Next was a sunny, bright section with vast arrays of solar panels, and the robots wore smaller panels on their heads and backs. The air was clean here too.

  Then a problem developed. One of Rocker’s little wheels jammed. Evidently an old internal bearing had gone bad. He flipped over to put another panel down so that he had a functioning triad, but now the top wheel was unable to spin, and his occasional clicks sounded pained, which tended to dampen his personality.

  “We had better get his wheels replaced,” Nolan said. “We don’t know when another bearing will go.”

  Apoca agreed. So they took a detour, following a new path Vinia discovered. This led to a robot repair shop.

  Nolan approached the proprietor, a sturdy machine with arms like iron bands. “Our zombie robot is in need of repair. One wheel is jammed, and others may be vulnerable. Can we make a deal?”

  “Yess,” the central grille said without hesitation. “Find our lost adapter. We had it yesterday, and today it is gone. We fear theft.”

  So there could be dishonesty among robots, maybe even crime. Nolan glanced at Vinia.

  “This way,” she said, orienting on a new path. She set off, and they followed along with a lady solar robot helper assigned by the shop master. They knew she was female because of her delicate construction and aesthetic lines. Rocker remained at the shop, waiting.

  They came to a shed where supplies were stored. There was the adapter; the helper recognized it instantly and picked it up.

  An alarm sounded and lights flashed. Wind robots converged. But the helper stood up to them, making angry beeps as she held up the adapter for them to inspect. They scanned its serial number, verifying its identity. It was Solar property.

  “Apology,” the Wind subchief said. “This was taken by a new one, not yet fully programmed. He will be punished by a dose of rancid oil. There will be no recurrence.”

  The helper thanked him with a metallic kiss on his propeller housing that flashed a blue spark. He plainly liked it. She was evidently pretty, in robot terms.

  “An errant child stole it,” Apoca murmured. “It figures.”

  They returned to the shop, where the proprietor was pleased to have his adapter back. Then he gestured to Rocker, who now had four new wheels. The top one was spinning happily, and the clicks were serene. The repair was complete.

  “I think I like doing business with robots,” Nolan murmured. “They are straightforward.” The others agreed.

  They resumed their trek along the original path. They had learned something about the robot society. It was like human society, in its fashion.

  Next was a mountainous section with dammed rivers to generate power from the flowing water. This was near the sea, and there were giant paddles in the water that moved with the tides and generated more power for the Hydros.

  Then a region with pipes delving deep down into the ground, bringing up heat, with generators on the surface, and a network of cables to distribute the canned power. This turned out to be the section of the geothermal robots.

  After that there was the New Clear Fission section, but Vinia’s path steered them away from those robots because some of them were radioactive, not healthy for live folk.

  Finally they came to the New Clear Fusion section, where the robots glowed with the energy of the sun. These were clearly the dominant tribe, having phenomenal power without the need for distributive cables, and they did not radiate.

  Here a robot guard blocked the path. Rocker’s clicks sounded; this was not an entity to be balked. Yet they needed to proceed.

  “Take us to your leader,” Nolan said.

  That worked. The guard led the way along what Vinia signaled was a green path.

  In due course they were ushered to the leader, the Emperor Fusion, in a reasonably elegant palace meeting room. Rocker’s muted clicking continued: there was social danger here. The emperor was in handsome human form, with a fitted purple robe and a small conservative crown. “What is your purpose here, travelers?” he inquired mildly, not seeming dangerous at all, but subtle menace surrounded him. He was obviously a potent leader. He glanced at Rocker. “Cease your alarm, zombie; I do not abuse my power.”

  The clicking stopped. That did not reassure Nolan.

  “We are looking for a plaque that says either here or not here,” Nolan said cautiously. “If it is the latter, we will move on out of your domain.”

  Fusion smiled. He was clearly a sophisticated machine, seeming quite human with his expressive plastic face, with no metal showing. “As it happens, we know of such a plaque. It appeared recently in our domain, and we wondered what its purpose was.”

  “If you value it, we will not take it. Simply tell us which of the two types it is.”

  Fusion frowned. “I think not. We will fetch it for you so that you can see for yourself and be satisfied. But first you must render us a service. That will make it a fair exchange.”

  Nolan felt Apoca’s gaze on the back of his head. She knew this was mischief. They did not need the clicks or the bugs to warn them. But how were they to handle it? The robots were a bartering society. So—carefully.

  “We may be happy to oblige you,” Nolan said. “But it depends on the service. We are not interested in hurting anyone or anything, or in compromising our larger mission. We just want to get along.”

  “Which mission I understand relates to the talents of living children,” Fusion said. It seemed he had his sources. “We lack that problem, but sympathize. Our request is merely a matter of observation and instruction. We wish to establish closer relations with our neighboring living human kingdoms, who are understandably wary of robots. You, as full humans, can teach us how to become more presentable.”

  The zombie’s muted clicks resumed warningly. A glance from the emperor silenced them again. Caution enough.

  “Perhaps,” Nolan said. “But we lack experience in robot culture.”

