Flytrap Read online

  “They take it seriously,” Mona agreed. “In fact they knew about it some time ago. That's why they recruited me.”

  “They recruited you?”

  “By bringing Bunky to me. It wasn't just to help him survive. It was to get me involved, as a person who could and would address their problem. And I will. But I can't do it myself.”

  “I don't follow. Can you or can't you help them?”

  “I can help them by in turn recruiting the person who has the ability I lack. My friend Elasa.”

  “But you said she's a machine!”

  “Exactly. The vampires can't suck her blood and kill her the way they could a living woman.”

  “Maybe I'll understand this better when I mull it over. But you said the animals must go to Earth too. Why, when all you want to do is talk to Elasa?”

  Mona smiled. “Good question. It is because Elasa's mission must be secret. No one outside our little group must know that she's coming here.”

  “Why?”

  “I don't know, but the sheep believe it, and I trust the sheep. It may be that there are parties hostile to the salvation of the sheep, that would interfere, if they knew.”

  “So how do the animals make it secret? They're bound to make global headlines.”

  “Precisely. The media focus will be on them, while the real business goes unsuspected.”

  “That's an awful lot of trouble to divert attention. You could attract media attention by dancing nude for the cameras.”

  “I need to have the media attention off me while the animals do their thing. That's where you come in.”

  “Me! I spent six months on Earth. That doesn't mean I know much about it. It's a foreign culture. I stayed mainly on the university campus.”

  “You will lead the animals on a special mission that will rivet media attention, while I quietly talk with Elasa.”

  “This is crazy! It'll never work.”

  “The sheep believe it will.”

  “And we trust the sheep,” he said wearily. “Even when they dabble in Earth politics, which they know nothing about.”

  “We trust the sheep,” she agreed. Then she kissed him, and shut him up.

  In the morning Mona set about the arrangements. First she sent a message, not to Elasa—that would have blown her cover!--but to Elen, who was now using Mona's body to study higher math on Earth. It asked her to talk to Mona's father, who would make arrangements for a brief out-of-turn exchange that included a Vulture, a Python, and a Lamb. She knew Elen might not understand, but would do it. The two of them had never met, but they were in each other's bodies, and that was one persuasive connection.

  Then Mona went to the local spaceport. Spaceships still brought new colonists to Colony Jones, together with assorted key supplies; the colony was not yet completely self supporting. She went to the ship that was now parked, preparing for its return trip to Earth. She parked Brian and the three animals under a nearby tree, then walked to the adjacent office shed. She identified herself, giving her personal coding, and asked to talk to the logistics officer.

  Surprised, he acceded, inviting her into the ship. She knew that as an officer he had to maintain a formal standard, unlike the men on liberty, and it probably was dull duty. She was a person of general interest, sufficient to break the monotony, and even though her body was pregnant, Elen's demeanor was attractive. Men noticed her. “Weren't you the woman who pretended to be the robot girl?” he asked. “We view the recording of that hearing all the time. For the information, of course.”

  “Of course,” she agreed. Mona and Elasa had posed nude and allowed the jury to question and handle them, trying to determine which of them was the robot. They had been unable to tell, but the tri-vee recording of the session had become very popular with men. Two lovely nude women being publicly groped. In a good cause.

  “What can I do for you, Miss Maverick?”

  “Call me Mona.” The personal touch counted for a lot.

  “And call me Mike.” Just so.

  “Mike, I need to borrow a robot. A fembot, if you have a spare.”

  He pursed his lips. “We have several. They are not much in demand planetside; the men prefer to associate with local girls. It's a matter of variety and novelty. But apart from the fact that those are state property, why would a woman like you want one? They are designed to appeal to unattached men, as you surely know.”

  “Oh yes. Men care more for the semblance than the reality, no offense.” Now came the crux. “Can I trust your discretion? This is a secret mission that must not be leaked to the public.”

  Mike considered. “Can you assure me that the robot will not be abused, mutilated, misused, or caused to embarrass the Interplanetary Navy?”

  “I believe I can. We will not wish to call attention to her.”

  “Then explain your mission. I will be discreet.”

  “I need to bring Elasa, the fembot of the hearing you mentioned, here to Colony Jones for a week. Because she is not human, I need an appropriate host for exchange. One of your robots should do. The difference is that when Elasa arrives she will become conscious in the new host, so that she can help me accomplish an important personal mission. After it is completed, Elasa will be exchanged back to Earth, and I will return your robot, sans consciousness.”

  Mike man whistled. “This is a thing I would like to see. In fact, I would insist on meeting her, as Elasa, to verify that the exchange has taken place.”

  “You may meet her. But there must be no publicity.”

  “I understand. Come here at the time you wish to make the exchange. This ship will be in port another month, ample time for your mission to be completed. When I verify her identity, I will release her in your custody for the duration of your mission. Fair enough?”

  “Fair enough,” Mona agreed. “My consort and three animals will also be exchanging.”

  “The vulture, the python, and the lamb,” he agreed. “This must be some mission.” He was plainly curious, but too polite to pry.

