DoOon Mode

  Morna nodded. "That's why I drank, dear. It made me forget, or at least not care."

  "And it's why I strayed," Garret said. "The excitement of illicit love—that banished the melancholy. For a while."

  Colene stared at him. "You're depressive too?"

  "Yes. I didn't know it, until I got into therapy, after you left. Fortunately counseling and medication have been effective for me, and I am now in equilibrium. But it has been harder for Morna." He glanced at his wife. "What a pair we turned out to be!" He looked again at Colene. "Thank God you didn't inherit it."

  Colene couldn't speak. All this time she had thought she was alone—and it was from her parents! She had concealed her own case so well that they didn't know it. And she hadn't known of theirs. They had all been perfect at one thing: keeping secrets from each other. To paraphrase her father: what a family they had turned out to be.

  "So they put me on this other medicine," Morna continued. "And it worked. It made me feel better, or at least tolerable. But then there was a change in doctors, and they gave me different prescription, because they say the ones I was on weren't on the approved list, only these ones are much worse. I become—Garret can tell you."

  "Wild," Garret said. "At times I hardly know her. Sometimes she thinks I'm a rapist."

  Colene froze again. Rape! They had just touched the last base.

  "I do know better," Morna said. "Garret may have strayed, but he was never violent. But these medications distort my perceptions so that I don't know what's real. I think someone's reading my mind, or performing magic, or chasing me—it's all so crazy."

  "Crazy," Colene agreed weakly. People were reading her mother's mind, and doing magic. But what the woman actually perceived was indeed hallucinatory. How could so much irony collect in one place? "But if it's because of the wrong pills, why don't you tell them? The doctors?"

  "They say they're not allowed to deviate from the list," Garret said. "For all that the right medicines were on it before. I think they cost more, so they were banned. I even went over the doctor's head and went to the supervisor. I told him that these were wrong for Morna, that they were tearing her up. And do you know what he said?" He paused a moment for effect. " 'I can live with that.' That's what he said."

  Colene's astonishment was shifting into something else: anger. Burgess felt that deadly emotion. There was going to be trouble. "You told him, so he knows—and he doesn't care?"

  "That's right," Morna said. "It's awful. We can't afford to pay for the pills ourselves, so we're at their mercy."

  "And the bureaucracy is merciless," Garret said. "Sometimes I think the administrators literally don't care whether you live or die, so long as they can save a buck."

  Colene's anger found a sudden focus. "Maybe we can do something about that," she said grimly.

  There was a weird exhilaration in that emotion, because it was justified. Colene had once turned her horrors inward, destroying herself, but this was anger for an external situation. Someone else would suffer.

  Garret shook his head. "That bureaucracy's immovable. We shouldn't have bothered you with this. It's our problem. How are you doing, Colene?"

  "Never mind about me, Dad. Mom's the one with hallucinations. Give me the name and address of that idiot supervisor."

  "Colene," Darius murmured warningly. "We don't want to attract attention."

  But Colene's ire was now in full swing. When she got something into her head, she went after it with suicidal intensity. It was her way. "So I'll take Nona along to mask us, okay? Mom needs help."

  Darius rolled his eyes, more for the parents' benefit than Colene's, so that they would know he had tried. "At least get some local currency first."

  He had a point. They could get around better without using magic if they had a bit of spending money. "I'll get some."

  "Legitimately," he said firmly.

  She made a face. "Awww." Then she blew him a mental kiss and left the house. He would reassure the parents that she would be all right, and wasn't as wild as she seemed. He was a good man. That was Nona's thought. She would have loved Darius if it were not for Colene. She appreciated his qualities without having any designs on him. She was as good a woman as he was a man. That was Cat's thought.

  Colene went out back. It did not make much difference, as far as Burgess' awareness of her thoughts went; they were all in constant touch. It was wonderful having the ambiance of Seqiro's telepathy again.

  Pussy came forth to greet her. "You want to assist your mother," she said. "How can I help?"

