| First Simon and Aethir are given a decent burial. Then the members
of the party discuss what their next move should be. As can be seen from
the list of names below, it is a very substantial party indeed:
Queen Astra La Post
* The previous constraints on their movements were removed when they became Champions.
In a comfortable office, the Head Demon sits fuming. Appointing one or two Champions was one thing, but now he thinks the Rules and Agents have gone much too far. True, there was nothing in the rules to set a limit, but that was because the possibility of Champions being appointed in such numbers had never occurred to anyone. He doesn't intend to let them get away with this.
To track down the native Astra and Andrea could be difficult and time-consuming. It could take days or weeks, even months. The TARDISes can return everyone to the precise moment at which they left - essential if Terra Prime is not to collapse into chaos with so many of its leaders away - and the Rules and Agents can ensure that even the interrupted pregnancies of Queen Astra and Astra 7 can pick up as if nothing had happened. That everyone had accepted that all this could be achieved shows the degree of faith that they now have in the Rules' and Agents' ability to ensure things go according to plan. However, those who have left children at home - born or unborn - are naturally missing them and eager to return as soon as possible. There could also be problems with explaining things to the folks left back home if they were to be away so long that Astra 9 and Gloria had grown noticeably older (for since they are under eighteen, the normal freezing of a Champion's age does not apply to them). On the other hand, all the Astras are deeply concerned about their "sister", especially Astra 8 who shares so many of her experiences. And Astra 8 and Andrea are naturally very worried about this world's Andrea as well. Astra 8 says: "My 'sister' will be deeply distressed once the moon sets and she returns to rationality, not only by the risk that she will pose to others but also by the fact that she will see the failure of the cure to be because of her own weakness of will. She'll be wrong, of course, but that will be how she will see it. She will go to the most desolate place she can find to get away from the risk of human contact, which will make finding her difficult." "Is there any risk she might take her own life?" Probe asks. "No, because in our religion that would be seen as a terrible sin, and would mean she could not enter the afterlife," Astra 8 replies. If only the Champions had had the foresight to arrive a few hours earlier, things would have been so much easier. But what is done is done. Everyone senses that they would not be permitted to go back into the TARDISes, go back a few hours and rectify the error. The group discusses whether it has to be all or nothing. Perhaps some of them might return home now in one of the TARDISes, whilst the others attempt to find and help this world's Astra and Andrea. If that took some time, a small party might even be more practical than a large one. However they are not sure whether the Rules and Agents, who have been indulgent in allowing them to mount this mission in the first place, would permit this, as it might make things more complicated for them.
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