In El Paso, emergency sirens can be heard in the distance, getting louder. 

Visser Three's host keeps trying to seize back her digestive system and throw up even though this would not improve anything.

He scrambles into the shuttle and nudges the unconscious lieutenant aside and takes off, activating the cloaking fully. He's not good at flying the shuttle but he's capable of doing it at all, and he just needs to get - off the ground, elsewhere, somewhere no one will look for him for the next two minutes - 

<I am so sorry> he tells Amanda. <We are not hurt. It will be all right> 

When they're in the air he skims through the messages saved in the computer log, checking whether what was sent and received matches his own recollection of what his lieutenant was passing on to him. 

The logged messages match what she reported to him. There was one from Leareth, requesting an urgent meeting in El Paso. There's one to Leareth, a couple minutes ago, that says 'under attack'. Leareth has not replied to it.

Mhalir relaxes fractionally. Not her. Which means it was someone else...

He gets some more distance from the ground. 

Tries calling Leareth. 

He does not get a response.

Visser 3 swears. In Spanish, it's a good language for that. 

He thinks, fast. Who does he trust? 

...Who does he not trust? The Pool ship, he's not utterly certain of all the people there and - the message from the ship in orbit could have been altered - or faked entirely...

There's a facility on the ground on the outskirts of D.C. and he's confident of everyone there. He doesn't want to contact them because comms can be traced, and clearly his comms have been messed with, because he doubts Leareth sent that message at all. 

Shuttles can be traced too, unfortunately, but he flies in that direction, a little shakily, staying close-ish to the ground even though it's slower that way. 

The Chicago safehouse contacts Miami and San Francisco. None of which have a Gate-location for New York, but they flip on the televisions, skim channels. 

The terrorist (alien? probably alien) attack in New York City hits the news about thirty seconds after the shuttle dropped from orbit hits the building. At first they don't know anything except that there's a lot of wreckage and it's on fire.

Chicago is closest and they have someone who can Gate from pictures reliably. Television is a bit better, even, the picture is moving. 

They're not fast at that kind of Gate, but another thirty seconds later they're landing where the TV cameras are aimed. 

<We should drop back into regular space to learn whether there's anyone who needs medical attention. Can you Gate from New York to the ship if it's in regular space - I am assuming you cannot if it's in z-space ->

Nuvia blinks. "Me specifically, or someone on the ground there? If you can get within five hundred miles then most people could Gate to the ship in orbit and everyone's been to it."

He asks the pilot if they can jump that precisely or that close to a planet; they cannot, but they can be there within a couple of minutes, which will have to be good enough. 

<All right. Jumping back in ten seconds.>

The mage from Chicago piles through the Gate in NYC and looks around frantically, others scrambling through after them, Healers as well. Everyone with Thoughtsensing immediately reaches out as far as they can. A couple of people get a reverse weather-barrier up within seven or eight seconds and put out the fire in the epicentre. Unfortunately the heat has to go somewhere and it makes the fire outside of the radius somewhat worse. 

New York's fire and ambulance services are really confused but that's - confirmation that this is some kind of aliens thing, presumably - can they get anyone's attention and get an explanation of what's going on -

One of the mage-Thoughtsensers is paying attention to nearby human minds and Mindspeaks whoever's in range. :We don't know either. Got a message that someone couldn't reach our people here so we turned on the TV - we're looking for injured survivors - rr, if you need help putting fires out, mages can do that: 

     :- Dammit can anyone find Leareth–: someone else is snapping, they've sort of located where the house used to be and someone who has really strong Fetching is boosting from the others to dig off wreckage. 

They cannot find Leareth with Thoughtsensing. 

They can find another mind, though. Companions are very fast and it turns out that less than a second's warning was, in a sufficient emergency, long enough to jump clear over the next block of houses. Somehow. Yfandes had NOT known she could do that, it must be one of those things Companions can occasionally pull off in emergencies. 

(It's arguably really cowardly to have run away from rather than toward her Chosen, but he could shield himself, and not her.)

Now she's muzzily lying under something heavy and everything hurts and she thinks part of her fur is on fire, but - whiff of cool air - minds nearby... 

:Van's alive: she Broadsends to anyone nearby, she can barely feel him but it would be extremely obvious to her if he were dead. She tries to give them a sense of direction, and then does her best to stay conscious. 

They dig up wreckage. 

There aren't as many bodies as there should be, because the impact site itself is largely vaporized, but a small area right at the very heart of it must have been, just barely, shielded enough to redirect the force outward. Leareth and Vanyel are buried in debris. There's kind of a horrifying amount of blood, but Vanyel seems to be breathing. 

Leareth isn't. 

:Contact the Dome ship: one of the Healers barks out, already toneless as she slips into trance and flails after the fading remains of Leareth's life-force. :Contact them NOW ask if we can Gate there right away - I need help who else is here we're losing him–:

One of the mages tries to do that. 

...

The comms-spell reaches Nuvia right as they make the jump. She nearly falls over, grabbing at a wall for support.

:Matirin, what's our range, can they Gate now - Leareth's alive but - barely...: 

<Faster> he snaps at somebody. <We are not yet within five hundred miles but we will be in twelve seconds ->

This is a perfect setup for a trap of some kind but he doesn't know what he can do about that - he sends some people into the shuttle and away from the ship, just in case -

<They can Gate now ->

Someone wrenches up a freestanding Gate as close to Leareth as possible, moving him any further than necessary seems - not ideal - the Healers haven't even gotten started inventorying his injuries yet because they've been busy trying to get his heart beating. They try to lift him gently between six people, and haul him through. 

Someone else scoops up Vanyel and gets him through as well. :Can we hold the Gate or should we get another up for Yfandes, she's alive but she's fifty yards that way under most of a building–:

Nuvia asks Matirin whether keeping the Gate up a little longer seems like a safe risk or if they should just drop it. Some more people can run through this Gate to help dig Yfandes out, anyway. 

<Do another one.> He's not at all sure what his threat model here is but that seems like a reason to do as little as possible. 

What's wrong with Leareth.

Lots of broken bones and internal bleeding, in addition to all of the obviously-visible blood currently trying to leave his body despite the Healers' best efforts. His spine just below the neck is damaged though not entirely snapped. His heart is beating but he's still not breathing and it's coming up on a couple of minutes now. 

Getting a machine to breathe for him probably isn't going to help when the problem is that his lungs are crushed. They can directly add oxygen to his blood, though (and while they are at it add a little bit more blood to his blood to solve the thing where he's bleeding to death.)

He gets that set up without any commentary but then looks up and meets two of Matirin's eyes. <I would not be optimistic if we did not have magic.>

<With magic?>

<Don't know.>