"There are three symptoms," the dragoness stated solemnly. "No information
was given in this book about the length of time between the appearance
of symptoms….at least in the parts that were still legible! But, there
was a vivid warning about how much time we'd have to remedy the problem
before it was too late: an hour!"
Grim faces all around are all that the dragoness who is Chairing this
meeting sees.
"Now," she says. "We have the three symptoms, happening in this order.
First, there would be unexplained transportation of analogs from other
planes of existence…..and perhaps temporary swapping of physical locations
from one Otherworld to another. Second is something like the second, but
it involves permanent swaps between worlds….in other words, the place isn't
going anyplace! The last involves the pull of gravity itself; severe spells
of noticeable increases and decreases in Terra's pull on objects…..so if
you feel light headed…..it might not be just a figure of speech."
"Now I was not trying to alarm people," Malachi begins. "Well, you sure
are doing a good job at it." murmurs Astra under her breath. "But when
the symptoms start to occur, the safety features of the slipgates are removed.
I am only aware of one safety, but the books says there are others. The
safety deals with teleporting the user of the Crystallic while the user
was holding the item. If the safeties off, the user can transport himself
anywhere without fear of destroying the Crystallic nor being stuck between
universes.
"Sometimes the user gets lucky and neither his item nor himself get
zapped by the safeguard…..rare but it happens." The dragoness warns. "Our
Dragon Synizn unintentionally challeneged the safety by forcing the Cyrstallic
to transport self and adventurers to Panaras (re: 2244). See, the slipgate
you arrived on was in rubble…..and therefore out of commission. Yes, you
contacted something in charge of the slipgates, it could only take all
of you so far…..the Crystallic took up the slack."
"I saved the….'best' issue for last," Malachi states. "That way, the
other issues, which ARE important, could be resolved and people be in a
good frame of mind to come up with something to the problem at hand. See…."
The dragoness sighs and shakes her head before continuing.
"See…..Moondancer totally destroyed the one page that listed the remedies
for breakdown," the dragoness sighs. " All that was left was a sentence
stating that there were two ways of doing it, one mor sure than the other.
I hope that somebody……"
"Say no more," Demi-fox Synizn chuckles. "I happen to know that the
process that destroys a Cyrstallic!" He then explains (re: 1807).
"And since the source I got this information from was Atlantian literature-though
in the same class as what you have there, Malchi-so it should work."
"Uh….I think I have a doubt I've got to share," Probe states, worried
about something. "It's obvious that Malachi is worried about the possibility
of the Enemy nuke in Gelda has shortened the operational life of the slipgates.
However…..this solution sounds like it never took into account what kind
of damage is crawling around inside the slipgate system. I mean what if
you go out and smash the Crystallics …. Yeah ….and find out that something
in the 'off switch' is dinked up by the the damage done to the slipgate
system? Then what?"
"Well," Malachi murmurs. "That's what I was going to cover next.
"While you folks who are going out to fix things up with the Crystallics…..ALL
of you keep eyes and ears out for anything….even wild rumors….on what the
second way of shutting down the slipgate system, take notes!" the dragoness
says. "More than that….nothing I can do or say about it.
"Meeting adjourned."
Malachi's image flickers, leaving only the image of Probe staring at
the mirror, dumbly.
A 'Keep you ears open and eyes peeled' message?! Probe thinks
to himself. Good NIGHT!! Then again…..that's what I and my family of
spies are good for!
As the meeting breaks up, Probe calls his brothers and sister spies/AI/Golems
and told them the story. One AI is "absent." A quick scroll through his
messages told him what had happened. The Phantoms, the equivalent to the
CIA of the old USA, had given orders that she would be on special assignment
and was under radio silence……
Probe saw that the message was authentic, and then said a few choice
words (to himself) about the Phantom agents preferences in….certain areas
that needn't be mentioned here!
Though legal and on the up and up, it would have still been nice to
let the sight supervisor: Probe, in on the little gag!
-
 Now then……
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