Key to Survival

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.

"That is what I came to tell you. We tried to prevent you from reaching Oak, so you would never know, but we were unsuccessful. We had not counted on a Glamor defending you personally."

Yet she was suspicious. "Why didn't you just tell Havoc?"

"As a Glamor, he is immune to mental intrusion. We could not reach him. We could not warn him of the trap he was walking into."

"He knows about the fifths. How could he not know this?"

"It is subtle. We specialize in mental manipulation, and so were able to fathom it."

"You're an alien culture? Why do you care what happens to the human culture?"

"The coming machine thrust is against the human culture. The following one will be against our culture. We are next in line. We would much prefer to have the humans stop the machines, as we will not be able to. If the humans are doomed, so are we."

"This is hard to believe."

"Touch me." The woman extended a hand.

Opaline took her hand. Suddenly she was in full mental contact. Everything the woman had told her was true, from her alien origin to the threat against the human culture. It was not possible to doubt.

Opaline knew she had to leave Oak, and perhaps destroy her own mind so the machines could not collect what she already knew.

"I have completed my mission," the alien said.

At that point the expression of the woman changed, becoming blank, then confused. "Where am I?"

This was the borrowed host, who had no knowledge of the message she had delivered. "You have strayed," Opaline told her. "Some alien magic distorted your awareness, but it is gone now. Go to the village and ask the Elder for help finding your way home."

"I shall do so," the woman agreed, and set off for the center of the village.

Opaline walked slowly back to the house. Could she believe what she had been told? The alien might have infused her with an artificial belief to make her do something she shouldn't. Yet how could she risk it?

She would have to ask someone she knew could handle it. Havoc. He could blank her mind to save Oak, if that proved to be necessary.

She went tearfully to Pot and Kettle. "Torment! I have been told something horrible," she blurted.

"What is it, dear?" Kettle asked.

She couldn't tell the truth. She had to confine it to part of the truth, as Havoc had done with her at first. "I may be endangering Oak, and risk hurting us all. I must leave immediately."

"Of course you are free to depart at any time," Pot said. "But we do not desire this."

"We know you mean us no ill," Kettle said. "Oak loves you, and so do we."

Opaline's tears flowed freely. "Agreement. But—but it is as if I carry a bad disease, that will spread and kill you all. I must go."

They saw the way of it. "Will you return?" Kettle asked.

What could she say? "If I can. But I may be—changed." She hugged Pot, and Kettle, and finally Oak, who of course didn't understand. Then she quickly packed her backpack, donned her traveling clothes, and set off for the village.

The Village Elder was in charge of travel arrangements. The woman who had hosted the alien was there, awaiting someone going her way. Opaline approached them.

Then a Black Chroma man appeared, entering the village from the opposite path. He was astonishingly dark, from skin to clothing, causing children to stare. They seldom saw full Chroma folk here. "A greeting, Elder," he said courteously. "I am Fifth." He smiled. "That is my name, and my status. I am actually an undesired fourth."

A fifth? Opaline wondered, as he did not at all resemble her. It wasn't just a matter of Chroma; nothing matched.

"Acknowledged," the Elder said. "What is your business here?"

"I am out of my Chroma, as you can see, and have no magic here. I wish to have a traveling companion, male or female."

"Destination?"

"Triumph City."

The woman shook her head. "That is not where I'm going."

"But it is for me," Opaline said.

The Elder looked at her. "You are traveling, Opaline?"

"Regretfully," Opaline said.

"Return soon. We like you here."

"I wish I could. This trip is not my choice." Opaline struggled to keep the tears at bay. Now that she had to leave it, she was realizing how much this community of Nonesuch had come to mean to her. She was accepted and respected as an adult. And of course Oak needed her. What would become of him?

"Will you travel with me?" Fifth asked. "I assure you I am of good character, but I am not well conversant with nonChroma conventions."

"Can you protect me?"

"I have a Chroma stone to use in emergency."

This was almost too convenient. But she knew better than to try to travel alone. "I will travel with you."

"No fault?"

That took her aback. Of course it would be no fault. She was now sexually experienced. "Agreement."

"Then let's proceed."

They started walking. When they were out of earshot of others, he spoke again. "I am obliged to make an Oath of Friendship with you."

Opaline looked at him, startled. "But we just met!"

"Our meeting is not coincidence."

That made her wary. "What is it you want of such an oath that you can't have via no fault?"

"I do not know."

She stopped walking. "You make me wary. I am not sure I should travel with you."

