Gwen and I went through the static trump, only to find ourselves in an odd room. Not that that's not an understatement in Chaos, really, it's just that some places are odder than others. You'll have to take my word on it, sorry.

There was a table/alter type thing, with a bright spotlight shining down on it. A voice boomed from everywhere, "Choose". Oh not again. And that sounded suspiciously like Suhuy.
Gwen and I discussed it quietly for a few moments, and she decided she just wasn't ready for that kind of committment, not that I blamed her.
"Uncle, can you help her out of here, please?" I tried.
Being Suhuy, in some 300 or more unhelpful words, he finally told us to crawl under the table. Which was nice, cause it came out in his kitchen. He has the wierdest sense of humor . . .

We sat, resting, and chatted with him for a bit. I introduced him to my friend, the rope, and he was good enough to point out that it was Merlin's toy Frakir without hitting me over the head for being dense.
"Hmmm . . . she is to him like Raven is to you . . . would you like me to take her? I can get it back to him" Suhuy offered.
I considered, "No, I think I'll return her myself, later. He shouldn't have left her - especially not in Amber."
Suhuy raised one bony ridge, and I explained where I'd found her, at which he raised the other bony ridge. Yeah, that's what I thought he'd say. Gwen just grinned.

PING

"Yes?"
"It's me" Injarda-o said redundantly. "Where are you?"
"At the Courts. With Gwen" I told him. "Want to come here?"
"Um, yes" Injarda-o decided, and I pulled him through. Suhuy wandered out on some business he was vague about, and the three of us sat chatting for a while. After a time, we decided to find out what had become of the rest of the 'group'. Injarda-o tried trumping Timtallegay, then Tekvar, but couldn't reach either of them. I had this theory going about distance and location, so I called up the Sign and reached for both of them with tendrils. It was a difficult search and a long, long reach, but eventually I seemed to get a hold of them. I had to struggle a bit, as I'm sure I alarmed them, but I managed to pull them through. Since everyone was curious about the Courts, I offered the grand tour and off we all went.

We went to the Pits, to see the divers and surfers, which facinated some of us. Tim was just nauseous, which should have been my first hint, and Tekvar was complaining about women and beer and something he called football. No pleasing some people.

Timtallegay said it felt really, really 'icky' and wanted to wander off by itself for a bit. I didn't like the idea, but as long as it didn't fall into the Pit, what harm could there be? Would that I had known.

I was informed, shortly thereafter, of the group hunting TimT down. Seems the place had just felt SO wrong to it, that it'd decided to make a bit of the area 'feel better' by being more 'structured'. It'd gone and pattern-stabalized a Way. Fortunately, Suhuy was again feeling magnanimous - wow am I going to owe him - and saved our butts. He grabbed us and helped me hide the whole bunch of them in Mandorways, to get some rest while getting us out of the line of fire.

After a few hours sleep at Mandorways, I was rudely awakened by one of the small demonkind favored by those who need messagers delivered at the Courts.

"Shut up" I told it. It continued screaming at me.

"Speak and shut up" I tried. It stopped screaming and took a deep breath. Interesting dramatic effect, seeing as it didn't need to breathe in the first place. Sigh. I heard Gwen stir and mutter something obscene about morning.

"You probably, well you could stay, but your friend Timtallagay" it said in Uncle Suhuy's voice "should probably leave." I assumed that this was live, and not recorded.

"What did he do now?" I asked in disgust.

"Nothing, they just found out where he is" Suhuy explained.

"Can you send him somewhere?" I asked, not daring to hope.

"Yes I could" Suhuy said slowly "but I'm not going to, he's your friend." Ah, I figured as much. I sighed again. This was going to be a long day, I could see that. Well, as long as I had Suhuy listening....

"By the way, I need to speak to you"

"What?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"What do you mean 01 escaped again?" I asked him. "What did he escape from?"

"Did I say again?" Suhuy asked, in far too innocent a voice.

"Yes you did" I told him emphatically.

"How unfortunate" he mumbled. Ah, so he wasn't denying it.

"If you're going to let that little tidbit slip, I would appreciate a brief explanation" I said in my most ingratiating tone "if you would condescend to me to offer me one, oh master."

"Nah" Suhuy replied with laughter in his tone.

"Oh please?" I tried.

"Nah" Suhuy repeated.

