Say WHAT?!

Inquirer appears (relatively speaking) outside what used to be the mayor's residencia. Drawing tighter the cloak around her, the Golem stares at the odd scene happening before her.

Silly season must be open, the female Golem thinks drolly to herself. First I'm dressed up like Maid Marion because Sigin Vulpine is apparently caught a severe case of his mate's sense of humor. I ask for my uniform to be fixed....and this! She'd been in uniform for so long that finding herself in civillian clothing (and medieval ones at that) was a shock. But secretly, she was beginning to like it....

But I wear this stuff anyway....as well as this 'cloak of invisiablitly'....and a half dozen other items to conceal myself from Probe's and the Pack's superhuman senses.....looking truly like a native...... Inquirer goes on. But Probe, come on now........

She watchs this happen in front her.....

The demifox hands the bra over to Astra 3. When she is told what it is for, she is delighted. She starts to put it on. "Er, the idea is that it goes under your other clothes, not on top of them," Probe explains. "Ah, yes, that would make more sense," Astra concedes. She turns her back on the others, more to spare them any embarrassment than for her own benefit (after her experiences in recent months, it would take a lot to embarrass her). Soon the bra is in place and her outer garments restored. "That is much better," she smiles. "Thank you, Probe." As she turns round, Fred 3 can't help but gasp. If his wife's figure was remarkable before, now it is even more so. She chuckles at the effect she has had.

The conversation turns to what Fred 3, Astra 3 and Demifox Synizn should do. Astra 3 raises again her idea that they should see if they can find Dr Vincent. Fred 3 is not keen, having unpleasant memories of what happened to him in the analogue Vincent's tower. "And what about the babies?" he continues. "All this travelling from place to place can't be good for them." "Well, they seem to be thriving on it so far, perhaps because they are not exactly typical babies," his wife points out. "I'm hoping that I might persuade Sigin to fly us to the Calamari Desert. Since I don't think either of us can be sure of precisely where Vincent's tower was located in terms of finding it on a map, and anyway it might be in a slightly different location in this world, then searching the area on dragonback seems the most practical way. Besides, I'm a little disappointed that due to getting to Atlantis so precipitately we didn't get the chance of a flight earlier on. It ought to be fun." "I'm not sure how useful Dr Vincent would be, though," Demifox Synizn says. "I would have thought that the Alliance's science must be far ahead of his."

It looks as though for once Astra 3 may not get her way (for she doesn't often lose an argument), but then Probe - who has been listening to all this with interest - chips in. "Yes, I'm sure that in general our science will be well ahead of his. However, there may still be one or two specific areas in which he is ahead of us, and for all we know one of those may be important. And he is the only person that I know of, whether Terran or from the Alliance, who has a good grasp of both science and magic. We have many experts in one or the other, but none who are knowledgeable on both. It may be that because of that he can spot an approach to our problems that we have overlooked. I think you should look for him. In fact I'm tempted to come along with you myself." Astra 3 smiles at this. "So that's settled then - we're going," she says, and nobody contradicts her.

She sees that she's arrived nearly too late. If she doesn't hurry......

Magically muffled boots pound the pavement as a fusion of magic and science turns and head for the back entrance of the Residencia. The near palace, according to Probe in past reports, is the temporary residents of several Freds....and Astras.

She slips in through the door, and is surprised to find something (the Golem pauses for a milisecond.....somewhat amazed).

They don't lock their doors? she thinks to herself....putting back her lock picking tools. Now that's something you wouldn't see back Home....except on Base...... Indeed, the security ON a military installation was brutal on any trespassers who thought they could just waltz in and take what didn't belong to them.

What Inquirer wanted was for a higher cause.....a possible cure for the Phage and a doorway to an end to the Alliance/Enemy war that had been going on for over FIFTY years.

Here we are! Inquirer crows as she scoops up and examines the brush (which appears to move around to anyone who's watching...except for two ghosts). And they even have the hair follicles I'm looking for! But..... The Golem quickly gathers up various items that might have small samples of the resident Astras DNA. While a sample from an Astra herself would have proven to be a challenging task for the AI/Golem, the stakes here weren't those that allowed for horseplaying.

"Now." Inquirer says to the thin air, and vanishes.

"Do you have ANY idea what that was all about?" the Mayor asks his Lizard companion. "I swear, ever since that final shift from lycanthropic human to full Manimal has made my time around here dulll! I can't even haunt the little children any more!"

"Now you know how I feel!" grouses the unsympathetic Lizard. "Now that the Pack is no longer human....according to those stupid Ghost rules about only being able to haunt your own kind.....you are in the same boat as I am."

"I can haunt the guests," the mayor says in an halfhearted voice.

"I'm no expert in human psychology, but that strikes me as being 'childish'....that's what I've read about it." The Lizards states, drawing satisfaction from the wince it brings. "You've scared those 21 hatchlings once....why not again?"

"It's....no fun....and they're innocent," the mayor mutters. "I just don't feel right about it."

"And Father Padre put some real strong counter agents on you bothering them any more," chuckles the ghost of the Lizard in the freezer unit (neck broken)..

1. Screen change, back in the Lair.....Probe begins the first battery of computer tests on the genetic samples. Hopefully, the bio-computer will come up with something that DOESN'T match....and maybe that'll be the key (and not a false alarm).

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