Phaze Doubt

“Yes. That really messed us up. They had to scratch at the last moment for another girl, and so I was recruited, because at least we’d met before. I don’t know anything about the plan to free Phaze, except that you may be vital to it, so I must bind you to it. That I shall do.”

“Now, wait! Do you think you can just pass me from woman to woman, and I’ll love any I’m near?”

“Yes. Now kiss me.”

It seemed she wasn’t joking. “Forget it! I liked Alyc, until I learned what she was. I was getting to like Jod’e a lot; if I had any time to reflect, I’d be grieving for her. But you—you’re a harpy!”

“And a cyborg. A nice match for your android body with a living brain. You know as well as I do that it is the mind that determines the person. I can make this body do anything your body desires; you won’t care that the body isn’t alive. So we’ll get started.”

“We shall not get—“

But she cut him off with her kiss. She was expert, and her body was warm and sleek and pulsing with the seemingness of vitality. Indeed it was easy to ignore the mechanics of it; in the dark she was all woman.

Then there was light, expanding from what looked like balls of cotton set against the walls. He saw her—and she was still all woman.

“Look,” he said as the kiss broke. “I did like Jod’e. I know that’s over. Tan raped her emotion and made her his. But I knew her before that, and I grieve for her loss. I would have stayed with her, perhaps married her in time; we related well. But this business of simply assuming that any woman can take me just by being assigned—doesn’t that turn the stomach of even a harpy, a little? Didn’t you have other plans for your life, before Jod’e got taken out? How can you go along with this nonsense?”

She gazed at him, her eyes spots of midnight. “Actually, I did like you, Lysander. I enjoyed flirting with you, though I never expected anything to come of it. I was between males. But that’s not the point. Our world is at stake, and any personal plans I might have had are vacant. I must love you, and you me. and hope that you are the one who will save Phaze.”

“Just like that,” he said with irony. “Phaze needs me, so you and I must fall in love. Then I’ll decide in favor of your planet, because I’ll want to stay with you the rest of my life, even though you are made of plastic.”

“You’ve got it. Meanwhile, we might as well enjoy ourselves. Let’s kiss and talk for a while, before we start on the sex.”

“I am at a loss to comprehend why you think any of this will occur. I may be of alien origin, but everything I’ve learned of your culture indicates that this isn’t the way love normally occurs.”

“There are three reasons. Are you sure you want them recited?”

“Yes.” He was intrigued. If he had to pretend to love her in order to get close to the source of the resistance, he would do that. But the role he was playing required that he offer natural resistance to such bread-and-butter romance.

“First, your body is handsome and virile and responds normally to stimuli. I am in this form an attractive woman, similarly responsive. Propinquity will normally cause us to merge, in the absence of counterindications.”

“Granted. But there are counter—“

“Second, this chamber is sealed. For the next several days, I will be your only companion, and I will be most attentive and obliging to your interests. You will find me very good company indeed—and I trust I will find you the same. Only when the love is firm will we be released.”

“So it is a trap!”

“A love trap,” she agreed. “But a willing one, for me, and I think not jus! because I love my planet.”

She evidently believed in this! “And the third reason?”

“This chamber is suffused with love elixir. It will take perhaps three days to be completely effective, and we have that amount of time available, perhaps more.”

“You really think that—“ But he broke off, remembering how Tan had changed Jod’e. Magic was operative here, and surely their love potions were effective, though slower than Adept enchantment.

“So you see, we may try to resist it, or we can go along with it. The outcome will be the same, but it will be more pleasant to go along.”

“Suppose I just break out now, before any of this can take effect?”

“I hope you don’t do that!” she said, alarmed.

“Why not? I prefer to make my own choice whom I may love.” This, again, was consistent with his established personality.

“Because if you emerge without me, my sister harpies will tear you apart. Literally. They are guarding this retreat. Please accept my word, they are mean customers, and fully capable of the act. Even if your android body is resistant to the poison of their claws, it can not withstand their massed attack. They intend to keep you in here for the full three days, and to prevent any possible rescue. Since no one else knows where you are—“

“Point made. I think I’m stuck for it.”