Given the god-like power to transform their world and the added, unique ability that he provided to freeze their creation so that nobody could undo their work, Greg's parents chose to make a place remarkably like the retirement community they had been living in before their lives had been turned upside down. Several of their friends decided to join them.

Greg had taken Luna along with him to meet them, but after seeing the appalled looks on their faces when his parents had first seen her, he asked his partner to wait for him at their safe house that overlooked the Willamette Valley in Oregon. He joined her there shortly afterward.

"They always hoped I'd give up on my transient girlfriends and settle down with someone," he told her later. "But when I finally bring my dream-girl home, they..." He didn't even want to think about the hurtful things they'd said to him after Luna had left. "...they get all... funny about it. Go figure."

"They seemed..." Luna groped for something appropriate and finished lamely, "...nice."

"Boring, you mean." Greg grinned. "Well, at least they'll be comfortable now... and safe from all the changes happening in the rest of the world." He paused and sighed. "They begged me to put things back the way they used to be. You know, I really didn't expect it to be this chaotic. People seem just as intent on messing up everybody else's fantasy as they are about creating their own."

"Sister has been quite busy today. Even things that don't require her attention seem unstable." Luna pointed with her forehoof. "There's been an inland sea down in the valley there about three times while I've been waiting for you. Somebody else seems to think it ought to be the sort of orchards that are there now and it keeps switching back... oops, there it goes again!"

They watched as the apple trees disappeared under a rising flood of sparkling water. Gulls and pelicans swooped in from nowhere, and off in the distance a pod of dolphins leaped and cavorted through the gentle waves.

"I guess they haven't discovered that the changes are biased and stabilized by numbers yet," Greg said. "Nobody ever reads the damn manual!"

"Or the orchard and ocean favoring groups may have nearly equal numbers of people," Luna said thoughtfully.

"Naw," Greg said, "I bet it's just two hard-headed twits fixated on this particular valley... combat over cooperation to the detriment of both. Oh, well... not my problem any more."

"You do have one more responsibility," Luna reminded him.

"Ah, yes... Lisa," Greg said, nodding. "I think I've come up with something. I just need to do some more testing…"

Far to the north, there was a bright flash of light and glittering towers of green glass rose high into the sky, paused, and then shrank down into the deepening gloom as if in fast-reverse. "Still sorting things out," Greg mumbled, "I wonder how long it will take before things stabilize."

"Knowing humans," Luna said, "it may never happen in more than a few places." She shrugged. "But it will be their own fault and nothing to do with us."

"It doesn't bother you?" Greg asked.

"No," she said, slipping a wing around him and resting her head on his shoulder. "And it won't bother you either... after a while. You'll see."

He returned her embrace. "Sometimes I feel like I've given loaded guns to a bunch of grade school children. Look at that!" He pointed to the half-dozen whirling tornadoes of fire that danced along the edge of the bay, "Who the hell thought that would be a good idea?"

"Well, they are certainly pretty, and they don't seem to be doing any…" Luna's ears twitched. "Something's coming," she said, turning to look toward the south.

Greg heard it then; the roar of powerful engines approaching fast. "Oh ghod, now what?" he groaned. Moments later, a huge flying craft flashed by only a hundred feet below the mountaintop but climbing rapidly.

"That looked like Serenity," Luna commented.

"Yep," Greg said, grinning. "I didn't see the name, but that's a Firefly-class bulk transport for sure." He followed the ship as it continued to climb nearly vertically up through the atmosphere. In the early evening sky, only a few stars were visible and the one that the spaceship seemed to be heading for was a clear, untwinkling red. Greg began to smile. "Okay, now I feel better about things. While everybody is stepping on each other's toes trying to be Captain Fucking Planet, those guys are going off to their own planet!" He watched until he could no longer make out the light of the spaceship's drive. "Big damn heroes," he said softly. "I hope they make it."

When they looked down, the valley was full of apple orchards again.

