ooking at the screen. That one. Carmela pointed at what appeared to be a portrait of a pink octopus. I picked it off a screenful of sample cover faces. Mela, Nita said, you know what would be better Go off-line and pick something more humanoid. Otherwise, if Pink Octopus Guy turns up at school someday and wants to sit next to you, the explanation you re going to find yourself making is going to sound like something out of a lame sitcom. Oh, Carmela said. Okay. She tossed the remote to Kit. But do aliens really turn up on Earth just like that There s no other possible way to explain you, Kit said. Ooooooooo, Carmela said, standing up without uncrossing her legs. I feel unloved now. Nita, come see my catalogs! I ll come up in a while, Nita said. Thanks. Carmela wandered upstairs. Kit glanced at his pop. Uh, Popi, Kit said, uh, is it okay if I go halfway across the galaxy for a couple of weeks Sure, Kit s father said from behind the paper. Is Nita going with you Uh, yeah, Pop. Her dad said it s okay Yeah. Fine. Dress warm, Kit s father said, and turned to the comics section. Kit and Nita exchanged a glance. Finally, Kit turned toward the kitchen. You ll want to fill Mama in on the details, Kit s father said, in a tone of voice suggesting complete unconcern. Kit couldn t bear it anymore. He looked over his shoulder and saw his father just peering over the top of the newspaper at him, waiting for his reaction. His father bent the paper down just enough to let Kit see his grin, then let the paper pop up again and went on with his reading. I ve been had, Kit muttered to Nita as they went back into the kitchen. Kit s mama was up off the couch now, and looked up as she poured herself some coffee. In case you were wondering, she said, Tom was on the phone a while ago. Oh, Kit said. He gave us the basics, Kit s mama said, leaning against the counter. I gather that this isn t going to be at all dangerous, and that you ll be able to come home at night if you want to, or if we want you to. Uh, yeah, Kit said. Well, let s think about this, his mother said. Your grades have been okay… Kit was already beginning to grin when his mama glanced up at him and said, I emphasize the okay Not brilliant. I m still not entirely pleased with your midterm grades, especially that history test. Mama, Kit said, my history teacher is a date freak. He doesn t care if you understand anything about history except when things happened! Aha, the appeal to vague generalities as opposed to concrete data, Kit s mother said. Sorry, honey. Not having the dates is like knowing why someone s having a cardiac arrest but not being real sure where their heart is. You re just going to have to work harder at that, even if you can t see the point right now. You re gonna tell me that it ll all make sense someday, Kit said. It sure will, his mother said, and on that day you ll suddenly realize that your mom wasn t really as dumb as you secretly thought she was at the very moment you were also trying to wheedle her into letting you go off on a jaunt halfway across the galaxy. I think this is a real good time not to say anything, Kit thought. Okay, Kit s mama said. I want a commitment from you that you re going to work harder in that history class. Otherwise, the next time you want to go out on a recreational run like this, the answer is going to be no. Even if you work in other worlds, you have to live in this one…and Tom says even wizards need day jobs. I promise, Mama, Kit said. His mother had another drink of coffee, then looked reflectively into the cup. Of course, she said, you d promise to turn into a three-headed gorilla as long as you could go on this trip. Mama! Her grin broke out at full strength. I know, she said. Wizards don t lie. But if I don t get to tease you sometimes, life won t be worth living. When do you leave Thanks, Mama! Kit said, and jumped at her and hugged her harder than necessary, if only to get her back for the teasing. It s some time in the next couple of days, Mrs. Rodriguez, Nita said. I didn t check the exact date I was looking at the rest of the info package. We can tell you in a few minutes. Okay, Kit s mama said. Get that sorted out and you can fill us in over dinner. They went up to Kit s room or, rather, Kit ran up the steps three at a time in his excitement, and Nita came up after him. As Kit passed Carmela s room, she put her head out and looked him up and down as if he were nuts. What s going on with you she said. I get to go away for spring break! Kit said. Oh, really Where to Sixty-two thousand light-years away, Kit said casually. The other side of the galaxy. Great! Carmela said. I ll give you a shopping list. You do your own shopping, Kit said as he and Nita went into his room. He glanced over at Nita and saw her grinning. What s so funny Your whole family teases you, Nita said. I ve never seen them get so coordinated about it before. Neither have I, Kit said. I don t know whether I should be worried or not. This is new, Nita said, looking up at a double-hemisphere map of the Moon on the wall at the head of Kit s bed. The map had a lot of different-colored pins stuck in it, in both hemispheres, though there were about twice as many on the near side of the Moon as on the far side. Are you trying to win a Visited Every Crater competition or something Kit threw her a look. Go ahead and laugh, he said. I m trying to get to know the Moon before it becomes just another tourist destination. But his attention was on his desk by the window. It was covered with schoolbooks brought home over spring break (the school did locker cleaning then) and notebooks and pens. What it was not strewn with were the three objects that had just appeared, between one breath and the next, and were floating a few inches above the cluttered surface. They were silvery packages about the size of paperback books, wrapped with sheet force fields that sizzled slightly blue at the corners; and they were bobbing slightly in the draft from the nearby window, as its weather stripping had come loose again. When are you going to fix that Nita said. Later, said Kit. He inspected the little floating packages to see if they had notations on them. One did. A single string of characters in the Speech was attached to it and was waving gently in the draft: READ THIS FIRST. Is this what you got Kit said. Nita nodded. That one s the mission statement, she said. Kit took hold of the wizardly package, pulled it into the middle of the room, and pulled the string of characters out until the normally curved characters of the Speech went straight with the tension of the pull. As they did, the package unfolded itself in the air, a sheet of semishadow on which many more characters in the Speech swiftly