Key to Survival

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."

"We are actually promoting each other's relationships."

"Agreement." Others might not understand, but it was true.

Then something else happened. Opaline was in the forest, alone, watching acorns that Oak was moving from ever-greater distances. This time he moved them in a pattern she had requested, so that their small circle became a slightly larger circle, then returned to its original dimension.

A woman appeared. She was an Amazon, garbed in warrior outfit. "Opaline."

Opaline was startled. "You know me?"

"I am Flame."

"Fifth's betrothed! What business have you with me?" Opaline had understood that Flame knew of his trysts with her, and approved or at least tolerated them. Had she been mistaken?

"Negation. You sent my love back to me."

"You read my mind!" But of course she could do that; she was a Glamor. "If it is not all right, I will stop seeing him. I never meant to offend you."

"Be at ease. I would much prefer to have him with you for an hour, than with my sister. You provide him with something I seem unable to, that my sister provided before. When he returns from you, he is much more satisfied with me, because that edge is gone. Who do you think brought him here with the tent? Why do you think he knew you two would be safe therein?"

"You stood guard!" Opaline said, amazed. "I never knew!"

"Needless for you to know. Perhaps some day you will tell me what it is that you do for him, so that I may learn it. I see from your mind that it relates to your empathy, which comes naturally to you, and your need for him, but what is natural to you must be deliberate with me."

"Affirmation! I will tell you anything I can. But I can't quite put it into words."

"Comprehension. I suspect it relates to your innocent emotion. We Amazons are not much for feeling; it interferes with our practice."

"I have heard it said that Amazons neither laugh nor cry."

"Exaggeration, but the essence is correct. We are honed to be hard."

"I am not hard," Opaline said, half wistfully.

"Understanding. Which is why I think I must come to know you better. I suspect Fifth needs more softness in me. But this is not the occasion. Now I must borrow your clothing."

"Question?"

"There is danger for you here. I must abate it. Trust me."

Opaline did not argue. She quickly doffed her clothing, and Flame donned it. The blouse and hips were a little loose on her, but she tightened them to fit. "Hide. Do not interfere."

Opaline went to a friendly tree—she had of course remembered what Havoc had taught her about befriending trees—and climbed into its protective foliage. She peered out.

Flame was gazing at the acorns. Then two men came up behind her. "Ho!" one exclaimed. "So the story was true! There is a lone maiden wandering this forest."

Flame turned. "A greeting, sir. What may I do for you?"

"Get your skirt up, wench, and spread your legs. We're going to give you the fucking of your life." Opaline winced at the crudity of his expression. These were obviously brigands: evil criminals. They thought they had caught an innocent girl.

Flame stepped back, seemingly affrighted. "But sir! I do not desire this."

"Too bad, tootsie. You shouldn't have wandered this far from home."

She turned to run, but the other brigand had gotten behind her and grabbed her. He hoisted her up with her back against his belly, her head down, and her legs dangling forward. Opaline remembered the frightening stories told as warnings. It was the brigand rape mode, with one man holding the victim while the other ravished her. It was said that three brigands could rape one girl in one minute this way, and be gone before her screams brought any help. It was said they liked it when she screamed. Havoc had saved her from this fate when they traveled together.

Flame had told her not to interfere. But now Flame was caught. Had she misjudged the savagery of the brigands?

How awful it would be if they did this to her, because of Opaline!

The other man stepped in, wielding his bared erect penis. Opaline winced again. She had had solid experience with such members, but never with one bent on violation. It was a terrible weapon. He ripped aside the skirt and jammed at Flame's exposed cleft. He was doing it!

Then things happened rapidly.

Flame's bare legs lifted high and clamped around his lowered head. They hauled it down to crash into the knees of the brigand holding her. It was a horribly hard collision; blood spattered from both skull and knees. Then somehow the other brigand was hauled up and over, landing headfirst on the ground with a snap as his neck broke.

In something like five seconds it was over, with both men brutally dead.

"Done," Flame said, satisfied.

Opaline descended from the tree. "They would have raped me!" she said, appalled.

"Affirmation."

