//------------------------------//
// 16 -- Panopticon 
// Story: A Method to his Madness 
// by Luna-tic Scientist 
//------------------------------//

General Buckler was quiet and reserved at the start of her planning meeting with Celestia, but within a few minutes she became more animated, striding through the three-dimensional magical map like a dragon. Her own horn glowed a deep orange, annotating the map with the positions of Equestria's military units.

"Yes, your Highness, we can do that. There are a number of groups overseas at the moment, on international assistance missions, but they can be recalled immediately. The movement restrictions will be harder to implement, but we can use magic and microwave area denial to enforce a no-fly zone around the infected cities."

"See that it is done, General. It is obvious to me that our entire way of life is under threat. We will need our entire strength for this fight, but we will prevail." Celestia was motionless for a moment, staring off into the distance. "I waited too long, was too trusting, while the Changelings killed Cadance and most of her people. I won't make that mistake again," she murmured.

"I agree completely, Princess. You have spent centuries trying to convince this world that the pony way of cooperation is best and still they plot against you." Buckler was marching through the map again, a commander on the eve of a great battle, voice raised to give a stirring speech to her troops. "You, who bring them sunlight every morning, and yet they engage in this treachery. No," she said, wheeling to face Celestia, legs and back ram-rod straight, metal-shod hooves slamming down against the stone floor, "not treachery. Blasphemy."

The word hung in the sudden, ringing silence and something twitched inside Celestia's head, a momentary doubt. No, I don't want this, I'm just like you inside, I'm not a god, she thought, but this was washed away by the glow of pride and fervour in the General's eyes. She found herself nodding in time with the unicorn's words. "I have been gentle for far too long, it is time to return to the old ways. I will not tolerate any more threats to my ponies. I carved out this land from the ruins left by Discord's rule, and I will not let it fall!"

"We will need to recruit more to the Guard... this latest crisis has shown that many of our soldiers do not have the stomach for a fight."

"Do not blame them, Buckler, this... memetic plague our enemies have used against us is a foul weapon. Not everypony is strong enough to resist its effects like you or I." General Buckler made a contemptuous sound but nodded reluctantly. "Once the full extent of this attack is known, your ranks will be swollen by the outrage of the common pony."

"Excellent! Highness, with your permission...?"

"Carry on, General."

===

It was more than an hour and a half before a trembling Charter hesitantly nosed open the door to the Day Throne. "P-princess? The ambassadors are here."

"We said we wanted them within the hour, Charter. Aren't you aware that every second counts when we are at war?" Celestia's voice was low and filled with menace.

"T-there was a problem getting across the city, a fire--" Charter was practically incoherent, the terror obvious in his voice.

"No more excuses from you, earth pony, get out of my sight!" Charter turned and galloped from the room, barging past the small group of non-ponies standing in the entrance.

Four gryphons and a zebra, all wearing the chains of office that marked them out as senior diplomats, exchanged worried glances, then stepped forwards. The door closed behind them.

"Princess Celestia, may I be the first to offer my sympathies for the troubles that are afflicting your country." The ambassador for Goldenwing, an elderly gryphon missing patches of feathers from his chest and throat, stepped forward and bowed. "It is a tragic thing when the innocent suffer. Have you managed to track the source of this malady?"

As if you don't already know, gryphon. To think I considered you to be my friend. Celestia felt a flicker of anger welling up within her, a feeling that had been her constant companion these last few hours. They dare to keep up this front, even to my face. Very well. "We have, Ambassador Talons Sheathed In Steel. An airship fleeing the conflict in Razorclaw was carrying the plague. We even have reports that the trouble only started after a single pony was returned to the Canterlot Dreaming by Razorclaw security forces." She turned her gaze on Razorclaw's ambassador, a gryphon with the characteristic deep red-brown feathers from the northern reaches of the coastal country.

Ambassador Darkness Covers The Hunter shrank back under the intensity of Celestia's gaze. "I am deeply sorry for your troubles, your Highness," he said with a bow, "but I'm really not sure what you are implying. I have had no contact with my superiors since the coup, and by the looks of it my own people are not going to have a happy time of it. I have family in the capital, and if the Talons are being thorough in their purge..." he trailed off into a mutter, ruffling his chest feathers nervously.

