By morning Meera began speaking the strange words as Jenessa heard them
inwardly. The effect was so eerie that Jenessa left the shelter, though
not moving so far that she'd be unable to hear if Meera called out for
her.
She took the flest to a stream, overflowing from the night's rain, then
tethered him near a line of lush grass. As she stood for a moment,
watching the beast lower his head to crop, its curved horns catching
the first gleam of the rising sun, Jenessa felt a new sensation wake
within her. She had no name for the sensation, but it brought a
difference in the voices. They were not louder, but more immediate, as
if some barrier had given way.
~Kadzin, there's someone in link with us— sending!~
~Yes. But how . . .~
~Who are you?~ Magda asked.
Jenessa startled at the directness of the question. But surely it
couldn't be speaking to her, as a person would do. She stepped back and
turned, her gaze sweeping the bushes and trees, the lean-to. No one was
there. Of course not.
~Who are you?~ the voice repeated. The female sounding voice—
the
one referred to as Magda by the other.
"I'm Jenessa," she spoke aloud.
~How are you linking in? I don't know what's happened to us. Maybe some
kind of accident. The Wanderling was headed for Talyas Yards, but I
can't remember if we arrived. Where are you sending from?~
For the first time, Jenessa allowed herself to wonder if the things
she'd been seeing and hearing had some reality apart from her own mind.
But no, she decided. It went too far beyond any sensible view of
reality. She would not answer the voices again. She'd trust her body to
find a way to defeat this sickness.
"Jenessa!"
~Jenessa, are you still there?~
Confused, she felt reluctant to move, to do anything. But then she
realized one of the voices had been Meera's. Rushing back to the
shelter she found the child crouched at the edge of the tarp.
"Do you hear them too, Jen?"
"Yes. But don't be afraid. They're nothing but fever dreams. You'll be
all right. We'll both be all right."
~You— Jenessa! Listen up. You're in link with us, the
Wanderling's crew. Are your images real-time? The little kid and
prim environment?~
Jenessa pulled Meera back into the lean-to, and held her close. She lay
very still, willing her body to fight harder.
~All I'm getting is confusion. Don't you know what you're doing?
~
"They know we're here. They see us." Meera whispered.
"Shhh. None of it is real."
~Kadzin, are you getting all that? How could the prim woman be in link?~
~She must have an implant, but be ignorant of what it is and how to use
it.~
~That makes no sense.~ Magda thought for a moment, then sent, ~Maybe
the prim world is just another dream we've slipped into.~
~I've been thinking, Magda. Even in link, we never shared dreams
before. And the ones we've been having are so clear and precise. More
like a virch.~
~ It can't be. The dreams are taken from memories. I know those things
happened to us. But they're cut up, and cut out.
Greatgods. They do resemble a virch. And following that line of
thought, right now we could be trapped in another virch.~
~It's an explanation for what's happening. We need to consider it as a
real possibility.~
~Kadzin, the idea's too horrifying.~
~But what we're experiencing is horrifying. We haven't wanted to
analyze it, so we escape by sending our minds elsewhere. I can't move
any part of my body. I suspect we don't even have bodies now. And we're
not using ship's sensors.~
~No. But Kadzin, this is a world. There are plants here, like grass.
And soil. Air. Somehow I sense those things. We could be injured, lying
out in the wilderness, our minds drifting in and out of dreams. That's
easier to believe than being in a virch created from our own memories.
Why would anyone want to us trap us like that?
~
~Maybe —for some reason— we did it to ourselves.~
~Kadzin! Please don't say any more about it. We have to stay sane and
figure things out. The prim woman may be our best or only hope.~