"Give me a clue. Where'd he come from?" I pressed.

"Who 01?" he sounded genuinely surprised.

"Yeah." Sometimes I wonder about the thought processes going on in there....

"We made him" he replied. Ack.

"Can you define we?" I asked him.

"Yes" he answered, perversely.

"Will you?" I hate these games.

"No" he sounded self-satisfied.

"Are you one of the we?" I tried.

"Yes" he giggled.

I considered this for a moment. This was not good.

"How fond are you of him?" I asked.

He paused, considering what I was really asking, I supposed.

"Relatively" he said mildly.

"How relatively?" I requested specifications. He got the idea.

"Don't kill him."

"Get him out of my way" I retorted to 01's apparent protection order.

"He's not in your way" Suhuy decided.

"Yes he is" I argued "on a constant, annoying, daily basis"

Suhuy's voice coming from the demon conveyed an amazing amound of expression for someone not actually there. "How is he in your way?" he asked in a curious but suspicious manner. I sighed. When he got like this, I knew for sure he wasn't going to be helpful. To the contrary, the more I pushed at this point, the more against the concept I was likely to make him. If he had any intention at any time of putting 01 away, this could prevent it. I glanced over at Gwen, who was watching this dialogue carefully. She shrugged at me.

"I'll write you a dissertation" I muttered.

"Feel free, the demon is quick", Suhuy said in his tolerant, magnanamous voice. Uck. He was in this to be amused - I doubted he cared much for the actual reasons.

"The time differential isn't that bad, I can go do other things while you talk, and let you yatter at me" he offered. Yeah, that's about what I figured his opinion of me whining about 01 was. Ah well, I can but try..

Sighing, I tried the general approach "He's causing a great deal of people a lot of aggravation by blowing up everything they do. What's with the tunnels, how's he doing that?" I added offhandedly.

"I recall you used to be like that" he mused.

"What's with the tunnels" I repeated.

"When you were really young" he went on.

"How do the tunnels work?" I persisted.

"Ask him" Suhuy responded. Damn him.

"I did, he won't explain" I sulked. "He's sarcastic and nasty."

"As opposed to?" Suhuy asked me. Heh. I need this abuse.

"Really bad programming job, I hope that wasn't yours." I poked at him.

"Programming? Who said anything about programming?" Suhuy sounded bewildered. Hmmm, Corvina, pay attention to this, I told myself.

"He's a machine, isn't he?" I asked.

Suhuy was silent for a while. I shifted in the little demon's gaze. "He thinks he's a machine" I added.

"Does he" Suhuy muttered quietly.

"Isn't he?" I pressed. The silence continued. "Suhuy?" I asked.

"Yes?" he mused, sounding distracted.

"What is he?" I asked softly. "Is he an android?"

"What are you?" he asked sarcastically.

I was taken aback by this approach. He had evidently let more slip than he intended. "Biological?" I asked.

"Are you?" he pressed.

"It's a theory" I sighed. "I don't know, I don't trust Dara any farther than I can spit her."

"Dara could say she made you" he answered

"You're being philosphical, I was looking for a straight answer. I don't suppose I could actually have one of those, could I?"

"No" he said flatly. I sighed.

"Well, if you're fond of your creation you'd better put a leash on it. He's annoying enough people that someone's going to try to get rid of him" I offered.

The little demon hung silently in the air by me, and I could swear it smiled at me. Unnerving, that.

"Suit yourself" I told it "I asked nicely."

Suhuy laughed at me, and the little demon vanished. I sighed. Sometimes I don't know which of my relatives are most annoying, but Uncle Suhuy would always be a contender, that was for sure.

I followed a few turnings of Mandorways, Gwen trailing behind with a sigh, until I came to where Timtallagay was sleeping.

I knocked on the door, and a frazzled, tired Timtallagay answered the door.

"Timtallagay" I called "we have to get you out of here."

"Ok, where are we going to go?" asked plesantly and mildly. It bothers me sometimes. A lot.

"Far away" I emphasized to him. "You annoyed enough people by being discourteous that they're on their way to get you."

"I put it back" it whined at me, mostly.

"You really pissed them off a lot" I continued, "you don't understand something - what you did was really wrong."

It stared unhappily "I'll go and apologise to them."

"I don't think they're going to want an apology, I think they're going to want blood. Let's leave."