"But I could have avoided it, had you warned me. There was no need to risk yourself, or to kill them." For she hated violence and death, even when they happened to brutal brigands.

"Clarification," Flame said grimly as she doffed Opaline's clothes. "Havoc saw in the future paths that in several they did catch you, rape you, and kill you. He was angry. He has a crush on you. He wanted them dead."

"But they didn't actually do it," Opaline protested.

"Not on this path. But they would have, as you saw, had you not been protected. They thought I was you. It was best to catch them in the act, so that the death penalty could be invoked for the crime. That is why I assumed your place. Had they let me go, I would have spared them."

Opaline felt faint. "I never saw an Amazon in action before." She realized that Flame had not exaggerated when she said that Amazons were honed to be hard.

"They would not have tried to rape an Amazon. They would have known it was death. But you they held in contempt."

Then Opaline remembered something else Flame had said. "And Havoc—"

"Never anger Havoc. Those brigands did." She handed Opaline her clothing. "Regret about the blood on this. Do not speak of this elsewhere. Leave the bodies; they will speak for themselves." She vanished.

It had been a highly unsettling scene, but all Opaline could think of was that other comment: Havoc had a crush on her? That brought back the memory of her impossibly bold dream about him. If only such a thing could really happen!

"I will visit my family," Opaline said. "I will invite them to the wedding. Other matters are not yet decided."

Such as whether to ask Pot for a fourth, once she was married.

"Comprehension," Kettle said. "Oak will miss you."

"Regret." They both knew it couldn't be helped.

Opaline went into the village, hoping to encounter a suitable man traveling in the right direction. She knew she might have to wait several days. It was one reason travel tended to be slow. She was sure she could use the time, because she had heavy matters to ponder.

There by the Village Elder's house was a familiar figure. "Hayseed!" she cried gladly.

"Just passing through," he said. "Are you by any chance going my way?"

Of course she was. Havoc had known, and intercepted her, as before. She had not quite dared hope, yet had had little prospect of compatible company otherwise.

"Someone told me something," she said, knowing he would read her mind about Flame saying he had a crush on her. "Is it true?"

"Exaggeration. As the song says, when I'm not near the one I love, I love the one I'm near. I am a fickle man."

She laughed, knowing that was the real exaggeration. The king's loyalty to his commitments was legendary. Yet it was answer enough: he loved his wife and his mistress, but he had a certain passing sexual thing for Opaline too.

That thrilled her. Because of course she had a crush on him. In fact—

"I dreamed of you," she said, suddenly bold.

"Question?"

"It was weird. I found myself on another world. You were there, and Queen Gale, and Mistress Monochrome, and several beautiful women I didn't know. We entered what looked like a giant closed flower. We were all naked. Then there seemed to be passion in the very air. Your member rose up hugely. It was so handsome! They—we—all had wild sex with you, one after the other, standing on our feet. It was some kind of game, I think. You had to satisfy us all, and somehow you did. Apology for the presumption in my dream. I don't know what got into me." She blushed, realizing that what she had said could be taken sexually literally. "I mean, how I could ever presume, even in my dream, to be part of such a scene."

He took her hand and briefly squeezed it. "Needless."

They set out immediately. As soon as they reached the thorny fruit tree, she braced him. "You are not my brother now. It's straight no fault." She was almost unbearably hungry for him. "I know I could never compete with all those lovely women of your harem, but if you could see you way clear to take me, even once—" She broke off, blushing furiously.

"Let's climb the tree."

"Question?"

"It will make us undetectable within its branches. Just make sure to make it an offering."

She didn't hesitate. She hoisted her skirt and delivered both urine and feces to its base. Havoc did the same.

Once, she thought with fond nostalgia, she would have been shocked to share such functions with a man. She had matured in more than one way. Now she just wanted them both cleared for action, as it were.

Havoc climbed the tree, then lodged himself in its crevice of branches and reached down a hand to her. She climbed the first few spikes, then caught his hand. He hauled her up to land beside him.

She looked around, amazed. They were no longer in the crotch of a tree, but in a comfortable bedroom.

"Illusion?" she asked.

"Transport. This is my chamber at the palace at Triumph City."

