"Then Tappy can't be the one to go," Jack said, feeling mixed frustration and relief.
"She must be confined until the robot boards, then unconfined after it has been incapacitated," Garth whistled.
Jack saw that it had to be. He could not let his personal feeling for Tappy, which was romantic, interfere with the mission of the Imago. It was that mission which had brought them to this realm of super-science. He had been close to Tappy from the time he first met her, and the ambience of the Imago had been working on him all this time; he had to do what was best for it.
They worked on Tappy for the next several hours, drilling her on the interior of the Gaol guard ship, which it seemed was similar to the one in which they had first encountered Malva. Garth clarified that the robot would dock at a special port, where it would be cleaned in vacuum, so she would have to wear a space suit. But because that area did not have life sensors, she would be ignored by the machines, and could make her way inside. There she would have to remove the suit, but retain a face mask, because the ship was pressured with Gaol atmosphere that she couldn't breathe.
"But you are breathing our air!" Jack protested.
"I am not. I am wearing a transmutation filter." Garth unfolded an arm to tap himself at his base, between the wheels. Jack had assumed that this was part of the creature's transmission, since the axles for the wheels projected from it, but realized that he had been anthropomorphizing. Men did not breathe from their bases, but it seemed that the Gaol did. And of course they did not use the same kind of air; they were alien creatures. Maybe the honkers could share air with the human beings; that was why both species lived on the honker planet. But that must be a rarity of compatibility. He just hadn't thought about it before.
What about Malva, then? She hadn't worn a mask. But she hadn't been in the company of any Gaol, either; she probably had her own sealed atmospheric chamber. He really had taken too much for granted.
He returned to the present situation. Once Tappy was aboard the big ship, she would have to make her way to the Nexus Gaol, or what Jack called the captain. She would use the facilitator to corrupt that individual, and then he would help her corrupt the rest of the ship. Jack didn't argue about the term "corrupt"; he knew that Garth did not mean any affront.
But how could Tappy ever accomplish such a thing? The odds were against her. There were so many things that could go wrong!
"What are the odds?" he demanded grimly. Then he had to explain to them what he meant.
Candy and Garth held a dialogue, and came to agreement. "The odds of the host's success in this endeavor are approximately one in three. But if she fails, the odds are nine to one that the host will be dead, and the Imago will be free. That, too, is success. So the endeavor, taken as a whole, is worthwhile."
"Great," Jack said, sick at heart.
"If I am to leave you, perhaps forever," Tappy said, "I want to make love with you one last time."
"Of course," Jack said numbly.
But when they went to the bed, the specter of her death loomed so large in his mind that he was impotent. It was as if he were sending her into it, and somehow it seemed that if he renounced this part of it, she would not suffer the other part. "I'm sorry, Tappy," he said.
"I know. I feel your guilt and sorrow. Just hold me."
That much he could do.
"If I do not return," she said after a while, "you must take Candy as your lover. It will not mean anything to her, but it will help you to forget."
"I don't want to forget!" he exclaimed.
"You would not be here, except for me. I could not live or die in peace if I left you to the emotions you now feel. Promise me that you will take her."
"I promise," he said. Because otherwise she would have been even more unhappy, and it would be his fault. There were ways in which this newly adult Tappy was harder to accept than the lame blind child had been.
Then they slept, embraced but without great solace
They set it up. Tappy gave Jack the hatchling, which had come back to her after converting Garth. It was able to eat human food, because its flesh was from a human being. She returned to the coffin and Candy locked her in. Then Garth selected a sensor and sent a piercing whistle through it. Jack was aware of no change, but both Garth and Candy assured him that the sensor was now malfunctioning, and would attract the attention of the monitoring ship.
They assumed their stations. Since no one was supposed to be aboard the isolation ship except Tappy, they had to hide in shielded areas so that their life forces would not be detected by the robot. Jack's station was by the entrance port; he would use a tiny wire Garth had provided to nullify the robot's programming switch from behind. Then Garth would fix the sensor, and Tappy would take the hatchling and enter the other ship in lieu of the robot. Then they would wait. Perhaps for a long time.
Suddenly a small alarm sounded for the approach of a body in space. This was in order; the robot would pick up that alarm and know that the isolation ship was functioning properly, despite the one bad sensor. The robot ship was not velocity limited; it had passed from the master ship to the isolation ship almost instantaneously. But the final approach was slower, so that the locks could be merged. Though the robot did not require atmospheric pressure, the isolation ship was pressured for the sake of the drugged host, and that pressure and composition would be maintained throughout.
The lock opened— and a man stepped through.
Jack gaped. It was supposed to be a robot! What had happened? His little wire was useless, because the man had no external programming switch. And he was not alone; there was the sound of footsteps behind him.
The man turned and saw Jack. His eyes seemed to widen in similar surprise. His mouth opened to cry warning to his companion.
Jack threw the hatchling. It struck the man on the forehead and clung, quickly fading out of sight. Then Jack ducked around the man and flung himself into the other ship, hoping to catch the second man by surprise.
He did. He plowed right into the other, wrapped his arms around him, and bore him down. Jack scrambled to put a hand on the other's chest, to hold him down long enough to look at.
And discovered that it was a woman. Her face was petite, and her chest was—
Embarrassed, Jack removed his hand. "I don't suppose you speak my language?" he asked.
"We are programmed for the language of the host of the Imago," she replied.
"And I don't suppose I can trust you not to attack me if I let you up?"
"We are not attack androids. We are maintenance personnel."
Oh. No wonder it had been so easy. She had not fought him at all. Then something else registered. "Androids— you mean you're not alive?"
"We are not alive," she agreed.
"And you could lift me off you with one hand?"
"Like this?" She grasped him by the belt and lifted him into the air with one hand.
"But you obey the directives of living creatures?" he cried desperately.
"We do."
"Well, I'm a living creature. You must obey my directives."
"Of course. What are they?"
"First, put me down. Then vacate your ship. Then signal the home ship that all is well."
She put him down. She got to her feet. She walked to the other ship. There stood the android man.
"Give me the hatchling— unharmed," Jack directed him. Because of course the hatchling had had no effect. He had to describe the hatchling.
The man reached up to strip something from his forehead. He handed it to Jack. The hatchling did not seem to be harmed. Jack realized that this arrival of the androids instead of the robot was better than what they had anticipated. Not only did this allow two individuals to return with the ship, one of them could be a human-seeming woman without causing any alarm.