Key to Survival

Chapter 6 Voila

Red delivered Fifth to Voila in what seemed to be the usual way: she had phenomenal sex with him, then faded out, and he discovered he was alone in another chamber. It was morning, and a young woman was emerging from the shower. Her bare wet body was slighter than Red's in every dimension, yet more appealing for his taste though she was not really lean. She was just less evocatively endowed.

She spied him immediately, and evinced no surprise. "Greeting, Fifth," she said. "We shall travel, but first we are required to start our affair." She joined him on the bed.

"Voila," he said belatedly. "I—I am a normal man, and Red just exhausted me in that respect. It is no affront to you."

She looked into his face. Her brown eyes seemed to become huge. "None taken," she said.

Suddenly his member swelled almost painfully. He put his hands on her shoulders, steered her down onto her back on the bed, mounted her, and jammed urgently in. Three pulses. Then his ardor faded as suddenly as it had come, and he got off her, spent.

"Shower and dress," she said, getting up.

Just like that, they had done it. He realized as he showered that she had simply evoked his response magically, and forced his performance. She had wanted to get it out of the way efficiently, and had done so. He had had little pleasure in it, despite the power of the procedure. He was not much pleased. This would hardly be a fair test of his love for Flame.

And realized that Voila desired him no more than he desired her. She was simply obliging her sister. That diminished his annoyance.

However, her power made him nervous. He knew she was by far the strongest Glamor ever to appear, and there were stories that she was human only in body, not in nature. Their recent act of sex seemed to confirm that.

He found clothing that fit him laid out on the bed. He dressed.

Voila reappeared. "Sit," she said, indicating a table with chairs. "We must talk."

Fifth spread his hands. "Whatever you wish."

She dropped several colored blocks on the table and sat down opposite him. She had tied her hair back so tightly that she looked almost mannish, and was garbed in jeans and a heavy shirt that effectively masked her breasts. This was no romantic tryst. "Eat."

He picked up a block and bit into it. It was some sort of condensed nutrient, chewy but tasty.

"You will carry my ikon." She gestured to a jar on the table. Within it lay a small amorphous blob. The ikon.

"But I carry Flame's ikon," he protested.

"Switch them."

Bemused, he obeyed, exchanging Flame's slime ikon for Voila's blob. He put the blob in his mouth, tucking it away in his cheek. Ikons were notoriously difficult to part with, but apparently such an exchange was easy.

"You evoked necessary information about the number one and number two recruitment targets of the machines," she said. "I am number one. I will consult with number two. The evocation provided an address. Warning: danger. You may decline."

There was a lot he might say, arguing the case either way. But to decline would bean to abort his month with Voila, and prevent the completion of his three-woman romantic test. He had to carry through. "Negation."

She nodded. Obviously she had seen the near future paths and had known of his decision before he did. But she wanted it on the record that he had been warned and given the choice.

"There will be way stations, as our route is not direct," she said. "We want to conceal the mission from the machines, if possible. We will pause brief or long times, as required by the routing. In those pauses I will be a girl to you, so that the experience is fair."

"Needless," he said gallantly.

She smiled, and suddenly she was winsome. "Flame is correct: you are likable." She got up, leaned down, and kissed him. She had not done that before, during the forced sex. It was potent; in that instant she was completely and disarmingly feminine.

He waggled a finger at her. "You're an actress."

"Pretend you don't know." She put her hand on his arm, and then they were elsewhere.

He looked around. It was a platform on a pedestal in some weirdly alien landscape. In the distance huge creatures grazed on mounds of moss. Three suns shone down. This was no world and no system he knew of. Odd that the air was breathable on such a different planet.

"Capsule," she explained. "Prepared for us by the Oomii." She reached out to touch the film wall, that became visible as it flexed.

A monstrous grasshopper loomed. Fifth lurched forward, foolishly ready to protect her from the threat. But she waved him back. "Appreciation," she said to the creature.

The thing nodded in a human-like gesture and retreated.

"Apology," Fifth said, relieved.

"They are on your list," she said. "Part of the galactic network opposing the machines, which we are joining."