"Explanation: I was told by the king's daughter Voila to find you here and make the oath. She can see the future paths. She knows what I do not. The oath is not my choice, but her word can not be doubted."

"So it isn't sex."

"I would like to have sex, but I will leave you alone, if that is your preference."

She evaded that issue. She discovered that she was eager for sex with a truly responsive independent man, but she could not afford to let that govern her decision. "My preference is not to get into something I can't get out of. Friendship is for life; such an oath can't be undone. I have never made such an oath, and hope to be most careful before I do, if I ever do."

"So you understand its significance."

"I do. That is why I balk."

"King Havoc made an Oath of Friendship with an older woman he had just met, reluctantly. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life. That woman, Ennui, has essentially run the planet for twenty five years and is his most trusted adviser."

"I have not heard of her."

"That is the way she prefers it. But if you should try to see the king in Triumph City, you will have to go through her."

"I do mean to see the king there."

"And I mean to see the queen there."

She laughed. "We seem to share big ambitions. But this is not oath-worthy."

"Voila required her father to make the Oath with the ruler of Earth, Monochrome. Neither wished to, but now she is his official mistress, and they are very close."

Opaline was impressed. "I met Monochrome. She's nice."

"Affirmation. How may I persuade you?"

Opaline considered. "Somehow you have. I agree."

"I proffer you the Oath of Friendship."

"Acceptance."

"There remains the question of no fault travel. Do you prefer it to be pristine?"

"Negation. Sex is expected."

"As you wish." They walked on.

"Perhaps we should come to know each other," she suggested.

"Suggestion: Shall we exchange capsule histories, then go from there as we choose?"

"I am Opaline, of Sourberry Village. I am a fifth."

"Question?"

"I think it differs from you. It is a classification for synthetic people, that is, made, not born. We all have the same orange eyes, marking us, and all are adopted by families who want more than four. We are otherwise mostly normal, but there is some discrimination and it can be awkward to find marriage partners. So I set out for Triumph City, where things are more liberal. The Minstrel Hayseed came to accompany me."

"Hayseed!" he exclaimed. "Do you know who that is?"

"Now I do. King Havoc. He made an Oath of Brotherhood with me, and did not touch me no fault, but I learned much from him. He took me to a young man who needs assistance. But now I fear my presence endangers him, so I seek Havoc to deal with the problem."

"There is surely much more to fathom," Fifth said. "But here is my capsule. I too know the problems of discrimination, and therefore volunteered to join a training group to govern Planet Earth. There was a complication, and Queen Gale took me no fault, then sent me to her daughter Flame, who is an Amazon." He paused. "I confess to liking lean women. Now I have a problem, and hope Queen Gale will find a solution."

"You have been associating with Glamors?"

"I have had sexual affairs with five Glamor women. Therein lies my problem. Do you wish detail?"

"Yes!" Opaline said, amazed. Her desire for sex was increasing. The constant sex she had had with Oak never satisfied her; all it did was work her up partially, frustrating her. She had considerable pent-up desire.

"The Queen took me as a matter of convenience, and was kind to me. What a woman! She ascertained my preference, and gave me to Flame, who fits it perfectly. We have not married because such relationships by the Glamors are in abeyance until the machine crisis is settled. But Flame fears that it is her Glamor nature that attracts me, rather than her body or personality. So she required me to have no fault affairs with three other Glamors, and to return to her if I still preferred her. I went to the Red Glamor, a fantastic woman many centuries my elder but seeming as young and sexy as a teen. Then I went to Voila, who candidly frightens me; she is the strongest of the Glamors, and I felt like a gnat on the verge of Void in her presence. Then Weft, for glorious sex, and she—she wants me."

"Two Glamor sisters want you!" Opaline said. What a life he had!

"Affirmation. Weft is open about her passion for her father, Havoc, but she can't marry him, so is looking elsewhere. She will marry me, if I come to her rather than to Flame, and bear my children. Now I must choose between them, and I don't know how. So I hope their mother will advise me."

"This is a problem," Opaline agreed.

"Agreement."

"May I share a secret?"

"We are Oathed," he reminded her. "I will not betray any secret of yours."

"Now I think I see why we had to Oath. It is so we can share our secrets without concern for betrayal or violation of conscience. Voila must believe we can help each other."

"She must," he agreed.

"I see a way station," she said. "Let's pause and do it."

"Question?"

"This is no fault," she reminded him.

"And you are a winsome girl. Appreciation."

There was a shelter with water and food for travelers. They skipped the food and used the adjacent sanitary facility. Then they entered the shelter and stripped. Even his penis was completely black.

