Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (22 page)

“Yes,” Truth said heavily. “Lead us to the
tanks.”

Chapter
Twenty-two

“I cannot
fucking
believe we’re
doing this,” Truth grumbled, stripping off his protective suit.

“Are you sure we have to be naked?” Becca asked,
eyeing the pinkish red contents of her tank anxiously.

They were in a far corner of the warehouse
sized underground room, standing in front of three identical tanks. The tanks
hummed softly and all three were lit from within so that they gave off a soft
pink glow. They were side by side with connecting tubes between them, so that
the nutrient slime could mix for maximum mental contact in the Mindscape,
according to the avatar.

Becca supposed that was a good thing. If
she was going to enter a whole other realm the moment she inhaled the slime,
she didn’t want to wake up there and find herself alone.

“It’s really cold in here—is the slime
warm, at least?” she asked hopefully.

“Actually, the slime is kept at a low
temperature in order to better preserve the physical body it holds and
nourishes,” the avatar lectured. “But don’t worry—once you find yourself inside
the Mindscape, the three of you together should be able to warm yourselves.”

“What in the Seven Hells is that supposed
to mean—together?” Truth growled. He was completely naked, having stripped with
no apparent shame at all. Becca was trying not to look but she couldn’t help
sneaking a peek at his chiseled abs and wide shoulders. Why did the dark twin
have to look so mouthwatering? It really wasn’t fair for him to be so damn hot
when he was in such a bad mood—it made it a lot harder to be mad at him.

“It means what I said—the three of you
together will find a way to be warm.” The avatar of Vashtar cocked the eyebrow
over his third eye quizzically. “Do you require me to phrase it another way? Is
your translation software faulty?”

“I don’t think my brother is having
trouble understanding your words,” Far said, also stripping out of his silver
suit. Becca had trouble keeping her eyes off his muscular ass and chest as
well—the weird warehouse was turning into a naked smorgasbord which was really
hard to ignore. “He’s more concerned with their meaning,” Far finished, toeing
off his boots and standing completely naked in the frigid air.

“Oh, well,
together
means
all
three of you.”
The avatar spoke carefully to the dark twin, as though Truth
was a slightly slow child. “You’ll find that most tasks in the Mindscape
require a
three part effort.
That is why none of you may enter
alone.
Do you see?”

Truth was beginning to look really pissed
so Becca jumped in quickly.

“Okay, we get that we have to work
together,” she said. “But can we please get back to my question—do we have to
be
completely
naked?” She was down to her bra and panties now and not
looking forward to climbing into a tank of cold slime.

“You must,” the avatar replied. “If you
are not, your interface with the nutrient slime will be incomplete. Imagine
waking up in another reality and finding you had left parts of yourself
behind—it would not be pleasant, would it?”

“No…” Becca bit her lip. “No, I…I guess
not.”

“Are you embarrassed,
mi’now?”
Far
asked. “Would you rather Truth and I turned and looked the other way?”

“I…I guess I shouldn’t be after…um…” Becca
cleared her throat, her cheeks heating. “After the other night. But yeah, I’m
still kind of shy.”

Truth snorted derisively. “Shy? You were
anything but shy during our last encounter.”

“I don’t remember
you
complaining,”
Becca said, stung by his contempt. “Until afterwards, that was, when you
starting feeling guilty and decided you didn’t want anything to do with me or
Far again.”

“It wasn’t that I felt guilty so much as
betrayed,”
Truth growled. “When I found that Far had been violating my privacy—”

“Oh, please!” Becca snapped. She was
getting sick and tired of the dark twin’s attitude. “So the man did a little
digging
into your background. You’re his long lost twin brother—he has a right to be
curious. And did it ever occur to you that if you’d just be a little more
open
with him, he never would have felt the need to dig in the first place?”

“My past is my own business,” Truth
snarled. “And furthermore—”

“Oh dear, oh dear—what’s this? Are the
three of you not in harmony with each other?” Vashtar’s avatar looked at them
anxiously. “Such quarrelling and anger does not bode well for your chances of
success within the Mindscape. Your OneMind must be unified in order to project
correctly.”

“Our what must be what in order to
what?”
Becca asked blankly.

The avatar made a dismissive gesture. “You
will learn during the tutorial. But I must confess I am concerned about sending
a quarreling triumvirate into the Mindscape.”

“Simply a disagreement,” Far said
smoothly. “I’m sure even a society as advanced as yours was had them as well.”

“Well…yes.” The avatar still looked
doubtful. “I hope you can mend the rift between you or you will never find
Vashtar. Only a true and whole triumvirate can find the way to wisdom.”

Becca took a deep breath. “All right. I’m
sorry I snapped at you, Truth,” she said to the dark twin. “I felt really
judged by you just now and it made me defensive.”

“I must offer apologies as well,” Truth
replied stiffly. “And please forgive me if you felt in any way censured. That
was not my intention. I only meant that you have, ah…” He cleared his throat.
“A beautiful body. You have no need to be ashamed of it. Still, I will turn the
other way if it makes you feel better.” He suited actions to words by turning
the other direction to put his broad back to Becca.

“I will turn around as well.” Far turned
and even the avatar faced away.

Becca was left to shiver her way out of
her bra and panties. When she was finished, she stood there naked with one arm
plastered across her breasts and the other hand modestly covering her sex.

“All right,” she said at last. “I…I guess
I’m ready. Should I go first?”

“You must all three go at once.” The
avatar made a gesture and three identical sets of metal steps suddenly unrolled
themselves from the lips of each tank and extended to the ground. “Go up, climb
into the tanks and lower yourselves into the slime,” he instructed. “With your
first deep breath, you will be sucked into the Mindscape.”