"There are so many," he said. "I can remember only a few." He was privately amazed that the information had been used to rapidly; he and the Red Glamor had completed their survey only the day before. But of course the information had been going out steadily. Voila had evidently made immediate contacts. It was as if she had always known these creatures. "Next." She took his hand.

They were perched high in a massive fossilized tree overlooking a colorful canyon. Wafts of multi-colored mist drifted by below them. Fifth was dizzy with the exposed height. "I hope this is a brief stop."

"Negation."

He was becoming more than dizzy. "I think I am afraid of heights." He had never been before, but there was something about this location that wrenched his stomach.

"Distraction," she said. She stood before him, her feet on twin branches that extended over the gulf. She opened her shirt, baring her modest breasts. She drew his face into them.

Maybe it was a cynical ploy, but it worked. Her breasts were marvelously comforting. He kissed them, entirely distracted by their substance. Then his hands were on her taut bottom. Soon his member was out and finding her avenue as he kissed her face. This time the culmination was slow and easy, taking pleasant time.

She held him, responding to his kisses and his touches as if she really enjoyed them. She moved against him, facilitating his pleasure. "I know you will protect me," she murmured, and for the moment he believed it.

There, almost suspended in air, far over the chasm, they made love, and it was almost painfully sweet. She was in every seeming way the ideal girl.

It occurred to him that it was a good thing Voila did not really want him, because she was impressing him without even using her enormous Glamor power. Flame had said that the four Glamor children of Havoc had power to match that of all other Glamors combined, including their parents, and that Voila's power was greater than the other three combined. She could take what she wanted, even from another Glamor.

In due course they moved again, continuing their devious route. The machines were surely watching, Voila explained, as they had spies everywhere. But the machines were weak on the near future paths, so things could be fuzzed, leaving them without useful information.

This time the two of them appeared on the dance floor of a huge ballroom. All around them were alien couples of every description: animal-like, bird-like, fish-like, insect-like, and amorphous. Apparently this was an interspecies resort, where widely different creatures could interact without complications. He knew from his work with the Red Glamor that a formidable galactic coalition of living cultures existed; he hadn't realized that they associated socially.

The music stopped. The creatures drew back, forming a large circle, eyeballing the newcomers.

Fifth was uncomfortable being the sudden cynosure. "Question?" he whispered.

Voila was relaxed. "The price of admission is a new dance. They already know all the dances I know, so you must teach me a new one."

Fifth was reassured. One thing he was good at was dancing, and he did know some obscure ones. He had danced with Voila before, in Warp's play about Cielito Lindo. That was before he realized just how eerily powerful Voila was; she had seemed more like Flame's little sister then. "They can read my mind?" he asked her.

"Affirmation, within reason. Think clearly."

He focused on a tune of old Earth, "Love is Blue." Immediately the alien orchestra picked it up, and the lovely melody filled the hall.

Now he thought of appropriate costuming, and it formed on them both: a close-fitting dance suit for him, a lovely dress for her, complete with a tiara.

He turned to Voila. "This is the dance." He stepped out, tapping his feet to the music, swaying his body, then turning, pausing, and making a token bow in her direction.

She didn't hesitate. The second time he did it she was by his side, matching him step for step, perfectly. She was an excellent dancer, having lost none of her touch in the intervening five years; perhaps it came with being an actress.

Then as the routine ended, she turned to face him, paused, and bowed as he did, smiling.

They stepped back as the music played again and the entire group of creatures did it. They were not perfect, but clearly were enjoying the experience. The price of admission had been paid.

Thereafter the music changed, allowing any kind of dance. Voila nestled in his arms for a slow waltz. Now she was all girl, following his lead, fitting into him like a flexible garment, light and sweet. It was easy to imagine her being his girlfriend, and he felt closer to her now than he had when they were having sex.

"I promised," she reminded him.

She had indeed said she would be a girl to him. He had not really believed that, especially after the way she had manhandled him into instant sex. But it seemed that now they had time to relax, and she was doing so.

"Appreciation."

Between dances they had refreshments: cakes of something sweet, and cups of something cool. He decided not to inquire what they contained.

"Concern," she said.

"Question?"

"When this is done, I will need to marry and bear my four. But the only non-family man I am close to is homosexual."

