How much time do we have? he asked the recording. Before they track us and come for us?
A month. Perhaps more. That is the limit of my perception.
A month! How could the machines have made a mistake like that?
Because they want you here, the recording answered his presumed question.
Havoc stared at Weft, sharing the information. Even Iolo was taken aback. The machines were granting them a free run on their home world? To study and fathom the treacherous tragedy of their origin as a galactic power? What possible sense did this make?
They want you to know, the message concluded. When you know, they will let you go.
"I fear we have underestimated the deviousness of the machines," Havoc said. "They are recruiting us to their search for their Makers despite our opposition." Both Weft and Iolo nodded.
"We did not escape here," Weft said. "We were herded here. They believe this will forward their mission."
For here they should learn what the Makers looked like, what their fundamental chemistry was, and what their essential mistake was. How they had allowed their machines to turn against them and destroy them, fifty thousand years ago. For surely it could not have happened without a critically serious error of management. If it really had happened that way. If it had not, then what had happened?
And the machines wanted them to know, and to return to their culture and tell the others. This defied explanation. Because the machines had to know that they would never assist them in locating the fled remnant of Makers, if it even still existed after fifty thousand years.
Havoc shrugged, setting that mystery aside for the moment. "Well, let's get on it."
"Agreement," Weft said faintly.
Chapter 21 Ammonoid
Warp.
It was Voila's call, waking him. Marionette still slept beside him.
"Let me be," Warp replied aloud. "I'm still recovering from the Twins sisters. What girls!"
We have a culture to integrate, but there's a complication.
"There always is," he said.
Mollusk culture. Emergency.
"I'm not the Glamor of Mollusks. I'm Fungus. I'd have thought you'd have gotten that straight by now, brat."
The Green Glamor is busy elsewhere. You're the Glamor on call for this sector. Get your rear in gear, warp speed.
He had to do it. He sat up and spanked Marionette's saucy bare bottom. "Gotta go, puppet. She who must be obeyed calls."
Marionette woke. "Well, we have had a week off." She rolled off the bed and made for the bathroom.
Very soon they were with Voila. "Situation," she said briskly. "The Ammonoids are ready to join the Coalition.
We need them, though the reason is as yet obscure. But hostiles have abducted the Princess, who is their rightful ruler, preventing her from issuing the protocol. She must be rescued."
"I have to rescue a princess?"
"She is reputed to be lovely, for a squid. Marvelous colors, iridescent shell, delicate tentacles, and not too smart. You should find her irresistible."
Marionette visibly choked off a chortle.
"Why do I have to rescue her? Isn't there a prince, or something?"
"There is, but for obscure reason he won't attempt it. You will have to act in his stead."
"Delight," he said sourly.
"It's a feudal society, with limited magic. Your ikon should work. I have a manual they sent. You will want to study the background detail thoroughly before going there."
"The bleep I will! I just want to get it done."
"I will take the manual," Marionette said.
"It's good to have an adult along," Voila said, handing her the manual. "They lack telepathy, so you can stay in touch that way without sacrificing privacy."
"Just give me the coordinates," Warp said impatiently.
"And to think we call Flame 'Hothead,'" Voila said. "Warp's the true hothead. How can you stand him?"
"I like heat," Marionette said.
Voila gave the coordinates, and Warp took Marionette's hand and conjured them to an available boat. It was pre-programmed for Ammonoid; Voila had of course known he would take the assignment, being able to see farther into the future than he.
They strapped in and relaxed as the boat moved out. Warp took Marionette's hand. The twins had left them both so sexually depleted that this was about as much as he desired at the moment. The twins had been great fun, but Marionette was the one he loved.
"Appreciation," she murmured.
As they traveled, Warp snoozed while Marionette reviewed the manual. She was five years his senior, and there were ways in which she was indeed more mature. He had power; she had responsibility. He needed her.
"Have you picked up on why we need squids in the Coalition?" he asked.
"Negation. But it seems they can significantly help the war against the machines, despite having no space ships of their own. We just have to figure out how."
"What do we call them?"
"Anything convenient to keep individuals straight, as it's all translation of unpronounceable designations. Even calling them king or princess is a stretch; their society is not any analog of any of ours."
"King Ammon-Ra," he said, while she giggled. "Prince Ammon-Ium. Princess Ammon-Ia."
In due course they emerged in Ammonoid space—and there was a machines scout boat.
"Expletive!" Warp swore. "They're all over the place!"
"They are heading away from us," Marionette said. "They may not have seen us."
He checked the near future paths. "But they will. Hang on." It was a superfluous warning, as the boat held them securely in the seats, but he had a certain urge for flair.
He dodged behind the Ammonoid planet, putting it between them and the scout. Then he plunged to intersect the cloud cover surrounding the planet. It was the path that preserved their concealment—the only one.
Immediately below the clouds was the surface: water. They splashed down, sank deep, then floated back to the surface, intact. Their craft had become a sea boat instead of a space boat.
"Clever of you to select water," Marionette remarked, smiling.
"Soft landing," he agreed wryly. As it turned out, Voila was correct: though this planet lacked the Chroma zones of Charm, it did have magic potential, and his ikon was working.
"So what is a machines scout doing in this area?" Marionette asked.
"I fear their far-future seeing told them that the Ammonoids are a danger to them, so they mean to prevent us from recruiting them."
"So if we do recruit them, maybe we should conceal the fact."
He nodded. "It's only a scout, but it could readily summon a battleship to pulverize the planet."
"So we'll try to leave it seemingly un-recruited, so maybe they'll leave it alone for this month."
"That's the idea," he agreed.
Marionette studied a map in the manual. "Dry land at three O'clock, a fair distance."
He resumed propulsion, low level, and moved in that direction. In due course they found it. He beached the boat where his clairvoyance indicated safe harbor.
"The capital town is not far," Marionette said. "On the bottom of the sea."
"Time to become ammonoids," he said.
"Here are the models," she said. "Male and female." she showed him the pictures.