get to follow the trail myself, when I wish to, and see the other worlds. That's his return favor to me. I delight in such sightseeing.”
This seemed odd. After a moment he figured out what was bothering him. “You can go to another world—circling your own head?”
“Yes. Isn't it wonderful? I thought for a long time that I couldn't, but then I learned that I could, since it is merely soul travel. My body remains here, of course.”
“Uh, yes,” he agreed. Their own bodies remained in Xanth; they were now mere souls, though they seemed much the same. But smaller. He tried to imagine how small, thinking of the sphere of Ptero, then the much smaller Pyramid. And it seemed these were merely the beginning of a long chain. He got dizzy.
“Don't try to make too much sense of it,” Princess Ida recommended. “It's one of those things a person must accept on faith, so as to remain sane. Just accept each world on its own terms as you come to it.”
The dizziness began to clear. “I will. Thanks.”
“Remember that each world is unique to itself in custom as well as form. The next one incurs a burden of emotion for favors rendered, rather than size.”
“I don't understand.”
“One who does a service for another comes to like that person, or even love him. So it is best to be cautious about doing or receiving favors, unless you can arrange to exchange favors. Then they cancel out.”
“We'll be careful,” Umlaut promised, shaken. Instead of getting accustomed to these new worlds, he was becoming increasingly nervous about them.
“Now you had better follow the trail to Torus.”
“Torus?”
“The doughnut.”
He felt stupid again. “Oh. Thanks.” He saw the tracks proceeding through the air toward the moon, as before.
Princess Ida released Sammy, and he bounded up the trail, becoming rapidly smaller, until he disappeared onto the doughnut world. “Wait for us!” Umlaut called belatedly and followed with Sesame.
“So nice to meet you, Umlaut and Sesame,” Ida called after them. Now she seemed mountainously large.
“Same here,” Umlaut called back, afraid his voice wouldn't reach that expanding distance.
They landed on the inner surface of Torus and followed the tracks to what turned out to be the Sarah Sea and across it to the isle of Niffen. There were many wild creatures there, but they remained clear of the trail.
The Ida here was as helpful as the others had been, and soon they were on their way to her moon, which was shaped like a cone filled with water. After that the worlds tended to blur in Umlaut's mind; each was distinct and original in many ways, but there was only so much he could assimilate on one trek. The Ida on Cone lived under its huge sea, inside its pointed end. Somehow they were able to breathe down there. There was a lot going on at the rim of the sea, but Umlaut didn't catch its nature.
They went on to Dumbbell, which was shaped like its name; everyone there was a fitness freak, even a supremely muscular Ida in the center of the bar. Then Pincushion, with huge pins stuck in it. And Spiral, like a grandly whirling galaxy. And Tangle, like knotted spaghetti. And Motes, a swirling collection of blobs of rock. Trapezoid, Shoe, Implosion, Puzzle, Octopus, Tesseract, Fractal—he simply could not hold them all in his mind, though each was surely deserving of plenty of attention, because each had a world full of plants, creatures, and odd people living there.
Then at last one registered: Zombie! They had finally reached Zombie World. It looked like a spoiled tomato from space, but it was real and whole on its own terms. It was so impossibly tiny, in the scheme of derivative worlds, that it pained his mind just to consider the matter, yet it loomed now as one more complete planet. It had sickening slime-covered seas and rotting vegetation and creatures who shed putrid gobs of flesh as they walked, but it was home to refugee zombies, and they surely loved it.
“I hope our
This seemed odd. After a moment he figured out what was bothering him. “You can go to another world—circling your own head?”
“Yes. Isn't it wonderful? I thought for a long time that I couldn't, but then I learned that I could, since it is merely soul travel. My body remains here, of course.”
“Uh, yes,” he agreed. Their own bodies remained in Xanth; they were now mere souls, though they seemed much the same. But smaller. He tried to imagine how small, thinking of the sphere of Ptero, then the much smaller Pyramid. And it seemed these were merely the beginning of a long chain. He got dizzy.
“Don't try to make too much sense of it,” Princess Ida recommended. “It's one of those things a person must accept on faith, so as to remain sane. Just accept each world on its own terms as you come to it.”
The dizziness began to clear. “I will. Thanks.”
“Remember that each world is unique to itself in custom as well as form. The next one incurs a burden of emotion for favors rendered, rather than size.”
“I don't understand.”
“One who does a service for another comes to like that person, or even love him. So it is best to be cautious about doing or receiving favors, unless you can arrange to exchange favors. Then they cancel out.”
“We'll be careful,” Umlaut promised, shaken. Instead of getting accustomed to these new worlds, he was becoming increasingly nervous about them.
“Now you had better follow the trail to Torus.”
“Torus?”
“The doughnut.”
He felt stupid again. “Oh. Thanks.” He saw the tracks proceeding through the air toward the moon, as before.
Princess Ida released Sammy, and he bounded up the trail, becoming rapidly smaller, until he disappeared onto the doughnut world. “Wait for us!” Umlaut called belatedly and followed with Sesame.
“So nice to meet you, Umlaut and Sesame,” Ida called after them. Now she seemed mountainously large.
“Same here,” Umlaut called back, afraid his voice wouldn't reach that expanding distance.
They landed on the inner surface of Torus and followed the tracks to what turned out to be the Sarah Sea and across it to the isle of Niffen. There were many wild creatures there, but they remained clear of the trail.
The Ida here was as helpful as the others had been, and soon they were on their way to her moon, which was shaped like a cone filled with water. After that the worlds tended to blur in Umlaut's mind; each was distinct and original in many ways, but there was only so much he could assimilate on one trek. The Ida on Cone lived under its huge sea, inside its pointed end. Somehow they were able to breathe down there. There was a lot going on at the rim of the sea, but Umlaut didn't catch its nature.
They went on to Dumbbell, which was shaped like its name; everyone there was a fitness freak, even a supremely muscular Ida in the center of the bar. Then Pincushion, with huge pins stuck in it. And Spiral, like a grandly whirling galaxy. And Tangle, like knotted spaghetti. And Motes, a swirling collection of blobs of rock. Trapezoid, Shoe, Implosion, Puzzle, Octopus, Tesseract, Fractal—he simply could not hold them all in his mind, though each was surely deserving of plenty of attention, because each had a world full of plants, creatures, and odd people living there.
Then at last one registered: Zombie! They had finally reached Zombie World. It looked like a spoiled tomato from space, but it was real and whole on its own terms. It was so impossibly tiny, in the scheme of derivative worlds, that it pained his mind just to consider the matter, yet it loomed now as one more complete planet. It had sickening slime-covered seas and rotting vegetation and creatures who shed putrid gobs of flesh as they walked, but it was home to refugee zombies, and they surely loved it.
“I hope our
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