"If I were you, Ambassador, I'd do my best to prove my worth to my new masters," Celestia said with a cold smile, "you might want to make sure they get the right information."

"I'm sorry, I don't--"

"No, perhaps you don't understand, but I know the rest of you do." Celestia stared at each of the ambassadors in turn. "We know that, singly, your countries have no hope against Equestria. Together, on the other hoof..."

"You have the right to call us here, but not to make wild accusations!" The zebra held her head up, ears flattened. "With Equestria, we have had nothing but good relations--"

Celestia tossed her head, snorting with disgust. "Do not bother with the rhymes; I am not some tourist. I brought you here to listen, not to talk. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a negotiation. You, Ambassador Farasi Jasisi, I am very disappointed with you. To have sided with these carnivores over fellow equines." The zebra made to speak, but Celestia cut her off again. "There is no way that Razorclaw could mount this attack on its own. The Alliance is the only other nation state with the capability to produce such a monstrosity."

"Princess, please, there is no conspiracy against you. If what has happened here is a deliberate act, then all will be behind you in your search for justice." The Ambassador for Hookbeak, a grey gryphoness with snow leopard colouration, reached out with a claw. "This kind of thing threatens us all."

"Threats, yes. Since we are on the subject of threats, let me be completely clear. If we receive information on the nature of this plague -- and its cure -- within the next forty-eight hours, I will consider not searching for those answers within your countries."

There was a stunned silence in the throne room, then all four ambassadors started to shout at once. Celestia watched the little display with grim amusement. They can act the part very well; I can almost admire them for that. Almost.

Finally the little group was silent, leaving the venerable Talons Sheathed In Steel to speak for them. "Your Highness, we cannot give what we do not have. Let us work with you to understand the nature and origin of these events. Please, I beg you not to do anything hasty."

"So you can feed me lies? No, we said this was not a negotiation. You will return to your countries and tell them we await their answers. Our patience is not infinite; any further attacks will be met with immediate reprisals."

Jasisi made to speak, but Talons Sheathed In Steel laid a claw on her shoulder, shaking his head. "We understand, your Highness. I'm sorry it has come to this, but we do not take kindly to these unwarranted threats. We will defend ourselves against any Equestrian aggression."

"Perhaps you should ask the Changelings about what our aggression means. If you can find any."

"We are well aware of your power, Princess; that particular demonstration was very educational." His voice dropped, becoming sorrowful. "We have not been idle in the decades since you reduced the Changeling Empire to its current state. Please think before you do anything rash."

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Then get me my answers, Ambassador. The clock is ticking."

===

The Ambassadorial compound was on the other side of the city, a section of the suburbs isolated from the rest of the city by a strip of parkland and an elegant, but functional, stone wall. Within this area were a number of large, rambling houses, built specifically to accommodate the consulates from each of the countries, and supporting the staff, guards and other paraphernalia that came with a diplomatic mission. Each house had its own entrance in the wall, but all backed onto the same central space.

By mutual consent, all four had met up after their disastrous meeting with Celestia. "Well?" Talons Sheathed In Steel said sharply to Darkness Covers The Hunter, "do you have any idea what is going on?"

"There is no weapon program even remotely able to duplicate these effects in Razorclaw," Darkness Covers The Hunter said, drawing spiky shapes in the dirt with one long talon. "Of course, I can't actually check until the new government answers my messages." He looked off into the middle distance, beak snapping shut with an irritated click. "Celestia's right about one thing; we don’t even have any theoretical research in that direction. Magic and gryphons just don't seem to mix."

"...which leaves us with you, Jasisi. I have been privy to some interesting intelligence coming out of the Alliance states -- are any of your many and varied organisations behind any of this? Try not to take this personally; we are all well aware that the hold your government has is, shall we say, loose."

The zebra shook her head. "We have our own arcane programs, obviously, but there's nothing like this. In any case, we have no cause for hostilities -- our trade links with Equestria run extremely deep, and even if a war doesn't directly involve us, it will still cause a lot of economic harm." Her stripey head turned upwards to where the sun was starting to set. "A war with the Princesses would have only losers, you know this."

"There is always VORPAL, or RUBICON," Talons said, narrowing his eyes.

"Things will have to get far worse before we take that path," Jasisi said, her ears flat back. "It's not called mutually assured destruction for nothing!"

