“As you wish.” Cat settled to the floor, but did not sleep; it was alert for any other directives.
Darius stepped into the cleaning chamber he had seen Provos use. He got out of his clothes. Light flashed. That seemed to be it; he was clean. He picked up his clothes and discovered that they were clean too. Probably he had not had to remove them. But since he did not intend to sleep in them, it didn’t matter. He bundled them up and stepped back out.
“My bedroom?” he inquired.
Cat jumped up. “Here.” It indicated another panel.
Darius entered, and found a chamber with an excellent bed. He suspected that only the Captain rated such accommodations. That was all right; he was ready for this. He dumped his clothing into a shelf-niche and lay down naked.
But before he slept he remembered his screen contact with Colene. How lovely she had been! He had not chosen her for beauty, if he had chosen her at all; somehow he had just gradually discovered that she was the one he wanted to be with. She had been kind to him in her Mode, but it was more than that.
How had she come by a horse?
And—how had she known about Prima?
He remembered now: he had been telling her that he had found a suitable woman to marry, so that that part of his search was over. It freed him to love Colene. Colene had said she understood, and she had named Prima. But he had not mentioned that name this time, and he could not have mentioned it before, because he had not encountered Prima before embarking on the Virtual Mode. Somehow Colene had learned the name and what it signified.
It had not been Colene directly with whom he talked, but an image. With magic, images could be false. Surely that was true in this super-science realm. Yet Colene’s ways had rung true. She had wept when she told him they must part, and she had reacted in other authentic ways. She was suicidal; she would not have told Ddwng that, because she told no one. Only Darius himself, and then only when she loved him. This time she had said that her life was complete, and he knew too well what that meant. Complete because she intended to end it. When she lost him. That had to be Colene! A false image would have tried to capitulate; she had done the opposite. Had she begged him to do it, he might have yielded; she had begged him not to. That rang true.
But the name. Colene could not know of Prima. Yet how could a false image know it either? No one should know it, not even Provos. He had not mentioned her to Provos. Or had he? He had used the mirror tube Prima had devised; perhaps he had after all mentioned its origin. Or Provos could have remembered the name from some remark he would make in the future. And Provos had been with Colene for a while.
Yes, it was possible, he realized. Provos must have told her. Colene would naturally have asked about him, and Provos would have told what she remembered for future conversations. So the little mystery was solved. Relieved, he slept.
HE must have slept longer than intended, because he had the impression that too much time had passed. But he woke refreshed.
He got up and looked for his clothes. But they were gone. “Pussy!” he called.
Immediately, she appeared, and he realized that he had in his haste spoken the wrong name. He had wanted Tom, the male. Now he was sitting naked on the bed, and the voluptuous female Feline was gazing at him expectantly. “May I be of service now?” she asked.
“Yes. Fetch me my clothes.”
She touched a panel, and out came a glittering robe. She proffered it.
“That’s not mine,” he protested.
“It is the Captain’s robe,” she explained. “It would be amiss for you to go about the ship out of uniform.”
Darius acquiesced to the inevitable. “Very well. Carry on.”
He meant for her to depart, so he could dress. Instead she proceeded to dress him. Well, she did know what she was doing, and he did not. She had to perform her daily service, and he hoped this counted.
Did it? He realized that he had better be sure, lest he cause inadvertent mischief by assuming too much. “Does this acquit you of your daily service, Pussy?”
“No. This is routine. I must do more for you than this.” She smiled, inhaling, and her breasts swelled, making the fabric of her dress turn translucent in that region. The signal was clear enough.
So much for that. “I think you know that I love the human woman Colene. I do not have sexual interest in others at this time.”
“But I am not a woman!” she protested happily. “I am a null. There is no conflict with your woman.”
“No conflict? Colene comes from a culture where men and women are supposed to be true to each other during their association. She would not appreciate my doing anything with you.”
“Then you must explain to her. It is quite normal. Married couples use their nulls all the time. It eases the stress of monogamy and provides variety. A null is much more accommodating than a spouse, because a null has no pride and no rights.”
No pride and no rights. Darius had been coming to like the nulls, but now he realized that the culture that fostered them had a brutal disregard of human pride and rights, and had to be condemned. If he cooperated with Ddwng, he would be facilitating the spread of that system to other Modes, like a loathsome disease.
But it would not be expedient to express his doubt to her. She would only take it as rejection, and therefore some defect in the quality of her service. “Perhaps another time,” he said gently. “I have much to learn of the ways of the DoOon, and must get to it.”
“Yes,” she said, disappointed.
Provos was in the main chamber, with a meal set up for them both. She remembered the time of his awakening, of course. “This is an interesting society,” she remarked. “But I am sorry you are giving them the Chip.”
“I am?” he asked, startled.
“I understand that is what you must do to be united with your young woman, and I appreciate your desire, but I wish there had been some other way. Or is there some factor in the past which changes the effect of your action?”
“No, there is not,” he said. She remembered that he was going to agree to Ddwng’s demand! He had hoped that her knowledge of the future would enable him to do the opposite. Apparently he was to discover no such device.
The meal was catered by Pussy, eager as always to be of any possible service. But how was he going to find daily services for her other than the ones she expected?
Provos glanced at the buxom Feline woman. “I also fear that Colene will not understand your sexual use of this creature,” she said. “I suspect she will be hurt, considering that you will so soon be rejoined. It would seem to be a virtue in a man to be able to wait a few days.”
He was going to do that? Provos was a good woman who spoke her mind plainly, and it was not possible to argue with her. She was not condemning him, merely voicing her disapproval. But in the light of his determination not to use Pussy in this manner, this was a distressing revelation.
Provos was speaking in Darius’ language, which he thought the translator balls did not understand. But now Pussy perked up. “Oh, thank you, Darius!” she exclaimed. Then, to Provos: “When?”
“Before he kills the monster,” the old woman replied.
So he was going to succeed in his mission, though he knew so little about it. Actually he would give the order and a minion would dispatch the monster, giving Darius the credit. No genuine accomplishment there!
He made no comment. He realized that the folk of this Mode, however loyal they might seem to Darius, were all minions of Ddwng and would report to him. Darius could afford to say nothing of his true thoughts—especially since it seemed that his course was already plotted.
DARIUS went out to see to the operation of the ship. It was indeed traveling rapidly through the night sky; the simulation—he found it more comfortable to think of it as a magic picture—showed stars passing by at the rate of one or two close ones each minute. The executive officer, Jjle, with his Caprine nulls saw to the routine; in fact, Buck was seeing to it, with authority delegated by his master, and Doe was keeping track of the internal operations of the ship. Goat was at the communications center, coordinating with the planet of destination and with other FTL ships in the area; it seemed that it was important that no two ships pass too close to each other, because of harmonics of hypershift. Darius made no pretense of understanding the technical details; this was obviously a smoothly functioning system.