Virtual Mode

by Piers Anthony

  She knotted the rope firmly around her middle, and passed a loop down between her legs and up around her shoulders, so that there was no way for her to slip out of it. She was afraid of that terrible storm, but knew this was the best way to tackle it.

  She ventured across the boundary again, wishing there were handholds. But there was only the level planking, which she now realized was vibrating with the force of the storm beyond. That had not been evident while Seqiro was walking, but now he was still and they both saw that part of the motion was not from his hoofs.

  The storm caught her again. This time a wave was washing over the bridge, making the pontoons tip at what seemed like a precarious angle. She lost her balance and fell, and the water carried her into the sea. She inhaled to scream, involuntarily, and took in a mouthful and some of a lungful of froth.

  Then she was in the calm water, having been carried across the boundary by the wave. Seqiro was backing away, hauling her in. She managed to catch hold of the edge of a pontoon and cling there, choking.

  Calm. Cough. Calm. Inhale. Cough.

  It was Seqiro, assuming control of her breathing, getting her to clear her lungs without panicking. She let him do it; it was much easier to ride along with his procedure.

  Sooner than otherwise, she was back on the bridge and on her feet. "Thanks, Seqiro," she gasped. "I needed that."

  Then she gathered her strength and charged back through the boundary.

  This time a wave had just passed. She forged through the knee-deep water, able to keep her footing, and by the time the next wave loomed, she plunged across.

  Into bright sunlight. The storm was only one reality wide! "Come on, Seqiro!" Then, immediately, she reconsidered. "Wait—let me spy the waves. It's much easier to cross between them."

  She sat at the edge of the boundary, clung to a pontoon, and cautiously poked her head across. She got a faceful of salt water. She drew back, blinking the salt out of her eyes. Then she tried it again, and found a lull. "Now!"

  The bridge vibrated with extra force. Suddenly the horse appeared, almost galloping along the bridge. The water splashed up from his legs.

  Colene threw herself to the side, into the water, lest she be inadvertently trampled. How big Seqiro looked from this vantage! He was a massive horse, and splendid in his motion. She had forgotten that, in her constant communion with his mind.

  He entered her current reality, and she had to scramble up before he overshot her position too far and yanked her along by the rope. They were across, but she hoped they did not have to do that again soon.

  THE nature of the ocean changed faster than any individual reality suggested, and land came into view by jumps with each crossed boundary. Adjacent realities tended to be similar, but sometimes differed by significant stages within that similarity. Now they seemed to be headed for a reality whose far shoreline was considerably west of the one they had started with. Perhaps this world was turning slightly faster, so that it had gained on the others. No, it would be the other way: if it turned more slowly, a given spot on the globe would be west of the others. It hardly mattered; what counted was that they were getting across the ocean much faster than they might have.

  By nightfall they set foot on what in her reality might have been Europe. Now she remembered how quickly they had reached what seemed to be the Atlantic Ocean; she had not walked any twelve hundred miles to the coast! So this effect must have existed all along; she just hadn't paused to realize its significance. Now she was glad they weren't traveling in the other direction!

  Life had continued to progress, and now there were modern fish and animals and birds, though she did not recognize the individual species.

  The pontoon bridge stopped at the shore, but here there was a well-marked path leading east. Someone certainly had set this up—but who traveled it? They had encountered no one, and seen no footprints or other signs of use. It had to have been done recently—within the past week—because before then this Virtual Mode hadn't been in place. What did it mean?

  We are approaching superior minds, Seqiro thought. Not many realities away. They are closed to me; I can fathom only their power.

  "Not Darius' reality? Magic?"

  No. I suspect science, like yours, because if they set up the bridge—

  "High-tech," she agreed.

  They seem to be human. They may be friendly. However—

  "Um, Seqiro," she murmured, really not speaking at all, more or less subvocalizing so as to focus her thoughts. "We don't know what we're headed into, but I think maybe they're expecting us. Maybe we should, you know, not let them know too much about us. Until we know more about them."

