Diamond Age or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

"And so some people come here because they are on a quest of some sort-trying to find a lost lover, let's say, or to understand why something terrible happened in their lives, or why there is cruelty in the world, or why they aren't satisfied with their career. Society has never been good at answering these questions-the sorts of questions you can't just look up in a reference database."

"But the dynamic theatre allows one to interface with the universe of data in a more intuitive way," Hackworth said.

"That is precisely it," the woman said. "I'm so pleased that you get this."

"When I was working with information, it frequently occurred to me, in a vague and general way, that such a thing might be desirable," Hackworth said. "But this is beyond my imagination."

"Where did you hear of us?"

"I was referred here by a friend who has been associated with you in the past, in some vague way."

"Oh? May I ask who? Perhaps we have a mutual friend," the woman said, as if that would be a fine thing. Hackworth felt himself reddening and let out a deep breath.

"All right," he said, "I lied. It wasn't really a friend of mine. It was someone I was led to."

"Ah, now we're getting into it," the woman said. "I knew there was something mysterious going on with you."

Hackworth was abashed and did not know what to say. He looked into his beer. The woman was staring at him, and he could feel her eqes on his face like the warmth of a follow spot.

"So you did come here in search of something. Didn't you? Something you couldn't find by looking it up in a database."

"I'm seeking a fellow called the Alchemist," Hackworth said. Suddenly, things got bright. The side of the woman's face that was toward the window was brilliantly illuminated, like a probe in space lit on one side by the directional light of the sun. Hackworth sensed, somehow, that this was not a new development. Looking out over the audience, he saw that nearly all of them were aiming their spotlights into the bar, and that everyone in the place had been watching and listening to his entire conversation with the woman. The spectacles had deceived him by adjusting the apparent light levels. The woman looked different too; her face had reverted to the way it looked when she came in, and Hackworth now understood that her image in his spectacles had been gradually evolving during their conversation, getting feedback from whatever part of his brain buzzed when he saw a beautiful woman.

The curtain parted to reveal a large electric sign descending from the fly space: JOHN HACKWORTH in QUEST FOR THE ALCHEMIST starring JOHN HACKWORTH as HIMSELF.

The Chorus sang:

He's such a stiff John Hackworth is

Can't show emotion to save his life

With nasty repercussions, viz

He lost his job and lost his wife

So now he's on a goshdarn Quest

Wandering all o'er the world

Hunting down that Alchemist

'Cept when he stops to pick up girls.

Maybe he'll clean up his act

And do the job tonight

A fabulous adventure packed

With marvelous sounds and sights

Let's get it on, oh Hacker John

Let's get it on, on, on.

Something jerked violently at Hackworth's neck. The woman had tossed a noose around him while he'd been staring out the window, and now she was hauling him out the door of the bar like a recalcitrant dog. As soon as she cleared the doorway, her cape inflated like a time-lapse explosion, and she shot twelve feet into the air, propelled on jets of air built into her clothing somehow-she payed out the leash so that Hackworth wasn't hanged in the process. Flying above the audience like the cone of fire from a rocket engine, she led the stumbling Hackworth down the sloping floor and to the edge of the water. The thrust stage was linked to the water's edge by a couple of narrow bridges, and Hackworth negotiated one of these, feeling hundreds of lights on his shoulders, seemingly hot enough to ignite his clothing. She led him straight back through the center of the Chorus, beneath the electric sign, through the backstage area, and through a doorway, which clanged shut behind him. Then she vanished.

Hackworth was surrounded on three sides by softly glowing blue walls. He reached out to touch one and received a mild shock for his troubles. Stepping forward, he tripped over something that skittered across the floor: a dry bone, big and heavy, larger than a human femur.

He stepped forward through the only gap available to him and found more walls. He had been deposited into the heart of a labyrinth.