Virtual Mode

CHAPTER 12—DECISION

DARIUS watched the constellation which included Earth’s sun approach with mixed feelings. He had accomplished his mission and agreed to give the Emperor the Chip. His choice had been between Colene and the welfare of the other realities. He had chosen selfishly. He was not proud. But it was done, and now he would carry through.

It was the ninth day of their residence in this Mode. Tomorrow was Ddwng’s deadline, and their probable venture back into the Virtual Mode. Darius knew the way back to his own Mode. What would happen there? He would have to see Ddwng safely there, and ask the Cyng of Pwer to give the man the Chip. Then what? Would Pwer do it?

Darius feared he would. Because Ddwng would bring a pain dial and use it on him. If that did not work in that Mode, something else would. Ddwng was a hard man.

“You are pensive,” Pussy said via the translation ball. “How may I make you feel better?”

“I fear there is no way.”

This time she did not offer him sex or a massage. Only her unadorned sympathy. That turned out to be about as effective as anything.

All too soon they were there. The FTL Flay took up orbit around Earth, and made ready for the exchange of captains. “It has been a pleasure to serve you, sir,” Jjle said formally.

“You made it easy,” Darius said. “I hope you have pleasure in the next mission.” Then he bid parting to his Felines, shaking hands with Tom and Cat and kissing Pussy. “There were aspects of my mission I did not appreciate. But you were a delight. I am sorry to leave you.”

They did not respond, for he had neither questioned them nor given them a directive. He knew that they would serve the next captain as loyally as they had him, if the man did not have his own set of nulls. Sentimentality was wasted here. Nevertheless, he felt it.

Then he saw a tear in Pussy’s eye. That heartened him. Her emotion was surely transient, but it was there.

He stepped into the transporter cubicle with Provos, and out again in the Emperor’s palace on Earth. An Ovine neuter was there to guide them to their chamber for the night.

But when he got there, he discovered that it was occupied. There were three Equines, looking very much like his Felines but with their heads shaped to suggest those of horses. They evidently came with the suite.

Then he remembered something. Colene was served by Equines. Could it be?

“Whom do you serve?” he asked the neuter, who would be Horse.

“We serve Colene, who has directed us to make you comfortable until she returns.”

This seemed too good to be true. Ddwng was allowing them to be together? “Where is she now?”

“Dining with the Emperor, as she normally does.”

Was Ddwng taking more of an interest in Colene than in business? Darius felt a tinge of jealousy, but a larger tinge of satisfaction. Colene knew her own mind, once she made it up, and she wouldn’t hesitate to use any influence she had. She would have more influence on Ddwng than the Emperor realized, if he wasn’t careful, and she would use it to make him do what she wanted. She wanted to return to the Virtual Mode and travel with him, Darius. He was sure of this.

Maybe she had even used that influence to prevail on Ddwng to let the two of them be together this night. She could have hinted that she would make sure that Darius did not change his mind about giving Ddwng the Chip. Ddwng also might suppose that there would be key dialogue between them, which his sensors would pick up, which would reveal any potential treachery.

Well, there would be no treachery. Darius had given his word, and he would honor it. Maybe Colene expected him to do something foolish or deceitful, but he would not. He was betraying the realities, but not his nature. He hoped Colene would never know why.

What, then, was he to do this night? He did not want to be close to her before they could discuss things and come to some understanding, and he had no intention of discussing anything with her in this Mode.

“Please show us to our separate chambers,” Provos said to the nulls. “We shall eat after we are established.”

There was the answer. Provos remembered what was to happen.

Mare showed Provos to one chamber, and Stallion showed Darius to another. He saw that a bed had been set up; they were ready for the guests. He used the toilet chamber, checked himself in the mirror, and returned to the main chamber.

Horse had already set up the table with the meal of the day. Provos reappeared, and they sat down opposite each other, as they had regularly while on the ship. Darius didn’t notice what he ate, being preoccupied by his thoughts.

They were, oddly, not of Colene at the moment, but of Provos. He had traveled for some time with this odd woman, and still hardly knew her. She had seldom spoken to him recently, maintaining her disapproval of his decision. He hadn’t faulted her for that; he did not like it himself. But would she have let Colene be destroyed?

