Home and away again

Forty-eight hours after walking out of the desert, I found myself standing with Van Zandt on an odd street corner in one of the newly opened realities on the edge of Congeries space.

The intervening two days had been quite full. I'd intended to get to Grin's place immediately, but the call of a good night's sleep at my place in Paedarc had overrode that impulse. I'd showered, slept, showered again, burned the remnants of clothes I'd walked the desert in, showered a third time, then made my way to the bar. The welcome from Grin and Van Zandt was equal parts 'we're glad to see you' and 'where the hell has your dumb-ass been', which was seconded by Jack when he ran in a few minutes later. Ever been slapped in the back of the head by an all metal hand? Not a lot of fun.

I gave them the rundown on how I'd come to be missing for three weeks, local time, and we'd spent some time chewing over the various questions all of what I'd been through raised. No one was quite sure what had kidnapped me originally. Van Zandt was fascinated by both the deep ships and the Sig Nomad; Her interest in new cultures most definitely included the cultures of various types of travelers. Everybody was keen on the Sig Nomad's method of travel, and were very interested in Sachiko. Van Zandt and Grin shared a meaningful glance when I mentioned her. Sigh.

Jack had read the crystal I'd gotten from the Jubjub Bird, giving the location of Mayfair the ethnographer. Four different locations, actually, two of which none of us had ever heard of. The closest one was just a hop, skip, and Step away, though. But it did only give the location, not any clue as to who at the location might be the elusive Mayfair. The directions just said to go to a particular city, to a particular street corner, and look in an information booth. I suppose there couldn't be too many people in there.

Jack had also brought back a data stick from Charom, containing a copy of the mind of the recently executed Gundar Tub'la, the man who'd burst in so rudely on Jack and I a few weeks before. So far, all that he'd been able to glean from Tub'la's cyber-psyche was that Gundar was an angry man who didn't feel like answering any questions. The only thing that brought any type of other answer was when he was asked about the locket/book with the angelic design, which only made the display show the design itself. Interesting, but hardly informative.

The four of us talked for a good long time, and proceeded to get pretty well into our cups as the hours waxed on. Van Zandt finally helped Grin stumble out of the room, telling me she'd set me up with a place to sleep once she got the big guy situated. Jack and I chatted, and I was about to ask him if he actually got drunk, or if he just faked it to make his biological pals feel like he was part of the scene, but I fell asleep on the couch first.


I'm not sure what kind of arm-twisting Van Zandt did to Grin that he didn't object when she said she was coming with me to meet Mayfair, but given how sheepish he looked when she said it, it must have been something to see. Jack wanted to come, too, but the info on Milgrum, the just-opened locale where Mayfair was supposed to be, didn't say what the locals attitude towards non-humans might be. Jack could pass for a robot quite easily, but we didn't know if that would be any better. So it ended up being just Van Zandt and me. She was almost giddy when we headed out.

It took a few hours to cross the territory to a place where we could Step into Milgrum. While I'd been away, Grindlebone had used his connections to secure a list of relatively safe transfer points across the outer zone, where the area of the Traveler's Guild gave way to the unknown. Milgrum was right on the edge of the Guild's sphere of influence, at the point on the map where the gray of uncontrolled space turned to the black of the unknown. The Guild would not have been happy they knew where we were trying to go. This wasn't just a case of the Guild being contrary; the uncontrolled worlds didn't have any safeguards in place to minimize the risk of dangerous things crossing into world that weren't ready for them. Our crossing to the very edge of their space did represent a bit of a danger, but we weren't planning on buying any fruit, so I figured we were gonna be OK.

Milgrum turned out to be quite pleasant, all in all. The trees that lined the wide boulevards of the city we landed in were an odd brownish purple color, but otherwise it was like most cities I'd been in; Cobo Landing had seemed more obviously alien.

We landed a short distance from the location Jubjub had given us, and a quick walk got us to a deserted street corner. Oddly shaped vehicles rolled quietly past, but none of the locals seemed to be about. The only thing of any interest at all was a small green kiosk, which had 'Information' written down the side in white letters. Van Zandt and I spent almost half an hour loitering, making small talk, and shuffling back and forth nonchalantly, while no one at all walked by. Finally, out of bored desperation, I asked Van Zandt to go over what she knew about Mayfair.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, because just after I said 'Mayfair', the door of the green booth snapped open. The open door let us see the comfortable, if small, interior of the booth. A small screen above the door flashed to life, and words scrolled across it.

'Questions? Questions about Mayfair? Enter, and ask to your heart's content!'