She did not question it, knowing his powers. She removed her clothing and joined him on the bed. His clothing had disappeared, and he lay there with a full erection. It was every bit as handsome as it had been in her dream. She threw herself on it, putting him inside her as she did Oak. But it was different, because his member radiated mild pleasure just from touching her flesh, without yet jetting.

"Have your will of me," she said. "Endlessly, as you promised. As I dreamed."

"I proffer two ways. I can please myself, or I can please you."

"Question?"

"As a Glamor I can climax every minute for some time. But that would not necessarily take you there. Or I can see to your need first."

But she had learned some things from her association with Fifth, aside from the fact that she could not obtain sexual satisfaction until she had first satisfied her partner. "I prefer two other ways. Pleasure yourself, but send that pleasure to my mind too. Then keep it going until I get there myself. I dreamed you were capable of that."

He kissed her. "You are not the innocent you were."

"You delivered me into a situation where I had to have sex several times a day. That is hard on innocence."

He laughed. Then he thrust, and jetted within her. And the intense erotic pleasure of it came into her mind. She felt the jets coursing into her channel delightfully, each bearing its cargo of joy.

She wrapped her arms and her legs about his body, and kissed his mouth, which he managed to have within her reach. "More!" she urged him. For now there were no other women to share the experience; she could have it all.

He thrust again, and spurted more pleasure into her. She felt his continuing urgency, and shared it. Her channel tightened around him as her limbs did, holding him close. "More!"

He kept at it, with an almost continuous course of pleasure. She felt his semen flooding around his member, overflowing her vagina, and squeezing out onto the bed. She loved that overflow. Only a Glamor could ejaculate continuously!

Gradually her body responded, working toward its own climax under the constant stimulus. There were two series of pleasures: his intense spurts, and her more diffuse tide. Slowly hers rose up to meet his, and then it rivaled his.

Finally it matured in a parallel climax. They clung together, his masculine pleasure flooding her while her feminine pleasure infused him. The two merged into an ultimate combination, twice as potent as one.

"Oh!" he gasped as her body delivered the final measure back to him. "What a finish!"

"Endorsement," she gasped as they fell apart.

"I have had more kinds of sex than you would care to imagine," he said as they lay side by side. "But never quite like this. My orgasms brought on yours."

"Appreciation. Welcome to my dreams of your sex with many women, me included."

He laughed. "Did I ever suppose you were an ordinary girl, Opaline?"

"Not recently."

He rolled halfway over, facing her, and brought his face close to hers. "Warning: I am going to kiss you."

"Heeded." She offered her mouth.

They had of course been kissing throughout. But this was different. Now his kisses were not mere adjuncts to sex, but objects in themselves, buttressed by intense feeling of another kind. It was love. He really did have a crush on her, and kissing her was its own special passion. He was sending it to her, just as he had sent his rapture of orgasm. It was a divine feeling.

"Exaggeration?" she asked as he paused.

"Clarification: I will always love Gale, and will never leave her. Similarity with Monochrome. You I will leave, as I have others, without any negative implication. Some of them bore my babies as fourths. So it is impermanent, but nice while it endures."

She fastened on an aspect. "You bequeath fourths?"

"To those I favor."

"Dare I request?"

"Granted, in due course."

She was thrilled again. But that reminded her of her situation. "I will marry Oak, and see to him the rest of my life and his. He is simple, but worthy, apart from his talent. But he is sterile. I must bear four fourths."

"Fourths can be loved as natural children are. Three of mine are fourths. I am a fourth, and so is my wife."

"I met one, Flame," she agreed. "But Oak's mother made me a request: that one fourth be his father's. I find this emotionally complicated."

"As it would have been if my wife had needed to conceive a fourth from my father," he agreed. "I think I would have had a problem with that."

"In principle I can appreciate it. They have no true blood lineage. This would provide them that. I would be willing. But the thought of being embraced, kissed, penetrated by that man revolts me. He is old, fat, infirm, and sloppy in hygiene. He is a good man, I recognize, with fine character, but somehow my body can't appreciate that. I shudder at the idea of being touched by him. I can't say that to his wife. I don't know what to do."

