Part 18 (1/2)

”There is in Proton. Now there are four. Can your golems get there and remain functional?”

”If there be no fire.”

”Snow, not fire.”

”Then they can go. I will send a complement. But I must advise thee that golems be not smart; they will prevent thy forces also from approaching it.”

”Understood. Do it.”

”That be the extent o' mine obligation?”

”For the moment, Brown.” He got up to go.

There was a beep. Purple brought out a holo cube and set it on the table. ”Purple,” he said, evidently acknowledging a call.

A three-dimensional image formed above the cube. Brown's breath stopped. It was a Hectare, one of the bug-eyed invaders. She had s.h.i.+elded herself from such contact, trying to pretend the creatures didn't exist, but here one was virtually in her castle.

The thing's tentacles writhed, rippling around what could be its neck section, and there was a faint, unpleasant keening. They spoke by rubbing short tentacles together, she had heard, producing mostly ultrasonic whistles that the human ear could not fathom if it were able to hear them at all. Evidently it was so, for in a moment the translation started.

”I am pleased to accept your invitation to game,” the thing was saying. ”A studio is being reserved. Be there with your second in ninety-four minutes.” The image faded out.

Purple's mouth hung open. He looked as though he had received a death sentence. This communication had evidently come as a complete surprise to him.

Then he gathered his wits. ”Do you know what this means, Brown?”

”I knew not e'en the invaders played games!” she protested. ”Thou didst ask to play with it?”

He stared at her. ”You don't know that the Hectare not only play, they bet? That they are compulsive gamers who play for keeps?”

She returned his gaze blankly. ”I know as little o' them as I can.”

”Then you shall learn!” he said grimly. ”Make yourself ready, woman; you shall be my second.”

”Thy second? I know not how-”

”My adviser, my supporter. You will do your best to see that I win that game.”

Suddenly she remembered what Nepe had said: that Citizen purple would play a game with a Hectare, and that she should go with him, and take the mock Tsetse. How had the child managed this? But she had no time to wonder; she had to do it. ”I agreed to do thy bidding. Purple, but must warn thee that I know naught o' seconding or the game, and may be o' little use to thee. I may help thee best by urging thee to obtain a more competent second.” Absolutely true!

Purple fixed her with an abruptly steely eye. ”Do you know what the Hectare do to losers?”

”Nay. I-”

”They cut off the loser's hand.”

She stared at him, speechless.

”That is to ensure that no native throws a game to a Hectare. There is no penalty for winning, and no loss to the Hectare for losing, other than its bets. They're not really good at the game yet, being unused to our conventions, so they often do lose. But they are getting better. They're not stupid, and they do not forget a ploy that defeats them. It's like Phaze magic: it won't work twice. So I have no certainty of winning.”

”But then why didst thou challenge-”

”I didn't challenge!” he shouted. ”But the Hectare evidently thinks I did, so I'm stuck for it. Now, woman, understand this: you will be my second, and you will see that I win. Because if I lose, you lose. Do you understand me?”

Brown didn't need to ask how she would lose. Her secret was on the line. She would have to do her very best to help him to win. Which was exactly what Nepe had told her to do. She had for the sake of integrity urged him not to use her; now her course was clear.

”Aye,” she said slowly. ”But let me bring Tsetse.”

”To remind you what you're fighting for?” He shrugged. ”Bring her, then. But be ready in ten minutes. I'll be at my plane.” He swept out.

Fl.u.s.tered, Brown went to the storeroom. She opened the door-and paused, astonished.

Tsetse stood there, absolutely authentic. Brown knew it wasn't her, but the likeness was so good that it was hard to believe. ”Thou needs must come-” she said, faltering as the surprise continued to percolate.

”Yes, of course. Brown,” the woman said in Tsetse's voice. ”Whatever you say.”

Did the woman stand a little taller than before, and was she heavier? Brown peered closely at her, to see whether she had been magnified a size, but could detect nothing. This emulation would readily pa.s.s inspection. But how had they managed it?

She decided to treat the emulation exactly as if she were Tsetse, so that there could be no slip. ”Something has come up. We must leave for Proton immediately with Citizen Purple. I am to a.s.sist him in a game against a Hectare.”

”A game against a Hectare!” Tsetse exclaimed, wide-eyed. ”But don't they make natives-?”

”Aye. Needs must we help Purple win. Now come.”

Tsetse followed her obediently. They went out to the waiting airplane.

”You can keep your clothing. Brown, but she's a serf,” Purple reminded her as he climbed into the pilot's seat.

”Remove thy apparel,” Brown told Tsetse. ”Thou canst have it back when we return.”

The woman struggled out of her gown, in the confines of the plane. Brown helped her. She still seemed completely real, and even her struggle to get out of the robe was authentic. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s shook and her hair got disordered. But when Brown's hand touched her body, she found that it was a good deal more solid than it looked.

Illusion! That was the secret! The other person was larger, but looked the same. There should be no problem as long as no one actually touched her.

Purple was taxiing around, getting aligned for the takeoff. By the time Tsetse was bare, the plane had gotten up speed. Purple, concentrating on his piloting, had paid no attention to Tsetse. That was just as well, since he would have caught on instantly had he touched her. He had after all had an affair with her. This remained chancy business!

Soon they reached the Hardom dome, and landed. A Citizen transport was waiting for them. They entered the chamber, and it moved into the hidden transport network of the city.

Purple touched a console. ”Replay my engagement to play a game with the Hectare,” he snapped.

A wall became a screen. It was as if they were looking through a picture window to a larger room. There was Citizen Purple, exactly as now, speaking from the screen of a phone. ”I crave the honor of engaging my Hectare supervisor in a game,” the figure said politely. ”I feel this would benefit our mutual understanding. Of course there is no obligation, if you have other business, and I apologize for intruding on your time.”

That was it. The inset screen clock showed that this call had been made just about the time Purple was arriving at the Brown Demesnes. It was an obvious frame-to those who knew what he had actually been doing.

Brown, true to her agreement, said what she could. ”Someone somehow emulated thee, Purple. But that was when thou wast talking with me, as I will attest. If thou dost explain to the Hectare, maybe-”

”Too late for that. Once the Hectare accepted the challenge, that was that. I'm hoist. But once I catch the perpetrator...”

”Methinks only Mach could do it.”