  This was my thought.

  They considered, then decided to do something neither of them really liked. Colene made a loop of rope and tied it about Seqiro's nose, and held the other end like a rein. She climbed up on his back with the supplies and rode. Now it seemed that he was a plain unintelligent horse—she could not bring herself to think "stupid"—under the control of a human. It seemed to be a necessary charade—just in case.

  They advanced through more realities, the path broadening as if to signal that they were close to their destination. Other paths intersected it at acute angles to their route, evidently going the same way. Were there paths reaching as far out as theirs, in other directions? All constructed in the past week? What an effort that must have been! And why? Colene still didn't trust this..

  "You know," she subvocalized, "if this turns out as suspicious as it seems so far, and you have to keep on acting like a dumb animal, you'll be put in a stall and I won't be able to be with you without giving you away."

  True. But a stall is no discomfort for me, and we can remain in mind contact throughout. I believe I can now reach you across a continent, so we will not truly be separated.

  "I hope not! But I have an ill feeling about this. Someone has gone to an awful lot of trouble to show us in."

  We must continue as we have, until we are able to proceed through this reality and resume our journey. Obviously they know someone will be coming on the Virtual Mode, but not who or from what direction, or they would not have fashioned so many paths.

  "That's what bothers me. This is obviously another anchor. Why didn't the anchor person just come on out to meet us? If he wants to escape his reality, why take all this trouble to bring us in to it?"

  I think we shall find out. I doubt we can avoid the encounter which threatens, so it is better to proceed into it as if innocent.

  "We are innocent," she muttered bleakly.

  They crossed several more realities—and were abruptly in a huge building. This was evidently the anchor place.

  A man stood before them. He was in a uniform: a princely robe of what looked like silk or fine artificial material. A metallic band circled his head at forehead level. His hair was reddish and receding, and his eyes were black and piercing. He looked to be in his fifties, running to density rather than fat.

  Seqiro stopped immediately. Colene, uncertain what to do, decided to remain mounted. That way she could go with Seqiro if he bolted. "Hello," she said tentatively, her throat feeling somewhat constrained.

  "Hello," a ball hanging near them said, mimicking her voice and intonation precisely.

  I can not get into his mind, Seqiro thought. But I think that device is trying to communicate.

  A translator! That made sense. She faced the ball. "Hello. I am Colene, and this is my horse, Seqiro. We are from a far reality, and only passing through this one. We would like to stay the night and go on in the morning."

  "Hello. I am—" the ball said.

  Colene tapped her collarbone with a thumb. "I am Colene." She glanced down. "This is my horse, Seqiro." She indicated him. "Who are you?" She pointed to the ball, and then to the man.

  "Hello. I am—" the ball said. Then the man lifted one hand and tapped himself. "Ddwng." The ball spoke again. "You are Colene. This is my horse, Seqiro."

  She smiled. "My horse, not
your horse. This is your palace." She gestured around the chamber.

  "Seqiro is your horse. This is my palace. You are from a far reality."

  That machine was fast! "A far reality," Colene agreed. "On the Virtual Mode." She gestured back the way they had come. Then she oriented on the man. "You are Deed-wing."

  "Ddwng," he corrected her. There seemed to be a stutter at the beginning and no vowels in the middle.

  "D-dwng," she said, almost getting it. "Who are your people?"

  The translator ball took some dialogue to get that straight, but in due course answered: "My people are the—"

  "DoOon," Ddwng finished.

  "Do-Oh!-on," she repeated, noting the three different "o" sounds. "Ddwng of the DoOon. I am Colene of the Americans."

  The introductions completed, Ddwng stepped forward. He smiled, offering his arm for Colene to brace against so she could dismount without tumbling. She put both hands on it, finding it very strong, and jumped down.

  Other people appeared. Except that they weren't exactly people. Colene tried not to stare, sure that it would be bad form. They had the heads of sheep!

