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dare try to escape. He was sure he could get away by reverting suddenly to manform and immediately
conjuring himself away, but that would give away his identity and ruin the validity of the information he
had gleaned. It was important that he escape without being suspected.
At night, when Tannu and Tania had settled for sleep elsewhere in the tree, he made his move. He flew
to a firm spot in the garden, and reverted to his natural form. Then he walked carefully to the fastened
flap of netting that Tania used for her own entry, opened it, and stepped out. Then he climbed a branch
overhanging the garden and broke off a dead projection. He brought this down to the net and used it to
tear a small hole in the fabric, directly below the spot from which the branch had been taken. He set it
down just beside the net. In the morning, when Tania found her prize butterfly gone, she would discover
the hole evidently made by the falling branch, and realize how the insect had escaped. She would be
annoyed, but not suspicious. He hoped.
Then he climbed down a trunklet to the ground, and made his way out of the tree. He walked some
distance into the night, putting distance between the sleepers and his conjuration, making it less likely
that they would be aware of it. Then, finally, he conjured himself home.
In the following days he spied on the goblins, ogres and demons that Tannu had mentioned. Sure
enough, they were organizing as for battle. But where did they plan to strike, and when, and with what
forces? The break he had had at the Tan Demesnes turned out to have been his best; butterflies could not
get close enough to the decision makers at the right times to spy out anything critical.
Then he learned that the Adverse Adepts were suspicious of the unicorn. They had managed to trace her
to the Red Demesnes, and saw little reason for the unicorn to go there. But if it were another person in
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her body, who needed help learning the magic, that could account for it. So they were alert for her, in
whatever form. They knew their strongest possible hold on him, Bane, would be through the creature he
loved, just as it was with Mach.
"I must go to her, to protect her," he told his father. "No," Stile said. "They aren't sure. If you do that,
they will be sure, and her danger will be increased. Let Trool handle it; he can protect her readily
enough."
Bane knew that his father was right. So, reluctantly, he continued his spying missions, hoping for the
break that would give them the rest of the information they needed. In time he would be reunited with
Agape. That was what he lived for.
Chapter 6 Amoeba
Mach found himself naked in a chamber, embracing the alien female, Agape. "The exchange has been
accomplished," he said. "We had better disengage." For Bane had conveyed to him that this was the
office of one of the Contrary Citizens. What a place for them to hide!
"Where be we?" the woman asked.
He started to explain, then realized it was pointless, because she had been here all along. "But you
already know that. Agape."
"I be Fleta!" she said.
"Don't tease me like that, Agape," he said. "I love her."
"Tease thee? I tease thee not," she protested. They discussed the matter, and soon she satisfied him that
she really was Fleta, who somehow had managed to exchange with him, and was now in the body of the
alien female. What a development!
"This really be thy rovot form?" she asked.
He was glad to have his love with him, however unexpectedly, but this was decidedly awkward. Fleta
had no notion of the ways of Proton, or even of the management of her strange body. She would quickly
give herself away, if he didn't indoctrinate her immediately. Her language alone...
They worked on it. Fleta adapted to the language fairly readily, and with some difficulty learned how to
reshape her amoebic body. Learning how to cope in the frame of Proton would be a longer task; he had
to settle for the minimum.
In the course of their discussion, he learned from her that Tan was the Adept of the Evil Eye, and that he
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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