"The teleportation arch was invented back at the very dawn of recorded history," began Saturn. He rose from his chair and began pacing back and forth behind it as if lecturing to a class of apprentices. "Back then, the human race was confined not just to the island continent of Garon but to the south eastern corner of that land mass, sharing it with many races of degenerate creatures whose rapacious onslaughts had for centuries threatened the very survival of civilised man. The wizards were mankind's single trump card in those early days of strife and conflict. The one advantage they had against enemies stronger, faster and, in some cases, more cunning and resourceful. Without the magic users, the human race would almost certainly have been driven to extinction, and if man had been remembered at all by the surviving races, it would have been as merely one more mythical creature alongside the Gurks, the Kelns, the chameleon skinned Hoth and the bat winged Baklars who had roosted among the towering ice crowned peaks of the mighty Habbalurgs."

     "Perhaps a little less of the colourful detail," said the Director with a slight smile. "You're not entertaining children around a camp fire."

     "Yes, of course," said Saturn with a scowl of annoyance. "The important thing, the thing that I was just getting to, is that the wizards of that day had known they were needed. Everyone else had known it as well, and so the wizards had enjoyed a high status among the peoples of the primal land. In most of the city states of that far off time, wizards had ruled as kings, ruling with an iron fist, cruel and terrible. In others, they were a ruling class of aristocrats who treated the mundane population as a slave race, to be worked and oppressed until they dropped in their tracks from exhaustion and despair. Wizards had been hated and feared, therefore, and if it hadn't been for the danger threatening humanity's very existence they would long since have been hunted down and exterminated.

     "The wizard’s were needed, though, and so they were tolerated, and it would be many more centuries, as humanity slowly grew stronger and spread across the island continent, before the balance of power began to shift and we were forced to reassess our position.

     "It was into this primal world that the wizard Khesh Tarr was born. The only son of the wizard King of B’hann, Whispering Thell the Cruel. Whispering Thell had had a wide ranging reputation for malice and brutality, but the crimes and atrocities that his son was to commit eclipsed him completely, to the extent that the mundane slave population came to remember the reign of the father as a golden age and prayed to the Gods for him to return and re-take the Cloud Throne from his murderous son. As it turned out, though, the unhappy citizens of B’hann were stuck with their hated overlord for three centuries as he went on to become one of the first raks, but it wasn't for this that he is best remembered nowadays. He is remembered today as the creator of the teleportation arch, which could be smuggled into neighbouring cities hidden in merchant caravans and used to move invading armies inside the walls to rape, pillage and conquer.

     "Teleportation arches always come in pairs. Two arches that are, in fact, one arch that exists in two places at the same time. The first ones were made of polished obsidian and carved on every surface with words in the language of magic. They were great heavy things, weighing up to a ton each, and stood on pedestals of granite mined from the roots of the mighty Habbalurgs..."

     "Saturn," said the Director. "Campfiring again. Please try to contain the flowery language."

     There were smiles around the table. Everyone knew that Saturn loved to tell stories. He loved to be the source of information, to be the one that people came to with questions. In his mind, they would sit at the foot of his throne while he dispensed his wisdom, acknowledging his superiority over them in knowledge and understanding. It was said, although never within his hearing, that if he eventually ascended to godhood in the afterlife, he would be the god of egotism.

     Saturn continued to speak with an effort to keep to the bare facts. "Once smuggled into place, anyone stepping through either of the arches appeared from the other, as simply as stepping through a doorway. The first experiments, with both arches standing in the same room, went perfectly, but problems began to arise when they tried putting to practical use.

     "The problem was that anything could pass through a teleportation arch. Anything at all, including air, and there was nothing to prevent the free passage of air through the arches. The modern teleportation cubicle is designed like an airlock, with at least one of its two doors having to be closed at all times. If one of a pair of linked cubicles is in a region of higher atmospheric pressure than the other, the air can only pass through a few cubic yards at a time, briefly gusting in or out whenever one of the doors is opened, but the arches were open all the time and so a steady breeze blew through them. Sometimes in one direction, sometimes in the other as regions of high and low atmospheric pressure passed across the huge island continent.

     "The city of B’hann was located high on the plateau of Kull, a thousand feet above sea level, and the first couple of city states Khesh Tarr conquered were also on the plateau, but the next city upon which he cast his eyes was the city of Agromay, on the Iron Coast, and to make matters worse that city was enjoying a fine, hot summer at the time, probably caused by a high pressure cell that was squatting above the region."

     "I'm sorry," said Valeron Hort. "A what?"

     Saturn hesitated before replying, perhaps wondering whether there was time for a brief few words on meteorology, but then the Director caught his eye and he harrumphed instead. "It just means the difference in air pressure was greater than it would otherwise have been," he said.

     "Air pressure?" asked the soldier.

     "Just press on," the Director advised Saturn. "If the good Colonel has questions, you can answer them later."

