Of Man and Manta Omnibus

by Piers Anthony

  'A shared dream?'

  'Call it that for convenience. Actually, your view is built up from discreet hints I provide - key words and the use of the lamp which you could not fail to associate with Aladdin's escapade - but what you see naturally differs somewhat from what I see, as our knowledge and tastes vary.

  When it comes down to it, this is a fact of life anyway; one person can never be certain, for example, that the color he sees as red is not blue to his neighbor: the blue his neighbor calls red. In this respect the change is not great, and perhaps the drug really produces a closer accord, since any honest difference can quickly be reconciled, when challenged, with the dominant view. The weaker will conforms to the stronger will.'

  'How can you be certain that your will is stronger than mine?"

  'Do you want tangible proof or a reasoned explanation?'

  'Both.'

  'Is Myco wearing a turban?'

  'No - his head is blatantly bare.'

  'Look again.'

  'He is wearing a turban.'

  'You are mistaken.'

  The genie was bareheaded again, Subble concentrated, trying to visualize the turban that had appeared for a moment, but nothing changed. Myco grinned at him, enjoying it. 'It appears the genie obeys his master,' Subble admitted.

  'Yes. First, he is my image, a figment of my selection, well rehearsed by me, while you are meeting him for the first time. I probably know much more about Arabic mythology than you do, and that gives me power, just as my attitude toward the Bible translation gave me the advantage there. Now the situation is clearer, thanks to the literal nature of the drug's imagery. You could not control Myco unless you knew more about him.'

  'Yeah,' Myco repeated.

  'Second, I have been here many times before under the drug, I mean - and I have developed tolerance and control. I am under less deeply than you are, though we have taken the same dose, and that gives me a firmer grip on objectivity as we both know it. Experience is the best teacher, particularly here.'

  Subble studied the genie, intrigued by the creature's evident reality despite agreement that he was a product of the imagination. Realization that a fear was groundless was supposed to banish it - but he knew it often did not. Knowledge that an illness was psychosomatic did not always ease the pain, either. Suddenly he sympathized with a host of problems he would ordinarily have observed dispassionately the problems of desperate individuals on a crowded world. He knew the genie did not exist - but this didn't change a thing. There it stood, as the unfounded fears and problems stood before others.

  'I can read thy mind, too,' Myco said. 'Not that it pleasureth me.'

  'Finally, your own preference betrays you,' Cal said. 'You do not want to take control, because that would abort your mission. You don't need supremacy, you need information - and you know that I can only give it to you this way.'

  'I do not remember past experiences, of course,' Subble said, 'but I suspect that you and Veg and Aquilon represent the damnedest trio I have encountered. I'd certainly like to see the interplay between you when you three are together.'

  Cal smiled a little sadly. 'It is a quartet now: physique, emotion, intellect - and spirit. Perhaps, soon, we shall be together again. We cannot endure apart.'

  Subble perceived that the little man was not thinking of the romantic aspects. There was something else, just as there had been for the others. Cal had been correct: every person on Earth was pressured into an odd configuration, but these three had a peculiar interaction that gave them something special.

  'But we have other business,' Cal said briskly. 'Myco, show the vault.'

  'I hear and obey!' the genie boomed. He stooped and touched the floor. A great silver ring appeared, arabesqued inside and out, and screwed vertically into the center tile. Myco hauled on this and the slab came up to reveal a staircase going down.

  'Down there?' Subble inquired, no longer bothering to distinguish between types of reality. 'Not the black hole of Calcutta?'

  'Another fallacy,' Cal said. 'That episode is entirely fictional. It was a rumor which even historians took as fact, since it seemed to justify British policy in India.'

  'I see. But in this edition your genie could shut us in securely and take over the hallucination.'

  'An interesting thought,' Cal said. 'But a chance we'll have to take. You have to experience the marvels of the third kingdom, to appreciate them properly. This is important.'

  'As you say,' Subble agreed. His remark had not been serious, but now he wondered.

  Myco shrank somewhat in size, manifested a torch, touched it to the flame of the lamp and held it there until it caught. He led the way into the ground. The stairs descended into a vaulted corridor lined with heavy closed doors. 'The third kingdom is rich in all the needs and comforts of man,' Cal said. 'Here is the chamber of food. Observe it well.' The genie opened the door with a flourish and stood beside it at attention as the two men entered.

  It was a gourmet's delight. An enormous banquet table had been set up, groaning with exotic delicacies. An entire stuffed pig squatted in a platter at the head place, garnished with fragrant herbs and spices and relishes. Beyond it was a monstrous roast turkey nestling in matted parsley, and beyond that a line of salmon steaks decorated with stewed raisins and sliced lemon.

  They walked down the interminable length of it, past creole shrimp, meat loaf and lamb shish kebab. There were towering salads - chicken, tuna, potato, gelatin and fruit, with dressings too numerous and exotic to number. There were steaming tureens of soup and aromatic breadstuffs and pastries. There was chocolate cake and strawberry pie. Fresh corn on the cob steamed beside golden carrots and thick pods of okra ... jelly omelet ... potato pancakes. Table wines of every description stood adjacent to their traditional dishes, and after them were boiling coffee and frosty ice cream.

