Virtual Mode

by Piers Anthony

  "Set it at the minimum level, and show me how to turn it on. And how to detune it so that it affects me as well as you."

  "This setting will detune it," Cat said. "This is the minimum level." It moved the dial. "This activates it."

  Darius touched the detune setting. Then he turned it on.

  Abruptly he experienced an ugly feeling. It was as if he were just coming down with a fever: a malaise not yet incapacitating, but a harbinger of worse to come.

  He looked at Cat, who seemed unaffected. "You feel it too?"

  "Yes. But I am accustomed to it."

  Darius moved the dial. The discomfort increased. His body began to shake, and sweat appeared on his skin. His breathing became irregular. "You feel this?"

  "Yes." The Feline did look a bit uncomfortable, but not nearly as much so as Darius felt.

  He nudged it up farther. It felt as if he were walking into a furnace which was heating his bones, causing them to swell. and split. Yet he was only three notches up, on a scale of ten.

  He turned it off. "It is effective," he agreed. "And I do seem to feel no aftereffect. I can see that this would be effective for discipline. But that leaves my question: why do surgery on Colene?"

  "That is a prerequisite to demoting her to servant status," Cat said. "Humans, unlike nulls, are capable of reproduction. On colony planets they still do it naturally; on the more civilized worlds they do it via the birth banks. Once her valuable human eggs are safe, she can be treated in any manner. This is expected to cause you distress."

  "It does," Darius said. "I don't want any part of her removed, and I want to be with her myself. But surely there are many human women in this Mode; why take the eggs from Colene?"

  "The human genetic pool has been highly refined and modified," it said. "As you can see by the manner that we nulls have been crafted from the leftover parts of it. No human suffers from genetic maladies; none grow fat or weak or are stupid. All live long lives by primitive standards, and enjoy health throughout. But the genetic pool has become inbred, and the rate of population increase is declining. Fewer eggs are viable. It seems that primitive vigor has been sacrificed along with primitive liabilities. New genetic input is needed, to broaden the base and invigorate the pool. Colene represents an excellent source of that input, being young, intelligent, and healthy. It is unfortunate that the other woman. Provos, is beyond the age of similar harvest."

  Darius was horrified anew. "So they aren't going to let her escape with her ovaries. But then why should I cooperate? Ddwng's word means nothing."

  "That is not true. The Emperor's word is always good. It would be beneath him to make any false statement. There is reason for you to cooperate: if you provide the Chip that enables Ddwng to transcend Modes, he will be able to bring in other women with their genes, and will have no need of Colene's genes. He will release you both as promised, together with Provos and the horse."

  "The what?"

  "Colene has a horse. You were not aware?"

  "I was not aware," Darius said, surprised. "I thought she came alone."

  "No, she preferred to ride, so she brought her horse. He was loaded with supplies for them both."

  Darius did not know what to make of this. Colene had had no horse! How had she gotten one? She wouldn't have stolen it. However, she was welcome to it, as far as he was concerned. A horse could be a useful animal when properly trained, and evidently this one was.

  It was coming clear why Ddwng was giving Darius time to think about his decision. The more he learned, the more futile it seemed to try to oppose the Emperor. He still didn't like the notion of letting a conqueror loose among the Modes, but he feared increasingly that if he did not cooperate, Colene would suffer immediately, and then increasing pressure would be brought to bear until he capitulated. Darius did not consider himself to be a brave man; if he were put in pain from the pain dial, he would be in serious trouble. Ddwng had surely known that Darius would discover this. There was probably more to learn, which was not good news.

  "I think I had better retire," he said. "I seem to have used up half the night already."

  "True. Do you wish for a sleep ray, or for Pussy's company?"

  "Neither, thanks. Let me just clean up and turn in."

  "As you wish." Cat settled to the floor, but did not sleep; it was alert for any other directives.

  Darius stepped into the cleaning chamber he had seen Provos use. He got out of his clothes. Light flashed. That seemed to be it; he was clean. He picked up his clothes and discovered that they were clean too. Probably he had not had to remove them. But since he did not intend to sleep in them, it didn't matter. He bundled them up and stepped back out.

  "My bedroom?" he inquired.

  Cat jumped up. "Here." It indicated another panel.

  Darius entered, and found a chamber with an excellent bed. He suspected that only the Captain rated such accommodations. That was all right; he was ready for this. He dumped his clothing into a shelf-niche and lay down naked.

  But before he slept he remembered his screen contact with Colene. How lovely she had been! He had not chosen her for beauty, if he had chosen her at all; somehow he had just gradually discovered that she was the one he wanted to be with. She had been kind to him in her Mode, but it was more than that.

  How had she come by a horse?

  And—how had she known about Prima?

  He remembered now: he had been telling her that he had found a suitable woman to marry, so that that part of his search was over. It freed him to love Colene. Colene had said she understood, and she had named Prima. But he had not mentioned that name this time, and he could not have mentioned it before, because he had not encountered Prima before embarking on the Virtual Mode. Somehow Colene had learned the name and what it signified.

