"...will know how to operate it, anyway. So you all have absolutely nothing to worry about." Smooth as silk, BG took a pause to grin a self-congratulatory grin and continued. 

"Now. The ALTAP reads: 'Your first trip will be a mostly harmless journey. Your object: to find Joseph.' That's right, kids; Joseph. What is meant by Joseph? Ah, now, /that/ I will leave up to /you/ to discover, isn't that nasty of me? It is? Oh, but it's so very easy!" The gamers were gradually growing tired of hearing his overdramatic impossibilities being called easy. "One of you will monitor the ALTAP in this room while the other twenty-four of you pair up in groups of two, carrying these signalers with you." He pointed to a box of small black cubes with smaller red buttons that was sitting next to the ALTAP desk. "When any one of you finds Joseph, squeeze the little red button thrice and the lot of you will be, suddenly, /sucked/ -- whoosh! -- back into this room by the ALTAP's doorway. The ALTAP knows your genetic codes and will track you down and find you by, oh, how can I put this so you'll understand? Sense of, shall we say: smell." 

"His ego's so big, there's hardly enough room left in here for air," Brad remarked under his breath to Vera, who was sitting next to him in the middle row.

She tried to make quiet gasping noises as a response but she was laughing too much. BG stopped speaking and glared at her like a schoolteacher. 

"Do you have something to share with the class, Vera?" hissed Paul teasingly from the third row. Now Vera couldn't stop laughing, thanks to him. 

"Have you something to share with the others, Vera?" demanded BG.

At that, a few of those surrounding Paul and Vera began giggling quietly, but Vera controlled herself enough to reply. 

"Oh, no, sir. I will keep myself under control now," she promised, her wide eyes looking up at him with classroom sarcasm that BG missed completely, as she meant it to. 

"Good. Now, where was I?" BG began again. 

Edison whispered to Melissa, sitting next to him: "Smelling, sir!" 

Melissa sputtered a little and burst out laughing while she attempted to repeat to Lora what he had said. 

BG ignored the interruption and went on. 

"I just have one more subject to lecture you on, and that is, the rules. Get these now or never. Ready, children? Good! Rule One: Don't assume. Rule Two: No more than two people per search group. And Rule Three: No guests. That's all.

"Get it?" he asked.

"Got it," the group replied. 

"Good."

And, with that and the tapping of a key on the keyboard, he left, slamming the door behind him like a period at the end of his part. 

And the ALTAP began humming. 

And the screen began flickering.

And the room began shaking. 

And the ceiling lights went out. The room sank into darkness. Only the light of the ALTAP remained, gradually steadying. There was an intense, high pop! as if a hundred trillion soda cans had been opened at high speed from every corner of twelve dimensions. And then there wasn't anymore.

And the room was filled with nothing. 

And then the nothing was filled with room. 

And then the room was filled with daylight. 

And the daylight was filled with the sound of people. 

And the people were filling themselves with food from the Horse and Groom pub. The gamers knew it was the Horse and Groom because of the sign on the door (visible through the small window in the ALTAP room's door) that read: "The Horse and Groom." Perhaps if the sign had explained more about the Horse and Groom, they would have approached with more caution. But as it was, all they knew was they were now situated just outside of the front door of the Horse and Groom pub. And there it stood. 

And there they stayed, until Brad spoke up. 

"Hell, I forgot to put my tray-table in its fully upright and locked position," he said calmly, as he and the rest of the group gingerly rose from the benches. 

Kim took a small black cube from the box and walked to the door. Paul and Lora followed his steps. As the three looked out the window, the rest gradually gathered behind them, taking cubes for themselves. Kim turned to face the others. 

"Okay, guys... lemme think a second. Find Joseph. Uh, who the hell's Joseph?" he demanded. 

"Obviously, we find somebody named Joseph," Paul replied, just loudly enough to be heard.

"Or some/thing/," added Edison, rubbing his palms together. 

"Good point, Edison," said Brad, now standing next to him. 

"Um, okay, so who wants to go and who wants to stay?" asked Lora from the back of the crowd, hesitantly. 

"I will stay," Elaine said in her usual, thoughtfully slow tone. 

"Good," said Paul. "The rest will pair up and search." 

"Yeah, and remember people, no more than two to a group," Kim added. 

"So let's get going!" shouted Mary, the blonde-haired young lady standing near the door, grabbing Kim by the arm. "I'm with you, okay?" she asked him. 

"Uh, sure," he replied. 

"Shall we?" asked Brad, pushing the door's button marked Open. 

The door slid into the wall and Kim and Mary and Brad and Melissa walked out into the day. They stood on the sidewalk that ran across the group's view and turned to face the others. Brad whistled in appreciation. No recognizable landmarks were in sight. They had actually traveled in place, and, judging by the automobiles driving by, in time as well. BG had not been kidding. 

"Hey, this is really real!" exclaimed Melissa. 

"Wild!" added Kim. "You're really well-hid in a doorway in the middle of something like an old late 1900s street in England, I think. Come on, everybody, let's get going!"

And slowly the others filed out of the ALTAP room, leaving Elaine to watch the blinking lights and to read the booklet that BG had left on the table, saying that everything they would need to know was in it. 

Edison dropped back in the line, looking for Lora. He tried to appear casual, so he would be her partner for no other reason than because he just so happened to be standing next to her. Hopefully she wouldn't mind! 

Lora stood in the back of the line, staring at the ALTAP but glancing at Edison, hoping he was coming her way. She was deep in thought. Maybe he was purposely trying to be her partner because he liked her. Maybe he wasn't purposely trying to be her partner at all. And something deeper was troubling her, but she was trying not to think about it. Trying to piece together the clues she had overheard while working for Erkonn was too difficult. It would be better to play it by ear and be observant, she decided. In both cases. 

Elaine, seated in a cushioned folding chair at the ALTAP desk, thought Lora was looking at her. 

"Lora, wasn't it? Why don't you have one of these black boxes?" 

Lora had been paying no attention to anything but Edison and her own thoughts. "What?"

"I said, why don't you have one of these black boxes? Weren't there enough?" 

"I guess not," she replied quickly. Luckily for her, Edison arrived before Elaine could pursue the answer further.

"Hi, remember me?" he asked. 

"No," replied Lora. 

Uh-oh, thought Edison, heart sinking. 

"What do you want, sleazebag?" she continued, looking annoyed. 

Edison looked at her, his feelings showing clearly on his face, plainly confused and hurt. "Um, e-excuse me..." he stuttered. 

"Oh come on. Of /course/ I remember you! Jeeze!" Lora smiled.

"Oh... yeah! Course. You don't think I actually thought... well, okay, so I did, but you don't think I did it in my right /mind/, do you?" 

"Oh, so you're claiming temporary insanity? That doesn't cut it, Mister." 

"Temporary insanity? Never! Permanent is more like it." 

"Ah. That's different." 

The last few gamers paired up and walked out, leaving Edison, Lora, Elaine and Paul. Paul looked around for the extra person to be his partner, decided he or she had probably gone outside for some reason, and left.

Edison looked around at the nearly empty room. Only the three remained.

"So, you wanna be my partner?" he smiled. 

"Sure thing," she replied. That was nice, that look of sadness when he thought he wasn't remembered. 

And Edison and Lora walked out, the door sliding closed automatically behind them. And all traces of the ALTAP disappeared. 

They were in an empty, dirty, brick-walled, damp alley. The sky was cloudy blue, the air was cool, the sun was directly above where they were standing, alone, somewhen in England.