Well, her memory of the future was surely short now, because she could not remember across realities, and tomorrow they would resume those crossings. He could only hope that some agency other than his own prevented Ddwng from getting what he wanted.

Stallion departed. “He is going to fetch Colene; it is time,” Horse explained. Like Cat, the neuter was the intelligent one. Darius nodded.

Colene returned. She was an absolute vision of beauty, in a pale blue gown and diadem. Darius caught his breath, unable to speak. He had never seen her like this!

Her gaze fixed immediately on him. Of course she was not surprised; she had known he was coming. “What, no Pussy?” she inquired with mock wonder. He noted with odd surprise that her words came from her rather than from the translation ball. “Take Mare for the night.”

“I would be with her as I was with you,” he said with hurt dignity. “But without the love.”

She looked at him for a moment more. Then her face crumpled. “Oh, Darius, I’m sorry!” she cried, and flung herself at him. He barely had time to rise from his chair before she collided, bearing him back against the wall. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” she wailed through her tears, into his shoulder, destroying the careful makeup Mare must have applied.

He wrestled her around until her head came up. Then he kissed her. “I love you,” he said.

“I would do anything just to be with you!”

“Yes.” That was what they had done, betraying the realities.

“Please—be with me tonight.”

He tried to say no, and could not. His separate chamber would not be used.

But when they were together, he remembered how young she was. In his culture a woman was old enough when her body indicated she was ready, and by that token Colene was legitimate. But in hers there was a set age of consent, and she was below it. They were not in her Mode now, but her values were of it, and it would be wrong to presume on her innocence. What could she knew of the reality of sexual indulgence, however pleasurable it might be?

Also, he knew that everything they did was being watched and recorded; the walls were eyes. He had no shame in sexual expression, but with Colene, with love, the first time, there should be privacy. He could not explain this to her, because she did not know the true ways of the DoOon.

Meanwhile she stripped naked for him. He demurred. “Not yet,” he said. He also refused to take her as a gift from Ddwng. When this terrible business was done, and they were safely in his Mode, then it would be all right.

“And what of Pussy?” she demanded with mercurial temper.

“I will be with you as I was with her.” He embraced her, and did nothing more, though his desire was manifest.

“Damn you!” she whispered.

“I will not say it would not have been otherwise, had you not appeared when you did,” he confessed. “After that, I thought only of you.”

She lifted her head. “Really? You really didn’t do it? Because of me?”

“Yes.”

She paused a moment, as if listening to a distant voice. “Yes, it really was that way, wasn’t it! I am so sorry I doubted. Well, it’s me now.”

“Yes. That is enough.”

“It’s enough,” she agreed. “Well, almost; you were naked with her. So get naked with me.”

Darius sighed, not annoyed, and removed his own clothing. His body was aroused, and he did not try to conceal this from her. She wanted to know whether he desired her, and this was answer enough. But his desire was matched by his discipline.

Colene gazed at him with evident satisfaction. Then she planted herself against him, her breasts and thighs pressing close.

He knew what she was doing. The little vixen was tempting him, as she had before, but more directly. Well, she could excite him, but she could not make him forget his resolve. He closed his arms around her and stroked her sleek back, and did no more. He was perversely glad she was doing this, because it was her way.

So it was that they slept, embraced, remaining chaste in their fashion, as they had when in her Mode. The odd thing was that she seemed pleased rather than rejected. Why would she offer her body to a man and be happy when he seemed to lack the gumption to use it?

NEXT day they gathered in the chamber of the palace where the anchor was. Colene stood beside her huge stallion, whom she had named Seqiro, her hand on his nose to guide him. Darius was becoming increasingly curious about that animal, who seemed to be more than ordinary, but he would not inquire where Ddwng could listen, which meant anywhere in this Mode. Provos was as usual impassive.

Ddwng was something else. The man was solidly garbed in an all-terrain suit with many full pockets and assorted devices whose purposes were obscure. He used a personal shield, which didn’t show but made him impossible to touch with any velocity, and carried a special pain dial. “So that we may best understand each other,” he said, “I shall make a small demonstration.” He touched the dial, and the pain coursed through Darius, at about the second level. He saw Colene stiffen, and Provos, and even the horse twitched his skin as if flies were stinging it. It was tuned to them all.

