"Mostly I wanted to know if there was someplace we ought to be looking."

"Aha, no. I mean, statistically the universe is big enough that I suspect Earths aren't actually usually the only planet with life, but there's a difference between 'has life' and 'interesting sci-fi aliens.'"

"A bit, yes."

"Given how Earthlike Milliways' outdoors is, I suspect its human-centricism has more to do with Milliways than with the nature of the multiverse."

"I haven't seen the outdoors yet. Is it interestingly Earthlike or meh Earthlike?"

"It has a lake and a forest and a mountain in the distance. The lake's a bit cold, but otherwise good for swimming."

"Does it come to an abrupt stop with exploding stars in the distance after that?"

"I would not consider that good for swimming!"

"Why not? They're certainly striking through the window and I assume if it was a functional vacuum it would slurp up the lake, so it would just be a view."

"Okay, true, but the mental image you initially generated was one where you might go over the edge by accident."

"Wasn't what I had in mind. So what is past the lake and the mountain and the forest?"

"If you go far enough you just sort of loop back around and end up in the general area again."

"...Okay, now I want to figure out how my sense-of-place reacts to it."

"Knock yourself out. That door leads outside," she says, pointing.

"What kind of confused?"

"If I look out too far, it thinks that the places are duplicates of nearer places."

"That does sound confusing."

"Yeah. So I could go to any of the locations, but I'd wind up at the nearby 'instance'."

"Huh. Well, as long as it works. Of course, Milliways does go out of its way to be habitable and such."

"I did notice that. It's friendly."

"It really is."

About half an hour later, Lorica descends the stairs, yawning.

"Oh, hello. Your alt and her twin left, but it hasn't been long enough for my sister or I to have slept."