"Caveat," he said, remembering the battle of Earth five years before.

"No man is my match. I dread the occasion. Advice?"

"Inadequacy!" he protested, amazed that she would even broach this subject with him. "I would not presume."

"Presume." It was a directive.

"One of the human male Glamors? Black, Green?"

"Negation. Glamors get bored with Glamors. The only Glamor couple is Havoc and Gale, and they were in love long before becoming Glamors."

"Maybe a mock marriage, for form, and you both seek love elsewhere? This is known."

"I want true love."

"Voila, you have so much power, any man other than a Glamor will be in awe of you. Surely unable to truly love you. You seem to have little choice."

"You?"

He experienced a chill. "You frighten me. I have been with Gale, Flame, and Red, and in my fashion felt their power. They are like Vivid, bright hot stars. Yours is of another magnitude. Being with you is like floating on the event horizon of Void." Then he realized that he had spoken too candidly. "Apology. Retraction."

"Negation. You have answered me. This is my problem. No man truly wishes to be with me other than professionally. I understand their reluctance. I don't want to be with them either, no affront intended."

"Concurrence. I have no useful answer for you."

An alien couple approached. These vaguely resembled nests of worms on sticklike feet.

"Pleasant occasion," one said.

"Delightful," Voila agreed.

"We trust you are satisfactory."

"We are excellent. Appreciation."

The aliens moved on.

"Purpose?" Fifth asked.

"Explanation: there are representatives of many interstellar cultures. Each has its own environment, as do we, so that we can coexist in appearance. We are not actually in a common ballroom; we are in our own isolated chamber, as are the others. Were the walls to break or leak, the alien atmosphere, gravity, and temperatures would be lethal. We interact by having the chambers align with each other, and our communications are translated. So we do not touch each other, but we exchange amenities. No business is transacted; it is purely social. That couple was the host; they maintain this facility."

"Interest!"

"We are new to this society. We have signaled our desire to participate. Socially."

He was silent. Social, hell! This was an organization of cultures opposing the onslaught of the machines. Because machine spies could be among them, nothing of strategic substance was discussed. But Voila had just made plain the human support for the effort. That had to count for a lot, because she was the machines' number one recruitment target.

The other living cultures desperately needed her on their side.

Voila touched his hand, nodding.

They danced again, and for that time he almost was able to forget that she was vastly other than the girl she seemed. But when they sat again—this was evidently a long stop—he couldn't suppress his curiosity longer. "Question."

"Speak."

"Why do you even bother with me? I am nothing."

"I love my sister."

And Flame had asked her to do this. But the test of his love for Flame could have been handled by another Glamor. "And?"

"And it is difficult for me to touch bases with reality. I am isolated by my nature, associating largely with Glamors and figures of power. I want to know how to be ordinary. You are helping me."

That perhaps made sense. But it still wasn't enough. "And?"

"And you are a nexus."

"Question?"

"The building contest with the machines is huge. They are spreading across the galaxy, destroying everything else. They see the far future. We see the near future. There are certain foci, or nexii, which are times, places, people, or situations where the future paths are channeled and the near connects to the far. The side that best understands and manages those foci will win. The coming space battle is a nexus. Shee Robot is a nexus. Opaline the village girl is a nexus." She paused. "Aside: Two months hence, when you decide to see my mother, go to intercept Opaline and travel with her. She will be going to see my father, so it will be mutually convenient."

"Confusion."

She ignored that. "I am a nexus. And you are a nexus. A vital one."

"Incredulity!"

"We do not know in what manner, but it makes you a person of interest. We need to fathom what is special about you, and how you relate."

"So you are studying me," he said, assimilating this.

"Confirmation. When paths converge, I must study them."

He spread his hands. "I know nothing of this."

"Understanding. There is nothing relevant in your mind."

"Realization!" he exclaimed. "This is why Flame wants me studied."

"Affirmation. She loves you, but she can't commit while there is this mystery about you. Perhaps it is an innocent anomaly"

"Hope."

She touched his hand again. "Concurrence."

Then they were at another site. They had moved again. This one seemed to be a warm subterranean cave. "We have half an hour here," Voila said. "Do you wish sex?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Yes, on this occasion."

