Chapter 15 Decision
It got so that Oak was too far away from the chip to see it. That seemed to be the distance limit of his potential.
Then Opaline remembered: Havoc had spoken of a corollary talent, to perceive the small objects from a distance. Eyesight was no limit; Oak had to go beyond it. Somehow she had lost track of that.
"Oak," she said. "You have done well. Now you must learn to move it when it is too far away to see."
"Confusion."
"Let's start close." She took an acorn and held it in her hand. She faced away from him, so that he could not see it. "Move it now, from where you are."
"Confusion," he repeated.
It was too big a step. She turned to face him. "Move it now."
The acorn jumped in her hand.
She turned around again. "You know where it is. Move it."
When that didn't work, she showed it to him again, then closed her hands slackly round the acorn, so that it was loose in that enclosure. "Try. You know it is here."
He screwed up his face, concentrating. And she felt the acorn jump. "You did it!" she exclaimed, not having to exaggerate her excitement much. She knew this was a breakthrough.
"I felt it," he agreed.
"Now feel me." She led him to a sloping tree trunk, leaned against it, and hoisted her skirt. She drew him close, until his stiff member touched her cleft. He knew from experience what to do then, and did it gladly. She had rewarded him for his effort and accomplishment.
Then she had him move the acorn again, from out of sight. At first he could do it only when she showed him exactly where it was before closing her hands, but then he gained proficiency and learned to move it when she hid it.
She rewarded him again, pleased. One thing about working with him was that little imagination was required; he was always thrilled with the same reward.
As time passed, Oak got so that he could move the chip or acorn from anywhere she could hide it. He tuned in on it with his mind, and moved it with his mind. Now the distance limit had been abolished. She carried a chip away from him, around a tree, and set it on a branch. "Now," she called as she came back around the tree.
The chip dropped to the ground. He had found it and nudged it.
She ran up to him and kissed him. They were in sight of the house, so she did not offer him sex, but he seemed quite satisfied. Kettle was right: he would do what she wanted regardless.
Two months passed, then three. Still Oak's talent grew. She made him stand far from the house, and she went into his room and spread a handful of chips on his bed. She went outside. "Count to one hundred," she told him. Then move them all together." He could count that far; she had taught him how.
She went back inside and watched the chips. Suddenly they all jumped. They didn't move far, but they did it together. She would not have been sure of it if she hadn't been watching.
She brought him back inside and kissed him and took him into her. She had to do it that way; he was readily aroused sexually, but he never actually approached her unless she directed him specifically.
One day a woman came to the house. "Request: I must speak with Opaline," she said. "Alone."
What was this? Opaline went outside and stood under a tree with the woman. "Question?"
"Revelation: I represent the agency that tried to kill you, when you traveled with the king."
"Oh!" Opaline had been caught completely off guard. No one here had known that Minstrel Hayseed was King Havoc. "Reassurance," the woman said quickly. "I mean you no harm now. I merely wish to impress on you the importance of what I say."
"Accomplished," Opaline said faintly. "Question."
"I am an entity from another interstellar culture. I have assumed control of the body of a normal woman for this hour, so that I can communicate with you."
"An alien!"
"Concurrence. We tried to kill you, but did not succeed. Now the paths are such that we must persuade you instead."
"Persuade me of what?"
"To depart."
"Question?"
"Your mission is important, but has the potential to do great harm to your species. I must explain some things to make this clear."
"Listening," Opaline said uneasily.
"It truly is designed to halt the invasion of the machines," the woman said. "Oak, with his mind, will be able to make their science-magic guns fire on their own spaceships, disrupting their attack. He will be able to do this from light years away, so they will not know the source of the mischief. You are training him well."
The woman certainly seemed to know the mission. "Listening," Opaline repeated.
"It is vital that the machines not learn of this secret weapon, for they could readily thwart it if forewarned. It must be a surprise until it is too late from them to prevent it."
"I have kept the secret."
"Negation. You can not keep the secret."
"Outrage! I would not betray Oak, or Havoc, or the planet."
"Explanation: you betray it by your very nature. You are a fifth."
"I am a fifth," Opaline agreed. "Not a traitor."
"Explanation," the woman repeated. "The fifths are all seeded by the machines. They sent a culture to Planet Charm, and enlisted unknowing local folk to develop them to make synthetic people: the fifths."
"Synthetic people!" Opaline exclaimed. "I am a real person!" Havoc had gone over this with her, and satisfied her that she was no less genuine than a person born of a woman.
"You are an android, alive but never born. You were made in a laboratory from a detailed program. Your eyes identify you. The fifths differ only in small details, and in their upbringing, which does make a significant difference."
Of course it was clear why all fifths were so similar. They started almost identical, then suffered different influences as they grew. Copper and Silver had made her most of what she was that was different from the original pattern.
"Then can I conceive and birth babies myself?" she asked, finding herself accepting this alien woman's information.
"Yes. You are complete in every other way. But you must not do it with Oak."
Opaline shook her head. "He is seventeen. Within the year he must marry, and I think I am his only prospect. I will not be able to stay with him if I don't marry him."
"This is why I am here. The machines put in a mental signal. They can readily locate and tune in on all fifths, you included. They can read your mind and record all that you know, without your ever being aware of it."
"But I have secrets!" Opaline protested.
"Such as the human secret weapon against the machines," the woman agreed. "A mind that can make them malfunction from a distance of light years. What will they do when they read that in your mind?"
"They'll destroy Oak!" she said, appalled.
"No. They lack physical ability to do such violence on this planet. Otherwise they would simply have destroyed King Havoc and his children, to paralyze the human defense. They will do nothing. But the secret weapon will be no secret to them. They will nullify it at their end, protecting themselves against Oak's ability. So there will be no barrier to their conquest and destruction of the human culture."
"But if we know they will do this—"
"It hardly matters. You can't restore a weapon they have nullified in that manner."
"They could already know!" Opaline said, appalled anew.
"Negation. They do things with machine orderliness. They are letting the fifths grow up and integrate with the human society. When they are ready, they will survey them all, to see what useful information they have gleaned. That is when they will know about Oak."
"Then I can't continue with him," Opaline said, anguished. She had not decided whether to stay, but she had been tending in that direction, especially considering Oak's importance to the defense effort.