Virtual Mode

by Piers Anthony

  "But then why do you want to return with me?"

  "Because your Mode is also infinitely better than the alternative. At least once I am through your anchor point I will be able to remain, for your Mode will surround me far more solidly than does the Virtual Mode. A man very like the one I loved will be there. I hope he will marry me."

  "But surely you would not deceive him!"

  "Surely not! I will tell him the truth, and offer him my body and my power for his disposal, as long as he wishes either."

  Darius nodded. "I think he will accept. But he will be concerned about the fate of his original Prima."

  "She may well be traveling back to the Mode of another Darius, to marry another Kublai." Her chest heaved with silent laughter. "We are interchangeable."

  He did not laugh. "But when I return, he will vacate the post, and need no Cyng wife."

  Her face lifted again and turned to his. "If you return with your love, would you marry me then? I can do for you what I can do for him, and I would be discreet about your love-mistress."

  Darius was startled. A power of multiplication rivaling his own!

  "Why, yes, I believe I would! You understand the nature of the marriage."

  "I certainly do. Consider us affianced, in that unlikely event."

  Darius sank into thought, his mind racing. He had visited the other Mode in search of exactly a woman such as this: one who could expand his power so greatly as to make it no burden, without being depleted herself. He had found her. She was not young and lovely and sweet; she was old and smart and cynical. She was not his love. She was Kublai's lost love. What a strange solution!

  "You were correct," he remarked. "There was something to talk about."

  "Yes. There is more, but I felt it necessary to clarify our relationship as I believe it is, so as not to deceive you."

  "More?"

  "I have had twenty years to ponder the nature of the Modes," she reminded him.

  "Kublai will be most interested in what you have to say." He might be interested himself, but right now he was tired, and wanted to sleep.

  "Delicately put. Let me mention just one other question, whose answer I believe I know."

  "One other thing," he agreed.

  "We are in a provocative position, physically. If this causes you to desire—"

  "No. No offense."

  "That is the answer I anticipated, and prefer. We are of different generations, and thrown together only by the chance of our Mode involvement. Now we must share warmth and sleep."

  Darius was glad to agree. He relaxed, adjusting his head on her shoulder, cushioned from her shoulder bone by her shirt and hair and the thin blanket, and closed his eyes. She relaxed similarly against him, and drew him in closer for that warmth. Her bosom touched his chest, and he became conscious of her breasts as she breathed.

  His imagination shaped her body into that of Colene. He did desire a woman, and Colene was that woman. But the two of them had been hedged by imperfect understandings, and it had not been right. Were they traveling the Virtual Mode, together like this, then—well, if it had been Colene who had made that offer, this time he would have accepted.

  "You are thinking of your loved one," Prima murmured.

  "We are sharing minds?" he asked, surprised.

  "Some. Bear in mind that I have similar power to multiply as you do; that is a kind of emotional interaction. It is stifled now because I am isolated from your Mode and your special Chip connection, but our minds will interact increasingly as we associate and are in close contact."

  "Surely true," he agreed. His power had been stifled in the alternate Modes, but she derived from his own Mode, or one very similar. He had no experience with such interaction, because he had never before encountered a woman of her level of power.

  "But mainly I felt the tenderness of your touching, and knew it was not for me."

  She was embarrassingly perceptive. "It is true."

  "If I marry Kublai, I will try to pretend he still loves me. I hope that at least he desires me."

  "He has a young and beautiful and attentive wife," he said. "She is Koren. I impressed on her the need to be unmarried from the Cyng of Hlahtar, and she hates me. She will hate you, if you evoke his desire."

  Her body stiffened, then relaxed. "True. I thank you for that reminder. I have no right."

  Evidently she had been quite lonely, trapped in the dragon's Mode. She had loved Kublai, and perhaps still loved him, having had neither satisfaction nor any other man to dream of. She could represent disaster for Kublai's love life. Yet she had a power that would be invaluable to any Cyng of Hlahtar, himself included.

  "If I may make a suggestion—"

  "By all means."

  "Marry Kublai, but take a lover. Make it obvious. Then it will be seen that the marriage is purely convenience."

  "That is good advice," she said sadly. Then she was silent, and they drifted to sleep.

  IN the morning they were both quite stiff and uncomfortable. It occurred to him that this was indeed a provocative position, but that even had it been Colene here, it would have become relatively unexciting in this situation.

  They unkinked their legs, and Prima got her skirt decorously down so that her diapers no longer showed, which was a relief. They worked their way down to the ground and stretched and exercised, jumping together to get warm.

  "I must undertake natural functions," she said. "But we can not untie our arms."

  "What exactly would happen if we did?" he asked. "I mean, if we are careful to remain right here in this Mode—or if I stepped across, I could return for you."

  "It might be all right," she said. "But my fear is that because I am now a creature of the dragon's Mode, and have no alternate Mode anchored in that, I would fall through the Modes and return there. That is a risk I prefer not to take."

  "Fall through? But if you do not walk across the borders—"

  "If you will humor me while I relieve myself, I will explain in more detail."

