The Chronicles of Inthandonia, Part 4: The Wizard Wars Alien Corridors If the first battle of the Wizard Wars was fought between the Geomancer Bolgaradol Smeckter and the autonomic defence systems built into the Artefacts hull then the second Battle must be the Skrellian counter-attack against the wizard. Smeckter's assault had been magickal, operating on a sub-atomic level in a soup of quantum uncertainties.  The Skrellian counter assault occurred on multiple scales, several orders of magnitude larger. The first prong of the Skrellian counter-attack was strictly on the physical level - as Smeckter ventured further into the bowels of the ship he attracted a retinue of robotic maintenance units. They interpreted the Wizard's presence as a foreign contaminent and made electronic plans to neutralise the potential threat he represented. The Wizard was also suffering an intense psychic bombardment as this excerpt from his journal shows: "Voices, screaming their otherworldly madness in my head. I am weary and fear I am lost. It is disorienting enough for me that I can no longer sense the greater Magisphere of the planetary awareness - somehow this ship insulates me from that signal which has been a part of my being since before I was born - I feel its absence like the ache of a rotting socket that once housed a tooth. More than that, my psychic barriers are assailed by the alien screamers - I sense words, and even occasional glimpses of meaning among the constant cacophony of thought noise.  I see visions of another world, of unfathomable gulfs of time and space. I see exploding stars and feel the psychic impact of the sudden deaths of entities in their millions. It is hard for my mind to bear without breaking, thus I stumble about this vessel like a simpleton, my primary focus devoted to maintaining the integrity of my psyche against the raging tides of insanity surging through my awareness. For even though I cannot understand the Alien language I am convinced this ship - for it is beyond any doubt a vessel for sailing the vasty seas of the spaces between the stars - I am convinced this ship is mad. I can sense the little mechanoid creatures swarming toward me but as yet they are no threat - but soon their numbers will become significant.  I must seek to escape this place and regroup my defences - By A'tozi's beard I am so weary..." ^^^^^^^ Everything here was modelled by me in trueSpace. A huge thank you to all those who looked and commented on my recent work. For the full story so far please visit www.wizitch.com Thanx WZRD