"So how are you going to make him give his word? By threatening to eviscerate me?"
"No," Pussy said seriously. "Our leader realized that that threat was a mistake. Neither will I try to serve him sexually. We wish to be your friends."
"Friends!" Colene exclaimed derisively. "You can do that by letting us go and freeing your anchor."
"We can't do that," Pussy said. "So we must find another way."
"There is no other way. Darius won't give you what you want unless you torture me, and then he'll kill you."
"We will find another way," Pussy repeated. "Do you wish separate cabins?"
"No," Colene said. "We are married now." She wasn't sure the DoOons had marriage, but was sure the translator would render it into a close approximation.
"I am glad of that. Here is your chamber."
Colene hardly noticed the chamber, being far more concerned with the larger situation. "You are glad? It means you have to keep your paws off him."
"As I said, I will leave him alone. I will serve you. We want you to be satisfied."
Colene retained considerable doubt, but didn't push it. "So you figure you can charm us into doing Ddwng's will."
"Yes, we hope so."
"And if you don't succeed?"
"We will be destroyed."
That set Colene back. "They'll kill you—for not accomplishing what can't be done?"
"Yes. We have no choice. But this is not your concern. You will do what you deem appropriate."
Colene wasn't at all sure of that, but the case was not worth arguing. She and Darius needed to figure out some way to get free of this universe, and they couldn't discuss it openly; the translating balls were ubiquitous, and while this made dialogue easy, it also meant that there was no privacy. Maybe they could find some on the planet of chains.
"Okay, go see to the others," she told the Feline female. "We'll settle in here."
Pussy nodded and left, closing the cabin door behind her. "Settle in?" Darius inquired.
"You know, take a shower together, whatever newly married folk do. Or does a spaceship have a shower?"
"It was a cleaning chamber, as I recall. No water."
"Oh." She looked around. "A picture window?"
He followed her glance to the wall with a picture of a rich forest. "That would be their magic mirror."
"But there's no magic here. Oh—you mean the video screen."
"Yes." He went to it and touched a button at the edge. The forest disappeared and a chamber appeared, with Pussy curled catlike on the floor. She was showing a good deal more flesh of thigh and bosom than Colene liked. At least she was halfway clothed, as were the others; this must be in deference to the foibles of their Virtual Mode charges. As Colene recalled, they had been clothed only in their slight fur before.
Pussy jumped up and faced them. "Yes, Master."
"Don't call me master," Darius said. "Call me—call me by my name. Darius. Same for the others of our party."
"Yes, Darius. What is your desire?"
"He's showing me how the video works," Colene said. "How are the others doing?"
"I will put on their chambers," Pussy said eagerly. She touched a button.
The picture split. On one side was Nona, standing with Tom, who was evidently answering her questions about the accommodations. On the other was Burgess, with Cat doing the same.
Nona spied them. "Darius! Colene! You said there was no magic here."
"I said that super science could seem like magic, but it's not," Colene said. "This is a video connection. Maybe you should clean up and change, and we will too, and we can get together to eat."
"Yes. Tom has been very helpful. I am much reassured."
"Sure," Colene said dryly. "The nulls are helpful. Tom will do anything you want." She gave Nona a hard look. "Anything. Just ask him."
"I think I still don't understand," Nona said. But a trace of a flush suggested that she did. The nulls were servants or slaves that could be used, abused, or loved. Colene wanted Nona to understand that what she said to Tom might be taken literally.
"Burgess also will join you," Cat said from its screen.
"Make it blank," Colene told Darius. "So we can strip."
Darius shrugged. The wall went blank. "They have no interest in our state of exposure. But if you mean to remove your diaper—"
"That's panties!" she exclaimed, remembering that in his Mode women of all ages really did wear voluminous diapers; it was a symbol of their femininity. She had been there, and seen it herself, and even worn one. The folk of Hlahtar thought that a woman's nether bifurcation should be well masked, though they were not in other respects sexually repressed. She enjoyed teasing Darius about it, though actually she was the one who had the hang-up. She was trying desperately to get over it, without notable success. Not where it counted.
"If you mean to strip, I will turn away."
"You're my husband. You shouldn't turn away."
He just looked at her, and she felt herself flushing. Then he turned away, and she did not protest. They were married, but had not consummated it, because she freaked out at the very notion of actual sex. Still, she played the game, trying to fool herself as much as him.
So she stripped, tossing her clothing on the bed. Naked, she paused. "Where's the shower?"
Darius pointed without turning. She walked across the chamber, aware that she could be under observation from the other side of the wall/video, but schooling herself to ignore it. She had much more important things on her mind than how much of her was seen by whom. Like how to get free of the DoOon Mode! So the less she seemed to be thinking of that, and the more she was able to distract the minions of Ddwng, the better it would be.
She stepped into the cleaning stall. There was a faint flash of light. That was evidently it; all her smudges were gone. Even her hair was clean and flowing. This was almost frustratingly simple. When she had been in this Mode before, an Ovine woman called simply Ewe had bathed her in genuine water and dressed her in a silken robe. This spaceship cleaning was spare in comparison.
