Paging Lt. Inquirer.

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 4825

"Lt. Inquirer," Probe says from a grill on his base unit while looking at her from a periscope looking device rising from his base unit. "A moment of your time, if you would be so kind."

"Here, sir!" Inquirer says loudly, snapping to attention and saluting.

Ye gods, she's quick! Synizn thinks as he shakes his head in amazement.

"At ease, Lt." Probe says with a kind voice. "I'm here only to ask a favor of you and the mages. Seems that an exact replica of this worlds Castle D'Honaire has shown up within walking distance from the nuked out ruins of the old one. I and a few D'Honaires were hoping to either use the shuttlecraft or a Crystallic to teleport there."

"Ah, well....that's....understandable," Synizn manages while the other Freds and Astras look surprised at recent turn of events. All knew that it was possible, but none had really expected their (or an analog of) home to be teleported here. "But I'm a touch nervous about overusing the Crystallics."

"As am I, sir." Probe said. "However, considering the now wild and lawless conditions in the general area, I'd shudder to think what else might just 'pop' out and harass the castle's inhabitants while we used regular means to get there. Horseback is fine for regular things on Terra, I suppose, but I'd rather take the express way if I could instead of the scenic route....if you catch my drift."

"I...think I do," Synizn concedes, after puzzling out Probe's odd turn of phrasing. "I take it that you're 'asking' instead of just having Inquirer take up a Crystallic?....."

"Hey, not only is it polite, it doesn't estrange the mages," Probe explains. "Sure, I guess she could do something despicable like that if I ordered it, if she didn't inform me I'd just given her an illegal order, but....in the long run it would make the relationship between the governments of Terra and the Alliance nearly impossible to be on positive terms."

"Probe, as for the shuttlecraft I think that moving it is just out of the question," Inquirer said. "The bio-comp is hardly something easily removed, and it STILL hasn't found the key....though I think it's closing in on something. And besides which.....this cavern it's in doesn't have an exit large enough for it to depart by conventional means."

"And that would mean we'd have to use more Crystallics, mages' fatigue, and such, teleporting the ship out rather than by teleporting our party directly" Probe says, stating what he'd already figured out even before this conversation. "Even IF we were willing to risk the ship and what she held!"

"As such, Sir, I'll go and get in contact with Malachi Dronocis right away," Lt. Inquirer says as she goes off to talk with the Regent.

******************************************************

Moments later, a small party appears magically just out of visual sight of the castle, hidden by the trees.

The group consists of several people, none of them outside the small group that had been outside of the room that Probe had left his Avatar body behind (in Wallants).

Fred 1 looks at his father, and then at the Castle, feeling a wave of hope and longing (for he had never expected to even see a copy of his Home ever since arriving here).

"I'm sorry that my brother and Para-Astra couldn't be here," Fred 1 whispers, with a knot in his throat. "I never knew how beautiful she was until now."

Yes, but if this IS the castle from your world....having two images of the same person..... Probe thinks to himself. At least we had, for the time being, restored Duke Dredrick's face back to it's old lines.

"Aye, she is at that," Dredrick sighs. "Mayhap the gods will smile upon us and it will actually BE home! Home, and not some mirror of it."

Probe (who had been elected to come along since he was so....formidable....just in case things prove to be....sticky) nods and straightens his weapon harness.

  1. "Well, folks," Probe says in a light voice. "Time to pay our respects to the folks inside."

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MSG (Who hopes JH finds this party in Allaria substancial enough...).

10/8/1999 1:29:02 AM

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