  "These are nulls of the Ovine persuasion," Ddwng said through the ball, noting her surprise. The actual words were less precise, but that was the essence. "Palace servants. They are of human intelligence and perception."

  "Oh. Thank you."

  First the Ovines saw to her horse. Colene made clear that she wanted her mount well treated, and Ddwng led them to a chamber that would do for a stall. They were now in the anchor reality, and things did not shift every ten feet. She arranged with Ram, the male Ovine, to get good hay and grain and water for the horse, for Seqiro could eat the food of an anchor reality and retain it. Plus a block of salt! Then, with regret, she left him, for it would not do to show too great an attachment to a mere beast of burden. Seqiro advised her in this mentally, while playing the part of animal perfectly. They still did not know whether they could trust the folk of this reality. At least the DoOon seemed to have no notion of telepathy; their sophisticated ball indicated that they depended on computerized data banks for translation.

  Then they saw to Colene. Ewe, the female sheep, approached bearing silken robes. Colene realized that she must look pretty ratty, after the day's hike and the soaking down in the storm. Her clothing had dried on her and must look that way. She nodded affirmatively.

  The sheep-woman led her to an elegant private chamber. Ddwng did not follow; it seemed he honored basic human protocol with regard to males and females. But she still didn't trust him. She remembered how her date had behaved well enough, until he got her alone with his friends and their liquor. This could be a fancier version of something similar.

  There was another hanging ball here, and it continued to respond to all her remarks. Maybe it was all part of a network, and they wanted to get as much of her language as possible, quickly. That was fine with her. She gave it all the words that came up, and instructed it in basic syntax, correcting it when it made an incorrect assumption. This was the easy way to establish communication!

  Meanwhile she suffered herself to be undressed, bathed, and redressed by the quiet female. She was very good at her profession, evidently born to be a servant to nobility. For Colene was being treated like a princess, and garbed like one. Whenever she spoke to Ewe, that creature nodded her head forward in a set motion, both bow and acknowledgment, and did her best as quietly and efficiently as possible.

  Soon enough Colene was not only clean and clothed, her hair was flowing and lustrous, and she wore a diadem that scintillated iridescently. Her fingernails matched the diadem, and her toenails too, in comfortable yet elegant sandal-slippers. The fatigue of the day was fading; the sheer luxury of her apparel was banishing it.

  She looked at herself in a mirror. She was stunning! As lovely as she had ever imagined herself to be in her most foolish flights of fancy. She showed no private flesh, yet somehow the gown made her look utterly feminine.

  Then they guided her to another ornate chamber. This seemed to be a dining room, and suddenly she realized how hungry she was. She and Seqiro had been so busy following the pontoon bridge that they hadn't stopped to eat since breakfast.

  Seqiro: the horse was doing fine. His thoughts told her of his best meal in days, and the attention of servants who had the heads of horses, who scrubbed off his hide and brushed out tangles in his mane. He could not read their minds, but their attitude indicated that they had not seen a genuine horse before, but understood hoofed animals, so had a general notion how to treat him.

  Ddwng was waiting for her. He showed her to a seat at a table for two, and sat opposite her. "You are comfortable?" the ball of this room inquired.

  "Yes, thank you," Colene replied. Indeed she was, physically. But what was this leading up to? She tried not to show her continuing tension.

  "You are beautiful," the ball said.

  "Thank you." Then, aware that it spoke at the direction of Ddwng, she made the servant nod-bow to him.

  Pleased, he returned the nod. If he had had doubt about whether she was civilized, it was being resolved.

  Ovines brought in platters. Each had an array of odd but interesting-smelling substances. But she hesitated to choose, not wanting to make some gauche error. "Please—you choose," she said to Ddwng.

  He nodded again. In a moment she had a plate of things, similar to his own. She watched him lift a utensil resembling a single chopstick. When he touched it to a morsel, a bite-sized segment of that morsel adhered to it. Good enough.