She stepped out and discovered a silken robe hanging close by, similar to the one she had worn before, together with underclothing. She donned it all, and it fitted her well. This was just one more indication that the folk of this Mode had prepared carefully for their visitors. They had to have been waiting for the anchor to become available. When it did, they had pounced.
"Your turn," she said.
Darius went to the cleaning booth, stripped, and stepped in. This time Colene turned away, unable to stop herself. She looked at the blank wall, and it became a mirror. She twirled, admiring her appearance. She was so pretty, this way. There was no sign of the rot that was her emotional interior.
"You are indeed lovely," Darius murmured, startling her. She had not seem him emerge or dress, but now he was in a robe of his own. "May I kiss you?"
"Idiot! You don't have to ask." Then she caught herself. "I mean, of course."
He held her and kissed her, and she felt as if she were floating. He was just such a wonderful man. While she was such a loss.
"I love you," he said, and she melted, her own love overflowing. This was a storybook romance. Except that she couldn't consummate it. Except that now they were trapped in a hostile Mode, and would be lucky to survive it, let alone escape it. Except a thousand meaningless excuses she wanted to be rid of.
"You know, I bet I could do it, if you forced me a little," she said, glancing at the bed.
"Never." And that, in their odd inversion, was reassuring. If she did it—when she did it—the act would be entirely voluntary on her part. Darius would settle for nothing less.
She kissed him again. "We'd better eat."
They went to the door, and it opened. Pussy was there. "This way, Darius, Colene."
They rejoined Nona and Burgess in a larger chamber. Nona was garbed as Colene was, and looked not pretty so much as beautiful. It came naturally to her. "Tom tells me this ship is s
ailing," Nona said. "Yet I feel nothing."
"A thousand light-years an hour," Darius said. "With inertialess drive." The terms were not fully comfortable for him, but he remembered them from his prior experience. "Swift progress."
"Too fast," Colene said.
"I don't understand," Nona said.
"Naturally," Colene said, trying not to be smug about this very limited area where she was more comfortable than her beautiful, magical, Old Enough friend. "A light-year is the distance a beam of light will travel in a year; it's equivalent to the distance between similarly sized worlds in your Fractal Mode. So a thousand light-years is a very far piece—and this ship sails that distance every hour. We'll never get back to our anchor without the help of the DoOon Mode authorities. Which is of course why they're doing it. And that's just the beginning. Without supernatural abilities, we're sunk."
Darius' eyes barely flicked in Colene's direction. He suspected that she had something in mind. And she did, but she was not at all confident it would work.
Ship servitors brought in platters of food that was evidently tailored to individual needs. Colene had what resembled meat loaf, mashed potatoes, milk, and chocolate pie. Nona had a plate of odd-looking vegetables. Darius had something that might have been magically conjured. And Burgess had a dish of rocks and sand. She knew that none of it was literal; it all came from the ship's food synthesizer. But it would do.
"So how are you guys getting along?" Colene asked Tom.
"Nona is a most appealing woman," the Feline replied.
"Duh! I mean when you're not just looking at her."
"Tom has been extraordinarily helpful about explaining the things of this strange Mode," Nona said.
"That's the idea," Colene said. "The Felines have to do a service for their masters each day, or suffer. They also have to do whatever you tell them." She glanced darkly at Pussy, who had once tried to do Darius a sexual favor. "So they're very helpful. Except when it comes to helping us escape this Mode. Then they're our captors."
"If I may," Cat said. That meant that it had a qualification to make.
"You may," Darius said.
"Colene's statements are imprecise. We normally must do a service each day, but for this mission we have been reprogrammed to be as completely obliging to you as is feasible, without any daily requirement. We are not your captors. We have been assigned to serve your party, and so our loyalty is to you as individuals and in the aggregate. Any of us will serve any of you in whatever manner you decree. Should you disagree with each other, we will defer to Darius, whom we take to be the leader of your party."
"Just as Tom and Pussy defer to you," Darius said.
Cat nodded. "We defer to whichever one of us is most competent. I defer to Tom in matters of combat, and to Pussy in matters of feeling. They defer to me in matters of intellect. It is not a matter of power so much as of rationality."
"But will you help us escape?" Colene demanded, foolishly irked by being considered less rational, though it was certainly true.
"Yes, if you require this of us. But though our immediate loyalty is to you, we can be reassigned by Ddwng. Should you attempt to misuse our services, reassignment would occur."
"So you won't help us get away," Colene said, trying to nail it down.
"We would help until reassigned. You would not be able to reach your anchor without being intercepted."
"It doesn't matter," Darius said. "Even if we reached the anchor, we couldn't stop you three nulls from following us into the Virtual Mode. What we need is to free that anchor."
"The anchor is under the control of Ddwng," Cat said. "Only he can free it—and he has arranged to be far removed from your presence. He was not pleased when your telepathic horse tricked him."
"Seqiro isn't along on this hop," Colene said dryly. But her flip answer masked her pang of separation from her closest friend. She needed Seqiro for more than freedom from the DoOon Mode.
Nona was new to this Mode, but she knew Seqiro. "How would you try to help us escape?"
