Chapter 7:

Analyste

“This is amazing,” Elasa said. “A thorough alien invasion not for dominance, but simply for food. That’s all they want our planet for: a passing fast-food stop.”

“And I, or rather, my body, is facilitating it,” Pauling said. “All my organizational expertise is co-opted to destroy my people. And I can do nothing about it.”

Elasa smiled. “That’s my job. It may be impossible, but I’ll have to try.”

“Kop believes it is impossible. I gather the Maggots made a survey of Earth’s resources and concluded that it lacked the ability to stop them. Which is not surprising, as few if any galactic species have made them pause even briefly. They expect to eat the galaxy.”

“Well we do have some precognition. That’s what warned us of this threat.”

“They have it too. Not the Maggots, but their captive species, whose powers become theirs. Their precognition indicates that Earth has nothing sufficient.”

“Well, we’ll just have to hope something comes up.”

He smiled. “Kop doubts you have anything, but he likes the aura of your illusion. He hates the Maggots.”

“But serves them loyally.”

“He has no choice, any more than I do. He has felt the direct power of a Maggot; nothing on Earth can withstand even a single one of those monsters, and they have millions.”

“I must go,” Elasa said. “I’m sorry you got caught up in this ugly business, Paul.”

“So am I.” He shrugged. “I love you. So does Kop. At least our final months are in your company.”

“That’s sweet.” Elasa departed.

Adela was with her on the drive home. “We do have a way,” she said. “But it is devious and fraught with danger. We are treading extremely carefully.”

“It can’t be more dangerous than doing nothing and getting eaten by the Maggots.”

“True. But there is luck involved. We have worked with Bunky to clarify the path, and we are on it, but we can’t be certain we will succeed.”

“I thought precognition made it certain.”

“Not when there is precognition on both sides. They tend to cancel each other out. One side makes a plan, the other side makes a counter-plan, and the result is future-vision chaos.”

“But then how can the Maggots be so sure they’ll win?”

“More than ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the likely paths give them the victory. Those are acceptable odds.”

“And we have only one hundredth of one percent chance to stave them off?”

“Not even that. Our odds are so small they don’t even register on the chart.”

“Then what gives us any hope at all?”

“We are zeroing in on that one faint chance. We have a secret weapon they don’t know about.”

“What secret weapon?”

Adela smiled. “If I told you, I would have to kill you.”

“I can’t be killed!”

“So I can’t tell you.”

Elasa sighed. The logic was tight. “I will gladly leave it to you.”

“No, you are the centerpiece. Without you we would have no chance.”

“I can’t be your secret weapon!”

“True. But you are the one who will wield it.”

“You have more for me to do?” Elasa asked, surprised. “I thought that zeroing in the key personnel and getting the story of the Maggots would conclude my part.”

“Here is the thing: you are the only conscious person on Earth whose mind can not be read or taken over by the minions of the Maggots. That makes you central.”

“But I have no idea how to stop them!”

“You don’t need to know, yet. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Maintaining a placid home life while having a weekly affair with a high Earth official and/or an alien spy. This does not seem like much of a resistance effort.”

“The Maggots agree. They know you mean to stop them if you can. Every person on this planet wants to stop them. They don’t care. Now they know you’re a robot. It doesn’t matter. They have encountered machines before. It simply means you are inedible. They are not concerned.”

“How do you know so much about the Maggots?”

“When Kop told you his history, the Lamb and I read his wider thoughts. He learned a lot about the Maggots while working for them. Now we know what he knows.”

“The Maggots seem pretty arrogant.”

“They are. But also unstoppable. Until now.”

“Do you believe that, or are you merely giving me hope?”

“Yes.”

Elasa did not pursue it farther. She had plenty to assimilate regardless.

She dropped Adela off at an empty corner. The Aware would find her own way back into anonymity. Then she drove to her house.

Banner welcomed her home. He knew she had been having sex with another man, but he loved her and trusted her. She welcomed that attitude. She practically dragged him into bed.

Then she got together with the Companions. Lamb, Vulture, Python—she had come to love them all. They identified more with Mona, who had brought them to Earth, and they preferred her, but had become friends with Elasa.

