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will go with you,” Adela said. “He must not know you are a robot. This is vital.”
    Elasa worked it out. “Because anything he knows, the Maggots will know when they take him over. If he knows my nature, they will realize that this is a devious connection, and they will use me to track down the Awares. Then you won't be able to stop them.”
    “That's it. We have to catch them by complete surprise, or we are lost. The path we have found is not guaranteed; it is merely the one most likely to succeed. Bunky is unable to precog the outcome. But any other path is doom.”
    Elasa sighed. “My husband will not be pleased.”
    “Because he thought your fembot days were behind you?”
    “Actually he understands that aspect. But he will have to take care of Bela while I'm away. He doesn't mind, but Bela can get fussy without me.”
    “Tell him,” Adela said. “Because tonight you must be with Pauling Hudson.”
    “Tonight!”
    “You have just time to get to the Temp Agency. Timing is precise.”
    Elasa told Banner that the time had come. She had to become anonymous and be a fembot. But first she made love to him, passionately.
    “That man you are going to will never know how lucky he is,” Banner said. “I will be here when you return.”
    “You know I am programmed to love you, Banner. But I think that even if I wasn't programmed, I'd have come to love you. Because you know me for what I am, an animated machine, and you accept me just as if I were a real woman.”
    “You are a real woman!” he protested.
    “Legally, yes, since I won my personhood. But--”
    He cut her off with a passionate kiss. That was answer enough.
    Soon, bemused, Elasa drove Adela to the Temp office. On the way she downloaded a thorough course in personal secretary information, and Adela changed Elasa's wig to make her a peach blonde with curls to her waist. Then she had to change into a slightly too-tight dress with a slightly low decolletage. Adela had come prepared with all the things Elasa had not known she would need. She put in matching contact lenses and enhanced her breasts slightly. The car mirror showed a rather sexy young woman without being obvious about it. Elasa was now a different person, Silver Sessions, with an ID to match. How the Awares had arranged that she had no idea, and thought it best not to inquire. Yon Yonson, the private eye, evidently knew his business.
    At the Temp office she registered under the new name, and it checked out. She had just arrived from another city, and her references were excellent. “We're sure you'll do,” the clerk said reassuringly. “We get frequent calls for women with your skills. In fact we have none in reserve at the moment.”
    Her skills? She had seen the woman appraising her figure, knowing what counted.
    A phone on the desk sounded. The clerk glanced at it. “In fact there's a call now.” She whistled. “An important one! Emergency. Go immediately to this address. The name is Pauling Hudson.” The name Adela had mentioned. Surely Bunky's precognition had figured into this assignment.
    Adela had been with her all along, unnoticed. Elasa drove her to the address. “You knew this unlikely coincidence was going to happen,” she said.
    “I knew you had to be at the Temp office at the moment the call came in,” Adela agreed. “I did not know the details, just that timing was critical.”
    “And my new appearance. I'm the kind of secretary the boss makes passes at.”
    “Yes, of course. We spent a long time with the Lamb fathoming exactly what you needed to look like.”
    “Well, now you're stuck with whatever I'm doing tonight. I got no chance to return you to your own site.”
    “I will be with you throughout,” Adela said. “Just ignore me, unless I signal you. Then follow my directions precisely.”
    Elasa sighed. “When I first contacted you Awares, not all that long ago, I had no idea it would lead to this.”
    “Neither did we. But when we got into it, it became