Cube Route Part 35

"I don't think so. I need them only when there is trouble."

"Is it possible that what you need is not physical beauty so much as self-knowledge?"

"Why should anyone care what I know about myself? I'm supposed to be doing a job for the Good Magician."

"Is it possible that you were not the person to accomplish that task when you started, but that you are in the processes of becoming such a person as you handle the challenges of the Route?"

Cube considered that with dawning wonder. "You know, I think it is possible! The things I have seen, the people I have met, the experiences I have been having--even if I fail to complete the Quest, I'll be a better person. That's worth a lot."

"I'm sure it is," Ida agreed.

"But I think I can complete the Quest, because what I can't do, my Companions can, and it is worth accomplishing."

"I'm sure you can complete it."

However, Princess Ida's automatic certainty was becoming wearing. Cube had never been much for unsupported belief; she preferred to prove herself in whatever way she had to. "So will you help me find the way to your moon? I don't think I'll fit on it as I am."

Ida became businesslike. "You are correct. My worlds are very small. Your physical body can't go there, but your soul can. You will have to rest here, while your soul proceeds to Ptero."

"My soul goes alone?" Cube wasn't comfortable with this. "Doesn't a person's body die when it loses its soul?"

"Not entirely. A portion of your soul remains, but not enough to animate your body, so your body slumbers. Your full soul will return to it when your mission on Ptero is done. If there is some mishap, your soul will revert immediately. And there is no need to be concerned about the safety of your body; your canine friend will be here to guard it."

Diamond whined, her tail dropping.

"Can she come too?" Cube asked. "She doesn't want to stay here alone. I mean, without me."

"Of course. She can soul travel the same way you do." Ida went to a shelf and fetched a small vial. "You must each lie down and sniff this elixir. Then focus on Ptero and float toward it. You'll get the hang of it soon enough. When you are there, remember that geography is time; your age will change as you travel east or west. East is From and is yellow; west is To and is green; north is blue and south is red, so you'll always know your directions. Beware of the Comic Strips! But I trust the thread to guide you safely through the perplexities so you can reach whatever your destination is."

Time as geography? This was different! But she'd figure that out when she got there. She lay on the couch in Ida's room, and Diamond lay on the floor beside her. "We're ready, I think."

Ida leaned down and held the vial to the dog's nose. Diamond sniffed. Nothing happened. She did not go to sleep.

"That's odd," Princess Ida said. "I wonder." She reached down to pat Diamond on the back. Her hand pa.s.sed through the dog's body. "It's true! She's already a soul!"

"But she's physical!" Cube protested. "Many people have patted her."

"I suspect they patted her form, and thought they felt flesh, but it was just expectation," Ida said. "Expectation is most of reality. This dog lacks substance. She's here, but not physically."

Astonished, Cube reached down to touch Diamond. Her hand pa.s.sed through the dog's body without resistance. "But then how can she carry the pacifier? It's physical."

"Is it?"

Cube felt for the pacifier. Her fingers pa.s.sed through it too. "I guess I just thought I touched it, before."

"I'm sure you're right. At any rate, this dog will have no problem accompanying you."

"That's nice," Cube said faintly.

Ida brought the vial, and she sniffed. Then she found herself clambering up out of a somewhat cloying muck. She got on top of it, then floated above it. She formed an eyeball and peered down.

There was her sleeping body, plain as plain could be. Other girls might sleep pretty, but Cube was never pretty, always plain. She looked away--and saw Diamond. The dog was floating up to join her. She really was a soul.

"Hi, friend," Cube said, patting her--and now the dog seemed solid. She realized it was because they were in the same soul state; she had no more substance than the dog did. "Let's go to Ptero."

The dog wagged her tail and led the way, walking on air toward the tiny moon. As she went she shrank, and Cube shrank with her. The closer they got, the bigger the moon seemed, until it was a full planet, ma.s.sive and variegated. Then they were falling toward it, but able to slow in the air, flying without wings.

They landed on verdant ground beside a great sea. The air was pleasantly warm, and there was the smell of salt water. It was pleasant, and seemed quite physical. Cube stamped her foot on the ground, and it thunked solidly. The dog sniffed the pebbles of the beach and seemed satisfied. Souls they might be, but they were definitely here.

The atmosphere was colored, just as Ida had said. She saw blue in one direction, and red the opposite way: north and south. To one side was a blue haze; that would be west, where folk got older.

The thread led to the east, where the haze was yellow. As they moved, she felt a weird shifting of her body, not pleasant, and realized that this was her change of age. They were both getting younger, as Ida had warned. She hoped they didn't get too young before reaching their destination.

But that was only part of it. She looked at her hands and saw that they were not the same as they had been. They looked--older. And the dog looked ancient.

They must have landed in a time where they were both significantly older. This was alarming.

A castle loomed ahead. It looked just like Castle Roogna. How could that be here? It must be a copy.

A Princess came out to meet her. She looked vaguely familiar, but not quite. She wore a green dress and green hair ribbon, matching her green/blonde hair, and her eyes were blue. "h.e.l.lo, Cube!" she said.

"Uh, h.e.l.lo." Cube was trying to place this woman, who obviously knew her.

The Princess laughed. "You're visiting!" she said.

"Visiting this world, yes. But I don't think I know anyone here."

"Yes you do; you just don't know our ages. I'm Princess Melody."

Cube laughed. "You can't be; she's seven years old."

