Hair Peace

by Piers Anthony

  “Form the jet ski, as we enter,” Quiti told Flower.

  “Bye, Foosh!” Idola called as they dived into the wormhole.

  Chapter 7: Worm Chase

  They were back on the jet ski, moving at speed through an ancient chain of caverns, or so it seemed to Quiti’s interpreting mind. There were stalactites hanging from above, and stalagmites rising from below, like closing teeth.

  “I can never remember which is which,” Idola said.

  “There’s a mnemonic device,” Quiti replied. “The one with the C is for Ceiling, so those hang down. The one with the G is for Ground, so they ascend from below.”

  “Say, neat!”

  Never mind that there could hardly be caves in deep space. It was much less mind bending to see caves than cracks in nothingness.

  Then she spied giant bones.

  “Dinosaurs!” Idola exclaimed.

  Were dinosaurs in space any less credible than caves? Quiti decided not to argue.

  “There’s my scent,” Flower’s grill said.

  “Okay,” Quiti said. “Now we can expect the Worms to be lurking along it, because they know you have to follow it to find your family. So we had better prepare now, before they intercept us.”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s start with the circle. I will loop about, while you lay down the scent.”

  “Yes.”

  They emerged from the caves to a mountainous landscape. “There’s a mark!” Flower exclaimed.

  “I don’t see anything,” Idola said.

  “Only a Ghobot can detect it.”

  Which was of course the idea. If the Worms could see the marks, they could set up ambushes beside them. “Ignore it for now,” Quiti said. “But keep it in mind.”

  “But if we’re following your scent trail—” Idola said.

  “Scents are different,” Quiti reminded her. “They get left wherever a person goes. We’re leaving our own scents. But the marks are deliberate, for jumping to.”

  Quiti steered around a mountain back to where they had emerged. “Now can you set up a jump to your nearest mark?” Quiti asked Flower.

  “Yes.”

  “But what about us?” Idola asked. “We can’t teleport, even in spirit form.”

  “I am gambling that the Worms are tracking only Ghobots,” Quiti said. “So we human spirits are effectively invisible. We’re not yet on the enemies list. So we can go wherever we want and they won’t notice as long as Flower isn’t with us.”

  “But he is with us! That’s the whole point of this operation.”

  “Yes he is. But for this circle trick, we can get away with a brief separation.”

  “That’s pretty nervy.”

  “We’re nervy folk.”

  Idola smiled, liking that description. “I guess we are.”

  Flower jumped to his mark, the jet ski disappearing. Then Quiti and Idola walked across to join him. That was all there was to it.

  “Now for Part Two,” Quiti said. “The back trail.”

  “The what?”

  “The Worms won’t know which direction it’s going,” Quiti explained. “When they follow it one way, they’ll wind up on Bezel 4. The other way, the circle. With luck they’ll be lost, and by the time they figure it out, we’ll be finished and gone.”

  Idola nodded. “I like it. What now?”

  “Now we head for Flower’s folks. We come back this way in a hurry when they intercept us.” She addressed the Ghobot. “Jump back to the circle. When they are chasing us, and we flee back this way, you jump to your mark and cower down out of sight until they give up in disgust.”

  Flower jumped back, and they walked back. They boarded the ski jet. Then they diverged from the circle, leaving a new scent trail, seeking his old scent trail.

  The scenery changed to a desert with giant cacti. They cruised between them, careful not to touch any.

  “Oh, wow!” Idola exclaimed.

  “What?”

  “A grazing dinosaur.”

  “Don’t be silly. There aren’t any living dinosaurs today.”

  “Oh? Then what is that?” Idola pointed.

  “That’s a stegosaurus, extinct for maybe seventy million years.” Then Quiti paused, eyeing the creature. “But I could be wrong.”

  “Just a small misplacement in time,” Idola said. “What’s seventy million years, geologically?”

  “Or an interpretation of some alien creature?” Because that was of course the case. Dinosaurs were more familiar than alien monsters.

  “Uh-oh.”

