Part 30 (2/2)
They paused, then resumed the downward trek.
Something came rolling down from behind them. They hastily made way, and it pa.s.sed, accelerating as it did. It dropped into the central hole. There was no sound, and no sight of it. It was gone.
”For sure,” Breanna muttered nervously.
But what choice did they have?
”I don't want to be-” Jaylin started.
”Go ahead and be,” Breanna said. ”I'm as pale around the gills as you are, right now.”
”I was thinking-maybe if we all held hands-”
”For sure!”
Che agreed. They needed the rea.s.surance of each other's proximity. They knew intellectually that the Ring of Void would protect them, but emotionally they remained in deep doubt. They formed a circle around the deadly pit and extended their arms. Sim would be extending his wings, and the night colt- ”Two of you take hold of Putre,” Che said. They took hold, then let themselves slide forward into the black hole.
There was a feeling of enormous compression and simultaneous velocity. They dropped down, down, ever down into the depth. The universe seemed to whirl around them, dizzyingly stable.
Then they were at the bottom, or rather the center. Things were floating all around. ”Are we all here?” Che inquired mentally, as he seemed to have no voice.
”I am here,” Justin's reply came. It was a thought rather than a voice.
”Me too,” Breanna's thought came, tinged with female.
”Present.” That was Cynthia.
”Here.” Jaylin.
”Squawk.”
”Neigh.”
They all laughed, though it was just a round of pleasant feeling.
”I suspect we are without our bodies at the moment,” Che thought. ”But we are functional. Now we must locate the Swell Foop.”
”So let's a.s.semble the Ring Tube,” Breanna thought. ”Here is my-oops.”
”It is your Ring we want at the moment, not your private parts, however delectable they may be,” Justin thought primly.
”Oh, shut up, lover! I mean I can't find my Ring.”
”Just look on your little finger,” Cynthia thought. ”It should be, um-where is my finger?”
”Where is mine?” Jaylin thought, alarmed.
”And my claw?” Sim squawked/thought.
Soon it was clear, in a foggy way, that none of them could find their Rings, because they had no extremities on which to wear them. That was, it seemed, one of the unforeseen consequences of being bodiless.
”I believe we are in a quantum state,” Che thought. ”We are randomly mixed together, our material beings overlapping.”
”Overlap your own female,” Breanna snapped. ”The only one I want overlapping me is Justin.”
”He means that the rules of physics are different under extreme compression,” Justin thought. ”We are all occupying the same point. We are merged with each other, and our Rings.”
”Then how the bleep can we line them up?”
”I am not sure. Perhaps we can align our bodies.”
”Then who will be left to sight through the tube?” Cynthia thought.
”I don't want anybody sighting through my tubes.” Breanna objected.
”I fear this is not feasible,” Justin thought. ”It seems the rules of engagement have changed in the quantum state.”
”No they haven't!” Breanna flared. ”We're still getting married the moment this is done!”
Someone sent a wash of humor.
”Perhaps we can operate without the tube,” Che thought, ”and perform a physical search.”
”Of whom?” Breanna demanded. ”n.o.body's going to search my body but-”
”Or a mental search,” Justin thought quickly. ”Whatever way is feasible in this state.”
”I'm not too eager to have anyone snooping through my mind, either,” Breanna thought.
”I fear you are not in your right mind at the moment, dear girl.”
”Is that so? Well, you can just take your-”
”She feels hysterical,” Jaylin thought nervously.
”Who is hysterical?” Breanna's thought screamed.
”This calls for a firm measure,” Cynthia decided. ”Kiss her, Justin.”
”Gladly.” There followed a sensation of sheer ecstasy surrounded by overlapping quantum hearts.
”For sure,” Breanna thought blissfully as she sank out of sight.
”You never kissed me like that,” Cynthia thought to Che.
”Well, it's hard to caress your front side and your back side simultaneously.”
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