     Saturn nodded and resumed his pacing, his hands clasped behind his back. "Khesh Tarr hadn't been worried by the occasional light breeze that had blown through the arches during his conquests so far. He had no idea what caused it and, so long as it didn't interfere with his ambitions, he didn't care. The arch was hidden away in a caravan of ironwood, therefore, and sent on its way.

     "As the caravan made its slow and steady way down the plateau towards the coastal flats on which Agromay stood, though, a steady breeze began to issue from the second arch which Khesh Tarr had left standing outside B’hann's west gate. He wasn't taking any chances of an enemy army turning the tables on him and invading his city through the arches. The breeze stiffened into a gale as the caravan set off along the great west road, and as it began to approach sea level it had grown to a raging hurricane blasting the city. Eyewitness accounts from the time speak of winds so strong that it became impossible for any man to approach it. Not even from behind.

     "At the caravan, it manifested itself as a suction so strong that several pieces of ironwood were sucked through, to be spat out from the second arch like the missiles of the Gods. The escorting soldiers, disguised as merchants, struggled on as far as they could, afraid of Khesh Tarr's wrath if they returned in defeat, but in the end the wagon was completely overturned and destroyed; the wreckage sucked through and spat out at B’hann, leaving the arch revealed on the road lying on its side, surrounded by such a storm of suction that no-one dared approach it closer than fifty yards.

     "That close to the city of Agromay, it was only a matter of hours before the arch and its bewildered escort were discovered by Agromayan soldiers. The commander of the Agromayan patrol, a wizard of no small accomplishment himself, soon figured out what it was and the reason for its strange behaviour, and realised he had a chance to avenge himself upon the warlord of B’hann for his impudence in plotting war against his city. The captured soldiers of B’hann were fed into the arch one at a time, therefore, to be flung out towards their home city and slammed into ruin against its hard stone walls as a grisly warning to Khesh Tarr. The arch itself was then dragged to the harbour and thrown into the sea.

     "If the hurricane force winds issuing from the second arch had been bad, that was nothing compared to the torrent of water that now poured out. Salty water gushed from the obsidian arch carrying fish, lanky strands of seaweed and churned up mud that streamed down the gentle slope to the city's west gate. The gate couldn't keep the water out, and soon half the city was awash. The city's fabled olive groves were poisoned with salt and killed, and the drinking water was contaminated, making it undrinkable for months afterwards.

     "Khesh Tarr flew into a murderous rage, killing many of his own courtiers and advisors, some accidentally, some deliberately, as he ordered the inundation stopped. In the end, that could only be done by destroying the arch, and the explosive release of magic that resulted destroyed half the city's outer circle, blasting buildings to ruin and causing enormous loss of life."

     "By the Gods!" muttered Valeron Hort, staring in astonishment.

     "It was many days before Khesh Tarr had calmed down enough to be safe to approach," continued Saturn. "He had learned a valuable lesson about the limitations of teleportation arches, though, and in future he positioned them only in places of equal heights above sea level, although stiff breezes still blew through them, first one way then the other as the air pressure rose and fell. He conquered the city of Agromay six months later using a conventional army raised from his earlier conquests, and ordered the entire population of the city, men, women and children, to be crucified along the roads leading to neighbouring cities as a warning to all who would defy him."

     Colonel Hort gave a sigh of amazement. "By the Gods!" he said again. "To think that wizards once dominated humanity so completely, and ruled with such savagery and brutality. No wonder you keep that story under such tight wraps."

     "If it were to become generally known, it would undo everything the University has tried to accomplish," agreed Saturn grimly. "Some background was necessary, however, for you to understand the arches properly. The risk they present is so great that no responsible wizard will create them any longer. Even the externums know this. To the best of my knowledge, no teleportation arch has been created since humanity colonised Amafryka."

     "But that spinning disk up there is one of these things?"

     "I'm sure of it, and the fact that it's circular, with no base to stand on, suggests that it was created to float in space. That it was never intended to stand on a planetary surface."

     "Then its twin must also be in space somewhere," said the soldier. "Floating around up there..." He gave a sudden start as an idea came to him. "It could be orbiting another world altogether. Another civilization could be using them to come and go from our world."

     "The Rossem Shipbuilders perhaps," agreed Seskip Tonn. "Or the saboteurs, the felisians.”

     “So you think the felisian theory is right?” asked Saturn. ”People who can turn into cats?”

     “I’ve been gradually warming to the idea,” replied the head proctor. “In all the months since the last sabotage incident, no-one’s come up with a better idea. No other humanoid species has the same anatomical features possessed by the one we dissected, features that are strikingly cat-like. It’s likely that they’re not native to our world, therefore, and if they come from another world we may have just discovered how.”

     "We must investigate it without delay," stated the soldier firmly. "The new test chamber must be sent up immediately."

