Myth-Ing Persons Read Free

mean, I'm supposed to be your bodyguard and nobody bothers to tell me there's another way into this place?"
    Aahz bared his teeth and started forward, but I caught him by the shoulder.
    "He's right, partner. If we want his help, we owe him an explanation."
    We locked eyes again for a moment, then he shrugged and retreated.
    "Actually, Guido, the explanation is very simple…"
    "That'll be a first," the bodyguard grumbled.
    In a bound, Aahz was across the room and had Guido by the shirt front.
    "You wanted an explanation? Then SHUT UP AND LET HIM EXPLAIN!"
    Now Guido is no lightweight, and he's never been short in the courage department. Still, there's nothing quite like Aahz when he's really mad.
    "O-Okay! Sorry! Go ahead. Boss. I'm listening." Aahz released his grip and returned to his place by the door, winking at me covertly as he went.
    "What happened is this," I said, hiding a smile.
    "Aahz and I found that door when we first moved in here. We didn't like the looks of it, so we decided to leave it alone. That's all."
    "That's all!? A back door that even you admit looks dangerous and all you do is ignore it? And if that wasn't bad enough, you don't even bother to tell your bodyguards about it? Of all the lame brained, half…"
    Aahz cleared his throat noisily, and Guido regained control of himself… rapidly.
    "Aahh… what I mean to say is… oh well. That's all behind us now. Could you give me a little more information now that the subject's out in the open? What's on the other side of that door, anyway?"
    "We don't know," I admitted.
    "YOU DON'T KNOW?" Guido shrieked.
    "What we do know," Aahz interrupted hastily, "is what isn't on the other side. What isn't there is any dimension we know about."
    Guido blinked, then shook his head. "I don't get it. Could you run that past me again… real slow?"
    "Let me try," I said. "Look, Guido, you already know about dimensions, right? How we're living in the dimension Deva, which is an entirely different world than our own home dimension of Klah? Well, the people here, the Deveels, are masters of dimension travel to a point where they build their houses across the dimension barriers. That's how come this place is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. The door is in Deva, but the rest of the house is in another dimension. That means if we go through that door, the back door that we've just shown you, we'd be in another world… one we know nothing about. That's why we were willing to leave it sealed up rather than stick our noses out into a completely unknown situation."
    "I still think you should have checked it out," the bodyguard insisted stubbornly.
    "Think again," Aahz supplied. "You've only seen two dimensions. Skeeve here has visited a dozen. I've been to over a hundred myself. The Deveels you see here at the Bazaar, on the other hand, know over a thousand different dimensions."
    "So?"
    "So we think they gave us this place because it opens into a dimension that they don't want… 'don't want as in 'scared to death of. Now, you've seen what a Deveel will brave to turn a profit. Do you want to go exploring in a world that's too mean for them to face?"
    "I see what you mean."
    "Besides." Aahz finished triumphantly, "take another look at that door. It's got more locks and bolts than three ordinary bank vaults."
    "Somebody opened it," Guido said pointedly. That took some of the wind out of Aahz's sails.
    Despite himself, he shot a nervous glance at the door. "Well… a good thief with a lock pick working from this side…"
    "Some of these locks weren't picked, Aahz."
    I had been taking advantage of their discussion to do a little snooping, and now held up one of my discoveries for their inspection. It was a padlock with the metal shackle snapped off. There were several of them scattered about, as if someone had gotten impatient with the lock pick and simply torn the rest of them apart with his hands.
    Guido pursed his lips in a silent whistle. "Man, that's strong. What