“Your love must be delayed a moment,” the machine responded. “Citizen Purple requires the latest pattern. You forgot to post your survey report, as usual.”
“Thou impertinent golem! It be a full month I have suffered the temptations o’ the evil female Tania, longing always for mine own female. I be near to bursting!”
“I have no sympathy. Make your report.”
“Nay! This be more urgent!”
But Agape interceded, managing to control her mirth. “Make your report, my love. We don’t want to set Purple off.”
“The merry hell with Purple! He be no better than his other self in Phaze, and that be too low to fathorn with a magic measuring rod! I have a better subject to fathorn.”
Agape cocked her head at him. “And just what were these temptations Tania worked on you, that got you so much more lusty than you ever are with me?”
“Needs must I do that report for Purple,” he said quickly.
“Because her other self here in Proton is just like her, and she seems much smitten with Mach, and so also perhaps with you. If you really believe she can offer you more—”
“I be on my way!” he cried, leaping up despite his evident state of readiness for their liaison. Agape smiled; she knew how to manage him.
So, grudgingly, Bane listed the information gleaned during the last week of his stay in Phaze. This consisted of routine statistics about Packs checked and wolf pups shifted between Packs. Such reports had been made throughout the four-year search, as the party of Bane/Mach, Fleta and Tania methodically canvassed human villages, unicorn Herds, vampire Flocks and other groups, narrowing down the remaining hid ing places for the child Flach.
“Thank you. Bane,” Troubot said as he concluded. “Now you may return to your prior endeavor. I note however that your state of readiness has diminished; do you need any assistance?”
Bane had to laugh. “None thou couldst provide, rovot! Go about thy business, and bother me not again this hour.” Troubot did not reply; it had been given a direct command, so obeyed it. However, within its frame of service it had fair latitude for discretion, and would indeed bother Bane again if it came across news it knew he desired immediately. It addressed each client in the manner specified by that client; with some it was always serious, and with others, such as Bane, it bantered. Living folk soon became bored with pure business, so Troubot embellished its business just enough to provide some variety.
This was of course well within the capabilities of a self willed machine. Indeed, it could be difficult at times to tell whether one was dealing with a machine or a living person. Those on Troubot’s net had come to depend on it increasingly for small services, and some even, in a manner, liked the machine for its personality.
No one, however, suspected it of being anything other than a robot. This was its victory—because it was not precisely a machine. It had come into existence in its present role four years before, just before the child Nepe had disappeared. The records showed that it had been manufactured, educated and tested, but had proved to be out of tolerance for the purpose for which it had been crafted, so that it had been rejected.
Because it was a self-willed machine, it begged indulgence: to be retrained rather than recycled, so that it would not lose its present consciousness. This appeal had been rejected; it was not a humanoid machine, so lacked serf status, and had no right to its present existence.
Troubot had fled this judgment. It had shown up at the residence of Citizen White and begged sanctuary. “Sanctuary—for a machineT’ the Citizen had asked derisively.
“I will give good service!” Troubot said. “Train me in whatever you will, and I will serve loyally. Only keep me from being scrapped and recycled!”
It happened that Citizen White had been having trouble with machines, requiring more sophisticated services than could be well provided by rote robots. The Contrary Citizens as a group had eschewed the use of the higher-class robots, fearing their subversion by Citizen Blue. It occurred to her that she might indeed have uses for a renegade self-willed machine, unconnected to the main group of them. She could not have it modified in the regular manner, because that would have entailed access to its circuits by self-willed technicians, so she tried training it by hand: telling it what she wanted, and letting it train itself. Troubot became her personal attendant, fixing her hair, applying her makeup, and dressing her for special occasions. It did indeed give good service, being pathetically eager to please.
Later she had the machine run errands for her—private ones that she did not want passed through official circuits. It showed aptitude, and other Citizens noticed. In due course it was running errands for them, too. When there were private trysts to be made, Troubot coordinated them. Tania’s lovely serf receptionist Tsetse was much in demand in this respect; Citizens could hire any serfs they chose, and do with them what they chose, but Tsetse was Tania’s employee, and Tania reserved her for herself, and her brother Citizen Tan supported her in that. Citizen Purple, working through Troubot, had gained access to Tsetse without Tania’s knowledge. Tsetse had been willing enough for male contact of any kind, and kept the secret, knowing that Tania would destroy her if she learned. Thus Purple owed White, in whose residence the trysts occurred, and accepted Troubot as an entity of consequence, because the robot was the intermediary. In such manner, over the years, Troubot had become secure in the employment of the Contrary Citizens, trusted by all. The self-willed machines had long since given up the effort to have Troubot recycled; the protection of the Citizens was too potent.
Physically, Troubot was a wheeled cylinder with appendages. Most of the time Troubot did not move about, but plugged into the standard networks in order to do spot research or contact specific Citizens. It moved from Citizen White’s residence only when directed to do so. During White’s absences, Troubot became caretaker of the premises. Citizen White regarded it as indispensable, and others did not argue. But Troubot was not exactly a machine. The records had been slightly modified by sophisticated means, so that, after the first few hours, no discovery was likely. Troubot was two entities: one a machine, the other an alien creature with human genes, and abilities few imagined. Troubot One was as described, but was not working under its original title. Troubot Two had taken its place, and had once been known as Nepe, Agape’s child.
This secure masquerade was about to be placed in peril.
For Nepe was naturally the first to appreciate the significance of the new pattern Purple had demanded. In Phaze, the searching trio was about to close in on the werewolf Pack of Kurrelgyre. They had cross-checked the pups traveling between Packs, and discovered one that didn’t fit. This was the one that was Flach.
Nepe had served the Citizens with absolute loyalty, excepting only the revelation of her identity. She had even assisted in their search for her, knowing it to be futile; they had never suspected that she could assume the form of a robot. In this manner she had been not only safe, but kept current on their searches in both frames. She had also been able to associate with her parents, so that she had not been nearly as lonely as she might have been. Indeed, she had come to understand a great deal more about their private life together than she had before, and in the process had learned more about sexuality than a child was normally told. She had compared notes with Flach, who had the input of wolf ways, and both had profited. But now she knew that the crisis was upon them again, as it had been when Flach sent her the “hide” message. Her hiding place was secure, but his was not—and the moment he was caught, she would be too, because of their linkage.
She paused a few minutes, considering. She dared not wait long before notifying Citizen Purple, but she had to decide her course of action first. She was older now than she had been, and vastly more experienced intellectually, but she knew she would have no chance to resist the Citizens if she were discovered. What should she do?