Jonas was sitting in a waiting room at the St James Palace, slightly fretting for the unexpected convocation. The London Archives had no idea where Babbage was but finally found out that there was supposed to be a meeting at the palace. And that he was wanted there.

So, instead of killing ice frogs on a Monday morning, he was sitting in a room at the Palace, wondering what was going on. That lasted for an hour until an usher finally came and told him that the meeting was actually to be held at the War Department’s offices in Whitehall. The man gave him detailed instruction on how to reach the place, which thankfully wasn’t too far from the Palace.

Jonas exited quickly and moved briskly along the park toward the government offices. He’d half expected to have a meeting with her Highness or something, but the move to a different location – if it was a move and not just someone at the Archives misunderstanding something entirely – seemed to hint at something else. Jonas had no idea what the War Department wanted him for.

He didn’t have to go the long way round though, seeing as the Horse Guard’s building where the department was seated had entrances on both government’s row and the park itself. Giving his name – no Professional seemed around to verify his identity – he was immediately directed to a side building’s floor, where he found what he hoped was the right door and knocked.

Four men were seated inside, talking animatedly. The one he immediately recognized was the Resilient Spellwrangler, Babbage. There was another figure he’d seen at least once… yes, the government’s Chancellor. John Scott. One of the many figures he’d seen all the time. And there was also Richard Wellesley, the minister in charge of the Labyrinth if his memory was right. The last man he didn’t know, although it ended up that one who rose and came to welcome him.

“Ah. My second best-known employee has arrived.”

The man raised his hand. Jonas had almost twisted his wrist in the common descriptor trade but managed to bring back his hand in a more mundane handshake just in time.

“I’m Arthur Wellesley. Duke of Wellington, attached at the War Department.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, we meet at last.”

He brought Jonas toward the table at which the rest of them were seated. The Duke started the introductions.

“You’ve met my older brother, I think. Richard’s been serving under Prime Minister Perceval for years now, mainly about the Labyrinth affairs. He’s been running the British Scouts since the dissolution of the Royal Labyrinth Company.”

“A pleasure to meet again, Sir Wellesley. Other Wellesley, I mean,” Jonas stumbled.

The older man laughed before shaking Jonas’ hand.

“John Scott, which you may have seen…”

“We briefly met during one of those receptions after the Gate reopening, I think,” confirmed Jonas, shaking the Chancellor’s hand.

“And of course, you know Charles, our foremost researcher on the Labyrinth issues.”

Babbage’s hand, Jonas grasped in the more normal descriptor swap gesture. Babbage’s eyebrows rose on noticing the current status of Jonas’ levels.

Jonas seated himself and waited to see what this meeting was about.

“So, you’re saying that there’s lots more than four Great Gilded Gates?” Jonas said incredulously.

“You were quite dead at the time, but yes. Once your friends all injected their health force into the Gate, it seems it lost its connection to London. A fascinating implication, since it might mean that it is possible to change a Gate to connect to a different one than it previously had. Restructuring the Labyrinth itself. But what is important here is that the Great Gate did attempt to connect to Earth repeatedly… but it targeted dozens of destinations.”

“It did connect to London, though.”

“And yes. It did so, but you do remember the designation of the Gate, right?”

“It says the Gate is number 113,” Jonas replied immediately.

“For months before you came, we thought that this might mean the Labyrinth once had more Gates open, and the known ones were the last ones left. But the Gilded Gate attempted to connect to various numbers which it said 'unavailable' and others which were all 'in-use'.”

“That would be the three other… except there were more than three numbers in-use, right?”

“And not only that, but it did attempt to reconnect to number 113 twice. And it failed because it was ‘in-use’, both times. Then it connected, restarted, and opened the transit finally.”

“But how can we do anything about that. I mean, all of us can still access the Gate descriptor, but that’s all we can do. Now that the Gate is open, that is.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to shut the Gate no. And by the way… try not to attempt that, please,” Babbage said sheepishly.

“I wouldn’t even know how to do that,” Jonas hurriedly answered.

“I wasn’t implying. Just… don’t try to figure out that on a hunch or something. Even if you die on the attempt.”

