"Well, my little friends, as much as I have enjoyed our chat and your reactions to our little experiments, that must be all for today. My schedule was interrupted by the need to move my ship from the city due to the emergence of some subterranean crab-beast. Thank you for dealing with that Milo. It allows me to return and keep my reservation at our favorite restaurant and complete some business dealings. We'll depart for Fort Hopeless after that."

Milo was clutching his hands in front of him, listening carefully, and bowing his head when he was thanked for dealing with the threat to the city. Philistron noticed, moved his hand to the cheese on the platter in front of him, and then stood up instead. The rat wilted, and his hands were shaking.

He turned to the cat. "And I have a special treat for you, Nina. I've finished my work on a new set of runes to brand you with. I'm happy to say that these should achieve the effect of lowering your intelligence to that of a normal house-cat, and make you quite pliable and willing to please a master. After your mind is destroyed, you'll fetch a nice price at the auction. You will be next Onyx."

Nina screamed upon hearing this, and threw herself against the bars of her cage again and again. Onyx began to curse at the wizard in a dozen languages that he'd never heard before. But the rat had the best reaction.

"And me master? What of Tall-Squeak? Do I get new runes? Then I can stay with Master forever and be a good rat."

Philistron considered. "Why, I think that is a wonderful idea, don't you Nina? We can probably let you be a bit smarter than the cat; she needs to be quite dumb."

"Yes, yes, yes. I get to stay. Stupid cat is stupid cat forever!"

Nina and Onyx were so loud in their screams that Philistron put them both to sleep with a spell to prevent them damaging themselves. It had been such a lovely performance. The wizard departed.

Milo studied the Machine Code as the door locked. Each time it did, the puzzle was different. It kept the wizard from neglecting his skills, and now it gave Milo a way to practice his new skills. He could just barely manipulate the lines of runes and numbers now, convincing them to connect the right nodes and balance the forces in the puzzle. He spent an hour working on the door, and held himself to just a small sliver of the aged cheddar from his basket.

It was torture, denying himself, but it had to be done. Too much cheese and he'd begin regenerating faster and undo the work of Oooblimilo to soften his skull and bones further. Oddly, he felt better for not giving in and knowing he could resist the call of the cheese.

For the second time he removed the collar. He tried to bring up his character sheet, but that still seemed broken. He saw a flickering blue box but only for a second. Was the airship shielded from the system? Probably, otherwise it would be easy to track the wizard by tracking his ship. Maybe just not as strongly as the collar's effects. Or perhaps when the wizard wasn't onboard? He just didn't know enough yet. But one thing he knew, Philistron was paranoid and didn’t want the system knowing about him. Which was the first thing Milo wanted to do, as soon as he got out of here.

He needed off the airship. Luckily, his good friend Sydney had sent him the tools he needed.

He sat down on the floor, and began the change to human. It felt wrong in so many ways. His hair faded, and the rune on his chest was gone, replaced by smooth, ugly human skin. He stood on wobbly legs, and moved to the bars. To his elation and horror, he could slide through with little problem. The runes glowed slightly at his passage, but that was it. He changed back to his normal form and moved to the door. Within a minute he had completed the puzzle and carefully opened the door. Only silence greeted him.

Surprisingly, the airship was not that large. Directly across from him was another of the sealed doors, with a different puzzle. The rest of the cabin was perhaps fifty feet long and fifteen feet wide. Two chairs sat at the front and the back near complex controls. A large crystal stood on a pedestal in the center of the room. The rest of the walls were all windows and a set of windowed doors on each side to exit the machine. Hatches in the ceiling led to the interior of the canopy. . He could easily see the city spread out below him, lights glinting in the dark.

And that wasn't right. Why build a room with cages on the side of the airship? Milo looked through the windows next to each of the arcane puzzle doors. Nothing was there. He recalled the wizard’s words:"...a dashing and clever Wizard who specialized in Dimensional Magic...". So, what was behind the other door?

Curious, Milo worked the puzzle. The door opened slowly. He entered the dark room filled with cages. So many cages! The grey minions stood, totally inert to either side of the door, like robots with no power. Or once thinking creatures with their intellect removed. Beyond that was a huge room filled with a hundred cages, each packed with humanoids of various types. Some of them quite small. He moved forward slowly. In the first cage he was surprised to see the entire clan of halflings cheese sellers. They were thin and miserable, sleeping on the floor. Only the old matriarch was awake, watching him with curious, hard eyes. Milo put his finger to his lips, then pantomimed a collar, and breaking it. Then pointed to the rest. She nodded her head. He moved back to the door, and into the main compartment.