"Take me," she said, doing her best to mask the desire that whetted her mind and wetted her cleft. Men were supposed to be always seeking sex, but women were supposed to be less interested.

"I find myself abruptly eager," he said. Indeed, he had a full erection.

She clasped him and took him in. He jetted within her immediately, just as Oak did. She was pleased; what she had learned applied to other men, making her competent. Yet that was hardly beyond what Oak did. She wanted more. Much more.

He lay beside her. "Appreciation. You know how to treat a man."

"Havoc taught me."

"I thought you said he traveled as your brother."

"He did. But he taught me how to handle a man. It was useful."

"The Glamors handle me similarly. I think sometimes they find sex with an ordinary person inconvenient, so they get it out of the way swiftly, as you did. Yet sometimes—"

"Sometimes you wish for more," she said.

"Affirmation. I think my favorite time was when Flame had to be away, mentally, and she let me do whatever I wanted with her body in the interim. There was no hurry, no demand, just my discovery of my pleasure with her."

"That's so romantic!" She was almost painfully turned on. Sex with him was an accomplishment, but this was more potent arousal.

"Thereafter every so often we did it as a game. She pretended to be away, and let me do it my way. How I love her!"

She pounced. "Idea: do it with me."

"You would do that?"

"Oak has to be directed. He never initiates, however strong his desire. I am intrigued by an alternate mode."

That was a serious understatement.

"Now?"

"Affirmation. Pretend I am her, if you wish. Unless it would be a hardship for you."

"Negation. It will be a pleasure with you."

She closed her eyes and lay still. He kissed her tenderly on the mouth, and she firmed her lips, knowing that true unconsciousness would make her unattractively mush-mouthed. There had to be limits. He stroked her breasts, and she felt her response being evoked. He kissed them, and licked the nipples; then he sucked gently on them. Her response increased, but she made no motion. It was though she were floating, with a delicious appreciation of her body happening on its own.

In due course he worked his way down across her belly and to her cleft. He parted her legs and licked her vulva, sucking on her clitoris. Now her response was strong. Very strong. Urgent. She was coming to an orgasm.

Then she had it, and his face remained at her cleft, continuing the divine stimulation as she ascended to the heights. She bucked and writhed in the overwhelming throes of it. "Oh! Oh!"

Finally it faded, deliciously. She found herself embracing him, truly appreciating the closeness of a man who was his own man. What a wonderful release!

Then she became aware of his erection. "Chagrin! Was I teasing you?"

"Marvelously. Doing you excites me, and it's nice to let it stay for a while."

"May I—do you? I mean, the mirror of how you did me?"

"If you wish. But I do not require it. You do not have to do anything you don't wish to."

"I want to. I teased Havoc, but never completed it. I never tease Oak; he wouldn't understand. I would like—to tease you, I think, to the end. I don't want to offend you or bore you."

"Do it, and when it is done I will tell you whether it did either."

"Appreciation."

He closed his eyes, pretending to be absent. She kissed him, lingeringly. After a moment she did something new, that nature gave her: she ran her tongue into his mouth and played with his tongue. That seemed naughtier than any sex she had had; it was as if she were penetrating him, instead of being penetrated.

Then she moved down his body and kissed his nipples as he had hers. She was surprised to discover that they swelled slightly, as hers had. Men were not after all so different from women. She stroked his body, rubbing his belly. She turned him over—he cooperated, making it easy—and stroked his buttocks. She kissed them, finding herself turned on anew.

She put him back supine and addressed his groin. His penis was stiff against his belly. She licked his scrotum, that storage for his seed, and ran her wet finger across his anus. Then on impulse she nudged her finger inside the anus, slowly pushing it in, fascinated by the way it penetrated, as if she were the man and he the woman, until it was as far as it could go. The limit was not his rectum, but the length of her finger. She felt something firm, like an embedded nut. "Question?"

"Prostate. It pumps the semen."

"Oh." This was, then, the very essence of a man, just as the womb was the essence of a woman. She was thrilled to be in contact with it.

She left her finger in, enjoying the tight closure around it, and put her face to the scrotum, licking it. She took part of it into her mouth, feeling the testicle within: another root of masculinity. She moved up to the penis and licked it too. She sucked on the head of it, enjoying the rounded feel of it. This had been inside her, jetting; now she controlled it directly. She circled its stem with her free hand and drew the skin firmly down.

She felt Fifth stiffen. His penis swelled slightly. Then her finger in his rectum felt motion: the prostate was swelling and hardening. The stem tightened. She watched, intrigued. Something was happening.