  "As you wish." He was sure she had good reason. He stood facing away while she squatted to do her business and bury it in the dirt. Then she faced away for his turn. This was another firm reminder that there was little actual romance in being bound to a woman; instead the details he would have preferred to ignore were made uncomfortably evident.

  Then they made a meal from his supplies, and she explained while they waited for the water they had drunk to be assimilated. "You understand that a traveler's tenure is limited on the Chip Mode, because he gradually loses contact. If he does not return fairly soon, he never will."

  "Yes. I call it the Virtual Mode, because it is analogous to a state of functioning by that name in the Mode where I met my love. It is presumed that a traveler has been killed or lost or trapped as you were. Now that I have learned what happened to you, I consider this presumption confirmed."

  "Virtual Mode," she repeated musingly. "As if it is something not quite real, yet seems real. A useful concept." She paused, evidently assimilating the notion. "However, the presumption of the reason a traveler through the Modes does not return is not confirmed. He may indeed be killed, lost, or trapped, but the mechanism is more basic than that. You are aware how you must eat and drink cautiously in foreign Modes, because you can not immediately assimilate the food."

  "Yes. I was warned, but forgot. I drank at this lake, and lost the water from my stomach. I had to do it again, and wait."

  "Precisely. Your body isolates the foreign molecules and separates them from their Mode; they must join yours. But the corollary is more dangerous: the more foreign matter you incorporate in your body, the less remains of your original substance. Eventually your body is more foreign than native, and you are unable to remain on the Virtual Mode. Then you are trapped, regardless of the rest of your situation. This happened to me."

  "But the dragons caged you!"

  "Yes. They caged me and fed me, and in due course I became too much of their Mode, and could not escape. I
had little choice: had I refused to eat, I would have died of starvation. They knew that. They would have done that with you. They allowed me to feed you your own food because they wished me to ingratiate myself with you. They knew that in time your food would be exhausted, and the process of assimilation into their Mode would accelerate. The very process of breathing was already beginning that."

  "Breathing!" he exclaimed.

  "When you breathe, you exchange molecules of your substance with those of the air. The longer you breathe, the greater amount of foreign matter you incorporate."

  "I never thought of that! Of course you are right."

  "I have had a long time to ponder the aspects of my failure," she said with a wan smile. "It is not surprising that some of my realizations are new to you. I would have told you this had we remained trapped, and the dragons would have noted your reaction and seen that I was impressing you."

  "And if you succeeded in winning my confidence, you might learn from me how to cross the Modes," he said. "I see their logic. But you succeeded too well."

  "That was my desire. I think now that I could have addressed you directly without trying to mask it with nonsense syllables; the dragons are not highly vocal and do not really understand the versatility of it. But I was determined not to squander my only chance for escape."

  "So your body is mostly of the dragon Mode," he said. "But I am aware of no actual attraction of a Mode. I do not find myself sliding back to my anchor Mode when I relax. Why should it pull you back?"

  "It may not," she admitted. "But it could work in this way: if I became separated from you, I would be unable to cross Modes toward your anchor. But I might be able to cross them toward the dragon realm, because it is as it were downhill for my present substance. Since the Virtual Mode intersects only a narrow segment of each Mode, I would inevitably stumble across and be moved back. Certainly I would not reach your anchor. My fear is that even a brief separation would prevent you from finding me, for you would not know in which Mode to search, or where within it."

  "Needle in a haystack," he agreed.

  "I do not follow your reference."

  "It is a saying I learned from Colene. They use fine needles for stitchwork, as I understand it, and should such a needle fall into a pile of hay, it would be exceedingly difficult to find."

  "That is apt. So I prefer to take no risk, being sensitized by my long captivity. I shall do my best to repay this inconvenience for you. For example, I may be able to show you how to cross Modes more safely, so that you run no further risk of being trapped."

  "That would be a great help!"

  "When we reach your anchor, and I am safe there, I will fetch you mirrors. It should be easy to make a structure to hold a set of them, one reflecting to the other. When the forward mirror is poked across the border of Modes, its light could be reflected through a closed tube to the backward mirror. I think you could then see in the backward mirror the image from the forward one, not overwhelmed by the images of the Mode in which you stood."

  Darius was intrigued by the concept. "If light can be reflected across the border, why can't we just look across?"

  "I think we could if we were not attuned to the Mode in which we stand. We need to isolate our sight from that, just as we need to isolate our flesh from it if we wish to depart it. Perhaps I am mistaken. It is a concept I played with, and I would like to discover whether it works."

  "I will certainly try it!" he said. "If it protects me from walking into a net, this delay will have been worth it." Then he reconsidered. "I do not mean to imply that it is not worthwhile to rescue you."

  She laughed. "I understand perfectly!"

  She surely did. She was older than he, and not beautiful (though not ugly), but she had a good mind to go with her excellent power. He was adjusting to the notion of marrying her, when he returned with Colene. That would indeed give him love and advantage in his post, though not in the same woman. It would make his foray onto the Virtual Mode a success.

