Tindriss made no more moves. 

     She didn't have time to.

     You see...

     The weapon looked not unlike a miniature electric fan. Gramps and the Azure had planned for a year what they would do if Tindriss ever returned. 

Gramps merely aimed the palm-sized weapon in the Coal Maiden's direction and waved a sensor. The ray from the weapon caught her right in the chest. Gramps enjoyed the look of surprise and fury that crossed her features before Tindriss twirled like a pinwheel, then shrank as if falling down a hole until she completely disappeared. 

     Everyone looked at Gramps. He shrugged and smiled.

     "It's a time/space displacer," he said. "Not only is Tindriss now spinning through all of time and space, but she's doing it in such a random fashion that she'll never again know exactly where or when she is. She could simply fall through ever-changing time and space forever."

     "I hope you're right," Estelle said. "Remember, that's Tindriss. So far as I've been able to understand, she has no problem whatever finding her way around the multiverse." 

     "You're saying she'll eventually find some way to come back."

     "I wouldn't put it past her. I wouldn't put anything past her."

     "Well, then, why doesn't she come back right now? If she can eventually find some way to beat our displacer and once again can go anywhere in time and space she wants, why wouldn't she return to this place and this time to finish what she started with Adam?" 

     They actually just stood there for a couple of moments waiting for Tindriss to return. Then the fighting around them just got too intense. 

     Brock blazed across the cavern to go help Noel. Shawnacy went for Adam, or what was left of Adam, but a half dozen algrim soldiers got in her way, not allowing her to pass.

     Estelle fought her way towards Adam, even though he was now a couple of football field's worth of distance away and smashed to pieces on the other side of the cavern. 

     It's time to finish this mess, she thought. Finish it for fucking good. 

CONTINUE