| Meanwhile...
King Willian La Post is paid a visit by rather unexpected, but welcome,
company.
He'd been expecting to meet with Probe and wasn't surprised that Dragon
Synizn, the dragon mage sworn to serve him due to the AI saving his life
(re: 2825) was there, raising a shield of privacy/spell scrying blocking
to conceal the contents of this meeting from prying ears. Malin was muttering
imprecations at this in his room, by the way, though nobody really knew
that.....yet. He'd rather hope that the young female AI called Inquirer
would show up.....but no word at to her disposition was available yet......alas.
The others were a surprise.
" Probe!" Will says gladly dropping formal titles while in private as
soon as he and his company enter into the king's private meeting chamber.
"I take it you had a good ride here from Ethiopia via shuttlecraft? Who
is this lovely woman who's with you?"
Probe smiles, glad to meet old friends (it took his mind off missing
daughters) and introduces the assemblage that had accompanied him.
"Will, I'd like you to meet a large part of my family.....from the Military,"
the male AI/golem says, introducing ten male and female figures.....that
all have gems in there forehead. Will blinks as the import of that comes
across.
"And last but not least....I'd like to introduce Evis 7.....my wife
to be," the male AI finishes as a small but elegant and beautiful raven
haired woman curtsies.
I DO hope to the Creator that my daughter, Inquirer, is alive
and will be able to see the wedding.....where are the Doctors?! Probe
added to himself.
"The war fares well with us against the Lizards and some of my family
found themselves rather.....redundant with there being yet ANOTHER set
of Probes and such doing the same job....." Probe continues, "and still
hungry for battle. So my family decided to retire together, use their back
pay to purchase Avatar bodies....and my dragon friends provided the gems
for them....so....."
Will wonders what some of them mean by getting used to ".....having
secondary indicators......." but decides not to pry. He has a feeling he
already knows what that means.....being that his sources tell that Probe
and several other golems have truly become one of Terra's own.....if a
rather exotic species......
"Probe.....this.....is almost the entirety of the AI contingent that
was on Terra..... before the Enemy dropped those nuclear bombs," Will stutters
and pauses as Probe and the others look at him and then back to Probe.
Probe and Alex look at each other and Alex then gives his "father" a
concession nod. Alex had figured that Will had been rather lucky with falling
across Drederigo's plot. Probe had figured otherwise.
"Hmmm, that's true..... but I don't remember ever telling you or the
others that," the AI says calmly, "I guess my suspicions about you were
correct....."
"Guilty," Will says, smiling as he leans back in his seat, "I figured
you may have."
"I had pretty much figured that you were something of a spy in service
to the King of Allaria," Probe sighs, "After all, I figure that Duke Drederigo
had been running a rather clandestine operation up to that point where
he altered Frederigo's map....."
"Yes....he did indeed," Will said, frowning, "and I even made a report
and warned my contact to my superiors of the danger..... only to have it
disbelieved! Either that, or the contact was intercepted before he could
pass it on. Either way, while I was gathering gear to try to save my cousin
from what I thought was sure death......"
"He'd already been captured and transformed into the manfox he loves
being now," Evis 7 put in, remembering the reports.
"That and much more," Will said sourly, "Soon, I found myself on the
run.....but you already know what happened.
"At least I have Astra....." the King finishes, "That and a nation.....that
is being rather pressed by some Orcs....if only......"
Probe and the others look at each other and then Probe puts down several
folders which what Will now recognizes as "satellite photographs" except
THESE photos are of what Will can only call blobs of color on a regular
map.
"Those are heat blossoms from what several friends I have down
in Ethiopia tell me are what could only be the munitions factories for
those Orcs of yours," Probe begins.
-
 "That's
part of the reason why you called for me, I seem to remember....."
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