Colene fetched dry sticks of wood, and bunches of dry grass, and used one of her precious matches to light a fire. Seqiro had checked and ascertained that there were no high-powered minds in this reality, so that the fire would be safe. She was very pleased to have it, for psychological as well as physical reasons.
While she stared into the blaze, she reviewed plans with Seqiro. He would quest ahead for minds. He could tune in to both animals and plants, but the distance depended on circumstances. A strong telepathic mind similar to his own could be contacted across a continent, while dialogue with a non-telepathic mind was limited to about half that. The Virtual Mode was similar, making the different realities seem like one; without it he would be confined to one reality. The less similar a mind was to his own, the more limited the range. Thus plants had to be fairly close for him to receive. “Plants have minds?” Colene asked, startled. Indeed they do. But not similar to yours. We find the best grazing by tuning in to the healthiest grass.
“But doesn’t the grass hurt when you bite it off? Why would it tell you where it is?”
It does not suffer in the way you would. It is philosophical about being eaten. It accepts what is. Since grazing promotes the growth of more grass at the expense of weeds, there is a certain compatibility between us.
Colene shook her head. “I hope so! I’d hate to have my head chewed off every week or so!”
A plant would hate to eat through its head, or to pull its roots from the ground and walk about.
She considered. “I see your point, maybe.”
Everything was normal, for a single reality. But Colene was unable to relax, let alone sleep, for a time. The barrenness ahead of them worried her.
“Can we talk, Seqiro?” she asked after a bit as the darkness closed in.
We may talk, he agreed.
“Say, I just realized: you never argue with me. Not really. You point out things, you clarify what I don’t know, but you always go along with what I’m thinking about.”
It is true. I reflect your interests, as mine are not of great moment.
“How can you think that? You’re the most wonderful person I’ve met, next to Darius!”
True. But I am not wonderful without you. “You’re a horse! A horse is wonderful by definition.”
As is a girl.
“Let me tell you what a horse is to me. I’m going to introduce you to Maresy Doats.” She summoned her mental picture of her imaginary friend.
She is a winsome mare.
“Well, I never thought of her as having sex appeal!”
I would have to smell her to determine that.
She laughed. “So you’re just like any man!”
No. Human males are always interested in reproduction. Horses are interested only when the mare is ready. We do not waste energy. We regard this as more sensible.
“Well, Maresy is sensible. She always knows what to do. The trouble is, others aren’t always sensible, and they don’t listen. It’s all recorded in my book. For Whom Was That Neigh? It’s based on a picture I have of Maresy Doats. Do you want an example?”
Yes.
“Now, why did I know you would say that? Okay, here it is. Maresy and another mare were grazing in this pasture. It was the only pasture they had, and there was no other source of food. Just the grass. A tough variety that hung on through the winter. Now, Maresy is smarter than the average horse, and she did some figuring, and realized that at the rate they were grazing, they would run out of grass before spring, and then starve in the winter. But if they slowed down their grazing, and ate less grass, they could stretch it out so that it would last until spring, when it would start growing again, and they would survive. They might be lean, but okay. So it made sense to do that.
“So she told the other mare. But the other mare just went right on grazing, paying no attention. She wasn’t smart like Maresy, and didn’t understand anything except eating until she was full. She ate like a horse.
“So what was Maresy to do? If she stopped grazing, then there would be enough for the other mare, but Maresy would starve now. If she didn’t stop, they would both starve later. So should she give up her life so that at least one of them would survive, even though it was the undeserving one? Or should she prolong her own life for a while by continuing to graze?”
She should kill the other mare, and have enough for herself.
“But Maresy wouldn’t do that!” Colene protested. “She believes in life, not death!”
But if there is life only for one—
“Yes. So she’s in trouble. I call it the pacifist’s dilemma.”
How does the story end?
“I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
How long?
“I don’t know.”
I do not see the point of this story.
“It has no solution, but it does have a point. You see, Maresy stands for me, and for people like me, who are smart enough to see that the world—I mean, in my reality—can’t go on this way. It is using up all its resources, and when they are gone, it will be impossible to feed everyone, and most or all of us will die. It doesn’t have to be that way, but everyone else, like the other mare, refuses to see the problem, and just goes on grazing at top speed. So we will all suffer, when we don’t have to, because of the shortsightedly selfish ones. We won’t know exactly what happens until it happens, and then it will be too late. I think that’s part of what makes me suicidal. I mean, what’s the point in hanging on to life, when it’s all going to end anyway, too soon?”
But you are free of that now, with the Virtual Mode.
“Yes. So I’m not suicidal now, maybe. But I feel guilty for bugging out on my world.”
With the situation as you present it, that is your only choice. You are freeing your world of your presence, so that someone else can survive.
“Say, yes! That’s a good way to look at it.” Somewhat cheered, she relaxed, and soon was asleep.
THEY did start early, as soon as they could see their way. Immediately, the barrens, as Colene thought of this region, were all around them, before and behind. It was as if life had never existed anywhere.
At first the land was reasonably level, but this changed with realities, and it became so ragged as to be an unkind challenge. Bare stone rose up in twisted contours, and sank into rubble. Tors gave way to pits, forcing them to wind around their edges, slowing progress. Meanwhile the sun rose in the bleak sky and the bright light beat down on them. Colene fashioned a hat from cloth to protect her face and arms, and covered Seqiro’s head and neck similarly, fearing damage from the intensity of the rays. They were a strange-looking pair, swathed in coverings fashioned of loose clothing, but there was no one to see.
Then the land descended. It was a great cavity, so large that it featured its own mountains and pits and convolutions, as if it were a continent in reverse. It extended ahead until the rim of the horizon cut it off.
Colene gazed at it with dismay. Then she had a revelation. “It’s a sea!” she exclaimed. “An ocean! We’ve come to the end of a continent! A sea without water!”
All water is gone from these realities, Seqiro agreed. There was nothing to do except descend into it, because her sense told her that Darius was somewhere across this region. “I hope we don’t have to cross the whole Atlantic or Pacific!” Because that would be doom; they could not walk that far.