"Pretty much."

Idaia leans back into him a little more.

Lodestar watches them both thoughtfully.

Hugs.

"Is there any way of checking whether worlds have ones of people?" she asks Maitimo.

"Yes. When there are demons around the answer to 'is there anyway to check whether worlds have something' is 'make the demons conjure it for you."

"Emma, will you check if our world has one of him?"

She checks. "There is not."

"We don't seem to come on Earths that aren't ex-Ardas."

"...Has anyone checked that my Earth is not one of those?"

"Well, I suppose not..." She checks. "It is not. No surprise."

"One Earth has Melkor's summoner buried in the middle. But yours shouldn't have that, either."

Emma checks hurriedly. "It does not."

Lodestar registers her alt's sister's reaction and looks up context on this nifty computer.

Summoners: significant for this reason! Melkors: already known to be bad news, Abaddon's version is loose and causing trouble.

Eugh.

"So I'm guessing that mastery of one of the four fundamental forces of the universe isn't actually all that relevant in this case, but..."

"I mean, we could make more scale models of the place and you could see if you plus an angel and a demon can kill the guy without tripping the thing?"

"Oh, maybe. What exactly happens if it's tripped?"

"Planet explodes."

"Yes, let's see if I can do anything about that. Where's my alt?"

Hey, Emily?

Yes?

Your alt wants to meet you and have another go at not blowing up the world.

Not blowing up the world, my favorite thing. I'll be right down.

"She's coming," he reports.