  Having assimilated the water, they moved on across the Modes. Darius was now conscious of a resistance in his body, as if the foreign molecules were dragging behind. But it was so slight as perhaps to be his imagination. After all, Prima, who had twenty years' accumulation of foreign substance in her body, was having no apparent difficulty crossing. Unless it was the resistance of her substance, in contact with his, which caused the drag.

  He expected their return to be slower than his original journey, but it was faster. His familiarity with the route and her eagerness to reach the anchor made for excellent progress. They did encounter a large predator at one point, but a quick dodge back across the Mode border solved that. Prima also insisted on leading the way, so that she rather than he would catch the brunt of danger. She seemed almost fearless in her cooperation.

  When they reached the point at which he had diverged from the direct route, he explained, and she agreed as to the wisdom of that course. They retraced his route across the plain. When he judged they were close to his Mode, he conjured them to the dais of the Cyng of Pwer.

  Then sudden doubt assailed him. "How can I be sure it's my anchor?" he asked. "If there are an infinite number of Dariuses entering an infinite number of Virtual Modes—"

  "Each should relate to his own anchor," she said. "Your Virtual Mode slants across Modes at such an angle that three paces separate them. When you take the final three paces, you should be at the correct anchor. My case diners; I lost my Mode, so have no such orientation and must depend on yours."

  "I hope you are right," he said.

  "And if it is a different anchor, but so similar that it accepts you, and no one can tell the difference, does it matter?"

  "Of course it matters! Those awaiting my return would wait in vain, for I would be in the wrong Mode!"

  "But that wrong Mode would stand in the same need of your return as your own, and your return would be as beneficial to it."

  He did not feel equipped to answer that. He just hoped it was the right one.

  They reached the anchor and stepped onto the marked circle.

  CHAPTER 7

  UNDERSTANDING

  BUT why were you calling me? Colene inquired after recovering control of herself.

  I need help to escape, Seqiro replied. I felt the invitation of the Virtual Mode, and accepted it. But I must step out of my stall to utilize it, and can not without breaking it down.

  I can open it for you, she said. The latch looks simple enough.

  The horse twitched an ear. For your human fingers, yes. For my hoof, no.

  She stepped toward it. I will do it now.

  He brought his nose about to intercept her. Not yet. I will need feed and some supplies before I travel, for grazing has disadvantages on the Virtual Mode.

  But I thought horses liked to graze!

  We do. But the food of other realities is difficult to assimilate, and best avoided until the journey is complete.

  She was surprised. What's wrong with it?

  When you cross realities, what you have recently eaten remains behind, for it is not of your reality.

  She had packed supplies because she had been uncertain what she would find along the way. Now she was very glad she had done so!

  I'm going to find my lost lave, Darius, she thought. Where are you going?

  With you.

  But you may not like it in his reality!

  I will like it with you.

  He wasn't just saying it, he was thinking it, and the sincerity of his thought was not to be doubted. Oh, Seqiro, you are so much more than I ever dreamed of!

  I know. I felt you coming from afar, and hoped you were human. It is a strain to think across realities, but with the Virtual Mode it is possible, and I had to find you and bring you to me.

  This was sudden, but right. Colene knew her life had changed, in a way she had never expected. She had loved Darius quickly; she loved Seqiro instantly, but in a different way. Instant love was supposed to be foolish, as it w
as based on infatuation rather than knowledge, but with direct mind contact, that rule was irrelevant.

  Soon she learned his situation, because he made a comprehensive explanatory mental picture: this was a reality in which the horses governed, just as the dogs, cats, and bears governed some of the realities she had passed. They did it by telepathy, imposing their will on human beings. To an outside observer, this was much like a human reality, but here the humans acted at the behest of the horses, feeding them, exercising them, and guarding them.

  But Seqiro had too much of a mind for leisure. He wanted to explore new frontiers and gain new understandings. He also tended to be generous to his handlers. This had made other horses look bad, and finally they had acted by removing his handlers, effectively confining him to his stall. He was being pressured to change his ways. He had resisted—and then felt the questing of the Virtual Mode.

  There had been such questings before, but he had not cared to risk them. Now he had to, for it was his only likely escape, physically and mentally. It was no coincidence that this connection had come; only those in great need established Virtual Modes, and only those in similar need attuned to them. They were like calls across the realities: I NEED YOUR HELP. SHARE MY ADVENTURE. But such adventure could be extremely strange. Thus only specially receptive minds felt the questings, and only the most strongly motivated folk accepted them.

  But there was serious risk entailed, for though he knew he could escape via the Virtual Mode, he did not know who had instituted it, or for what purpose. He did know that other animals had mental powers, and that many of these were predator species. If this happened to be a tiger Mode, he would have difficulty relating and would probably perish. If, on the other hoof, it was a compatible species, he might do very well, and gain intellectual satisfaction.

  When he had tuned in to her approach, he had perceived what seemed to be a human personality. Could it be a human Mode? That possibility had not occurred to him before, but of course any species could institute a Virtual Mode if it knew how. He had never noted any telepathic power in the human kind, but it was certainly possible that it existed in variants of that species in distant realities. Certainly a human animal could be compatible; human animals were a horse's best friend here.