"Yes, well... " Darkness Covers The Hunter said, "That aside, can you do anything? Use your arcane expertise to find out what has caused this disease? The first place she will go for answers is Razorclaw, and my family..."

"Perhaps if we would study it directly. If we could convince Celestia to open the borders and let our scientists in... but does that seem likely to you? She seemed convinced that we were all in it together."

Talons Sheathed In Steel sighed and lowered his haunches to the grass. "She sees a conspiracy against her, and she's right. Now, at least."

The others shifted uncomfortably, staying silent. Finally, Jasisi nodded in agreement. "We have no choice if we want to survive."

===

Trailblazer looked with interest at the large display that filled the Express' map room. On it was a three-dimensional relief map of Razorclaw, the area dominated by an extensive range of snow-capped mountains. The settlements -- all but the largest were invisible at this scale -- were picked out by hovering green markers, concentrated in the deep coastal valleys that edged the cold country. Other markers, orange this time, were spread through the interior, highlighting the mining industry that formed the bulk of Razorclaw's economic wealth. 

The FOAL was more interested in the red indicators, the ones for the military bases. The other members of his team lounged in various attitudes of attention around the central table. The other members of the Friendship Express' FOAL compliment were with them; five teams of three ponies, all of whom Trailblazer knew at least in passing.

"I see they are still putting military sites in with the civilians," he said, mildly disgusted.

"That is unfortunately the case, Captain," Fairbairn said, "although arguably the average gryphon's level of aggression and their policy of mandatory military service makes any of the cities a potential military camp."

"Tell that to the chicks," he muttered, then winced. "Sorry, sir."

"Don't worry, Trailblazer, I understand. There will be no indiscriminate attacks. As you can see, our presence here has permitted extensive clairvoyant surveillance, with greater accuracy than the scans taken from the Panopticon. We have located the facility where our ponies were taken, although things are never simple." He waved a hoof over the display's controls, causing the image to zoom in rapidly.

Trailblazer blinked, then screwed up his eyes until the view stabilised. It was a narrow valley with a landing platform jutting out of one near-vertical wall, behind which was a set of heavy-looking doors. What could only be antipersonnel weapon stations flanked the doors, with secondary turrets carrying heavier armaments high up on both ridge tops. There was a curious fuzziness to the view, a distortion that was limited to the area directly around the platform.

"Jammers?" he said, glancing up at Fairbairn. "When did they start using those?"

"It's been part of their procurement program for some time now. The Alliance has made quite a bit of money from the gryphons over the years."

Trailblazer grunted. There's so much I need to catch up on. The Zebra Alliance had a thriving industry in spellcraft systems, even more so than Equestrians, something he'd always put down to them being more similar to earth ponies than unicorns.

"Unfortunately, the system over this facility is relatively new, so we can't even get a vague idea of the internal layout, but we do have an estimate of its size from the volume that is denied to us." The mountainside twisted, sliced open to show a creeping mass of darkness amid the rock strata.

"Bigger than it looks. Deep, too. What is it?"

"It's listed as a prison, and we think that is the truth. Intel has been calculating the numbers from the quantity of cargo transports that land -- there is no ground route -- and we did get this from a few months back as part of a routine sweep." An inset cube showed the same platform, this time with one of the blocky gryphon transports perched to one side. A line of figures were being led down the cargo ramp, the resolution just good enough to see the chains that linked each gryphon's neck.

"What makes you think our ponies are there?"

"A local asset, before she was unfortunately made by the Talons. We also have data on a flurry of small transports arriving from various points, which match up with the known locations of Equestrian citizens, as well as deliveries of supplies from farms that only produce material for their cattle industry."

Trailblazer nodded. "They have herbivorous prisoners."

"Exactly. Apparently there was one pony released from the prison, a mare by the name of Equilibrium, dropped off on that airship you came from. She'll be interviewed by ponies from the Panopticon as soon as she's fit to be questioned. Apparently she led them a merry dance, and the gryphons dehorned her for it." He made a disgusted face. "For reasons that will become obvious we probably won't know the truth until this is all over."

Nightstorm, silent up to now, leaned forward. "I heard about that. She was taking it pretty hard, by all accounts."

"How debilitating is that? Can her information be relied on?"

"It's pretty bad; the shock alone can cause real mental problems, but if she's able to talk, then her memories will be as accurate as they ever were."

