Piers Anthony - Out of Phaze

“I was trying to wake thee,” he said lamely.

“I think you succeeded.” She smiled. “I thought perhaps you were trying to show me how sex is performed.”

Bane smiled, though he was embarrassed. “If Fleta had said that, I would know she was teasing me; she has that kind of humor. But I think thou art serious.”

“Yes. But I would like to know your Fleta.”

‘Thou dost resemble her in that thou canst change thy shape, and thou art not human. But I fear thou canst never meet her.”

“Still, if you are now ready to show me—“

“I woke thee because I think we were rendered unconscious and returned to this chamber. I think we be prisoners, and I like that not. I want to get away from here.”

“You are correct. I did not sleep deliberately; I was looking at Citizen White, and then you were handling me.”

“I don’t know enough about this frame to operate all its mechanisms. But with thy help, perhaps—“

“You would have gone alone, had you known more?”

“Nay! I intend not to leave thee, Agape! So I had to wake thee anyway.”

“I think I knew that, Bane. But I have never wished to impede you.”

“Let’s see if we can get out of here. Canst thou work the locks?”

“I’ll try.” Agape got up, walked to the exit panel, and touched it. It did not open. “No, they have attuned it to answer to some other signal. I lack the means to make it respond.”

“I be not surprised,” he said.

They used the food machine to get a meal. Bane paused at it. “This be a different machine! See, it has a colorless bar painted across it; the other had a white bar.”

“The dust has a different flavor,” Agape agreed.

“You can taste the dust?”

“When I sleep, I do not absorb the dust, because I taste it and reject it,” she explained. “I absorb only what is nourishing.” She then went protoplasmic and absorbed her nutribev, while Bane pondered their situation.

So they had been moved. Was it just to another suite, or farther? There seemed to be no way to know.

After they had eaten and caught up on routine functions, such as combing hair and trying unsuccessfully to get information from the video screen, they heard someone at the exit panel. The aperture opened and a serf appeared. It was an attractive young woman. “Foreman will see you now,” she announced.

They seemed to have no choice. They followed the serf out. She led them to a chamber with chairs and a desk. An older male serf sat at the desk.

“You may call me Foreman,” the serf said. “The Citizen wishes you to understand your position. You, Bane, have demonstrated that contact between the two frames is possible, and that information can be exchanged. The Citizen wishes to establish regular contact with his opposite number in Phaze. He is prepared to make it worth your while to facilitate this contact.”

“I have no contact!” Bane protested. “I have been trying to find my way back, and have been unable.”

“The Citizen will help you to find your way. All you have to do is explain how you made the exchange with the robot to reach this frame, and how you propose to return.”

“Bane,” Agape murmured. “He says it is a male Citizen. We were in the power of a female Citizen.”

“You are not where you were,” Foreman said. “You were transferred to the estate of another interested Citizen. The identity of that Citizen is not your concern.”

“But this is kidnaping!” Agape protested. “We are members of the Experimental Project! We should not be held here!”

“You will be returned to that project after you have satisfied the Citizen,” Foreman said. “I suggest that you cooperate to the maximum extent.”

“Why should I cooperate with thee?” Bane demanded. “If thou hadst not interfered, I would have been home by now!”

“That is why you were intercepted,” Foreman said. “The Citizen could not allow you to return before making use of your unique ability. For twenty years there has been no contact between the frames; now there can be. This is more important than your private concern; the welfare of the frames can be affected by the restoration of communication.”

“But what good would it be, if Mach and I be the only two who can exchange places? Thou canst not have trade or any dialogue not filtered through this body; I would have to carry any message of thine to any person there.”

‘That would suffice,” Foreman said. “The Citizen misses the old days of free contact; he wants to know how his opposite number is doing in Phaze, and catch up on the general history, and provide similar information. There can be nothing tangible, but that need be no bar to social contact.”

Bane was not well versed in the technology of Proton, but he had a fair notion of people. He could tell that this serf was not giving him the whole story. Therefore he balked. “I see not the need for such contact. The frames have gone their separate ways for a score years; they can continue.”

“Still, the Citizen would like to have this contact, and as I said, he is willing to make it worth your while to humor him. It is always best to humor a Citizen.”

“Citizens mean naught to me!” Bane said hotly.

But Agape drew on his arm. “I have not been on Proton long myself, Bane,” she said. “But I know it is terrible trouble to go against a Citizen. I beg you, do not antagonize this one.”

Bane recognized the sensible voice of caution. Still, he knew something was false here. What should he do?

“What do you most want in life?” Foreman inquired.

“To go home,” Bane answered immediately. But he wondered whether it was still that important to him.

“You can go home. Only show us how you do it.”

Again there was an aspect of insincerity in the man. What would happen to Mach when he returned to this body and this frame? Surely the Citizen would not just let him return to the Experimental Project. Still, the Citizen could not make them exchange again if they didn’t want to, so there did not seem to be a serious risk. “I think I’ll wait awhile.”

“You bargain for something? Do not try the Citizen’s patience.”

“Bane, if the Citizen will help you return—“ Agape said.

Still it was too pat. Bane remembered how his father Stile dealt with Adverse Adepts whose power paralleled his own. Once those Adepts had tried to kill him, and had killed his other self. There was always a tension in the air when one of those encountered Stile now, and Bane visualized them as dragons who longed to attack, but were restrained by the knowledge that Stile was stronger and had allies who were dangerous to dragons. Yet the words were always courteous; the enmity was muted. One thing was sure: Stile never trusted an Adverse Adept. Bane did not trust this anonymous Citizen either.

“I be not bargaining,” he said. “I just want to deal not.”

“If you do not, as you put it, deal, you will be unlikely to return at all.”

“Bane—“ Agape said urgently.

Foreman glanced at her. “What is this amoeba to you?”

“My friend!” Bane snapped. “Sneer not at her!”

“Your friend,” Foreman said thoughtfully. “Then she can be included. Whatever you want for her, she will have.”

“Her freedom!”

“Of course. Show us how you communicate with Phaze.”

“Bane, you do not know how bad the enmity of a Citizen is,” Agape said, distressed. “Before I came to Proton, I knew that no serf must ever oppose any Citizen. It can be immediate expulsion from the planet, or even—“

“Finish your sentence,” Foreman told her mildly. Bane realized that this was a kind of threat.

“Death,” Agape whispered.

Foreman returned his attention to Bane. “The Citizen has been gentle with you because he knows you are not conversant with our culture. The alien speaks truly. Don’t push your luck.”