And then Loki smiles...

Castle D'Honaire was not what it exactly appeared to be, in truth.

See, it was a combination of TWOcastles in reality. One is the home of Fred 1, where his father had accepted the "evidence" of his sons death and thus had been present and able to block the assassination attempts on his only remaining child. The other castle belongs to Fred 2. Here, Fred's father had went off on a quest to find his son. Here, Lady Fredrina was just a touch too careless about her investigations. Here, Lady Champlaine is being visited by Duke Zular to console her on the death of Fredrina. The two castles have had major chunks hacked out of it in this teleport. The entity that was the controlling force behind the slipgate system was, in an abstract and alien way, proud of the job it had done in bringing the chunks of two parallel world real estate and integrating them into a whole. The precision had been so concise that the molecular bonds between the atoms of the castle's stony walls and plaster were instantly rejoined (and thus hiding the eldritch event that had befallen the D'Honaire Castle).

Fortunately, when the slipgate system had felt itself being forced to drag yet another thing into this unfortunate world, the entity had been able to deflect the transportation areas enough to NOT teleport portions of the human units to Terra Prime, leaving chunks of the unit back in their mirror reality (that was considered bad form).

What had happened to those left behind in the structures that had suddenly turned into a large Swiss cheese was somewhat comedic in some cases. In other cases, it was lethal. See, parts of the Swiss cheese that had used to be a castle collapsed, crushing some unfortunate people. This doesn't sadden the entity in the least, for it's job is, during the duration of the final decline of it's "body" is to try to minimize the damage to the unwilling passengers and cargo. It's job is damage control.

The entity was proud that it had been able to keep things together as long as it had, but it knew that the teleportations that were being forced upon it would be getting more and more frequent as time progressed. Not only would they get more frequent, safe and smooth teleportation would become rarer and rarer as the slipgate system became more and more tangled up upon itself in bugs and glitches.

The entity considered itself something of a maestro at what it did, and the fact that it had been able to deliver so many people and things safe and sound bore out it's conceit.

It almost feels sad at what it knows will happen next, for it's almost as if a master piece is being smashed to ruins by vandals.

However, it has it's own Rules to live by, and will carry out Those dictates.

Castle D'Honaire is the last piece of real estate to be temporarily teleported to Terra Prime. The "dome of fire" (a magical force shield) that had been used in the other cases had ceased a few days ago. These shields had been observed exclusively in the areas where the walls of reality were thinnest (i.e. in Bermuda Triangle type areas). The ever vigilant photographic eyes of the Alliance overhead had misinterpreted them as just another strange phenomenon of these fell places (much odder things had been observed with the onset of the malfunction of the slipgates in these areas).

It had been a stroke of luck bordering on miraculous that none of the inhabitants of the stitched together castle had fallen to the Phage.

Luck has just run out for Castle D'Honaire. The malfunctions that are plaguing the slipgate system never teleport mere human units BACK to where they came from. However, if the unit was so unfortunate to be standing too close (or within) a piece of real estate that was going to be teleported back, then that unit was a DEAD unit.

See, the slipgate system has protocols that it must obey. If it detects a lethal organism that it can't neutralize (like the Phage), it will try to protect the rest of the multi-verse by erecting a magical containment field to isolate the potential carriers from the disease until the real estate is teleported away or the field fails. If the field fails, the entity will, when the demand to teleport the real estate back hits it, teleport the real estate and anything that is in direct contact with the real estate back....in the form of atomic dust. Not even the Phage could survive THAT.

People start to scream and yell in surprise as Castle D'Honaire (and some unfortunate people) begins to vanish (and disintegrate).

Probe is hanging back a bit as a VERY confuse set of D'Honaires are trying to figure out just what is going on here. Probe is fast to note that things are starting to just vanish into thin air (as well as some surprised looking people). Sensing danger of some type, the AI leaps forward into the midst of the D'Honaires and does the only thing he knows he can do.

Probe is guessing that he's racing against sudden death.

Probe's right.

A cybernetic "twitch" is sent a relay of circuits within Probes backup communications array. A signal is sent by FTL (faster than light) transmission to the awaiting "radio" that Inquirer was interfaced with.

The message is simple but brings a chill to Inquirer's (metaphoric) cybernetic heart. The message is simple and short:

A1!

This is the signal of highest priority in emergency situations. This is the signal that Probe would send if something terrible is happening and one thing is needed ASAP!

EVAC!

The Crystallic that Inquirer has in her possession practically gets whiplash from the force of Inquirer'' command to draw back Probe and those people who are around him.

1. The D'Honaires, Probe's Avatar, and a LUCKY few castle guards and servants crash to the ground as they pop into existence a few feet above the floor in the vault underneath the in Ethiopia.

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