| Castle D'Honaire was not what it exactly appeared to be, in truth.
See, it was a combination of TWO castles in reality. One
is the home of Fred 1, where his father had accepted the "evidence" of
his sons death and thus had been present and able to block the assassination
attempts on his only remaining child. The other castle belongs to Fred
2. Here, Fred's father had went off on a quest to find his son. Here, Lady
Fredrina was just a touch too careless about her investigations. Here,
Lady Champlaine is being visited by Duke Zular to console her on the death
of Fredrina. The two castles have had major chunks hacked out of it in
this teleport. The entity that was the controlling force behind the slipgate
system was, in an abstract and alien way, proud of the job it had done
in bringing the chunks of two parallel world real estates and integrating
them into a whole. The precision had been so concise that the molecular
bonds between the atoms of the castle's stony walls and plaster were instantly
rejoined (and thus hiding the eldritch event that had befallen the D'Honaire
Castle).
Fortunately, when the slipgate system had felt itself being forced to
drag yet another thing into this unfortunate world, the entity had been
able to deflect the transportation areas enough to NOT teleport portions
of the human units to Terra Prime, leaving chunks of the unit back in their
mirror reality (that was considered bad form).
What had happened to those left behind in the structures that had suddenly
turned into a large Swiss cheese was somewhat comedic in some cases. In
other cases, it was lethal. See, parts of the Swiss cheese that had used
to be a castle collapsed, crushing some unfortunate people. This doesn't
sadden the entity in the least, for it's job is, during the duration of
the final decline of it's "body" is to try to minimize the damage to the
unwilling passengers and cargo. It's job is damage control.
The entity was proud that it had been able to keep things together as
long as it had, but it knew that the teleportations that were being forced
upon it would be getting more and more frequent as time progressed. Not
only would they get more frequent, safe and smooth teleportation would
become rarer and rarer as the slipgate system became more and more tangled
up upon itself in bugs and glitches.
The entity considered itself something of a maestro at what it did,
and the fact that it had been able to deliver so many people and things
safe and sound bore out it's conceit.
It almost feels sad at what it knows will happen next, for it's almost
as if a master piece is being smashed to ruins by vandals.
However, it has it's own Rules to live by, and will carry out Those
dictates.
Castle D'Honaire is the last piece of real estate to be temporarily
teleported to Terra Prime. The "dome of fire" (a magical force shield)
that had been used in the other cases had ceased a few days ago. These
shields had been observed exclusively in the areas where the walls of reality
were thinnest (i.e. in Bermuda Triangle type areas). The ever vigilant
photographic eyes of the Alliance overhead had misinterpreted them as just
another strange phenomenon of these fell places (much odder things had
been observed with the onset of the malfunction of the slipgates in these
areas).
It had been a stroke of luck bordering on miraculous that none of the
inhabitants of the stitched together castle had fallen to the Phage.
Luck has just run out for Castle D'Honaire. The malfunctions that are
plaguing the slipgate system never teleport mere human units BACK to where
they came from. However, if the unit was so unfortunate to be standing
too close (or within) a piece of real estate that was going to be teleported
back, then that unit was a DEAD unit.
See, the slipgate system has protocols that it must obey. If it detects
a lethal organism that it can't neutralize (like the Phage), it will try
to protect the rest of the multi-verse by erecting a magical containment
field to isolate the potential carriers from the disease until the real
estate is teleported away or the field fails. If the field fails, the entity
will, when the demand to teleport the real estate back hits it, teleport
the real estate and anything that is in direct contact with the real estate
back….in the form of atomic dust. Not even the Phage could survive THAT.
People start to scream and yell in surprise as Castle D'Honaire (and
some unfortunate people) begins to vanish (and disintegrate).
Probe is hanging back a bit as a VERY confuse set of D'Honaires are
trying to figure out just what is going on here. Probe is fast to note
that things are starting to just vanish into thin air (as well as some
surprised looking people). Sensing danger of some type, the AI leaps forward
into the midst of the D'Honaires and does the only thing he knows he can
do.
Probe is guessing that he's racing against sudden death.
Probe's right.
A cybernetic "twitch" is sent a relay of circuits within Probes backup
communications array. A signal is sent by FTL (faster than light) transmission
to the awaiting "radio" that Inquirer was interfaced with.
The message is simple but brings a chill to Inquirer's (metaphoric)
cybernetic heart. The message is simple and short:
A1!
This is the signal of highest priority in emergency situations. This
is the signal that Probe would send if something terrible is happening
and one thing is needed ASAP!
EVAC!
The Crystallic that Inquirer has in her possession practically gets
whiplash from the force of Inquirer'' command to draw back Probe and those
people who are around him.
-
 The D'Honaires, Probe's
Avatar, and a LUCKY few castle guards and servants crash to the ground
as they pop into existence a few feet above the floor in the vault underneath
the in Ethiopia.
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