*

Time passed in the current mode. Elasa continued her affair(s) and Earth continued its routine, not even noticing the appearance of huge new buildings near city centers. Evidently the titans of the media had been taken over, and anyone who tried to raise a question was quietly silenced. Elasa was amazed by how readily Earth was submitting to the looming disaster. But by similar token, it was clear that any potentially effective resistance would have to be hidden, because the Maggots were quite capable of extinguishing it the moment it manifested.

So the Maggot menace cruised steadily closer. Elasa knew that their ships were now visible to Earth’s observers, but as with the Qqqs there was no alarm. Earth remained almost willfully blind. Could she run in the street crying “The Maggots are coming! The Maggots are coming!” and thus publicize the peril? Hardly; that would just get her institutionalized, if any attention was paid at all.

What did the Awares have in mind? Elasa was desperately curious, but also knew it was best to remain ignorant, lest she give it away prematurely. Yet the schedule for opening the slaughterhouses was approaching. Once that process started, it was likely to be too late. As it was, the Companions, here in exchange, were nearing the end of their term, and would have to exchange back to Jones. Mona also planned to exchange, so she could have a baby with her husband Brian. If the Maggots didn’t eat Earth first.

The threat was like a dark cloud intensifying as it loomed. But it seemed that only she could see it. The rest of the world went placidly in its petty pace, with no notion of the dreadful doom about to be unleashed.

Then the ship from Colony Jones arrived, and a woman delivered Venus Flytrap to Mona, who promptly brought it to Elasa. Bunky immediately went to sniff noses, as it were, and so did Vulture and Python. The four were old friends. The plant was larger now, and would soon need a new pot. Elasa had tamed Venus, but Mona had spent far more time with her on Jones. It would be an experience getting to know this more mature version. It would be a minor distraction from the larger disaster that had been tormenting Elasa the past few months.

She introduced the Plant to her son Bela with a certain caution. But in the presence of the Companions, who knew about Plants and babies, it was all right. They gave Venus the word, and it was clear that she and Bela would get along. Just as Venus and Elen’s baby Elmo had got along on Jones, according to Mona.

“Now we must have a welcoming party for the Plant,” Mona said brightly. “Brian and I will attend. Tomorrow night.”

“But I have an appointment with Pauling Hudson,” Elasa said. “I don’t think it wise for him to see Venus.” Because that would give the information to Kop, who would relay it to the Maggots. That was likely mischief, since the Plant was supposed to relate to the resistance effort in some manner.

“That is covered,” Mona said.

“Are you sure?” Elasa had not discussed any of the Maggot threat with her friend, fearing that would just put Mona in danger.

“Adela will take him to visit with her people.”

Mona knew of Adela? That meant she was in the loop. The Awares were going to meet Kop? It was true that he was one of them, in a sense, but this seemed phenomenally risky. Yet if the Awares wanted it, there had to be a reason. “Then I leave it in your hands.”

“Adela will pick him up. They know each other.”

They did, but Elasa wondered how much Mona had been told. Did she have any idea of the magnitude of the danger? So she spoke cautiously. “Complicated matters are afoot.”

Mona smiled. “Yes, Bunky has advised me. I will avoid contact with the alien, lest he read my mind. I will be safe with you.”

“Oh, I hope so,” Elasa said fervently.

“We’ll play cards.” Mona departed.

Cards? This was becoming unreal.

Elasa set up for the party next day. She called Pauling to make sure. “I understand you will be otherwise occupied tonight.”

“Yes, Adela has invited me to party with her friends, giving you the evening off. That is fine.”

“Is it? I am concerned. There could be awkwardness.” If not outright world-imperiling danger. Were the Awares planning to kill the Maggot agent? That would be foolhardy in the extreme.

Then it was Kop’s voice. “Elasa, we’re Awares.”

“Oh.” And Awares knew what they were doing, pretty much by definition. Evidently Kop and the Awares had some understanding, and all parties knew it was all right. If they weren’t making some mistake similar to the one Kop had made before he knew there was an alien in his head. “All right, then. I’m not an Aware. I didn’t know.”

“Are you jealous?” he asked teasingly. “I was never jealous of your husband.”

She had to laugh. “Maybe that’s it.” But what was going on?

Mona and Brian arrived for the party. Brian too knew Venus from of old. “You wouldn’t tempt an old friend, would you?” he asked.