"Is there reason, one way or another?"

"We are committed to have it at least fifteen times in the course of the month. After that number there will be no need for further such effort."

"You make it so appealing!"

"Apology. I am accustomed to direct statements."

"Needless. I should not have asked."

She smiled. "I will try to be more diplomatic next time."

"Question: can we make it optional? I mean, maybe get close and see whether desire arises?"

"Question?"

"To make it seem more like love. I am supposed to try to really love other women, not just have sex with them. We both know we will never be a true couple, but if we could pretend, it might be nicer."

"Sense." She took his hands and drew him close. "Fifth, I do like you." She kissed him.

Was she acting? Did it matter? "And I like you." He enfolded her.

They kissed for some time. It did not lead to sex, but it was increasingly pleasant. He knew her nature, as he had known Red's, but his feeling for her was growing.

"Question," she asked. "Do you really prefer kissing to sex?"

"Yes, on this occasion," he said, smiling.

"Even though you know my romantic interest is mostly pretense?"

"It is less obvious than your pretense of sexual interest."

She laughed. "But the pretense is diminishing." She took his hand, and they moved again.

Fifth lost track of the times they changed venue, but Voila's romantic and sexual interest steadily increased. She was getting the part down pat.

Then they were in a flooded colonnade within a rocky landscape. Voila sat on a rock, doffed her slippers, and dangled her feet in the water. In a moment there was a stirring, and an orange tentacle emerged from the water. She lifted one foot and touched the tip.

"Voila," she said.

There was a rumble. "Rafal," the nearest column replied. It was evidently a translator, though it wasn't clear to Fifth how it knew Voila's language when this was her first visit here. Oh—the Coalition would have circulated the information.

"I know you, Rafal."

"I know you, Voila."

"I am the Glamor of Amoeba."

"I am the Glamor of Plankton."

"Our constituencies overlap."

"We are compatible."

"With me is Fifth, mortal, bearing my ikon."

"Accepted. My ikon is locked at the bottom of the sea."

Fifth realized that this was the entity she was traveling to see. The #2 prospect for machine recruitment. This was a historic meeting. He sat back and watched, knowing that his participation was irrelevant.

"We tried to travel circumspectly."

"You succeeded. This encounter is private."

"Are we on the same side?"

The column laughed. "The enemy of my enemy? Perhaps."

"You are alive," she said.

"You also," he agreed.

"The machines are not."

"Agreement."

"They will destroy us all, if we do not stop them."

"Agreement."

"This is not a sufficient basis for an alliance."

"Agreement."

Fifth kept silent, but wondered. What was happening here? Why were they engaging in simplistic dialogue, instead of serious strategy?

Voila glanced his way. "We are feeling each other out. We need to know our relative power, and commitment to the cause."

"We are the two most powerful Glamors in the galaxy," Rafal said via his columns. "If one of us is in league with the enemy, the other must be wary."

"I am checking his future paths," Voila said.

"I am checking her alternate presents," Rafal said.

"Confusion," Fifth said. All three laughed.

"Demonstration," Voila said. "Game theory."

The tentacle swept across the flat sand adjacent to the pool, making it featureless. Then it drew a four line cross hatch, forming nine chambers. Along one side it drew the letters A B C. Along the top, the numbers 1 2 3. Inside the chambers it drew plus signs and minus signs, with a 0 in the center. It was a standard game theory grid. Fifth realized that Rafal must be translating his designations to theirs, for Fifth's benefit.

1 2 3

A + + -

B + 0 -

C - - +

"Fifth, choose a side."

"The letters."

"Choose a sign."

"Plus."

Two tentacles held a slate tablet and a marker. One made a mark and passed the slate to Voila, its mark hidden from Fifth. "Choose a location," Rafal said.

Fifth considered. The odds in such a game were even, and random playing was as good as selective playing.

Only if a player had a bias the other could strategically exploit could any advantage be gained.

"A," he said. His chances were 2-1 there.

Voila turned the tablet around. There was the number 3. Rafal had anticipated his move and won.

Rafal took back the tablet and made a new mark, returning it to Voila.

"C," Fifth said, selecting the one that would have won before, though the odds were against him.

