Free Wizard's Holiday, New Millennium Edition by Diane Duane Page B

realize it was so soon!”
    “You won’t hear me complaining,” Kit said. “What’s the other date?”
    “Exactly two weeks later. Friday after next.”
    “And then school starts again the Monday after,” Kit said. “Good thing I finished my break work early.”
    Nita made a face. “Wish I had,” she said. “I’ve got a few reports to do… I’m going to have to bring them with me.” Then she grinned again. “Fortunately, that’s not a problem. See that one there, the big one?” She pointed at another of the packages floating over the desk.
    Kit went to it, brought it into the middle of the room, and pulled its “tag.” Instead of unfolding itself, the package rolled itself up tight into a narrow cylindrical shape, losing its “wrapping” in the process. There it hung in the air, a silvery rod about three feet long and half an inch wide.
    “What is that?” he said.
    “A pup tent,” Nita said. “Watch this—”
    There was another of those little threads of words in the Speech hanging down from the middle of it. Nita pulled on the thread. As if it were a window shade, a pale sheet of shadow pulled down out of the rod.
    “That’s really slick,” Kit said. “What’s it for? Shelter?”
    “Storage,” Nita said, “for the things you need to bring with you. It’s a claudication, but a lot bigger than our little pockets.” She finished pulling the access interface down to floor level and straightened up again.
    “Hey,” Kit said, looking through the shadow. He put a hand through the shadow: The hand vanished. Then he put his head in through the access.
    Inside was just a gray space about the size of Kit’s living room, with a ceiling about ten feet high. The space was softly illuminated by a light that came from nowhere. Through the walls of the “pup tent,” he could faintly see his own room. It was a good trick, because from the outside there was nothing to be seen but the rod and the rectangular doorway hanging down from it.
    When he pulled his head out, Nita was snickering. “You should see how you look when just your head vanishes,” she said.
    Kit thought about that for a moment. “What did my neck look like?”
    “A guillotine ad…”
    Kit raised his eyebrows. “Mama would probably be interested.”
    “We can show her later. Anyway, clothes and books and things can go in there… ”
    “Some spare food?” Kit said. “In case you wake up in the middle of the night and need potato chips or something?”
    Nita gave him a look that was only slightly dirty. Potato chips were a recent weakness of Nita’s, one that Kit had started actively teasing her about. “Yeah,” she said. “A case or so of those… and see if I give you any.”
    Kit grinned. “Okay,” he said. “What’s that last one? Did you open yours?”
    “Nope,” Nita said. “It says not to. In fact, it just about screams not to. Check it out.”
    Kit picked up the last package. It, too, had a “tag” of characters in the Speech hanging from it, but as Kit started to pull on it, a little half-transparent window appeared in the air, like a floating page of the manual. Nita peered over his shoulder at it.
    DANGER!—CUSTOM PORTABLE WORLDGATING LOCUS—DANGER!
    DO NOT IMPLEMENT WITHOUT READING INSTRUCTIONS!
    The display skipped a few lines and then went on, in the Speech:
     
    DEPLOYMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

    1. Before departure: Insert coordinates of desired “home” egress points into compacted routine package, including at least two alternate points for each primary point (for use should primary point be occupied).

    2. Transport compacted routine package to relocation site.
    WARNING! DO NOT attempt to deploy routine package before arrival at final relocation site. Note that basic deployments cannot be reversed once exercised.

    3. After arriving at relocation site, attach coordinate package to supplied power conduit package, choose an appropriate locus for installation, 1 and activate in the usual manner. 2
    See