"With the arrival of that doppleganger ship," Alicia reasons aloud.
"We needn't worry about what would happen if we use the Crystallics to
transport ourselves…and them….."
"Safeties off," mutters Probe. "And if we can't stop the slipgates from
collapsing…..this world dies…..and perhaps any chance of the War EVER ending!"
Oh, I suppose we could mine the asteroids if the planet just tears
itself apart, Probe chuckles mirthlessly to himself. But that would
be of NO comfort to the dead of Terra….and my friends down here….these
strange natives…… No, it wouldn't do at all.
"Exactly, my mechanized friend," Dragon Synizn says with a trace of
companionship in it. "But fear not, cyborg, for that means that at least
ONE task has become easier!"
"And just HOW has it gotten easier?" the disgruntled Probe asks the
captain/magi/dragon.
"Instead of taking a few weeks to repair the damage to Terra," Sigin
smiles with an oddly….foxy smile on his draconian muzzle. "It will take
all of two days!"
"It was all a matter of travel, you see." Fred 3 explains to the confused
AI. "You made it clear that the Alliance wouldn't send down any more shuttlecraft….since
retrieval was impossible with the Phage about, then we were stuck with
travel by dragonback as the next fastest thing! But now…..we can get there
almost instantaneously.
Probe's eyes almost light up literally in comprehension and excitement,
because this meant that once this side trip stuff was done….and the dragons
actually got done with their missions….then they would concentrate FULLY
on a cure for the Phage.
"Ah, that's GOOD to hear," Probe whispers fiercely.
So, with that, the picture doesn't look good, but…there are a few hopeful
things afoot here.
"One thing," a still somewhat worried Fred 3 thinks aloud. "I wonder
what'll happen if the gravity goes wonky while a dragon is flying?"
"It depends on several factors," Dragon Synizn says in a no nonsense
voice. "If the increase is TOO great and we are too low to make a 'fall
softly' spell to float down…..we crash and die…..that is….MOST dragons."
Malachi chuckles a grim chuckle and takes up the thread of conversation.
"With me….being wed to Ethiopia as it were…..I'm now EXTREMELY hard
to kill since Ethiopia is still a force to be reckoned with. I'd be bruised,
but still could walk away from it."
"I see," Alicia says, wondering aloud. "But isn't there usually a downside
to all this…..it always seems that there's a balancing factor with all
magic boons."
"I….guess you could say so," Malachi says softly, holding up something
for all to see. "See, I kept hearing and feeling the hopes and dreams of
my people……about one thing in particular that…..I found I could no longer
resist. No longer resist, for my faith in Her had already been stretched
to the breaking point with all this."
The dragons blink at the small cross that Malachi is holding up. Alicia
smiles in welcome.
"I finally decided that I no longer could believe in a Goddess who would
have allowed so much evil to happen to and through our race, my friends."
Malachi says, a tear forming in the corner of one golden, slit pupiled
eye. "And…..the calling……my people keep on callling for me to be saved….."
Malachi can't continue….and frankly……nobody had the right to fault her
for her choices she'd made.
"Meeting adjourned," Fred says. Connections are broken.
-
 The adventurers go back
to the tasks they had set off on doing.
Go Back
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