  "I don't think you can, in this. I need Nona."

  "I will come too," Pussy said.

  Colene didn't want to argue. "Okay." Then, as Nona joined them: "We need to get some money, so it's time for Amos. I'll call him. What day is this?"

  No one understood her context, so she returned to the house. "What's the day?"

  "Tuesday," Garret said.

  "Thanks. I need to call Amos Forell."

  "He's the junior school science teacher," Morna said, as if Colene did not already know that.

  "Yes, I had classes with him. He'll be at the school now, but maybe I can reach him." Colene went for the telephone. Burgess could not make sense of that, until Cat clarified it: the device was roughly similar to mechanical telepathy.

  "What does she want with the science teacher?" Garret asked Darius.

  "He saved Burgess," Darius said. "She is grateful." But that was not the whole of it.

  Colene was lucky. She caught the teacher in his office. "Hi. I forgot to take that book."

  Burgess could not receive the man's response, as the telephone was not really telepathy, but some kind of distance conveyer of nothing more than his voice. But he understood from her reaction that the man was surprised. It seemed he had recognized her voice.

  "No, I won't be needing it now," she said. "Nona and I are here. Yes, the lovely one with the magic. Can we see you?"

  There was another pause. Then Colene spoke again. "Okay, we'll be there soon. But you know, we won't look like us, at first. Not until we're alone with you." She replaced the instrument, separating herself from the distant man. She looked at her father. "We need to go to the school. Can you take us?"

  Garret looked at Morna. "Go ahead, dear. I'll be all right."

  Colene made a spot decision. "Yes you will, Mom. Go out back and talk to Burgess and Tom and Cat. They'll catch you up on everything that's been happening. It's interesting. But I guess you know better than to talk about it elsewhere. They would think you were hallucinating."

  Morna winced. Colene was immediately sorry. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I wasn't trying to make fun of you. I mean nobody in his right mind would believe anything about the Virtual Mode. But you and Dad know it's true."

  "I will go with you," Darius said quickly.

  Morna was reassured. "You are a nice young man. Colene has done so much better since she met you."

  Colene, Nona, and Pussy followed Garret to the vehicle, while Darius led Morna to the yard. "Colene's mother would like to learn what we have been up to. Why don't we step into an adjacent Mode and tell her?"

  Colene's mother had seen the closest Modes before; Nona had shown her. But she still found it difficult to accept. She paused before stepping across the boundary. "These other worlds—they extend indefinitely?"

  "Yes," Darius said. "Each one is different. Some are completely different." He went on to explain how different some of them were, and to give a brief summary of their travels. "So the mind predator was after Colene again, and we had to return to an anchor Mode immediately," he concluded.

  "She never said a word about that," Morna said.

  "She is not used to confiding in you. She couldn't tell you everything herself. But she does want you to know. And she will try to help you with your medicine."

  Cat stepped close. "One of us must take your hand to enable you to cross. Will you take mine?"

  She shrugged. "All right. You seem like a
nice cat." She extended her hand. Cat took it, and they crossed, with Darius, Tom, and Burgess close behind.

  They crossed several Modes before pausing. All were very similar to the anchor Mode, but not identical. There were flowers in the yard of one, and a different type of house in another. "And there is a monster here?" Morna asked.

  "Not here specifically," Darius said. "It lurks on the Virtual Mode, and seems to prey on dolor. So it has not touched the rest of us, but has been very bad for Colene."

  "Dolor," she said. "Quaint word."

  "You said you suffer from it too."

  "Yes. Sometimes I almost wish a monster would carry me away and end it all."

  "No. This thing is not nice. It ought to be abolished."

  Burgess felt the same suicidal urge in the woman that Colene sometimes had. "How could I find it?"

  "It is not wise even to think of it," Cat said. "I believe we should return to the anchor."

  "Monster, where are you?" Morna called, looking around.

  "Cat is right," Darius said, becoming nervous himself. "We must return."

