Piers, Anthony - ChroMagic 05 by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers, Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 17

Twins

"Request for you, Warp," Ennui said. "The Coalition wants the Twins to contribute their space fleet to the joint effort. They are reluctant. How are you at persuasion?"

"I persuaded Marionette to marry me, as of the end of this campaign."

Ennui's mouth quirked. "Or did she persuade you? When it comes to putty, you are the ultimate in her hands."

"Whatever," he agreed, not arguing the point. Marionette was some woman, not a Glamor, but a living ikon, so she had some Glamor-like features. Apart from that, she was lovely, smart, talented, experienced, and principled.

"Not to mention extremely competent sexually," Ennui said, reading his thoughts, which he had not tried to conceal. Ennui had always been like a grandmother to the siblings, and they trusted her absolutely. She was mortal, but had no awe of the Glamors, and they all respected her. "She can actually keep up with you, when she tries."

This, too, was valid. But irrelevant to the subject at hand. "My limited experience with the Earth fleet is what qualifies me for this mission?"

"Voila says the mission needs a virile Glamor. For some reason, you came to mind."

"Voila always was a little bitch." He shrugged. "Coordinates?"

"Marionette has them, and your ikon."

"As if I ever had a choice," he muttered, and conjured himself to his fiancee's bower.

She was expecting him, sitting nude on the bed. "I understand that all the folk of Twins are twins," she said. "And extremely handsome."

"For aliens?"

"For humans. They are humanoid, and readily emulate other humanoid forms. You will surely have a time with the girls."

"I already have a girl," he said, joining her on the bed.

"But not a mistress. Yet. Maybe a twin will serve."

"An alien creature? I'd rather have a robot."

"There are five bath girls to choose from."

"They belong to Pa."

"One or two might be reprogrammed."

"Stop talking." He kissed her firmly as he clasped her.

There was of course a subtext: now they were looking for the Makers, having learned of their existence. They had to find them before the machines did, because the machines would destroy them.

They had no idea what physical form the Makers had, or what intellectual qualities. They could be anything, anywhere. This made the search tricky, especially since it was a secret quest. How could they identify such an unknown? What would they do if they succeeded? Because they were not at all sure the Makers wanted to be found.

"Which is why Ennui warns us to use no telepathy while there," Marionette said as he stroked within her. "Our information is that the Twins are not telepathic, but surely the Makers are, so it could be a ruse. If we open our minds for that even briefly, the aliens may gain access to our minds and discover our secondary mission. If they should happen to be the Makers, they may see to it that we never find out."

"No telepathy," he agreed, jetting forcefully.

They donned portable translation units set for human/twin. They should be able to communicate freely.

In due course Warp conjured them to the rendezvous station on the Twins contact world.

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