Ddwng touched the dial again, and the pain abated. “I believe this will operate throughout the Virtual Mode, as will my shield. I trust Darius, but I do not trust the rest of you, or the horse who is responsive to Colene. Should anything happen to me, the dial will automatically lock on maximum. It will respond only to me.”

“You made your point,” Colene said. “You don’t trust us, but you have promised to let us go once you have the Chip.”

Ddwng nodded. “Once I have the Chip.”

Darius doubted that the pain dial would be effective across the boundaries, but that didn’t matter. It was his word which bound him, not any threat to his body.

“You understand,” Darius said, “that you and the anchor are linked. You will be able to consume only food you carry with you from the anchor Mode; other food will do you no good. You will not be able to transport any object or substance that is part of a foreign Mode across the boundaries of the Modes, and anything from your Mode that you leave behind will remain in the Mode where you set it. So you must have all the supplies you will require for a journey of several days.”

“I discovered these things when I laid out the paths,” Ddwng said. “I used machines to facilitate my work, but I had to be in contact with those machines at all times or they would not cross the boundaries. I could not assign the work to any other person, or to a robot.”

“Robot?”

“Computerized machine,” Colene put in. “Golem, to you.”

“Yes, I thought you understood,” Darius said to Ddwng. “But I have undertaken to guide you safely to my Mode, and I need to be sure you understand the nature of the inherent threats to you. You must also be cautious about stepping across the boundaries in some sections; there may be rough terrain, or predators, or traps set. We shall have to proceed extremely cautiously when approaching the pit, the region of several realities that has been mined. We can not cross it safely, but we should be able to go around it. So if I tell you to do something, do not take offense; it may be an emergency.”

“I am a realist,” Ddwng said. “You are the leader for this excursion.”

“One other thing you need to know, in case we become separated: how to tune in on the most direct path. Since anyone who gets isolated from the group will have no way but this to rejoin the group, by converging on a common destiny, we all must be able to do it.” Darius glanced at Colene, realizing something. “The horse—he is from another anchor? He can cross boundaries without having to be in contact with you? You will nevertheless have to guide him, and not let him get lost.”

“Yes, I won’t let Seqiro get lost,” Colene agreed. “And warn me long before we step into any pit! I don’t want to have to haul him out!”

Even Ddwng smiled briefly. “I wondered whether you would raise this matter. It was evident that none of you were traveling randomly. How do I tune in? I was aware of no path before; I laid out my paths only geometrically, to intercept those who crossed the blank realities. This is not a physical thing?”

“It is a mental thing,” Darius said. “In your Mode you do not employ magical or mental mechanisms. Magic simply does not operate; I experimented and verified this. I assumed that the same applied to the mental component, but discovered that it did not. The monster was simply a human child with a freak mental talent. It may be that your people have had this ability bred out of them, but that they can recover it with effort and training.”

“We shall try to broaden our gene pool with this in mind,” Ddwng said.

Darius knew how serious that was. Had it not been for that reproductive threat against Colene, his decision might have been different. “So for your own security, you need to be able to use your mind this way. You need to be able to feel the route. I’m not sure how you can do this, except by trying to blank your mind to other things, until you develop a subtle awareness of direction.”

Ddwng considered. “And if I can not?”

Darius shrugged. “You will be dependent on the rest of us to guide you. Should I suffer an accident, Provos or Colene can continue.”

Ddwng glanced at the other two. Provos seemed uninterested; her future was blank at the moment. Colene was leaning against her horse, also seeming unconcerned, which probably meant the opposite. “I prefer to master this now.”

“That could take forever!” Colene protested. “Why don’t you practice it on the way?”

That only set Ddwng more firmly. “We shall wait here until I succeed.”

Colene made a face. “Suit yourself, Emperor.”

Ddwng stood at the anchor and closed his eyes. “Nothing,” he reported after a moment.

“You are used to making demands which others must receive,” Darius said. “For this you need to be receptive. I am not sure how to guide you in this. Perhaps it would be better to wait—”

“I may be getting it,” Ddwng said. “Something very faint, a distant thought—a strong thought. I—”

He looked surprised. Then the universe turned.

Not quite literally. The land seemed to tilt, yet it was level. But the palace chamber tilted, sinking down, and Ddwng with it, while the rest of them remained as they were. The Emperor looked surprised but helpless to stop it.

