn, if aught I spoke of thee seemed amiss.”
”Just call off thy minions,” Fleta said, taken aback.
”Indeed, they be gone already,” Translucent said. His gaze returned to Mach. ”What be thy price to c arry messages?”
”Price?”
”Gold? Servants? A palace? My a.s.sociates and I can be generous when pleased.”
”Thy a.s.sociates and thee be no credit to the frame of Phaze!” Brown snapped. ”Get thee hence from my Demesnes!”
”In a moment, woodworker.” Again the misty gaze fixed disconcertingly on Mach. ”An thou not be ready at this time to make a commitment, call me when thou dost wish. Take a cup of water and dash it to the ground and speak my name, and I shall respond. I think thou willst in due course perceive the merit in mine offer.” And at last the head faded out.
”Disgusting intrusion!” Brown muttered. ”We try to keep things civil with the Adverse Adepts, and Translucent be not the worst o' them, but even he can try my patience.”
”You mentioned that you helped fight the Citizens, in the old days,” Mach said. ”Is this tied in with that?”
”Aye.” Brown smiled reminiscently. ”I was but a child then, and new at my post, for my predecessor had recently died. Stile, new as the Blue Adept, came here and wreaked havoc in my Demesnes, and I was angry; but when I came to know him, I helped him, and for a time I had charge of the Book of Magic, and in the end I did betray him for his own good by reversing the frame he went to.”
”So you were the one who brought Blue to Proton, and Stile to Phaze!” Mach exclaimed.
”Aye. Then I turned the Book of Magic over to Trool the Troll, and he became the Red Adept. Since then Stile has guided the affairs of Phaze in a beneficial direction, curtailing the evil powers of the opposing Adepts, who naturally hate him. E'er they sought to balk him, and to diminish the freedoms of the animals and Little Folk, but e'er he was alert, and Red provided powerful new spells when needed, and Phaze has prospered despite the loss of magical power.”
”Loss of magic? It seems effective enough to me!”
”That be because thou saw it not in the old days. When the frames separated, half the Phazite, the rock of magic, was pa.s.sed o'er to Proton, to make up for the Protonite lost by mining there. That balanced the frames so they would not destroy each other, and then they separated so that no one could cross thereafter. But the power of magic was diminished, and I think the power of economics diminished in Proton too, because there could be no more unlimited mining.”
”It was,” Mach agreed. ”Proton remains well off, because Protonite now commands a much higher price, but only a small fraction of the prior total is exported. My father has worked to make the operation of the society more efficient, so that we can maintain as good a lifestyle as before; the self-willed machines have been helping. But the old-guard Contrary Citizens have adamantly opposed him; they want to get rich by multiplying the output of Protonite.”
”Stile encouraged the a.s.sociation of the species,” Brown continued. ”Thus it was that Bane was named after wolf-bane, the charm the werewolves use for strength, and had as playmates the young of the unicorns, werewolves, vampires and even on occasion some of the Little Folk or the trolls.”
”I learned about Fleta,” Mach said, smiling at her. ”But how far does this a.s.sociation go? Fleta seems to feel that any permanent liaison between us is forbidden.”
Brown spread her hands. ”Camaraderie be one thing; marriage be another. The species be concerned about the purity of their lines, and some have ancient enmities. So this be an uneasy a.s.sociation at best. Stile himself was close to Neysa, but he married his own kind. So even if thou didst not have to return to thine own frame, I think there would be no approval in this frame for what thou might desire.”
”She speaks truth,” Fleta murmured.
”Not as I see it!” Mach said. ”I grew up in a society in which robots like myself mixed with other types of creature, and no limits to their a.s.sociation were imposed. My father is human, my mother a robot. Is there greater distinction between me and a unicorn than between me and a human being?”
Brown shook her head. ”In Phaze thou wouldst be called a golem, an thou didst have thine own body. Even so was Sheen considered, when she visited this frame. I personally believe that golems should have greater rights, but I am biased by the nature of my magic. Phaze be not ready for mixing of species in any but the most innocent sense, and not ready for self-willed golems at all. An thou didst take Fleta to Proton with thee, there the situation might differ.”
Mach sighed. ”I think I do not want to return to Proton alone, but I cannot take her with me.”
”I knew always our love was forbidden,” Fleta said. ”The more fool I for yielding to it.”
”This experience has been a kind of dream for me,” he said. ”But I too knew I could not live forever in a dream. Once I discover how to exchange back, I will have to return his body to Bane.”
Soon they had another call. A man walked in from the kitchen, carrying a tray full of desserts: chocolate ice cream. Mach glanced at him casually, then did a doubletake. ”Father!”
Brown laughed. ”Stile, thou idiot! Thou didst not have to masquerade as a servant!”
For it was indeed Stile, the Adept. He looked exactly like Citizen Blue, except that his clothing was of Phaze instead of Proton. He was small, shorter than any of the others in the room, but fit, in his middle forties.
”I didn't know quite what to expect,” Stile said, setting down the desserts. ”So I thought I'd come quietly.” He sounded exactly like Blue, too.
”So thou didst animate one of my golems!” Brown said.
”It was already animate. I merely gave it my semblance.”
”Sit down, have some ice cream,” Brown said mischievously. Mach had to smile, knowing that an ordinary golem could not eat.
”Not my flavor,” Stile demurred.
Brown snapped her fingers. Another golem responded. ”Fetch some blue ice cream,” she ordered.
The golem returned in a moment with blueberry ice cream, setting it before Stile. He took his spoon and began to eat.
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