From: don@foreshadower.net   
      
   Sourcerer found himself before the gate to Rancho Deluxe,   
   framed by a rose trellis, which was now bare, brown, and   
   thorny with autumn. The gate was never locked, but just   
   inside, on a low branch of a crab apple tree, sat dick@aol,   
   the cockatrice, whose glare turned the unwelcome into stone.   
   It opened its left eye and gave Sourcerer 'The Look'; he   
   pass the test. In the twilight he could just make out the   
   stone-frozen figures of Mahatmanow and Zeitgeyser.   
      
   He followed the winding path, leaves and twigs snapping   
   under his footfalls, until he stood beside the high fence in   
   the middle of the front yard which surrounded the Meta   
   Metaphor Machine -- The Mother of All Generators. It could   
   not be seen; the fence was too high, but Sourcerer knew what   
   lay beyond it: a featureless dome, an attached shack, and   
   behind that, a toolshed which housed what appeared to be a   
   riding lawnmower.   
      
   It had been built and enhanced by eyebrown, who then   
   incorporated some of mpa's schematics. No one knew how to   
   work the damn thing, but it ran the Rancho. Mpa understood   
   his part of it, the workings of the shield, the mirror made   
   of slow glass, but not what made the Generator make the   
   Mirror work. Neither did anyone else. except eyebrown -- or,   
   at least, one hopes he does (and that he could be found).   
      
   Five years ago, 2009, Sourcerer had wanted to throw a   
   Christmas party for Poly, and decided to hold it at the   
   Rancho. No one had seen or visited the Rancho for a decade.   
   What they found was the Generator on positive feedback. He   
   and Poly and mpa figured out how to at least put it in   
   maintenance mode, and left it at that. Otherwise, the   
   machine cycled through, not only everything that had   
   happened at the Rancho, but it cycled through each   
   individual object's life.   
      
      
   ***   
   Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009   
      
   Afterwards they sat in the big overstuffed chairs. Poly   
   noted Sourcerer was slouched down, his legs stretched out.   
   He did that when his leg bothered him; he was limping by the   
   time he and Zaren got the last bag onto the porch, and he   
   still limped when he got up and went into the kitchen.  He   
   brought one of the kitchen chairs and set it down.   
      
   "Look at it closely.  You can see where it was repaired. It   
   got broken during the last Christmas party here. Now watch.   
   This may take awhile."   
      
   Gene pulled a bottle from his coat and set it on the table.   
   "Something to warm us on this dark night". Poly leaped up to   
   get the silver cups she called "muglets" from a bag, but   
   Sourcerer waved her back.  "Watch", he said.   
      
   Two of the chair's legs cracked, splintered, and collapsed.   
   Three minutes later, it pulled itself together and stood on   
   undamaged legs.  Sourcerer said, "If you examine it, you'll   
   see no signs of it having been repaired.  It will be like   
   new.  This chair has three states, new, broken, repaired.   
   I think anything that has changed at any time in the Rancho   
   can 'revisit' any of its former states because the Meta   
   Metaphor Machine has logged it all, and for some reason it   
   is cycling through everything it's logged.  Everything   
   that's ever changed state here is in flux, especially living   
   things -- such as us.  Be careful".   
      
   "The main house, the Rancho Deluxe, its structure has never   
   changed, not since the day Poly built it, so I think we are   
   safe in here, but not from some things that may be in here,   
   like the chair. Right now, though, we all need a drink".   
   Poly got her muglets, and Gene poured the Cognac.   
      
   ***   
      
      
   He climbed the porch steps. There was a note on the message   
   board:   
      
   ***   
   Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2014: I had planned on writing a few   
   things in alt.cp and perhaps reposting a few things back in   
   December but "Best Laid Plans" and all....   
      
   Here's hoping that all of those who "wrote Rancho" and those   
   who came before and after that remarkable time here had a   
   blessed holiday season   
      
   and are on their way to a happy 2014.   
      
   .mpa   
   ***   
      
   Sweet Poly and I are ok, Michael, and so is Nesta. Sorry to   
   have missed you.  I don't want anyone around when I try   
   this, and that includes Sweet Poly, too.   
      
   The iron key turned and the heavy front door swung open. He   
   entered the foyer and felt right at home, and sat in his   
   chair in the alcove and whistled up the Mirror of Nana-Sin.   
      
      
   Sourcerer   
      
      
   --   
     (__)    Sourcerer   
    /(<>)\ O|O|O|O||O||O   
     \../  |OO|||O|||O||   Mirroring the shadows of futurity   
      ||   OO|||OO||O||O   since 1993   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)