  Agents sometimes found themselves in odd situations, in the line of duty.

  They completed the gustful circuit and returned to the hall. 'Impressive?' Cal inquired, and again there was a subtle extra meaning there.

  'Impressive. Can any of it be eaten?'

  'Oh, yes, and most enjoyably. But you would be hungry again the moment the vision ended. That's the trouble with magic - no residual effect.'

  'Suppose there were actually more commonplace food available?'

  'You could feast on it delightfully, and afterwards you would have a full stomach and a pleasant memory.'

  Subble appreciated how easily a craze could form.

  Myco had not bothered to accompany them inside. He stood at the door holding his nose.

  'Our next display is within the chamber of health,' Cal said, gesturing. The door opened.

  The room was large - so large it seemed they were emerging into a valley. Just ahead was an open plain bounded by vigorous trees: beech, ash, maple and a solitary bull spruce. Bronzed Greek athletes were taking exercise: one throwing the javelin, another heaving the discus, four indulging in a foot race and two wrestling strenuously. Down the valley two vibrant young women in shorts were playing tennis. The men looked like Veg, the women like Aquilon. A man resembling Subble himself was practicing elaborate dives into a rippling pool, naked.

  The air was bracing, with a crisp occasional breeze. The grass underfoot sprang up luxuriantly, and nothing showed, animal or vegetable, that was not in the prune of life.

  'And wealth,' Cal said, leading the way to the third chamber. Myco had disappeared.

  It was a palace comprising many chambers in itself. The first was filled with gold and silver coins of rare and hand- some design, some round, some hexagonal, some holed in the, center, overflowing from great jars and piled haphazardly upon the floor. Subble estimated the weight of metal and calculated its net value in modern terms: over eleven million dollars for what was visible in this room alone, discounting the antique or archaeological enhancement of the strange old coins.

  The second room was more impressive: jewels of every color and description - blue diamonds,
green emeralds, red rubies, star sapphires and assorted lesser gems, some splendidly faceted, others gleaming in natural crystalline formations. There were strings of pearls and intricate rings and bracelets.

  The third room held priceless paintings and statuary: Subble recognized the handiwork of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso and many other masters, all represented by originals. A number he did not recognize, except by type: Chinese Ming, Maya Jaina, Egyptian Middle Dynasty, Mandingo leatherwork, a Gupta Buddha - artifacts which could not be valued because of their immense social and historical significance, as well as their artistic merit. And at the far end, the Nacre landscape Aquilon had painted, at last in the appropriate company.

  The fourth room was a library of first editions, the finest volumes produced by man. Every author, every researcher he valued was there, every book in perfect condition though some like the Caxton Le Morte d'Arthur were centuries old.

  'And finally the chamber of Life and Death,' Cal said as they returned through gallery and treasure-rooms to the hall. He opened the last door.

  Armies were arrayed on either side: on the left a Roman phalanx, on the right the mounted horde of Ghenghis Khan. Subble had wondered idly, just as he was sure all agents wondered, what would be the outcome of such an encounter. The Romans had been supreme in their day, owing this largely to their discipline and training, but the Mongols of later centuries were a horde in name only: they were actually among the most methodical fighters and slaughterers of all time. Numbers being equivalent, the nomad riders were probably superior to any military force prior to the advent of firearms, and had they had rifles....

  Still, nothing was certain until the armies actually met. Generalship was a vital matter, and morale, and circumstance.

  As the two visitors emerged from the hall, the horsemen charged, screaming and firing arrows from horseback while the Romans advanced stolidly, shields overlapping, long spears thrust forward.

  Cal was looking at him questioningly, and then he remembered: the phalanx was not Roman, but Greek and Macedonian! He was guilty of another carelessness, and now this anomaly was engaging the enemy. Exactly how was the Roman legion armed and organized? The short sword, flexibility-

  'This is visual, auditory and olfactory only,' Cal said, mistaking his concern. 'The images will pass through us without effect, or vice versa.'

  It was good to know. The armies met, and Subble found himself in the midst of a savage engagement. The horses reared up against the massed shields, striking them with their hooves and beating them back with the weight of their bodies. One hoof struck at Subble, passed through him, and churned up turf and sand. The brown-skinned rider swung his curved blade at a break in the phalanx and the Roman fell, his ear cut off. A spear lashed out, lodging in the belly of the horse, and the rider came down as gore spurted.

  Then it was an indecipherable melee, suffused with the stench of blood and iron and sweat and urine and crushed vegetation, the screams of animal and man, the sight of carnage and agony. Subble was acclimatized to violence, but the brutality of this encounter disgusted him. And he still wasn't certain whether the Romans had ever employed the true phalanx, or whether the Mongols ever stayed put for a pitched battle. The violation of history, after allowing for the basic anachronism of the situation, was probably worse than that of the slaughtered men.

