Fractal Mode

  "You say it isn't safe to conjure more than one at a time," she said. "But is the risk that great?"

  "The risk is unknown," he said. "In my own reality, with well-established settings, it could be done. But here it might lead to disaster. We might arrive far apart, or one might drop from the sky."

  She had to agree that it was best to avoid such a chance. She could float gently down, but neither Darius nor Seqiro could.

  "We shall have to make shorter hops," Darius concluded with regret.

  But then Nona had another notion. "Could you conjure yourself—and carry me? So that I maintain contact with my familiar, guiding you?"

  He looked at her, judging her weight. Because their minds were connected, she understood that in the process he took note of her appealing figure. Her tunic was still somewhat plastered to her, making her apparel wretched but showing very well the underlying contours. "Yes, I could do that. But it would be an unsteady ride for you, and we might fall when we landed."

  "Then we should try it once, and not again if it seems too awkward."

  They did it. Darius brought out several tittle dolls he had made, and took material from Nona's wet dress to make a doll resembling her. He added a hair of her head to it, and a drop of her spit, and had her breathe on it. This was interesting magic! Then he made circles on the ground, identified one as where the three of them stood, and the other as where the bat waited, and invoked the cute horse doll. He moved that doll from one circle to the other—and Seqiro vanished.

  Nona had known what was coming, yet not quite believed it. No despot had power like this! Yet Darius was an ordinary man in other ways, not arrogant at all.

  Now it was the two of them together, and when Darius spoke it was unintelligible. "I don't understand," she said, showing by her words how it was, because he could not understand her language either.

  He smiled. He spoke to the girl doll, and as he did so she felt an odd shiver. The doll had become her, or she the doll, in a weird way.

  He approached her. She thought he was going to pick her up, but instead he moved the girl doll into the arms of the man doll—and Nona sailed up and into his waiting arms!

  But now his arms were occupied, and he could not move the dolls. He spoke to the girl doll, and she felt its power leave her; then he spoke to the man doll, and stood there somewhat helplessly. She realized what was needed. She reached to his hand and took the embraced dolls from it, very carefully. Then she looked at the far circle, leaned as far as she could toward it, and moved the dolls to it.

  There was a horrible wrenching, and the scenery changed. There was a jolt, and Darius fell, and she fell on top of him.

  Disoriented, Nona reacted in a manner that had become almost automatic. She put her head down and kissed him on the mouth.

  Almost immediately, she realized her mistake. This was not Stave, this was a different man. They were not pretending to be lovers in case a despot familiar was watching, they were magically traveling to another spot on the planet. She felt the flush forging to her face.

  Then perhaps you should stop kissing me, the man's thought came.

  Oops! Nona jerked her head away, her embarrassment doubling.

  But Darius laughed, outside and inside. "Don't worry; I knew what you were thinking," he said. "You forgot who I was."

  She felt his understanding. It had indeed been a mistake, no ill intended, and the ambience of the horse's mind-magic made that clear. But her blush did not clear immediately.

  "So should we make shorter hops?" Darius asked.

  Nona tried to quell her embarrassment enough to think logically. The shorter the hops, the slower would be their progress, both because of the need to set them up more frequently and because they would be making three conjurations instead of two. It seemed to make better sense to make them as long as possible. It wasn't as if it was unpleasant being in Darius' arms.

  Once more she was embarrassed, remembering that her conscious thoughts were being shared. This was another woman's man, and she had no business thinking of any personal relationship. The problem was that she wasn't used to this mind-magic, and her thoughts tended to run around like field mice, poking into everything. He seemed to have the same problem, for he had noted her figure, and there had been a whiff of sexual desire. It was odd, feeling what the man felt, but also exhilarating. What could two people do, when one was an attractive man and the other an attractive woman and their secret thoughts were open to each other?

  "They can limit it to thinking," he said. "If I followed up on every sexual thought I had, I would be in trouble, and not just with Colene."

  That had to be the answer. Nona belatedly remembered to send the bat out again, to find another suitable spot.

  They made several more jumps, gradually extending the range and gaining confidence. They should be able to get away from any despots they might encounter. Darius was tired, for he had not had the chance to sleep during the afternoon. So they found a place under a large mountain and settled down for the rest of the night.

  Nona made food for them: more oats for Seqiro, and bread for the human beings. Darius was amazed. "You need never go hungry!" he exclaimed.

  "That would be true, if I dared show my ability," she agreed. "But it would be death if the despots knew."

  He just shook his head, impressed. Nona was quite pleased, knowing that his reaction was sincere.

  Then she made some pillows and covers for each of them, perversely enjoying the demonstration of her power. She had never dared do this at home, but these folk already knew, so it made no difference.

  Darius lay down and went instantly to sleep. She had half expected him to—but of course he had a woman of his own. She was relieved and just a trifle disappointed.

  Nona let the bat go to forage, for it was not right to deprive it of its feeding time. She would be able to summon it when she wanted, now that it was her familiar.

  She really wasn't that tired. But it would be best to get more sleep while she could, so—

  SHE woke by daylight. Seqiro must have helped her to sleep, for it had never before happened that suddenly. Darius was already up, doing whatever men did in the morning.

