Ornet in turn communicated with Dec, the most mobile spot. Dec moved rapidly out of OX's perception. When he returned, his optic generator signaled his news: This frame, one of the limited myriads of alternates that comprised the fabric of OX's reality, did indeed have other structures of elements. Dec had located them by following the element-threads that OX could not. Dec perceived these elements only with difficulty but had improved with practice. At varying physical distances, he reported, a number of them re-expanded into viable reservoirs. And in one of these Dec had spied a pattern.

The news threw OX into a swirl of disorientation. Hastily he modified his circuits; he had now confirmed, by observation of his own nature and indirect observation of the external environment, that he was not the only ent.i.ty of his kind.

The other patterns had to know of him. His radiations, traveling the length of the element-threads, had to notify them of his presence. Yet never had a return-impulse come. That had to mean the others were damping out their external signs. Their only reason would be to abate a threat, as of a shoot-detecting machine or a pattern-consuming nonsentient pattern, or to conceal their presence for more devious internal reasons. On occasion, OX damped out his own radiation when he did not wish to be disturbed; his circuits did this automatically, and a.n.a.lysis of them showed this to be the reason. Actually, such damping was pointless here, there were no intrusive patterns, and the spots were not affected: additional evidence that OX was equipped by nature to exist in a society of patterns, not alone.

Why would other patterns, aware of him, deliberately conceal themselves from him? In what way was he a threat to them? He was a fully functioning pattern; it was not his nature to intrude upon another of his kind. The other patterns surely knew this; it was inherent, it was survival.

Something very like anger suffused OX. Since his nature responded only to survival-nonsurvival choices, it was not emotion as a living creature would know it. But it was an acute, if subtle, crisis of survival.

A compatible pattern would not have acted in the fashion these outside patterns did. Therefore, their presence was a strong potential threat to his survival.

OX sent Dec out to observe again more thoroughly, and he sent Ornet out to the same physical spot in an adjacent frame. The two observers could not perceive each other, for they could not cross over alternates, and OX could observe neither since they were beyond his element-pool. But this difficult cooperative maneuver was critical.

Their report confirmed what OX had suspected.

Dec had observed a pattern fade, leaving the points unoccupied. Then it, or another like it, had returned. But Ornet's location had remained vacant.

OX understood this, though the spots did not. The pattern was traveling through the frames. Because of the configuration of the pool as OX had mapped it, he knew that the foreign pattern had to move either toward Ornet or away from him. It had moved away. And that meant that the other pool of elements extended beyond OX's own pool, for his did not go farther in that direction.

The other pools, in fact, were probably not pools. They were aspects of the larger framework. The other patterns were not restricted as OX was.

They were keeping him isolated, restricted, confined to an enclave, while they roamed free. This, by the inherent definition of his circuitry, was inimical behavior.

OX sank into a long and violent disorientation. Only by strenuous internal measures was he able to restore equilibrium. Then it was only by making a major decision that forced a complete revamping of his nature. He was in peril of nonsurvival through the action of others of his own kind. He had either to allow himself to be disrupted at their convenience or to prepare himself to disrupt the other patterns at his convenience. He chose the latter.

OX was ready to fight.

Chapter 9.

LIFE.

The two mantas, Hex and Circe, showed them the place, then disappeared again on their own pursuits. They seemed to like the city and to enjoy exploring it.

Cal and Aquilon stood on either side of the projector, not touching it. "So she had a way back all the time -- and she took Veg with her," Aquilon said bitterly. "While we slept, blissfully ignorant." She crumpled the note and threw it away in disgust.

"I knew she had some such device," Cal replied. "I told the mantas to let them go."

She was aghast. "Why?"

"We could not stop the agent from doing as she wished -- but Veg will keep an eye on her and perhaps ameliorate her omnivoristic tendencies. Meanwhile, it is pointless to remain idle here. I suspect we shall be able to make contact with the pattern-ent.i.ties better on our own. They may or may not attempt to contact us again on the stage. If they do, I would prefer that Veg not break it up and that Tamme not receive their information. If they don't, it will be up to us to make a move."

"You really have it figured out," she said, shaking her head. Then: "Pattern ent.i.ties? What -- ?"

"I have been doing some thinking. I believe I understand the nature of our abductor, and how we can communicate with it."

She lifted her hands, palms up. "Just like that!"

"Oh, it was simple enough, once I had the key," he said modestly. "Pattern."

"That's what you said before. I still don't follow it."

"First we have to capture a suitable machine."

"Capture a machine!" she exclaimed.

"If we can immobilize it long enough for me to get at its control unit, I should be able to turn it to our purpose."

She looked at him in perplexity. "Lure it under an ambush and knock it on the head with a sledgehammer?"

Cal smiled. "No, that would destroy the delicate mechanism we need. We shall have to be more subtle."

"Those machines aren't much for subtlety," she cautioned him. "If there are any of the whirling-blade variety around -- "

"The menials will do," he said. "Preferably one with an optic-signal receiver."

Aquilon shook her head. "Well, you know best. Tell me what to do."

"Locate a flower or other device that will attract the right type of machine."

"Something optical, you mean?"

"Something that requires optical repair, yes." He faced away. "Hex! Circe!"

Aquilon shrugged and went looking. Cal knew what she was thinking: He was far more the mystery man than he had been on Nacre or Paleo. Those had been comparatively simple, physical worlds; this was a complex intellectual-challenge situation. His area of strength! But he would soon explain himself.

The two mantas arrived, sailing down to land beside him. "You have observed the tame machines?" he inquired.

They did not need to snap their tails. His rapport with them had progressed beyond that stage. He could tell their answer by the att.i.tude of their bodies, just as he had divined their disapproval of his directive regarding Tamme and her projector. YES. As he had already known.

"Can you broadcast on their optical circuits?"

Now they were dubious. There followed a difficult, somewhat technical dialogue involving wavelengths and intensities. Conclusion: They might be able to do what he wanted. They would try.

Aquilon returned. "The light-loom seems best," she reported. "If something interfered with the original light-beam, the entire fabric would be spoiled. Seems a shame..."

"We shall not damage it," Cal a.s.sured her. "We want only to attract the relevant machine." He glanced again at the little projector. "This we shall leave untouched, as I believe it has been set to bring them back at a particular moment. They have no chance to reach Earth; I hope they find equivalent satisfaction."

Aquilon's eyes narrowed. "Are you implying -- "

"As the agents experience more of reality away from their computer, they become more individual, more human. We stand in need of another human female if we are to maintain any human continuity away from Earth."

Her lip curled. "Why not wish for a cobra to turn human while you're at it?"

They went to the fountain. "Distort that light," Cal told the mantas. "Play your beams through it if you can keep it up without hurting your eyes."

They dutifully concentrated on the rising light.