I had a friend like that at one time. His name was Atrus; and, in order to stop madmen from conquering worlds, he was willing to imprison those who were precious to him above all but one -- his two sons -- so that their reign of terror over other peoples would end. He did not enjoy this duty; he was forced to it, and I am sure he regretted his actions to his dying day. I had the sad honor of assisting him in this task, and then helping to rescue his wife, Catherine, and stop Gehn, his father, from a similar destructive stroke in a whole range of worlds that he had discovered with the peculiar Art of the people known as the D'ni. This and other adventures besides, were my lot during my friendship with this warm, wise, but troubled man.
Imagine my surprise, then, when, in making my daily run through the various Grid-blogs, I learned Gehn may have escaped from his prison and fled to Second Life! If true, the potential danger to the Grid and its Residents was great indeed. My duty and friendship to Atrus and his goals required an investigation to learn the truth of the matter.
Pyter, my informant, had kindly supplied a teleport landmark. I used it as an initial landing, but chose to leave quickly from that location, in case visitors were expected....
Flying about the island, I encountered nobody for some time. Then I spotted a house built on a grand scale indeed. Its architecture was strangely, eerily familiar -- until I realized that it could only have been built by the descendants of the D'ni, with their penchant for spectacular-sized buildings and strange devices at strange points. I quickly shot an image as evidence of my visit, even as I reflected that something else seemed very familiar about what I was seeing....
