Trail Mix: Amoeba

  “Bem, can you carry our clothing and supplies across to the island, using your skate form?”

  “I can,” Bem agreed.

  “But Tod, the wolves will follow Bem to the island and attack there,” Veee protested.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “They are surely very hungry by now. They won’t hesitate. We’ll swim across as a group, just ahead of them. I doubt they can swim faster than we can.” He got out of his clothing again, and Veee removed hers, though she was obviously not at all easy about this.

  Vanja returned and converted. “They are swimming twice as fast as we can, and will pass the island shortly.”

  “Good. I hear the wolves baying. The timing is about right.”

  Veee stared at him, but did not comment.

  The first wolfkey came into view. Tod raised his arm as if pointing a gun. The creature skidded to a halt, then skulked behind a bush. Tod’s pistol was part of the package Bem would transport, so he couldn’t use it at the moment. With luck it would take the predators a while to discover that.

  “So it’s the same pack as before,” Veee said.

  “Can you operate your projectile pistol while swimming?” Bem asked. “I can return it to you for this purpose.”

  “No. I’m not sure it will operate in water. Now we must swim. Stay with the group; it’s important that we be together.”

  “That will make it easier for the predators on either side to corral you and consume you,” Vanja said. “I will swim with you, as there will be no point in my escaping alone.”

  Tod noted that once the vampire joined to the group, she was fully committed, even to the death. He liked that. His fascination with her body was one thing, but he was coming to appreciate her other qualities.

  They entered the water together. Immediately the wolves charged. They splashed into the water without hesitation and started dog-paddling in pursuit.

  Fortunately Tod’s estimate had been correct: the wolves could swim no faster than the humans did. The two parties crossed the water toward the island almost in tandem, separated by only a few feet.

  Halfway across, Tod turned to Vanja. “How close are the shocks now?”

  She transformed and flew up ahead. In moments she was back. “They’ll pass the island just after we reach it.”

  “Perfect! Keep swimming.”

  As they reached the shallow water around the island, Tod saw the white ripples of swiftly moving creatures just under the surface. “Get to your feet!” he called. “Wade ashore.”

  The three of them did, and Bem sailed up to the beach and slid onto it. The wolves were close behind.

  Then the shocks arrived. There were howls of anguish as the electricity flowed, stunning the wolves.

  The four of them stood and watched as the water frothed with the action. The wolves tried to fight, but they were out of their element. The water turned red with blood.

  None made it to the island. Tod felt weak-kneed and exhilarated. He had played their cards as appropriately as he knew how, but had the timing been off...

  “Ooh, Tod!” Veee cried, hugging him. “You did know!”

  “A desperation ploy, as I said. We needed to time it so the wolves were still in the water when the shocks arrived. The shocks can’t come after us on land, and with luck they will be sated and gone by tomorrow morning.”

  “Kiss him, Veee,” Vanja said. “I’m going to.”

  “That spared me the necessity,” Bem said. They all laughed.

  There were berry bushes on the island. They picked and ate, then Tod pitched his little tent. “You girls can have that for the night.”

  “Thank you,” Vanja said. Then both women grabbed him and hauled him in with them. He found himself buried in warm flesh that was doing things to his face, torso, and groin simultaneously. They might be taking turns, but he was unable to tell whose orgasms he was sharing. It hardly seemed to matter. At least now they were getting their own climaxes; that much he could tell despite the pleasant confusion. It wasn’t limited to him.

  “But it would have been another matter, if we had gotten eaten in the water,” Veee reminded him severely between kisses. “We would not have given you any of this.” Obviously true.

  “Or this,” Vanja said, doing something indefinably naughty, even for her.

  Eventually they let him sleep, his face cushioned against two or three soft breasts, his hands pinned between warm thighs. But they were at him again in the morning, bringing him off twice more, sharing equally.

  “Remarkable,” Bem said as they climbed out of the crowded little tent. “I am amazed by the continuing courtship variations.”