That didn’t sound very good to Becca but
she didn’t see what else she could do. Taking a deep breath, she placed her
foot on the first, freezing metal rung of the tiny ladder and began to climb.
On either side of her, Truth and Far did the same.

Don’t think about it. Don’t hesitate and
don’t think about it,
Becca
instructed herself when she reached the edge of the tank. Not letting herself
chicken out, she threw a leg over the side and lowered herself into the cold
slime.

Mother of God, that’s
freezing!
It was like getting into a bath of icy,
half set Jell-O. Gritting her teeth, she slid her other leg in, aware that
Truth and Far were doing the same thing on either side of her. Neither one was
complaining about the temperature although Becca knew they had to feel it as
much as she did.

“Good, good,” she heard the avatar say
behind them. “Now, just lie down in your tanks and let the slime close over
your head. Then inhale.”

It was one of the hardest things Becca had
ever done but somehow she made herself follow instructions. Shivering
uncontrollably, her teeth chattering, she lay down in the horrible chilly slime
and let it enfold her. She tried to float but she could feel the viscous stuff
sucking her down.

“Oh!” she moaned softly as it closed over
first the top of her head and then her eyes, which were tightly shut. “This is
aw—”

But when she opened her mouth to say
“awful,” the reddish-pink slime rushed in, almost as though it had been looking
for an opening. Becca choked and gasped, her body rebelling against the
invader.

No, this isn’t right. I can’t do this! I
have to get up—have to get out of here!

She sat straight up, clawing for the
slick, glass edge of the tank…

Only to find she was no longer in the tank
at all.

* * * * *

“Where am I? What is this?”

Becca looked around herself in confusion.
She was surrounded by a featureless gray mist and she appeared to be sitting on
a broad, flat platform. When she shifted, it gave gently under her and then
sprang back into position.

“What is this thing?” she muttered. “A
really huge mattress?”

“It appears to be some kind of sleeping
platform,” Truth said, from her right side.

Becca gasped. “Oh! I didn’t see you
there.”

“I wasn’t here a moment ago. I was trying
to breathe that damn slime.” He still sounded irritated. “Where is Far?”

“I don’t know.” Becca looked down on the thing
they were sitting on again and noticed that it now had little padded pockets in
it, just like her gel-foam mattress back on the Mother Ship. “Oh,” she said,
surprised. “Look—it’s changed! It’s more…mattress-y now.”

“What’s this?” Far was suddenly on her
left side. “Why are we sitting on a bed?”

“There you are, Brother,” Truth growled.
“As to that, we have no idea.”

“It is a large one, at least,” Far
murmured, looking around. “The headboard is most intricately carved.”

“The what?” Becca craned her neck around
to see an elaborately carved wooden headboard at the head of the bed. “Hey—it
changed again! It’s even more bed-like now. But where are the sheets and
pillows? Where are the blankets?” she asked, looking around. She was still
naked—they all were, she couldn’t help noticing—and there wasn’t a thing to
cover up with. Which was a problem in more than one way—she was still very
cold. Pulling her knees up to her chin, she wrapped her arms around herself,
shivering. “How—”

“Welcome, happy triumvirate!” A feminine
voice spoke out of nowhere, making Becca jump.

“Who said that? Who are you?” Truth
demanded as they all looked around for the source of the voice. “Show
yourself!”

“Doubtless during your year long tutorial,
you have learned all you need to in order to successfully navigate the
Mindscape,” the voice continued blithely.

“What—a year? The Orthanxians had a whole
year
to learn how to get around in here and we get a fifteen minute lecture from a
stupid avatar?” Becca demanded.

“This is ridiculous,” Truth growled. He
stood up abruptly, making the mattress shake, and put his hands on his hips.
“We demand that you take us to Vashtar immediately,” he announced in a stern,
commanding tone which was only slightly ruined, in Becca’s estimation, by his
complete lack of clothes.

“Here in the beginning staging area, we
wish to remind you of just a few details of your new existence,” the
disembodied voice went on.

It reminded Becca of the detached,
artificially happy voice the guides on some of the rides at Disney World used.
Or maybe a bored airline hostess. Either way, it was creepy to hear it speaking
out of the misty gray nothingness which surrounded the bed.

“I think it’s some kind of recording,
Brother,” Far said, looking up at the indignant Truth. “Best sit down and hear
what it has to say. We need all the information we can get if we’re to complete
this mission.”

Grumbling, Truth settled down on the
mattress again. Becca was glad—it had been really hard to ignore how big and
extremely
naked
he was when he was standing there, looming over her.

“As you no doubt know, anything is
available here to you in the Mindscape, providing you access it correctly,” the
voice continued. “Please remember the importance of the triumvirate OneMind at
all times or your projections may not meet all expectations.”

“OneMind? What in the Seven Hells is
that?” Truth muttered.

“Vashtar’s avatar said something about it,
remember?” Far said.

“He said something about projections too,
didn’t he?” Becca asked. She wished the creepy airline hostess voice would go
into greater detail about how to get some clothes to wear or at least where to
get a blanket. She was really
freezing.
Was it actually getting
colder
in here? It certainly felt like it. Becca shivered and hugged herself
tighter.

“Please feel free to stay here in the
staging area and practice your projections until you feel confident enough to
leave and establish a new reality for yourselves,” the voice said smoothly.
“The success of your projections will be monitored. If you fail to produce
livable implements and environments after a reasonable amount of time, you will
be guided through a few OneMind tutorials.”

“That’s what we need—
tutorials
,”
Far murmured.

“Please do not interpret such training exercises
as a censure to your triumvirate,” the voice went on. “Any pain, emotional,
physical, or mental that you may experience during such sessions, is purely
unintentional and should be short in duration.”