The prostate pumped against her finger, and the stem became even firmer. She lifted it up so that it was almost vertical, the better to see it completely. She felt the semen pumping from the prostate through the stem like lava in an erupting volcano. A small one. Then black fluid jetted from the tip of the penis and fell on his belly. It was followed by another jet, and a third, and fourth, and fifth. She watched, fascinated by this display of sexual function. This was what it had done inside her, but now for the first time she saw it actually happening. It was, somehow, a revelation.

She put her face down and took the tip into her mouth as it ebbed. She sucked on it, drawing out the remaining semen. To have such complete control of such a member! She was truly possessing it. As he had possessed her, when he made her climax in his mouth. Glorious!

The penis softened, and then shrank, and she let it go. She drew her finger out of the anus, savoring the diminishing depth of it. She had been that far inside him! She had felt the entire ejaculation, virtually from testicles to emergence. How could any woman achieve more?

She stretched out to lie against him. She discovered she was sexually excited herself. She had been doing it all to him, but it had turned her on. Which was of course what had happened to him when he did her.

"Request," she said. "When—when you can, put it in me again. I am—hot."

"That request is a potent turn-on," he said. "Knead it with your hand."

She reached down and did so, and before long it expanded and some hardness returned. Then he rolled over, got above her, supporting himself on his knees and elbows, and slid his member into her vulva. He pushed it all the way in, then withdrew it, and thrust it deep again. She felt it still growing and hardening, and the movements excited her.

She had never had sex this way before, with the man doing it all, and she discovered that she liked it. There was something about his growing urgency that inspired her own.

He continued thrusting for some time, and she slowly worked up. She knew why it was slow; a man took time to recharge. Oak had not been much interested in sex after he climaxed until half an hour or more passed, though she had been able to stimulate him to faster recovery when she tried. Havoc had been constantly interested, but he was different in two ways: he was an indefatigable Glamor, and he had never actually climaxed. Fifth had climaxed twice, so the third time was slow. But that gave her time to work up further. She put her own finger on her clitoris, rubbing it to stimulate herself in the way she needed. She had evoked his pleasure more than once, so now was free to evoke her own.

Then at last she felt him getting there. He thrust faster and harder and deeper, and finally jetted just as she achieved her own climax. She clenched against him, her pulses matching his as they both suffered the ecstasy of orgasm. It seemed eternal and all too brief at the same time.

"Oh, Opaline!" he gasped. "That was the best yet, because we were together."

"Agreement."

"I love you, no fault."

"Echo." And for the first time she was appreciating the full potential of no fault. It allowed love that did not have to be permanent. It was for the moment, but what a wonderful moment!

"I love this, but may we talk instead, for a while?"

"Endorsement!"

"Which woman do I choose? Flame or Weft? That is my problem. Their mother will surely know, but somehow I think you will also know."

"Opinion: Flame."

"Reason?"

"Weft does not really love you. She likes you very well, and would like to keep you, but that's not the same. She is competitive with her sister, so wants to take something valuable from her. It is a challenge. I do not mean she is being mean spirited; she surely does not know her underlying motivation. But from this distance, as an uninvolved woman, I see it. Did Weft ever let you play with her body, as you did Flame's? Mine?"

"Negation. She always met my notions more than half way, and participated enthusiastically, but she was always in control."

"Flame loves you enough to let you be yourself. She let you have affairs with her sisters. She trusted you with her unconscious body. She just wants to be sure that if you can be won away from her, it happens before she marries you. She wants to be able to trust you completely. That it is her you love, not her Glamor status."

"Revelation!"

"And you love her too. Weft is your passing fancy, as you are hers. For a lifetime, it has to be Flame."

"Passing fancy? Negation. I do love Weft. She is lovely, social, and sexual in ways Flame is not."

"Reality," she said firmly. "Flame may not be as lovely, social, or sexual as Weft, but she has her points, and she truly loves you. Not as a trophy or diversion, not as a man she is satisfied to marry because she can't marry the man she truly loves. You are Flame's first choice, and it is not lightly given. Even if you love them both equally, Flame is the one to marry."

He kissed her with another kind of passion. "Solution."

"Welcome. It is what friendship is for."

"Gratitude nonetheless." He paused, reorienting. "Rehearse your problem for me."

"Havoc took me to Oak because Oak is our secret weapon against the machines. He can move a small object, like an acorn, a finger knuckle's distance. That may seem small, but he can do it from any distance, feeling it with his mind, and in any number. He will cause the machine spaceships to fire on each other, disrupting their attack."

