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surprising that the human liabilities as well as the human delights carried across the frames.   They emerged to the front office. The child was sitting on the desk, watching a cartoon on the receptionist’s screen, her little legs swinging and tapping the desk.   Nepe looked up immediately. “Were you surprised, Uncle?”
    “You knew?” he asked, surprised again.
    “Oh, sure. Did she vamp you yet?”
    Mach froze, appalled at both the question and Tania’s likely reaction.
    “Not yet,” Tania said, laughing.
    “Oh, goody! Can I watch, then?”
    “But—“ Mach started.
    “Certainly,” Tania said. She turned back to Mach, and put her arms around him, drawing herself close. “Kiss me,” she said.
    “This is pointless and unnecessary,” he said, not yielding.  
    “If you don’t,” Tania murmured, “I shall make demands on you that are apt to embarrass you before the child.” He knew her well enough to have no doubt of her sincerity.   Fuming in a manner that would have done credit to a living person, he bent his head to kiss her.
    Nepe clapped her hands, applauding. “She’s making you do it!” she exclaimed. “I bet Tsetse she would!”
    “Tsetse?” he repeated, chagrined at the openness of this matter.
    “Tsetse—my receptionist,” Tania explained, misunderstanding. She pronounced the name as Nepe had, but with the t’s sounded. “I brought in my own personnel, since I am to handle this case. I named her, because she is good at making men sleep. Does she please you?”
    “I have no interest in her,” Mach said. What a name to hang on such a pretty woman! Tania’s cruelty was showing.   Tania turned to the woman. “Take Nepe to her ship.”
    “No, I’ll do that!” Mach said.
    “So you do have an interest in her,” Tania said, “because she affects the welfare of your niece.”
    “To that degree,” Mach agreed. What was Tania trying to do? He saw no consistent pattern in her actions.   Tania read his doubt. “I am showing you that there are ways and ways I can affect your interests if you cross me. We have a covenant, and no one will be hurt. But you could have to do things you dislike, and the child could witness things you prefer she did not. Now Tsetse will escort her safely to her ship, and you and I will dally on the way to the Oracle.   Need more be said?”
    This ruthless woman would do whatever she thought would be effective in bending his will to hers. Already she had let him know that he would do what she wished in a social sense, or see her ire taken out on little Nepe. His robot logic made it clear: it was better to do whatever Tania wanted. If she overstepped her bounds, Citizen Tan would call her up short.   But that could mean having an affair with her. As a man or robot in the frame of Proton, he had no technical reason not to; his marriage to Fleta had no bearing here. But emotionally the prospect appalled him. His body was the one Bane used, when they exchanged, and so Agape was concerned, while his mind was in love with Fleta, making Fleta concerned. Thus it was not a simple matter of catering to the demands of a demanding woman without any emotional involvement, as a normal robot could do. There were deep social conflicts. That seemed to be why Tania was doing it.   Was it merely her normal cruelty, or was there some more sinister reason? He was profoundly dismayed by this devel opment.
    “I’ll be fine. Uncle, and so will you,” Nepe said, jumping off the desk to take Tsetse’s hand. “Thanks for the game and the demstration!”
    “You are welcome, Nepe,” he said, wishing he had never brought her here. Obviously he had played into Tania’s hands.   Yet the child seemed quite satisfied, and she was evidently not entirely innocent of the games adults played. This could not be accounted for by the malice of either Citizen Tan or his sister.
    Nepe and the receptionist departed. Mach braced himself for Tania’s dalliance, seeing no alternative.