Excerpts from The King's Quest Companion

The King^s Quest Companion

Compiled from Messages to this World from the World ofDaventry, as sent

by Derek Karlevaegen. Mr Karlaveagen is apparently ajournalisty

traveler, and magician in that universe.

Excerpt from Chapter 3,

"The Eye Between

the Worlds."

I am an investigator and writer of con- temporary events, who hobbies in magic and travels much. Some time ago, after having talked to and written at length about Prince Alexander of Daventry's escape from lifelong captivity and his subsequent rescue of his sister and kingdom from the breath of a tire- breathing dragon (that was a lot, wasn't it?), I decided to visit the scenes of the prince's adventures in order to better understand what the brave youth had been through. It was for this rea.son that I, at length, arrived at the house of the wizard Manannan, whom Alexander had turned into a cat. No cat was to be found anyplace there. The house was in good repair, but no person or animal was anywhere near. I resolved to spend some days there, using it as a base for my ex- plorations around Llewdor. At night I took advantage of Manannan 's large library, looking closely through his books on magic and magical lore. The days stretched into weeks, and still no one came to claim the large house with its well-stocked un- derground laboratory.

It was during this time that I discovered the Eye Between the Worlds.

There is a lever set into one of the library's bookcases that opens the trap door into the secret lab. On a shelf nearby I saw a most curious object. It looked much like a metal head, with only one very large glass eye and an open jaw containing near one hundred teeth. Each of those teeth has a letter, number, or symbol inscribed upon it. This thing must have been made by Manannan or some other very great sor- cerer, for when I pressed a certain tooth, a light appeared to fill the eye. Moreover, when I touched on certain other teeth.

words would magically appear on the eye's glass surface. Wonderous indeed was this thing that I soon came to think of as a talking head.

Yes it did talk, and it still does; not with sounds, but with words that crawl across it and with pictures that draw themselves before my very eyes. After much ex- perimentation, I found that I could make my thoughts and words appear on the eye's surface. The thing is a machine, to be sure, although how it works I do not know, for it has no parts which move.

I have said before that our universes — our worlds — are so far apart that we can never touch, and so close that we some- times can even dream of each other. We know a little about your world because folk still withdraw from there to here, although not very often. They bring us stories and histories and descriptions, which we record for all who might be interested to read. Not many do; the Other World holds no charms for us. You, on the other hand, know noth- ing of us except what your dreamers dream, and that you dismiss as fantasy. The fact remains, however, that the walls be- tween the worlds are thin enough to let folk pass through them in one direction, and

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thoughts and dreams to sometimes pass in both. The eye in Manannan's study is a hole in the wall.

1 am a curious soul; I have read the records concerning your world and know as much about it as any here in Daventry. Because of this, I soon came to realize that much of what appeared in the eye of that mechanical head came from the Other World. Somehow in this strangest of mul- tiverses, our worlds touch together in a place shared by the head in this study and some of your machines.

My story might have ended there, ex- cept for that curiosity of mine. One night, tapping upon the teeth with no particular purpose in mind, I was astounded to find mention of Daventry and King Graham's adventures. Apparently they exist in your world as a sort of fantasy adventure — a made-up story intended as an entertain- ment for people.

Again, our worlds are so very close that we can sometimes dream each other, and even tum those dreams into stories. This must be true, for I have seen the evidence with my own eyes, transmitted back from the Other World. Who the dreamer is that could learn enough to concoct a story is unknown to me, although the person must be a very great dreamer.

I have experimented for much time now with the device, and I am convinced that I can send messages directly to you through it. Perhaps that is why Manannan contrived it — to talk to your world, or perhaps to recruit allies whom he could help withdraw here so that he might rule cruelly over our entire universe. On the other hand, he might just have been as curious as I am.

I do not know if what 1 write here will ever arrive in the Other World, but 1 think I have figured out what to do to send the words on their way. I have nothing to lose, of course, and for you who discover this,

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perhaps I will have provided you with some wonder, knowledge, and enjoyment. To that end 1 will continue my solitary experi- ments and copy for you some of the his- tories and narratives of my time. Since there are tho.se in your world who are some- what familiar with King Graham, I shall send you. on this night and other, some of the chronicles of his court — stories of the adventures of the King and his family. You might compare them to the stories that have been written. Perhaps 1 will write of other

things as the mood strikes me, or perhaps I will just copy some interesting words of others.

I will do all of this over some time, and more than once. Your world could learn much from us of the wonder, mystery, and magic of the multiverse. Maybe you could learn again that anything is possible and everything could be true.

Perhaps you will learn to believe your dreams.

"The King's Quesi Companion" is a new book published by Silicon Valley Books, available the 1st of October at bookstores and computer stores near you ($14.95). Or order direct 1-800-262-4729, 2600 Tenth Street. Sixth Floor. Berkeley, CA94710.

Peter Spear, author of the book, is an Emmy Award winning television producer whose latest project is "The Computer Show," a syndicated TV program.