Havoc pondered. "I do not know the answer, but I do know who does. Surely she can help you."

"She?"

He snapped his fingers. "Mistress."

Monochrome appeared. Opaline felt embarrassed to be exposed naked with Havoc before his mistress, her cleft overflowing with his fluid of passion. But she could do nothing about it, so remained still. "Master," Monochrome said, smiling.

"Opaline wishes to conceive a fourth by her stepfather-to-be, for good reason. But she can't abide his sexual touch. Can you proffer a solution?"

"Affirmation." Monochrome sat on the bed beside Opaline. "Give me your hands."

Opaline rolled away from Havoc to face her, and lifted her hands. The woman took them. There was subtle power in her very touch.

Monochrome looked into Opaline's eyes. "When your stepfather comes to you, on the expected occasion, you will not see him as he is. You will see Havoc. When he touches you, you will feel Havoc's touch. When he penetrates you, you will feel Havoc's member and his seed. Only when he finishes and departs will he revert to his natural aspect in your perception. This should abate your problem." She let Opaline's hands go.

"But it may be some time hence," Opaline protested. "How can I be sure? If I see him as he is, I might vomit. That would be unkind."

"Look," Monochrome said, her eyes flicking to where Havoc lay.

Opaline looked. And stifled a scream. Pot was lying there naked in all his physical inadequacy.

"Problem?" the man asked, with Pot's voice.

"Horror!"

"Trust me. The effect will endure as long as required." Monochrome vanished.

And Havoc was back. "Solution?"

"Solution," Opaline agreed, shuddering. She had been shown how persuasive the illusion would be. She would embrace Havoc when Pot came to her. "My turn," Havoc said. "You have a problem?"

"Background: the machines sent an emissary in the form of a woman to be my mistress. She is in every part and aspect completely and delightfully female, but she is actually a golem, a machine, a robot, and represents the enemy."

"A robot!"

"A very lifelike creature."

"Do not touch her."

"Too late. I have plumbed her many times."

"Do not trust her."

"I do trust her. In fact we are making her a Glamor."

"Idiocy!"

"Rationale: as a Glamor she will be inevitably tempted to make common cause with other Glamors, all of whom are living creatures, human, animal, and alien. She can be a significant ally against the machines."

Opaline saw it. "She came to corrupt you, but you will corrupt her. But this is a freakishly dangerous endeavor."

"Affirmation. But it is the course we pursue."

"Why tell me this? I understand the machines will know all that I know."

"As with a game of chess, knowledge of the present is only part of it. Nothing is physically concealed, except underlying strategy. We will play that out in our fashion, and what what will be will be. No one, human or machine, knows the outcome. I seek another kind of advice from you."

"Advice? Inadequacy!"

"Negation. You helped Five to know his true will. Now you can help me."

"All I did was present an ordinary girl's view."

"Agreement."

She shook her head, still doubting. How could the king actually need her advice? "What is your problem?"

"The robot is the perfect woman, except that she is not alive. Should I love her?"

He knew the robot, he was having sex with her, he was giving her more power than any other entity could aspire to. But he was concerned about his private personal feeling.

And she found that she did have input. "Does she love you?"

"Affirmation."

"Certainty?"

"Affirmation. She was designed and programmed to love me. She can not do otherwise."

"Programmed to love? Is that valid?"

"Uncertainty. It differs from earned love."

But now Opaline found herself arguing the other side. "A creation of the machines can love you. I am in a position to know."

"Affirmation," he said, smiling.

"If she truly loves you, you can love her."

"That is your ordinary girl wisdom."

"Affirmation. It is all I have."

"Sufficient."

That was sufficient? Opaline did not want to argue the case, though she felt it was inadequate. Part of it was that she didn't know the robot, so it was purely theoretical. "Negation," she said, surprising herself.

"Question?"

"It is not sufficient. You are too foolishly eager to accept the answer you want, being male. My opinion is of no value, because I don't even know her." She hoped that did not anger him, but it was the truth.

"I will bring her to meet you, on your return trip," he said. "Now you must go to your family."

"But such a trip normally takes days," she protested. "Folk will wonder."