  Quiti was already reading her mind. The Worms had spotted them, or at least Flower. The chase was on. “Flower, reverse course. Go back exactly the way we came, to the circle, and jump and hide. We’ll rejoin you in due course.”

  “But what will I do while I wait? I fidget when I have nothing to do.”

  “Can’t have that,” Quiti said seriously. Fidgets might attract attention. “Start making those E-Bombs.”

  “What kind?”

  Quiti kept her patience. He was after all a child. “Make a variety. Each bomb different from the others.”

  “What if I lose track of which is which? They all look alike from outside.”

  “That’s fine. We want to surprise the Worms.”

  “Okay.” Then, to her relief, Flower shut up.

  But Idola didn’t. “When they lose us, suppose they make a search pattern? They’re bound to find us eventually.”

  Ouch. “Good point.” Quiti thought under pressure. “Flower, the first bomb you make—can you make a Take-No-Notice Bomb? That is, a neutral emotion, an absence of reacting to anything?”

  “I think so.”

  “When they come close to you, don’t flee. Detonate that TaNoNo Bomb, the single one you do keep track of, and be perfectly quiet until they pass you by.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now scoot.” She delivered a mental swat on his nonexistent behind.

  The jet ski spun about and zoomed off at top speed. The Worms were in instant pursuit. The fox had been spotted!

  Soon they reached the circle. The mountain concealed them for a time, and in that time Flower teleported to his mark. Quiti and Idola, back on foot, simply walked to the side and sat down on a hillock to watch the action.

  “I hope you’re right,” Idola said. “Because if you’re not, we’re dead meat.”

  “Remember, if we get blasted here, we’ll simply zip right to our bodies back on earth. We’re not in real danger regardless.”

  “Why doesn’t it feel that way?”

  “Because we’re acclimatized to the illusion our spirits have crafted. We tend to believe in it, just as we do in a dream while we’re in it. But it’s not solid.”

  “We hope.”

  “We hope,” Quiti echoed, admitting her uncertainty. Theory did not always match reality, devious as this particular reality was.

  “I’ve never been killed before, even in simulation.”

  “You’re not going to get killed this time, either.” But there was that lingering doubt.

  The posse of Worms burst onto the scene, circling the mountain. Six of them in a pack, like hounds, jostling each other in their eagerness to catch the prey. Each seeming more monstrous than the others. Idola grabbed Quiti’s hand.

  The posse raced on past them without pausing. They were after all invisible.

  The Worms disappeared around the mountain. Quiti and Idola relaxed slightly.

  Before long the Worms reappeared, completing the circuit. They rushed on without pausing. They were caught in the loop.

  “I’d laugh,” Idola whispered. “But they might hear me.”

  “Probably not, but let’s not gamble more than we need to.”

  After the third circuit, the Worms slowed. They were evidently catching on, maybe smelling their own exhaust fumes.

  “We’d better get out of here,” Idola said nervously.

  “No. Remember, we’re part of the scenery.”
r />   “But I’m scared!”

  “So am I. Sit tight.”

  The Worms slowed to a halt. Then they evidently received new orders, or reverted to Plan B. They left the scent trail and spread out, canvassing the territory. One came directly toward the two of them. Its gaping disk of a mouth reminded Quiti of a giant blowtorch or laser cannon.

  Quiti put her hand on Idola’s hand, warning her to stay put. They did not have a NoNo Bomb.

  The Worm cruised right by them, so close they could have touched it. It was about a yard in diameter and twenty feet long, floating above the ground. That was larger than the first ones they had encountered, maybe adult rather than teen. Its hide roughly resembled that of a rhinoceros. It had no eyes, ears, or nostrils. Then it was gone, leaving only its own scent trail resembling scorched motor oil. If it had noticed them at all, it was only as incidental wildlife.

  Quiti’s conjecture had been proved correct. Only Ghobots were on the Worm’s radar.

  Idola turned to Quiti and hugged her. Then she dissolved into tears. She, too, was a child. Smart, provocative, nervy, but with emotions still being seasoned.

