“I can change it right on Oria?” Nona asked, amazed.
“That is my belief. You are the ninth of the ninth. There is surely a corresponding site on your world that will resonate to your magic. Unfortunately I do not know where that would be. There are so many rads on each world, and so many rads on each rad, that a person could spend a lifetime traveling to each one and trying to invoke the magic, and die before finding the right one.”
“The ninth of the ninth,” Nona said. “That must be the one.”
“Undoubtedly. But where does the count start, and in what direction does it proceed?”
Nona was unable to answer. She had no idea how to count rads. She had never thought of such a thing before.
“Maybe the little folk on that world we passed,” Colene said. “Since they did do it, they have to know.”
“Yes, and they might even be willing to tell you,” Angus said. “But their world is not the same as yours, so their site on it would differ accordingly. It would not work for you. And it may be that they did not do it by counting, but found it by chance.”
Colene nodded soberly. “Probably wasted effort,” she agreed. “What we need is a solid, sensible system of counting, and I guess that doesn’t exist in this universe. Otherwise these changeovers would be more common than they are.”
“Such a system does exist in your universe?” Angus inquired.
“Oh, sure, it must. They know a lot about fractals. I never got into it deeply, but the library has whole books—” She paused with realization. “I could probably find out, on Earth! If I got to the right library, or maybe found the right person. Only I can’t get back to Earth, because we can’t use our anchor. That’s why we were trying to help Nona, so she could get rid of the animus and it would stop interfering with our access to the Virtual Mode.”
“I am not clear about the nature of this anchor,” Angus said. “I gather it is a portal.”
Nona was glad to hear the question, because the concept confused her too. She had seen the party appear, and understood that they could not go back, but it was alien magic. Seqiro had explained the Virtual Mode to her, but her comprehension remained limited.
“It is a connection to a particular reality,” Darius said. “The Virtual Mode is like a slanting ramp, crossing many levels, and each level is a reality—an entire universe. But it has to be anchored in five places, or it spins wildly. Each anchor ties it to one reality, and all of us on the Mode can pass through those anchors and remain in their realities. We came through Nona’s anchor, and so we are here. But the animus prevents us from returning through it and resuming our journey to my home reality.”
Angus’ brow furrowed. “Is this anchor a place or a person?”
“Both. The person makes it, by committing to it when the Virtual Mode offers. But it is also the place where that person stands when that commitment is made.”
“What happens when the person moves away from that place?”
“Nothing,” Darius said. “The person can go anywhere in the anchored reality, or in the Virtual Mode, which is like a reality of its own made from thin strips of all the other realities it crosses. Nona could go to any of our home realities, just as we came to hers. But only Nona, of all those native to her reality, can use that anchor, and only she can free it. Except for the interference of the animus.”
“Free it?” Angus asked.
“She committed it; she can uncommit it. Then she will be left in her own reality, and the rest of us will be on the Virtual Mode seeking other realities.”
“Suppose she frees it when the rest of you are on this side of the anchor?”
Darius paused. So did the others; their mutual surprise was shared by Seqiro, so that all knew that all felt it.
“We could be trapped!” Colene said after a moment.
“I’m not sure of that,” Darius said. “It would leave a Virtual Mode with no anchor people on it.” But he was uneasy. His memory, now shared by the others, suggested that many people had entered Virtual Modes, and few had returned to their original anchors. Was this what happened?
“I think Nona is more critical to your welfare than you thought,” Angus said. “At least while you are in her reality. But from what you say, you are not necessarily safe while on the Mode, because you are always in some slice of reality, and if one of you was killed, control over that anchor would be lost and you would be destabilized.”
“It’s no safe place,” Colene agreed. “Only someone desperate or halfway suicidal should risk it.” There was an undercurrent there that appalled Nona; the girl was speaking of herself.
“I have a conjecture,” Angus said. “Nona is the key person for the anima. She has full magic, and the ability to enlist others with her music. When she stands on the correct spot and invokes the anima, it will spread across her world. This suggests that she has the power to nullify the animus. That power is normally limited, but can still nullify it for particular people when she tries, as we have seen here. We have all become anima. That may not matter for those of you of other universes, but it does for me. I am helping her now because she has brought me into the anima, at least in spirit. My powers are at her disposal.”
“But I seek no power over you,” Nona protested. “I only want to make my world better.”
“You have it, nonetheless,” Angus said. “If you were my size, and wished to marry me, I would marry you, even as Kara married Earle after he brought her into the animus. But that is not my thought. It is that if you can nullify the animus for single people elsewhere, and for the entire world at the nines spot, you must be able to have effect at the site of this anchor. You should be able to nullify the animus and allow the others to return to their Virtual Mode.”
Again they paused in surprise. That did make sense.
“We can go back!” Colene exclaimed.
“No,” Provos said almost at the same time. “Her power was not that great. She was able to enable only the smaller part of the group to pass.”
“She remembers!” Colene said.
“But she has already forgotten mentioning it,” Darius added. “She can’t remember what she has told us, so doesn’t speak often.” Indeed, Provos was looking perplexed, catching on that she must have said something, but not yet knowing what it was. It was yet to be triggered by their prior dialogue.
“But that means that only one or two of us can pass through,” Colene said. “Which ones?”
“You must be one,” Angus pointed out. “Since you alone know the way around your world. You will go and return with the information. Assuming one other can go with you, which should it be?”
“Seqiro!” Colene said instantly.
“Both,” Provos said.
“Is that number or mass?” Darius asked, asking the question the woman had just answered. Then, realizing that he would have to say more for her to understand the question, he added: “The people who pass back through the anchor.”
“Which means the horse is too big,” Nona said, catching on to the peculiarities of this dialogue. “So it must be you, Darius. Unless—”
“I did,” Provos said.
“Who else went through the anchor with Colene?” Darius asked, quickly making the question fit the answer.
And that seemed to be it. Colene and Provos would go, leaving Darius and Seqiro behind. Nona realized that one thing was sure: Colene would do her utmost to return, rather than to be cut off from her man and her horse. And Provos, with her memory of things to come, should be able to help her considerably.
Angus had indeed been a big help, not because of his size or any power of magic, but because of what he knew of legend, and his ability to reason.
But the moment they addressed the prospect of a partial return, they realized that there was more to consider. “We can’t just go back to Oria, walk up to the anchor, and move two of us through,” Colene said. “The despots are out looking for us, and you can bet they have people watching the East Valley. They’ll throw us in chains the moment we land there.”