Free Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane Page A

the garage, involved half an hour’s mowing at best. Still, having the job done left Rik in a domestic “state of grace” where he could afterward shut himself into the game room for an hour or so without feeling too guilty about it.
    One of the links that had come to him along with the electronic in-game message from the Microcosm people, and the e- mail copies of the material, was an address for what the docs called his “Micro-Mentor.” Logged into his Omnitopia account again, Rik once more glanced through the material. Your Mentor, it said, is a picked Omnitopia employee who’s committed to helping you understand the basics of setting up your Microcosm. Please see the attachment for information on your Mentor’s name, location, and available hours—
    Rik was sitting in the little virtual private eye’s office that was his in-game prep space—a beat-up desk and a couple of old chairs, dusty blinds looking down through fly-speckled windows onto a 1950s street in Los Angeles, and a glass- paneled door that had his name painted backward on the glass. Hanging in the air near the desk was his Omnitopia messaging panel, and now Rik scanned down it to see who this mentor might be. Jean-Marie Mellie, Shawinigan, QU —They were in the same time zone, anyway—that was convenient. And next to the lady’s username, the little green dot was flashing: that meant she was online somewhere in Omnitopia. But a female mentor? What’s Angela going to think about this?
    That was when the virtual antique phone in Rik’s pre-game space started ringing, the signal that someone inside the game was trying to reach him. It’s probably Tom. Pissed off that I blew him off last night. Boy, wait till he hears . . . He didn’t bother checking the messaging panel for ID, just picked up the phone. “Hello?”
    “Hi there,” said a male voice. “Is that Rik Maliani?”
    “Uh, yeah.” Rik sat there trying to think who the voice belonged to.
    “Rik, sorry, I just saw you were online and thought I’d page you. This is Jean Mellie; I work for Omnitopia. I’ve been assigned to mentor you. Tell me if this is a bad time and I’ll call back later. I know you must be pretty busy right now.”
    “Uh, no!” Rik said. “Jean, sorry, I thought—”
    “I was a girl?” Jean laughed. “Happens all the time. Don’t sweat it. Listen, it’s good to talk to you. How’re you holding up?”
    “All right, I think,” Rik said. “Kind of amazed.”
    “Makes sense.” There was a pause. “Rik, I have some of your profile info, and I see you’re set up for telepresence via RealFeel. So am I. You want to meet in your new space, and I’ll talk you through some of the basic stuff? If you’ve got time right now.”
    “Sure. Give me a minute.”
    It took no more than that for Rik to shut down his office and exit into Omnitopia, this time not bothering with his normal route through Telekil, but stepping straight into that neon-lit darkness once more. A few breaths later, he heard a sound he hadn’t heard here before: a doorbell.
    It was so prosaic that Rik laughed out loud. “Come in!”
    A second later, another figure, lit by some sourceless illumination, was walking toward Rik through the darkness from underneath the “sign.” It was a tall man, maybe six inches taller than Rik: big, burly, and dark-complected, with shaggy dark hair and a long face. He was wearing a hooded navy blue Omnitopia sweatshirt and jeans. As he approached, he held out a hand to Rik. “I’m Jean. Thanks for having me over!”
    “Hey,” Rik said, “it’s your universe!”
    Jean shook his head. “Our universe, maybe,” he said, “but your world. Though it may not look like much at the moment.” He turned to gaze up at the THIS SPACE FOR RENT sign, then back at Rik again. “So. First things first. Are you in shock?”
    Rik burst out laughing. “Absolutely!”
    Jean smiled a wry smile. “At least you’re admitting it! Which is good. Being conscious that