Two To The Fifth Read Free Page A

avidly. He felt as if his head were floating off his neck. This was a level of experience he had never imagined.
    She drew back a little, “Now stroke my bottom, as before, but more firmly.”
    He obeyed. It was as though he were fondling a fine sculpture, evoking a strong yet loving reaction. “Oh, Tess, that makes me want to—” Again he ran out of concept.
    “To summon the stork. Exactly as any man in this situation would. The next step is to—”
    “BRA-A-AAY!”
    They both jumped half out of the water, falling away from each other Don was there by the shore, having awakened from his snooze.
    “You silly ass!” Tess exclaimed angrily.
    “He's not silly, he's a smart ass,” Cyrus reminded her. “He told you.”
    “I just wanted to remind you it's getting late,” the donkey said. “You need to get out of the water while you can still see your way.”
    The woman shook herself, evidently annoyed about something. Then she made some kind of internal decision. “He's right. I think you have the idea now. When you get a woman like that, that's what you do. You understand what to do with her.”
    “Yes, I do,” Cyrus agreed. He was almost disappointed that Don had not waited to interrupt them a few minutes later “Thank you.”
    “You're welcome.” She seemed partly frustrated and partly relieved.
    They emerged from the pool, dried off, and went to their separate beds. Cyrus's feelings were in turmoil, Tess was right: he did want what she had shown him. Yet he knew it was not customary on so brief an acquaintance. So surely it was best that the donkey had interrupted them.
    “If you wish, I will join you on your bed,” Tess said from the nearby darkness. “To keep you warm.”
    Cyrus knew that he would never be able to control himself if she did that. He did not want to antagonize hen. It really wasn't cool enough to warrant such help. So he demurred. “Thank you, but I am warm enough.”
    “Okay.” She sounded vaguely disappointed. That was surely his imperfect imagination. Why would a woman want to keep a cyborg warm?
    “Don't let the tics bite you.”
    “The whats?”
    “Bugs that hide in your bed and bite when you're asleep. Such as robot tics, that make you get all metal and jerky.”
    “Oh, that would not affect me. I am already part metal, but not, I hope, a jerk.”
    She laughed for some reason, “Or synthe tics, made of plastic and metal.”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “Or roman tics, bred in a love spring, that make you amorous.”
    Cyrus suspected that one of those had already gotten him, but he didn't want to admit that. “Thank you. I'll be careful.”
    That was all. Yet somehow he felt immensely frustrated. What was the matter with him? He had learned a lot, but realized that though he was indeed interested in summoning the stork, he still wasn't satisfied about the course of his life.
    Well, tomorrow he would reach the Good Magician's Castle. The Good Magician would surely know. The GM knew everything.
    Cyrus did not need a lot of sleep, but it was the human thing to do, so he lay still and turned his animation low.
     
    In the morning they harvested fresh eggs from the eggplants, bread from the breadfruit tree, and grape and strawberry jellyfish from the pond. Tess showed him how to get fresh cups of hot tea from the T-Tree, It was very good.
    It was time to resume traveling. “Thank you for your assistance,” Cyrus told Tess. “It has been nice being with you.”
    “It could have been nicer.”
    “I don't understand.”
    She sighed. “Of course you don't. But next time you get bare with a woman, see that the donkey is nowhere near.”
    “I will try to do that,” he agreed, perplexed.
    “Let's get a move on,” Don said impatiently. “We don't have all day.”
    “Which way are you going?” Tess asked.
    “West, to the Good Magician's Castle.”
    “I'm going east.”
    “So we may not meet again.”
    “We may not,” she agreed.
    The exchange was somehow unsatisfactory,