The paths were thickly massed. Four fifths of them resulted in destruction. Gale surveyed the best ones, buttressed by Pso and Osp's supporting awareness, and outlined them telepathically for Warp. She knew he was drawing similarly from Vra and Arv.
Warp threw the ship to the side. The scout fired. The beam could not have been avoided, but the evasive maneuver had been accomplished just before the beam, and it missed.
Warp sent the ship lurching to the side again. Another beam passed through its former space.
The ship went into a crazy dance. The other crew members surely thought the captains had lost their minds. But six more beams missed. Then the scout changed course. In a moment it was gone. All four Twins stared. "They fled!"
Vra said.
"Why?" Arv asked. "It couldn't have been fear. They have no emotions."
"It was realization that they were up against Glamors," Gale said. "Only awareness of the near future paths could have enabled us to avoid all those beams. They don't want to fight Glamors."
"Why not?" Vra asked. "We're their enemies too."
"I think it's caution," Gale said. "The machines don't fight what they don't understand, because it's dangerous.
They don't understand Glamors. They have been trying to observe or capture a Glamor, to discover what makes us different, so far without success. So they leave us alone. So far. I did not want to reveal our nature, but it was the only feasible way to save the ship and the crew members within it. This may usher in a new phase of the war with the machines."
"May, Ma?" Warp asked.
"Because maybe we can prevent the word from getting back to their director machines about this incident.
Then they won't know what happened to their two scouts in this area."
"How do we do that?" Arv asked.
"We go now to contact the Fish and have them booby trap the first scout to take out the second. It's low tech, but the machines won't be expecting it."
Warp read her mind. "Sometimes you scare me, Ma," he said admiringly.
"I should hope so. Meanwhile, you're the Glamor of Fungus. Go to the Fungus culture and help them inspect the planet in the Fish culture territory. I think Marionette should be enough recovered by now to carry your ikon there."
"On my way, Ma." He vanished.
"He obeys you like a child," Vra remarked.
Gale smiled. "What's your point?"
Then she and the male twins conjured themselves back to the Fish culture. They had some fast explaining to do before the second machines scout got there. The captured scout boat had to be put back out to space, a seeming derelict, awaiting the approach of the second one. When the two touched, the explosive would detonate, making wreckage of both. With luck the machines would not send a third.
Chapter 19 Fourths
It took some time for Opaline to come to terms with the notion that she could have had such a weird illicit dream.
She was smitten with King Havoc, and evidently her sleeping fancy had conjured a wild sexual scene with him. She was ashamed of herself, and did her best to bury the memory of it. Maybe her secret fancy had delusions of sexual grandeur, but her waking self knew better.
It was time to focus on her reality.
"Serious talk," Opaline said to Kettle as they worked together in the kitchen.
"Mutual."
"I need to decide whether to marry Oak. I have liabilities."
"Mutual."
"Question?"
"Suspicion: ours are worse than yours."
"Confusion." Opaline was sure Oak's parents wanted her to marry Oak, for then she would be committed to take care of him after they died. Why then this caution?
"Request: exchange statements, then consider."
"I am a fifth. That is to say, a synthetic woman, made not born. I am human, except that the enemy machines can read my mind and know everything I know. That could make me a danger to Oak."
"Worse than his being alone after we pass?"
"Doubt."
"Then we welcome you, Opaline. What threat could Oak ever be to the enemy?"
This was the crux. She had to tell. "Secrecy."
Kettle looked at her. "Serious?"
"Affirmation."
"Granted."
"I am training Oak to do a thing with his mind that might destroy or at least interfere with the machines. That is why he may be a threat to them."
"But Oak is simple!"
"Oak is what someone termed an idiot savant. His brain can do something no other person can: move small objects."
"Magic?"
"Negation. He can do it anywhere. I am showing him how to do it better. So he can make their guns fire unbidden."
The woman pondered. "That is why you came here?"
"Affirmation."
"Then we accept it as a blessing."
"Appreciation."
"Now our liability. Oak is sterile."
Opaline was amazed. "Question?"
"We had him checked by a woman who knows. His seed is dead. He can sire no children."
"But that means—"
"You would have to have four fourths."
"But they would still be considered Oak's."
"Concurrence. We would prefer that he not be told."
"Concurrence,"
Opaline echoed, shaken. "There is more. I, too, am barren. All our four were adopted."
"Astonishment!"
"We love them as our own, of course."
"Of course," Opaline agreed. "As my parents love me."
"But it means that Pot, through no fault of his own, has no child of his own seed. He misses that."
"Understanding."
"Difficult request."
"Speak," Opaline said warily. "Pot has a crush on you." Opaline was appalled. "I never even thought of him in that way. I would never try to corrupt his love for you."
"Certainty, dear. You are blameless. Yet I must ask that you consider the matter."
"Question!"
"One of your fourths—if you could see your way clear to have it of him, he would be most gratified. It would be his grandchild, yet he would know it was of his line."
Suddenly it was making sense. Still, to do such a thing with her father in law—how could she? "Understanding. But doubt."
"It would be easy to arrange. You could go to my bed, and I would send him there. All you have to do is ask him and let him. It would be very fast, a minute or two, and he would be gone. He is a good man, but not much of a lover.
A few times, when you are fertile, and no more would be necessary."
"I—" Opaline had to try again. "I will consider."
"Appreciation. We need speak no more of this. I know it would be an uncomfortable sacrifice for you."
"Emotionally complicated."
"Affirmation."
They continued doing the work, letting it rest. But obviously it would remain in both women's minds.
Fifth showed up when a month had passed, intercepting her when she was alone. Oak was with his mother, doing house cleaning, and Opaline was careful not to interfere with their family relationship. "Joy!" she exclaimed, embracing him for a kiss.
"Similarity. I brought a tent." And he had: it was small, but big enough for their purpose.
"But we need a private place. Sometimes travelers pass this way."
"Reassurance. We are safe and private here."
She accepted his statement without question; evidently he knew.
They sealed themselves in and had desperately urgent sex. There was no doubt that Fifth craved it as much as she did, and with a similarly positive motive: to get what he missed in his normal relationship, without offending anyone else.
"Appreciation," she gasped as he brought her to climax, their way. "Mutual. You are a great lover, Opaline."
"My sessions with you enable me to carry on elsewhere, without suffering undue frustration."