  They ate in silence. The food, strange as it was, was excellent; she could get used to this in a hurry. There was a beverage too, tasting like a cross between beer and chocolate milk; she hoped it wasn't alcoholic, and it didn't seem to be. Ddwng wasn't trying to get her drunk. Why should he bother? She was in his power. That was the fly in this lovely ointment: soon enough Ddwng would get down to business.

  They completed the meal, and the servants brought mouthwash that left her mouth feeling absolutely clean after one rinse. That was certainly easier than brushing her teeth!

  Then they adjourned to a chamber containing a fountain whose fluid changed colors as it moved. Around it were exotic plants—perhaps ordinary here, but alien to her.

  "Now we shall formulate our understanding," the ball said.

  "Of course," Colene agreed, hoping that her suddenly renewed tension did not show. "What is your interest in me?"

  "You are traveling the Virtual Mode with your animal. I have an interest in the Virtual Mode. I would like to know where its device of origin is located."

  "I don't really know about that," she admitted honestly enough. "It must have been set up by Darius. I am traveling along it to reach his home reality, or to meet him along the way, I hope."

  "Darius is your promised man?" The ball was doing the talking, but the expressions were on the face of Ddwng, and soon it was as if he were talking. He evidently had some kind of ongoing translation, so that he understood what she said.

  "Yes. I love him." She wanted no misunderstandings: she was taken.

  "He is a fortunate man."

  She tried to suppress her girlish delight in being flattered. "I would like to get moving again tomorrow, with my horse. We had to cross quite a number of realities that were, well, empty. Do you know whether the ones in the other direction are okay?"

  "We have not had occasion to explore far, but they seem to be similar to those through which you passed."

  "You went to a lot of effort, setting up those paths. Why did you bother?"

  "When the Virtual Mode was established, we could not know its origin or mission," the ball said. "We knew that those on it would have difficulty with this region, and perhaps suffer harm. So we constructed paths as far as feasible, and set markers beyond them. This seems to have been effective, as you arrived on one of these paths."

  "Well, I'm sorry I can't help you. Why do you want the Chip?"

  "A Virtual Mode is normally a temporar
y thing. With the Chip, we could establish Virtual Modes at our discretion. This would be an excellent thing for our society."

  "The Chip can do that? Can set up a Virtual Mode from anywhere, anytime?"

  Ddwng smiled. "Indeed it can, Colene," the ball said. "So you can see that a Chip is one of the most valuable things in all the realities."

  "I sure do now! I thought it was just some routine thing they cpuld do in Darius' reality."

  "That may be the case. But I gather it is not routine in your reality, as it is not in mine."

  "In my reality, we don't even know that there's more than one reality!"

  "How did you discover that?"

  He seemed interested, and nice, so she told him. In fact, she was acting just a bit more naive than she was, because deep down she definitely did not trust him. Stupidity and ignorance could be significant assets for a girl, when they weren't actual. "Darius was looking for a wife, and he didn't like the ones where he was, so he made a spot trip to my reality. Somehow he knew that I wanted out of my situation and might go with him. But I didn't quite trust it, and didn't go. Then he set up the Virtual Mode, and now I'm trying to get back to him. But it's one hell of a trip!"

  "Surely so. But have you considered that if you are traveling toward his reality, and he is traveling toward yours, you may pass each other without meeting?"

  "Se—" she started, then caught herself. She didn't want him to know that the horse could pick up Darius' mind when he came within several realities. "Seems I didn't think of that! Gee, I hope I haven't already missed him!"

  Ddwng smiled again, satisfied about her naivete. The ball spoke again. "I am sure you have not, because he has not passed through this reality, which seems to be between his and yours."

  "But maybe he went through a corner of it and you didn't see him."

  "That is unlikely. The void realities are extensive, and difficult to pass. He should have intercepted one of our paths and followed it here, as you did."