"Yaaaaaaaaaah!" Minka/Jim felt the ground give way beneath her feet and tumbled through darkness, rather like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Gradually the darkness went golden and her descent slowed, until finally she came to rest by a bench, near a gate in a cyclone fence. Some distance beyond the gate was what looked like a scientific laboratory (only without walls) and a dining room table. A man was sitting at the table reading a newspaper. He looked up.
"Oh, hello nephew," he said. "Seeing how the other half lives again, I see. But what on earth made you choose that skinsuit?"
"W-who are you?" Minka/Jim stammered.
The man got up and walked toward the gate. As if by magic, two busty, muscular female bodyguards seemed to materialize at his sides. "I'm your Uncle Sid," he said, "at least in some of your storylines. You really should be more careful how you court those holes in the plot, nephew. When you're not, it could very well send you back here."
"And 'here' would be--?"
"Backstage at the BE AddVenture. Here to remain until some Author or other takes enough pity on you to write you back into a storyline. Though sometimes storylines can happen here, too."
Minka/Jim looked around. Even in comparison to her recent adventures this setup looked weird. And who was this guy who claimed to be his uncle? "So, uh, how do I, uh, get written back in?" she asked, figuring she'd better humor him.
Sid shrugged. "You can wait, and hope someone options you. That could take a long time and be very dull. You could spend your time cadging drinks over at the Hotel or look for your flat over in the Original Backstage -- many shelved Characters do. Or you might take up employment in one of the businesses or dives catering to Authors. If you don't care for any of those options, of course, you can always go up to the Upper Levels and start buttonholing potential Authors. But they're a touchy lot -- like turning people into things when they're bothered."
"Sounds complicated."
Sid grinned. "I'm just getting warmed up. Though if you'd rather have a shortcut back to reality . . ."
"That would be good." Minka/Jim eyed his "uncle's" two companions, noticing that they both had spears, and were pointing them at her.
". . . I could just bounce you back there myself, with my handy Portalmatic (patent pending). Though I can't always guarantee results as advertised."
"Or," said one of the bodyguards, "we could just spear you. We don't take kindly to boys skinned out as bimbos walzing in here with tits bigger than ours . . ."
Minka/Jim looked at Sid, her eyes pleading help . . .
Sid chuckled and took a small device out of his pocket, which he pointed at Minka/Jim.
Fri Mar 1 17:56:54 2002
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