Master of Space and Time by Rudy Rucker Page A

in through the first doorway we passed.
    â€œFletch?” called Harry from the hall. “Where’d he go, Sondra? HEY, FLETCHER!”
    I was running as fast as my legs would carry me. Through a cloakroom, out into a courtyard, through a door, and into a bedroom. There was a woman, a naked odalisque on a big mound of cushions. She had jet-black hair and lily-white skin. Almond eyes, a long straight nose, large nipples, heavy-duty thighs. I burrowed under her cushions like a rat taking cover. It felt nice down there: the silky cushions, the woman’s odor and weight. I tried to wriggle into a position where I’d be able to . . .
    â€œbe still,” said the voice in my head.
    I stopped moving and thought a message back: “who are you?”
    â€œi’m a scion of gary herber, thank you for your body.”
    â€œi wasn’t really done with it yet.” For some reason I was kind of enjoying this. The parasite kept a pleasant tingle going all through my nerves, “you’ll have to release me, i’m from another world.”
    â€œi know, we want to go there.”
    â€œno! you can’t! it’s —”
    â€œshhh!”
    Footsteps sounded in the courtyard outside. Fat Harry, weird Tad, and sexy Sondra. They’d never find me here. I should have been screaming for help, but instead I felt like giggling. The slug had really taken me over.
    â€œUh, excuse me, miss, have you seen my friend?” Harry’s voice.
    The odalisque shifted about, but she didn’t answer.
    â€œShe won’t pick up on you,” said Tad. “Herber’s dollies don’t talk to strangers.”
    â€œWhat would a giant brain want with slave girls?” asked Sondra.
    â€œWhat Gary wants with women? He milks them, like. GABA fluid from their spines. You dig that plastic coupling down on her back?”
    â€œOooooo! Awful! Well, read her mind, Harry. You can do telepathy, can’t you?”
    â€œStap my vitals!” exclaimed Tad. “Telepathy!”
    â€œYeah, I can do it,” rumbled Harry, “but that would be too—”
    â€œHarry, in less than half an hour, our magic door out of this place is going to disappear. And now something’s happened to Joe. Use your goddamn telepathy or I’ll—”
    â€œOh, all right.”
    â€œ. . . cushion . . .” was all that me and my rider were thinking. A masquerade. We held our joint consciousness in the mind-set of a “. . . cushion . . . ”
    The odalisque must have some kind of block up too. After a minute Harry stopped scanning. I could feel the difference. “I don’t find him anywhere, Sondra. But I think he’s hiding somewhere nearby.”
    â€œWhy would he hide?”
    â€œOh, Fletcher’s weird. He’s weirder than you realize, Sondra. People always say that I’m crazy, but Fletcher is much worse. He’s sneaky about being crazy. The guy needs help, I mean it.”
    â€œ. . . cushion . . .”
    â€œWell, what are we going to do?”
    â€œLet’s go ahead and kill that giant brain,” urged Tad. “You’ve got to do that for us before you leave.”
    â€œBut what about Joe,” protested Sondra. “We can’t just forget about him.”
    â€œ. . . cushion . . .”
    â€œIf he gets stuck here, it’s his own damn fault. He’s hiding from me, I tell you. He’s got a telepathy block up, and this woman has one too. I can’t read anyone’s mind but yours and Tad’s, Sondra.”
    â€œOooooo! What are we thinking, Harry?”
    â€œYou don’t want to know. Tad, which way is it to the central courtyard? I’ll teleport the three of us there. Maybe Gary Herber can tell us where Fletcher is.”
    â€œThat’s cool,” said Tad. “Joe’s probably wearing a brain on his back right now. The courtyard is—that way, about one hundred