William was never certain how much time had passed before the depression set in. He had made his way through the eight tales of Homer, Cato's Origins, Shakespeare's Love's Labor Won, and all of Livy. Outside of his apartment, there was an infinite void. Inside the apartment, there was a refrigerator in a small kitchenette that was always full of fresh food, no matter how much he took out. He could refresh in a small bathroom. Ambient light always filled the apartment.

The young human had tried venturing out of the apartment and found himself in a lit blank space. There was a door to the apartment and nothing else. It seemed to go on for infinity in all directions. William knew that there was a theoretical limit to the size based upon the conditions that were set up in Yggdrasil for his apartment. But he also knew that for all intensive purposes it would be his death to venture far away from the apartment. If from viewed from Earth outer space was unappealing for habitation, at least habitation was possible. There were asteroids, stars and other planets capable in theory of supporting life. But here, there was nothing. Literally nothing but the apartment's door.

William tried to use the Yggdrasil terminal during the first day to alter his external surroundings. He did not have the necessary permissions assigned to him. He could look up books. One day, William discovered that he could have music from past performances played. From there, it was a short step to listening to old speeches and plays. He was strongly amused to learn the actual words of Gettysburg Address. "Lincoln was a funny cuss," he said to himself for days afterwards. This improved his standard of living for a while.

However, after some time, William no longer felt the same rush of excitement when he uncovered a new work. He missed sharing what he found. After weeks of finding old works, he found he craved company. None came. He began to create his own. By removing the butcher paper from meat in the refrigerator, he found canvas. Raspberries, blue berries, baking soda, dried egg yolks and gelatin became his paint. His hair together with meat twine became a brush. Soon, dozens of amateurish paintings of people he had known filled the apartment, then the void outside. Around the door in that awful void, the paintings William was less pleased with began to pile up.

A particularly frustrating day involved licorice, a broken kitchen knife, and singed fingers, William was ready to give up. It was not like being a mountain man. If he lived in solitude on Earth, there would have been the possibility of meeting someone. Here, no one was coming and there was nowhere to go. There was nothing to hope for. His inane wish, how did she put it, "absolutely ridiculous wish", had been granted. He was in heaven and he could use Yggdrasil to study. William had no idea how to contact anyone, but knew if he cut his own throat, a psychopomp might come. Belldandy had said there were psychopomps. "Anything has to be better," he said to himself, a habit he had acquired. But first, he sat down one last time. He attempted to run the creation operating system, as he had done several dozen times previously. This time, it loaded.

A quarter mile away from the apartment, William created a pond. He stepped outside. Low to the ground, but there, was the reflection of water. He ran the several hundred yards to the pond, stripping clothing along the way.

When he was done bathing, he walked back to the apartment, collecting the clothing he had so casually discarded. Still the same clothes Urd had set out for him months ago. William put the paintings he had placed in the void back in the apartment, stacking them neatly under the bed.

The young human set to work. He contoured and graded the landscape in a 20 mile radius to prevent water from flowing into his apartment. Then, he found the weather controls. Very briefly, William thought of making the day 25 hours long. The thought amused him. But he did not have the tools to alter his wristwatch. Instead, after a great deal of trial and error, 24 hours became the rule, together with rain and random temperature variations. Never too warm, but never very cold either.

In very short order, the doorway to the apartment became surrounded by life. There were peach trees bending with delicious fruit, venerable live oaks, tough osage oranges, tart raspberries growing under towering walnuts, pleasant footpaths leading in all directions, and sandy beaches perfect for bathing. William could not, however, create animal life. No bugs, fish, mice or birds nor any megafauna. It was far better than nothing, though.

It was about two weeks after placing the first peach tree that William began to truly appreciate the nearly universal usefulness of the common insect. One morning on an unusually warm day, when he stepped outside, there was a distinct odor. William found that several peaches had fallen out of the tree and began to, well, fertilize the nearby ground. It was not pleasant.

He sat down on the comfortable lawn to think about the problem. A moment later, he sprang back up and ran through the apartment door. A few minutes later, a fungus appeared under a peach tree. Another moment later, evolution. Then more evolution. Very shortly, the fungus took on the shape of a rather largish grey venus flytrap. William ran outside to have a look. He carefully reached up the tree and took a rotten peach. He dropped the peach onto the mushroom venus flytrap. It grabbed the peach, enveloping it. William ran back inside and forty more of the mushroom flytraps appeared.

