47

He's already in the middle of the village, perhaps attracted by the return of the hunters. He smiles when he sees you, then frowns when he sees your expression and quickly reads the letter.

"I hate to admit it," he says, "but Stralchus is talking sense. Let's work with him to capture the False Icon, then we can all go back home to Byzantium. Even the villagers. Why not, right? No reason to let them disappear when this horrible world vanishes."

You're not far from the Specular, and Dr. Sabbatine's voice drifts through the air, loud enough that the awakening villagers can hear: "So, Crowchar, we have an army bearing down on us, and there is little time left to decide. What are you going to do?"

The villagers look toward you. It looks like you'll be making a decision now. How Dr. Sabbatine even knew about the letter is a question. Can she now see through the rift as well as hear?

You see three options:

You could seize the Ziggurat from Stralchus, blast the gray mountain, then let the False Icon escape. This world and Byzantium, then, would both endure. If you succeed, which does not sound easy.

Or you could seize the Ziggurat, then secure it against the coming impact. The gray mountain will (eventually) destroy the lizards and ophidians, leaving humanity–and the Ziggurat–intact. Of course, that also means Byzantium vanishes, replaced by Queen Victoria's empire.

Finally, you could take the Ziggurat knowing you would have to abandon it. By destroying the gray mountain with the sun lens and recapturing the False Icon, you would unmake this world, then everyone could retreat back through the rift to Byzantium.

People await an answer. Almost everyone in the village is here now, ready to debate and discuss, as this concerns their fate and the fate of two or three worlds. Dr. Sabbatine's voice crackles out of the rift, her tone worried.