"You shot me! You damn well shot me!"

"Yes. Go home, Mr Andes."

Jake raised himself from the rough carpet of the library. "We have stun guns in America, it doesn’t prove anything. Wait a sec, how long have I been out?"

"Ten minutes, give or take."

"You had ten minutes to use the Portal, but you stayed here."

That lightning smile again. "I’m a sucker for a guy in trouble. So, coming?"

"What?"

"Through the Portal. You did want to come, after all."

"Uh, yeah." Jake stood, wishing his mouth didn’t taste like an old dog blanket.

The Portal was back, and Silver absently swirled her fingers in it, leaving little sparkles in the blue. She closed her eyes, and stepped through. Jake stopped for a while, wondering if he shouldn’t think a prayer or something, the way he did back in school when on the highest diving board. Then he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and walked forward.

Pressure. Perfectly even, all over his body. Like being wrapped in jelly, except he could move easily. Behind his eyelids, nonsense swirled, making him wonder what outside must be like. A burning in his lungs, but that was from where he was still holding his breath. Just as he decided to take a chance on there being atmosphere, he suddenly became lighter, and the colours behind his eyelids steadied to their usual redness. He looked around.

"An abstract physical concept?" He asked.

"Known as the Complex." Silver smiled at his expression. "The first time is always the worst. Now, I hardly feel it at all. Just don’t look at the patterns. That’s why this room is so normal."

The surface was, at least. It was presumably the sitting room, with two comfy chairs and a sofa, a pair of bookshelves and a couple of little tables, on one of which was a classic tea set laid out. Two of everything, thought Jake. Things were starting to add up. One thing he still wanted to now was this business with the concept. Was it real, or not? The surfaces around him felt solid, but panic-voices in his mind told him not to look too hard. There was wallpaper on the walls, as much to make it comfortable for the human mind as anything, but the mind rebelled at contemplating what the wallpaper was pasted onto. The same went for the plasterwork ceiling, and the thick carpeted floor. Somehow, the reality of that was enhanced by the stain not quite covered by the sofa. It looked like poster paint. Still more questions.

Then he noticed the lack of doors. The Portal had closed, leaving a small pile of sticks, and there were only two full-length mirrors, set so that they didn’t quite face each other, so that nobody could be stuck between the two of them. Two again.

"So, who was he?"

"Sorry?" Her voice was perfectly calm, but Silver had stopped pouring the tea, in fear of spilling the liquid everywhere.

"Two of everything. And you looked sad when I asked before."

"He’s dead now." She put the teapot down. "It was only a few months ago, and... could we talk about something else?"

"Sure." God, thought Jake, she must think I’m slime. Trying to hit on her when the last guy’s not yet cold. "I’m sorry."

"But you’re not psychic, so it isn’t your fault. So, tell me about you."

"Me? I’m pretty boring."

"Don’t say it like it’s a curse. Anyway, who says you’re boring?"

"This place."

"Some days, I’d swap in a heartbeat. Go on."

"I’ve got three sisters, two younger, one older. My Dad was screwing his secretary, so my parents divorced, and my Mom- but you know that bit. My Mom worked in Hong Kong until the handover, but my Dad just stayed doing advertising- I’m sorry, I told you this was boring."

"Not a bit of it." She hadn’t picked up the teapot again, she was so fascinated by his story. "Go on. Please."

"Uh, my first girlfriend was called Manda, only I went back to see her, and found her with my best friend. So that was that. And... I miss her. She’s a creep, just like my father was, but... I miss ‘em both."

"Oh, hey." She put an arm around him. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you."

"S’okay. I’m just tired. A lot of things have happened, although I guess it’s only half nine, if that."

"It’s nearly eleven. We were a long time in the Outside. I can sync up with the real world, so it looks as though I arrived the same moment I left the Complex, but it balances out coming the other way."

"Are we vulnerable while we’re in there?"

"From the Unity? No, even they can’t hunt in there. Like us, they can’t see. Come on, the guest bedroom is always kept ready."

"So where are the doors?"

"Here." She gestured to the two mirrors. "These work on similar principles to the Portals. I’ll show you."

She stood in front of the mirror, appearing to examine her reflection. After a moment the background, which had before been the sitting room, was now that of a small, but perfectly operational, spare room. Jake stood beside her.

"Do we walk through?"

"Of course. At least with these you don’t have to close your eyes. You may prefer to, though."

This’ll impress her. Jake resolved to keep his eyes open. It wasn’t the way he usually wanted to impress girls, it was more to convince her that he could handle himself. Silver had already walked through, a few strands of hair being the only reflection left, and that vanishing. He supposed it would be like walking through mercury.

Cold, he thought vaguely. Very cold, like diving into a dry swimming pool on a hot day. He had blinked, purely because he didn’t much care for the way his eyes were reflected back at him so close up. But there wasn’t the sense of travelling that he got in the Outside. One moment he’d blinked with a grimace, then no sooner had the grimace faded than he was in the spare room. There was only one mirror here.

"- It’s a bit small, but perfectly serviceable. Make yourself comfy, I’ll do us some more tea."

"No, thank you. Do you just think of where you want to be, when you use the mirrors?"

"That’s right. Okay, well, goodnight, Jake."

"’night, Silver. Hey..."

"Yes?"

"What were you doing with the Pentagon?"

"Goodnight, Jake."

Silver had mentioned a cat, he thought, but why does it have to sit on me? "Get off, go on, get lost." He tried wriggling, but it dug claws into the duvet and stayed.

"All right," he puffed, "you win. Just don’t moult or whatever, right?"

"All right," agreed the cat, and fell asleep.

© Naomi 'Ni' Claydon 2000. No copying without permission.