"Folk won't know what time it takes. I thought you would appreciate having more time at home."

"Endorsement!" Part of her enthusiasm was her relief that she hadn't alienated him by her candor. She rolled onto him and started kissing his face. There followed what followed, in overflowing measure. He was a freely giving man, in more than one sense.

Hayseed the Minstrel delivered Opaline safely to her family an hour later. Her parents were surprised and thrilled to see her. She found herself rattling off the events of her adventure, far too rapidly for them to properly assimilate, omitting certain details.

"Hayseed is actually King Havoc. He came to conduct me to a special project he has that is supposed to save our planet from destruction by the enemy machines. Another entity was trying to stop me from getting there, using brigands, magic fire, and a deadly swarm of wasps, but Havoc fought them off. He took me to Oak, a young man of seventeen who can move an acorn half an inch with his mind. That may not seem like much, but I'm training him to move the triggers of the machines' Science Magic guns so that they fire at the wrong times and destroy their own side instead of us. I'm going to marry him, and I'd like to have you attend the wedding."

That they could assimilate. "Enthusiasm," Copper said.

"Concurrence," Silver agreed.

"But there is a negative. Oak is simple."

There was a silence.

Finally Copper spoke. "Can he support you?"

"He has a stipend from the king, because of his importance to the defense effort."

Then Silver: "Do you love him?"

"I think I will. He is very nice, and he needs me to take care of him." Her relationships with Havoc and Fifth, and her need to seek four fourths including one from her father in law were among the omitted details; her folks would not understand.

"He is simple," Copper said. "Could that affect his children?"

"Negation."

"Question?" Silver asked.

"I am told that this particular liability is not genetic, and will not transmit. The children will not be simple." She was skirting the truth, but her conclusion was accurate. Opaline's children would likely be smarter than she was.

"Then we approve," Copper said. He did not add that Opaline, as a fifth, could not have been expected to capture a truly smart independent man; she had to settle for what she could get, and this would do.

"But such a journey would be difficult," Silver said. "We are not young."

Opaline had an answer for that. "Havoc gave me magic travel passes for you, there and back. He wants me to marry Oak, to be sure that he stays with the project." Which was true, and surely an understatement. She produced the passes, which were tokens stamped with the royal insignia. They had but to show them to obtain passage on any magic conveyance and receive royal treatment. They would not only have an easy trip, it would be a most pleasant experience.

"We are impressed," Copper said.

"Overwhelmed," Silver said.

Opaline got up and kissed them both. "Deserving." That, too, she felt was an understatement. They had done their best for her throughout her life, though she was adopted, and now they would have some repayment for their effort. They would even have four more grandchildren.

She had several days to renew acquaintances in the village. All the villagers knew was that she had traveled to seek a man to marry, and had found one. They were glad for her, and glad that no out of luck local boy would be required to marry her. It wasn't as if she were anyone special.

Hayseed the Minstrel appeared at the agreed time to conduct her back to her new home village. This time he visited at their house, and when they were private he openly identified himself. "Opaline's mission is vitally important," he said. "We need her, and she is ideal. You raised her well, and we are appreciative." He produced two small colored stones. "Keep these gems with you at all times. If you are ever in peril or serious need, invoke them, and I or a minion will come to help you."

They were awed. "We would not think of—" Copper said.

"Ever," Silver agreed.

Havoc produced a third stone. "In this manner." He held it up. "In the name of the king: help."

The stone flashed. There was a stir behind him. A startlingly beautiful blond woman appeared. "Who summons the king's minion?"

"Welcome, Weft."

She smiled with something more than recognition, inhaling as she did so. "Hi, dad. You're in trouble? Need firm female guidance?"

"Demonstration. I have given summons stones to these good people, Copper and Silver, the parents of Opaline. I want them to know that they have the protection of the king."

Weft turned to them. "I was the one on call this time, but any of the king's minions will serve. Had, for example, brigands threatened you, I would have treated them harshly." She snapped her fingers, and a spark flew out. It formed into a small ball of smoke bearing a ferocious face whose eyes glared malignantly about before dissipating. "Do not invoke the stones carelessly, but do not hesitate when there is need. Havoc would not be pleased if you suffered needlessly." She turned a smoldering glance on Havoc, and vanished.

