| Joan:
I hope this recording device that the Voyager people have let me have is working correctly. I thought it might be interesting to record my comments on our adventures, with the idea of possibly writing a book about them one day. That's assuming that the Rules and Agents won't object, of course. Maybe they'll want to make a few cuts but will let me publish the bulk of the story. That's what I'm hoping, anyway. The mages and the scientists aren't sure just how many analogue universes there are that contain versions of Terra. One school of thought has it that the number is infinite. The other school thinks it'sfinite but still almost unimaginably large. Either way, it's a remarkable coincidence that Belinda comes from exactly the same Terra as I do. Or maybe it's not a coincidence at all, but has something to do with how Randall Flagg - in my case - and the Book - in Belinda's - operated. Though my Terra is similar to the version we've just returned from, in having Aqualaria as just a region within Allaria, it's rather unusual in that regard. In most of the Terras that we've had contact with so far, Aqualaria has been an independent country of similar status to Allaria. And of course, on Terra Prime Allaria was destroyed as a political entity by the use of nuclear weapons. I suppose my analogue Terra can be viewed as a more "distant" one than most, from the Terra Prime perspective at any rate. I suspect that some of the Astras would have great difficulty with the idea of Aqualaria being no more than a province of a country that's predominantly run by men. Fortunately I know that Astra 9, if she has such thoughts, will be tactful enough to keep them to herself. We wouldn't want to cause a diplomatic incident when we pay our visit. Now we're laying our plans. It seems unlikely that those silver-eyed servants of the Book will represent a threat now that they no longer have the Book to guide their actions. Besides, they did what they were supposed to - well, more or less, since we assume it was Belinda's sister that they were supposed to seize - and as far as they are concerned their task was completed. But whilst our main purpose is to return Belinda home, it gives me the opportunity to settle a score with Belboz and to complete my original quest of killing the dragon.
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