Part 20 (1/2)
”Yes, the Unicorn Adept conjured us free,” she said.
”Where do we go from here?”
”Nowhere.”
”But I hardly know how to forage, and I have no place to sleep. I can't be much use to anyone, here!”
The harpy appeared, perched on a low branch. ”Willst share my nest w' me?” she screeched.
Lysander tried to mask his dismay. ”No affront to you, but I'm not sure I care for the elevation, even if my weight doesn't tear your nest out of the tree.”
Echo reappeared, her nakedness glorious in comparison. One hand was on the branch, and he realized that she had made a smooth translation because she had contact with it, and could guide herself during the change. ”I also have a nether bower you may find more comfortable.”
”I'm sure I would,” he agreed quickly.
She put her hand to the trunk of the tree, and pulled on the bark. The bark swung out, becoming a panel or door. Now there was a hole in the tree, just about big enough for a man to crawl through. ”After you, then,” she said, gesturing to it.
”But that's just a cavity!” he protested. ”There can't possibly be room inside it for me! The trunk is only a meter thick.”
She merely waited, her gesture in place.
Lysander shrugged. He walked to the opening, and discovered that it was the entrance to a chute leading down. Oh. He lifted a leg and put a foot in, then worked the rest of his body through, until only his head was outside. His feet now dangled in the darkness; he had no idea how deep the hole was. ”Drop,” Echo said. ”You will not be hurt.” Could this be some trap to put him away? But why would they bother to transport him here for that? He had to trust them, because he wanted to achieve their trust. Only when he had it could he learn the most secret details of their plan for resistance-and betray it.
He let go. He fell down-and landed in a moment in a bed of feathers. There was a sliver of light from above, that soon shut off.
Echo was coming down after him. Hastily he rolled to the side so she wouldn't land on top of him.
He was not quite fast enough. She whomped down beside him, knocking him flat in the darkness.
”Well, now,” she said. ”This is the way I like my men: laid out.” She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed close.
”But we've only met!” he said.
”We met months ago. Now hang on while I take your measure.”
”Measure?”
”I need to ascertain whether you are truly with us,” she said. ”Jod'e was supposed to do that, but Tan took her out. I doubt you're ready to love me on such short notice, but we only have a few days, so it will have to be the crash course.”
”I don't think I understand.”
”The prophecy says-”
”Oh, that! But how can you be sure that refers to me?”
”We can't. But if it does, we want you with us. We think you will be more likely to be with us if you love one of us. That's why Jod'e had to take you from that spy.”
”You know about that?”
”The Adepts did. So they sent Jod'e to-”
”She did! But then Tan-”
”Yes. That really messed us up. They had to scratch at the last moment for another girl, and so I was recruited, because at least we'd met before. I don't know anything about the plan to free Phaze, except that you may be vital to it, so I must bind you to it. That I shall do.”
”Now, wait! Do you think you can just pa.s.s me from woman to woman, and I'll love any I'm near?”
”Yes. Now kiss me.”
It seemed she wasn't joking. ”Forget it! I liked Alyc, until I learned what she was. I was getting to like Jod'e a lot; if I had any time to reflect, I'd be grieving for her. But you-you're a harpy!”
”And a cyborg. A nice match for your android body with a living brain. You know as well as I do that it is the mind that determines the person. I can make this body do anything your body desires; you won't care that the body isn't alive. So we'll get started.”
”We shall not get-”
But she cut him off with her kiss. She was expert, and her body was warm and sleek and pulsing with the seemingness of vitality. Indeed it was easy to ignore the mechanics of it; in the dark she was all woman.
Then there was light, expanding from what looked like b.a.l.l.s of cotton set against the walls. He saw her-and she was still all woman.
”Look,” he said as the kiss broke. ”I did like Jod'e. I know that's over. Tan raped her emotion and made her his. But I knew her before that, and I grieve for her loss. I would have stayed with her, perhaps married her in time; we related well. But this business of simply a.s.suming that any woman can take me just by being a.s.signed-doesn't that turn the stomach of even a harpy, a little? Didn't you have other plans for your life, before Jod'e got taken out? How can you go along with this nonsense?”
She gazed at him, her eyes spots of midnight. ”Actually, I did like you, Lysander. I enjoyed flirting with you, though I never expected anything to come of it. I was between males. But that's not the point. Our world is at stake, and any personal plans I might have had are vacant. I must love you, and you me. and hope that you are the one who will save Phaze.”
”Just like that,” he said with irony. ”Phaze needs me, so you and I must fall in love. Then I'll decide in favor of your planet, because I'll want to stay with you the rest of my life, even though you are made of plastic.”
”You've got it. Meanwhile, we might as well enjoy ourselves. Let's kiss and talk for a while, before we start on the s.e.x.”
”I am at a loss to comprehend why you think any of this will occur. I may be of alien origin, but everything I've learned of your culture indicates that this isn't the way love normally occurs.”
”There are three reasons. Are you sure you want them recited?”
”Yes.” He was intrigued. If he had to pretend to love her in order to get close to the source of the resistance, he would do that. But the role he was playing required that he offer natural resistance to such bread-and-b.u.t.ter romance.
”First, your body is handsome and virile and responds normally to stimuli. I am in this form an attractive woman, similarly responsive. Propinquity will normally cause us to merge, in the absence of counterindications.”
”Granted. But there are counter-”
”Second, this chamber is sealed. For the next several days, I will be your only companion, and I will be most attentive and obliging to your interests. You will find me very good company indeed-and I trust I will find you the same. Only when the love is firm will we be released.”
”So it is a trap!”
”A love trap,” she agreed. ”But a willing one, for me, and I think not jus! because I love my planet.”
She evidently believed in this! ”And the third reason?”
”This chamber is suffused with love elixir. It will take perhaps three days to be completely effective, and we have that amount of time available, perhaps more.”
”You really think that-” But he broke off, remembering how Tan had changed Jod'e. Magic was operative here, and surely their love potions were effective, though slower than Adept enchantment.
”So you see, we may try to resist it, or we can go along with it. The outcome will be the same, but it will be more pleasant to go along.”