  When the coast, figuratively, was clear, they set out to find Flower. Because the Worm search pattern was bound to return to its starting point, and they needed to be gone before that.

  “Can you locate him?” Quiti asked Idola, meaning her clairvoyance.

  “There doesn’t seem to be anything.”

  That meant his No-Notice Bomb was working.

  Quiti ranged out telepathically, focusing, and found his trace of a mind. He was hunkering down, frightened, fearing that they would not come for him.

  Flower! Quiti thought. It’s us. We’re coming for you.

  Then he was with her too, as frightened as Idola had been. Quiti gave him a mental hug. “You did very well,” she said. “The Worms are gone. But we need to get moving before they return.”

  The NoNo field faded, done in by their discovery of Flower. He transformed to the jet ski and they resumed motion.

  “Sniff out your original scent trail again,” Quiti said. “But keep your Bombs ready, because the Worms are bound to intercept us once more before we get far, and this time they will be wary of a loop.”

  Flower did, and soon they were scooting at speed along the trail.

  Sure enough, they careened into another nest of Worms. “Flee in any direction,” Quiti directed. “But wiggle it, so there’s no straight line for them to follow. Curve generally around so as to intercept the trail farther along.”

  The jet ski did. But this time the Worms did not let them get out of sight. Soon they were closing in from behind, the lead one almost close enough to fire a shot.

  “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me,” Idola sang. “Think I’ll go eat worms.” A nice inversion, considering that it was far more likely that the Worms would eat them. The girl was irrepressible. Chances were that she would one day be Quiti’s daughter in law. That was not a bad prospect.

  “Drop a Bomb,” Quiti said tersely to Flower. “Any Bomb.”

  There was a slight pop as something shot out of the ski’s rear. “He dropped a turd on them!” Idola said, tittering.

  In a moment the first Worm smacked into the invisible Bomb and reacted. It sailed up high, performing an odd undulation.

  “What’s it doing?” Idola asked, perplexed.

  Quiti read the creature’s limited mind. “It’s dancing for joy,” she reported. “That was a Joy Bomb.”

  “And you know, it’s not chasing us anymore,” Idola said. “It’s too busy basking in its own ecstasy.”

  “So a positive emotion can be as effective a deterrent as a negative one,” Quiti agreed, impressed.

  But the next Worm, not struck by the Bomb, was already closing in on them, its circular maw dilating for a blast. “Loose another,” Quiti said. They did not want to get struck by a shot.

  “Yeah, poop on them again,” Idola agreed.

  There was another faint rear pop. Then the second Worm, so close it must have swallowed the Bomb whole, reacted.

  It slowed while still orienting on them. It seemed to be studying them intently with its eyeless face, making no aggressive move.

  “What’s it feeling?” Idola asked.

  Quiti checked. “Wonder.”

  “Like us gazing at the clouds on Bezel 4? Wow!”

  Quiti smiled. “I suppose our jet ski could be pretty impressive, considered that way.”

  “Maybe it’s the taste of the poop. Worms like poop, don’t they?” Idola was barely suppressing her avalanche of stifled giggles.

  But now the third Worm was advancing, nosing the second to the side.

  “Next Turd, I mean Bomb,” Quiti said. There was a pop.

  The third Worm wriggled in place, then dropped back to float parallel to the fourth Worm. Marksmanship was easy, since they were all on the same scent trail.

  “Are they ganging up on us?” Idola asked.

  Quiti did not take the chance, despite not yet knowing the nature of the Bomb. “Next.”

  The fourth Bomb caught the fourth Worm. For a moment it froze in place.

  Worm Three suddenly curled around Worm Four.

  “Sex!” Quiti said, finally reading its mind. “It wants to make love.”

  “And there’s a child watching,” Idola chortled. “Have they no shame?”

  Worm Four’s tail whipped about, smacking Worm Three amidships. It was no incidental blow; a chunk of hide flaked off.

  “And Four just got a dose of Rage,” Quiti said.

