But it was Colene he loved, and were it not for her age and inner core of depression she would be ideal. Because she had intelligence, initiative, and courage, which could be awesome when they manifested, and she was hardly inferior in other qualities. Now she wanted to help Nona escape the emotional call of Oria, and that was generous of her. Nona was certainly an asset on the Virtual Mode, but Colene also saw her as a threat to Colene’s relationship with Darius; that was why he considered her attitude to be generous. There was also something to be said for keeping the group together, at least until they arrived at Darius’ home Mode. Thereafter—he did not know. Could the Virtual Mode continue, with Nona, Seqiro, and Burgess, after he and Colene got off? It would be a significant risk to free his anchor, because no one could know what the next anchor would be. But if he didn’t, it would leave them with no replacement anchor person, and a group too small to be the hive Burgess needed. So he had no answer for that, yet.
Now the dawn was brightening, and the filaments were fading. They were still there, of course, but invisible and imperceptible; his body passed through them without effect. Filaments of any size were intangible unless special magic was used to address them. Which was what they were about to do. They had to go to the main filament at the east pole of the planet, because that one led to larger planets, and thence to others the same size as Oria. They had to find one the same size, because otherwise the people would be larger or smaller than the natives of Oria, and would not be able to mesh well.
He got up, trying not to disturb the others, but both woke when he stirred. Each was so lovely in her way, Nona a radiant young woman of eighteen, Colene a pretty girl of fourteen. They stretched almost together, their breasts moving under their night tunics. Oh, how he wished he could—but he could not. Because the one who was old enough was not his, and the one who was his was not old enough. It was at times an exquisite torture. At times he really missed his life as Cyng of Hlahtar, with bouncy Ella so eager to warm his bed.
“I caught that, manface,” Colene said, forcing a cute frown.
“You couldn’t have. Seqiro—”
“With my own mind reading,” she said. “I’m getting better at it, you know.”
Was she bluffing? If she ever caught on how much he desired her, she would be almost irresistible, because she would have no conscience about her blandishments. She was too young, and she believed that that made her unappealing in his eyes, but it was not so. She was almost the ultimate in forbidden fruit.
“Gee, I am?” she asked, pleased.
She had to be guessing! He turned away, somewhat shaken. Colene laughed, well satisfied with herself.
“What is going on?” Nona asked her. Now it was Seqiro’s ambience conveying the communication to him; he did not need to be within earshot.
“He was thinking sexy thoughts,” Colene replied. “He has this deal with horseface, not to relay them, but I peeped on my own. He thinks you’re a beautiful woman, but you’re not his, and I’m a pretty girl, but I’m too young. When we both stretched just now, it just about drove him crazy, because of the way our breasts moved. He wished he was back in bed with bouncy Ella, in his own Mode, where the girls wear big diapers by day but can get pretty juicy by night.”
That could not be guessing! She had picked it up exactly.
“This is not right,” Nona said reprovingly. “You should not tease him, when he is trying to treat you correctly.”
“I don’t want to tease him, I want to love him! But he won’t touch me.”
“Let me think about that,” Nona said. “You are solving my problem; I shall have to try to solve yours.”
Darius would have liked nothing better than to have this problem solved. But only time would make Colene old enough, years of time. How was he going to survive that? Colene did not like the idea of him being with any other woman, even one he was not serious about.
“You got that right!” Colene yelled from the tent.
This was going to get more difficult. Her limited telepathy was definitely getting less limited.
No, I relayed that thought, Seqiro thought. It was situational, not sexual.
That was a relief! At least he retained some privacy, if he wasn’t close to Colene.
But there was no sense dwelling in this, when there was an immediate problem to tackle. He and Nona, working together, could enable the group to travel along the filaments between planets. But that was only the beginning. They had to find one Oria’s size, with a human population, and the anima. There might be thousands of such worlds in Julia, but there were millions of planets the wrong size, and it would be easy to get lost in the maze of filaments. How could they efficiently locate an appropriate one?
Then he had it: Angus. Angus was their giant friend on Jupiter, the next larger world up the local filament. They had encountered him when they had been trapped in this Mode, and he had helped them to bring the anima. Perhaps he would help them again. Certainly he should have relevant advice.
Heartened, Darius went about his business. In due course they gathered together for the conjuration. It had taken time for Nona’s familiar to fly to the East Sea, to orient on a suitable spot. Darius could conjure only to a known or observed site; otherwise the risk of landing in a tree was too great. In a tree did not mean reclining on its foliage; it meant flesh overlapping with wood. That could be extremely awkward.
He invoked and moved the grouped icons, and abruptly the five of them were on the beach by the East Sea. Now they needed Nona’s magic, because the filament connected under the sea. The sea actually filled in the giant dimple on the east side of the planet, and was deepest at the connection. So Nona had to make an underwater breathing apparatus for them.
Soon Nona had done that. There was now a giant breathing bell, which would hold a supply of air for them all, constantly renewed by Nona’s magic. They changed into brief trunks, which Nona also made magically, and entered the water. Each wore heavy shaped weights on the feet, to keep them all on the bottom. Seqiro took the center under the bell. Nona rode on him, while Darius walked ahead, using a lead rope and halter to guide the horse. It looked much like their road show, except for the water.
Colene walked beside Burgess, to whom she related well, keeping a hand on one of his contact points so that he would remain current. He had his own air bell, because he was too low to use the main one. His gills were concealed under his canopy, and needed a relatively small amount of air, which then was wafted to the rear to provide some forward propulsion. He did not need the huge amount required for floating, because now he was floating in the water. His main propulsion was provided by his trunk, which could process water as readily as air or sand, but he had some difficulty maintaining his balance. So Colene was helping to anchor and steer him, as each jet of water sent him surging somewhat randomly ahead.
They made their way on down, losing track of the time, eating as they went. They took turns sleeping, with Nona first, on the horse. Then she exchanged with Darius. Then they both hauled Seqiro slowly along while he slept. Meanwhile Burgess gave Colene a ride, her weight bearing him down so that he could brace against the bottom and achieve better stability, and she slept. Then she hauled him along through the water while he slept. None of this was perfect or easy, but they managed.
At last they reached the depth and found the filament. It was simply a band of light moving up from the center of the dimple. When he looked closely, he saw that it was not really simple; it was fashioned of a tapestry of finer lines, which in turn were composed of vanishingly thin microfilaments. He knew that if he could magnify it, the lines would become yet finer in their definition, with no end to their diminishing intricacies. This fractal universe of Julia was a wonder in a number of ways.