'WHAT'S that?' Guido demanded, taking advantage of our stunned silence.
'It's a door,' I said.
'An open door, to be specific,' Aahz supplied.
'I can see that for myself!' the bodyguard roared. 'I meant what is it doing here?'
'It would look pretty silly standing alone in the middle of the street now, wouldn't it?' Aahz shot back.
Guido purpled. As I've said, these two have a positive talent for getting under each other's skins.
'Now look, all I'm askin'…'
'Guido, could you just hang on for a few minutes until we decide what to do next? Then we'll explain, I promise.'
My mind was racing over the problem, and having Aahz and Guido going at each other did nothing for my concentration.
'I think the first thing we should do, partner,' Aahz said thoughtfully, 'is to get the door closed so that we won't be… interrupted while we work this out.'
Rather than answer, I reached out a cautious toe and pushed the door shut. Aahz quickly slipped two of the bolts in place to secure it.
That done, we leaned against the door and looked at each other in silence.
'Well? What do you think?' I asked at last.
'I'm in favor of sealing it up again and forgetting the whole thing.'
'Think it's safe to do that?'
'Don't know, really. Not enough information.'
We both turned slowly to level thoughtful stares at Guido.
'Say, uh, Guido, could you tell us a little more about those customers who came in this morning?'
'Nothing doin'.' Guido crossed his arms. 'You're the guys who insist on 'information for information. Right? Well, I'm not telling you anything more until somebody tells me about that door. I mean, I'm supposed to be your bodyguard and nobody bothers to tell me there's another way into this place?'
Aahz bared his teeth and started forward, but I caught him by the shoulder.
'He's right, partner. If we want his help, we owe him an explanation.'
We locked eyes again for a moment, then he shrugged and retreated.
'Actually, Guido, the explanation is very simple…'
'That'll be a first,' the bodyguard grumbled.
In a bound, Aahz was across the room and had Guido by the shirt front.
'You wanted an explanation? Then SHUT UP AND LET HIM EXPLAIN!'
Now Guido is no lightweight, and he's never been short in the courage department. Still, there's nothing quite like Aahz when he's really mad.
'O-Okay! Sorry! Go ahead. Boss. I'm listening.' Aahz released his grip and returned to his place by the door, winking at me covertly as he went.
'What happened is this,' I said, hiding a smile.
'Aahz and I found that door when we first moved in here. We didn't like the looks of it, so we decided to leave it alone. That's all.'
'That's all!? A back door that even you admit looks dangerous and all you do is ignore it? And if that wasn't bad enough, you don't even bother to tell your bodyguards about it? Of all the lame brained, half…'
Aahz cleared his throat noisily, and Guido regained control of himself… rapidly.
'Aahh… what I mean to say is… oh well. That's all behind us now. Could you give me a little more information now that the subject's out in the open? What's on the other side of that door, anyway?'
'We don't know,' I admitted.
'YOU DON'T KNOW?' Guido shrieked.
'What we do know,' Aahz interrupted hastily, 'is what isn't on the other side. What isn't there is any dimension we know about.'
Guido blinked, then shook his head. 'I don't get it. Could you run that past me again… real slow?'
'Let me try,' I said. 'Look, Guido, you already know about dimensions, right? How we're living in the dimension Deva, which is an entirely different world than our own home dimension of Klah? Well, the people here, the Deveels, are masters of dimension travel to a point where they build their houses across the dimension barriers. That's how come this place is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. The door is in Deva, but the rest of the house is in another dimension. That means if we go through that door, the back door that we've just shown you, we'd be in another world… one we know nothing about. That's why we were willing to leave it sealed up rather than stick our noses out into a completely unknown situation.'
'I still think you should have checked it out,' the bodyguard insisted stubbornly.
'Think again,' Aahz supplied. 'You've only seen two dimensions. Skeeve here has visited a dozen. I've been to over a hundred myself. The Deveels you see here at the Bazaar, on the other hand, know over a thousand different dimensions.'
'So?'
'So we think they gave us this place because it opens into a dimension that they don't want… 'don't want as in 'scared to death of. Now, you've seen what a Deveel will brave to turn a profit. Do you want to go exploring in a world that's too mean for them to face?'
'I see what you mean.'
'Besides.' Aahz finished triumphantly, 'take another look at that door. It's got more locks and bolts than three ordinary bank vaults.'
'Somebody opened it,' Guido said pointedly. That took some of the wind out of Aahz's sails.
Despite himself, he shot a nervous glance at the door. 'Well… a good thief with a lock pick working from this side…'
'Some of these locks weren't picked, Aahz.'
I had been taking advantage of their discussion to do a little snooping, and now held up one of my discoveries for their inspection. It was a padlock with the metal shackle snapped off. There were several of them scattered about, as if someone had gotten impatient with the lock pick and simply torn the rest of them apart with his hands.
Guido pursed his lips in a silent whistle. 'Man, that's strong. What kind of person could do that?'
'That's what we've been trying to get you to tell us,' Aahz said nastily. 'Now, if you don't mind, what were those customers like?'
'Three of them… two men and a woman… fairly young-looking, but nothing special. Klahds by the look of 'em. Come to think of it, they did seem a bit nervous, but I thought it was just because they were coming to see a magician.'
'Well, now they're on the other side of the door.' Aahz scooped up one of the undamaged locks and snapped it into place. 'I don't think they can pick locks, or break them if they can't reach 'em. They're there, which is their problem, self-inflicted I might add, and we're here. End of puzzle. End of problem.'
'Do you really think so, Aahz?'
'Trust me.'
Somehow that phrase struck a familiar chord in my memory, and the echoes weren't pleasant. I was about to raise this point with Aahz when Nunzio poked his head in the door.
'Hey, Boss. You got visitors.'
'See?' my partner exclaimed, beaming. 'I told you things could only get better! It's not even noon and we've got more customers.'
'Actually,' Nunzio clarified, 'it's a delegation of Deveels. I think it's the landlord.'
'The landlord?' Aahz echoed hollowly.
'See how much better things have gotten?' I said with a disgusted smirk. 'And it's not even noon.'
'Shall I run 'em off, Boss?' Guido suggested.
'I think you'd better see 'em,' Nunzio advised. 'They seem kind'a upset. Something about us harboring fugitives.'
Aahz and I locked gazes in silence, which was only natural as there was nothing more to be said. With a