  She was about to use her magic to make more food. But Seqiro's thought came: A hostile mind approaches.

  Nona looked up. There on the horizon was a blackbird. "A despot familiar!" she exclaimed. "They have spotted us!"

  "Then we had better move," Darius said. "Where's the bat?"

  She sent her perception out and found the mind of the bat. "She returned to her cave for the day," she reported. "It is far away. Even if she could perform well by day, it would be too late."

  "Is there room in that cave?!'

  She made the bat open its eyes and look around. "Yes, but it isn't nice, because—"

  "We must go there, then." He drew two circles. Seqiro stepped into one, and disappeared when the horse doll moved across to the second.

  Then the two of them stepped into the circle. The blackbird was now looming close. It dived down toward them.

  Darius picked her up in his strong arms, and she moved the embraced dolls to the other circle. There was the wrenching.

  They landed. Darius' feet slid out from under, and they fell in their usual pile. Probably it was because she handled the dolls clumsily, so that they did not land properly upright. But the landing was soft.

  Because they were in a mound of guano at the base of the bats' cave. That had been her objection.

  They struggled up, horribly soiled. But at least they were not hurt by the fall, and had escaped the eye of the despot's familiar.

  No, Seqiro thought.

  Then she saw the head of one of the hanging bats turning to gaze at them. The despots had familiars here! Why hadn't she realized that this would be the case?

  "Where can we go?" Darius asked, controlling his revulsion of the dung in much the fashion he had controlled his appreciation of Nona's body before.

  Colene is now in range,
Seqiro thought. The despots seem not to know her location.

  "Then take us there!" Nona exclaimed. She didn't even wait for him; she climbed sloppily into his embrace and moved the dolls, which she still held.

  Nothing happened. Darius smiled, then drew two circles. Oh. Of course. The magic hadn't known where to take them. Where would they have gone, if it had moved them to no specified destination?

  The second try was successful. First Seqiro went, then the two of them.

  They were in an embrace on a beach, still caked with bat dung. Colene turned from her embrace of the horse to see them. "Now, that's what I call a dirty scene!" she said, wrinkling her nose. She was not entirely joking; a jealous rage was forming like a flash storm.

  "Well, it's dirty business, being with other women," Darius replied.

  Colene stared at him as he disengaged from Nona. The girl did not like the physical closeness of the two of them at all. Then something changed in her mind, and the rage dissipated.

  Darius' joke was registering on another level. She burst out laughing.

  Nona did not quite understand the laughter, but realized that it meant that the situation was all right. That was a relief, because she didn't want trouble with these new friends and their marvelous forms of magic. All she wanted was to get this awful manure off her body and out of her hair.

  CHAPTER 5

  JUPITER

  COLENE had to laugh, because it wasn't the time to cry. She knew Darius hadn't been doing anything with Nona, because Seqiro was reassuring her on that. Even if Nona was a luscious young woman closer to Darius' age with, Seqiro said, formidable powers of magic. Certainly she wouldn't be rolling in the hay with him when the hay was reeking bat droppings.

  Darius took a step toward her. "Get away from me, you stinker!" she cried. "Get into the water and wash up." She glanced at the horse's feet. "You too, horsehead."

  The three of them marched to the water. Seqiro stepped in, but the other two hesitated. "Yes, take off your clothes," Colene said. "Wash them too."

  Guided by that, the man and woman pulled off their clothing. Colene watched, feeling less threatened because she seemed to be in charge. They were doing it at her direction. So it didn't matter that Darius was a handsome man and Nona a beautiful woman. That he had one terrific kind of magic and she another. It was all under control.

  Yet somehow little boxes were forming in the margin of Colene's mind, reproducing themselves and extending down the page. She drew boxes when she was upset; they overran some pages of her diary. It was written in the form of letters to Maresy Doats, her fanciful equine companion and best friend before Seqiro came into her life. But the boxes told the story better than her written words.

  Each box was really a representation of the real box she kept at home on Earth. In it was a small collection of significant things: sleeping pills, razor blades, and her Will. The Will might not be legal, but it was real. It told how to dispose of her things. She knew the box would be found after her death, and hoped that the Will would be honored. Meanwhile, while she lived, the box retreated from her awareness when she was undepressed, and loomed hi close when she was normal. It multiplied, trying to surround the page. If the boxes ever succeeded in completely encircling her words, then she would be confined, and would have to lift the lid of the real box and eat the pills and slash open her wrists and let the rich red tifeblood pour out, and sink slowly into oblivion and be gone. She didn't believe in hell, and hoped she wasn't mistaken, because otherwise she was surely going there.

  Colene blinked. Three faces were staring at her from the water. Seqiro, standing only ankle-deep. Darius, waist-deep. And Nona, also waist-deep, her bare breasts exactly the kind Colene longed for, remarkably full and firm. The three had been receiving her thoughts.

  It was funny: they had no clothing, but she was the naked one.

  "They have magic, but you are the remarkable one." It was Provos, whom she had forgotten for the moment. "You do not die in my memory."