Trailblazer nodded, looking thoughtful. "With that information..."

"There's a complication. The news coming back from the Palace has been... confused. What was thought to be just an extreme example of panic at the news of a potential war isn't the case. That mare was sent back for a reason; she was carrying some sort of mental plague, and--"

"Ha, I knew it! Didn't I say there was something odd about that airship?" Blevie sat bolt upright, her eyes alight.

"Yes, you did, Blevie. Perhaps we can hear the major's briefing?"

Blevie snorted, unapologetic, and Fairbairn tried to hide a small smile. "Interesting that you managed to detect the plague; there were reports that others have felt the same. Based on what happened in the airship, it was lucky we pulled you off when we did. Anyway, this means that the mare isn't going to be of any help unless she can be cured." The major's expression grew grim. "The threat was not understood in time; when the Dreaming docked the ponies were not successfully quarantined. There are reports of the plague in all of the cities on its route. This means our mission has changed."

Any pretence of joking vanished and all eyes and ears zeroed in on Fairbairn Sykes. The pony nodded in return. "The Shredder that carried that mare came from here. All the evidence points to her being infected at this site. There are answers in there, and we are going to find them."

===

"We need to keep the attention of the gryphon military off your teams, Trailblazer and Scoria, so we will be inserting the others at various points to cause a little havoc."

The reward for a job well done is another job, Trailblazer thought as Fairbairn Sykes listed the other targets that would be hit as part of the far-ranging 'distraction'. The Express itself would be stationed some distance away, hopefully acting as a giant magnet for Razorclaw's big guns. He exchanged glances with the heavily-built earth pony mare that led the other team. He'd never worked with Scoria, but he knew her by reputation, and had spent one training rotation with her during a combined forces exercise. She grinned back, then returned her attention to the briefing, a hungry look on her face.

They'd been stationed in Razorclaw for several years, ergo they were the best team for the job; if nothing else they knew a lot of the ponies by sight. This time I'll be going in with the right equipment. The civilians he'd lost during the evacuation of the embassy still smarted, despite how heavily they'd been outnumbered. They'd never deployed against gryphon military before, but already Trailblazer was looking forward to it. Those half-birds won't know what hit them.

"--turrets are here and here, but they are for air defence and are unable to bear on the landing platform. The valley floor is listed as a safety area for the artillery range to the south, but the Panopticon suspects it is also mined. This particular prison is for the worst examples of gryphonkind Razorclaw has to offer; they routinely clip their wings, so a minefield makes a lot of sense."

Something beeped, distracting Fairburn from his briefing. Calling up the message, he scanned it then scowled and slammed a hoof down on the map's controls. The image blinked out and the room lights came up. "As of two hours ago, Princess Celestia has declared direct rule. We have been ordered to return home to reinforce the borders of Equestria. The Palace is expecting an attack from a mixture of zebra and gryphon states."

There was a general disapproving mutter from around the room and Trailblazer opened his mouth to object, before closing it again. Beneath his hooves the deck was tilting; the Friendship Express was coming about.

===

"This is completely screwed up," Blevie said, just one variation on a continuous litany of complaints that had started on the walk back to their shared quarters. 

Trailblazer rolled his eyes and refused to take the bait, but Nightstorm was at the end of her already short temper. "Oh, will you just shut up about it already! Orders are orders; get used to it. You've been on detached duty too long if you think it works any other way."

"But it's not fair! You heard what they are doing to the prisoners -- I joined up to make a difference, not turn my back on stuff like--"

"The Palace knows more than we do; the big picture obviously requires hard decisions. If they think we can do more good at home, that's their call," Trailblazer said loudly, hoping to forestall a shouting match between the unicorn and the earth pony. One look at Night's face made him almost wish he'd kept his mouth shut and he sighed inside. The mare looked like she was spoiling for a fight, one that she'd gladly lay on him if Blevie wasn't around. The earth pony looked similarly mutinous.

He stopped mid corridor and turned to stare at the pair. "We all want to go in, Blevie. If I had the choice, we'd have stayed behind and cracked that prison like an egg. I've read the same reports you have; what the gryphons have done is very hard to stomach."

"Well, now that you mention it... it will take the Express about a day to get back, and we'll be in range of her power circle for at least another six hours. If we start now, they could drop us off and we could go in, get the prisoners out using a one-shot beacon--"

"I'd have to stay behind to run it," Nightstorm said, her anger turned thoughtful.