Greg told Luna that there was some work he needed to do before they went to Terminus Village to look in on the exiled politicians.

"You might as well get some sleep," he told her, "I don't know how long this is going to take."

"I don't mind keeping you company," she said.

"Well... I need to concentrate," he said.

"Oh," Luna blinked at him uncertainly, "Alright then." He had never wanted privacy for work before. She knew well enough when he was deep in some problem and always refrained from interrupting him.

"Great," he said a little wistfully and then hugged her tightly. "I love you."

Luna was puzzled. Greg was acting stranger by the hour and she was concerned. She thought it over for a while as she watched the valley fill and the moon's reflection dance on the waves. Then she turned and went through the house to the large converted barn in the back that served as Greg's work area. She slipped in silently, flowing in the shadows. If Greg glanced up, he wouldn't see her. If he examined the corner of the room carefully, he might see her... but he wouldn't notice her.

She watched him work at his computer station. Nothing unusual there. She came closer until she could see what was displayed on the screen. It was meaningless to her; numbers, charts, and graphs with complex labels.

Greg seemed to be running a simulation. He ran it over and over again with different parameters for several hours. Luna still couldn't see why he would have wanted to be alone but she stayed, watching. She noticed something on the desk beside the computer; a manila envelope with her name written in large letters across its surface. She slowly lifted the end of the envelope and examined it. It was sealed shut. She didn't think that she'd be able to take it away and open it without Greg noticing so she let it back down again.

Some hours after midnight, Greg sighed and pushed himself away from the computer. He paced up and down for a few minutes and then returned to the machine and moved the mouse, clicking it once.

The mirror portal that stood against one wall came to life, glowing and humming on a frequency that was even lower than Luna could hear. But she could feel it in her body... and it felt different, unsteady. Then the vibration began to heterodyne, the pulses growing stronger by the instant. Luna looked at Greg, but he was calmly watching the gate. It was something he had expected to happen.

There was a sudden blurring of the gate's structure and then it split, and there were two gates in the room. They were about six feet apart and facing each other. The vibration smoothed out and sank to a normal level.

Greg walked to the gates and stood between them, facing the left-hand one. He hesitated, took one step toward the gate and then backed away. He stood there, hands clenching for a while and then returned to the computer and ran the familiar simulation again. The results looked exactly the same as the last dozen times to Luna. Greg sighed and touched the envelope with her name on it, then returned to the gates.

This time he didn't hesitate. He walked through the left-hand gate and disappeared. For a long while nothing happened. Just as Luna had convinced herself that something was wrong and that she should follow Greg into the mirror, he reappeared from the right-hand gate, shivering and breathing hard. He stood there for a while and caught his breath. He looked down at his hands and turned them over as if there was something odd about them. Finally he walked back toward the desk. Before he reached it he looked directly at Luna and stopped.

"W—what are you doing here?" he asked. He didn't seem angry, just puzzled.

Luna's only reaction to the sudden realization that Greg could easily see her was a brief blink. "I... I heard a noise," she lied. "Just now. A loud crackle like a static discharge. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

"Huh," Greg said to himself. "It shouldn't have made any noise... well, it doesn't matter. Uh..." his eyes flicked down to the envelope for a split second and he moved to place himself between it and Luna. "Let's go eat something, okay?" He gestured to the door. "Go ahead. I'll be out in a second."

Luna couldn't very well refuse. She went back into the house and Greg joined her a moment later. They walked out onto the porch in the pre-dawn light to see the ocean below them dotted with numerous islands, all covered with apple trees.

"Hey!" Greg cried in amazement, "Look at that! Finally a little cooperation between..." His praise was cut short as all the islands erupted into flames, incinerating the trees. "Oh for... screw this!" he said, turning his back on the flaming valley. "Let's wake Lisa up and go get breakfast."

Author's Notes:

Thanks once more to the GGG (Great Group of Guys) who do the unforgiving work of slogging through my first, second, and third drafts, Fana Farouche, Jordanis, and WrittenWord333!