The temple was still busy, but now that of the four gods only Mary remained, many were leaving.

Deepsix was the first to leave, he was in a hurry to reclaim the dungeon core that had been entrusted to him.

Harrassan was deep in thought, he glanced at his brother, “Did it seem to you that the weakest of the four dominated the meeting?”

Sreecator sighed, “Creevar wanted something from her, so he had to go easy. Azurea is desperate. But yes She dominated. This is her main temple after all.”

Harrassan looked at Falreena and her two tag alongs. “Bet they are shaken. It’s not good to see your god almost pleading.”

“My folk first, second and third... No wonder her followers are loyal...” murmured Sreecator.

“And that includes the drow now. And I saw a handful of them in the crowd. No wonder Horaxanna is worried,” agreed Harrassan.

They left followed by a very thoughtful Falreena.

As soon as Creevar’s Killers had left with Falreena Helliana, rather hesitantly approached the altar. She was encouraged, half pushed by her new friends. “P-please lady goddess, will you let me stay here. I-I don’t want to return to – to Azurea’s temple.”

Mary inspected the girl. She grinned, “So you want to become one of mine?”

“Ye-yes pl-please.”

“So be it. This is goin’ to hurt but it'll make you fit in. An’ I suspect it wouln’t hurt as much as those bitches have hurt you in the past. Ready?”

Helliana shrank into herself. But gathered courage from the half smile on Mary’s face. She nodded, then her chest hurt and she felt as if she was suffocating. Her friends giggled and produced their fishing knives and removed the sides of her tight dress allowing her new gills to work.

“Drina see to her. Get her settled with a family that wants a lively girl. And you lot, take her to the portal. She needs to be in Silverton before Deepsix to give him the core he left in her care.”

The giggling kids fled. Mary called after them, “And get her a swimming costume.”

* * * EARTH – BOAT YARD * * *

Agents Mitchell and Perez were suddenly wide-awake. The mysterious boathouse’s doors had opened and a misty indistinct something moved out and took station just offshore from the Silvestre Boat Yard. The thing wasn’t that big but the agents could almost distinguish that it had a turret with a short tube in front and it seemed to positively bristle with missile or torpedo launchers.

Then a barge made its way out and docked at one of the piers. One of the cranes swung into action and swiftly unloaded it. The barge returned to the boathouse and was followed by the misty indistinct well -armed patrol boat look alike.

The agents were frustrated when their recording instruments just showed a vague grey blur. They weren’t even able to record the boat yard during the time the barge and the armed boat were out.

They were soon on the line to their superiors and a search warrant was arranged and a fully equipped search party was on its way even before the well laden old army truck left the boat driven by the catman Kent Clarkson with an armed guard and two visitors from another world.

Mycroft advised Tobias Nelson the CEO of Silver Dolphin Security of the search warrant and when it would be served. Tobias advised his security force. The crocodiles were returned to their cavern, as was the manticore. Everything was made ready to receive the FBI.

Kent shifted to another route when Mycroft updated him on the FBI’s plans.

* * * EARTH – MARY * * *

Mary felt wrung out. She, both of her had forced a portal to the world of Fragatta and then they had located a dormant underwater volcano. They had dragged Ocidon along and persuaded him to use an earthquake (Fragattaquake?) to wake it. So now the beep thing had blown its top a la Krakatoa and was enthusiastically spewing magma. This was more than they had intended but at least the ice was gone from their fiery-hearted new dungeon. One good thing ’bout the volcano was the sheer amount of manna the beep thing was putting’ out.

She, the both of her were a bit put out by Bluey promptly nominatin’ them goddess of the beep thing a la Pele. At least she could now keep it goin’ an’ somewhat in check. And the manna was nice.

Both of her, no their plans were now going ahead. The first and easiest was the new moss. The dark almost black green moss was growing enthusiastically. It only grew on ice and was edible even if it was rather lacking in nutrition. It was however rich in vitamins and should be useful in preventing scurvy. Several of her walrus shifters were already present as was an underwater liftwood plantation. They would contact the handful of survivors and help spread her moss.

The second idea was more ambitious. Soon the Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin would be ready to take to space. One of Fragatta’s four moons should be good for a base and then she, they would see if the idea they had got out of that SF book about big orbital mirrors would work in warming the world.

And if they worked on Fragatta then the Frost King an’ Ice Heart were in for the shock of their ever lovin’ lives. Both Marys grinned nastily.

She just sincerely hoped she wouldn’t have to become a triple goddess.

‘If it wasn’t for mama an’ Flip I’d have no problems. But havin’ to keep beein’ human takes time. Lots of time. But no way do I want to loose ’em. That would be far worse than splittin’ off a third me. Still I hope we won’t need to do that.’

« Hey Mycroft, what have you found ’bout those three names the Blue Haired Cow gave me? »

« Well you already know about Tammy O’Hare the Australian girl. Then I’ve found James Hu from Singapore. We are researching him. And Catherine Hamada from Portland, Oregon, I suspect you’ll like her and she’ll go gaga over your Manga Dungeon. She’s a complete Otaku. »

* * *

After resting a bit and separating her mind from the other her she turned her attention to her intrepid explorer. She touched his mind feeling his welcome. Hawaiʻiloa the Navigator was bubbling with enthusiasm and excitement. Mary realised the Far Voyager was floating over the site of the Apollo 11 landing. Sensing her mild interest Hawai’iloa took the Far Voyager round again to see the various relics.

