Piers Anthony - Unicorn Point

So he waited, doing nothing. He let his components sep arate, and reverted to the lesser state that was not the sum of his parts. As six units he was conscious, but unable to utilize his full mental capacity; too much of it had been distributed to the others, to make them separately functional. As Hen ingway, he possessed the main awareness, and could make decisions, but was hesitant to without being able to draw on his full complement. He pecked up a seed, which he could not digest, biding his time.

Soon Merie returned. “Well, chickens,” she said brightly. “I have just called Blue, and prevailed on him to appear here within the hour, alone. Would you like me to enable you to witness my bit of sport with him?”

Troubot tried to reason whether he should make a response. If she did not know his nature, he did not want to give it away, but his brief mergence with his other parts had enabled him to think more comprehensively, and he had concluded that she did know; therefore there was no point in hiding from her. He did want to see Citizen Blue, because he understood that that was a man he could trust and possibly find sanctuary with. So he should make a positive response; that seemed clear enough.

He stepped forward, making one cluck.

“Well, now, Heningway! You are becoming positively literary!” she exclaimed, pleased. In the course of his researches he had encountered a name that resembled the one she had bestowed on this hen; perhaps she was making a pun. “Very well, I shall do it. He will be here within the half hour; I shall go change, and a servitor will install appropriate furniture here.” She looked sternly at the hens. “Do not drop anything untoward on it!”

She exited. In a moment a rolling transport brought in a couch that looked much like a bed. Then the machine set up a baffle that consisted of a curtain, so that the couch was concealed from the view of the main coop. Troubot reassembled his units, touching beaks, so he could ponder this development. It seemed obvious that Merle in tended to seduce Citizen Blue in exchange for the information about Troubot’s location. Was this proper? He doubted it, but was not certain of his proper response. He knew that if he were alive, he would resent being used this way; as it was, he merely noted it, and disbanded, making no decision. As scheduled. Merle returned, wearing a voluminous mock-fur coat, escorting Citizen Blue, who was in his usual blue cloak. She turned to close and secure the door behind them. “There—now we are secure,” she said. “This is the only chamber where I am assured that no monitors are active; no one can eavesdrop on us here except my flock of chickens, and they really do not pass judgments.”

Blue ignored the hens. “Merle, thou didst say thou hadst something important for me.”

“Indeed I do,” she said. “You may remember our tryst of some years back. I have a hunger for something similar.”

He frowned. “I be married now.”

“To a machine.”

“Aye. But still married. Thou knowest how I feel about this matter. I have problems enough without—”

“I love it when you talk Phazish!”

Blue paused. “I revert to it unconsciously when under stress. I apologize. Now I assume you did not call me here to waste my time and yours. What do you really have on your mind?”

Merle opened her coat, then slid out of it. She was nude beneath, of course. “I just told you. Blue.”

“Impossible!” he snapped.

“By no means, my bantam lover. See, I have prepared.”

She drew the curtain, revealing the couch.

“What makes you think I would indulge you at this time?” he asked, openly irritated.

“Suppose I were to say that I had information you very much wanted, for a price?”

“The only information I want is—“ He paused. “You know—?”

“Where Troubot is. Yes, I believe I do, bantam. And I might even tell you. Would that information be worth the price?”

Now he hesitated. “I would have to ask my wife.”

“I shall be happy to query her for you, Blue. I am sure she will understand. She did before.”

He reconsidered. “That will not be necessary. Merle, are you saying you have this information, or are you teasing me?”

“I am doing both, dear boy. Join me on the couch, and in due course I will tell you.”

“Damn thee!” he swore. “To put such a price on such a need!”

Merle sighed. “Now I have made him angry, and that spoils the mood. Very well, I will postpone my satisfaction. I will give you Troubot, and you will be the judge of the nature and the timing of my reward. I believe that is more than fair; don’t you agree?”

“Damn thee!” he repeated.

Merle turned to face the hens. “As you can see, this is definitely Citizen Blue. Any lesser man would have taken my offering and damned with the price. Show yourself.” Troubot, as Heningway, stepped forward. He clucked to the others, and they joined him.

Citizen Blue stared. “The chickens?”

“A most effective ruse, wouldn’t you say?”

“I’m not sure I believe this! How could he be in six living parts?”

“Six parts yes, living no. That is pseudoflesh. Take him and verify him; you will discover him to be a single self willed robot.”

Blue began to believe. “I never thought to check for some thing like this, and neither did the Citizens. It just could be! But I’m not sure I can distinguish one self-willed machine from another; this could be a plant by the Citizens.”

“That had occurred to me,” she said. “Therefore we must take the next step with suitable dispatch. We must bring in the one person who can identify Troubot without doubt.”

“That can only be Nepe! But she be captive o’ the enemy!”

“So we deal with the enemy. They have a similar interest, after all; what is to stop us from planting our own imitation, a machine designed to be a likely winner in a Game?”

“Mine honor!” he flared.

“But the Contrary Citizens hardly believe in honor. They will distrust yours, without reason, and mine, with reason. They must be assured of Troubot’s identity too. So call them; they will bring her here.”

Citizen Blue considered, and nodded. “Thou be earning thy keep,” he said.

“I always do. I only regret that it requires such a situation to entice you to do what any other man would do without price.”

Now he laughed. “It were a good night, that one! Me thought the dawn would ne’er come!”

“I delayed it by retiming the lights.”

He stared at her, then shook his head. “Mind thee, my wife will have thy head for this!”

“Make the call; time is short.”

“Aye.” He opened the door and stepped out, while she picked up her coat and put it on. Then she sat in the couch and waited.

“You see, chickens, there is more than just coming for ward,” she said. “You have to be verified. This is the only way to do it. I do have your best interest at heart, and I trust you will do what needs to be done. If you fail to convince Nepe, all is lost. Make sure you appreciate that.” Troubot appreciated it. Merle was more of a person than he had credited. Again he understood that the intricacies of human logic and action went beyond his own capacities. Later that afternoon a second party arrived: Merle, Blue, Citizen Translucent and Nepe. The contrast between the two men was sharp. Translucent was large and stout in his almost transparent robe, while Blue was so small in his blue robe as to seem childlike; Nepe looked more like his sister than his granddaughter. This was a parlay under truce between those who could be trusted; Translucent was the only one of the Contrary Citizens with a sufficient sense of honor.

Translucent and Blue sat on the couch, and Nepe sat on her grandfather’s lap and hugged him. She knew she would have to return to captivity with Translucent; this was her only chance to visit with the one who by appearances meant more to her than her father. Troubot knew that Blue had not expected issue from a man in the body of a robot with an alien creature, yet it had happened, and Blue had taken the child to his heart at the outset. He had also used her as a tool against the Contrary Citizens, but with her full consent. Nepe had told Troubot everything, needing a confidant in her iso lation, and in the process he had become more human than could otherwise have been the case.