So that was Weft, Flame's sister. Suddenly Opaline appreciated why Flame preferred to have Fifth with Opaline than with Weft. The woman was bursting with confidence and sex appeal.

"Confusion," Copper said. "Was that your daughter or your lover?"

Havoc laughed. "Daughter by adoption, lover by preference. She curses the day she became the one rather than the other. I won't touch her, but she hasn't quite accepted that. She's not accustomed to being balked by any man."

"Evident," Silver agreed.

Havoc turned to Opaline. "Ready to travel? We have territory to cover."

"Ready," Opaline agreed. She kissed her parents, then took his arm.

And they were back in the royal bedroom, their clothing dropping to the floor. Just like that they were in the throes of wild sex.

"I'm sure I could not compare to Weft," Opaline gasped as her climax ebbed.

"She and I tease each other, but we know our places," he said as he let his spent member go limp. "She's a good girl."

"Surely so." Opaline knew how firm Havoc could be when bound not to have sex with a woman. But it was plain that Weft desired him, and regarded the matter of his being her father as an incidental complication.

"We have two days of 'travel time' we can allow before you arrive at the village. Shee will show you the city in the interim."

Opaline looked around. "She? Who?"

"Shee. SHEE. That's her name."

"Oh," she said, blushing from face to breasts.

He kissed her face, neck, and breasts: all the affected skin. "You are delightful. We have just had marvelously graphic sex without embarrassment, but a minor confusion of names causes you to flush."

"Apology."

"Needless. It is part of your appeal. You remind me of my time as a villager before I became king. We become jaded in the big city. Now dress."

She did, after quickly cleaning up, and so did he. When she emerged from the bathroom there was a new woman present. She was delicate of feature and body and quite comely. Her hair was gently glossy, shifting from brown to red to blond depending on the angle of the light falling on it. She must have spent some time working on it to achieve that effect.

"Shee, this is Opaline, my lover of the moment. Please show her around Triumph City, and let her get to know you."

"A greeting, Opaline," Shee said. "I am sure we shall get along." Her eyes were subtly iridescent, another odd yet pleasing effect.

"Acknowledged."

"I will be in touch," Havoc said, leaving the room.

Opaline was in the care of this new woman. She wasn't completely pleased, but of course the king had other things to do than have continuous sex with her, and she did want to see the city.

"Are you familiar with the general structure of Triumph City?" Shee inquired. Her voice was dulcet.

"I have heard it is one big pyramid. That's most of what I know."

"It is a tetrahedron: a pyramid whose four sides are all triangular."

"Confusion: doesn't a triangle have three sides?"

Shee smiled. "The fourth side is the base."

"Oh." Opaline felt herself blushing again.

"This way. We must check out with Ennui." She ushered Opaline out the bedroom door and through a suite of chambers to a modest office where an old woman sat behind a desk. "Ennui, this is Opaline."

The woman looked up. "Aren't you supposed to be training Oak?"

Opaline found herself blushing again. She had thought she was anonymous in the big city. "I—"

"Havoc took her to visit her family before the wedding," Shee said. "Now I will show her the city. She will return to Oak in due course."

Ennui nodded. "Confirmation." She returned her attention to the papers on her desk.

They left the office and came to a small wooden room. Shee closed the door. Suddenly the room dropped.

"Oh!" Opaline cried, her arms flailing.

Shee steadied her with surprising strength. "Security. This is an elevator. A moving chamber. I forgot that you wouldn't be familiar with it. They don't have them in the villages."

"Affirmation," Opaline agreed weakly.

The traveling room stopped moving, and the door opened. They were in an entirely different place. "This is the ground floor," Shee said. "Though it isn't on the ground, or even at the base of the pyramid. It is the main concourse for residents."

Indeed, people were all around, walking busily to places only they understood.

Shee showed her the various aspects of the city, and Opaline was duly awed. But between sites they talked, and Opaline's curiosity was growing. "Question: may I learn more about you?"