The wizard might be beyond him to deal with, but he was going to ruin his day, and steal both his airship and his profits. But he was going to need help. Specialized help.

=*=

Nina awoke suddenly. She smelled something. Opening her eyes, she saw a small cage woven of straw from their bedding. Inside was a mouse. She let the creature go, and as it ran, pounced quickly, killed it, and ate it. She hugged herself, equally disgusted and relieved as the pressure on her mind to Hunt was relieved. She heard slurping from Onyx's cage and was surprised to see him sipping tea. The rat was holding out the teapot to pour him another cup. Seeing she was up; he casually tossed another mouse in her cage. It died only a half second slower than the first. Sated for now, she could think.

"Why?"

The rat looked at her. "Because no one should be tortured, and no one should be caged."

"And because he needs our help to free a few hundred other people." Onyx set down his teacup, and waved off a refill. "I should be good now for quite some time, thank you. Amazing what clarity comes from increased intelligence and perception. In retrospect, I can see how you played our captor like a violin. But what is next?"

Milo pulled out a long, stiff wire that he had taken from the cheese cutter, and the small, very sharp knife. "Now we get you out."

Wincing slightly, he cut off the tip of his left pinky finger. "Get out here, Oooblimilo, we have work to do."

A smallish white blob formed on the tip of the wounded finger. "As large mass commands. We have mass to absorb?"

"Soon, soon, but first I need you to dissolve some metal for me while I work on the locks." Reaching into Onyx’s cage, he put the small slime in contact with the elf's collar. Acid was secreted and fumes rose as the thin collar melted away. Milo put a drop of acid on the other side, and it easily was snapped in half. He moved and applied acid to Nina's collar, and then went to work on the locks of their cages.

“Damn it, I can’t log out. Why?” Nina’s frustration was coming back. Milo simply said, “Ship is shielded from system.”

With only a little work, he was able to pick both locks. They had nine tumblers each and were quite simple. "Don't step out, the runes will still fry you."

Nina bit back a retort. As her mind returned, it was obvious the rat had a plan to get them out. As she watched, he walked into Onyx’s cage, moved the elf against the wall, and a large crate appeared. "Hop in. Probably good to hold your breath, but I don't know."

Onyx quickly jumped in the box, which disappeared, and then reappeared as Milo summoned it on the outside of the runic circle. Onyx jumped out of the box, wide eyed. "It was a bit cold, but other than that, I felt no movement at all. That is an amazing skill. Something granted by Engineering?"

Milo smiled as he moved to free Nina. "No, I know engineering from the real world. After two decades of keeping a habitat section running, there isn't much I don't know how to build or fix. The Smuggler's Stash is from my rare Scout class from The Eye of Wonder quest."

Nina was free, and suddenly turned and hugged him, making him very nervous. "Thankyou. Thankyou. I thought I'd go insane. How soon can we log out."

Onyx turned to her. "You leave as soon as you are able to do so. Tall-Squeak and I need to steal the airship. It seems that Philistron has several hundred other captives."

She processed that. "No one should be a slave." Milo was already opening the door. Onyx raced to the crystal set into the pillar, his eyes glowing as he took command of the ship. "Where to Captain Tall-Squeak?"

"Let's get some distance from the wizard, straight out into the ocean to clear the mountain, then move parallel to the coast and back to land after a few miles. If we can find a good spot to land, Nina can leave the ship and log out. But a town would be better for unloading the people.

"Aye, aye, Captain. Straight to sea it is. I'll get some altitude as soon as we're out of the cavern.

With a slight whine of its engines, the sleek airship moved over the city, and then out over the sea.

Far below, sitting by himself at a lavishly set table, Philistron finished his plate of Zurcher Geschenetzeltes, and contemplated his next course. Turning to his familiar he asked, "What shall it be? A cheese tray? Fruit basket? Baklava? or maybe a fresh salmon?"

"..."

"All of them? Yes, that's a splendid idea. Shipboard food is so boring and I hate to cook. Let’s feast now before heading to Fort Hopeless and our well-deserved payday."

He waved to the waiters patiently lined up to attend his needs.

"Garcon! Bring it all, and another bottle of wine."