  But Morna walked forth alone, following the street. Darius went after her—and disappeared into the adjacent Mode.

  "She is not an anchor person," Cat said, alarmed anew. "She can not cross boundaries without contact with one of us. She remains in this particular Mode."

  Darius reappeared. "I can't follow her!"

  "None of us can," Cat said. "She must return to us herself."

  Darius turned and faced the departing woman. "Morna!" he called. "You must return! You do not wish to be trapped in this Mode."

  She heard him. "I wish merely to see this monster that pursues my daughter."

  "That is unsafe! Please return. We can not follow you there."

  "But you are right here."

  "No. We are on the Virtual Mode. You are in this individual Mode. If we try to follow you, this happens." Darius stepped toward her, vanishing again.

  She was surprised. "He disappeared!"

  "He crossed to another Mode," Cat said. "We can not do otherwise. You cannot cross alone. You must return to us. Colene would be most annoyed if we lost you."

  Morna laughed. "Am I now in my daughter's charge? This is an interesting exploration. But where is this monster? I don't see anything threatening."

  "It is a mental predator," Cat said. "None of us have seen it physically."

  "Very well. I will seek it mentally."

  "Please don't!" Pussy said. "It will hurt you."

  "Worse than I hurt myself?" Then she froze. Her face assumed a look of wonder, then of horror. "Oh!"

  Darius returned. He looked. "That's how Colene looked when the mind predator first came after her!"

  "Morna is another vessel of dolor," Cat said. "It has found her."

  "Morna!" Darius called. "You must come to us! Immediately."

  The woman looked at him. "The thing is awful," she gasped. "It's drawing me in."

  "Emotionally," Darius agreed. "Not physically. Come to us. Walk to us! We can help you."

  She gazed at him, her eyes staring wildly. "I can't!"

  They gazed helplessly at her. They could not go to her, and she could not come to them.

  Seqiro, Burgess thought. The horse's thoughts could cross the modes. Could they reach the woman? Seqiro! You must help!

  Burgess felt a distant response. Seqiro had heard him.

  The horse's mind reached out to the woman, not limited to the Virtual Mode. Morna felt the touch on her mind, despite the siege of the predator. "The horse? I must walk?" She seemed to be trying, but remained where she was. "I can't."

  The predator was stopping her. Colene had also become immobile when under siege. What could they do?

  "Set your right foot before you," Cat said.

  Almost mindlessly, she obeyed that simple directive.

  "Set your left foot before you," Cat said.

  She did so, hardly seeming to understand it.

  Step by step, Cat brought her in. Finally she crossed the boundary. "Tom!" Darius said. "Put your arms around her. Shield her!"

  Tom did. "Oh, that helps!" Morna said. Indeed, Burgess felt her agony diminish. The Felines did seem to have some power of resistance. But it had a price: Tom was now suffering too.

  "Cross back!" Darius said.

  Cat put a hand on Tom, guiding him, and Darius helped. They urged the others across the boundary, toward the anchor. But they stumbled and fell; Tom could not support the woman when attacked by the same predator.

  "Burgess!" Darius said. "You must carry her."

  They lifted her onto Burgess, and held her steady. Then Burgess floated across the next boundary, and the next as they kept ragged pace. There seemed to be more boundaries than they had crossed, but that was only a seeming.

  Suddenly they were back in the anchor yard. The awful power of me predator was gone.

  Morna looked around. "What am I doing here?"

  "Burgess carried you back when you fell," Cat explained. "Tom was shielding you, but then he suffered too, and could not support you well."

  "We're safe now?"

  "Yes. The mind predator can't reach into an anchor Mode. We don't know why."

  Morna climbed off Burgess. "That's what's chasing Colene?"

  "Yes."

  "Now I understand. She must not come here again."

  Darius shook his head. "She will do it, because she wants to join me in my home Mode. You know she will not be stopped."

  Morna sighed. "I know." She looked around. "Tom, would you hold me again?"

