Basil: Someone's there? I don't see...
???: I was growing impatient. Almost came to find you.
???: I could not if I tried. But I will approach. I am Dr. Edwin Gamble. A humble research physicist.
Basil: I know of you. At the top of your field. You were stationed here, on contract with the military, during first contact. And quickly presumed dead...
Gamble: An understandable presumption. And not altogether inaccurate, though I resent its implication that I might no longer be... effectual in this world.
Basil: You studied chaos magic... Your findings were controversial, to say the least.
Gamble: My findings- child, what I found was the truth.
Basil: You're out of his mind. You believed you discovered a technique of channeling your primal, desperate fears into a practical new magic.
Gamble: Idiot child! Shut your whimpering mouth! I have seen things that would disintegrate your newborn mind. I discovered the BASIS of all fear! The very dimension from which it arises, the tangible pool of magic from which, in the fleeting moments of your deepest misery, you drink! You fail to understand that I wield the power now. I drink from the pool at my leisure. And when I've escaped your petty quarantine, so too will all the people of the world.
Basil: Arrogant words. You've lost touch with rationality.
Gamble: Turn back, little girl. Turn around and unhook that silly frilly curtain you've strung about my castle walls. Don't underestimate me; I will quickly reunite you with your friends. I have had months to attain proficiency in my new magic.
Basil: Months alone in the dark. Let's see your strength.
Gamble: For your sake, I hope you don't.
