“Also,” Nolan said, “a romantic association, even including seduction, does not guarantee a marriage. That may require a prolonged courtship.”

  “It took me time to adjust to the idea of marrying a naga prince,” Apoca said. “I suspect it would have taken longer for a robot prince.”

  “Thank you for this lesson,” NR said. “We have learned much that was not in our programs.”

  “I think we are done here,” Nolan said. “We must return to our group.”

  “Please, not yet,” AR said, frowning prettily. “We will practice by ourselves but may yet encounter unanticipated nuances. We prefer to have you stay the night, to be available for our possible questions. We want to be perfect.”

  Nolan exchanged a glance with Apoca. She shrugged. “Why not? We want the emperor to be satisfied.”

  “Thank you so very much,” AR said warmly. Even her gratitude echoed Apoca’s perfectly.

  “Now we must use the sanitary facility,” Apoca said. “We living folk have biologic needs you robots lack.”

  The two robots exchanged a glance exactly the way Nolan and Apoca had. They were still picking up nuances. “We understand,” NR said. “Here is the facility,” He opened another door, and there was a nice bathroom complete with sink, tub, toilet, and accessories. “And this is the pantry.” He showed them another chamber stocked with assorted foods and beverages.

  “Thank you,” Nolan said, impressed anew.

  Then NR and AR opened the invisible door and went to the other bedroom, holding hands. They had practicing to do. The door closed behind them and disappeared.

  Apoca stepped into the bathroom while Nolan sat on the bed and munched on tasty crackers and sipped excellent wine. The robots did know how to entertain guests. Surely they had done it before, repeatedly. That would explain their amazing ability to tune in on the nuances.

  Nolan relaxed. It had certainly been a day, and they were ready to rest, physically and emotionally.

  In due course Apoca emerged, prettified, and Nolan took his turn. When he emerged, Apoca was seated where he had been, nibbling on more crackers and sipping wine. He joined her, and she handed him a cracker. “Confession,” she said, blushing slightly.

  “If it is that you regret having to demonstrate intimate touching with me and NR, I understand. I felt awkward doing it with AR. But we had to do it right, while they watched, or there was no point in the exercise.”

  Her blush deepened. “That too.”

  This was more than interesting. She was an extremely self-possessed woman, not much given to embarrassment, and they had not crossed any taboo boundaries. “There is more?”

  “The demonstrating turned me on.”

  He smiled. “Me too. I kept wishing we were alone together.”

  “We are alone together now.” Her blush continued as her breathing deepened.

  Oh. “You mean you want to—”

  She cut him off with a passionate kiss. It seemed she did want to.

  What more could he ask? He kissed her back, then stood so he could get undressed. She did the same, then drew back the blanket and sheet. He had never seen her more lovely and had never been more ready himself.

  “Nolan,” Aurora said mentally.

  He answered her the same way. “Can it wait? I’m busy at the moment.”

  “That is not Apoca. It is the robot.”

  That froze him. “But there’s no wristband.”

  “They abolished them.”

  “But she was eating crackers.”

  “Robots can, when they need to. They can also drink and pee.”

  “And she blushed.” But he knew that could be programmed into sophisticated machines. Aurora was contact telepathic, and he had been touching Apoca. Apoca Robot. The fire ant knew.

  “I am in touch with Nimbus. She is telling Apoca.”

  He realized that the robots had pulled a stunt, switching places with the real people and pretending to be the originals. It might be their ultimate test; if they could fool their living partners into complete seduction, they would prove their mastery of the form and manner. The ultimate nuance.

  They might even have succeeded, but for the bugs. AR had indeed fooled him. Had aroused him. She had played the role perfectly. Even knowing he was with a machine, he had to concede that this thing before him remained infernally sexy. He well might have bedded her and never known the difference. If NR was as good with Apoca as he surely was, the two of them could have had their first complete intimacy without ever knowing of the substitutions. The robots would truly have passed their final exam, as it were.

  The easiest course was to play along, pretending never to know, and resume their search for the right plaque in the morning, leaving the robots well satisfied. Too bad Nolan was not that good a sport! He was sure Apoca had a similar objection.

  “Why do you hesitate, dear?” the pseudo Apoca asked as she spread her lovely legs, her concern manifest. Bleep, she was good!

  They had to get out of this! But how, without blowing up the deal? If they called the robots on their fakery, that could be taken as proof that their instruction of those robots was incomplete. That more was needed. But to go through with it was not acceptable either. It was an impasse.

  He needed time to think this through. So he temporized. “As you know, Apoca, we have not before been intimate. We have merely held each other and kissed. This is a significant step. Are we sure we want to do it at this time? We are not yet married.”

  Her face crumpled into horror. “Are you saying that you don’t love me?”

  Bleep, she was good in that too! His continued reluctance could be taken as lack of passion. Even knowing it was an act on her part, he felt guilty for even making such an implication. He surely could enjoy doing it with AR. But he had to fight it through. “I am suggesting that we may prefer to wait until we are married. For one thing we don’t want the storks to bring our daughter prematurely.” That put the ball, as it were, in her corner. She could not point out that there was no danger of any signal reaching the Stork Works, because machines did not order from the storks. New robots were constructed, not signaled for. Machines sent no three dot ellipses. This tryst had no substance other than pleasure.

