“By drawing from a happier person,” he said.
“Who is the happiest among us?” Nona asked.
They considered. “Seqiro,” Colene said.
She was right. The horse loved being with intelligent and friendly minds, even when they were depressed minds.
“So first you multiply Colene,” Nona said. “Then you multiply Seqiro, after we have an idea.”
“I think this is foolish—”
He was drowned out by the others: no negative thoughts allowed.
So Darius embraced Colene, and drew from her, then sent it out to all of them. Burgess felt distinctly less positive than he had before, but he also felt the urge to explore and understand the mysteries of things, and a desire to move rapidly on out of this marsh before the mind predator came again. He thought there should be a way, if they could only find it.
“I want to get the Hades out of this hole!” Nona exclaimed uncharacteristically.
You and me both, luscious body, Seqiro responded, similarly uncharacteristically.
“Great fishes and little gods, you sound just like me!” Colene exclaimed, laughing.
If Darius could multiply mood and intelligence, could he also multiply magic? Such as Nona’s ability to lift things? Because then he could make the sledge with its burden light enough to float on air.
“Why not?” Colene asked. “Darius uses magic, and Nona uses magic. Maybe they can mix!”
Both Darius and Nona tried to demur—and were stopped by the others, again invoking the no-negative rule.
So Darius embraced Nona. “I will try to draw and multiply her magic,” he said. “If I succeed, all of you will acquire it, so all of you must focus on the sledge, trying to make it light. You, Burgess, will know whether it becomes easier to push air under it.”
He drew from Nona, and sent it out. Burgess concentrated on his air pumping, trying to make it more effective by making the sledge magically lighter.
He felt the air moving more readily. The sledge lifted. In a moment the entire sledge was floating just above the surface of the swamp, in the manner Burgess did when unattached. It was working!
“It’s working!” Colene echoed. “I feel it! I’m drawing on Nona’s magic!”
So am I, Seqiro thought.
“And I,” Darius said. “I have her magic!”
“Let’s see just how strong it is, with all of us doing it,” Colene said. “Everybody get on the sledge!”
They got on, one by one, until all of their weight was there, and still it floated. It had been made so light that Burgess could lift it exactly as he did himself, with the air no longer bubbling because the sledge no longer touched mud. When it tilted slightly, Burgess directed more air that way, and this righted the structure.
However, it was only floating, not moving. Burgess lacked the control to do more than float it.
“That’s easy,” Colene said. “We can pole it, same as a boat, or maybe we can magically pull on something ahead, the same way Nona does when she flies.”
They tried it. The sledge lurched forward—and sank into the muck.
“Too many diverted their attention,” Darius said. “We need to have one or two do the pulling, and the others do the floating.”
They experimented again, and found that Seqiro had to focus on floating, because he weighed more than all the rest of them combined. He could float his own weight, but none of them could float him. So Nona and Colene, the two least massive members of the hive, concentrated on pulling.
The sledge moved, at first jerkily, then more smoothly. It passed through the next Mode boundary. They were on their way!
The swamp was large, but now they were moving well, and made visible progress across it. The complexion of the plants in it shifted from Mode to Mode, but its general nature didn’t change. Some Modes were raining, and in some the marsh became open water, but it didn’t matter; Burgess could handle water as readily as solid land. They moved more swiftly than they would have in a boat, because there was no liquid drag. They realized that there might be danger, crossing boundaries so rapidly, but there also might be danger in lingering in any.
Gradually the sledge became heavier. Those wielding the magic of lightening were tiring, and so was Burgess. He normally did not pump air at a high volume for an extended time. But the far shore was approaching, and it seemed they could make it the rest of the way across before the fatigue became too bad.
Then they passed through a region of obnoxious flying creatures. They seemed to be a cross between shears, insects, and the birds in Colene’s mind. They spied the sledge as it passed through, and dived in. Burgess had only a few stones to fire at them. Then Darius took up a stick of wood and used it effectively to bat the creatures out of the air as they came close.
The watery marsh became a lake. Things swam in it. Some had fins which projected above the surface. The fins changed size and color with each new Mode, but the creatures seemed to be just as interested in the odd craft. Some showed impressive teeth. This did not seem to be the time to pause.
At last they reached the bank. They climbed onto land, and unfastened Burgess. It felt good to float free again!
They made a quick camp, ate, and settled for the night. But though they were all quite tired, they maintained a watch, because they could not know what lurked on this land. Colene had a small device she called a watch, with a picture of two little sticks on it. Each time the larger stick pointed in a certain direction, it was time for a new person to begin a turn. So the one on watch also watched Colene’s wrist, and the picture on it.
Something large did approach during Burgess’ watch. But it was beyond the Mode boundary, so could not reach them. Indeed, Burgess crossed the line beside the tent, and the thing disappeared. It was probably walking right through the region of their camp, but in its own Mode, where there was no camp. The creatures who could reach their camp would be those they could see coming from the tent itself. Burgess was merely circling the tent, passing through boundaries on either side of it.
In the morning they assessed their situation. The intelligence and magic had worn off, being temporary effects, as had the depression. That was just as well, because it seemed that their notion of gaining joy from the horse would not have worked well; it would have been an overlay on the two prior transfers. They saw that the new terrain was rugged; the swamp abutted the jagged slope of a mountain range, with snow showing above. But that was the way toward the next anchor, so they had to go there.
They considered, and decided not to try to borrow Nona’s magic again. It had helped when they needed it, but the process also depleted her slightly, making her less magical, and that was not good. The same went for Colene’s intelligence: they did not want her to become less intelligent. These assets needed to be conserved.
They used their path and rope system to haul Burgess along. Again the others disappeared as they crossed the Mode boundaries, with only the end of the path and the end of the rope showing. But the terrain seldom changed significantly between adjacent Modes, so he knew approximately where he was going.
They crossed the foothills, traversed a high valley, and started up the main slopes. Nona made heavy jackets for them, including the horse, but it couldn’t be managed for Burgess. He needed full access to the air. So when it became cold, she made some fire to warm the air of the vicinity, and he was all right.
Then the pull on the rope abruptly stopped. Burgess settled to the ground and waited while Nona disappeared ahead. Soon she was back with news that they had encountered a discontinuity: the ground level of one Mode was not continuous with that of the next. This was not natural; something had excavated it. In fact, Darius said it seemed to be a mine: a huge hole left when something of value beneath was taken away. That, Darius said, could be trouble.