“I won’t.”

“Anyway, we can’t check the French Gate in Versailles, obviously. Nor the Chinese one. But, even if we have had our disagreements with the Colonies, we are currently at peace, at least nominally. They accepted to help us before.”

“And they have a Gate. That you want us to check.”

“See, that INT potential isn’t wasted.”

John Scott took over the discussion.

“Although ‘us’ isn’t the right term. The Americans are well aware it took all of you to reopen the Gate, and they are not about risking someone coming and shutting down theirs. So they are willing to allow one of you – just one – to come and visit. Even though they do not know why we’re interested in their Gate.”

“What are you expecting?” Jonas asked, looking at Babbage.

“Anything. Maybe 113 as well, which can mean many things. Or 114 or 112, which would mean something else. Or maybe it’s 77 or a completely different number, which may mean we’re wrong about that.”

The Duke of Wellington cut the speculations, “What we’re interested in is that if it turns out that there are many Gates and some that no one has found… it would be useful for the War Department.”

“How could there be other Gates?”

“The four we know of are located in well-known areas, in the heart of our respective territories. But we’ve suspected there is a fifth somewhere in Africa for quite a long time, even though we have no real clue at its location. So if there’s a fifth Gate after all… why not six. Or seven. Or more, all over in hidden places.”

Jonas thought about it.

“You hope for a backdoor into Napoleon’s own lair.”

“Richard’s British Scouts here will probably diversify. And try to find more about low tier zones – tier one zones. In case they have Great Gates.”

The Duke’s brother elaborated, “By large, we don’t focus on lower-tier zones that are under a known tier four yet that can’t be accessed otherwise. The Company did push a bit wide in the early days, but it is far more useful to open up more tier four for our veteran Professionals and higher. So my Professionals explore typically tier fives and are trying to scout tier six and seven extensively.”

“That’s… bold.”

“And it will take time. Probably. But before we start spending too many of our limited resources scouring the low tiers of the Labyrinth, we should get more data about the Great Gates.”

“So what then?” Jonas asked.

The Duke answered, “We’re getting a cutter ready now that we have a formal acceptance – signed by the President of the United States himself, no less. It will be ready to carry one of you Adapted across the Atlantic on a fast track. There will be delays, you will have a staff to help you, but the idea is that you should go read that Gate, send back the reply by mail immediately, in case you are delayed, and then come home. With any speculations you might have on the Gate itself. Few people or Professionals have seen more than one, after all.”

“My team who did use that one never saw anything special when they crossed. But then, they were not with Adaptation,” Richard Wellesley added.

“That would be Cowen, right?” Jonas asked.

“Yes. Do you want to ask her about it?”

“No. Yes. Well, I don’t know what I’d ask her about. If she hasn’t noticed anything…”

Jonas steeled himself, “When do you want me ready?”

“It doesn’t have to be you, but there’ll be a carriage to bring whoever goes to Portsmouth next Monday noon,” the Duke said.

“We’ll be ready.”

“The United Kingdom counts on you, Knight Sims.”

“I will be ready.”

“I hope so. I’m not just your boss, I also outrank you in the order,” Arthur Wellesley said affably.

“Whoa. Do they want us in the Colonies? Really?” Ira said.

“One of us. Yes. If we can see Gate descriptors, we’re the only ones who can solve some questions.”

“Can they really find Gates into Europe?” Jonathan asked incredulously.

“Maybe there’s one in the middle of the Alps and no one’s been there for centuries. They can’t use it for an invasion straight away, but if they can use it as supply point… that means better chances for armies,” Jonas explained.

“Sounds good. Very good,” Jonathan replied.

“But it all revolves around how many Gates there actually are,” Laura said.

“Well, yes. And finding out what’s the number of the Colonial’s Gate will give us some answers. Hopefully.”

Alton laughed, “And we’re going to give work in low tiers to Cowen again.”

Most of the team snorted at that idea.

“Maybe. We have a week anyway to prepare. I have to be there on Monday.”

“You’re the one who’s going? Maybe we should, I don’t know, roll for the thing?” Ira said.