"In your time, yes. But this is the year 2118, I'm twenty-two, and Anomie and I have a baby girl, Melanoma, whose talent is growing or reversing tumors on anything. Of course she's too young to know it yet, but soon we'll take her into the future so she can try it out."

Cube's head was spinning. "How can you be there, when I have you here in my pouch?"

Melody laughed. "Age seven is the year we can't overlap. We can be any age we want to be, merely by traveling From or To. But we have to bypa.s.s that one. I remember our adventure with you, but none of us can come out to meet our other selves, because that would be a paradox."

"You can't come out? What happens if I bring you out?"

Melody shrugged. "Try it; it won't work."

Cube tried it. She put her hand in the pouch. "Melody." Nothing happened.

"I find this hard to believe, but you seem to be right."

"Here on Ptero we are not limited by belief."

"How is it that your sisters aren't with you? I thought you were always a threesome."

Melody frowned. "We were. But then I married Anomie, and summoned the stork, and that set me apart. There were those who thought it wouldn't work out with Anomie, because his talent was having bad ideas, but now he carries a piece of reverse wood with him and he has good ideas. Now Harmony and Rhythm are a twosome."

"I don't know whether to express congratulation or regret."

Melody frowned briefly, then smiled. "Life is mixed, and there is a price to pay for everything. I wouldn't trade. We can't be children forever."

"Maybe when the others marry and communicate with the stork, they'll rejoin you."

"Yes, that would be nice." Then she changed the subject. "You need to follow the thread east. You'll get there."

Something else registered. "This is 2118? That's fifteen years in my future! I'm thirty-five!"

"Indeed. And the dog is too old to live long. This is really outside her range. So you need to move From quickly, for her sake."

"From. That's east?" Now she remembered that Princess Ida had told her that.

"Yes. Toward the past, and youth. You'll get used to it."

"I hope so. Thank you for clarifying things."

"I knew you would need it, so I intercepted you. You both will be fine, as you get younger. Just beware the Comic Strips."

Princess Ida had said that. "Just what is a Comic Strip?"

"It's a boundary between sections, jammed with egregious puns. That's why we don't cross the Strips unless we really have to; n.o.body can stand them."

"I'll be careful," Cube agreed. Now she had another belated memory: she had encountered a Comic Strip at the Good Magician's castle. She hadn't had to ask at all. Some savvy traveler she was proving to be! "Thanks again."

"Oh, I almost forgot. You must meet Mother."

"Princess Ivy?"

"King Ivy. She wanted to talk with you."

Cube was taken aback. "Not Queen Ivy?"

"Xanth is ruled by kings, and Ptero echoes it. Come."

Cube followed her to the throne room. There sat Ivy, about fifteen years older, with a more substantial crown. "h.e.l.lo, Cube!" she said immediately, rising to join her. "I'm so glad you could come."

What was the protocol to meet a king? Cube had no idea. "Uh, h.e.l.lo," she said faintly.

Ivy hugged her. "The girls' adventure with you was one of the defining experiences of their childhood. They learned some of the limits of their powers of magic. I think it helped them grow up. I just wanted to thank you again."

"Uh, you're welcome. They were--are--a big help."

"That's right--this is part of your Quest. Then I won't keep you longer. It wouldn't be kind to Seren; she has to get younger quickly."

Cube had evidently been dismissed. Melody guided her out. "Mother really worried when we were gone," she confided. "We didn't realize how much, at the time. But it certainly was a great adventure with a surprising conclusion. Ah, here is the thread."

She was right: the thread led out the back door of the castle and across the moat. But there was no bridge at this location. "Uh--"

"Don't be concerned; Souffle will take you across."

The moat monster's head rose from the water. He set it at the edge before her, and Cube climbed on. She held the dog on her lap. Then he carried them smoothly across and deposited them beyond the moat. "Thank you," she said.

Souffle nodded and sank out of sight.

"Hi." It was a seven-year-old boy standing by the bank. Cube had been too distracted by the ride to notice him before. "I'm Vice."

"h.e.l.lo, Vice. I'm Cube, from Xanth."

"Hi." It was a seven-year-old girl. "I'm Versa." She petted Diamond.

"Our talent is to change anything to its opposite," Vice said proudly.

"And back again," Versa said.

"That's nice for a brother and sister," Cube said.

Both laughed. "We're not siblings," Vice said.

"We're cousins," Versa said.

"But you look like twins."

"That's because we're the children of twins," Vice said.

"Dawn and Eve," Versa said.

Cube remembered that the Princesses Dawn and Eve were the older cousins of the three little Princesses, so it was natural that they be in the vicinity. But they were only about twelve years old. How could they have children?

Then she remembered that this was fifteen years in her future. Plenty of time to grow up, marry, and summon storks.

"I am going east," Cube said. "You are welcome to come along if you wish."

"We mustn't," Vice said.

"We'd get too young," Versa said.

Oh. Of course, here where time was geography. "Then it has been nice meeting you," Cube said.

"Bye," the two said together.

They followed the path beyond Castle Roogna, and sure enough, the dog got visibly younger, and Cube felt better. But her initial pleasure in this world had changed; now she just wanted to do what she was here to do, and return to normal.

As they walked, some things occurred to her. She was here in soul form, and so was the dog--but what about her Companions? They must still be in the pouch, back with her body. That had to be why she couldn't call them out; this was an empty ghost pouch.

And she was not beautiful. She didn't need to see her face; she could see her body. She was the same way she had always been, only older. What did that suggest for her future? Was she going to fail the Quest after all? That was a disquieting notion.