“I remember you from a fortnight in the future,” she said. “Then it becomes confused.”
Two weeks. That suggested that it was safe to plow ahead, because they would not die in that time. Heartened, he did just that.
But the barren Modes continued for the course of half a day’s travel. The naked sun beat down, making an oven of the landscape. Darius became doubtful. Yet Provos seemed unconcerned, so he said nothing.
Then they spied a flash of a light to the side. It turned out to be a little signaler stuck in the sterile sand. Near it was an arrow pointing onward.
Evidently someone had been here before them. Since the Virtual Mode had not existed for a long time, this had to be recent. Could Colene have passed this way? No, her arrow should have been pointing back the way he had come.
They moved on. Now the sun was descending, so that they had to shield their faces from it as they proceeded westward. Several hours later they found another flashing signal, with its arrow. Then they found a path. It was just a thin layer of silvery material laid on the rock, disappearing as it crossed to the next Mode. But it wound on through the bleak crevices and dunes, going somewhere. It was dusk now, and they decided to camp, then follow the path in the morning.
Provos remembered no problems in the coming hours. With neither weather nor animals to contend with, this seemed reasonable. But there was also no shield against the chill of night. The stone had been burning hot, and it retained much of its heat, but the air was turning frigid. There was no wood from which to make a fire. His thin blanket was not enough to shield them from the intensity of the chill that was developing.
Provos looked around. Then she stooped to lift the end of the path. The material came up readily. She walked with it, bunching up a length. Of this she made a blanket. She signaled him to join her.
The path material turned out to have a good insulating property. Whether as tent or blanket, it held in the radiating heat of the stone and kept them warm.
By morning, even so, it was very cold, and the two of them were closely embraced, huddled under the path. Darius wished it could have been Colene with him, with her lovely little body and innocently seductive manner. But with the dawn came the heat of the sun, and soon the air was warming.
The reflective path remained cooler than the surrounding stone. They walked on it and were more comfortable than they had been the day before. Now they were obviously going somewhere. But who had set this up, and why?
The path was leading in the direction of the steepest change of Modes, which meant it was going toward an anchor. But probably not the right one. Darius had found his way first to Provos’ anchor Mode. Now they must be going to a third one, and they could not know what to expect of it.
Suddenly there was water. The land had been desert dry, but now there were lakes to the sides and vapors rising from the stone. Farther along there was life: thin, tenacious lichen coloring the rocks. But as they proceeded, this became more ambitious, until there was a general covering of primitive vegetation, and the appearance of insect life.
Then there was animal life. At first it was not far removed from the lakes, and was small, but it progressed rapidly. When man-sized reptiles appeared, Darius got nervous. But it was easy to avoid a predator by stepping across a Mode boundary. They just had to be careful not to walk directly into one, as there was no way to spot them ahead. They learned to count their paces, pause, and use his mirror tube before moving on. This slowed them, but seemed necessary.
The path became bolder, and the scenery more recent. There seemed to be no large predators in this section, so they put away the mirror tube and moved more rapidly, because night was coming again.
Suddenly they were in an enormous chamber. There was an extremely elegant young woman, obviously of high social standing. She turned and saw him.
“Darius!” she cried, and flung herself into his arms.
It was Colene! Thus suddenly they had come together.
“Beware,” she whispered into his ear before she kissed him.
But already a man was walking toward them. He had reddish hair and piercing black eyes under a metallic band resembling a crown, and wore a kingly robe.
“You must be Darius,” a voice said in Colene’s language. It came not from the man but what appeared to be a hanging ball.
“I am Darius,” he agreed as Colene relaxed enough to let him speak. Her whispered warning: what did it mean? That this was a hostile figure of some sort? Yet what could he do if it was?
“And your companion?” the ball asked.
Provos did not speak Colene’s language, and not a great deal of his own language. “She is Provos,” he said.
“This is not good,” Provos murmured in his language.
What was she beginning to remember? He knew it took a while for her to clarify her memories of a new Mode. Since her warning coincided with Colene’s, he knew he had to be very careful.
“I must talk with you,” the ball said. “Come with me.”
It seemed that it was the man who was really talking, as he was gesturing.
“Go with him,” Colene said. “I will see to your companion.”
Darius looked at Provos, but she seemed to be willing to go with Colene despite the barrier of speech. He nodded.
In a moment he was in a separate chamber with the man, evidently private. “I am Ddwng of the DoOon,” the ball said, still in Colene’s language. “I need your Chip.”
“The Chip that set up the Virtual Mode?” Darius asked, surprised. “It is not mine to give.”
“But you could lead me to it.”
“To my Mode, yes. But the Cyng of Pwer would not give it to you. Chips are valuable.”
“I know. If you lead me to your Mode, I will get it from your official.”
“Why do you want it?”
“We are confined to our Mode. The Chip will enable us to visit other Modes.”
Darius considered. He did not like this situation. Both Colene and Provos had expressed doubt. Why should this evidently powerful man be so eager to go to other Modes? Could he be a human version of the dragons, seeking to invade new territory to the disadvantage of the folk there?
But it might not be wise to turn him down flatly. “I will think about the matter.”
Ddwng frowned. “There are things you should know, as you think,” the ball said. “Colene will be withheld from you during that period.”
“Withheld?” Darius asked, dismayed. “But I entered the Virtual Mode only to fetch her!”
“Then your decision should be easy. I shall grant you ten days to decide. If you are negative, we shall sterilize Colene and make her a common concubine.”
Suddenly Darius understood how accurate the warnings were. Ddwng was holding Colene hostage to Darius’ performance! Surely there was no good motive there.
“In the interim, you shall perform an assignment,” the ball continued. “The manner in which you acquit yourself will determine your situation after your decision.”
Darius suspected that anything he could say would only complicate his situation. But there was one way he could improve his chances. “I will need the services of Provos.”
Ddwng hesitated, then concluded that a small concession was in order. What he wanted was Darius’ cooperation, not his antagonism. “She will join you.”
Then a servant appeared. His head was that of a sheep. The creature was waiting for Darius, so Darius got up and accompanied him from the room. They walked to a relatively tiny chamber. “Stand in there,” a nearby hanging ball said.
Darius stepped into the little chamber. A panel closed him in. The chamber shook. Then the panel opened.
A man stood outside, but not the same one. This one was fully human, and wore a rather handsome deep red uniform. He lifted his right hand, spreading his fingers. “Welcome aboard, Captain,” a ball said.