William stood and gazed upon his creation with satisfaction. Then, he had a doubt. William put a stick in the mushroom flytrap. It took the stick out of his hands and broke it. "That's going to require some attention," William said to no one in particular. He went back inside his apartment, paused the plant lifecycle system to prevent the mutant flytraps from spreading by accident, then laid back on his bed and shut his eyes to spend some time thinking on the problem.

The door lock to the apartment had been disabled within the first day William had been transported there. He was terrified of locking himself outside of the apartment in the infinite void. He had preferred to ignore the void outside and otherwise kept the door closed. In the weeks after he had been able to change the outside environment and strategically placed a broad-leafed sycamore tree to protect the entryway from rain, the door never closed, except when it began to rain particularly hard and usually not even then. Therefore, it was a shock to a deep sleeping William when he heard a woman's shriek.

William put on his now ragged pants while trying to make his way outside. The bright sunlight blinded him momentarily, but when his eyes adjusted, he saw a black haired woman and a blond angel under a peach tree, trying to beat off his mutant mushroom flytraps. He was torn between laughter and panic. He grabbed a stick he had been attempting without much success to fashion into a chair and went running into battle with the ill-considered plants.

The woman, who was wearing a diamond goddess' sigil, and her angel were clearly getting the better of the plants. However, she had also suffered greatly. She was trapped on her rump on the ground. The plants had plainly torn off most of her clothing. All she had left were some underthings - a garter and rather interesting underwear. The woman was cussing in French. William spoke just enough to know that she should be blushing and not just for the loss of clothing.

He took the woman, the goddess he corrected himself, by surprise. She shrieked at the stick he was wielding like Errol Flynn. It missed her head and came down with a thump on a flytrap holding a piece of clothing. It let go. Between William, the goddess, and the angel, she was extracted soon enough. After the threat was dealt with, the angel disappeared.

"I am so sorry about your clothes," said William, turning away. "Let me get a blanket."

The goddess looked confused. "What for?" she asked.

"Uh, my mushrooms, they tore your clothes."

"No they didn't," she said, still confused. Her confusion cleared. "Oh, you must be from a class three country." She suddenly snickered in amusement. "My name is Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License, Peorth." She worked her way in front of William so that he would have to look at her.

"Oh, my name is William Clay, I am from Kansas. Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said, while still not quite looking directly at her.

"Kansas!" she said with delight. "You're not in Kansas anymore!" This seemed to strongly amuse Peorth. She provocatively leaned forward and deliberately stuck her hand out. William shook hers with a civil gentleness while she grasped his as a man would.

Her immediate amusement out of the way, she said, "I am here representing the Earth Assistance Agency. You were recommended to us. Mr. Clay, do you know the rules of baseball?"

William blinked several times in astonishment. "Yes?"

"Oh good. I have been told you were very busy, and would not be able to help, and that it would be a bit impertinent to ask, but we have a bit of a problem. My Earth Assistance Agency is playing several different teams in an interagency baseball league. The Yggdrasil Administration Aces, my own Earth Assistance Agency Angels, the Goddess Relief Office Tigers, and the Valkyrie Warriors. We have been having a terrible time finding a neutral umpire. Please say you'll help."

"Uh. I would love to help, but I can't leave here."

"Why not?" she demanded. "Are you worried someone is going to steal your peaches?"

"What? No, I put those mushrooms there to eat rotten peaches. I lack the fauna permission for this microcosm. I cannot leave because I do not know how. I am not a god."

"Tres magnifique! We can not have a god anyway. You can not trust gods. I'll pick you up! First game is in two days." She turned to leave and leapt into the air, flying.

"Wait," called William.

"Oui?" Peorth responded

"Um, thank you."

"For what?" she asked with a little touch of confusion.

"You're the first person I have seen in months," William said, a little desperately.

"Well, yes," said Peorth. "I am sorry for interrupting your studies," she said with a tone of real apology.

"No, I mean, you're the first person I've seen in months." William paused. "Would you like some coffee? Or lunch, or something?"

"No, I really am in a hurry." Then, a thought struck her, "William, did you want to be alone?" Peorth asked, a little doubtfully.

"I don't mind being, I mean…" He stopped. "No, I don't want to be alone."

Peorth floated back down, a look of seriousness having replaced her amusement.

"William, may I call you William?" William nodded, "Why did you say you wanted to be alone?"

"I, uh, never did," he said, hoping he did not sound desperate, but a little unconcerned if he did. "I wanted to study, but I did not need to do so in solitude. Should prefer not to, really. I mean."