  And Provos remembered the future. She knew. Colene turned and hugged the older woman.

  AFTER that things improved. The soiled clothing was beyond salvage. Nona and Darius donned new tunics Nona made magically from chips of wood: green for him, red for her. Neither wore anything underneath, as was the custom in this reality. They ate a meal Nona made from horsehairs. It was good, and the woman assured them that the food would not revert to its original form once it was inside them. Colene could appreciate how handy Nona would be to have around.

  "What next?" Colene inquired.

  "We must go to Jupiter," Darius said. "For this must be where the Megaplayers live. We can ask them to help Nona change the animus to anima, and then the despots will fall and we'll be able to go back through the anchor and travel the Virtual Mode again."

  "To Jupiter!" Colene exclaimed. "That monstrous planet Hobard showed us? How can we get there?"

  "By following the filament," Nona said. "All planets are connected by filaments; we can reach any, if we have the time and the magic. I think Darius' magic will enable us to travel along it."

  "But Jupiter's huge!" Colene protested. "Its gravity would crush us!"

  "Gravity?" Nona was baffled.

  They went through Seqiro to clarify the concept: the force that held people to the ground.

  "Oh, but that is the same everywhere," Nona said. "People change size with their planets, but all stand with equal force."

  "People change size?" Colene feared they had another confusion.

  "So I understand," Nona said. "I have not been away from Oria, but our myths tell of great folk and little folk. The Megaplayers are great folk, as we can see by the size of their instruments."

  "Okay," Colene said dubiously. "If gravity doesn't crush the giants, it shouldn't crush us. Magic is wonderful stuff! But how do we get to the filament? I see from Seqiro's mental picture that it connects to the planet under the East Sea."

  "We can go under the sea," Nona said. "Just as Seqiro and I did." She sent a picture of horse and woman standing under the water, with weird air tubes leading up.

  Colene nodded. "We'll have to have something better than air tubes, because that sea will get deep in that crevice. But I guess we can try it. Let's go."

  Then Provos spoke, and they listened, understanding her thoughts if not her words.

  "The despots are searching for us. They were looking for hoofprints, but realized that we are together. Their minions spied us by midmorning, and they came in force to capture us. We were traveling under the water toward what Nona calls the East Filament, but they dived down and intercepted us. They had thought that Nona was our captive, but she showed her magic in her effort to save us, and they knew her for what she is, and killed her."

  Colene looked at Nona, who was staring in horror at Provos. Any resentment Colene had had of the lovely woman evaporated. Colene thought of killing herself—but Nona faced involuntary death. That was worse.

  Darius looked thoughtful. "This is not what must happen," he said. "This is a warning. You saved the two of us from similar mischief when we traveled together. Because I heeded the warning, and we changed my future, your past. Then your memory changed."

  Provos looked blankly at him. Colene realized why: this was in her past, so it was beyond her memory. But it offered a hint how they should proceed.

  "Suppose we do something else," Colene said. "Suppose we don't go in the water? I mean, we just go hide in the jungle, or something?"

  Provos looked confused. "We have to be more specific," Darius explained. "And we have to actually plan to do it, so that she can remember it."

  They could change the future! But something else occurred to her. "Provos said I did not die in her memory. But if we change it, then I might die."

  "We shall find a future in which we all survive," Darius said. "And in which we remain together. Now we must decide on it, for midmorning is not far distant."

  They decided to make short hops up toward wild country halfwa
y toward the head of the planet, conjuring each person individually. Nona would train another familiar, with Seqiro's help. It seemed that she had trained a bat that way before; that was how they had landed in the bat cave and gotten all gunked with guano. Once the despots gave up the chase, they would see about resuming their mission to Jupiter.

  But as they reached that decision, Provos spoke again. "The despots searched us out, catching first the laggard ones and then the leading ones, who returned to try to help the others. They killed Nona and Darius, and made Colene and Seqiro slaves. Earlier, when the two almost escaped, they killed the horse also, and the girl killed herself."

  Earlier: that meant later, in ordinary time. Colene was catching on to the woman's memory. But it was an unacceptable future, because of what happened to the others.

  They tried out other scenarios, and finally found one that worked: Colene would go alone to distract the despots, while the others proceeded toward the filament. Then Colene would be conjured to rejoin the others, and they would leave the planet and be out of range of the malice of the despots.

  "But exactly how do I distract the despots?" Colene demanded.

  Before Provos could answer, a blackbird flew overhead, peering down at them. "A despot familiar!" Nona cried. "We must go immediately!"

  "But it will see us go into the water," Darius said.

  That was readily taken care of: Seqiro stunned the bird, and it plummeted into the water. Now the despots had no spy-eye, but they already knew the location. So Colene remained, while Darius conjured the others one by one to some other location. Nona was the last to go. She used her magic to make the footprints they had all left fade out.

  "Thank you for saving my life," she said to Colene, with a warm and sincere smile.

  "It wouldn't have been threatened if we hadn't come," Colene replied, feeling warmed. But the woman had disappeared.

  Colene shrugged, and practiced the smile. If it could warm her, it surely could melt Darius, and she wanted it.