Voila turned the tablet. 1.

They played a dozen times. Rafal always won, despite making his marks before Fifth chose his spots.

"Explanation," Rafal said. "It is my special ability to set up a nexus and retroactively select alternates. Specifically, I chose the one or one of two realities of the nine alternates in which my selection prevailed."

"You knew my moves before I made them?"

"Negation. You made them, then I selected my preferred reality. The effect is similar to what it would be if you announced your moves before I announced mine."

"I can see future paths, and thus affect them," Voila said. "He can change the present paths."

"But I was aware of no such changes," Fifth protested.

"Your prior paths were canceled," Voila said. "Rendered null. You are not aware of them because they no longer happened. He changed your reality. Several times."

Fifth was awed. "This is phenomenal power!"

Voila nodded. "Parallel to mine. Rafal is the second choice for recruitment only because the machines were able to nullify him, so he remains no threat to them. They have not yet nullified me."

"Question: how did they nullify him, if he can change whatever they do?"

"They see the far future paths," Rafal said. "They arranged to trap me here on an isolated planet in an isolated system, operating on such a long time scale that I had no awareness of it until too late. I can change only recent local reality. Had I had Voila's ability I might have avoided it."

"They saw him coming centuries before he existed," Voila said. "They will free him if he joins them, for his talent could be extremely useful to them."

"Affirmation," Fifth agreed. "Just as yours could be."

"But acting together, we might represent a significant menace to the machines," Voila said. "That is why I came here."

"Confusion," Fifth said. "Surely the machines have spaceships guarding this sector of space. If any approach, to take him away, they will strike."

"Affirmation," Rafal said. "I am unable to free myself."

"But if we linked mentally, and he lent his power to me," Voila said, "I might travel to a key nexus and defeat the machines. Then I could free him, and the rest of the galaxy, from their depredations."

"Awe. Will you do this?"

"We do not know. If he is in secret league with the machines, this is a honeypot to lure me into their power. If I am in league with them, he will betray himself and be doomed. Before we ally, we must trust."

"But you would never betray us, Voila!"

"The machines offer to spare the entire human culture, in exchange for my commitment," she said. "It is an excellent personal deal. I can not afford to ignore that."

Fifth nodded. "And they will make a similar deal with Rafal, sparing his culture, if he joins them."

"If one of us joins them," Rafal said, "they would probably dispense with the other. The one who deals will save his own culture and destroy the other."

"Prisoner's dilemma," she said. "It pays to betray."

"Another game theory grid," Rafal agreed.

Fifth blew air out through his cheeks. "I appreciate the dilemma."

"What would you do?" Voila asked.

He pondered briefly. "I have learned that situations are seldom two-faceted. When they seem to be yes versus no, or one versus the other, that may be deceptive. There is normally a third choice, or an entire continuum of choices. I would search for that continuum."

A tentacle waved. "I like your ikon-bearer," Rafal said.

"He is a nexus."

"And not an insignificant one," Rafal agreed. "But his application eludes me."

"It also eludes me. I am studying him."

"Some nexii are hard to fathom."

This discussion made Fifth nervous. "Maybe I just happen to be on the cusp of some important event, rather than being a true nexus."

"Negation," Voila and Rafal said together.

That made him more nervous. "If either of you decide to join the machines, I will be your enemy.

You will have to destroy me."

"Negation," they said together again.

"There would be extreme danger in that course," Rafal added. "Sufficient to add significantly to the advantage of the machines."

"But I am nothing!"

"You are a nexus," Voila repeated. That seemed to cover it.

"You two seem to be united against the machines," Fifth said. "I will retreat and let you work out your relationship in your own manner." He walked to a mossy rock and sat on it. He had likened his relationship to Voila as like orbiting Void; he felt the same about Rafal.

They got to it. "We must establish trust," Voila said.

"This may be complicated."

"In my culture, there is a thing called the Oath of Friendship. It is sacrosanct, and never violated.

Oath friends can trust each other."

"Similar exists in ours. But we do not make it carelessly."

"How may we come to know each other well enough to make such an oath feasible?"

"There is an avenue. But this too is complicated."