Peorth frowned slightly. "Pauvre. The Almighty One made it clear to all administrators that we were to leave you alone."

"I never met the Almighty One. Who is he?"

"He was the one that transported you here; I was working administration that evening and logged it."

William blinked in astonishment. "No, Ansuza did."

Peorth's brow darkened, but suddenly she shook her head and her continence cleared, "Well, I wouldn't spend any time worrying about it. There's no telling what they do and why. Listen, I will be by in two days to get you. I will bring a new set of clothes. In the meantime," Peorth snapped her fingers and popping sounds were heard from the vicinity of the peach trees, "I think we can do without the killer mushrooms. I'll put out some nice beetles, bees, bunnies, fruit bats, sparrows and hawks."

"Thanks!" said William brightly. "That's really swell of you."

"Au revoir," called Peorth as she lifted into the air and then disappeared from sight. "I will return in two days!"

\

William returned to his apartment and brushed up on the infield fly rule. He physically felt much better than he had in months. The hand that touched Peorth felt warm even now. He had something to look forward to. He put the killer venus flytrap mushrooms back though. He was kind of proud of those.

On a comfortably sunny day, William was dressed in a dark grey seersucker suit with an umpire's mask and black chest guard. He was standing behind home plate. It was the top of the 7th with one out. A handsome dark skinned goddess from the Valkyrie Warriors was at bat with a green haired goddess on second. The Earth Assistance Agency Angels were ahead of the Warriors by 5 to 3. Peorth was playing shortstop. There were several thousand beings (he had no other word for it) in the stands with only a small number of empty seats left over. It was hard not to stare at the audience, but he had to focus on the game. The crowd cheered for good plays and there seemed to be no real animosity between the two teams This was just as well, because William was pretty sure he flubbed two calls.

If he had to guess, the fastballs were coming in at well over a hundred and ten miles an hour. The sliders had real movement and the curves were near unbelievable. The pitchers were phenomenal on both teams, a red haired beauty on the Angels and a blue haired goddess on the Warriors who had also batted in two of the three runs for her team.

The dark skinned goddess smiled for a split second as the pitch came in. It was a blooper, rolling off the pitcher's fingers unfortunately. She smacked it as hard as she could, which was hard indeed.

The wood bat and hard leather ball cracked like a large caliber rifle. Peorth's thorns shot up with a glove attached to the end, but were slow. A goddess in left field sprouted wings, leapt several dozen feet into the air for the ball - and missed. A home run. William smiled. The various goddesses and their powers made for a difficult game to umpire. He had been told that pitchers could not use superhuman powers, but that everything else except teleportation and using magic to control the flight or shape of the ball was legal. Angels were allowed, but counted towards the number of men on the field, so for practical purposes they were not used. The red haired pitcher kicked the dirt in frustration. William had to stifle a laugh at seeing so human a gesture. He knew that no human could pitch like that, but was letting it slide for both teams. It was more fun not having to correct the pitchers.

The base runners made their stately way home and William brushed off the plate.

In top of the 8th, the captain of the Warriors, Brunhilde, rather pleasant if perhaps a touch arrogant William thought, hit a triple and drove in two more runs. The Agency Angels lost 5 to 7. Peorth was in a fairly good mood though. Sitting in the ballpark together after the game, the two chatted companionably. "Vous étiez magnifique. That was a much better game than we usually see," said Peorth.

"Why is that?" asked William.

"Well," said Peorth thoughtfully, "I do not think any human could pitch as fast as that. Normally the umpire makes the pitchers throw slower."

"Maybe humans could pitch that fast one day," said William, perhaps a little defensively. "My grandpa liked to say that pitchers in his day weren't any good; that their fastballs look like today's changeups. So, I let it go."

"A goddess would never do that," said Peorth. She sighed contentedly. "I think you were a good choice."

"Thanks," said William. "Do I get to umpire again?"

"Oui! The next game is tomorrow, between the Aces and the Tigers."

"The Administration Aces?" William asked.

"Yes," said Peorth. "Last year, they finished in last place. But they have a new pitcher this year. Her name is Urd."

Belldandy was the captain for the Goddess Relief Office Tigers. She came up to the plate, looked at William and smiled. "Good afternoon, Mr. Clay," she said cheerily.

"Good afternoon, Miss Belldandy," said William. "Are you ready to play a game on a fine day like today?"

"Oh, yes indeed."

The captain for the Administration Aces came over, a tall Goddess with black hair. "Hello, my name is Synu."

