They returned to the vehicle. The dome of it sealed, and the air came in. Agape lifted back her helmet. “Did you have something in mind, Bane?”
“Just to go toward my other self until we intercept him,” he said. Then, becoming aware of her expectant attitude: “Oh, yes.” He leaned over and kissed her. This time it was about as good as it seemed likely to get, in this circumstance.
That gave him pause. “When I—thou willst be left here, with Mach.”
“I know you must return to your own land,” she said. “For you, Proton is more alien than it is to me.”
“Dost thou know, Agape, I almost wish I could take thee with me.”
“I almost wish I could go,” she agreed. “But even as your place is there, my place is here. I have a duty to my species that I must fulfill. So I think that even were it possible, I would not go with you to your magic realm. I remain glad to have been with you these hours.”
There didn’t seem to be much more to say. Agape started the vehicle moving, and guided it in the direction he indicated, this time keeping it under her own control. They proceeded slowly toward the rendezvous with his other self.
After an hour of travel through the wasteland, they were startled by a voice from the vehicle’s speaker grille. “Directive: Serf Mach return immediately to base at Hardom. Serf Agape return immediately to base at Hardom.”
“They are addressing us!” Agape said. “I must acknowledge.”
“Wait!” Bane snapped. ‘Thou meanest we can speak to them?”
“When I invoke the communication code,” she said. “It will only require a moment.” She reached for the panel.
He blocked her hand. “Nay! If we speak to them, they will know we hear them. I must find my other self before we leave this course.”
“But to disobey would be very bad,” she protested.
“To obey might cost me my rendezvous! We have been getting closer; I can feel it. I can quit not now!”
“But there will be punishment.”
‘They can punish me not after I’m gone!” Then he reconsidered. “But thou willst still be here—and Mach too. That be bad.”
“Serf Mach and/or serf Agape,” the speaker said. “Your vehicle is occupied and moving. If you are alive and conscious, respond immediately.”
“We must answer!” she said.
“But if we don’t, they’ll think we be dead or unconscious, and I can reach mine other self.”
“I should not do this,” she said, keeping her hands away from the panel.
“I’ll make it up to thee!” he said. “I’ll show thee all I know about—about being a girlfriend.” |
She smiled with a certain resignation. “Before or after you return to Phaze?”
“Before, of course! I can do it not after.”
“Then that must be now.”
Now he realized the significance of her question. If he took time now, he might lose his chance to achieve rapport with his other self, because there was no way to tell what threat the other might be under in Phaze. He couldn’t afford to wait a moment longer than he had to. But if he didn’t do it now, it wouldn’t get done at all.
“Mayhap thou canst tell the vehicle to move by itself, as thou didst before,” he suggested.
“I must give it a destination—and I think there none it will understand, for this.”
She was right again. He had to tune in on the other self, and she had to direct the vehicle to the spot he indicated. They could not let the vehicle run itself.
“We shall have to stop for a while, then,” he said heavily.
“No, Bane, I would not interfere with your desire. Go to meet your other self.”
“And leave thee here, without thine information, to be maybe sent back to thy world because thou didst help me,” he said. “I can do that not.”
“I think Mach would show me, if I explained. Do not delay.”
“I want to show thee myself!” he said. “It be my job.”
“I release you from it.”
“Nay, what be right be right. Anyway—“ He paused with realization. “I really do want to do it myself. I mean, not because I said I would. I—“
“Do not forget, I am an alien creature,” Agape said.
“Thou’rt a nice person, in human form,” he said. “Stop the vehicle.”
“But you must not delay! I understand that.”
“We have a conflict of interests. My father taught me to do what is right, no matter what the cost. Thou mayst have cost thyself thy stay on Proton, by helping me; I must risk my return to Phaze, helping thee. It be right. But more: I haven’t known thee long, Agape, but I like thee very well already. I want to do what thou dost want me to.”
She had a notion. “Perhaps we could keep the vehicle going, on a semi-automatic course, and you can tell me when to correct it. So no travel time would be lost.”
“Will that work?”
“We shall find out.” She adjusted the buttons on the panel, then settled back. The vehicle kept moving.
“Oh, Agape, I wish I had met thy like in Phaze!” he exclaimed, leaning over to kiss her. This time the experience was intensely rewarding.
In moments she was out of her suit and hugging him hungrily. But the seat restraints would not release their lower extremities while the vehicle was moving, and threatened to confine their upper portions too whenever there was a bump. This severely limited the action.
“I will deactivate the restraints,” Agape said, touching the panel again.
“Serf Mach and/or serf Agape,” the speaker said, startling them both. “Vehicle safety restraints have been deactivated. This indicates conscious activity. Acknowledge status immediately.”
“Canst silence it?” Bane asked.
“Serf Mach return immediately to base at—“ the speaker said, cutting off as she touched another button.
“What should I do now?” Agape asked.
“Come join me in my seat—no, I’ll join thee in thine—“ Bane hesitated, finding neither location suitable. Each place was made for one person; there really was not room for two, especially not for this type of activity. They needed more space.
“In my natural state, there are no such problems,” Agape said. “But of course our forms are not fixed.”
“Don’t change thy form!” Bane cried. ‘There has to be a way!”
They tried for some time to find a way, but the confines of the vehicle were simply too restricted. Kissing and some handling were all they could manage.
Then there was a crash. Both were thrown against the front panel. The vehicle tilted and tumbled. It came to rest abruptly, and the smell of the polluted air outside came in.
“Dome’s cracked!” Agape exclaimed, scrambling desperately back into her suit.
“We watched not, and we hit something,” Bane said, chagrined.
They forced up the canopy and climbed out. The headlamp shone off at an angle, but the beam of light was enough.
‘The Lattice!” Bane cried. “I forgot the Lattice!”
‘This is an interruption in the terrain?”
“Worse than that! It be a pattern of cracks in the ground, very deep. Demons lurk in their depths. Only a unicorn can cross it without falling in, and not all of them. I forgot that the same pattern exists in Proton, only without the demons. We be lucky we crashed in the shallow part of it!”
Agape leaned into the vehicle and caused the map to appear. “Yes, it is there—LATTICE,” she said. “I should have checked for hazards of terrain. Now I see why the vehicle traveled in a curve going north.”
“We’ll have to go around,” Bane said.
“I fear not, Bane. The wheel is broken, and we have not the means to repair it. We shall have to walk.”
“Around the Lattice? That would take forever!”
“Will your other self cross it? How will he do it?”
“He would have to skirt it to the south,” Bane said. “But I want him not to do that, because the demons watch the path. They’ll come out and grab him. I need to intercept him before he gets here.”