Neither of them had the faintest idea of the consternation they were causing on Earth. More and more observatories focused their attentions on the silvery Far Voyager. Especially as it was obvious that the spaceship was maintaining altitude without the use of rockets.

Finally the Far Voyager moved away from the Apollo landing site and headed towards the lunar west until it passed into the lunar night. But the Earthside observatories kept tracking it due to Earthlight. They watched the Far Voyager land near the centre of the Oceanus Procellarum.

Mary grinned as Hawai’iloa assumed his avatar, donned his spacesuit and was the first to step out onto the Moon. Then he supervised his crew as they removed the steel airtight small container from the hold and placed it on the moon’s surface. Then Hawai’iloa invoked the talisman that was in the container. Mary concentrated and, after spending more manna than she had expected to need, managed to open the portal. She immediately handed it over to Lewis.

She felt Lewis’ triumph and sensed something of his plans.

« Now, now Lewis, none of that, no pyramids. And I mean it, no pyramids. Wouldn’t object to a fairytale castle mind you. Let’s not give any more traction to von Däniken an’ his ilk. »

« Aww! ... It shall be as you order Mother. One Disney type castle coming right up. »

« Huh, Men! »

* * *

Mary glanced at her phone before answering. “Afternoon Dr. DeBlasio.”

“Mary what do you know of these creepy little ponies? And I keep telling you, call me Michaela.”

“Know a few things. Why?”

“Because that idiot TV station gave a pair to a little girl on the terminal ward and while she seemed better for their presence, now she’s frantic because the ponies are listless and seem unwell.”

“Oh beep! You’ve got to give ’em honey, ’bout a jar each every six hours or so. Syrup will work but not as well. Sugared water might do if you can’t get hold of honey. Royal jelly as a supplement would be good but only once a day. And stop dosin’ ’em when the kid’s healthy an’ they don’t have to use all their manna and life force in their healing.”

“Seems like you know more than a bit about them Mary. Truly, they can cure terminal cancer?”

“Maybe. I hadn’t thought their healing abilities strong enough. But if they’re tag teamin’ an’ willin’ to give their lives to effect a cure, then just maybe. She must be nice for ’em to bond like that.”

“She must be nice...?” Michaela thought about that for a second or two. “What else are those creatures doing to their owners?”

“Partners, friends not owners. Not tellin’. Sorry. Oh, an’ don’t worry if the girl starts regrowing any bits you lot may have removed.”

“... I’ve got to go save my new patients. But you haven’t heard the last of this Mary. Expect a visit from Cas and me. And I suspect Tina’s oncologist will be just as interested. And why didn’t you tell people your creations need honey.”

“’Cause they don’t. Not usually. You really wouldn’t like to be around one of ’em on a sugar high.”

“... I knew it. You did make them.”

“Yeah, So?”

* * * EARTH – IN THE NEWS * * *

It’s confirmed, sea serpents seem to have colonised the seas off Hawaii. Several excursion boats have seen and recorded the creatures. From studying the films two individuals have been identified. The larger of the two seems to be about fifty meters long; the other is about ten meters shorter. Scientists are preparing to tag these animals.

In a more worrying development a marine camera that was washed up on a beach on Hawaii shows one of these creatures killing and eating two scuba divers. They seem to keep to deep waters.

* * *

Another end of the world prophecy has come from Pastor Zachariah Beddows. The pastor claims that his study of the bible tells him that the world will end next year at noon EST on the 13th of March. He cites the appearance of the diabolical blue screens and the System that he claims is another aspect of the Devil.

When asked about his previous assertion that the World would end, he admitted that he had made a mistake in his interpretation of one of the passages he had relied on but that this time he was one hundred per cent sure of his interpretation.

* * *

A UFO has been observed floating over the near side of the moon. It showed interest in the Appolo landing site and it has landed close to the middle of the Oceanus Procellarum. The aliens seem to be building something on the moon.

The US, Russia and China are all urgently preparing lunar missions to study this visitor to our solar system. Most of the space capable powers are preparing probes for immediate launch. We are certain manned missions will follow.

* * *

And now from Bismark, North Dakota we have General Smyth. The camera panned across a scene of devastation. Three smoking destroyed tanks could be seen amongst the rubble and destroyed bunkers.

“We have seized the surface installations of this the Winter Wolf dungeon. Yes you heard correctly. The System has confirmed that what happened here was the birth of a dungeon. If you want more information please access the government website regarding the changes that have been changing or world and search for dungeons.”

General Smyth looked grim, “Alternatively the System has some information about dungeons available for anybody who cares to search for it. In short, somewhere down there...” the general pointed at a ragged hole in the ground, “Is an inhuman, and in this case, malignant intelligence that controls monsters, traps and remote weapons to defend itself. It feeds on lives and gives out bribes to entice the foolish or suicidal to enter.

“We will be building a temporary base on this location to control the entrance to this dungeon until we are able to destroy it.”