William smiled convivially, "Hello Synu, my name is William Clay. Pleased to meet you." William put out his hand to shake. She was glancing back at the dugout and seemed to not see it – perhaps she was nervous. "Ok," said William, "Typical baseball rules, plus no teleportation or using magic to adjust the flight of the ball. And the pitchers have to keep it to human levels."

"Yes," said Belldandy, "Let's all do our best!"

"Very well," said Synu.

"Great," said William. He turned to Synu and said, "Let's give your pitcher a minute to throw some warm-ups and then we'll start. And good luck to both teams."

Belldandy beamed and Synu smiled tightly. They returned to their dugouts. William stood back for a couple of minutes while admiring Urd as she stood on the pitcher's mound warming up. He turned to the crowd and yelled, "Play Ball!"

The first five innings were rather uneventful. Both teams had stranded runners, but no one scored. The trouble started at the top of the 6th inning. Pitching against her sister, Urd threw a slider that got away from her. It ended up far to the right of the plate, where the catcher couldn't reach it. The next pitch was inside. Too far inside. The ball hit Belldandy's arm and made an unpleasant thud. "Take your base," said William.

Urd tried not to look at her sister. The next batter crowded the inside of the plate, perhaps noticing Urd's discomfort. Urd certainly noticed and threw an inside fastball, entirely too fast really. Even the catcher was shaking her hand and looking at William. "Hey," said William to the catcher. "Tell her to tone it down. That pitch was nowhere near human levels. I'm calling that a ball."

"You got it boss," said the catcher. The catcher walked out to the pitcher's mound and spoke briefly to Urd. Urd gave William a dirty look. The catcher got Urd's attention again and then returned back to home plate. "We got it covered."

"Thanks," said William, feeling bad that he had to say something.

Urd's next pitch was in the dirt. Belldandy ran for second. William ran out to the center of the baseball diamond for a better view. Belldandy slide headfirst into second, comfortably beating the throw from the catcher. "SAFE!" William yelled. It was only then that he noticed how close he was to Urd. She stood there with her hands on her hip glaring at him, obviously not having forgiven William for calling her on the excessive heater. William quickly retreated back behind home plate.

Urd struck the next batter out then exited the inning on a ground ball, leaving Belldandy stranded on second. The first batter for the Aces hit a single. Urd was batting second and hit the ball hard. It popped up straight into the air. William tracked the ball until it became obvious Belldandy was easily going catch it. William called it out. Belldandy caught the ball and tossed it to the pitcher.

"What the hell!" yelled Urd from the basepath. "Why are you calling me out before she caught it?"

"Infield fly rule," said William.

"You can't just keep making stuff up!" Urd protested. The first baseman giggled. He was pretty sure he heard some tittering in the stands.

William walked over. With patience and sympathy, William said, "It's a rule to prevent an infieldman from dropping the ball and getting an easy double or triple play. I'm sorry Urd, but you're out."

He had not seen her, but Belldandy had stepped up behind him. "Please onee-san," she said, "it is a real rule."

Urd glowered menacingly at William, but returned to the dugout. The Aces did better that inning and scored two runs on a well hit home run taking the lead.

When she returned to the mound, Urd had regained her self-possession. She struck out three Tiger batters with twelve pitches in workmanlike manner and exited the inning a hero. The Aces in turn grounded out twice against a new pitcher before leaving the inning on a shallow and easily fielded outfield flyball.

At the top of the 8th, the first baseman for the Aces missed an easy ground ball hit between her legs, an error. The ball bounced off the plate and made its way into the outfield foul territory. The runner rounded first and stopped at second. Urd became irritated again.

Urd tried twice to pick off the base runner on second, who was keeping a substantial leadoff. Finally, Urd entered a windup, then broke off and threw the ball to second. William cringed inside, at least he hoped it was inside. He was glad he had his mask on. "Balk!" he called. To the runner William said, "Please advance." Urd was obviously fuming. He did not turn to the dugout to look, but he prayed inwardly that someone was going to pull her out of the game. It did not happen.

On the next pitch, Urd entered into a tremendous windup and threw the ball with all her might directly at William's face mask. He never saw it coming. Fortunately for both him and Urd, the catcher did. Still, the catcher was thrown against the backstop, knocking William over like a tall and lanky Charlie Brown. From a prone position, William saw Urd stomping off to the dugout and two runners cross home plate.

The catcher pulled the dazed William to his feet and dusted him off. "What can you expect from a blackwhite?" she asked. The Aces went on to lose the game 3 to 8. Urd was indeed much better than anyone else in their bullpen.