  It had not been Colene directly with whom he talked, but an image. With magic, images could be false. Surely that was true in this super-science realm. Yet Colene's ways had rung true. She had wept when she told him they must pan, and she had reacted in other authentic ways. She was suicidal; she would not have told Ddwng that, because she told no one. Only Darius himself, and then only when she loved him. This time she had said that her life was complete, and he knew too well what that meant. Complete because she intended to end it. When she lost him. That had to be Colene! A false image would have tried to capitulate; she had done the opposite. Had she begged him to do it, he might have yielded; she had begged him not to. That rang true.

  But the name. Colene could not know of Prima. Yet how could a false image know it either? No one should know it, not even Provos. He had not mentioned her to Provos. Or had he? He had used the mirror tube Prima had devised; perhaps he had after all mentioned its origin. Or Provos could have remembered the name from some remark he would make in the future. And Provos had been with Colene for a while.

  Yes, it was possible, he realized. Provos must have told her. Colene would naturally have asked about him, and Provos would have told what she remembered for future conversations. So the little mystery was solved. Relieved, he slept.

  HE must have slept longer than intended, because he had the impression that too much time had passed. But he woke refreshed.

  He got up and looked for his clothes. But they were gone. "Pussy!" he called.

  Immediately, she appeared, and he realized that he had in his haste spoken the wrong name. He had wanted Tom, the male. Now he was sitting naked on the bed, and the voluptuous female Feline was gazing at him expectantly. "May I be of service now?" she asked.

  "Yes. Fetch me my clothes."

  She touched a panel, and out came a glittering robe. She proffered it.

  "That's not mine," he protested.

  "It is the Captain's robe," she explained. "It would be amiss for you to go about the ship out of uniform."

  Darius acquiesced to the inevitable. "Very well. Carry on."

  He meant for her to depart, so he could dress. Instead she proceeded to dress him. Well, she did know what
she was doing, and he did not. She had to perform her daily service, and he hoped this counted.

  Did it? He realized that he had better be sure, lest he cause inadvertent mischief by assuming too much. "Does this acquit you of your daily service. Pussy?"

  "No. This is routine. I must do more for you than this." She smiled, inhaling, and her breasts swelled, making the fabric of her dress turn translucent in that region. The signal was clear enough.

  So much for that. "I think you know that I love the human woman Colene. I do not have sexual interest in others at this time."

  "But I am not a woman!" she protested happily. "I am a null. There is no conflict with your woman."

  "No conflict? Colene comes from a culture where men and women are supposed to be true to each other during their association. She would not appreciate my doing anything with you."

  "Then you must explain to her. It is quite normal. Married couples use their nulls all the time. It eases the stress of monogamy and provides variety. A null is much more accommodating than a spouse, because a null has no pride and no rights."

  No pride and no rights. Darius had been coming to like the nulls, but now he realized that the culture that fostered them had a brutal disregard of human pride and rights, and had to be condemned. If he cooperated with Ddwng, he would be facilitating the spread of that system to other Modes, like a loathsome disease.

  But it would not be expedient to express his doubt to her. She would only take it as rejection, and therefore some defect in the quality of her service. "Perhaps another time," he said gently. "I have much to learn of the ways of the DoOon, and must get to it."

  "Yes," she said, disappointed.

  Provos was in the main chamber, with a meal set up for them both. She remembered the time of his awakening, of course. "This is an interesting society," she remarked. "But I am sorry you are giving them the Chip."

  "I am?" he asked, startled.

  "I understand that is what you must do to be united with your young woman, and I appreciate your desire, but I wish there had been some other way. Or is there some factor in the past which changes the effect of your action?"

  "No, there is not," he said. She remembered that he was going to agree to Ddwng's demand! He had hoped that her knowledge of the future would enable him to do the opposite. Apparently he was to discover no such device.

  The meal was catered by Pussy, eager as always to be of any possible service. But how was he going to find daily services for her other than the ones she expected?

  Provos glanced at the buxom Feline woman. "I also fear that Colene will not understand your sexual use of this creature," she said. "I suspect she will be hurt, considering that you will so soon be rejoined. It would seem to be a virtue in a man to be able to wait a few days."

  He was going to do that? Provos was a good woman who spoke her mind plainly, and it was not possible to argue with her. She was not condemning him, merely voicing her disapproval. But in the light of his determination not to use Pussy in this manner, this was a distressing revelation.

  Provos was speaking in Darius' language, which he thought the translator balls did not understand. But now Pussy perked up. "Oh, thank you, Darius!" she exclaimed. Then, to Provos: "When?"

  "Before he kills the monster," the old woman replied.

  So he was going to succeed in his mission, though he knew so little about it. Actually he would give the order and a minion would dispatch the monster, giving Darius the credit. No genuine accomplishment there!

  He made no comment. He realized that the folk of this Mode, however loyal they might seem to Darius, were all minions of Ddwng and would report to him. Darius could afford to say nothing of his true thoughts—especially since it seemed that his course was already plotted.

