“It’s spread on a table,” said Vadeshex, “and even though I’m very dextrous by human standards, I’m liable to spill something if I try to carry the whole table out to them.”

“Is the flyer available?”

“It will be soon. Meanwhile sit and talk with me.”

If Vadeshex had been human, and not a lying and conniving machine, Umbo would have complied. Instead, he said, “No thank you. I think I’ll go back to them afoot. You can bring the food when the flyer comes back.”

“Let me refill your water bag before you go,” said Vadeshex.

Umbo waited. When Vadeshex returned the bag bulging, he also gave Umbo a covered bowl. “You don’t need utensils for this. It will keep them till I get there with the main meal.”

When Umbo got back, they were sitting up and talking. Umbo opened the bowl and the crisp round pastries were still hot. Each had barely more than a dot of something spicy in the middle. They were delicious.

“That machine can cook,” said Loaf.

“What machine?” asked Leaky.

“He’ll be here soon with a whole meal,” said Umbo.

“Oh, do you mean the man-shaped machine that Rigg thought of as his father?” asked Leaky.

“The same kind of machine,” said Umbo.

“Supposed to be identical,” said Loaf. “Supposed to have all their memories in common.”

“I don’t believe it,” said Umbo. “I knew Rigg’s father. He taught me, too, a little. I thought of him as a great man. We called him Golden Man. Nox called him Good Teacher. Both true. But Vadeshex? Nothing but lies, manipulation.”

“It might be,” said Loaf, “you could have swapped them and they would have acted exactly alike in each other’s situations. But you get a history with one machine, and a different history with another, it’s hard to think of them as being the same.”

“How are you doing?” asked Umbo.

Leaky shook her head. “Desolated,” she said. “But not dead.”

“And that’s a good thing,” said Loaf.

“Says you,” said Leaky.

“Says me,” said Umbo. “I can only imagine the state Loaf was in, in that future where you failed to come back out of the facemask trance. If that’s how it happened.”

“More likely I ran around screaming through the facemask till it finally opened a hole for me to yell through,” said Leaky. “I was probably lashing out and breaking things.”

“Maybe,” said Loaf. “We’ve only seen one transformation—mine. Rigg did his alone, and none of us saw it. His is newer, so he looks a lot less human than I do.”

“Human enough for me,” said Leaky.