They came to a dead-end. "Here there is a subway transport station for supplies," Blue said. "I had thought to take it – but only the SW's have access. No serfs or Citizens are expected to be here alone, and it isn't watched. The machines have to be alerted."
Heavy feet were thudding down the passage. Bane could tell by the sound that there were at least six men. The two of them had no reasonable chance to overcome that number.
Then something occurred to him. "If they accepted Agape – " he said. "Where must the code be given?"
"To one of these intercoms," Blue said, indicating a small grille set in the wall.
Bane spoke to it. "Accept Agape's code from Mach!" he said.
And the grille answered: "Accepted. What may we do for you?"
"Save us from those who pursue us!"
A panel slid aside, revealing a cargo capsule. "Enter."
They climbed in. The panel closed behind them just as the first pursuer came into sight. The capsule began to move. It was cramped, as it was not intended for human beings, but satisfactory.
"You did it!" Blue exclaimed, dropping the Phaze mode of speech. "How did you know they would accept that? You have hardly seen this frame!"
"Principle of transfer. A message can be passed from one person to another, and if it be valid, it is accepted. They knew Agape's code was valid, so when I invoked it by description, they understood."
"You thought of something I did not – and thereby saved us some mischief," Blue said. "I think you have an aptitude for this frame! Now I shall add my own wrinkle." He addressed the capsule's intercom. "Deposit us at the next station, then go on empty."
The capsule slowed. "Why stop?" Bane asked. "They be surely in pursuit."
"Exactly. They will also have men to intercept us at its destination."
"Oops, aye!"
The capsule stopped. They hoisted themselves out. It went on. "Now they will be pursuing the decoy," Blue said. "But we still have to get out of here, and they will be watching all the exits. In any event, we're still under the desert, and I don't care to breathe any more of this frame's air. So we'll go back."
"Go back!" Bane repeated incredulously.
"Right to the Purple Estate," Blue said, getting out of his clothes. "I have a little pseudoflesh left, enough to change our facial features. We shall become serfs."
"Be that not risky?"
"Not as risky as our present course."
To that Bane could only agree. Blue applied the pseudoflesh to Bane's face, filling out his cheeks and chin, then did the same for himself. He adjusted their hair. Bane glanced at himself in the reflective surface of a panel, and found that the little bit of adjustment had changed his appearance drastically. Blue was good at disguises!
They took a capsule on the track going the opposite way. While they rode, they talked, and Bane found that he liked this man very well. Blue was, if anything, more open than his father, Stile, less guarded in what he said. He had indeed learned tolerance; Bane did not feel at all like a machine in his presence.
They got out at the Purple Estate. This was a larger station, with many supplies to be moved. They each picked up a box and carried it out of the station and into the Estate.
Things were in chaos there. It seemed that the Citizen had suffered burns and embarrassment, and was being treated. Foreman was furious, and taking it out on any lower serf he encountered. There had already been several firings, and more were in the offing. All this they gleaned simply by listening as they walked through the premises.
They carried their boxes on to the serf transport station. They waited their turn and boarded the ground shuttle, the boxes in their laps. No one questioned them. The shuttle filled with other serfs on errands, and started off. It left the dome and wheeled across the sand toward the main city of Dradom.
Thus they made it to freedom, the easy way. They left their boxes in the shuttle for return to the Purple Estate, and went to a phone. Blue called Sheen. "Come and get us," he said, smiling faintly.
A private ship came for them. They boarded, and it took off. The seat belts released themselves, freeing them to walk about during the flight. Then the forward compartment opened, and Sheen and Agape walked into the main chamber.
Bane was not aware how they came together. Suddenly he was embracing and kissing Agape, and she was crying with joy. Then, embarrassed, they paused, looking around at the others.
"Sit down," Citizen Blue said, donning a blue outfit that Sheen had brought along. They sat.
"My wife and I have known for some time that our son was not entirely satisfied," Blue said. "He is a product of our most advanced technology. His circuits are more sophisticated than Sheen's. His brain is capable of a type of consciousness that approaches the living standard so closely that we are not certain there is any significant distinction."
"Very little," Bane agreed.
"But he was not alive – and he wanted to be. That we could not give him – until he made contact with you. Now he has been able to experience that ultimate state. Do you think he will want to return?"
"Not if he loves Fleta," Bane said.
"We like you, Bane," Blue continued. "I was never able to sire a living son, even before I came to Proton. It was no sacrifice for me to marry Sheen. In fact the laboratory was the only way that I could have a child. And I am satisfied with Mach. But still I always wished that I could have a living child in Phaze. My inability to do so was part of what damaged my relationship to your mother, Bane. It put our love under stress. The Lady Blue desperately wanted a child. Now I see in you the son I might have had."
Then Blue stopped speaking. "What he is trying to say," Sheen said, "is that if you, Bane, care to remain in Proton, we would be glad to extend to you the same relationship we have had with Mach. If you should wish to marry Agape, we would be pleased."
"But you hardly know me!" Bane protested, speaking to them both.
"You are the offspring of my other self, sired by this body," Blue said. "You have been raised as an apprentice Adept in Phaze. You have come to Proton, as I did. I think I know you well enough. If you wish to remain, and undertake the necessary preparation for eventual Citizenship, you are welcome to do so."
Bane knew he should have been overwhelmed by such an offer. But this body had better control over its emotions than did his own. He simply considered his own preference, and found no question. "I would like to do so," he said. "An my other self be satisfied."
"I suspect he will be," Blue said. "But there is no need to be in doubt. Contact him, exchange with him, and verify the situation for yourselves. There should be contact between you anyway. On that the Contrary Citizens agree with us. This opportunity to establish correspondence between the frames must not be lost. Where we differ is whether the benefits of that contact shall accrue to our cause or to theirs. The stakes are potentially enormous. Whoever has ready access to both the Oracle Computer and the Book of Magic will have power to remake both frames in a manner hitherto impossible. With that power, I could complete the integration of the diverse elements of Proton society, and in time eliminate the feudal Citizen-serf aspect of our society. With that power, the Contrary Citizens could reverse all that I have accomplished in twenty years and disenfranchise the robots, cyborgs, androids and aliens."
Bane looked at Agape. "Thou knowest that ne'er would I do that to thee," he said to her. Then he kissed her, and no more needed to be said on that subject.
"However," Blue said, and now Bane felt a chill, knowing that something unpleasant was coming. His own father spoke in just that fashion. "There are certain counterindications."