Sweet Celestia, not both of them! Trailblazer thought. "Don't even think that, you know it would be all of us." We'd have to make our way to the coast; if we stashed a set of parawings en-route, then island or cloud hop until we could travel through a friendly country. The five thousand kilometres back to Equestria would take him over a week; the others much longer as the parawings wouldn't have the range. ...but they could send a transport once we are clear, pick us up mid ocean. Trailblazer realised what he was doing and shook his head vigorously. "No! Absolutely not."

"Will you at least ask?" Night said. "It might be the only chance those ponies have."

Trailblazer slumped. "Fine. But don't get your hopes up. You know as well as I do what the Palace will say. You too get some rest--" He scowled at the two mares. "--or work on your plan, I don't care. Just so long as you find somewhere quiet where the inevitable shouting match won't scare the rest of the crew." He'd left the pair to plan before; without him to mediate he was half certain they'd come to blows before a quarter of an hour was up. "And if you do plan, don't forget to come up with a away to avoid catching the plague." He stomped off down the corridor, muttering all the way.

===

The Panopticon operations centre was not the hive of activity it was supposed to be. The cavernous circular space, lit with subdued lighting and ringed with work stalls around the big holographic display, was three-quarters empty. Director Krett, a nondescript earth pony mare of middle years with a pale blue-grey coat, lay in one of the padded stalls and closed her eyes in despair. Reaching out a hoof, she triggered the surveillance video again, in a vain hope that lack of sleep had caused her to hallucinate.

No, there it was again. Her Princess had just declared war on four of their neighbours. The urge to believe was a powerful one; the Princess had been a constant guiding light as far back as any historian could imagine, and now this... "Oh, Celestia, why are you doing this?" she asked plaintively, turning to the other screens that ringed her low walled stall. The intelligence summaries were clear: no evidence of a military build-up within any of the states Celestia blamed. Something had come out of Razorclaw, but it was very hard to believe the gryphons were the source.

Topsy chewed at the insides of her mouth, rapidly opening links to the original reports, desperately hoping there would be something that she, or any of the analysts that reported to her, had missed. "What in Tartarus am I going to do now?" What you should do is clear, isn't it filly? Reluctantly she sent a message to the Palace, tagging it with a 'Royal Eyes Only' marker. Topsy was the head of Equestrian Intelligence; that should at least get her through to one of the Princesses. She stole a glance at the time display: still not sunset, so Celestia would be the first in the queue.

The Panopticon wasn't affected by whatever was running riot through the city; its isolation had meant that Topsy had managed to issue the lockdown order before any of the infected had gotten inside. Deeply buried under Mount Aither-Erebos, the centre was staffed at all hours, although she was stuck with the early shift and any others -- like herself -- who had been working past their normal times when she'd realised the extent of the threat. 

What might have happened if she hadn't acted was made horrifically clear; ten minutes after being refused access, a group of staff and fresh security ponies had assaulted the guard post in the main entrance tunnel. The short, sharp battle had left many wounded to limp away -- and several who were dragged, unmoving.

Then there was the matter of the orders coming down from the Palace. First was the dissolution of the civilian government, not something that surprised Topsy, all things considered, then the orders for increased surveillance of their national borders and all international approaches. The internal monitoring was the worst; all of the coastal cities were in the grip of the plague, spread by frightened pegasi fleeing suddenly hostile cloud cities.

Topsy tapped out a code and waited impatiently while the system routed her call through non-causal channels to the intelligence station in Vanhoover, then on to the science group she'd hastily assembled in that distant city. The call was answered by a stout yellow unicorn mare, who looked as tired as Topsy felt. "Professor Dala, have you made any progress?"

Amy-Gee Dala glanced over one shoulder to the rest of the room; little groups of ponies were huddled around spellcraft display panels covered with hastily scrawled diagrams that looked to be a mix of advanced mathematics and esoteric arcane theory. "Some. We have a working hypothesis on how the plague spreads, based on the information you supplied. The real problem is that the infected seem to seek other ponies out." She looked grim, ears folding back. "I almost wish it was a real disease; anything lethal which presented symptoms this fast would not be half as dangerous."