Bunky and the animals came to stand close around Elasa, and with their telepathic ambiance she was able to see what Brian saw. The solitary green stem became a breathtakingly lovely young woman, nude. “Do you wish to be tempted?” she asked.

Brian glanced at Mona. “He wouldn’t dare,” Mona said, forcing a frown. Then both laughed, and Venus laughed with them.

Oh, yes, Venus had matured in the interim. She was no longer the virginal creature Elasa had harvested on Jones. Now she was showing her image to all of them, male and female, and teasing Brian without really trying to seduce him. Her seduction, of course, was deadly. She had no mind of her own; that was borrowed from the human company. But even so, she had personality.

Yet how could a telepathic vampire plant affect the outcome of the struggle to save Earth from the Maggots? Venus’s mode of predation was to lure a man into sex with her, the sexy woman illusion buttressed by pheromones concealing the fact that the penis was actually entering the cone of the blood-sucking leaf and in effect ejaculating blood rather than semen. As far as she knew, Maggots did not have sex; they grew and fissioned. So the vampire could not drain their blood that way, assuming she could make a tempting projection, and in any event it would require millions of flytraps to make a dent in the alien horde. Mona had spoken of the sheep’s vision of a giant flytrap closing on the planet Earth, but the threat was actually the Maggots; the flytrap seemed irrelevant.

Bunky nuzzled her. She focused on what the Companions were telling her, again appreciating the manner they lent her a fleeting semblance of telepathy. RELEVANT. VENUS IS THE KEY. Not exactly those words, but the essence.

Her doubt was overruled. The Lamb’s precognition was sure. Not that the plan would work, but that this was the path that would do it if it was destined to succeed. With precognition, the certainty was impossible to refute. She believed.

Elasa hugged them all. “Thank you, friends,” she murmured. Then Vulture and Python retreated to the garden, where they felt more comfortable, and Bela went along. Banner sat down beside Elasa. He had known throughout that complicated things were afoot, but never inquired. That had spared Elasa the need to lie to him.

“Play for us, Brian,” Mona said.

Brian brought out his merliton. Elasa remembered it from her visit to the Colony. He played a light classical piece that was transcendentally beautiful. Elasa was charmed, as she had been before.

Then he played a song. Now Mona sang along with him. Elasa, remembering also, joined in. “He who is noble, pure and simple-hearted, needs not a weapon, needs no man to guard him; virtue defends him.”

“Oh, I love this,” Elasa said as they finished. “Just relaxing with friends, as if we don’t face the worst crisis the world has known.”

“Let’s see how Kop is doing,” Brian said.

“Coming up,” Banner agreed. He turned on the wall phone. The life-sized picture looked like a window to an adjacent room.

There was Pauling/Kop in the embrace of Adela and another pretty female Aware. All three were naked, and he was sandwiched between the two girls, who were kissing him front and back as he clasped their bodies. It looked like a porn movie. They had evidently had sex at least once, and were working up to another bout. The male Awares were munching on crackers, like spectators at a show.

Elasa was surprised. “How can Awares be caught off-guard like this?”

“Nobody’s off-guard,” Banner said. “They all know we’re the only ones peeking, and that we won’t tell. They’re just having fun.”

“Methinks there’s an element of exhibitionism in them,” Mona said.

“And of voyeurism in us,” Elasa said.

“Awares seldom get to show off,” Banner said. “It must get wearing, being always invisible.”

“But how can Kop be part of this?” Elasa asked. “Do the Maggots allow it?”

“What, moralistic Maggots?” Banner asked. “They don’t care, as long as he does his job. He’ll be dead in six months. They have probably learned that their minions need a little leeway on occasion if they are to perform well.”

“You two males are enjoying this too much,” Mona said. “Turn it off.”

Banner made a show of reluctance, and turned it off. “And of course it distracts Kop from anything we might be doing here, which is the point.”

“Singing a song?” Elasa asked.

“Not exactly. We’re establishing the rules of engagement.”

“I must be missing something,” Elasa said.

“Now we shall play cards,” Mona said brightly. She turned on the monitor and touched the buttons to put the cards on display. “This is the ancient standby, Klondike. You know the rules?”

“Sure,” Brian said. “Never saw it on the screen before. Back where I came from, we have physical decks of cards.”

