Part 31 (1/2)
”You could if you really tried.”
There was a mental squawk and t.i.tter as Sim and Jaylin tried to visualize centaurs doing that.
”Neigh.”
Putre was right: They had to stop fooling around and start searching. They agreed to spread out mentally and check all the objects their minds encountered. There should be some special quality to the Swell Foop that identified it.
They started the search. There turned out to be all manner of junk bobbling around them.
”I found a foop!” Breanna's thought came.
”So soon,” Che thought. ”Then we can depart.”
”I found another,” Sim's squawk-thought came.
”Here's another,” Cynthia's thought came.
”How many can there be?” Che demanded. ”There has been no indication that there is more than one.”
”We need the Swell Foop,” Justin's thought came. ”It must be hidden among endless ordinary foops, which are probably worthless.”
”You are surely correct,” Che agreed. ”The Swell Foop must have generated echoes of itself in the quantum state. We may simply have to bring all of them out, and sort them outside the Void.”
But it soon was apparent that there were hundreds or thousands of foops. Apparently most of the soulless things that fell into the Void became foops. They would not be able to take all of them.
They paused for thought. This was an unexpected difficulty, though Che had not known what to expect. They could not search forever, because the Demon Earth needed to be rescued soon. But how could they find the right one?
”Dam!” Putre's thought exclaimed.
”That's 'd.a.m.n' if you want to be technical,” Breanna's thought muttered. ”Not a fitting word for a colt your age.”
”No,” Che thought. ”He means dam-a female parent.”
”A mother horse,” Cynthia agreed.
”Could it be-?” Justin thought.
”Mare Imbri!” Jaylin's thought came. ”Wasn't she lost in the Void?”
”She did lose her body here,” Che agreed. ”Because she had half a soul, she survived as a day mare, and later became a tree nymph.”
”Dam,” Putre repeated. ”I know you! Answer me.”
”What you have found must be her body husk,” Justin thought. ”Without a soul, it evidently has no meaning here.”
”A soul!” Jaylin thought. ”Putre, she gave you part of her soul. Can you give part of your soul back?”
”I will try.”
After what might have been a moment, in a less timeless realm, there came a new thought. ”Oh, thank you! I have meaning again.”
”Dam-don't you know me? I am your foal!”
”I had no foal.”
”You lost your body before you had a foal,” Che thought quickly. ”Your half soul survived, and later had a foal with the Day Horse. This is he, after you entered the Void.”
”I am amazed,” Imbri's thought came. ”But I recognize this soul fragment. It is indeed from Chem Centaur, who gave it to me.”
”My grandam,” Che thought proudly. ”Her soul regenerated, and my dam Chex had a full soul, and my soul is full too.”
”I have so much to catch up on,” Imbri thought. ”Not that it matters.”
”It does matter!” Che thought. ”You deserve to know.”
”We can never leave the Void, so it doesn't matter.”
”But we can leave! As soon as we find the Swell Foop.”
”I know where that is. It is the only foop of any value.”
”Find it for us, and we will take you out of here,” Che thought, and felt the emphatic agreement of the others. Especially Putre.
”Why, it is right here. Do any of you have hands?”
”Yes, two of us are centaurs, and three are human.”
”Here.” Something came into his mental s.p.a.ce. He knew immediately that it was the Swell Foop, for it had an aura of grandeur.
”Then we must leave,” Che thought, exhilarated. ”Take hold, folks, and make sure to include both horses.”
They took hold, and when the new circle was complete, Jaylin willed the Ring of Void to lift them out. They moved outward from the ball of the center, gaining velocity, and shot upward. They found themselves standing in a ring around the Void-hole, holding hands or grasping fur.
”Continue on up and out,” Che said, quickly letting go to catch the thing that threatened to drop back into the hole. He mustn't lose that!
They climbed without difficulty, eight creatures. The fair flowered slope beckoned enticingly, but they did not relent. The vague border curtain was near.
Then suddenly they were out of it and back at the verge of the region of water. Their natural shapes were back: two centaurs, three human beings, one bird, and two black horses. They had made it-with the Swell Foop. And Mare Imbri!
CHAPTER 11: LIAISON.
Justin gazed at the object Che Centaur held. Now that they were safely out of the Void, it looked exactly like a warty rock.
”This is it?” Jaylin asked, sounding disappointed.
”It surely is,” Che answered. He set it on the ground next to the lake. ”Touch it.”