We'd have a city full of dead ponies, but at least we could stop it. A chill ran down Topsy's spine. "It is just close proximity that does it, then? Ponies suffering the passive reaction either hide or seek comfort of friends and family, and that's why it's moving so fast?"

"Yes. It's the pegasi, of course. Your local officer tells me that there have already been ponies flying in from Cloudsdale. He's preparing an alternative site to keep us isolated."

"I've more news for you. Celestia has blamed a conspiracy of gryphons and zebra. If they don't stop the plague within two days she's going to do to them what she did to the Changelings. I think she's jumping to conclusions, but she's been alive for far longer than any of us... and if she is right, then it's the biggest intelligence failure since the Crystal Empire. We really should have seen the precursors to something this big; they don't call this place the Panopticon for nothing, especially after all the upgrades we've had in the last thirty years. I'm going to show you something." Topsy played a copy of the throne room surveillance video to the scientist, who stared at it in fascination. 

When it finished, Dala looked two decades older. "There seems to be two possible responses to the infection; excessive meekness and excessive aggression. It's also obvious that the affected pony doesn’t think he's been changed, so it's remarkably difficult to fight the effects. This seems uncharacteristic of the Princess' public persona, but I've had little interaction with her. I take it this is a real change?"

"It is. In all my years of daily briefings -- even during the Changeling fiasco -- I've never seen her like this. The pony she dismissed right at the start was Charter, her equerry. She's known him for longer than I've been alive; he's practically her right hoof."

"Classic type one response. It's probably only his deeply ingrained loyalty that kept him there that long. Most just flee." Dala looked at Topsy with haunted eyes. "What are we going to do, if the Princess is infected--"

"We will keep on working to stop this," Topsy said firmly, "we have to. This plague is unmaking us as a species."

The words hung in the air between them, then Dala gave a shaky laugh. "So, no pressure then. If we come up with anything, I'll call you directly." Topsy nodded and the unicorn closed the connection. 

===

Topsy had just started to dig back into the terabytes of data that were being processed by the few analysts still on duty, when her central screen was cleared by a priority incoming call. Cautiously optimistic, she opened the link, only to be greeted by an angry-looking General Buckler.

"What is the meaning of this, Krett?" the unicorn snarled.

"Are you answering the Princess' mail now, General?" Topsy asked, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"I am second in command of Equestria, I have the right to--"

"Surely you mean third, General. Unless you had forgotten about Princess Luna?"

"The Darkness still sleeps; until she awakes I am at my mistress' side -- and I don't want an earth pony like you bothering their Highness' with such doubts. We have known each other for a long time, so I will let you go with a warning. If you try this again, I will have you relieved."

The Darkness Sleeps. The old phrase rattled around Topsy's brain, stirring up interesting connections. An old term for Princess Luna, back near the dawn of recorded history when the Princesses were regarded as living goddesses. I never took you for the religious type, General -- and I know the Celestia of old would not have tolerated it if you were. A sudden stirring of worry tickled at Topsy and she decided not to say that out loud, or ask exactly how the General would have her removed from the inside of the arcanely-shielded, highly-armoured Panopticon. 

The General is showing the aggressive response, yet she's still loyal -- more so than normal if the religious overtones are to be believed. How widespread is that? Are all the Guards that have not run showing the same symptoms? "I understand, General, my apologies. I would like to fully brief The Dark-- ah, Princess Luna when she awakens. Would that be possible?"

Buckler stared out of the screen at Topsy, a suspicious look on her face. For her part, Topsy schooled her expression into one of genuine contrition, thankful for her years of experience as a field agent. Finally the General snorted. "I don't see why not," she said, "but I want to see the information packet first."

"Of course, General. I will have it to you within the hour." Topsy nodded smartly and hurriedly cleared the connection, shaking slightly with the release of tension. I must talk to Luna, and quickly. She has been secluded in her chambers for the whole day, so there is hope she has not been exposed. Topsy mulled over what she knew about Celestia's day, trying to decide how long it had taken her to succumb. A 'normal' pony might be infected within minutes; it seemed that the Princess had spent several hours traipsing around one of the hospitals before being overcome. There is still time, Topsy thought. 

She leaned back against the padded wall of the stall and plucked a carrot out of the food dispenser next to the screen. The orange root was the last one, and Topsy slowly crunched her way through it, trying to think of a way that would let her bypass Buckler without having to fake up a briefing.