“You’re not where you come from, dear,” she said, kissing him. Indeed, on his home planet he would be in his own body, while Mona would occupy the body of an appealing elf woman. Here he was in a borrowed body, while Mona was in her own superlatively endowed one, to his evident constant amorous delight. That was the nature of exchange romance.

Meanwhile Elasa downloaded the rules for the game. It was straightforward: seven rows of cards were dealt with one to seven cards in a row, the bottom card of each pile face up. 28 cards in all, with the remainder of the deck of 52 in a separate stack. There were places for four aces, which were supposed to be built up in suits to kings, to win. Cards could be placed on the next higher number, the colors alternating. This particular deal had the ace and two of spades turned up; they went immediately to the first stack, exposing a black seven and black six.

“Play, Elasa,” Mona said.

“But this is solitaire, limited to a single player. I assumed we would play an interactive game, like Rummy or Bridge.” Though the problem there was that Elasa would play flawlessly, giving her an unfair advantage. This whole business seemed largely pointless.

“We’ll watch you play.”

And the Lamb sent her a go-ahead thought.

Elasa shrugged and moved a red six to the seven and a red five to the six. There was nothing else to do, so she turned over the first card of the talon, as it was called. This was a black seven, unplayable. The next was a red five, also unplayable. The third was a black two, unplayable. Eventually playable cards turned up, but in the end the game was lost with only five cards built on the foundations. It was not much of a game, because there was very little actual skill involved; the chances for victory depended overwhelmingly on the random deal of the cards.

“Did you notice the Game Solver indication?” Mona asked.

“It indicated the obvious: that the game was questionable from the beginning, and in the end could not be won.”

“Now try Free Cell,” Mona said. “The cards are all laid out face up, and every game there can be won.”

“But just try to do it,” Brian said. “The route can be obscure as hell.”

“The solver helps,” Mona said. “Because it informs you the moment you go wrong. It’s the ‘analyste,’ the program that constantly analyzes the potential moves. It doesn’t tell you how to win, just when you go wrong. Then you back off a move and try another. Eventually you will get there.”

Elasa played the game, and it was so. “But I do that anyway,” she said. “I’ll always win.”

“In cards,” Mona agreed. “But the game we are in to save Earth is beyond your computing capacity.”

“Yes, of course,” Elasa agreed, nettled. She was not comfortable with things that were not answerable to her logic.

“Now the relevance,” Mona said. “According to Bunky and the Awares, you are the Player. The Awares are the Analyste. The Maggots are the cards. You must deal with them without ever going wrong, lest Earth be lost. The Awares can’t tell you how to play or even give you a strategy; all they can do is warn you when you leave the correct path. Sometimes even they will be uncertain, so it will be your judgment.”

“My judgment? I’m a machine!”

“You’re a woman deriving from a machine. There’s a difference, as you know.”

Indeed she did. Mona had been her friend throughout, helping her to be the woman she longed to be.

Elasa thought of something else. “Meanwhile Kop is cavorting with the Awares. Are they telling him how to play?”

“Yes, in their fashion. He has to thread the deviously narrow course between his necessary duties as an enemy agent and his private desire to please you and somehow get back at the Maggots for destroying his world.”

“Getting him to love me—that’s part of the plan?”

“Yes. You are central, throughout.”

“He’s a decent guy, for an alien agent bent on destroying our planet.”

“So the Companions and Awares informed me,” Mona agreed.

“But he knows they are his enemy.”

“They are the Maggots’ enemy. There too is a difference, as you also know.”

“But if the Maggots know whatever he knows--”

“They’re not paying attention. That’s the arrogance of power.”

So it might be. As an Aware Kop should know what he could get away with. Or was he simply gambling, since he did not have very much longer to live anyway? “How is it that you got roped into this awful business? I thought to spare you.”

“Bunky loves me, as I love him,” Mona said. “He couldn’t keep it from me, so the Awares made the best of it. After all, I’m the one who brought the news of the big threat to Earth that started all this, with the sheep’s image of the giant flytrap. I’m okay as long as I don’t know the details of the path.”

“Let’s hope that none of us ever have to learn the full details.”

“Let’s hope,” Mona agreed.

But still Elasa wondered: how did Venus relate, and what was the point of calculating the odds of success, whether in cards or life? What they needed was an effective course of action.