[b]Canada![/b]

Really, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself. You fell for one of the classic blunders: the old “snatch them up with air support while occupying all of their attention.”

You’re dangling a hundred feet in the air from one of those animal control grabber things exiting out of a port in the hull of a chariot, which buzzed down low, pulled you off your feet, and then achieved high altitudes while you caught your breath. It’s heading directly for a giant battle arena back where you first challenged Shamash.

If you break out of the grabber... well, that’s a very, very long way to fall. If you try to scramble up the grabber, good luck getting a handhold on the spaceship’s hull. (Because it is a spaceship. It’s just called a chariot because the engines that pull them are like horses. Really, they’re more like podracers from Star Wars than anything.)

This would be a really nice time for one of your teammates to pop up and explain that Shamash is in charge of the fleet and of course he’d have very skilled air support, but there’s just you, the rushing wind, and the city lights far, far below.

***

[b]Anathet![/b]

You interrupt Caphtor as she is relaying a message to the Seneschal and his household advisors. It looks like it’s an all hands on deck situation; the Seneschal is wearing a corset and a loose skirt, the Annunaki equivalent of a sports jacket and reasonable pants for running around to put out fires.

The crisis team here is circled around the scale model of Caphtor. It’s not a hologram or computerized; it’s practical effects, a perfect replica of the city-ship that unfolds like a flower to depict the decks below when necessary. Little figurines, like the toy soldiers nerds paint and play with, represent Shamash, Canada, and a wing of chariots. The assembled Annunaki were so intent on the model and on Caphtor that poor Shelia and Muta’al, over in the dancers’ alcove, were being completely ignored.

You step out onto the luxurious carpet, in your most intimidating form, and the Seneschal’s reaction is immediate. The jewelry on his arm shifts and slots together, crackling with power as he spins on his heel and moves smoothly into Inexorable Bull Form.

The only way to speak to the keeper of the city is by holding your own in a martial arts fight against him and his handpicked advisors in his office, the windows open and letting in the cool night breeze. Which, of course, you knew, which is why you have your staff out and ready.

Heaven or hell! Duel 1! Let’s rock!

***

[b]Marianne![/b]

Chariots scream overhead. Ah, poor little Canada! She’s been caught like a mouse in a trap. And now the time has come for her to die.

In the city below, slaves are herded down streets on foot, rousted out of beds; in the city above, rickshaws and chariots bear Annunaki, just as compelled. It would not do for a single seat not to be full.

How do you make it to your seat on time, o fearful demon of the night airs?