"Confirmation. What would you like to know?"

"I almost seem to know you from somewhere. Have we met before?"

"In your dream."

Opaline felt her jaw dropping. That was it: she had been among the women of the wild sexual orgy. "You know of that?"

Shee smiled. "Let Havoc's teasing end. It was not a dream. We played a trick on him, putting all his women together, you among them. He had to service us all in rapid order."

"Me among them," Opaline agreed. "I couldn't believe it actually happened, so thought it was an illicit dream."

"It happened. You did well."

This was amazing. "Are you a typical city woman? You are uncommonly pretty, and I have never seen anything like your hair or eyes."

"I am not typical," Shee said.

"Are you one of Havoc's lovers?" But of course she was. All the women in the dream had had sex with him.

Maybe she was a bath girl; they were notorious.

"I am his second mistress, after Monochome."

No bath girl, she! "And your name—how did you come by it?"

"My complete name is Ban Shee, which translates roughly as Woman of the Fairy Mound. One whose wailing warns a family that one of its members is soon to die."

"That's cruel! Who named you that?"

"The machines."

Opaline stared at her. "Confusion."

"I am the one the emissaries sent to persuade Havoc to urge his daughter Voila to join them."

Opaline's jaw dropped. "Then you are—"

"A machine in the form of a woman."

"I never knew!"

"Havoc's little way. He did not tell you that either."

"He said I would meet you, but I didn't realize—" Now Opaline was blushing furiously. "Apology!"

"Needless," Shee said. "I am a very realistic humanoid robot designed to cater to Havoc's tastes." She smiled briefly. "Actually any young lush human female form would do, I think. Havoc does like sex."

"He—has regular sex—with you?" But of course he did; Opaline knew she was being stupid in her surprise.

"Affirmation. I am good at that."

"But you can never have a baby." Opaline knew she was being unkind, but she was too flustered to have her mariners in order.

"Error. I can conceive and birth a human baby. I have a store of eggs similar to those of living human women, and when the man's seed merges with one, it will take. It will be the man's child. The distinction is that my eggs are not of my lineage, as I have none; they are laboratory crafted, just as the ones that generate the fifths. I am in that sense like a laboratory for artificial insemination. But I am also in that sense like a living woman."

Opaline struggled with the concept. "Then you are a woman. But—are you conscious? Feeling?"

"I am conscious and feeling. My circuits are not alive, but they have a similar configuration. My feedback loops make me aware and emotional."

Then it came out. "Do you love Havoc?"

"I do."

"But you represent the machines."

"Clarification: I was crafted by the machine culture. I was sent here by the machines. I perform the mission required by the machines. I am a machine. But I do not serve them, and my loyalty is not with them. My loyalty is to Havoc."

"But you are here to help them conquer us."

"No more than you are, Opaline. Once the machines release us, we become our own women. We both love Havoc."

"Then have you renounced your mission?"

"Negation."

"Question?"

"The machines can not be defeated by the human culture, or any other living culture, or any combination of living cultures in the galaxy. They are too powerful. The only way any culture can survive is by making a deal with the machines, to provide something they want. In this case, it is Voila."

"Voila," Opaline repeated. "Havoc's youngest daughter."

"And the most potent Glamor known. She is the machines' top recruitment target in the galaxy. With her powers added to theirs, they could perceive the entire future, near and far, with no awkward gaps, and more readily conquer the galaxy. She is so valuable that they are prepared to spare her entire human culture in exchange for her loyalty to them."

"A deal," Opaline agreed uncomfortably.

"A good deal. If she refuses, the machines will still conquer the galaxy; it will merely take them more time, and greater expense of resources. They will destroy the human culture so that it can never again oppose them. Because I love Havoc, I want to save him and his culture. The one sure way to do that is for him to persuade his daughter to join the machines. It is best for all concerned."

"What of the other living cultures?"

"Some of them also have things the machines value. Those few will be able to deal. The rest are doomed."

"Suppose Voila agreed to join the machines only if they spared all the remaining living cultures?"

