Fractal Mode

Chapter 11

"Oh, not that far!" he said quickly. But it was obvious from the dilation of his pupils that it had been too far. Yet maybe that had solved her problem: he had already been distracted. It was not the way she would have chosen, but perhaps it was just as well.

"I tell you, Ana," he said as she hesitated. "I always thought you were, well, distant. Not the sort of girl to take on a date. I came here with you mainly from curiosity. But when you danced-you are a truly comely woman-it would be easy to love you."

"Don"t do that!" she exclaimed. Then she had to laugh. "I mean, I didn"t mean to-"

She saw him grow subtly tense. He felt rebuffed. "You just wanted to see what kind of impression you could make on a man when you tried?"

"No, I-"

"Well, I"ll tell you: you made an impression on me!"

This was getting worse. "Stave, I"m sorry. I shouldn"t have-"

He smiled, not comfortably. "You"re trying to say that you didn"t know how well it would work, or if it would work at all, and it worked too well? I understand. You had no more interest in me than I had in you. You just wanted to try the dance and see.

Now you know: it works. So it"s time to fetch whoever it is you"re really interested in, and make your skirt flare up for him, so-"

"Stave, no!" she cried, chagrined.

"It"s all right. There"s someone I"d like to impress too. Can you show me how to do that dance?"

She stared at him. She had not tried to deceive him; he had deceived himself. But she had to accept it. If he took the dance as a romantic prelude, instead of a connection to the Players, there would be no suspicion.

"I can try," she said. "But it isn"t something I learned. It just happened."

"Let"s make it happen again." He set down the skunk, which became a stick as his hand left it. "You did a side step, like this, and back. Then you hopped." He did these motions and he talked. He was nimble on his feet; he knew how to dance. "Then something happened."

She had heard the distant rhythm of the Megaplayers! But she doubted that he would be able to hear it too; he was not ninth born. Could she duplicate the dance without that music?

She tried. She set her feet in the remembered pattern, and her body moved, but the magic was not there.