“Do you have religion, Seqiro?”
There was a quick exploration of the concept she lifted to the surface. No.
“Maybe that’s better. I don’t know whether I have religion either. I feel that it’s better for me to make my own decisions about religion than to have my beliefs dictated to me. I hate people who go to church just so they can feel better about doing other things that they know are bad. I think I believe more in nature than in God. I can see nature, and feel and be a part of it. God is more of a closed case. I like to feel a little different from other people and have a different view of things. That’s part of the reason I’m not too wild about school. Everyone is expected to be the same. It leaves no room for freedom of thought. If you’re not like everyone else, you stand out and are not tolerated. I want to break away from this everybody-must-be-the-same type of society. Routine is awful. To do the same thing every day, every week, is torture. I hope, someday, to do something that allows for a lot of freedom and creativity. To live in a small house with natural wooden floors that creak beneath my feet. My home will be on the coast where it stays dark for a long time. I will go outside at night and be inspired by the storm clouds over the ocean. There will be a rocky cliff that I can sit on while I think.”
Yes.
Colene opened her eyes. “So you see, I dream wonderful things, but in the back of my mind I have always known that I will just end up in some stupid job and live like everyone else. I couldn’t even speak of my dreams before, because people would just laugh. They think the dull world is all there is.”
Now you know about the other realities, and are on the Virtual Mode. Your life will after all be different.
“That’s right! Say, Seqiro, if everything else doesn’t work out, let’s you and me just keep traveling à la Mode!”
We do not know how far we shall have to travel as it is, or what dangers we shall face. The day is late; we had better seek sanctuary for the night.
“Yes, that’s right. I didn’t realize how tired I’ve gotten, with all this walking.” Which made her realize that it had never occurred to her to ride the horse. Seqiro just wasn’t that kind of horse.
They came into a series of realities in which there were thickly forested mountains. Colene knew that there was nothing like this within a day’s walking distance of Oklahoma, which meant that in nearby realities the geography changed as well as the creatures and the underlying rules of nature.
“You were right, Seqiro,” she said. “I can’t ride my bike here! But if we come to a region where it’s flat or paved, I’ll be able to.”
I shall be interested to see how this device operates. I have seen nothing like it before.
They found a clear stream. “That sure looks nice!” she exclaimed. “I’d like to have a deep drink and wash up, but if the water won’t stay with me—”
There is no problem about washing, for you do not need to have the water stay. As for drinking—perhaps it should be done, as we can remain the night in this reality and assimilate the water. We are sweating, so may excrete some of the alien water in the normal course, without being bound to its reality.
Colene, suddenly desperately thirsty, focused on one thing. “You mean it’s all right to use this water?”
Provided we remain here for some time.
“That’s good enough for me!” She threw herself down and drank deeply. All that water on top of all that exertion made her feel giddy, but it was worth it.
Seqiro drank more cautiously. Then they both washed. Colene got out of her loincloth and cape and splashed naked, screaming with pained pleasure at the shock of the cold water. Then she took a sponge they had packed and sponged off the horse’s hide where the bags of supplies weren’t in the way. Seqiro did not let her remove his burdens; wary of possible danger, he preferred to keep everything on him, so as to be able to step quickly into another reality without leaving important things behind. Colene had to admit that made sense. She was able to clean him pretty well by pushing away one bag at a time and sponging under it. His hide was steaming hot, but the chill water helped cool him.
It is a delight to have this attention from you without coercion.
“You don’t get washed off at home?”
Our humans act only under our imperative. We direct them in all things, and punish them when they do not perform.
“Where I live, girls do these things for horses because they love horses.”
It would seem that the activities are similar, but the motives dissimilar.
“It would seem,” she agreed.
Colene bent twigs and scuffed the forest floor to mark the borders of the other realities on either side, so they would not cross unawares. They had a channel ten feet wide and endlessly long to remain in. It was hard to believe, because the forest and stream were uninterrupted, but she had now had enough experience to treat the boundary with extreme respect.
I have quested through this vicinity of this reality, and found no hostile or dangerous creatures, Seqiro thought. There may be danger in the adjacent realities, but we need not be concerned about those until we resume our travel.
“That’s nice,” Colene said, relieved. “Are you going to lie down to sleep?”
That is not necessary. I can rest and sleep on my feet.
“The reason I asked is if you lie down, I can lie down with you, and be warm.”
That is true. As it is safe, I shall lie.
So it was that they lay down in their narrow channel beside the stream. Colene took a heavy blanket from Seqiro’s supplies and spread it over him, then settled down against his side, between two bags of feed. It was really quite comfortable, all things considered. She slept, feeling about as happy as she could remember since before losing Darius.
CHAPTER 8—PROVOS
DARIUS resumed his quest alone, having delivered Prima to his anchor Mode. His feelings were mixed. He was not glad for the delay occasioned by this encounter, yet it had enabled him to satisfy about three quarters of his commitment to Kublai: he had found Prima, and she had a lot of information about the nature of the Modes that Kublai would find most interesting. He was now about two days behind wherever he would have been, but it was possible that he would have been captive or dead by now if it had not been for her. Probably he was ahead, overall. For one thing, he was now the first in a long time to enter a Virtual Mode and return.
Prima had fashioned for him the mirror tube she had promised. It did seem to work. He experimented by setting a package of food on the ground, stepping across the boundary, looking back to see nothing, then poking the tube cautiously across. He saw the package in the mirror, when it wasn’t visible directly. So it seemed that the way the tube excluded the light of the Mode in which he stood did enable it to carry the light of the Mode beyond. Or perhaps it was just that the device was fashioned of the substance of his anchor Mode, so was able to transmit the light along the Virtual Mode.
But it was not feasible to stop to check every Mode boundary as he went. He would take ten times as long to get anywhere if he did that. So he would have to use it judiciously, when there seemed to be danger. Such as in the region of the dominant dragons.