They gathered together in a tight group, with Nona in the center on Seqiro, who was standing over Burgess. Burgess touched one of Nona’s feet with his trunk, while Colene and Darius took her hands. Then Nona invoked her ability to travel along the filament.
The wan light expanded. Suddenly they were sailing up through it, leaving the planet behind. Darius concentrated on the surroundings, trying to fathom their fascinating detail, but as before, he could catch only hints. The mosaic of the massed filaments was too devious to grasp in an instant, and the pattern was continuously changing.
They landed on Jupiter, the next larger planet, about eighteen times Oria’s diameter. They could see that they were on a mound, which was on a larger mound, in turn on a larger one, leading into the monstrous world. This was the spike of one of the larger rads at the north side of Jupiter. Here everything was in the larger scale, so that ants could be as long as Darius’ foot. But they would not have to deal with ants; they had a friend, here.
Angus! Seqiro called mentally. Nona is here.
They waited. Soon enough a giant man came flying across the variegate surface of the planet. This was Angus, the friend they had made during their prior stay in the Julia Mode.
He hovered near, and extended an enormous hand. They scrambled onto it, with the three humans guiding the horse, then lifting Burgess across, with the considerable aid of Seqiro’s coordination and temporary jolt of strength. Angus had to extend his other hand to hold them all comfortably.
Angus peered at them within his cupped hands. He spoke softly, almost in a whisper, so as not to overwhelm them with his sound, and Seqiro translated his words for their minds. “One of you has changed.”
“Provos has gone home, with her adopted son and granddaughter,” Nona explained. “Our new associate is Burgess, from the Shale Mode. He is the product of alternate evolution going back about five hundred million years.” She had learned this explanation from Colene.
Angus lifted, flying out across the tiered rads toward the main mass of Jupiter. Darius had been quite nervous the first time he had been carried like this, but he now had confidence in the giant’s competence and consideration, and was only moderately awed. “And why do I have the pleasure of your company again?” Angus asked.
“We have a problem, again, of course,” Nona said. She smiled. She had a marvelous smile, and its effect on the giant was apparent. “I would have liked to visit you anyway, Angus, but I needed a pretext.”
“I would accept you without a pretext, Nona.”
Darius knew that was true. Nona had won him with her special playing of her hammer dulcimer, before, and he had been loyal to her since. Darius also knew that the giant’s help would be invaluable, and that Angus would give it gladly.
“We did bring the anima to Oria,” Nona said. “I had no wish to be queen there, so left with my friends, to travel the Virtual Mode. But a mind predator attacked Colene, and we had to exit through this anchor. Then I discovered that my world was in chaos. Now I must try to help it, to alleviate the grief I brought to it. I need to find women of the anima, from an established anima world, to go to Oria and govern it until the new generation emerges.”
“Ah, I had not thought of that,” Angus said. “You wish to have competent help in governing.”
“No, I wish to return to the Virtual Mode, having no taste for governance, or for marriage and children as yet. I wish to explore, while I have my youth and magic. But I must see to my world’s welfare first.”
He nodded as he came to land beside his giant house. “This is not a suitable world, being both animus and somewhat large. I presume you desire one of the same size as yours.”
“Yes. There should be several such worlds. If you could take us to one of those, it would greatly facilitate my mission.”
“I will gladly take you there. But I fear your disappointment.” He entered his house, then set his hands at his giant table so that they could get off.
“They will not help me?”
“They may be willing, but unable. Their magic will derive from their own worlds, and perhaps will not apply to yours.”
“But your magic worked on Oria,” Nona reminded him. “Theirs should also.”
“Jupiter is a world in the direct line of descent to Oria,” Angus said. “The animus travels in that direction, so seems to have force throughout. But the worlds which are equivalent to yours spring from three different rads, and are parallel, not senior. Also, the anima flows oppositely, and may not obey any similar rule. That may make a difference.”
Nona evidently hadn’t thought of that. “Can we verify that?” she asked, concerned.
“Only by trying. Perhaps it will be all right, because they are parallel.”
“I hope so. Even if the magic of those women derives from their own world, perhaps it will carry across to Oria. They may not be drawing on Oria’s power, but may be much the same.”
“This is possible.” Darius wasn’t certain whether Angus was trying to ease her worry, having warned her of the possibility of failure, or really believed in the chance.
“We would like to go immediately,” Nona said. “My world is in pain, and I wish to alleviate it as quickly as I can.”
“I fear there will be no painless answer,” Angus said. “But your notion may indeed diminish the pain.”
“It was Colene’s notion,” Nona said.
Angus turned his gaze on Colene, who was standing with Burgess, her hand on a contact point. “Ah, the science maiden,” he said, extending his littlest finger to chuck her under the chin. Darius was afraid she would react negatively, because she did have some odd ideas about the proper interactions between men and women, but she actually put her chin forward to touch the tip of his finger. It was evident that she liked the giant. “The intelligent one.”
“The depressive one,” Colene said, but she was pleased.
“The traits can go together,” Angus said sadly. “One pursues the pursuits of the mind when the pursuits of the heart are lacking.”
Darius realized that the giant, for all his formidable powers of magic, was lonely. He could surely find a woman if he chose, but perhaps was choosy. Darius understood about that.
“If I were your size, they would not be lacking,” Nona said. She was actually flirting with Angus! Perhaps that was because during their prior visit here the giant had told them a story, and shown it in illusion-vision, about a man of his world, named Earle, and his impossible love for a woman of the next larger world, named Kara. It had been a charming and perhaps not entirely fanciful legend.
“Surely so,” Angus agreed. “But circumstance has destined that we both be adventurous in other ways.”
“Yes.” She blew him a kiss. Darius, accustomed to Nona’s completely nonseductive ordinary manner, was almost jealous, seeing how she could be when she chose.
“Oh, you are, are you?” Colene demanded, turning to him with a frown.
“I shall have to do something about that telepathy of yours,” Darius muttered. “Still, I didn’t see you turning away your chin when Angus chucked you.”
“Yeah? Find yourself a woman his size, and you can flirt with her all you want.”
“I will take you,” Angus said to Nona. “Do you wish to go alone, or together?”
“Together,” Nona said. “I would feel inadequate alone.”