Snurchers are us!!

Chiana

Won't go over how much dren we had to go through in order to get back to the TARDIS for our meet! Dr. Who fans. Questions and EVEN some stupidity about US being responsible for the kidnapping of the Lady Pella Ardinay! Seems that somebody's midlim's were on the line here and they desperately didn't want the ax to fall upon their heads, so why NOT try to fob the blame off onto the newcomers!

Only thing that kept us from being thrown into jail by those castle goons was a bit of rough and tumble "court politics" done by those elves, Gilmuriel and E'eysha, which turned the talbe on our accusser (the very man who'd I'd . . . .er . . . .snurched from earlier).

See, the thing here is that he'd been warned of the approaching danger facing Ardinay by that tall lizardman . . . .but had discounted it out of hand! Seems our stuffy friend here has this small prejudice against half-folk (and thus Mesus due to most of that diety's followers being half-folk). Seems that such a condition is epidemic within the realm of Aylse, I find out later when I ask my husband about what the Frell that was all about. Bottom line, while Talok had been faithfully reporting back to Lady Ardinay and friends the goings on of the PC group (with their knowledge, of course), I have to wonder just how much got lost in translation due to this dren- head! Must have been doubly distasteful for him, discovering the Mesus man having turned into not only a follower of the half-folk goddess, but a half-folk as well!!

From what I've learned this is a rather drastic departure from what one would expect from Aylse. Oh, they have a caste system and all that but it was peaceful enough. No inter-caste violence due to the fact that one could (supposedly) rise to the upper class through harnessing an innate magical potential everyone had there. Meaning that through a dint of hard work and training, you too could become the upper crust! That was dren, of course. Been around long enough to be able to tell that, but the illusion was enough to quell a large uprising due to people seeing no way out of their lot in life.

. . . ..

Ah, just had a thought. Not a good one, either. The land of Aylse (and the whole of Core Earth and invading Cosms) are being converted over to my reality's rules, right? Which is close enough to Terra Prime reality to make no difference, which means that with the switchover we . . . .might see a LOT of those with magic potential lose that potential, being that not everyone (but on a small portion) of the population has the "spark" within their blood/genes for being able to cast magic. Then put in the fact that only a small portion of that can afford the training needed to become magic users of one kind or another . . . .

. . . ..

Factor into the equation how the backbone of Aylsian commerce is BASED upon the strange energy that is magic (since everyone there can use magic in one fashion or another even without training) . . . .

This could be VERY ugly soon and I do NOT want to be around when things come crashing down here! Don't even mention it (for fear of what kind of riot that could cause, if the wrong people hear) until we're back into the TARDIS!

Took a lot of doing (wading through more Dr. Who fans on the way back), but we manage to make better time after getting the Aylsian guards off our backs!

Must say that having been able to turn the tables on that dren sucking official had been very satisfying indeed, but my mood has now been dampened somewhat by what I've just figured out.

When I do mention it, Inquirer sighs softly.

"You figured that out already, eh?" she says softly. "Very true, and nothing I or the others here can do about it."

See, the Doctor is in the habbit of interfering with the universe at large to right wrongs and such. He draws the lines at getting into another world's politics and affairs that deeply, though. He'll give a push in the right direction if he can, but only that far. He'd get too bogged down too quickly for too long to suit his adventuring needs, you see.

Can't say I blame him, really. Besides, I haven't a clue at all on how we'd fix that particular problem!

She goes on, with a slightly hopeful note in her voice, stating how a possible standby the mages/bankers of Aylse had been using silver and gold as a secondary currency that had grown since coming to the mostly non- magic using world of Core Earth. Trade flowed through that new market and might be able to take up the slack when the primary collapsed. Might.

. . . ..

Well, we'll make mention of that once we get the Lady back, being that she's (something) of the head of state of Aysle . . . .sort of . . . .

Later . . . .

"See, from the fight we had last we met he knows most of our faces," the Brigadier explains to me while I am just staring at Inquirer, who's handed me her special cloak. "Mine and the elves, especially, considering the tussle we got into the last time."

He pauses, and touches a spot on his chest where a glancing blow from Scorpius had not been blocked by the Brigadier's fighting skills. It hadn't broken anything, but it had left a bruise that I figure . . . . Well, he's not one to complain and is soldiering on with the hurts he still has from the last fight.

Strange guy. Sort of like D'Argo in that sense . . . .

The only ones who CAN do what we hope to next and couldn't have been spotted by Scorpy (or spoken to back in the negotiation), according to Inquirer (an expert of sorts in "environmental battle surveying" amongst other things) was myself (view had been blocked by the walls and such while battle had occurred) and Sigin (who'd been escorted into the TARDIS by the Doctor after nearly collapsing, re: 22713)!

What we wanted to do while scouting about and trying to find out (quickly!) where Scorpy had stashed the Lady (and spring her while doing a the job called for first class burglars like myself) was to appear to be dealing straight with Scorpy while some invisible folks do some "burgling". Sigin was now back to full power, and thus able to cast magic which would make him invisible. That and he had learned a few things from this one fellow named "Houdini" I believe he told me, once. With me? Well . . . ..the cloak of invisibility (after Inquirer explained how it operated) would make it so much more. . . . easy.

Can't rely on TOO much "Star Trek" equipment like scanners and such. The Doctor doubts Scorpy would be so foolish to let the Lady be in a place without some kind of jamming device, throwing off such an easy solution, eh?

No, it'll take some folks with the knack of finding stuff which the owner wants to remain unfound (and unsnurched).

. . . ..

You know, sometime I'm going to have to talk with my mate . . . .husband about his "ethics". Seems a shame with all that talent to . . . .

Nevermind . . . .

Ah, but I will talk with him about local fashion back upon Terra Prime sometime. I absolutely refuse to look like a some kind of gruibo, refusing to think that MY current clothing will be as cutting edge there as it is here! I mean, I . . . kind of like the outfit that Inquirer is wearing and . . .

Later. Will talk with Sigin (who's got quiet the fashion sense) later . . . .

Later . . .

The TARDIS lands at this "Stonehenge" (a structure of old stones in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by grazing land for the local herd animals).

Oh, even if we fail and Scorpius gets that wormhole data, he's not going anywhere TOO quickly, since that equatoin can only work with Farscapian physics (and not these axiom things we still have for a bit until the final conversion or whatever) . . . .

In other words, if Scorpy tries to use that wormhole equation to generate the same kind of wormhole to get back to the Uncharted Territories, he's in for a surprise. That and this isn't his universe so he'd be going to nowhere he'd find of any use.

And if he hadn't figured that out already, then this'll be too easy. But right now from what I've seen so far from "Leatherface" as John calls Scorpius sometimes, he's far from stupid! So we're expecting some hard bargaining here real soon . . . .while I and Sigin go off and do what we're going to be doing here.

Well, that said . . .

1. "Drad!" I whisper to myself as I activate the cloak and see that I can't see the hand before my face.

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