Robot Adept

“You know that I have agreed to represent the Adverse Adepts, because they support my union with Fleta,” Mach said. “Where are you if power is achieved by those Adepts now?”

“Stile be working on that,” she said. “That be why we see him not here.”

“What would you have us do?” he asked, anguished.

She gazed at him levelly. “We would have thee return to thy frame and stay there, and find a woman there. Perhaps Agape; she be a fine creature. And Bane stay here, and marry a woman o’ Phaze.”

“How can you speak so lightly of the disruption of love?”

“Nay, I speak not lightly,” she said. “I married Blue for love, but lost that love, and came to love Stile, his other self. Then did I have to give up Stile and return to Blue, for the good o’ the frame, and to that did I accede.”

“But—”

“The Brown Adept, then a child, drew a spell at the end from the Book of Magic, reversing Stile and Blue,” she said. “Thus did Stile come here to me, when he had thought to be confined to Proton, and Blue went to Proton instead. Thus was our happiness snatched from our resignation. But I had done what I had to do, for the frame, and so had Stile. We both put the frame ahead o’ our private happiness. We expect no less o’ thee and Bane.”

Mach shook his head. “Bane may be resigned to that, but I am not. Fleta tried to facilitate your position by throwing away her life. Even if I did not love her, I would not purchase the good of the frame at such a price. The end does not justify the means.”

She looked at him, her eyes glistening, then overflowing. She put her face in her hands. “Ah, I am torn!” she cried. “There be unbearable evil on either side!”

Mach felt his own eyes going. “I must do what I must do,” he said. “I must represent the side I have chosen. Bane remains on your side; if he wins, you will have your heir.” Then he rose and left the castle, knowing there was nothing more to be said.

Beyond the moat, he called out: “Translucent! Bring me back!”

There was a wrenching, and he was back in the chamber with Translucent and Trool. “You’re right,” he said abruptly. “There is no way to settle it but this.”

Trool opened the Book of Magic. “There be this, too,” he said. “In this volume be magic such as to govern all the frame, an it be invoked. When thy mothermachine used it, she became Adept in mere hours, while others built to it all their lives. I be but a troll, unable to practice magic o’ the level o’ the human kind, with little natural talent for it. I can use only a tiny part o’ this power—yet that part makes me equivalent to other Adepts.”

He focused on Mach with a disquieting intensity. “But thou dost be human—or at least, in human form. Thy potential for magic dwarfs mine own. E’en without training or experience, thou didst conjure a boat like none crafted before, to travel in. Thou didst save thy filly from death by o’erriding the spell I put on her. That be Adept-level magic. Thou dost be untrained, but with time and training thou couldst be a full Adept; the signs be plain. That be why the Adverse Adept feared thee, and tried to capture thee, and when that failed, why Translucent took over and made a deal with thee to join them. Mayhap thy potential be but the reverse face o’ Bane’s, and he be no slouch either. But with the aid of this Book, and proper guidance, thy power can become most formidable. That be why we want thee to comprehend thine honor.”

Mach saw that the troll was quite serious, and so was Translucent. “You mean that I could become a stronger Adept than either of you?”

“Aye. Than any. No human being before has had the power o’ this Book. We must make thee strong enough to represent the side thou be on as well as can be done. But after that, thou willst remain more formidable than any other, an thou remain in Phaze. We want not to see that power abused.”

“But I must leave Phaze, when this is done,” Mach said. “Because of the imbalance. Or at least agree to equal time in Proton, so the imbalance can be limited.”

“Aye. But an thou choose not to depart, no other could make thee.”

Mach’s understanding was growing. “You don’t want to solve one problem and create another,” he said. “Maybe a worse one.”

“Aye. Therefore we ask thee to use this power only for the purposes we seek. Thy service is to make the settlement. Thy reward is to have successful breeding with Fleta. Seek no more than these, and there be no problem.”

Mach’s awareness seemed to be spinning. “But what of the issue between Adepts? If Bane and I cooperate to link the frames for one side or the other, won’t that generate a similar power?”

“Mayhap. But that be limited by the narrow conduit through which it must pass. We deem that the lesser evil.”

Mach sighed. “I hope you are right!”