  She smiled. “I came prepared. I am wearing an internal barrier of the type used in Mundania that will prevent any signal from getting through to the storks. I will remove it when we marry.”

  Bleep again. She had refuted him. But he got another idea. “Nevertheless, it remains a significant step, emotionally as much as physically. Let’s ponder it a while, just to be sure. We do have all night, assuming we don’t get interrupted by questions from the robots.”

  She yielded gracefully. “If they are doing what we are doing, they will not break off for questions.” She of course knew that the robots would not be interrupting anything. They wanted to complete the action, thus proving themselves.

  They lay side by side, holding hands. Now Nolan had a chance to think. How had the robots made the exchange? The bathroom had to be the key. When Apoca used it, her door must somehow have exited to the companion bedroom, so that she joined NR, who would have been eating crackers. AR had then stepped into this bedroom. This must be a sophisticated suite, with a movable bathroom.

  Could he and Apoca work a similar exchange? Not via the bathroom, which they did not know how to move. But some other device?

  Then he got it. The swimming pool! With its naughty colors. Get all four of them in it together, color it, and make the switch with the guidance of the bugs. With luck the robots, intent on their personifications, would not know.

  “Aurora, can you put me in touch with Apoca? We have a plan to work out.”

  In barely a moment Apoca’s mental voice came through. “I hope your plan is apt, Nolan. I don’t want to have to become intimate with a machine.”

  She, of course, had had relations with other partners, as had he. He had fond memories of seductive nymphs and mermaids, and she could have any man she wanted for a temporary tryst merely by kissing him. That was not the point. They wanted their first intimacy to be their own. That was not something the robots needed to understand.

  “The pool. With its lights, textures and bubbles. Have a splashing party with the machines, and quietly switch places to be with each other, leaving them to seduce each other. We, too, if we want. If they are good enough to fool us, they may be good enough to fool each other.”

  “Problem,” she said. “We are supposed to think they still have their ID wristbands on. It will be apparent that they don’t.”

  Oops.

  “Problem,” Aurora said. “The pool is presently being serviced, as it is nightly when not in use. Corrosive chemicals are flooding it.”

  Oops again.

  Nolan spurred his reluctant brain to special action. And got a flash that solved both problems.

  “I saw that flash,” AR said. “You have an idea.”

  “I do,” he said, knowing that Aurora would relay his words to Nimbus and Apoca. “I want to have this first fling, but I want to make it special. Like no other, so as to be truly memorable. I have thought of a way.”

  “This sounds like fun.”

  “I want to do it in the pool, with the lights, bubbles, and colors. To make it super special, have the two robots participate, making it a two-couple foursome. It will also show them how far the niceties can stretch, so that they will not be caught off guard if they later encounter living royals who have specialized romantic tastes. The final nuance.” He knew she could not turn down a nuance.

  “Um, I understand that the pool is cleaned and refurbished at night,” she said. “Caustic fluid fills it, before fresh water is restored for the next day. It is not suitable for swimming.”

  “Oh, bleep! I did so want that nuance.” His disappointment was artificial; this was a key aspect of his plan. “But I have a notion: let’s don wetsuits and goggles to protect us from the chemicals, so we can splash all we want. Suits that fit so well anatomically that they will not interfere with our intimacy. The boys can wear blue suits, and the girls red suits, making it a really colorful occasion.” The suits would also conceal the robots’ lack of wristbands.

  “Genius!” Apoca murmured. Her genuine appreciation thrilled him.

  “Let’s do it,” AR said, her unvoiced objection nulled. She knocked on the wall. “Robots, don wetsuits and meet us at the pool for a wild splash. Blue for male, red for female.”

  “Will do,” NR called back.

  They repaired to the supply closet, then to the pool. There they were met by the other couple, supposedly both robots. Apoca looked gorgeous in the tight wet suit. Of course she was playing along. If the true robots had had any time to consider more fully, they might have realized that a living woman playing a robot was suspicious at this moment. No, she would have been told that the other couple were the robots.

  The water was a dilute gray, because of the cleaning fluid. But then the special effects came on, independent of the water, and the pool came alive, complete with the fountain. They waded in, and soon were swimming, then splashing one another like children.

  “Get behind the fountain,” Nolan told Apoca via the bugs. “When I join you, swim underwater to the far side.”

  The other Apoca splashed her way to and through the fountain. Nolan held his breath and dived, tackling her underwater. She dropped down and swam beside him. They came up together and looked back. The other two were still splashing each other. Then they broke off and kissed. It was working! They had succeeded in switching partners.

  They wasted no time. Nolan and Apoca kissed, knowing they were the right ones. Then they made love in the water, in wetsuit fashion, without actual physical contact. No actual signal went out to the Stork Works. Now this first emulation could never be taken from them.

  Then they rejoined the robots. It no longer mattered as much who was with whom; they had had their experience.