"They would not agree. She can save only her own culture. Perhaps slightly more, as the ifrits are also valuable. Especially Idyll the Ifrit Glamor, who works so closely with Voila and can see the intermediate future. But she will not enlist unless Voila does."

"But Havoc has a secret weapon." Oops—she had blabbed the secret.

"Oak," Shee agreed. "I doubt that he could actually stop the machines, but the interactions of the future paths are complex, and the outcome is murky. So it may be possible. But it would be much safer to let Voila enlist with the machines. They alone can guarantee the survival of the human culture."

Opaline was satisfied that Shee believed that. "So you are the ban shee, warning of a death, but it can be avoided if the humans listen to you."

"Affirmation."

"I am not one to know. But Havoc asked me whether he should love you. I don't know why he should value my opinion, and don't know what to say."

"You are an ordinary girl. His other close associates are Glamors or political functionaries whose opinions are governed by more complicated considerations. Your innocence of outlook is hard to find elsewhere."

"You are not talking about sexual innocence."

"Agreement. You are a village girl. He was once a village boy. It is in his outlook."

They paused at a huge chamber. "Question?"

"This is the main hall, where the king gives occasional speeches. At other times it is an ongoing dance hall frequented by folk during their off shifts. Their need their relaxation and social lives." Now Opaline saw that there were several couples doing odd gyrations. Some of them were naked. "That is dancing?"

Shee smiled. "Triumph is more liberal than the villages, and it shows in their artistic expression."

"Guilty fascination."

"You may dance if you wish to."

"I couldn't! Not like that!"

"I could obtain a partner who knows the village dances," Shee said. "You could ask him for a fourth."

Opaline stared at her. "You know about that?"

"As a general rule, I know what Havoc knows. You need four fourths; you have three."

"Three?"

"Pot, Havoc, Fifth."

"You know more about me than I know!" For she had as yet asked neither Pot nor Fifth.

"Apology. I forgot that the future paths are opaque to you."

"You can see the future?"

"The far future, as I am a machine. I am learning the near future as I become a Glamor. Of course I will never be in Voila's league in that respect, though she and Idyll are helping me learn."

"But you're an enemy agent!"

"So are you."

And Opaline loved Havoc and was committed to saving the human culture. It was indeed an answer. The rulers of the human culture accepted her just as they accepted Opaline, being marvelously egalitarian. "This man—to dance with—why should I want a fourth of him?"

Shee snapped her fingers. "Warp."

A handsome young man appeared. "Hi, metal maiden."

"This is Opaline. She needs a partner for a village dance, and perhaps more."

He turned to Opaline and smiled. "Do me the honor, Opaline." He took her hand.

Before she knew it, she was in his arms on the dance floor, doing a slow and comfortable waltz. His hold on her was sure without being oppressive or sexual, and his steps were perfect. She felt completely secure with him.

"Observation," she said. "You are Havoc's son."

"Agreement. You are his mistress of the moment."

She had to chuckle, somewhat ruefully. "So we know each other. But what Shee said can't be right."

"Question?"

"She said I should—should ask you for a fourth. When the time comes. I'm not even married yet. But Havoc has already promised me one, and I should seek a different lineage for another."

"I am adopted," he reminded her. "There is no blood relation. Havoc is my father, and I honor him above all other men, but I will give you a fourth of a separate line."

She was taken aback. "You agree?"

"It is not a thing a man can decline. Besides, it is important to keep you happy, because of the importance of your mission. You are training Oak how to save our species. And you're a pretty girl."

"Appreciation," she said faintly, blushing yet again. That seemed to be becoming a chronic state.

At that point the music paused, ending the dance. He put a finger under her chin, lifted her face, and gently kissed her. His affectionate touch had much the same potency as Havoc's; it made her pulse race and her mind float.

"It will be a pleasure, when."

Then she was back with Shee and Warp was gone. "Amazement," she breathed.

"The Glamors tend to have that effect."

They did indeed. Shee had just done her a significant favor, one she would never have had the temerity to obtain on her own. She felt a surge of emotion, this time directed toward the robot woman. "About Havoc—whether he should love you," she said. "I will tell him yes."

"Appreciation." And that essentially ended their dialogue, though the tour of Triumph continued.