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his physical reactions. This was fortunate, for Tania had undeniable sex appeal, and evidently intended to tease him with it. She was a bad woman, selfish and cruel, but that seemed not to detract from her allure.
    Citizen Tan disappeared. Mach was alone with Tania. At least he did not have to say “sir” to her. She had great power, because of her relationship to the Citizen, but she was legally another serf. “What is your intent?” he inquired, attempting to disengage.
    “It occurred to me that you have no romantic interest in this frame, Mach,” she said. “Since we have to work closely together anyway, we might as well enjoy it.”
    “You know I am a robot,” he said tightly. “You should have no interest in my type.”
    “If truth be told, I am bored with human men, and with androids,” she said. “You are not just any robot; you are the most advanced model on the planet, and you have demonstrated abilities worthy of any living male. I believe you will be interesting.”
    “I am married.”
    “Not in Proton. Come, Mach, kiss me.”
    “There is no requirement that I do such a thing.”
    “Shall I tell my brother that you are uncooperative?”
    “Obviously Citizen Tan will react in whatever manner he has decided to. Why should you wish to initiate a type of relationship that can only complicate a strained situation?”
    “I doubt you need to know that,” she said. “But I don’t doubt you can figure it out for yourself. Now kiss me, and we shall proceed.”
    “Proceed with what?”
    She laughed, her breasts moving against him. “Assimilation of your new information, of course. Did you think to have your desire of me within minutes?”
    “I have no desire of you!”
    “Perhaps not yet.” She lifted her face, waiting.   Mach realized that she intended to establish her control over the situation by making him do what she chose. She could have no physical desire for him; it was not in her nature as either an aloof woman or the sister of a Citizen. Obviously sex was merely a tool to her—in this case, a tool to embarrass him. If he didn’t kiss her, she would require more of him, making him regret his resistance.
    He lowered his face and kissed her. He felt a surge of guilt, thinking of Fleta. But he damped it down, realizing that he really had no choice. Perhaps after playing with him for a time, Tania would lose interest, as a cat did with a dead bird.   Tania broke, with a flicker of irritation. “As if you mean it,” she said. “Again.”
    “Whatever I show, I will not mean it,” he said.
    “Perhaps not yet,” she repeated, waiting.   He kissed her again, as if he meant it. Unfortunately his circuits were cued to a degree to his actions; it was a feed back loop that normally enhanced his human emulation. That meant that to an extent he did mean it, at least for the moment. This time she was satisfied. “Now speak the formulae,” she said.
    “They will be meaningless to you.”
    “But they will be recorded. They may not be meaningless to our analysts.”
    He doubted that, because in five years no one other than the Oracle had been able to make sense of the strange statements he had brought from the Book of Magic. It was as if the magic were in some alien language that only the Oracle spoke. That was another reason that progress had been so slow.
    However, he was obliged to humor her. He spoke the formulae, and Tania listened as if interested. It did not take long.
    “Now we shall send the child on her way, and go to the Oracle,” she said.
    Nepe! He had almost forgotten her! He was getting more human all the time, and suffering the liabilities of the state.   A true machine forgot nothing that was not expressly erased.   Of course he was no longer a true machine; half his current experience was human, in Phaze. There he was called the Robot Adept (or, as the natives had it, “Rovot”), but he was really a living man with considerable power of magic. Per haps it wasn’t