  Cal drew him back into the hall and closed the door. The bloodletting was cut off abruptly. 'Come and relax for a while,' he murmured. 'I have some questions.'

  The end of the hall opened into a twentieth-century living room, air-conditioned and with the FM playing soft music. Subble realized with a start that it was the same piece he had heard at the intensive farming unit he had toured with Aquilon. The animals were pacified by music - and drugs while they girded their corpulence for the butcher-machine.

  'Please describe to me what you experienced,' Cal requested.

  'You weren't watching?'

  'I wish to make a point.'

  Subble described in detail what he had seen in each chamber, a little embarrassed about the last. He was sure Cal would have some pointed corrections to make.

  'Your verses differ from mine,' Cal said. 'You are still clinging to your own expectations. This is what I warned you against, and one reason I brought you here. It would be disastrous if you strayed this far during a meeting with the manta. Clear your mind of everything and follow me, and this time I will show you the true nature of the third kingdom.' The little man was becoming more and more didactic, but Subble accepted the rebuke and accompanied him back to the fourth chamber.

  It was empty. 'Look at the ground,' Cal said.

  Ground appeared then: rich, dark earth. 'See that mushroom?' Cal suggested, pointing.

  A single mushroom sprouted, bursting from the soil in accelerated motion and opening its soft umbrella, white and delicate. 'This is a saprophyte,' Cal said.

  'A saprophyte - an organism that feeds on dead organic matter,' Subble agreed. 'This is a characteristic of the mushroom and related fungi, while others are parasitic.'

  'Think about it.'

  Then Subble made the connection. Fungus - a thing that took its life from death, locked behind the door of Life and Death. This was a much neater definition than his vision of battle had been. And he had worried about military detail! Fungus - and Nacre was a world of fungus forms, to the exclusion of chlorophyll plants. Death - and Cal was obsessed with it, personally and philosophically. The genie Myco, whose name meant fungus; the hallucinogen, derived from another variety of fungus.

  And the mysterious third kingdom itself-

  Animal - Plant - and Fungus! Animals were animate, possessing, among other things, the powers of motion and conscious reaction. Plants performed photosynthesis, drawing nourishment from inorganic substances. But fungi neither moved nor drew energy from light - yet they lived and thrived. They had found an alternate route, and some experts - mycologists - considered them to represent a kingdom of their own, distinct from plants.

  A kingdom that had ousted plants, to become dominant on Nacre.

  'Forget about Nacre, for now,' Cal said. 'I want to show you what the third kingdom means to Earth. Mushrooms, fungi, mold, mildew, yeasts, bacteria - a little more heat and humidity and this kingdom would dominate right here. Fungi can live off almost anything organic: meat, vegetables, milk, leather, wood, coal, plastics, bones. The strains adapt rapidly. Develop a new jet fuel, and before long you will find a fungus feeding on it. The spores are tougher than we are; cold will not kill them, heat must be extreme to damage them all, dehydration - they can be dried and saved for years and grow again when conditions change. Fungi can grow at phenomenal speeds. Some are, as you know, parasites - their food doesn't have to be dead. Some change back and forth. One fungus can release hundreds of millions of spores in a few days - and those spores are everywhere, floating invisibly in the air we breathe and settling upon every mouthful of food we eat, no matter how "clean" we think it is.'

  'In other words, they are pervasive,' Subble said. 'But at least they are under control, here.' But he remembered the infestation of the cellar-farm, and wondered.

  'That is a matter of opinion. Man cannot exist without them, while the fungi can certainly exist without us - in fact, without the entire animal kingdom.'

  'Evidently my programming isn't up to date on this subject,' Subble said. 'How is a parasite or saprophyte to exist without animals, live or still, to feed upon? And in what way am I personally dependent upon that little mushroom or its brethren? I can eat it, if it isn't poisonous, but I certainly don't have to, and I wouldn't miss it much if it vanished forever.'

  'To answer your first question: parasites and saprophytes cannot exist in isolation, naturally, but the plant kingdom is sufficient for their dietary needs, so animals are unnecessary. The answer to the second is more devious - but also more important, because both plants and animals are now dependent upon the fungus kingdom. Are you familiar with the oxygen-carbon dioxide brea
thing cycle?'

  'Of course. Animals take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Plants require carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, and give off oxygen. It's a rather neat balance.'

  'No. It is not neat at all. Animal respiration provides only a quarter of what is needed by the plants.'

  'A quarter? That doesn't add up.'

  'The rest is a by-product of decomposition.'

  'And decomposition-'

  'Is the service performed by bacteria and fungi. Without these, dead organisms would remain as they died, sterile. Their elements would never be returned to the earth or atmosphere. Three quarters of the carbon dioxide, among other things, would be permanently trapped, the percentage growing, and the plants would be on a one-way track leading to extinction. And with the end of the plant kingdom-'

  'The end of the animal kingdom. I follow you now.'