  “It’s heaven,” Tod said. “But much more of the same and it will be hell. There’s only so much sex I can handle.”

  “We will decide when you have had enough,” Vanja said.

  Veee kissed his ear. “I love you,” she whispered. That seemed more meaningful than all the rest.

  Vanja had surely overheard, but she merely smiled, a trifle sadly. Her commitment was of a different nature. She did not begrudge Veee her emotion. Did vampires ever truly love?

  Bem tested the water. “The shocks have gone,” it announced. “But they remain in the vicinity, perhaps in the hope that we will soon reenter the water.”

  “We’ll wait,” Tod said. “Even if we have to talk about the weather.”

  “Is weather our concern?” Bem asked.

  “It’s humor. It seems we have time to pass, and will have to entertain ourselves. No, not with more sex,” he added quickly as the two women approached him. “With dialogue. We surely have things to work out.”

  “Perhaps we can attempt to fathom our unifying theme,” Bem suggested.

  “Good idea.” Tod looked around. “Any suggestions?”

  “I have a thought,” Veee said, somewhat hesitantly.

  “Out with it, girl. In this little community we like forward women.”

  Veee blushed at the teasing. “I like to paint with sand. Tod likes to play music. Vanja likes to dance. Bem makes artistic structures. These are all arts. Could it be the arts that unify us?”

  Tod felt his jaw trying to drop. “Yes! It could be.”

  Encouraged, Veee continued. “Because we are quite different kinds of people, and might not like each other well unless we have some common ground. We each appreciate the arts, and thus each other.”

  “Let’s do it,” Vanja said.

  The others looked at her. “Do what?” Tod asked.

  “Art. Put ours together and see how we like it.”

  “I don’t know,” Tod said.

  But Veee was already getting on it. “Here is a sandy patch,” she said. “A place.”

  “A stage,” Tod said.

  “A stage.” She used her hands to sweep it clear, and her feet to form a roughly circular ridge of sand around it. “Tod, you must make music. Vanja, you must dance. Bem—” She broke off, stalled.

  “I will form the props,” Bem said.

  Tod brought out his ocarina and began to play a melody.

  Vanja stepped onto the stage and danced.

  Bem formed into a bench-like mound.

  Vanja danced to the side and took Veee’s hand. “Oh, I can’t dance,” Veee protested. “Not artistically.”

  Vanja burst out laughing, and Bem made bright flashes. Even Tod was hard put to it to keep playing.

  Vanja brought Veee to the bench and made her sit on it. Then she danced, addressing Veee like the object of courtship.

  Tod shifted to a love song. The words did not come through, but the melody was evocative. Alas my love you do me wrong, to cast me off discourteously...

  Vanja truly could dance. Her body was not trying to be seductive now, but pleading, focusing on Veee, openly begging for friendship. Every motion contributed to that appeal. She took Veee’s hand and kissed it. Finally Veee consented, and Vanja bent low, kissed her face and fell swooning, her plea accepted.

  It ended by mutual consent. They had al
l contributed to the impromptu presentation. Tod felt somehow fulfilled, and was sure the others did too. The arts did unify them.

  Now if they could only figure out why they were here.

  Bem tested the water again. “The shocks have gone too far away to be a present menace to us,” it announced. “We can safely cross the water back to the mainland.”

  They did, swimming at greater leisure. Near the shore the girls waylaid Tod once more, doubly, as if to guarantee that he would not embarrass himself with any stray erections back on the trail. He certainly felt played out. Yet it was Veee’s whispered words that remained in his fancy. Had he met her on the street in his home town he would not have spared her more than a passing glance, but here on the trail, with their more subtle similarities coming into play, he was falling in love with her. Her non-jealous nature was a factor; she did not begrudge him his incidental passion for Vanja. How many other women would be that tolerant?

  They emerged from the water, shook themselves dry, donned clothing, and resumed their march along the trail. Tod was more curious than ever where it was leading them.