"Open your mind to me," Voila said impatiently.

Fifth realized that both were telepathic, but guarding their minds so they were opaque. That was why they were speaking verbally instead of more efficiently sharing minds. Only Fifth himself was mentally permeable.

"That can be dangerous among strangers."

"Agreement. Then phrase your avenue."

"Entanglement."

"Question?"

"On the molecular scale, particles can come to associate with each other. Thereafter they act as one, though separated. On the macroscopic scale, the equivalent is marriage."

"Surprise!"

Fifth, too, was surprised. Not by the concept, but by Voila's surprise. Rafal was setting her back. That spoke volumes.

"The avenue is complicated," Rafal repeated.

Voila rallied. "In our culture, marriage leads to sexual expression, love, and commitment. The first seems unfeasible."

"Perhaps."

"Do you diffuse?"

"Affirmation."

"Let's try it that way first."

The tentacle extending from the water expanded, becoming twice its original diameter, then thrice. It puffed into vapor.

"Collect my clothes," Voila said to Fifth as she disrobed. She tossed blouse, skirt, bra, parities, and slippers, and he caught them and folded them carefully, piling them on a rock. He had seen her nude before, but on this unexpected occasion he was caught by her beauty of form. She was slightly endowed, by human standards, but perfect in her slenderness. The epitome of the kind of woman he could love.

"Appreciation," she said, smiling.

Fifth felt himself blushing. He kept forgetting that he might as well shout his thoughts when in her presence.

"This is a nexus," she said. "Stand back until you feel the event horizon. Then you will be able to view all the alternates at your convenience." Her hair was vaporizing, and her fingers. She was starting her ifrit diffusion.

Fifth retreated, uncertain what she meant. Then he felt it: a kind of mental tingling as if reality were shifting around him. He went farther out, and discovered fragmentation: the view of Voila and Rafal's pool shimmered as though refracted by a translucent curtain and became two. Then three, and four, and five. But they were not identical.

What was happening?

"The separation of alternates," she called. "Rafal is making a nexus. If you enter one, you will assume its reality. Do not do so. Watch them all from the horizon, until the sequences play out. Wait for us to select one before joining it."

"Acquiescence," he said, amazed.

Voila did not speak again. She couldn't: her face had vaporized. Her bare body stood below a cloud of thick vapor that was her diffused substance. Beyond her was the cloud forming above the pool that was Rafal diffusing.

He looked at the adjacent scene. That was as surprising: Voila was changing her form, becoming tentacular. She was emulating Rafal's species!

The third scene showed Rafal forming his tentacles into humanoid arms and legs. His body was emerging from the water, becoming the torso, bearing a head.

The fourth scene seemed to be illusion, with the two of them forming into coiling serpents.

The fifth seemed to be empty, but he was sure it wasn't. Maybe it was just slower to develop.

He was seeing all the alternate things they were doing to relate to each other. They would discover which worked best, and select that one to keep. The others would fade, becoming only speculations.

Fifth had been in awe of Voila's power. Now he was in similar awe of Rafal's power. They were two quite different creatures, but they were similar in their special abilities. Surely there was nothing else in the galaxy like this.

Which was of course why they were the two prime recruitment targets. And why they were meeting now, and studying each other. For that was what they were doing. Only when they knew each other well enough could they afford to trust.

He turned back to the first scene. The two clouds lifted above the colonnade and floated beside each other. They extended pseudopods of vapor. The pods touched, and remained unmoving. He knew that they were in intense communication, possible only in the ifrit form. That alone would assume them of trust—or the lack of it.

He looked at the second scene. Two squid-like creatures were wrestling at the surface of the water. Tentacle coiled around tentacle, forming a seeming tangle, so that he could no longer be sure which one belonged to whom.

Was this a romantic embrace?

The fourth scene was astonishing. The larger serpent opened its mouth and swallowed the other. It was a willing act, the other wriggling to slide headfirst into the long throat, until she disappeared inside him.

Then came the climax. It must have been, because the body exploded and fragments fell across the land and into the water. Then they scraped themselves up, and formed into the two original figures, somewhat the worse for wear.

