Amelia O’Mangan sighed internally when she saw Abraham Zachariah’s face as he entered the Company’s headquarters.

“No luck?”

“Nope. Back from the Great Gate, and it’s still locked. I can access my travel locations, I just can’t get back to London.”

Luther Fullmore swore upon hearing that bit of news. His wife Ada squeezed his shoulder. They had a celebration planned for their first anniversary next month, and being stuck… sucked. He supposed he could do it here in Gatepost, but he had been looking forward to toasting the event with some of his close family members.

Then, Zachariah added, “You know, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen… a Gate descriptor.”

“What?” was shouted nearly unanimously by the Company’s members present.

Transit: Grailburg - Earth 113

Integrity: 100%

Locked

Stability: 100%

“When you use a Gate normally, you get a transit destination notice if you have Fast Travel selected, or a requirement panel if you can’t use it, but you never saw any Gate descriptor by itself. And no. I’ve been to Todrastea to check before Recalling, and I can’t see the descriptor on that Gate. It’s just the Gate back to London that shows one now.”

“So… the way to London is locked. What happened?” Amelia asked.

Ada Fullmore answered her forewoman.

“I was in London the day before, and scuttlebutt was that the French were doing something big in England. Spies had reported some people sneaking in, probably to do… something.”

“You think this is related?” Amelia asked again.

“I don’t see how it could be, but then again, I don’t see how it can’t be. The Gates are impervious to everything, including Profession skills. Can’t dent, melt, nick anything. But trust the French to figure out how to mess with one.”

“If they can lock the Gate…”

“If that lasts, then the Kingdom is in trouble. Without a steady supply of Power Crystal, we’ll have difficulties staying abreast of the French Hordes,” Abraham concluded.

“Which is probably what the French would like very much to get,” Luther added.

“But how did they do it?” Turner asked.

“New tier 7? New tinkering? Who knows,” Abraham said.

He added, “The point is, something or someone slammed the Gate to London shut. And we have no way to unlock it.”

“What can we do?”

“Nothing. Unless you think we can negotiate passage through another Gate.”

Luther snorted.

“I’ll pass on the French one. And good luck with China. They’ll probably slaughter us before we even reach the Gate.”

“Think we can trek to the Colonies?” Ada asked him.

“Any idea what’s the best path?” he countered.

Amelia laughed.

“Don’t get your hopes up. You need to check at the Archives, but it’s higher than your tier if I remember right.”