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"Why, Crowchar," Dr. Sabbatine says, "that borders on the dishonest. But after all, it's not like they can forge copies, unless… You haven't built them a forge, have you?"

"If we had, we'd just lie to you," Alexius says, and the doctor laughs.

"Let me see if I can find some, uh, tools," Sabbatine says. "But I can't do this more than once, Alexius! The Empress is strict, and no fool."

You hear a great deal of banging around, then light shines out of the rift. Controllers rush forward to operate valves and switches. There's a blinding flash, and then you see a pile of "tools" wrapped in baling twine.

Alexius draws a fire ax from the pile, stumbles a bit from the weight of the steel head, then hands it to Therko, who stares at it like he's Attila receiving the Sword of Mars. Other warriors step forward to receive hatchets, machetes, even a sledgehammer. One hunter gets a pair of wrenches and starts swinging them around like a warrior-monk. Therko and the warriors come together in wonder at these tools, which are deadlier than anything they could make of bone or stone.

"Is it working?" Sabbatine asks.

"Like a charm," Alexius says, noting the effect the gift has already had.

"Receipt of shipment confirmed," Control says. "The rift is symmetrically stable."

A controller smiles at you, as if to say there's still a chance you all might escape this savage place.

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