This was a story that originated in late 2014 as a self-challenge: to write a short story set in one of the universes featured in my novel Reality Check. It kicked off the beginnings of a sequel to that book, which sadly became too tangled to finish. Never fear, I have a better idea for how the sequel should go, and you get to enjoy this as the original stand-alone project it was intended to be.

This is also the universe in which The Multiverse Blues takes place.