     "The other object must be investigated as well," agreed Saturn. "Its placement, directly opposite Kronos from the circular arch, er ring, suggests a connection."

     "Could it be a felisian spaceship?" asked the Director. "The crew dead, perhaps, and the ship drifting, out of control?"

     "It is neither drifting nor out of control," replied Saturn. "It is very precisely positioned so that it, Kronos and the centre of Tharia form a perfect equilateral triangle. That can't be accidental. Also, it is too large to have come through the ring. Its diameter is greater by several inches."

     "How soon can the new test chamber be launched?" asked the Director.

     "Not for several days yet," said Pondar Walton. "The final spells cannot be cast until wytchesnight. There's no rush, though. Those artifacts have been up there for a long time. They'll wait a few days longer."

     "Perhaps we can inspect them with scrying spells," suggested the Colonel. "We can at least see what the writing says. Those translation spells of yours are really quite remarkable."

     "Scrying no longer works over such distances," said Saturn, however. "The same interference that affects teleporting and farspeaking affects any spell that has to work over a long distance. The only reason the Lenses of Farseeing still work is that they don't need to create a magical construct at the far end."

     "So there's nothing we can do for now but wait?" asked the Director.

     "There is one thing we can do," said the one eyed wizard, leaning forward eagerly. "Launch the Ship of Space immediately. All the essential magics are in place. What's left to do can be done just as easily in space as in its cradle. The moon trogs estimate that they can finish applying the anti-meteorite cladding by this time tomorrow." His single eye glittered as it swept across the other people present. "Only two people can rise in the test chamber, and one of them has to be a cleric of Calcular, to navigate. That leaves room for one wizard to inspect the ring. If we go in the Ship of Space, however, any number of us can go. Instead of one of us having to describe his findings to the others, we can all see for ourselves. The ship can remain in place while we teleport to and from the University. We'll be able to carry out a close observation over a prolonged period."

     "There would be tremendous advantages, no doubt about that," agreed the Director, "but we've put far too much time and effort into building the Ship of Space to bodge it up with a last minute rush. Tests have to be carried out first."

     "The only effective tests can only be carried out in flight," countered Saturn. "The things we really need to know, to be sure of the ship's safety, cannot be learned with it sitting safely in its cradle. This trip can double as the ship's shakedown cruise."

     "Master Wellin, what do you say?" asked the Director, turning to the shae man.

     "From a purely technical point of view, the ship could depart immediately," agreed Rin Wellin. "I would prefer a few more weeks, to double check everything..."

     "But it could lift immediately," prompted Saturn.

     "Yes, it could," said the shae man unhappily.

     "Why the hurry?" asked Pondar Walton, though. "You only have to look at the ring to know it's been there for a long time. It'll still be there next month. Why not make sure the ship is safe before launching it?"

     "Because we are at war," said Saturn firmly. "Make no mistake, we are at war. The murder of Schoena Scull can only be taken as an act of war. The felisians have attacked us again and again. Who knows what new atrocities they might be planning? Every day we wait is a day we give them to plot against us. If this ring is a felisian artifact than we must investigate it now. Straight away. Not a month from now."

     "I agree," said the Colonel firmly. "Any soldier will tell you that delay plays into the hands of the enemy. We must move now."

     "But haste can be as destructive as an enemy attack," pointed out Rin Wellin. "What will we have accomplished if the Ship of Space founders from spell incompatibility or structural failure? Everyone aboard could be killed."

     "I will be aboard and I am willing to take the risk," said Saturn. his single eye glowering at the shae man. "It's a risk worth taking." He and the Colonel stared expectantly at the Director, along with Pondar and Rin Wellin, all of them awaiting his decision.

     "The Master of Ceremonies will be unhappy if we omit the forms and rituals," pointed out Seskip Tonn, his vaguely reptilian face creased into an uncharacteristic smile of amusement. He was one of a minority that found the endless ceremonies tiresome and would have liked nothing better than to abolish them. The time they wasted! Time and energy that could be put to better use.

     "The ceremonies will take place as scheduled," said the Director with a warning glance at his Head Proctor. "The ship will be launched at the earliest possible opportunity, with an appropriate skeleton crew to investigate these objects. It will then return to Kronos for whatever work remains to be done and the official launch will take place as scheduled, with all the appropriate pomp and ceremony."

     "This mission must remain secret, in case word gets back to the felisians," said the Colonel, "and I want some of my men aboard for a military analysis."

     "Of course," agreed the Director, nodding his head slightly in his direction. "And no doubt the shae folk and the moon trogs will want to be represented as well."

     "I would very much like to be aboard myself," said Rin Wellin, earning him a scowl from Saturn.

     "Then you shall be. Saturn, can you give us a provisional time for departure?"

     "Barring complications, dawn the day after tomorrow, Lexandria time."

     "Dawn the day after tomorrow it is then. So, who else do you want to take with you?"

     Saturn thought for a moment, then began to recite a short list of names.