Provos lurched into Darius, bearing him back toward Colene and the horse. Hold on!

He grabbed onto the harness on the horse’s body. The horse was a comfortingly stable object right now, while the rest of everything slowly went skew. Ddwng and his chamber sank all the way out of sight, and another floor or ground level descended. This level was a tree-filled landscape. Its trees tilted with it, seemingly unaffected.

Darius stared, his eyes unfocused. The forest was passing through the plane the three of them and the horse stood on, but there was no physical contact. Above it came a setting of lesser plants and shrubs, no trees. That entire setting swung through undisturbed.

Another scene swung down. This was a barren desert similar to the one they had crossed coming to this anchor. What was happening?

Ddwng freed his anchor.

It was not a voice but a thought. It felt like Colene. The desert swung down, gaining velocity. Another desert replaced it, and another.

He tried to speak, but somehow could not. There was no air, but he was not gasping. He seemed to be in suspended animation, though he could move. Anchor? Ddwng wouldn’t do that!

Seqiro took over his mind and made him decide to free the anchor.

The horse? Darius stared at the more rapidly moving scenes, which were now sliding through at a blurring rate.

Seqiro is telepathic. He has linked us. I didn’t tell you before, because we had to fool Ddwng. We caught him by surprise when he opened his mind, and before he knew it he had freed the anchor, and he’s gone. Now we have to find another, so he can’t connect up again.

A telepathic horse? Darius had never suspected such a thing! A thought from outside had made the Emperor do what only he could do, and release his anchor, cutting his Mode free of the Virtual Mode? Darius had honestly intended to deliver on his commitment to Ddwng, despite his detestation of the necessity. But now, astonishingly—

Yes. It was the only way. I planned it, but I couldn’t tell you or anyone. Seqiro tuned in on your mind, so I know how you love me. He says you have a marvelously straightforward and honest mind, no trouble at all to relate to. It was wonderful sleeping in your love last night. But I couldn’t tell you, because—

Because he would not have broken his word to Ddwng. Colene had intended all along to do this. Yet she had pleaded with him to cooperate with Ddwng!

I lied. To fool Ddwng.

She had lied—to them all.

I had to do it! It was the only way!

She had practiced deliberate deception. She had broken her given word. In the process she had rendered his pledge void.

Oh-oh.

How could he love a dishonest woman?

The chaos turning around them shifted its nature. There was sound now, as if the Modes themselves were humming. It was music, but neither pleasant nor innocent.

The passing Modes were forming a new pattern in their larger perspective. Instead of resembling some changing Earthly landscape, with mountains lifting and sinking like ragged waves, they became geometrical. Three-dimensional crystalline outlines formed, changing their configurations in odd ways. Lines and balls passed through, strung in endless spirals. Light flared in divergent colors, each color inconstant, becoming a nucleus for lesser flares, and lesser yet, and on. Well-defined shapes became cloudy, dissolving into other well-defined shapes; the cloudiness was only in the inability of the observer to fathom the nuances.

Fractals! It was Colene’s amazed realization.

There came a shape like a hairy bug, growing rapidly larger, with fire playing about its fringe. Within that fire loomed expanding curlicues, and within them spiderweblike structures linked to each other by smaller webs, and within those patterns forming seeming tunnels to infinity.

The change was slowing, as if the final orientation was coming into alignment. The new anchor was being set.

Then the whirling Modes abruptly firmed. They came to a sudden stop, with no physical impact. It was as if the Mode on which the four of them stood had been still, and the rest of all the universe had stopped their motion.

They stood at the verge of a strange stone cliff overlooking a heaving sea. Into the face of the cliff were set two enormous red roses. Before them was a young woman in a red dress. A stiff sea breeze was blowing her thick black hair to the side. Beyond her was a green valley, and beyond that a hill on which perched a stone castle.

The weird music was stronger now, not loud but penetrating to the gray matter of their bones and the marrow of their minds.

The girl seemed as startled to see them as they were to see her. Darius knew that they had just connected with a new anchor Mode, and that she was the anchor person. But the young woman had no prior experience with Virtual Modes, to her, the three of them and the horse had just appeared from nowhere.

She is Nona, Colene’s thought came. Hello, Nona. We are friends.

Darius hoped that was the case.