  It led them straight into a village, the first they had seen here. The inhabitants were human, going about their routine business of gardening, hunting, building, tending children, and trading. They ignored the travelers. That was odd.

  “I wonder,” Veee said. “Could it be like your village in your home world? Where the people couldn’t see me?”

  “We’ll find out,” Tod said. He approached a man who was making a shoe out of leather. “Hello.”

  “Hello, traveler,” the man said. So much for invisibility.

  “We have been following the trail. It led us here. Can you tell us anything about it?”

  “No.” The man smiled. “Let me explain: travelers come for a reason. We do not interfere with them, lest we compromise their mission, but will help if asked. The initiative must come from you; then we can safely respond. In any event we know nothing about your mission, except that it is surely important, as they all are.”

  “There are many travelers on many missions?”

  “Yes, over the years. The centuries. We are all descendants of the folk of prior missions. But yours is the first we have seen here in fifty years. There may have been more recent missions relating to other villages.”

  “Thank you,” Tod said, taken aback. He returned to the others, and relayed what the cobbler had told him. “So it seems we’re still on our own.”

  “Then let’s keep following the trail,” Vanja said. “Maybe this village is just a way station.”

  They walked on. The trail led to a small central plaza, wherein a lone man sat on a wooden chair. He was old, with white hair and a white beard, wearing a sparkling robe. Tod saw with surprise that even the man’s pupils were almost white. “Hello.”

  “And you are the task group, arrived at last,” the man said, standing. “Welcome. I am the final member of your party. Call me Wizard.”

  Again Tod was taken aback. “Is that literal?”

  “Of course. I have magical powers. Here is a small demonstration.” He produced a wand, waved it, and a ravening monster appeared in the air above him. “Illusion,” Wizard said. “Because that is the cheapest magic. I can also do telekinesis, but that requires much energy and I prefer not to waste it on a mere demonstration.” The monster faded.

  “I am Tod Timmins, of Earth,” Tod said. “This is Veee, from a more primitive culture. And Bem, nonhuman. And Vanja, a vampire. Do you know anything about why we were summoned here, and what our mission might be?”

  “I know only generalities, but those should suffice for the moment. Before we address the subject of our mission, please allow me to scry each of you in turn, to clarify your likely roles.”

  “Scry?”

  “The trail translates accurately, but sometime there is no term in your lexicon to fit the concept. To scry was originally to divine information via a crystal ball. I use it simply to fathom the specifics about a person.” He smiled. “It is harmless, merely more cheap magic. I will begin by describing myself. I came to the trail on a mission in my impetuous youth, joined with the other members from divergent realms, and we succeeded in accomplishing our mission in good order. It consisted of rescuing several lives and priceless artifacts from loss when a volcano erupted and spewed molten lava across the escape route. The lava prevented the locals from helping, but our assorted talents sufficed. Then we disbanded, and I returned to my native realm, profiting from the expansion of my perspectives that had occurred here. I had matured especially in judgment and temperament. I was able to handle the uncomfortable situation that had caused me to depart before, and won the girl and the position I coveted, and lived a long and generally satisfying life. But in time my beloved wife died and I became restive. There seemed to be no proper place for me any more. New kinds of magic were coming to the fore that I did not properly understand. I had become a misfit. So when the trail offered again, I took it, of course. It is a signal honor to be chosen, and an extreme rarity for it to happen a second time. And here I am.”

  “How long ago was this prior mission?” Vanja asked.

  “Approximately a thousand years ago, in my frame. But of course time is largely meaningless here.”

  “You’re a thousand years old?” Veee asked, astonished.

  Wizard smiled. “You flatter me by suggesting that I do not look my age. Our clan is long-lived, and of course I employed life-extending potions. But it is true that I am approaching the end of my life. This mission should be a fine way to conclude it.” He focused on her. “May I scry you first? I assure you the process is physically painless.”

  “It is painful in some other respect?”

  “It can be emotionally, depending on a person’s expectations.”