  “Hoo boy! This should be fun!”

  Three was determined, as such an emotion took little note of pain. But Four, enraged, was in no mood to accommodate. She turned her snout and blasted Three with a snootful of laser. It almost burned his head off, but still his body wrapped around hers seeking romantic access. Quiti was reminded of the way praying mantises made love, with her biting his head off while he continued mating undeterred.

  “Wow,” Idola breathed. “Violent porn.”

  The two Worms twisted off the path, drifting aside in the course of their struggle. The following Worms, confused by the actions of the first four, drifted back uncertainly.

  “I’d say we have an adequate defense,” Quiti said, allowing a smile to escape.

  “Make Love and War,” Idola agreed zestfully.

  But still more Worms were pressing forward. “Another,” Quiti said grimly.

  “This is almost fun.”

  The next Worm got hit. It abruptly turned tail, literally, and fled. “That was Fear,” Quiti said with satisfaction.

  It was not enough. The Worms were either catching on that there was only one Bomb at a time, or becoming so eager for the kill that they were crowding up closely regardless. This was a losing ploy, in the long run.

  “Damn,” Quiti said. “I don’t think we can make it, on this go-round. I think we’ll have to retreat to Earth, plan our mission, and try again, better prepared. I’m sorry, Flower.”

  “I see the Worms,” the speaker grille said. He did understand the situation.

  “Very well. Loose all your remaining Bombs, and we’ll hightail it out of here in the ensuring confusion.”

  There was a series of pops. Then the poop hit the fan, as it were. Suddenly the Worms were reacting in multiple ways, causing chaos.

  Quiti called out as many as she could, while she steered the jet ski in the direction she knew: toward Earth. “Happiness, sorrow, hope, frustration, disappointment, gratitude, embarrassment, pride, shame, remorse, longing, love, hatred, worry, relief, jealousy, humiliation, insecurity, resentment, betrayal, dread, desperation, resignation, despair. More I can’t sort out at the moment.”

  “Reverence, disgust, gluttony,” Idola added, identifying some by their external manifestations. “What a scene!” Because the Worms were now in a spaghetti like mass of struggling creatures, trying to handle emotions they seldom if ever experienced in their normal lives.

  Bu
t a few were on the outside, having avoided the Bombs, and these were orienting for another charge. There were no Bombs left. It was definitely time to depart.

  Quiti zeroed in on the wormhole she needed. “Hang on!” she called as she guided the jet ski there.

  They plunged into the hole, and through it, to emerge back on Earth. There was a moment of disorientation.

  Quiti stirred. She was back in her material body. She looked across at Idola, whose eyes were blinking. And at the flickering stick figure that was Flower. They had made it safely home.

  “It’s good to have you back,” Gena said as she went to tend to her daughter. “We have I think a nice surprise for you.”

  “A surprise?” Quiti asked blankly.

  “She arrived a few minutes ago, following Flower’s scent trail. We have been conversing in the interim.”

  “She?”

  “I call her Orchid, as her real name has no feasible translation.”

  Mommy! Flower exclaimed mentally.

  Mommy?

  Then Quiti saw the blurry figure embracing Flower, and read the attendant mind. It was indeed his Ghobot mother. Who had naturally been looking for her lost child, just as he was looking for her. All they had really had to do was wait.

  Chapter 8: Trio

  “She’s some woman,” Gena confided to Quiti. “I believe the Ghobots can have a place here on Earth, if we can work out the details.”

  Quiti looked at her with surprise. “Are you changing sides?”

  Gena laughed. “I was never on a side, Quiti. I merely questioned whether it would be smart to have the Ghobots here on Earth, given their history.”

  “And now you don’t?”

  “I still do question it. But my brief dialogue with Orchid satisfies me that this could use more exploration.”

  “You like her.”

  “I certainly do. But there’s bound to be more to it than that.”

  Quiti was pleased. Gena was the most sensible member of the Embassy, and her acquisition of both Hair and Chip powers only amplified that. If she thought there was a prospect, it was an excellent signal.