  DARIUS went out to see to the operation of the ship. It was indeed traveling rapidly through the night sky; the simulation—he found it more comfortable to think of it as a magic picture"—showed stars passing by at the rate of one or two close ones each minute. The executive officer, Jjle, with his Caprine nulls saw to the routine; in fact, Buck was seeing to it, with authority delegated by his master, and Doe was keeping track of the internal operations of the ship. Goat was at the communications center, coordinating with the planet of destination and with other FTL ships in the area; it seemed that it was important that no two ships pass too close to each other, because of harmonics of hypershift. Darius made no pretense of understanding the technical details; this was obviously a smoothly functioning system.

  "We shall rendezvous with Planet Yils in twenty-three hours, sir," Jjle informed him. "Have you any directives?"

  "Carry on," Darius replied.

  The exec nodded without trace of a smile. Darius completed the tour of the ship, gradually becoming comfortable with it and his position in it. He was a figurehead, true—but it seemed that all captains were figureheads, normally.

  He repaired to the ship's library, which was merely a chamber with screens in contact with a number of planets in the galaxy, and with the help of Cat and the resident Ovine neuter. Sheep, he learned as much as he could assimilate about the colony on Planet Yils. The first human mission had come there approximately a thousand years before—all times were scaled to the Earthly measurements, because this was a human Empire—and settlement had proceeded. There had been a lively export of "escargots" for wealthy cuisine, until someone had noticed that the big snails were intelligent. Technically they qualified for sapient-species recognition and protection. But the Empire had never been much for technicalities, so the export continued on a muted basis. The natives were placid folk who did not hold grudges, so there was no fuss.

  Now, however, the marauding was becoming an embarrassment. The actual value of the damage was not great, but the seeming inability of the colonists to stop it reflected adversely on the Empire. There was also the suspicion that the natives might be finally developing notions of objection to human rule, and of course that had to be emphatically squelched. It was necessary not only to stop the monster, but to ascertain exactly how it had come on the scene and what had enabled it to operate so long without being stopped. The suggestion of mind-blasting was especially sensitive. The Empire had overwhelming superiority in conventional weapons of all types, but something that could stun a mind without physical contact was alarming.

  Darius retired to his quarters and pondered. This just might prove to be a more difficult mission than had been suggested. Was it possible that Ddwng really was providing him with a challenge that would prove his mettle one way or the other? Mind-stunning, if done by intelligent creatures who were organized, could prove to be a threat to more than just a single colony.

  Then why assign the mission to an ignorant outsider? It wasn't to get rid of him, because Ddwng wanted him to survive to show the way to his home Mode and the Chip there. Darius was not a conspirator by nature, but he had a certain notion of the ways in which people of doubtful loyalty could be tested. They could be provided with the opportunity to do some secret wrong. Believing they were unobserved, they usually revealed their basic natures.

  Suppose Ddwng hesitated to trust himself to the Virtual Mode with only Darius as a guide? The Emperor would not be able to take any of his loyal minions along unless he remained in constant contact with them, which would be awkward. How well Darius knew! That meant he would have to trust Darius and his companions of the Virtual Mode. After requiring Darius' cooperation by threatening the young woman he loved. That would seem chancy indeed!

  But if Darius turned out to be trustworthy, the risk became feasible. If Darius' nature was honest, then his word, once given, was good. That might well be more important to Ddwng than the outcome of the mission on Planet Yils. That ten-day deadline might be as much for Ddwng as for Darius: time to study the visitor to this Mode, to come to a conclusion about him.

  Darius was a Cyng, a man of inherent power. He had never had the need to deal in anything other than the truth, and hardly cared to demean himself by
doing so now. But he had never before been faced with such a difficult choice. Should he save the woman he loved by pledging to enable a conqueror to ravage other Modes? That would represent a loss of honor. But if the alternative was to lose Colene—

  Well, he still had most of nine days to make the decision. Or did he? Could this span of time be another kind of test? A person who waited until the end to make the pledge surely was doing it only as a last resort. One who made it at the outset might simply be saying it as a matter of convenience, without sincerity. The sincere man would take time to study the situation and think it through, then make his decision in timely fashion.

  Provos believed he would make the pledge. But she could not know what was in his heart, and neither could Ddwng. A liar and a truth-teller would say the same thing, to get his way. But in a situation of challenge and decision, the reactions of the two would probably differ. Ddwng and his minions had surely had a great deal of experience in judging how the two differed.

  But a single episode was not enough. It was necessary to know a person as well as possible, and to judge whether his decision was consistent with the pattern of his personality. Even if a person made a commitment with sincerity, he could not be trusted if it was not in accord with his nature. Men did not always know their own wills.

  Darius realized that he had probably been under observation throughout, waking and sleeping, and would be for the duration of this venture. It didn't matter; he had been too busy getting his bearings to act in any way atypical of himself. But now that he realized this, it did matter. He could not form a pattern of action consistent with one decision, then decide the other way.

  But he hadn't made his decision! How could he be consistent with an unknown?

  Provos had given him the key to that. He would have to comport himself in a manner consistent with a decision to accede to Ddwng's demand. If he then did so, it would be trusted. If he did not, then the pattern would be inconsistent—but that would not matter, because an inconsistent pattern was similar to a negative one, for Ddwng's purpose. Either would mean that it was not safe to enter the Virtual Mode with him.