As his body turned, a nondescript young man came into view, unkempt, hands in his pockets, and barefooted.
"Hey, Billy," the man said. "We've missed you Backstage, man."
"Who are you?" BadAss demanded. He seemed to be asking that question a lot lately.
The stranger shrugged. "Avatar like yourself," he said. "I'm called Dabbler in the AddVenture, my real self is named mumble mumble."
"Didn't quite catch that last bit," BadAss said.
"Sorry, our originals value their privacy, you know. If you tried to tell me your true self's name it would probably come out much the same. Anyway, Adama was telling me recently about how he discovered the Backstage, and your name came up. Seems he thought you were coming back right behind him, but he hadn't seen you since. So I offered to hunt you up for him."
"Why didn't he come himself?" BadAss asked, rather miffed.
"Well, he's pretty busy. Kind of muddled, too, or he'd have thought of you long since, I'm sure. Anyway, all you have to do to summon a portal is concentrate on doing so. Thought it helps to have an idea of where you want to go in mind, too, or you could end up anywhere."
"But I've never been Backstage," BadAss protested. "A few minutes ago, I'd never even heard of the place -- I was just trying to get home!"
Dabbler nodded. "That'll do," he said. "You have a home Backstage, of course -- we all do. So just do it, and you'll get there."
BadAss hesitated.
"I'll come along for the ride, of course," added Dabbler smoothly, sensing his uncertainty. "I'll be happy to explain anything that seems stranger."
Encouraged, BadAss concentrated. The greyness of the electrical ether that permeated the AddVenture and filled the empty spaces between its episodes seemed to waver before his eyes as the portal opened up around them...
Reality was back. It consisted of a long corridor, filled with doors. One of these doors lay before him. It had a number on it -- the number 2104."
"Where are we?" BadAss asked.
"Upper Level 11 above the Backstage Concourse, where most Author Avatars live," said Dabbler. "Every non-anonymous Author with more than a few episodes to his credit rates a suite in the upper levels, or at least a bunk. Those just starting out have to make shift in the Bullpen. This, Billy, is your suite. If you've given any thought to what you want 'home' to be like, you'll find it matches that conception, fully furnished to your taste. If not, it will be a huge, empty room with a ceiling you can't even see, and you'll have to send down to the management to have it finished for you. You'll probably want to avoid having to do that, so if you haven't thought about what home is like, I'd suggest you do it now."
BadAss gave some thought to that. He put his hand on the door knob and turned it...
"Sure," said Dabbler, shimmering from existence as he 'ported himself out.
BadAss opened the door and entered his suite, which he may or may not want to describe to us, but if he does, he can do it here...
Mon Oct 8 14:13:03 2001
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