“It’s at least eight days by the sea, plus the trip to Portsmouth. And how many they want me to stay in that New York of theirs. And unless I can convince them to let me step into the Labyrinth and Recall, then ten days coming back. I might be a good Aetherist, but you lot can do some serious damage in fights. Ira, and Guss, they are the ones that are absolutely necessary for the fights. Then Jonathan. Then maybe all three of us that just do damage, and try not to be hit.”

“Spoken as a robe wearer that stays as far as he can,” Laura replied.

“Wait, you want us to keep on while you’re away?”

“Why not. We got told to keep getting levels. One of us away from the Labyrinth for maybe a month or more is bad enough, if only in the short term. If you can keep getting levels, you should. Besides, as Babbage told us back then, not being at the same Milestone or the same level is commonplace as you rise.”

“So… you’re leaving.”

“Yes. And I expect you to keep getting XP while I’m away.”

“It won’t be the same.”

“No. You’ll be one person less, so you’re not going to finish that last lair. But you still can do stuff, and get levels.”

“Speaking of which. If you are in a hurry, maybe we could do the minimum lair dives and get you your Milestone and tier three before you leave? Let’s see if we can get some Markandon Ape slaughter,” Ira said suddenly.

“Not everyone’s going to get tier three,” Alton replied.

“Maybe. And we need to go to two different Plazas anyway for all of us. But that’s what I was saying. You should absolutely keep on getting XP to get Jonathan as close as possible to the next Milestone. If you can’t get it,” Jonas said.

“We’re going to miss out on the trade faire if we skip lairs,” Laura noted.

“That happens. And I won’t be there, but you can get my apologies to O’Hogan.”

“Will do,” Guss said.

“Maybe I’ll attend. Now that you’re not,” Ira said.

Jonas shot a glare at his friend.

They found the Plaza at the last moment. It was already mid-morning on Monday, and Jonas thought he would have needed to Recall without changing Professions. Having a rough idea of where you were supposed to find the Plaza did not translate into knowing the Plaza’s location.

Alton and Guss had switched back in Markandon. He might have been able to switch, but he had a different target, based on Babbage’s suggestions. So now, it was his turn and Laura’s to undergo… Adaptation.

Team

Professions

Health

Mind

Jonas Sims

Aetherist (72)

470/470

570/570

Jonathan Gilbert

Layman (72)

1136/1136

558/558

Ira Heard

Careful Barrier (86)

1671/1671

762/762

Guss Fullmore

Abiding Assistant (75)

521/521

619/619

Laura Harvey

Smasher (72)

748/748

655/655

Alton Raby

Solid Gouger (75)

724/724

561/561

He was headed to Solid Aethershaper after all. He was curious about getting into the defensive side of Aether, which the only other tier three choice available for now was… but that skill sphere was started by an entirely different Profession, and the Potentials it focused on often differed, even with aether as a resource.

Solid Aethershaper was… well, a solid choice. Other Professionals did not have much of choice after all. You either started with 20 in Constitution, for the Massive version or you didn’t. Strength, any Arcanist got enough on its way to tier three.

Jonas looked at Laura, who was surrounded by Guss and Alton, ready to accompany her into this trial. She’d picked Calculating Grinder, pretty much for the opposite reasons as his. She wanted to expand in a slightly different sphere, to pick entirely new skills without losing any of her base ones which she'd keep on improving, and see how the two spheres combined as offensive capabilities.

Ira and Jonathan were at his own side, hands on his shoulders as comfort.

He closed his eyes, banishing all but the Plaza descriptor from his view, with its single Profession choice highlighted and waiting for him. Then, he mentally acted.

And the burning began across his fingers’ blood vessel, spreading as fast as lightning until his bones burned.

Calculating Grinder

(tier 3)

Required: 45 STR, 20 INT

Provides:

+7 health/+12 endurance/+5 mind/+3 aether per level

+1 Milestone/13 levels

Calculating Grinder Milestone: +7 STR, +4 WIS, +3 FOC, +2 DEX, +1 CON, 1% offensive economy

Skill set: Personal / Offense