  “I have no expectations.”

  “Then the scrying should be painless.”

  “Do it,” she agreed. Tod suspected that she did not believe all of what Wizard said, so was in effect challenging him to prove it. That had perhaps backfired when she did it with Vanja.

  Wizard put on a pointed cap painted with stars. The odd thing was that the stars seemed to move slowly across the surface, as if this was not a cap so much as a window to the universe. He took her hand. He focused intently on her. “Interesting. You are from the modern human line as it emerged from Africa to Asia Minor, before it spread to the rest of the world.”

  “But that’s fifty thousand years ago!” Tod protested.

  “Indeed, by your evident reckoning. The trail reaches wherever it needs to, to summon relevant individuals.” He returned his focus to Veee. “You departed your realm because your skills were not appreciated there. You are a virtual genius of general comprehension, probably the outstanding example of your age.” He smiled. “However, the human population was small then, perhaps no more than five thousand individuals. The relatively ignorant men of your society had no comprehension, of course, but even so were wary of your potential. Thus you became a tacit outcast, even before the trap you fell into. They were watching you, alert for just such a pretext. Nubile but untaken women were frowned on, partly because they were considered fair game for the prurient interests of any men in the vicinity. Especially when the woman was as physically well-endowed as you, and able to carry solid loads considerable distances. The other women were not satisfied with that sexual bondage, any more than you were. Later cultures would think of it as institutionalized rape. That mutual disaffection made you eligible for the trail.”

  Veee stared at him, open-mouthed. “I am just a woman.”

  “Ah, that’s the problem. Your culture does not value women for their intellectual or artistic qualities, only their breeding qualities. Yours are evidently good, but still your mind overshadowed them, and you were not taken.”

  Tod saw that the Wizard had scored. Veee was a lot more woman than showed at first glance.

  “I have not been bred,” Veee protested after a moment.

&nb
sp; “Correction: you were bred, but employed a home-made contraceptive douche to ensure that no pregnancy followed.”

  Veee looked as if he had struck her. Evidently he had scored again. It seemed that she had after all had an expectation: that he would not fathom her most private secrets.

  “And here on the trail you have at last discovered the compatibility and love you longed for,” Wizard concluded. “Though perhaps not precisely as you might have anticipated.”

  “You know all this only from your scrying?” Vanja asked, daunted.

  “It is simple magic. The immediate facts of a person’s situation are present in the mind, easy to fathom.”

  “You’re a mind reader?” Tod asked.

  “No. I fathomed her longing because it is part of her situation, not a specific thought. Her private mind is not open to scrying. No one’s mind is.”

  “So you can ascertain a person’s general background and situation, and guess at his thoughts or feelings about it,” Veee said.

  “Exactly, Veee. You understand perfectly, as you should.”

  “You have answers for us?” Vanja asked. “Such as exactly what we’re doing here, apart from surviving?”

  “Some. First I need to ascertain what we have here. He looked at Tod. “May I scry you next?”

  “Why not.” Tod took Veee’s place before Wizard.

  Wizard focused disconcertingly on him. He took Tod’s hand. “You are from a rather more recent frame, where technology is largely triumphant. Machines greatly facilitate most human physical and intellectual exercises. You have no serious social commitments. Women are not generally impressed with you. Yet you have an intellect considerably beyond the norm. You exercise this mainly by playing games. There is one wherein differently shaped pieces, with different rules of motion, move on a flat board marked by colored squares.”

  “Chess.”

  “Chess, thank you. You are an excellent player, but hide your ability, because others tend to resent it and you prefer friendship to victory. So you play privately against a machine, with extraordinary skill.”

  “An Internet chess program that can be set to different levels,” Tod said. “The machine doesn’t care whether I win or lose; it simply plays an almost perfect game. I lose more than I win, even though I sometimes take hours pondering a single move. I would do worse if I were on the clock.” He glanced at the others, who seemed perplexed. “In competition the moves are timed. I’m not a competitor.”