Nice Place to Visit
This first appeared in Vertex, October 1973.
Looking back, I seem to have some fascination with old deserted cities that can give you your dreams—but for a very high price. There’s such a city in my novel SCAVENGER HUNT, and a culmination in A WORLD CALLED SOLITUDE. But this is the first one that appeared. I wonder what the scholars will think I’m trying to say.
The boundary of the city lay precisely half a meter from the toes of Ryan’s boots. Ryan stood there, in no particular hurry to cross that line. Fifty centimeters were all that stood between him and possible madness. He gazed at the city, trying to read something from its inscrutable silhouette—trying, and failing.
Finally, he pulled the communicator out of his pocket. The cold, metallic, rectangular box felt
