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willing victim! Hmm. I’m not sure I like that. Anyway, first come the unbearable cravings…
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    CHAPTER SIX
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    â€œwhat is this place, some kind of nightclub?” Max asked, wandering around the laboratory.
    â€œNope,” Jeremy said. He was seated at the work station of the giant mainframe computer that occupied the center of the floor. “It’s a castle.”
    â€œLooks like one. But what’s it doing in this building?”
    â€œIt isn’t in our office building. It’s in another world.”
    Max chuckled. “Is this the Twilight Zone or something?”
    â€œNah. I don’t even remember that show, though I’ve seen a few reruns. No, this is Castle Perilous. It’s kind of like at the center of the universe. Controls all space and time, and a bunch of different worlds. 144,000 of them, to be exact.”
    â€œLook, kid,” Max said, walking over to the work station. “I don’t know what your game is, but I really have to get back to work.”
    â€œHell, nobody ever believes it. Wait just a minute.”
    Jeremy typed furiously on the keyboard.
    â€œOkay, but I really have to get back.”
    Max again took in the strangeness of the place. What in the world was all that junk in the middle of the floor? Looked like an assortment of jukeboxes circa 1950.
    â€œWhat is that . . . stuff there. Those—?”
    â€œComputer,” Jeremy said.
    â€œRight.”
    â€œIt’s the Castle mainframe. I’m the chief of data processing around here. It’s not a conventional computer. It works on magic.”
    Max drained the dregs of his Coke and crumpled the can. “Look, kid—”
    â€œDon’t call me that! I’m twenty-three years old.”
    â€œSorry. Listen, buddy, I have a deadline. Got to get back to work. Can I just go right through there?”
    Jeremy stabbed one last key on the keyboard and sat back. “Okay, you can go back now.”
    â€œIt was very interesting, really,” Max said. “Good luck in whatever it is you’re doing.”
    â€œThanks, but I think you’ll be back.”
    â€œI might stop back at that. So long.”
    â€œSee you in a bit.”
    Jeremy watched his client duck through the red curtain. Then he opened a drawer and rifled it, coming up with a package of Twinkies. He put his sneakered feet up on the console, tore open the package, and began to eat.
    After a not inordinate length of time, Max came running back through the curtain, his face pale. He was out of breath.
    â€œThat was quick,” Hochstader said mildly.
    â€œWhat . . . what happened . . .” Max puffed, “to the place where I work? It’s . . . it’s gone!”
    â€œWell, the economy’s in a terrible state.”
    Max took a minute to wheeze and hack, then yelled, “I looked all over the building! The name of my firm isn’t even on the directory! I looked in the phone listings. Fenton Associates doesn’t exist! But you’re still here. Your office, this place—” Max looked around, then scratched his head. “Where the hell is this place, anyway?”
    â€œI told you,” Jeremy said through the last bite of Twinkie. “It’s in another world. This is Castle Perilous. Look, let’s go back into the office. I need a soda and there’s no machine here. I’d have to go all the way down to the dining hall. Come on.”
    Jeremy led the way back through the curtain.
    Max followed. Back in the office, Max stopped and turned about, struck by the place somehow looking subtly different. It was a little neater. Hadn’t that computer been on a smaller table along the opposite wall?
    â€œWho moved the furniture?” Max asked vaguely.
    â€œWait a sec,” Jeremy said. “I’ll be back.” He walked out the door, into the hallway of the office building.
    Max sat on a rickety chair.
    â€œTwilight