Hella had a head wound, and though it had been a bleeder, she was up and walking around.“I’m not sure that we wanted the portal now,” she said. “We have engineering work to do, diplomacy work to do, if the threat is gone —”“You wanted me to somehow restrain her in a way that wouldn’t have popped the portal?” asked Perry. “Or just let her go to wreak havoc?”“No, no,” said Hella, holding up a hand. “I’m just saying that we’ll have to move fast.”“Eggy was awake,” said Perry. “Then she wasn’t. I’ll do my best to heal her. If we can get her working, we should be good.”“You are the least qualified person to say that,” said Mette. “You don’t understand half the systems.”“Fine,” said Perry. “It gives a better chance of getting done … whatever it is that needs to be done.”Amanaco had come with them, and was staring at the portal with fascination. Anaksi was beside him, though she kept looking between the portal and Perry.“This goes to another world?” asked Amanaco.“Keep up, please,” said Mette. “Yes, it goes to another world.”“But it might be a bad world?” asked Amanaco. “In my experience, there are plenty of bad worlds out there.”“No,” said Mette. “We’re redirecting, hopefully. It’s untested technology. We’re aiming for a world that’s a part of the loop, but I need the equipment set up to get some sense of where we are in the multiverse and what’s going to be the (...)