  “You did well enough with the zombies. Royal human-zombie liaisons are rare. Perhaps you can enable us to arrange a royal human-robot one. It is our impression that human prejudice against robots is generally less than that against zombies. Your success with the zombie connection augurs well for your ability with robots.”

  “Even so, the nuances can be awkward to convey,” Apoca said. “Particularly in romance.”

  “Indeed,” Fusion agreed. “We have discovered that there are subtleties that can torpedo a romance that may not be noticeable to us in ordinary discourse. Our students are apt; they can learn quite well by example. But as yet we have not had that example.”

  “It is clear that you are able to craft humanoid robots that could be mistaken for living humans,” Nolan said. “But we are not sure we wish to help you deceive humans. This might be considered a betrayal of our species, even though I myself am a crossbreed in human form rather than a native human.”

  “Understood. We have no intention to deceive. We merely desire to become sufficiently adept in the human manner so that neighboring human kingdoms will be comfortable with us, even to the point of open intermarriage, thus forming enduring associations in the human manner. We prefer them to see us as a variant of human, knowing our nature.”

  “No deception,” Apoca said thoughtfully. “So that just as I might consider knowingly marrying a form-changing naga prince, a human princess might consider doing the same with a robot prince, fully understanding his nature.”

  “Exactly.” It was indeed what he had said.

  They considered that, still uncertain.

  “Aye dear,” Gent said.

  “Say it.”

  “Yew & hee, & row butt M U lotions.”

  Apoca required much of a long moment to sort that out, but she got it. “Me and Nolan and robot emulations.”

  This was beginning to seem feasible, but Nolan retained one reservation. “You can surely craft realistic emulations of the two of us, and we could interact with them, exploring the nuances. But can you guarantee that they would always be identifiable as robots, no matter how realistic in other ways? So that no deception is possible?”

  “Yes.” Fusion snapped his fingers. Two people approached, a man and a woman. He was handsome, and she was shapely.

  “Oh my,” Apoca gasped.

  Then Nolan recognized what his mind had momentarily resisted. They were Nolan and Apoca, complete in every detail. Except for the bugs on their shoulders, which the robots either hadn’t noticed or considered irrelevant.

  “Wrists, please,” Fusion said.

  The two held out their left arms. There on their wrists were metal bracelets, inset bands, part of their arms. One said nolan robot and the other said apoca robot. Very solid identification.

  Nolan laughed. “Hello, robot selves.”

  Robot Nolan laughed exactly the same way. “Hello, human selves.”

  “You’re lovely,” Apoca said to her opposite, smiling graciously.

  The other Apoca smiled equally graciously. “Thank you.”

  “We have a guesthouse for the other members of your party,” Fusion said. “And a palace suite for you, if you are ready to start.”

  Apoca glanced at him, and the robot edition did the same thing, perfectly. They were indeed apt learners. “All you require is our observation, guidance, and report, so that other folk will see them as metal humans with complete social graces?”

  “That’s all,” Fusion said. “A day or so should do it. To demonstrate our good faith, and knowing that you are creatures of honor, we will show you the plaque now.” He gestured, and a courtier approached carrying a plaque that said not here.

  “Thank you,” Nolan said, relieved that they could leave once their observation was over. This monarch was too pushy and powerful to associate with too long.

  A robot courtier went to Gent, Vinia, and Rocker, to conduct them to the guesthouse. These robots certainly were efficient! Nolan knew that Ghorgeous would emerge from the zombie robot and alert him if anything untoward happened. With luck these robots did not know about her or the bugs.

  Robot Apoca stepped forward and took his arm. “This way, dear,” she said.

  What? Dear? He saw that Robot Nolan was taking Apoca’s arm. Well, the purpose was to educate them in the nuances of interpersonal interaction, including romantic. They were clearly eager to learn. So it was best to get it over with. Nolan suffered himself to be guided to the suite.

  It turned out to be palatial, a whole complex in itself. There was a living room with a window overlooking the colored spires and turrets of the rest of the palace, a kitchen, and even a marvelous pool with literally sparkling water.

  Nolan Robot saw his look. “Special effects,” he explained. He touched a button, and the sparkle became a miniature rainbow, then a starry sky right there inside the chamber. The water changed colors and showed the images of fish. Multicolored bubbles appeared, rising slowly to the surface and on into the air before popping. The pool border became a sandy beach complete with old seashells and tufts of sea oats. Currents appeared, with green water swirling against blue water. Then it took on a viscous semblance, as if it were thickening gelatin. Finally a fountain appeared, splashing into the surface like rain. “Our guests generally enjoy the variations.”

  So they had entertained living visitors before, not necessarily human.

  “But enough distraction,” Apoca Robot said, taking his arm again. “We have more interesting business.”

  Nolan Robot did the same with Apoca. They moved on to the sleeping quarters.

  He found himself in a private bedroom with the female, who looked and sounded so much like the real Apoca that he wanted to hug and kiss her. That was dangerous. He was thankful for the wrist ID. “Now, let’s make love, dear,” she said as she stepped out of her clothing and stood gloriously nude.

