Unicorn Point

The android turned to look at Mach directly. His dull eyes widened. “This is—“ Bane cut him off with a blow to the throat, utilizing reflexes that no living man, let alone an android, could match. Then he whirled on the other, catching him by the side of the neck and rendering him unconscious by a nerve block. He caught him as he tottered, and hauled him into the booth. Tania meanwhile manhandled the other android to follow. In a moment the four were crammed inside a booth intended for one to primp in comfort. One android was slumped on the toilet, and the other on the table before the wall-sized mirror.  “Well, robot, I seem to have misplayed it,” she said, not entirely displeased. “Now we shall have to keep them here, and stay out of sight ourselves, until that ship takes off, so that nobody sees anything suspicious. Whatever shall we do for twenty minutes, handsome?”

“We can leave them here,” he said, bothered. “They will recover not consciousness soon enough to report in time.”

“No. My brother may call in, and they must answer, or there will be mischief. See?” She pried at the closed hand of the android who had done the talking. Sure enough, there was a communication button set into the palm.  Bane gritted his teeth, figuratively. It was true; they could not gamble on the call coming in and receiving no answer, before the ship left. They had either to haul the unconscious android along with them, which would surely arouse suspi cion, or wait with him here until the danger passed.  “That is what I thought,” she said, reaching up to catch hold of him around the neck. “You know. Bane, I have confined my attentions to Mach, because he is the one with no woman in Proton, but I think now those concerns are blurring. Phaze fascinates me, and if you are going to do it with my other self there anyway—”

“Thou dost push thy luck,” he muttered, not responding physically.

“We are the same, she and I. I feel her emotion—and that emotion is for you rather than Mach. I never quite figured out what was wrong, until you told me of the situation in Phaze. I see now that I was trying for Mach only nominally; it was you I really wanted. Now I am helping you to save your lover, and I believe—”

“Sork,” the android’s hand said. “What report?”

Bane used his ability to activate the return connection. “She says she just wants a change from Proton men, sir,” he said in the android’s voice. “She says it is routine.”

“What else?”

“That it is none of my business, sir.”

There was a dry laugh. “All right, let her talk to me.” Bane held up the android’s limp hand. “He wishes to talk to thee,” he said.

“All right. Tan sir,” she said, grimacing. “And what does my Citizen twin brother require of me now, sir?”

“A straight answer,” Tan’s voice snapped. “Why are you leaving the planet without notifying me?”

“I forgot. Citizen sir,” she said, not bothering to conceal the malice. She resented the fact that he had gotten the Citizenship instead of her. “Now are you going to let me board, sir?”

“I don’t think so. There’s something funny about—“ He paused, evidently making a connection. “Thee? The android wouldn’t have said that!”

Oops! Bane had given himself away!

“You must have misheard,” Tania said. “Bane’s in with the amoeba wench, plumbing her protoplasm with his metal rod.”

“One moment,” Tan snapped. Bane knew he was putting in a priority call to the suite, to see who answered. He also knew that Nepe, in his likeness, would answer and cover for him.

Sure enough, soon Tan spoke again. “He’s there, all right, looking mad about being interrupted. But I distinctly heard a ‘thee.’ Who are you with?’

Tania covered for him again. “All right, if you must know: I managed to talk a man into going with me. I—you know, Phaze, the way I—I’ve got him made up like Bane, and told him to talk like—”

“I doubt it,” Tan said coldly. “More likely you found a way to coerce Bane into coming with you so you could seduce him, and Agape is emulating him at their suite. How the hell you got her to cooperate I can’t guess. I won’t have it; we need him here. Permission to depart the planet is denied; return immediately to the office, and bring him with you. We shall get to the bottom of this.”

Tania glanced at Bane. Her brother had leaped to an apt conclusion, with one key error!

“Damn!” she said. “I hear and obey. Citizen Tan sir! But this matter is not finished.”

“Agreed,” he said, with an inflection that made her wince.  They stepped out of the booth. “Methinks we need a distraction,” Bane said. “There be a few minutes yet till the ship launch. An he rethink the ploy—”

“And it is time for me to make my move,” Tania said.  “This will quickly unravel. If I know my brother, he will not depend on my sense of sibling duty; he’ll send a competent force to arrest me—and you. Pull out your stops, robot; this is the time.”

“Aye, wench,” he agreed. “Follow!”