  Startled, Tom looked at Cat. "For the shielding," Cat said.

  Then Tom put his arms around the woman. "Yes," Morna said. "There is something about you that pushes away the depression. You did this for Colene?"

  "Pussy did," Cat said. "We Felines are here to help as much as we can."

  "Do you know, I hid my own depression from Colene. Now I learn that she hid hers from me. How could neither of us have suspected?"

  "I believe the term is 'denial'," Cat said. "Neither of you wanted to know."

  "But now that she does know," Darius said, "she is trying to procure better medication for you."

  Morna shook her head. "She can't prevail against that bureaucracy. It is impervious to human suffering."

  Darius smiled. "I think it has not encountered her like before."

  "They won't care what she's like. She can't even get in to see anyone. Not without waiting months."

  Darius smiled. "I love Colene, so perhaps am not objective, but she does have special powers. She is learning to read minds, and to do magic."

  "I understand that in other realms, other rules apply. So maybe magic is possible where you live. But this is Earth. There is no such thing here."

  "Nona is able to do some magic here, and probably Colene can too. They will use it on those officials. I suspect they will get results."

  "I do need something. Tomorrow I will think this is mostly a dream or a vision." She glanced down at Tom's furry arm. "You can let me go now; I am feeling better."

  Tom let go, and Morna faced the house. "Thank you for clarifying so much." She walked to the door.

  She would be all right. Burgess felt her calmed mind; the brief siege by the predator, followed by Tom's reassurance, had settled her. At this point she just wanted to rest.

  The rest of them settled down similarly. But now Seqiro's mind was a stronger presence. You are on Earth.

  We are on Earth, Burgess agreed. You have found us.

  I have found you, Seqiro agreed. I had not quite located you before.

  Burgess reviewed the problem: the mind predator had found them again. Colene could not go on the Virtual Mode without being under siege. The Felines could shield her somewhat, but not enough. How were they to complete their journey to Darius' home Mode?

  You must free an anchor, as I did. That disrupts the predator.

  But if Colene freed her anchor, she would never complete her journey. Ei
ther Colene alone, or all of them would be trapped here. She would never agree to that.

  She would never agree, Seqiro thought.

  But meanwhile Colene was trying to help her mother. She needed mind reading and magic. Could he help there?

  Yes, now, to a degree.

  "Then find her!" Darius said.

  They felt the thoughts ranging out, questing for Colene in this Mode. In a moment Seqiro found her. He gave them the scene.

  They were approaching the school building. Garret remained in his car; Colene, Nona, and Pussy were walking to the section where the science teacher's small office was.

  Abruptly their images changed. Now they seemed to be garbed in the manner of the schoolgirls. Nona had used illusion to change them.

  They reached the office. Amos Forell was expecting them. "Come in, girls." He glanced at them in turn. "You I would know anywhere, Colene. And you too, I think, Nona; you remain lovely as ever. But I do not recognize the cat woman."

  "Pussy Feline," Pussy said. "From the DoOon Mode."

  "And I presume you are not speaking my language, but using mind translation."

  "Gotcha," Colene said. "Pussy is using it. But Nona needs translation."

  "And where is the horse?"

  "Seqiro had to return to his own Mode. It's complicated. I really miss him."

  "Then how are you able to do your tricks?"

  "Seqiro is with us mentally. He was looking for us before, and now he has found us. That enables us to share minds, and to do some magic."

  "And what of Burgess?"

  "He's here too. You made him better, and now he's fine."

  "I would like to see him again."

  "You can, Amos! When you get off here."

  "I shall." Forell considered for a moment. "Now why are you here?"

  "We need some money," Colene said. "Nona can make gold, but we want ordinary grubby used bills and coins. My folks are broke. I figured we could make a deal with you."

  "I will give you what you need, within reason."

  "No. We have to earn it. We may be here a while. We won't need a lot, but we want it straight. What can we trade for it?"