  Yet his full cooperation was better than ignorance. She decided to trust him with a bit more information. “There is a danger to the sheep that I think only Elasa can abate. It involves the vampires. They will be attacking females as well as males, but a robot will be proof against their seduction.”

  “I have heard of them,” he agreed. “In fact we have a strict protocol: no vampires aboard ship. That is not facetious.”

  “Not at all,” she agreed.

  “It has been a pleasure meeting you, Mona.”

  “Mutual, Mike. Would you like to meet my companions?”

  “Actually, I would. They are unusual.”

  They went out and Mona introduced Mike to Brian and the animals. The Vulture and the Python remained aloof, but Bunky was happy to be petted.

  “You seem just like an Earth lamb,” Mike said. “But I know you're not.”

  “He's precognitive,” Mona said. “Try to surprise him.”

  Mike accepted the challenge. He abruptly jumped to the side.

  The lamb jumped with him, imperfectly because of his leg, but matching him.

  Mike made as if to jump back, but did not. Bunky held his place.

  The officer drew his service pistol. The Vulture and the Python surged forward, distrusting its nature, but the Lamb merely sniffed it.

  Mike nodded, putting away the pistol. “That could be interpreted as ignorance, but I think he knows I would not try to hurt him.”

  “He knows,” Mona agreed. “A dire wolf attacked him, and he nearly killed it.”

  “The colony manual says the sheep are the deadliest creatures on the planet.”

  “They are. But they don't look for trouble.”

  “I appreciate this encounter,” Mike said. “I wish you the best of your mission.”

  “Thank you.” They shook hands and she and the others departed.

  She checked the message center to see if Elen had responded yet. She had, and Mona was astonished again. It se
emed that Shep and Elen had not only established their case as exchangees, they had made a public demonstration of the sheep's precognition. Now Shep was the effective governor of Colony Jones, with authority to approve and facilitate the spot exchange of both people and animals. He was working closely with her father, Moncho Maverick, to facilitate the group exchange, no questions asked.

  The sheep must have known.

  Chapter 4:

  Earth

  They made the exchange in an enclosed garden near the Peterson's house, much as before. The technicians acted exactly as if doing a group of five, including three animals, was routine, though it had never been done before. The Ewe attended; she might not understand the technology of exchange, but knew she was needed to control the vulture and the python, because they were about to be replaced with genuinely wild creatures; they would remain in the garden a day and night. She would nurse the lamb, though it would be foreign to her. The Petersons would see to the privacy of the garden. Meanwhile, Shep and Elen would be back for this unexpected visit, and would make the most of it. At least they were familiar with the turnip farm and the Petersons.

  Then the scene changed. They were at Shep's house, and Mona was in her own body. “Mona,” she announced.

  “Brian,” Brian said from Shep's body.

  Moncho was there. He hugged her. “Good to have you back, girl.”

  “It's business, dad.” She disengaged and went to the cages, freeing the three animals. The Lamb was about Bunky's size, but not lame; it was the best they could do on short notice. The Vulture and the Python were not identical, but again, what counted was their minds; it was quickly evident that their exchanges, too, had been successful.

  “Dad, I have business with Brian,” Mona said. “Can you babysit our companions for half an hour?”

  He understood her perfectly. “Sure, if they'll mind me. There's a garden here they should like.”

  “They will,” she said. Then she took Brian to Shep's bedroom.

  “I've been here before,” he said. “But not with you.”

  She threw off her clothing. “Are you disappointed?”

  “No! You're beautiful!”

  Then they were making love the conventional way, for the first time. He was almost savagely hungry for her.

  “I told you you'd like me,” she reminded him after the first siege.

  “I do! You're wonderful!”

  “And I have a mind, too.”

  He laughed. “You do.”

  “It will be like this on Jones, in due course.”

  “I love you!”

  In due course they rejoined the others, who were busily exploring the garden. Moncho also produced a mirliton in the form of a staff, the one Brian had made during his prior visit. Brian played it as masterfully as he had played the one on Colony Jones, something his host could not have done by himself.

  “Now the news,” Moncho said. “The small son of a visiting dignitary wandered away from their hotel last night and it seems got lost in the Everglades. Instant headlines. If that boy dies--”

  “Your mission, Brian,” Mona said. “You know what to do.”

  “Yes.” But he looked worried. She knew why: he wasn't sure the Lamb's precognition would work here on Earth, in the host body of a native lamb. Despite their superficial similarity, they were of drastically different species.

  “Trust the sheep,” she reminded him. “It seems that their precognition came through here before.”

  “There's a van waiting,” Moncho said. “And a private aircraft. You'll be there soon.”

  “Yes.” Brian kissed her, then departed with the animals. They too knew what to do, the Lamb because of his telepathy, the others because of the Lamb. They would go into the Everglades and quickly locate and rescue the child, making phenomenal headlines.

  “Now I need to see Elasa,” Mona said.

  “She is on her way here.”

  “Privately. This is the part of the mission that must not be known.”

  “Be realistic, Mona,” he chided her. “The best place to hide a secret is in plain sight. The two of you are close friends. Naturally you want to get together for girl-talk and such.”

