Held

Caution was in order in the presence of the monster that had glomed onto my wispy little chain of ringlets. I slowed the approach, taking time to slip up onto the displaced Six and scan from the Eight-one pair that rose above the nominal plane of the Ringlet, if you can call something that lumpy a plane. I would not want to take the chance and move too fast and attract attention.

I was overwhelmed by the Seven-Six-Six-Seven-Six-Six folded, coiled monster and lost count of the number of links that I'd traversed. I had flipped across at least eight doublings of links, and probably nine if I really thought about it. However, I don't believe the count is material anymore. Judging by the strain I can sense in the linking Eights, it might not take much more.

The Monster had quite a grip on a pair of ringlets, who were being attracted and torqued by the precise placement of Ones, Eights and Sevens — yes, even the dominantly neutral Sevens payed a role — but most curious is the fact that this Seven-Six-Six-Seven-Six-Six monster was using a borrowed Seventeen near the middle of the active area, toward the edge was an even more loosely coupled Twenty. It was the strong attraction that this Seventeen and Twenty shared, but were held apart, that created the pull necessary to stress the Six-Eight-Six bond between the two precicely held ringlets.