"How would me donating blood...?" it began asking slowly

"No" I interrupted "don't take me literally. We don't have time for you to take me literally. We're going now."

"Ok" it agreed cheerfully again.

"01's bad enough." I commented "don't you start taking everything literally." Gwen snickered softly. I was glad someone was amused.

A little demon popped in near me with a soft bampf. I love that sound.

Timtallagay looked delighted with the little demon and told it hello. That figured.

"Here" the demon said to me in Suhuy's voice again "you might need these." It held out a deck of trumps. I never knew my dear Uncle cared so much. Well, not really, I knew he cared. But I guessed he hated to see students he's spent so much time on go poof.

"Thank you" I told the demon. It vanished immediately. I took this as a hint from my Uncle not to waste time. Or it could mean that he was getting his little messenger out of range. Either or. I paged through the deck, my surprise turning to, well, surprise, and a little disgust. The out of range theory began to hold some serious merit. Uncle, I thought, you have far too much free time on your hands. The first 25 trumps were of me, in different forms, poses, lighting, etc. Either this is a joke, or he really likes me more than I ever knew. I will wonder for some time.

I noted that everyone was crowding around to peer at my new toys. Ah, let them, I thought. No harm in knowing who I could call, unless there was something really unusual in the pile.

I handed a copy of me to Gwen. That'll save her the trouble of drawing her own, I guess. And, hopefully, she will call. Heh.

The next trump was of Castle Amber. Still quite lovely, even though it's far too static. I turned to the next trump to see the Gates to the Citadel of the Courts. Nice. I liked being able to get home at MY preference.

The next trump startled me. It was 01, in a humanoid form different than the one I'd seen, with black hands and feet. Hmmm.

"I knew you could make a trump of him" Injarda-o stated excitedly. "Can I copy that, Corvina? Can I make a copy? Corvina? Can I copy that one?" I was busy thinking, and it is possible Injarda-o repeated himself with the same singleminded determination that marked his trump creation. In other words, he put the average 5 year old to shame. I waved him to silence with a nod of assent. I figured it would annoy 01 to no end to have copies of his trump out there, so I was glad to participate in their dissemination.

I turned to the next trump, and saw the comfortable demonform of my Uncle. This makes me glad - I like being able to speak with him.

The next trump I almost dropped, so badly did my hand shake. The card turned ice-cold instantly, and I was quick to cover it up, but not before it burned itself into my mind's eye. A twisted, gnarled old man grinned out of the card, a gleam in his eyes I couldn't define. Behind and around him was dipicted the almost-but-not-quite-there shape of a huge demonform. He stood in a place nearly as convoluted as Suhuy's labs, and I realized for the first time how similar they must be, how much in common they must have shared. The more I thought about it, I realized that Suhuy must have grown up with Dworkin, sharing interests, studies, theories. Who knows? Maybe Dworkin just beat Suhuy to the punch in creating the Pattern, maybe Suhuy wasn't interested. A whole new realm of speculation jumped up before me, and I began considering the ugly potential of who that we might have been. We made him Suhuy had told me. Could he have meant himself and Dworkin? If so, what was the purpose for 01? This was an uncomfortable possiblity. Maybe 01 was off on his own agenda, because they wanted him to accomplish something. I would have to carefully consider this.

Injarda-o was tugging at me again, asking who the last trump was, huh, huh, huh.

"Later" I snapped "we have to get going." I tucked the new trumps in with my old ones, the rest to be examined later. "Alright, were are we going to go?"

"Let's go to Metabolis Three" Timtallagay suggested "and see if 01 will contact us."

Injarda-o called it Blue World. We all agreed to go, and Timtallagay said it could get us there.

"Ok" TimT said "I'm going to start shadow-walking."

"Um....um....eh....um.....er" I said "you don't have a trump?"

"No" it seemed nonplussed by all this. I get the very distinct feeling that TimT has no danger sense and no base survival instincts. That's amazing.

"Why don't I take us somewhere, and then he can pattern walk" Injarda-o suggested. "Would that be better?"

"Yeah, sure" I stuttered, lost in contemplation. "Where are you going to take us?"

"Cowland" Injarda-o stated primly. I didn't want to know.

Injarda-o activated a trump gate, without a trump. Ick. We all left the Courts, and arrived in...