"You have only to agree to fetch the Chip for Ddwng," Cat said. "Then you will be free not only to travel the Virtual Mode, but to remain there indefinitely."
"And there's the catch," Colene said. "Darius won't let you have that Chip."
"We hope he will change his mind."
"Fat chance."
Cat glanced at her. "This is an unfamiliar expression."
"Let's eat." Colene dived into her meal. The taste was actually pretty close. There was something to be said for super science.
Nona tried hers, and nodded, surprised; hers too was evidently edible. Darius of course had no problem. That left Burgess. The hiver was busily sucking sand in through his fore trunk and blowing refuse out his aft trunk, assimilating nutrients along the way. There was a refuse receptacle for his use; someone had evidently caught on rapidly. Eating sand was only the beginning of his abilities, but it seemed best for now to let Burgess he mostly a mystery to the DoOon folk. It was enough that he was getting along. Cat had evidently taken the trouble to discover the hiver's needs, and to accommodate them.
As they finished the meal. Cat spoke again. "We have arrived at Chains. This will be our home for the duration."
"In chains, our prison." Colene muttered.
"Oh, no." Pussy protested. "This is our home planet."
Colene stared at her. "You come from a prison world?"
"No. From Chains."
"This is the world where the nulls are made," Cat clarified. "Chains is home to all nulls, and other genetic adaptations. It is not an advanced world, scientifically or culturally, nor is it ideal in its simplicity, but it is familiar to us. You, as privileged guests, should find it compatible."
"Privileged guests!" Colene exploded. "Let's cut the hypocrisy."
"If I may," Cat said.
"You may not!"
Darius smiled. "Let's disembark." Colene liked that about him too: he understood her passionate nature, and smoothed it over when that was best.
The ship's door opened on a lovely meadow. Colene stared, amazed. "What happened to the tech?"
"The technology is limited on our world," Pussy said. "But the nulls will serve your needs."
"I don't understand."
"Chains is classified as primitive," Cat said. "It is maintained at what I believe you would call medieval level. If you find this uncomfortable, we can apply for reassignment to a technological world."
"No. This will do." For Colene realized that if this was truly low-tech, there would be no spy devices. That could be a considerable advantage.
"I like it," Nona said. "We have grasslands like this at home." She kneeled to touch a pretty blue flower.
"We have much wildland here," Tom said. "I can show you fields, forests, lakes, glades, rivers—"
"Wonderful!" she agreed, and kissed him on his furry ear. Tom looked startled, glancing at Cat as if in fear he had done something wrong.
"All of this world is yours to roam," Cat said. "But we felines will need to accompany you, or provide you with weapons, if you wish to explore unsecured areas."
"There is danger?" Darius asked.
"There are natural hazards," Cat said. "You will be able to handle the terrain, if you are careful, but in some regions the creatures are predatory."
"Predators?" Colene asked, coming alert.
"There are many types. But the most dangerous are the dragons. We will have to wear special chains to discourage them."
"Dragons?" Nona asked, looking not frightened so much as hopeful. Her Mode had many magical creatures.
"Yes. The flying ones are little danger to creatures our size, unless they swarm, but the land-bound and water-bound ones can be formidable." Cat glanced at Tom. "By all means show Nona all she wishes to see, but guard her too. Consider yourself assigned to her for now."
Tom nodded, reassured. So did Nona.
Colene's mind was whirling. "This is a null world, you said. So the creatures here have been
made, not evolved. You made dragons?"
"Nulls come in many types," Cat said. "Some are experimental. Some are deemed failures, but since they may have redeeming features, or be useful in as yet undefined ways, they are maintained here. Chains is in this respect a special world."
"I'll say! So are there any true natives? I mean, natural creatures and people?"
"The substratum is natural. The biological basis. The bacteria that generate organic matter for the imported plants and animals. The lichen, the plankton, the fungus. We need them to maintain the atmospheric quality. But the great majority of the higher life forms are what you would call unnatural. This was an empty world, as far as advanced entities went, before it was colonized by the Empire."
So much for stirring up any native rebellions. This was an Empire world. "Thanks."
"There is no need to thank us," Cat said. "We exist to serve you."
"No," Darius said. "You represent the DoOon Mode. You three are now the entity associated with your anchor, and a member of our Virtual Mode party, until such time as you free your anchor. That gives you equivalent status."
"Only when we enter the Virtual Mode," Cat said. "Here on Chains we are your servants. Until we come to an agreement."
"That may take a long time."
"It may take a lifetime," Cat agreed.
"So that's it!" Colene said. "You'll hold us here until we agree to fetch the Chip—or forever."
"That may be Ddwng's intention," Cat agreed. "He does not appreciate being balked."
She thought of something else. "You say this is a low-tech world. That means no translator balls?"
"Yes."
"So how come we're still talking? We shouldn't be able to understand each other."
"The ship has not yet departed. The translators are associated with it. But soon we will not be able to speak to each other. That is why we need to understand our situation now. We will show you the signs for the basic general communication system, and in the coming days we shall build on that. We Felines also wish to learn your mode of speaking, so that we can converse when on the Virtual Mode."