Part 17 (1/2)

'We are close. But more like... I know. Once mom and I got stuck in the subway in New York. The power went out, there were no announcements or anything, and we were there for about two hours with a couple dozen people who didn't know each other. We all ended up talking like old friends, though we even sang ”happy birthday” to an old lady who just turned seventy-eight. We were all best friends because we were going through a bad thing together.'

'They call that ”crisis syndrome”.'

'Yeah. That's it. The Doctor and I are always going through one crisis after another.'

Bob rounded the corner and glanced at us. Peri looked awkward all of a sudden, but he didn't seem to register anything. We followed him inside.

The Doctor was saying, 'We have a dialtone. Bless you, Bob,' and feeding a phone number to the modem. 'The sun reflecting upon the mud of strands and sh.o.r.es is unpolluted in his beam,' he declaimed. 'Now it's time to test that theory and wallow a little in the MUD with Swan.'

'Doctor,' said Peri, 'what are you talking about?'

I knew that one. 'Multiple User Dungeon,' I told her 'It's a s.p.a.ce inside a computer, like a map in a game of D&D. You can walk from room to room, look at what's there, and meet other people and talk to them. The mud program runs everything, like a Dungeon Master.'

'Neutral ground,' said the Doctor. We watched over his shoulder as the Apple II's modem shook hands with another modem somewhere else in the States.

The first step was to create a 'character' that would represent him in the miniature imaginary world. The Doctor didn't bother with details like appearance or even gender, just a code name, Merryman. The MUD was set up so that guests could appear as anonymous wraiths in the public areas of the game. Normally partic.i.p.ants would go to great lengths to create their appearance. For Swan and the Doctor's meeting, play-acting wasn't necessary.

The Doctor's featureless character appeared out of nowhere in the imaginary world:

Welcome to the Dungeon of Doom. You are standing in a forest clearing facing north.

In front of you is a cliff wall. In the wall is a large opening, the doorway to the Caves of Catastrophe.

'Well, you obviously don't want to go in there,' said Peri.

We all looked at her. 'It was just a joke.'

'I doubt there's anywhere else to go, said the Doctor. He typed:

go north

A few moments later, the computer answered: You are standing in the entrance cave.

Pa.s.sages lead off to the east and west. You can see daylight through a doorway in the south.

'Well, this could take all day, said Peri.

'Ah, but I know a way to speed things up.' The Doctor typed:

Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!

The computer responded:

The genie appears in a puff of smoke.

'Welcome, guest' he says. 'Where would you like me to take you?'

The Doctor typed:

genie living_room

And the program responded:

You enter a pleasant living room. There are comfortable chairs scattered about, rugs and lamps, and a roaring fireplace.

Fionnuala is here.

The genie departs in a puff of smoke.