"That would do it," Five agreed.

"But then I learned that my kind, the fives, were crafted by the machines. They can read our minds and collect what we know. When they read mine, they will know about Oak, and takes steps to prevent it from working against them. Maybe they will redesign the spaceships, or their guns. Then we will lose. All because I betrayed us. And I can't do that. I may have been made by the machines, but I am human."

"Understanding. Question: how could Havoc not have known of this?"

"The information was subtle, and his mind was closed. Now I must tell him, and have him erase my mind so I can't betray the human kind. And you will have to bury the information, so they can't read it there either, if they can read more than cultured minds."

"Negation. Here is my take: Havoc knows your nature. Knows the machines will know what you know. He wants them to read it."

"Impossible! Havoc would not betray us!"

"Because he knows that Oak's talent is a decoy. The machines will go to much trouble guarding against it, wasting energy they could have used to prevent the real threat, which none of us know about."

"A decoy!" she said, amazed.

"So your job is important, because without that diversion of energy they might locate the real secret weapon."

"Revelation!" she exclaimed. "That must be it. Havoc knows what he is doing."

"He does. And so does Voila, who surely designed this ploy. That is why she told me to intercept you, and to make the Oath of Friendship. So we could discuss this, and come to the truth, without disrupting the effort. But we both must now bury that revelation, so as not to give away the truth."

"And I can return to Oak," she said gladly. "Who I realize now I love. He is simple, but he can sing well, and his talent is like none other. He is worthy."

"He is worthy," he agreed. "As is Flame. We have solved each other's problems."

"We must celebrate," she said.

"We must," he agreed. Then he clasped her and they went into another slow bout of sex.

They cleaned up and walked back the way they had come, no longer needing to go to Triumph City. One small part of her regretted that; she would have liked to see the fabulous pyramid. And to be possessed by Havoc. But she knew this was better, for both of them.

"Request," she said hesitantly.

"Ask."

"Could we meet again? I don't want to interfere with your life, but—"

"I am not telepathic, but I think I know your reason. I provided you with something you can't get elsewhere."

"Affirmation. How did you know?"

"Because you did that for me. I love Flame; there is no other woman like her, and she is very good to me. But she is a Glamor, and I know I can never come close to matching her in anything. She really doesn't need me, except that she likes me. You—"

"I am an ordinary girl," she finished. "My problem is the mirror of yours: Oak is simple, and can't understand the nuances. He is sweet, with no meanness anywhere in him. But I can't treat him sexually as I treated you; he is not equipped to understand. So I need a mentally and emotionally independent man, and you are that."

"We need each other," he agreed. "We are oath friends, so can trust each other. We should meet regularly."

"Even one hour a month would help me unwind. No fault, of course, but it would still release me emotionally."

"Similarity. It would be intense."

"Affirmation. Could we meet somewhere? Privately? I would rather not have this known elsewhere."

"Understanding. I will find you when you are alone. It will be our secret, with no criticism of our other associations."

"Concurrence."

They continued walking toward the village, but her mind did not settle. "Problem."

"Aside: you do not give up readily on things. I like that in you. Speak."

"If I know it is a decoy effort, the machines will soon know it too. Won't that spoil it?"

"Good point." He considered. "Negation. How can the machines gamble that it isn't valid? They will have to verify it anyway, wasting resources."

"Question: if they know it's a decoy, why check it?"

"Because of the nature of decoys. There has to be a real weapon somewhere, or why have decoys? So the threat has to be real. Any seeming decoys they don't check could destroy them."

"Apology. I am not smart enough to understand why."

"Analogy: say you collect one hundred fresh fruits for you and the family to eat during the week. They all look the same. Then you learn that one has been poisoned. Do you eat them anyway, because the chances are that any one fruit you eat is good?"

"Negation! It might kill me." She paused, considering further. "And if I eat them all, it will kill me."

"But you need those fruits to survive; there are no others. You must eat them."

"I will check every single one of them most carefully, to discover which one has been poisoned. Cursing the time it takes, because I have other things to do."

"Even so, the machines. Havoc would not have told you there was a secret weapon unless there was one. So he hid it amidst decoys."

"Sense," Opaline agreed, seeing it. "I am proud to be a decoy."

"Especially if Oak is the real threat, and you only think he's a decoy. It works either way."

"Every link in a chain is vital," she said. "Appreciation again, Fifth."

"Needless. We are friends."

She caught his arm, turned him toward her, and kissed him. "Friends," she agreed.