Phaze Doubt

She moved back to the darkest recess of the storage chamber. Then she changed slowly back to human form. There was no activity. The two women were probably comparing life histories. Nepe was sure it was lonely here, and the company of another woman would be a blessing to Brown. But that only heightened the mystery: Purple could have sent anyone to watch Brown: a harridan or a cruel man or a machine. He had sent possibly the most compatible person available. That was completely unlike him. Why hadn’t he simply had her locked in a cell?

When her change was complete, she shifted to Flach. He became a flea and jumped through a crack in the wall, working his way outside. When he got there, he became a small snake and slithered through the grass away from the castle. Only when he was well clear did he conjure himself directly to Hardom, where he returned the body to Nepe.

She wasted no time contacting Mach, joining him again on the baggage route so they could talk. “Report on Brown: Tsetse assigned as servant, unknown to either Brown or Tsetse. Mysterious act of generosity on Purple’s part. He let her keep her Demesnes, too.”

“Do the two women get along?” he asked.

“Yes, well.”

“Then Purple means to use Tsetse as a lever against Brown. She will have to serve the Hectare.”

“Brown wouldn’t do that!” Nepe protested.

“She will have to. How did you exit?”

“I asked Brown what of me, and she looked at me and told me to go to the storage chamber. So I did, and sneaked out from there. No one saw me.”

“How did you know where the storage chamber was?”

“Silly! I’ve been there many times before!”

“But you were supposed to be a Proton guidebot.”

Now it sank in. “I shouldn’t have known! The machine shouldn’t have known!”

“Which means Brown caught on to your identity.”

“But she wouldn’t give me away!”

“I’m afraid she would, Nepe, now.”

“But why? She’s on our side!”

“She is being blackmailed.”

“What?”

“Her sexual preference is for women. Trool knew, but kept his counsel until he realized that Purple and Tan were catching on. Then he told me. Neysa was going to help her, but the invasion came too soon. Now they are forcing her to cooperate with the Hectare, lest her secret be publicized.”

“But who cares what she likes?” Nepe demanded. “She’s not the only one! Tsetse—“ Then it came clear. “That’s why Purp sent her! To—“

“To make clear that he knows her secret, and will not only keep it, but give her a lover—if she cooperates,” Mach said. “Carrot and stick. She can keep her Demesnes and nominal freedom, and have a truly lovely and obliging woman—or she can suffer the humiliation of exposure and unkind imprisonment. Rape by males would no doubt be pan of that punishment. She is a good woman, but sensitive and alone. She can not withstand that combination.”

“But do the rest of you really care? I mean, you tied in with an alien blob and a unicorn; what do you care about who she cares about?”

“Nothing. We can accept her as she is. But she can’t believe that. Had we realized how it would be used against her, we would have made our position plain before the Hectare investment. But of course most of us simply didn’t know. She was once smitten with Stile; we had not questioned beyond that. We should have.”

“Grandam Neysa—that’s why she hurried us on,” Nepe said. “Why she went back. Maybe she told Brown it was all right.”

“Neysa is conservative. It took her almost ten years to accept Fleta’s relationship with me.”

“So she wouldn’t go for it,” Nepe said. “So Brown thinks that’s how we all think!”

“It is an irony of the situation. We were distracted by the coming conquest, and didn’t realize how this would relate.”

“So Brown will tell on me, because she has to. I wish I hadn’t given myself away! What do we do now?”

“We shall have to move quickly, before the golems stake out the Poles.”

Nepe was baffled. “What are you saying?”

“Something I preferred not to, before. We have set two counterploys in motion. One is the Magic Bomb which Black and Green have made.”

“The what?”

“Its detonation will destroy the planet and all on it. So if we lose, we will take the Hectare with us. But we prefer not to lose.”

Nepe was daunted by the horror of the notion. “I had no idea!”

“We preferred to shield you from that sort of reality,” he replied. “But it is time for you to know, so that you understand the importance of your own role.”

“But I’m just a messenger!”

“Your messages are critical. You will have three, and you dare fail in none. Soon all of us will be captive except you. Here is the message capsule. Do not attempt the second until the first is done, or the third until the second is done.”

“I’ll try,” she said. “But—“

“I have erased my own knowledge of the plan,” he said. “I was the only one who knew the full course. Now none of us can betray it to the enemy. I can only say that its details will be completely surprising. If you are caught, destroy the capsule without reading it.”

“But then we will all be destroyed!” she protested. “By the Magic Bomb!”