Shee did not fully trust this. "Why can't Havoc handle his own public appearance?"
"He is busy elsewhere at the moment. This is to establish an alibi for him, so that the machines don't know what he's up to. My sister Flame is emulating me, so that I seem to be elsewhere, and I am emulating Havoc."
"Reminder: I am a machine, serving a mission for the machines. Don't trust me with any secrets you want to keep from the machines."
"But you are not in touch with the machines at the moment. Even if you had telepathy you could not contact them; you would have to be conveyed via wormhole to one of their bases to make a report. You are on your own."
"I am an enemy agent. Why should you want to betray your father's trust by sharing private information with me?"
"This about that," he said seriously. "Twenty two years ago Havoc and Gale adopted three babies, though they had just conceived their first natural child. It was a burden because of the number—they had to get help nursing and caring for them all—and because they were Glamors that no one else could handle. We would have been terminated, otherwise, as too dangerous to allow to grow up wild. They saved us, and made us their family, and loved us, and enabled us to grow up to be all the we could be. Because we became Glamors younger than others, we also became more powerful than other Glamors, including our parents. They accept this with grace and love us still. We owe it all to them. Now our loyalty is absolute. Weft would marry Havoc if she could, and I would marry Gale if I could. Flame's commitment is parallel. We are incapable of betraying them."
He focused on her with disturbing intensity. "You will never move against Havoc, Gale, or any of those they value, such as their five children, the Ladies Ennui, Aspect, Symbol, or Monochrome."
Shee was taken aback by his manner as much as his words. "There is no need to threaten me. I am already committed, and I love Havoc. But I am a machine, and in time the machines will surely recover me or terminate me, depending on the success of my mission."
"This is no threat. This is your future."
"You can see the paths that far ahead?"
"Idyll Ifrit can, augmented by Mino. You are with us."
She shook her head. "I wish I could be. You have listed nine people your parents value. I long to be the tenth. But I am not a person, or even alive; I am an emulation, with emulated human appearance and emotions, no more valid than your emulation of Havoc."
"You will be the tenth, soon."
"Hope."
Warp turned to Ennui. "I will take her now. Set the schedule."
"Agreement," Ennui said, returning to her papers.
"This way," Warp said, indicating the royal suite.
Shee still did not completely trust this, but saw that she had no choice. She had assumed that it was her crafted love of Havoc that made her so much in awe of his presence. Now she understood that his son was even stronger, and could do with her anything he chose. She had thought herself to be incapable of being intimidated, but Warp intimidated her. There was something about a Glamor that made her metal knees feel like soggy sponge. She accompanied him into the suite.
He remanifested as Havoc. "I am going to make the public announcement of the situation with the machines. I will play Havoc; you will play yourself. But I will do it my way. I am a story teller."
"This is not story and it's not a nice one. Are you going to tell them the real situation?"
"Affirmation. In my fashion. In Havoc's fashion. Is there anything you'd like to include?"
"I would prefer not to be known as an evil machine."
"Machine yes, evil no."
"Could I do a song?"
"Affirmation. Hayseed will do a song. You can render it."
"Hayseed?"
He chucked her under the chin, exactly the way Havoc would have done. "You studied Havoc. You know of the minstrel."
"Affirmation. But I thought this was to be a presentation of the crisis with the machines culture."
"That also. But first it will be the story of you, merged with that of Opaline."
"Question?"
"I just reviewed it from a memory capsule. Hayseed has been traveling with a fifth."
"Alarm! The fifths are machines' spies."
"Not consciously."
"Irrelevant. Everything they learn becomes grist for the data banks. That is the source of the information I received."
"And they receive no information we do not want them to have."
She gazed at him. "This is an intricate game we play."
"Affirmation. Her name is Opaline and she's a sweet girl he has assigned to a special mission. But rather than compromise her identity I will merge her with you. Shee and Opaline become Sophalee, or Sofee for short."
Shee appreciated the cleverness of it: her name separated into letters, with Opaline fitted into the spaces. He was forming a new character so that he could have freedom to spin one of his stories, based on but not confined to reality.
This was bound to be interesting. Still—
"Question: why should you avoid compromising her identity?"
"Answer: because Havoc assigned her to a most important secret mission. One that will provide us victory in the war with the machines."
"Disbelief."
"Then you should have no problem portraying her, knowing that the story is pure fiction."
"My problem is allowing Havoc to set up a project that I know the machines will know about and thwart regardless of its validity. This would be betraying him." He smiled. "Your skepticism becomes you, as does your loyalty. Fortunately you will not be able to interfere until you are committed."
She eyed him. "You're not my companion or my informant. You're my guard!"
"All three," he corrected her mildly. "Pa has big plans for you. I will ensure that you remain pristine until he returns."
"And if I were to try to escape you, I would discover what powers of dissuasion you possess."
"But you won't try. So I'll never need to show my dark side."
He phrased it humorously but she got the message. Havoc had not deserted her; he had assigned her to others while he handled his private business. And what could that be? She suspected it concerned her; that was why he was making sure she was accounted for.
"Ennui said she believes that Havoc wants to make me into a Glamor. Assuming this is possible, isn't it dangerous? I would have powers rivaling yours."
"We exist in dangerous times. It is as if we are playing a game with a board the size of the galaxy. The loser will be destroyed. We take the risks we need to."
"You don't need to! Let your sister align with the machines, and your entire species will be secure."
"And what of the other living species of the galaxy?"
"They are doomed regardless. The difference is only in the timing of their extinctions."
"This does not bother you?"
"Should it?"
"Affirmation."
She shook her head. "Perhaps this is a distinction between my state and yours. I am not alive, so have no rapport with living things. Only with Havoc."
"It is indeed a distinction," he agreed. "You lack empathy."
"That was not programmed, true. Why should I want it?"
He focused on her again, and again the intensity of his attention was disturbing. "You love Havoc. That was programmed."
"Affirmation."
"You want him to love you back."
"Affirmation."
"He will not do so as long as you lack empathy."
She was shaken by his certainty, again, in significant part because she was sure it was justified. But she had to ask. "How can you know that?"
"Because my emulation of him is more than an act. I can feel his feelings. He could love you, as he loves Ma and Monochrome. But he won't unless this aspect of you changes."