  Nolan and Apoca changed out of their wetsuits and returned to the bedroom. “This is AR again,” Aurora said.

  Nolan sighed inwardly. It seemed that the robots had managed to switch back.

  “I proffer you this deal,” AR said. “If you will tell me how you knew I was not your living partner, I will leave you alone romantically and cause you no mischief. The same goes for NR with Apoca. Evidently our performance has been imperfect.”

  So she knew he knew. “Is it safe to tell her?” he asked Aurora.

  “We are in touch with Ghorgeous and thus Rocker and Vinia. They indicate that it is safe. The region is green, and the clicks are routine. The robots mean us no harm. They just want their emulations to be perfect.”

  “Deal,” he told AR. “We have telepathic bugs that enable us to communicate with each other. Mine is Aurora Ant. She read your mind when we touched, and knew it wasn’t alive. She told me. It was no fault in your presentation; you had me fooled. As far as I am concerned, you have learned well enough to succeed in your relations with living kingdoms. Especially since you will not be trying to deceive them about your nature.” That last was a reminder of their promise to be open.

  AR nodded exactly as Apoca would have. “This is interesting. I would like to meet her.” She was avoiding the issue of deception.

  Nolan put his hand on his shoulder, and the ant stepped onto it. “This is Aurora,” he said, holding her up. “She is accompanying me while she looks for a suitable new home for her nest. We get along well.”

  “She is telepathic? I would like to communicate with her directly.”

  “I don’t know if that is possible, as you are not alive,”

  “Why should that make a difference? I am conscious and feeling, when the key circuits are invoked. Don’t those qualities count?”

  Did they? He had not considered this aspect before.

  “Aurora?” he asked.

  “She does have a mind. It is foreign to any I have encountered before, but there is a glimmer there.”

  “She says there’s a glimmer,” he told AR.

  “Maybe I can adapt an empathy circuit so as to tune in better.” The robot focused.

  “Getting warmer,” the ant said. “Touch her so I can read her better.”

  “Keep tuning,” Nolan said, taking AR’s hand.

  The focus continued.

  “There!” AR and Aurora said together.

  A picture formed in the air between them. In it appeared the robot facing the ant, adjusted to be on a similar scale of size. “I am so glad to meet you, telepathic companion,” AR said.

  “Likewise,” Aurora said. Then both turned to Nolan, looking at him from the picture. “We have established mental contact,” the figures said together. “Now, let go of the hand.”

  He let go. “That’s great! I hope you like each other.”

  “We do,” they said together, and laughed. Clearly the telepathic contact remained.

  “With assistance like this,” AR said separately, “we could make progress approximately 2.75 times as rapidly as before. We must contact the bugs in our domain.”

  “Only a few will be telepathic,” Aurora said. “But you should be able to scout them out if you use your present empathy tuning. They will not be just ants and nickelpedes; telepathy seems to be randomly scattered among species, with perhaps one in a hundred individuals having the capacity for it.”

  “We will give all robots the telepathic setting, now that we know it,” AR said. “What can we offer the bugs in return for their assistance?”

  “Recognition as sapient species. We are long since tired of being considered vermin and put in chronic danger of damage or even extermination.”

  “We will gladly grant that. A bug representative will have a place in the court, and the emperor will heed her advice. All extermination will halt.”

  “You can say that?” Nolan asked, surprised. “An ordinary fusion robot?”

  The robot’s expression changed. “She can,” the emperor’s voice said from her mouth.

  Oh. The robots had better interpersonal connections than he had realized. Had the emperor been watching as AR tried to seduce him?

  AR’s body spoke again with the emperor’s voice. “Nolan, you have perhaps inadvertently delivered to us significantly more than our bargain required. We owe you one. Here is our repayment, in the form of advice. You may be about to take the path leading to the realm of madness. Avoid it, despite the temptations it may proffer, as things are not merely crazy there. You will lose your living minds and be unable to escape it or to complete your Quest. The other paths are safer, though they have their challenges.”

  “He knows what he is talking about,” Aurora said. “He may have saved your sanity.”

  “Uh, thank you,” Nolan said, taken aback.

  “Honor requires fairness. Quo pro quid.” Then the robot’s expression reverted to normal. The emperor was gone.

  “Now rest and sleep, preparing for the morrow,” AR said. “I will leave you alone, or oblige you in any manner you desire, or return your fiancée to you.”

  “The last,” Nolan said, relieved.

  The robot got up and went to the door. She opened it to admit Apoca, then stepped on out.

  Apoca flung herself into his embrace. “The bugs kept me informed. Just hold me.” She kissed him, her face wet with her tears of relief. She seldom showed the softer emotions, but this seemed justified at the moment.

  “This is the real Apoca,” Aurora said unnecessarily.

  They spent a chastely passionate night, still leaving the stork out of it. Any question of their commitment to each other had been banished.

  In the morning they kissed once more, got up, cleaned, dressed, and went to the living room to bid parting to the robots, who now wore their ID bracelets again. “We very much appreciate your instruction,” AR said warmly. “We hope to establish excellent relations with the Queendom of Thanx and the Kingdom of Naga in due course.”