Phaze Doubt

Oresmite wasted no time. “Have a chair, Lysander. I know thy nature, so I will tell thee mine. I be the last surviving elf in these Demesnes to have known the Adepts Clef and Tania personally; today their great-great-great-great-grandchildren be with us, those o’ the sixth generation of descent, though in thy frame little more than a month has passed. Our life here be not ill, merely accelerated. Hast questions before we proceed to business?”

“Yes,” Lysander said, still relating with difficulty to the time change. He had no reason to doubt it, but also had had no evidence of its reality, here. “How could they have descendants, if there were no others of their kind?”

The old elf smiled. He was in every sense a man, but only about half Lysander’s height. “Others came with them, several families, to establish the community. They be closely inbred, and eager to gain fresh blood; I must warn thee that thou willst be a target for their damsels.”

“But my body is android! I can not reproduce.”

“Aye. But the urge for fresh blood takes little note o’ that. Since thou be already committed—“

“There’s a problem there. May I speak in confidence?”

“Aye. We be here to come to an understanding.”

“Is Echo the cyborg here?”

“Aye. She has waited impatiently for thee, despite being pursued by the local males.”

“Weva is a creature of extraordinary skills. She nulled my love for Echo, and now I fear my meeting with Echo. If there are other women pursuing me, for whatever reason, I fear for our relationship.”

Oresmite stroked his beard. “So Weva truly be Adept?”

“I believe so. Certainly her incidental magic was potent.”

“And she made a play for thee?”

“Yes. I talked her out of it.”

“Why?”

“It would not have been fair to Echo.”

“But an thou hadst no further love for Echo—“

“It was, as I explained to Weva, a matter of honor.”

The elf gazed at him for a moment, evidently pondering. “Tell me aught o’ honor.”

“That would take all day! It did take a day, and a night, to explain it to Weva. It’s no simple concept.”

“I be not a nascent girl. Give me one sentence.”

“Honor is integrity with a moral dimension.”

“And so it were not proper for thee to dally with another, when one who loves thee waited on thy return,” Oresmite said. “E’en in the absence o’ love and presence o’ one who could compel thee. E’en with the planet ending in a day.”

“Yes.”

“How canst thou feel thus, and thou an agent for the enemy?”

“My brain is Hectare, and Hectare are honorable. I have an assigned mission, which I shall complete to the best of my ability. My relationship with Echo is incidental to that, despite the intent of the Adepts, so my honor applies separately to her.”

“Then surely can we deal. But first I offer thee this notion: wouldst thou find it fair an Echo be also nulled o’ her love for thee?”

Lysander snapped his fingers. “Yes! I never thought of that! It would make us even.”

“Then let me do this now.” The elf turned to the bank of equipment behind him. “Mischief, contact Weva, and suggest that she offer to do for Echo what she did for Lysander.”

“Aye, Chief,” the computer replied through a grille.

“Mischief?” Lysander inquired.

“It be a machine with an elfin humor.”

“Thank you, Chief. When I talk with Echo, and have her leave to separate, I will not have a problem with the local maidens.”

“Now come we nigh our business,” the elf said. “Thou knowest the prophecy?”

“It suggests that only the cooperation of an enemy agent can enable the planet to free itself from the Hectare investment. It does not specify who the individual might be, but there is a strong likelihood that I am the one.”

“Aye. An thou be not the one, we be lost, for there be none other here. But we need to guess not, for we can have the answer.” He turned again to the computer. “Mischief, be he the one?”

“Aye, Chief.”

“Now wait!” Lysander protested. “How can that machine know such a thing?”

“Answer, Mischief,” the Chief said.

“I be what thou didst know as the Game Computer,” the grille said. “ ‘Cept that I ne’er met thee, Lysander; I were gone ere thou didst come to the planet. Before I left, I was in touch with the Oracle, who knew the prophecy, and it gave me information that enabled me to know thee when I encountered thee. I verified it with the Book o’ Magic, which be my current reference.”

“The Game Computer!” Lysander exclaimed. “The one that stopped functioning when the frames merged!”

“Aye, Bern brain. We knew o’ trouble coming when the mergence occurred, and set about dealing with it then. The formerly deserted Pole caverns were occupied and stable communities established barely before the invader came. A lesser machine was put in my place, unable to handle the complete complexity o’ the games, but assisted at need by the Oracle, and I came here to fathom the technical aspect o’ the effort.”