The third scene was clearer: Rafal was now a handsome naked human man. He embraced Voila, kissed her, and lay with her on the ground. His penis was monstrous, but then it diminished as he ascertained the appropriate size, and pushed into her open cleft. They were having sex. Rafal wasn't experienced at it, in this form, so it was somewhat clumsy, but he was trying and she was helping, so it seemed to be getting there.

Now Fifth saw that the fifth scene wasn't empty. It was just that the two retained their natural forms. They were doing it without adapting, surely a challenge. Voila sat on the bank and spread her legs, and tentacles came up to embrace her, wrapping around arms and legs. Two looped around her breasts, gently squeezing them. One reached up to touch her face, and she took the tip into her mouth and sucked on it. One stroked her cleft and slid into her vagina.

It drew out and thrust in again in a familiar motion. It swelled to double or triple its prior size, surely distending her vagina uncomfortably. Except that she was a Glamor, able to handle anything she chose to. In a moment so much fluid gushed out that it overflowed, half burying her groin in green goo and spattering the rest of her torso. She lay back, laughing almost hysterically. It seemed Rafal had misjudged the suitable amount of ejaculate. Probably it was correct for his own kind.

Then the scenes coalesced, and only the fifth one remained. That was the one they had decided to keep. They had managed to do it in their natural forms, and that was the way they liked it. There was no aversion to their preposterously different anatomies; their minds and Glamor powers were compatible, so their bodies were secondary.

Fifth might have had difficulty grasping that, had he not seen the alternate presentations.

Fifth walked into that scene, joining them. Voila lay supine on a curling nest of tentacles, jelly dribbling off her body and out of her vagina. She looked up at him, not embarrassed. "Love," she said.

"Trust," Rafal agreed.

And surely the physical act had been the least of it. They had connected mentally, emotionally, spiritually, reading each others' complete natures. That had made physical accommodation feasible. Fifth tried to suppress the reaction watching it had evoked in him, turning him on in much the way seeing Gale with the plant had. That had precipitated him into sex with the Red Glamor, but he had no such option now.

They unwound, and Voila jumped into the pool to clean off. She dived among the tentacles. Obviously there was physical trust.

In due course she emerged, and Fifth helped her dry and dress. It was time to go.

She caught a tentacle, teasingly bit it, and kissed it. "Trust," she said.

"Love," Rafal said.

She faced Fifth. "Leave the ikon."

He fetched it from his mouth and set it on a rock.

"Negation. He can't touch it."

Oh. He had forgotten. No Glamor could touch any Glamor's ikon. He carried it farther away from the pool and put it in a knothole in the trunk of a purple tree. It hardly mattered where it was; nothing would disturb it. It would enable Voila to come directly here without complications of routing.

They landed in a bedroom. It wasn't the home planet; there were portraits of aliens on the walls. It was just a stop on the way.

Voila tossed off her clothing and lay on the bed. "Do it."

"But now you have a real lover."

"No fault," she reminded him. "I did not mean to tease you."

She had read the passion in his mind as he watched her indulge with tentacular Rafal, and was ready to abate it.

He didn't argue. He tore off his clothing and joined her on the bed. She met him neatly, wrapping her arms and legs about him as her vagina took him in. He came explosively. In his fancy he pumped her as full of fluid as Rafal had.

"Almost," she agreed, laughing.

"Appreciation!" For her understanding as well as the sex. She was treating him well.

They separated and lay on the bed. "Rafal and I exchanged mindprints," she said. "Now he can see the near future, and I can make a spot nexus. It should help the effort."

"Endorsement."

"You helped, Fifth. You carried my ikon. You served as witness. If other don't believe, you can reassure them."

"You want them to know—the details?"

She laughed again. She was far more cheerful than she had been before the session with Rafal. "Negation, unless necessary. But the fact of the alliance, yes, and of the marriage."

"You did marry him?" But of course she had. She had found a male to match her.

"We married each other. The formal ceremony will be performed in due course."

"Understanding." Would other members of either culture understand? Yet this merger of equals seemed appropriate.

"But there are limits," she said. "I can't bear his offspring. I will need fourths."

"Understanding," he repeated.

"You will provide the first. After the war is done."

"Welcome." He was proud to have been asked.