Slack Jawed....and Nothing Much To Say.....

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 10229

It takes all of five minutes to examine the subjects that his lord had requested and come up with a verdict.....

"My lord......Probe......" Dragon Synizn begins and then just shakes his head, "I have to say.....I never thought I'd see anyone not trained in the magic arts would be able to pronounce that particular set of Words of Power, but......."

"Huh?" Probe says intelligently, totally shocked and confused.

The others AIs listen intently (the ex-dwarves have been ordered to sleep until told otherwise) as the dragon mage explains.

After explaining the basics of what he believed happened when Probe used a famous line from Star Treck: the Next Generation (the line the Borg use most often in casual encounters). Probe apparently has inherited from his new body a magical ablity. The ability had been tapped accidentally by Probe using what turned out to be rare and unusual Words that had reached out and ensnared the very minds of the ex-dwarves (Probe and the other AIs had suspicions out that Murt/Balok had probably been behind the kidnapping of Astra 4 AND had been supplying the Orcs). But the Orcs apparently had been previously been....well....tampered with magically in a similar manner.

"....and you burned out their minds," the dragon mage finishes. "They have no memory of being anything but Orcs......can't count past five......don't have any knowledge of how to work metal effectively.....forget about gunpowder."

"Oh.....that's just great," Probe mutters, looking away then back.

"Could something like this happen again.....to people who I care about?" the AI says softly.

"Without training.....yes," the dragon mage sighs....then pauses with a thought, "Wait! What I was going to suggest was training you myself....carefully and slowly....but perhaps if we use our treacherous Court Mage who likes Orcs......"

"Hook up with him mentally and have me use a Codesword like Inquirer used to gain her magical knowledge?" Probe says, nodding. "Aye, I think I could at that! The Queen has already decreed he shall die as soon as Alex is done squeezing information from him....."

"Do me a favor, though," the AI finishes as he begins to call his son back in the Capitol. "Test out the other AIs present and give me an idea of some type of....oh....rough guess at what other golems may have magical ability that might blossom. Could be a serious thing if left unchecked."

Alex, having almost finished garnering the last of the information he had sought from the now gibbering man at his feet, answers his radio and pauses at the request. He turns to his impassive audience and asks Queen and King if he could use the prisoner for one last, vital piece of business.

Alex explains the ghist of what is happening to Queen Astra and King Willian, and the royal couple is all to happy to help.

"The other AIs we can help later when we find if they are potential mages," Astra says softly as the groaning betrayer is strapped into a seat in a shuttlecraft rigged with an emergency induction helmet intended for piloting....but can be used for the intended purpose at hand.

"Will it kill him....burn his mind," Astra asks Alex.

"Not really.....just scramble several centers in his mind," the AI answers. "Speech being the predominant thing effected. He'll speak binary.....which is good for computer talk....but not useful for casting spells....I imagine."

Queen Astra doesn't look happy about that, but then sighs and decides that a rope will do for the crimes commited against her....and her nation.

After a dozen screams and fifteen minutes, Probe withdraws his Codesword from the traitor's mind. He sorts through the garnered knowledge and memories....disposing of what he doesn't want nor need....and takes the arcane knowledge into himself. Thus Probe became a mage and the one mage called Malin.....is a man who can only speak in ones and zeroes. This method isn't perfect. One can't take every memory from a man or woman this way, but Probe can get enough to get a basis that makes him equal to a mage of perhaps ten years (to the original owner's twenty years). Question if you will if this is just, what has just happened. Just remember, Malin perpetrated a similar act upon Queen Astra, so to have his mind pillage by Probe has a certain amount of justice to it!

So nobody but a few who are familiar with "computerese" can understand what the man screams as he's carried (his injuries prevent him walking under his own power) to the gallows.....later.

  1. Now, there is the task at hand for what Queen Astra must decide next as she and Will listen to the voices of Probe and "her" Anina tell what is happening out in the field.

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6/11/2000 5:05:39 AM

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