  He did not need to hear Rocker’s clicking or Aurora’s warning to know that this was treacherous ground. But he did not want to risk offending the robots by an outright refusal. “Um, not so soon.” Was the male making a similar advance to Apoca? It was past time to get this under control. “Human couples don’t generally just jump into bed with each other, let alone with others. There are protocols.”

  She smiled prettily. “I apologize. I merely wish to learn how to please a man most efficiently.”

  He smiled back, knowing that his expression was no more sincere than hers. “Efficiency is not the point. Romance is not efficient, it is emotional.”

  “Emotional,” she repeated, as if slightly hurt. Bleep, she was good!

  He realized that he was overlooking something. “You’re a robot. A machine. Do you even have emotions?” He remembered how Rocker seemed to have different moods, but that was not necessarily the same.

  “We have emotion circuits we can invoke.”

  “That’s a start. But Apoca Live can clarify that better than I can. Let’s join them for this discussion.”

  She looked demurely regretful but walked over to the wall and tapped on it. A panel slid open. Beyond it was the next room, where Apoca and the male robot sat on the bed beside each other. Apoca glanced their way and frowned.

  Nolan remembered belatedly that Apoca Robot was now gloriously nude. He covered the awkwardness by speaking. “We need your input on emotion.”

  Apoca smiled wryly. “So I see.”

  She knew him well enough to be sure he had not done anything with the robot. “I have explained that romance is more complicated than merely stripping and getting into bed,” he said. “Especially royal romance, which has political complications. This is one aspect our companions need to pick up on. They have emotion circuits, but they lack nuances. Can you show her how to proceed with an interested human prince?”

  Apoca stood. “This way.” She stepped toward him, drawing him in close. “Shall we dance, Prince Anonymous?” she inquired archly.

  For the moment both robots were nonplussed. Nolan faced them. “Surely you have programs for formal human dancing. Download them.”

  There was a pause of only half an instant. “Done,” Nolan Robot said.

  “Thank you, NR,” Apoca said.

  Then Nolan and Apoca danced a slow waltz. He loved it. Not only was she his beloved, she was supple, graceful, and knew exactly how to do it.

  They took a turn around the room, then split. Nolan went to Apoca Robot—AR—and Apoca went to NR. The robots’ programs were good; they had the moves down perfectly, and AR was exactly as light on her feet as Apoca. She also remained excitingly nude.

  “Very good,” Apoca said after the turns. “This is an expedient way to get close to your opposite without alarming him or her.” She returned to Nolan. “Next stage. Shall we kiss, Prince Anonymous?” She smiled invitingly.

  “You are beautiful, Princess Obscure,” he said. “And marvelous to hold.” Of course she was actually a queen, but these were roles.

  “Thank you.” Her arms tightened around him, drawing them closer together.

  Their faces moved slowly, slowly toward each other, closing the gap with tantalizing deliberation. Then they kissed fleetingly. Nolan loved this too.

  Apoca turned to her double. “The first time is generally minimal, so that neither feels forced. They will talk further and hold hands, gradually becoming more comfortable with their closeness. It may go no further than this, the first day. He may desire her, but she will be more cautious. In due course they will kiss more passionately. Do not hurry it. It can take time for the hormones to be stirred.”

  “I should not have removed my clothes,” Apoca Robot said.

  “Yes. You do not want to seem overly eager. Let him take the lead, and yield cautiously to his advances. The initiative is normally his. Then you may invoke your hormone emulation circuits to accommodate his growing desire.” She disengaged from Nolan. “Now, you try it, AR.”

  The robot came to join Nolan, and they went through the same motions. Exactly the same. Then Apoca tried it with NR. Both robots had the moves and expressions down perfectly.

  After that, the robots did it with each other, and it was supremely realistic. They were indeed apt learners.

  They continued the demonstrations, covering variations of motions and dialogue, until they were ready for the next stage. “What we have covered is called necking,” Apoca said. “Because much of it occurs above the neck. The next stage is petting, which occurs mainly between the neck and the waist.” She took Nolan’s hand and threaded it under her shirt so that he could feel her bare bosom. It was, of course, a phenomenal turn-on for him, and perhaps for her. “This will increase his interest, but she will demur when he wants further action. The limits are hers, and she may set them wherever she pleases. He will honor those limits, lest he annoy her and lose any chance for further progress.”

  Then Nolan got to do the same with AR, which he found almost as guiltily exciting as he had with the original. He knew that the robot had no true emotions, but she was a superlative actress, and her nuances were perfect. But it bothered him privately that Apoca was now doing the same with NR.

  “Hereafter it can become nude, for both, in bed,” Apoca said. “But it must be voluntary, at least for the female. The male will always express interest, and be quite ready to follow up, but the female must acquiesce before any stork summoning occurs. Violation of this principle will likely cause immediate cessation of the relationship. If the female is really interested, she may even take the initiative, and seduce the male. That is her prerogative. Do you understand, in part or in whole?”

  “We understand,” NR said. “Your instructions have been excellent.”

  “But will they work on other royals?” AR asked.

  “They should, if you are patient. Remember, do not rush it. Give them time to adjust to the idea of personable robots.”