  “Girl talk,” she echoed, laughing.

  Elasa arrived, with Bela. The two women hugged each other around the baby. “What's on your living mind?” Elasa asked. “I know you didn't make this out-of-turn excursion for a lark.”

  Mona let her have it. “The precognitive sheep anticipate the appearance of male vampires that will prevent the ewes from going to the ram's island for mating.”

  “Elen told us about their journey to that island,” Elasa said. “Where the female vamps attack any males who try to cross the river. She had an interesting way of protecting Shep's body from them.”

  “Yes. The vampires feed from their clefts, taking in an eager male's penis and spiking it for blood, regardless of his species. Pheromones maintain his readiness; he can't break until she has had her fill. Then another takes him similarly. He can't climax, only bleed. They will drain all his blood if not prevented. He is in bliss, but dying.”

  “So I gather. So she shielded him from them by taking his penis into herself, her body being the barrier they could not get around. But I'm not sure how that would work against a male vampire. Could his penis suck blood?”

  “It must, because the sheep fear it. That they will die the next time they try to cross to the island.”

  “And they don't have male sheep crossing with them to block off their vaginas,” Elasa said, seeing it. “And if they did, the rams would quickly jettison and get off their rumps, and then the vampires would come in, not caring at all about breeding, only the blood. So the ewes really have no defense.”

  “Exactly. I knew that the only effective answer is to eliminate the male vampires before the sheep make their trek. They can handle the female vamps, and don't want to eliminate them, because the rams need to be confined to the island. It's selective. So I thought of you.”

  “A male vampire couldn't suck my blood,” Elasa agreed. “But he wouldn't be stupid enough not to realize that rather quickly. They would wait for the sheep. I don't see how I can help.”

  “Remember when you carried your baby?” Mona asked. “You had an artificial uterus, and a blood supply, and you incubated Bela to term, and birthed him. Suppose you installed a blood supply for the vamps?”

  “Why should I want to feed the vampires?”

  “Poisoned blood,” Mona clarified. “Maybe slow-acting, like red squill to poison rats. They eat a little and it's fine; they eat more, and it's still fine. They don't realize that it's thinning their blood until they bleed to death internally.”

  “But I'm not alive!” Elasa protested. “They would surely catch on that I'm a machine, and ignore me.”

  “Not if you also were packed with compelling pheromones.”

  “Use their own device against them!” Elasa said. “There's poetic justice in that.”

  “That was my thought. Men are guided mainly by sight, and are attracted to a pretty girl even if they know she's a machine. The vampires are evidently guided by pheromones, and as a moth is guided by a light in the darkness, they may be compelled to try to feed on a creature emitting pheromones even if they know better.”

  “So I could dispatch vampires by sexually feeding them, leaving the way clear for the ewes.”

  “Yes. I think only a fembot could do it.”

  “A fembot,” Elasa said. “Don't they have them on Colony Jones?”

  “They do, and I have set it up for you to be hosted by one.”

  “Why couldn't one of them do it? A fembot doesn't require consciousness to provide sex.”

  Mona paused, dismayed. “I never thought of that! Somehow I knew it had to be you. I may have overlooked the obvious.”

  “Not necessarily. When Elen came here, in your body, she and Shep brought news of two remarkable near-future events. The media ridiculed them, right up until the moment they cam
e to pass. Then everything changed. It became evident that the sheep of Jones had somehow known future events on Earth that no one else knew. We all became believers.” She paused, still working it out. “Now the sheep have sent you here to recruit me, not an anonymous fembot. They must have reason. What could that be?”

  The answer flashed. “Consciousness! The vampires must focus on consciousness as well as pheromones. They have pheromones galore; they generate them to overwhelm the resistance of their prey. But only conscious females are alive with flesh and blood. So a fembot would not suffice; her lack of awareness would be the giveaway.”

  “And I am the only conscious robot,” Elasa concluded. “Now we have made sense of it.”

  “But will you do it?” Mona asked.

  “Of course I will do it! The sheep need me. It will be interesting to visit another planet, something I would never qualify for otherwise. To see first hand the things Elen told me about.”

  Mona looked at her.

  “And because my closest friend asks me,” Elasa said, providing the real reason as if it were an afterthought.

  Mona hugged her. As a commentator had once remarked, there was more humanity in the robot than in many living folk.

  “What about Bela?” Mona asked then. “He really can't come along.”

  “His father will take care of him. And he has come to know and like Elen; she has a special touch you lack. No offense.”

  “Of course. I've never been a mother. She's been practicing during her pregnancy.”

  “She tells him stories of Colony Jones, and of the sheep. I don't think he really understands the details, but he does pick up on the spirit.”

  “I think I will be able to do that too, after my tour.”

  “So for a week it should be okay. I will make the arrangements.”

  “I really appreciate it.”

  “Now I think we need to rejoin the boys,” Elasa said.

  “We?”

  “It's a pretext for further visiting time. Elen is my friend too, but I value you most. We won't be seeing each other again for months, after this week, as far as the media know. Of course I will take advantage of the chance.”