Choosing of names and choosing of teams (take 2)

Lord Frederigo D'Honaire (or one of them) sighed in exasperation. He was feeling decidedly uneasy about the whole affair. This Silverhand person had basically hijacked all of them, forcing them onto a quest without asking their permission. Of course, considering what he had said was at stake, that perhaps wasn't surprising, but still despite the fact that the bedroom here was more pleasant to sleep in than the jail cell in Aqualaria, he wondered whether he had not exchanged one form of imprisonment for another.

It didn't help that he was still recovering from the strange experience of meeting himself, or from all the strange ideas which had been brought up. Still, he was glad not to be a prisoner of the Aqualarians anymore. He had avoided "his" Astra, and it had been mutual. For the past day, they had all rested and recovered. Since it was rather confusing to have so many of the same people running around, they had had a sort of conference at lunch, and chosen nicknames to help distinguish them.

They decided to go by the time- honored Eternal Champion system of adding numbers to their names. (The history and nature of the Eternal Champions had already been explained to them by Silverhand, although some of them already knew it from reading the books in the library. [11518] The Champions here hadn't contributed anything, though, though, as they had kept to themselves after the destruction of their world. He would be Fred Three and his corresponding Astra would be Astra Three. The Champions would keep their old numbering. The Fred and Astra from the universe that had been destroyed (and who hadn't known each other until they'd been transported here) would be Fred and Astra One. The Astra who was nude as the result of a curse and her corresponding Fred would be Fred and Astra Four. (There was no Astra Two. The Champion Astra Two, wife of Fred Two, had died some time ago, during some crisis when a Crystallic being had attacked Terra.) The Fred and Astra who had been at the Dark Tower would be Fred and Astra Five. The Astra who was cursed and her corresponding Fred would be Fred and Astra Six. The Fred and Astra who'd been trapped in the demonic sector (and had undergone something that they didn't want to discus) were Fred and Astra Seven. And the Fred and Astra who'd just killed the Dragon Velus were Fred and Astra Eight.

Silverhand had two more things to establish. First, there was the matter of Astra Six and Zara's curses. He had said that he had the power to cure them, but would not, because they contained some sort of power that it would be useful to draw on.

. Then, there was the matter of the Velus of Fred and Astra Six's universe. Silverhand had waved his hand, and much to everyone's surprise, Velus had turned into a dragon! It turned out that his real name was Mordaunt, a dragon mage and the adolescent son of Minestus. He had pretended to be a student mage and inept at everything, and he was--except at one area, illusion magic, and at that he excelled. He had disguised himself as a human, and had gained several girlfriends and concealed their existence from each other. It was he who had made the coin appear to vanish when Astra and Zara had flipped a coin for who would be cured. In fact, he had even unwittingly fooled the Book, in its disrupted state, as to his true nature and personality!

He had then explained that the Book had not intended to pick up Mordaunt or Josh. What to do about this was unclear. Mordaunt could be returned to his home universe, but that wouldn't be a good idea, for reasons Silverhand was unwilling to explain. He would say only that he had known an analog of Mordaunt once, and that he had been the most powerful evil being on his world. His power had been only in illusion, but it was nonetheless great. He did not want someone of such great potential evil on the Pyramid, but neither did he want him loose in his home reality. Josh was an even more difficult case. The obvious option was to return him to his home universe had been destroyed.

Many hours later, Fred 3 had woken up, and had reported to the console room. They were now about to go on their first mission. They would split into three groups. One would journey to the world that was the source of the Book's disruption, which happened to be Fred 3's home world. This would be Freds 1 through 3, Astras 1 and 3, Sandra, Jarlath, and Belinda. The second group would go to the city of Logopolis, to help repair the Book. This group would arrive in Compassion, rather than in one of the Jade Pagodas, and consist of Freds 4 through 6, Astras 4 through 6, Belinda 3, Gareth, and Sir Cuitous. The third group would head for Terra to pick up those who had been deflected and would consist of Freds 7 and 8 and 91X, Astras 7 and 8 and 91Q, Stacy, and Velus, and Melissa. Josh and Mordaunt would go along too, as the best option seemed to be to drop Josh off at one of the 20th century Earths in the Terra universe [9333 et seq], and give Mordaunt to the Rules and Agents to decide what to to with him.

1. Follow the group that goes to Fred and Astra 3's Earth.
2. Follow the group that goes to Logopolis.
3. Follow the group that goes to the Borderlands universe.

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