spread themselves in blocks of text and columns, small illustrations and diagrams, and various live and still images. SPONSORED ELECTIVE/NONINTERVENTIONAL EXCURSUS PROGRAM, said the header, NOMINEE AUTHORIZATIONS AND ANCILLARY DATA. NOTE: WHERE CULTURAL CORRESPONDENCES ARE NOT EXACT, LOCAL ANALOGUES ARE SUBSTITUTED. Beneath the header, divided into various sections, was a tremendous amount of other information about the world where they d be staying, the family they d be staying with, the culture, the locality where the family lived, the planet s history, the climate, the flora and fauna, on and on and on It s gonna take me all night to read this! Kit said. Relax, Nita said. It s not like there s going to be a test or anything! You don t have to inhale it all at once. We ve got time for that. Yeah, Kit said. It was just beginning to sink in how very far from home they were going. Kit was delighted, and at the same time, all of a sudden it was making him twitch. He scanned down the data. Addendum to authorization: You may be accompanied by your adjunct Talent if desired. Hey, Kit said, I can bring Ponch! Great! And there are the dates, Nita said, pointing to one side where the duration of the trip was expressed, as usual on Earth, in Julian-day format 2452747.3333 to 2452761.3333, it said. She had her manual out and was paging through it. It sounds close, Kit said. Nita raised her eyebrows. No kidding, she said. That first date is tomorrow at three in the afternoon. I didn t realize it was so soon! You won t hear me complaining, Kit said. What s the other date Exactly two weeks later. Just before school starts again, Kit said. Good thing I finished my break work early. Nita made a face. I 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 it s 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, Nita said. Kit raised his eyebrows. My 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 main documentation for details regarding operation and decommissioning at end of legitimacy period. NOT RATED FOR TRANSITS OF MORE THAN 150,000 l.y. 1See attached annotation for cultural and logistical considerations. 2This installation requires a matter substrate. Do not install in areas where matter state is likely to experience unpredictable shifts. Do not deploy in vacuum or microgravity. Retroengineering this wizardry is not recommended unless you are confident that you have sufficient understanding of gate substrates, hyperstring structure and string tension relationships, matter-energy polymorphism. Consult your local Advisory or gating technician for technical assistance. They re spatial-only transit gates, Nita said. Subsidized ones. You can use them as many times as you want…come home whenever you want…and you don t have to pay for it. I love this! I wonder what happens if you try to deploy them before arrival at final relocation site, Kit said. He juggled the claudication package in one hand. You wouldn t! Nita said. Well… Kit grinned, finally, and shook his head. No. But you do have to wonder… Kit put the worldgate package aside and looked up again at the cultural exchange mission statement. So, who are they sticking us with he said, looking through the cultural info. Wait. Here it is Your host family: The Peliaen family consists of a female-analogue parent (Demair), a male-analogue parent (Kuwilin), and one sublatency Alaalid, your counterpart and fellow wizard Quelt (female analogue). The Peliaens are atypical in that one family member (Kuwilin) has elected to do physical labor as a permanent avocation rather than in rotation, as is common in this society. The family lives in a typical rural dwelling by the shore of the Inner Sea, twenty [kilometers] from the nearest large population aggregate It s a beach, Kit said. It is a beach! This is gonna be terrific! The last time we had a vacation by the beach, Nita said casually, I almost got eaten by a shark. Let s hope this goes a little more smoothly, huh It has to, Kit said. The Powers wouldn t let anything like that happen to you now! See, it says right there, in big letters, ELECTIVE/NONINTERVENTIONAL! Yeah, Nita said. I guess you re right. She let out a breath and looked relieved. Kit came his mama s voice from downstairs. Nita Chicken! Nita said, and was out of the room before Kit even had time to turn around. He chuckled, folded up the wizardries to bring them down to show his mama and pop, and went down after her. As he passed through the living room, Carmela was sitting in front of the TV again, looking at a screenful of data. More chat stuff Kit said casually as he passed. Oh, no, Carmela said, intent on the screen. I didn t know there was a galactic positioning system! And look, you can put in a planet s name, and it looks in the database, and, see that, here s the address of Earth! Kit caught up with Nita as they went into the dining room, where his mama was setting the table. The sooner we get out of here, the better, he said under his breath. I just don t know if halfway across the galaxy s gonna be far enough. On the Road NITA WAS UP LATE that night, reading over the cultural exchange material. A little voice in her head kept nagging her, saying, You really need your sleep. You re going to be a wreck tomorrow…But she couldn t help herself: She was too excited. She lay in bed for a long time with her copy of the briefing folder hanging over her head, reading about the planet, the society, the people They had never had a war on Alaalu. They didn t seem to have any diseases, and the manual said there wasn t any crime. Their climate was stable, so that natural disasters like floods and hurricanes happened only once or so every few centuries; their planet s tectonics were unbelievably leisurely, so that whole lifetimes might go by without there being even one earthquake or volcanic eruption. It has to do with the size of the planet, I guess, Nita thought, sleepily reaching out to touch the folder to get the content she was reading to scroll down a little. And there s no moon big enough to stress the planet s crust. And the weather stays calm because the axis doesn t tilt, and the sun s the right distance away… She lay back after looking at one of the images of a beach broad, white, and tideless with that golden sun lying low over an endless blue green sea. This is going to be just what I need, Nita thought. Two weeks at the beach… But the beach was full of statues. Nita stood looking around her in a twilight that, as she considered it, was not the one that came before sunset, but the one that came before dawn. The water ran up and down the beach, strangely quiet. The waves were very small; she thought perhaps she was on a lakeshore somewhere. At this time of day, everything sea, sand,