This has definitely paid off for Lisa.

  Yet it still seems like we are missing something. Like the last rat gorilla. If we had made proper use of our auras senses, we should have sensed it. But we were too tired. Is this the universe telling us that most turtles in a clutch don’t make it?

  P: Do you believe them, when they say that they’ll have the papers ready by tomorrow evening?

  L: Yes. They are relatives of Fatma. And your aura sense is as good as mine. They were sincere.

  P: OK, then I’ll also trust the guy whose address they gave me for selling the car.

  --

  ? The Russian armed forces have surrounded the cupola over the city of Kostroma

  ? and all attempts of probing have failed, only revealing the cupola to be a sphere.

  L: Still thinking that this is the alien masterminds arriving?

  P: If so, they are really giving us a lot of time to get our forces ready.

  L: A distraction?

  P: Possibly. I really cannot get myself to care anymore.

  L: PTSD?

  P: Possibly. I can hardly seek a therapist to be paid by the government while on the run.

  L: Is this visit to a machine shop a form of therapy?

  P: No. This gives me armoured plating with a ballistically bent shape in two directions.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  L: So what is it good for?

  P: Do you remember my little servants?

  L: Useful, but not spectacularly so.

  P: I intend to make them from armoured components so that they’ll become more durable and with

  the quintessence we looted I can afford to give the next one some really oomph.

  L: So Dalek #3 ?

  P: No. I am going for classic pulp this time. It will be Tara I – A 001

  L: If you say so.

  --

  I’ve tried convincing Irina one last time. Well, you have to respect people knowing what they want and do not want in their future. Time will tell. The day after tomorrow I and two cats will go to the Adriatic. Why haven’t I named them? To not give fate named hostages? I cannot bring myself to do it.

  ? Foreign magical groups have reached the Russian city of Kostroma

  ? In a move surprising commentatory, the Russian government has not protested

  ? against their presence, citing a need for a unified response, which given

  ? the country’s size was always most likely to happen on Russian soil

  --

  According to my driver’s license and passport I am a citizen of Liechtenstein. That suits me just fine. It is nice to sleep one last night in my own bed, while Lisa is already gone back to forming the underground. My gains, as dangerous as achieving them may have been are considerable.