Rik glanced around his office, waved the lights off, stepped through the door. The swirling in the doorway cleared away to show him evening light.

“Quarterlight Street, by the Great Ring, please.”

The doorway went cloudy and vague with the same kind of swirling gray-out that the Ring of Elich used for doorways that were out of commission or waiting for an incoming transit. “Close the Microcosm, please,” Rik said to the game management system. And he couldn’t help grinning again as he reached around behind the coatrack, got his swordbelt and buckled it on, slinging it in the over- the-back carry position.

There was nothing that could be done about that, but it’d be a lie to say that Rik would have been relieved if he’d found that Raoul couldn’t make it tonight. One day everything’s going on as usual and the next day suddenly it’s a big deal what you wear, what you say. Rick reached up to get his cloak, swung it around his shoulders, and paused for a moment. I don’t want them to get the idea I’m getting all stuck up on them or something. This is just another of our usual meetings. For a moment he considered wearing something more formal. He snapped his fingers, changing instantly out of virtual street clothes into his normal Omnitopian character kit-boots, breeches, linen shirt and undertunic, the quilted tabard lined with spearproof dragon hide, and finally the belt pouch with the bags of simples and Rik’s special medical tools. He went through it and headed straight over to the coatrack in the corner by his desk, where the robes of his art were hanging. The door back into Rik’s private eye office reappeared. I can’t wait to see that thing tick over for the first time.Īnd I really can’t wait to show the guys!

The heck with creation anxiety, Rik thought. Because, as he turned, he now saw something hanging in the sky as a replacement for the FOR RENT sign. He was going to have to people it, infuse it with life. He was going to have to turn this from just a shell into a real world. He took a deep breath and slowly turned, taking a look at the parts of the globe that had been behind him. Suddenly Rik actually broke out in a sweat as he realized the sheer size of the endeavor he’d walked into.

The Door Into Fire by Diane Duane