“Then we’re getting somewhere!”
The signs became stronger. It was as if they were stepping through a paleontological exhibit, tracing the world from its sterile inception through the first suggestions of life and to the first multi-celled organisms. Things started showing in the water, living froth, then tiny jellylike creatures, then swimming crustaceans, and then actual fish.
And another island. This one had shrubbery on it, or primitive trees. The bridge went right to it, each short segment appearing as they proceeded until one touched the island, and for the first time in hours they set foot on land.
It was a relief to have the shade of fernlike trees, but they decided not to linger, because the pontoon bridge seemed endlessly long on the Virtual Mode despite its shortness in any one reality, and they were limited to the supplies they carried. They could more readily rest after they got safely past this region.
So with regret they moved out on the bridge again, trusting it to extend itself on through the Virtual Mode, and soon found themselves back in the middle of the placid sea.
Until Colene stepped through a boundary and found herself in a wind-screaming storm. Big waves rocked the bridge so hard it seemed about to be torn away.
She ducked back, and the storm cut off abruptly. Her hair was matted across her face and her blouse and jeans were wrinkled. “We’ve got a problem.”
So I saw. Seqiro had not yet crossed, but his mind had been with her. If it is confined to one reality, we can cross quickly.
“Maybe so. But suppose it isn’t?”
We can wait for it to subside.
“We don’t know how long these storms last. Maybe it’s always stormy in that reality.”
They discussed it, and decided to let Colene cross to the following reality, tied with a rope to Seqiro. The rope was part of his supplies, so would remain firm across the boundaries. If she got washed off the bridge, he would back away and haul her to this calm section. If she found that the following reality was calm, he would move across and rejoin her. They would remain in constant mental touch.
She knotted the rope firmly around her middle, and passed a loop down between her legs and up around her shoulders, so that there was no way for her to slip out of it. She was afraid of that terrible storm, but knew this was the best way to tackle it.
She ventured across the boundary again, wishing there were handholds. But there was only the level planking, which she now realized was vibrating with the force of the storm beyond. That had not been evident while Seqiro was walking, but now he was still and they both saw that part of the motion was not from his hoofs.
The storm caught her again. This time a wave was washing over the bridge, making the pontoons tip at what seemed like a precarious angle. She lost her balance and fell, and the water carried her into the sea. She inhaled to scream, involuntarily, and took in a mouthful and some of a lungful of froth.
Then she was in the calm water, having been carried across the boundary by the wave. Seqiro was backing away, hauling her in. She managed to catch hold of the edge of a pontoon and cling there, choking.
Calm. Cough. Calm. Inhale. Cough.
It was Seqiro, assuming control of her breathing, getting her to clear her lungs without panicking. She let him do it; it was much easier to ride along with his procedure.
Sooner than otherwise, she was back on the bridge and on her feet. “Thanks, Seqiro,” she gasped. “I needed that.”
Then she gathered her strength and charged back through the boundary.
This time a wave had just passed. She forged through the knee-deep water, able to keep her footing, and by the time the next wave loomed, she plunged across.
Into bright sunlight. The storm was only one reality wide! “Come on, Seqiro!” Then, immediately, she reconsidered. “Wait—let me spy the waves. It’s much easier to cross between them.”
She sat at the edge of the boundary, clung to a pontoon, and cautiously poked her head across. She got a faceful of salt water. She drew back, blinking the salt out of her eyes. Then she tried it again, and found a lull. “Now!”
The bridge vibrated with extra force. Suddenly the horse appeared, almost galloping along the bridge. The water splashed up from his legs.
Colene threw herself to the side, into the water, lest she be inadvertently trampled. How big Seqiro looked from this vantage! He was a massive horse, and splendid in his motion. She had forgotten that, in her constant communion with his mind.
He entered her current reality, and she had to scramble up before he overshot her position too far and yanked her along by the rope. They were across, but she hoped they did not have to do that again soon.
THE nature of the ocean changed faster than any individual reality suggested, and land came into view by jumps with each crossed boundary. Adjacent realities tended to be similar, but sometimes differed by significant stages within that similarity. Now they seemed to be headed for a reality whose far shoreline was considerably west of the one they had started with. Perhaps this world was turning slightly faster, so that it had gained on the others. No, it would be the other way: if it turned more slowly, a given spot on the globe would be west of the others. It hardly mattered; what counted was that they were getting across the ocean much faster than they might have.
By nightfall they set foot on what in her reality might have been Europe. Now she remembered how quickly they had reached what seemed to be the Atlantic Ocean; she had not walked any twelve hundred miles to the coast! So this effect must have existed all along; she just hadn’t paused to realize its significance. Now she was glad they weren’t traveling in the other direction!
Life had continued to progress, and now there were modern fish and animals and birds, though she did not recognize the individual species.
The pontoon bridge stopped at the shore, but here there was a well-marked path leading east. Someone certainly had set this up—but who traveled it? They had encountered no one, and seen no footprints or other signs of use. It had to have been done recently—within the past week—because before then this Virtual Mode hadn’t been in place. What did it mean?
We are approaching superior minds, Seqiro thought. Not many realities away. They are closed to me; I can fathom only their power.
“Not Darius’ reality? Magic?”
No. I suspect science, like yours, because if they set up the bridge—
“High-tech,” she agreed.
They seem to be human. They may be friendly. However—
“Um, Seqiro,” she murmured, really not speaking at all, more or less subvocalizing so as to focus her thoughts. “We don’t know what we’re headed into, but I think maybe they’re expecting us. Maybe we should, you know, not let them know too much about us. Until we know more about them.”
This was my thought.
They considered, then decided to do something neither of them really liked. Colene made a loop of rope and tied it about Seqiro’s nose, and held the other end like a rein. She climbed up on his back with the supplies and rode. Now it seemed that he was a plain unintelligent horse—she could not bring herself to think “stupid”—under the control of a human. It seemed to be a necessary charade—just in case.
They advanced through more realities, the path broadening as if to signal that they were close to their destination. Other paths intersected it at acute angles to their route, evidently going the same way. Were there paths reaching as far out as theirs, in other directions? All constructed in the past week? What an effort that must have been! And why? Colene still didn’t trust this..