It shouldn't have come as any surprise to me. This had all been going far too well. We had cleared out the entire outer ring of buildings. The brothers had even returned from their mission, ready to prepare to transport the livestock. Of course, that couldn't last.

"Look, I already told the mayor, I'm not leaving. This is my home. We built this place to finally give some stability to the kids," the man said, a hint of anger in his words.

We weren't the first to try and get him out of his house. Several groups had been trying for days, but as we were now six days and eighteen hundred people into this. Convincing him it was time to leave had become a priority. He was the last person on this ring of the city, and while I completely understood why he didn't want to leave, I wasn't willing to let him stay behind. Maybe if it had just been him, but he had a dozen children, and they deserved a real chance.

"I know, and I know you just want to keep things stable for your family. Trust me, I get it. From the stories I've heard, Gramps hated taking everyone away from his family home, too. But sometimes you just have to do what keeps your kids the safest, even if it seems less stable right now," Connie replied with a hint of music in her words.

We had already discussed this on the way. She planned to start the conversation and gently make him a little more agreeable. The way she was speaking now reminded me of how Korl had talked the first time we encountered them. Her words just gave an air of good ideas and pleasantness. I was glad she was on our side.

"But, you have to understand. We just got settled. This is the first time the kids have ever felt like they had a real home, and now you just want us to uproot again?" he replied, his tone had shifted. He no longer sounded quite so steadfast in his refusal. She had cracked his wall already.

"Do you know who is with me right here?" the man shook his head. "Well, this is Dave. He's the ruler of the faction that controls the universe we will be heading to. What's your name?" Connie asked, the music growing just slightly.

"Tlintril," he replied.

"Well, Tlintril, I think I can make you a promise you've never heard before. Dave do you promise Tlintril his own home on Earth, and that as long as you live, that he is under the protection of the Empire of Dave?" Connie asked, somehow with a straight face, as she turned to me.

"I do. I think I can go a bit further and promise you full rights as a citizen in the Empire, whatever that may mean in the future," I replied. Right now, it was mostly a meaningless title, but I would stand by it for all of these people if they chose to stay on Earth in the long term.

The man bit his lower lip before replying. "Fine," he sighed loudly, looking half defeated.

"Thank you. Now these three gentlemen behind us will get you set up for your transport, and help you pack up everything we can," Connie said. She had a reassuring smile on her face, and her words still seemed to have a touch of magic in them.

"How much can we bring?" Tlintril asked, the earlier anger entirely gone now. Instead, he sounded nervous as he became resigned to his fate.

"Everything that we can get out. If possible, the only thing we will leave behind is the house itself," I answered. The look on the man's face changed near instantly. Had he somehow missed the announcement that we wanted them to pack everything possible?

"Oh, oh, okay, well, I guess we'd better get to work. Come on, guys, in here," he replied, stepping out of the doorway for the first time.

"I'll let Pryte know we succeeded and see if there is anyone else we need to find," I said as I pulled up a chat window.

Dave: Connie was able to convince the family to prepare for the move. What are we at now?

Gamma: With them, 1909.

Dave: Any other big issues we need to see to, and if not, where does Pryte want us?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Gamma: Checking.

Gamma: Pryte says as of now, that was the last holdout they know about. They have moved on to clearing the inner apartments.

Alpha: If done there, Elody says Yorela want Connie.

Dave: Okay, I'll tell her.

Maud: Dave, could we actually have your help here in the apartments? We found something odd in one of the basements. Elicec wants you to take a look at it before we move it. Gamma, could you also send the mayor over?

Dave: Alright, on my way. Gamma update Pryte and send the mayor.

Gamma: Please tell me what you find, I want to know, and yes, I will tell Pryte. I have already told the mayor.

I closed the chat window before relaying the message to Connie, who looked unconcerned with it. "Yeah, not surprised. She wants me to learn some harmony, she knows that may help. I'm going to see if I can't combine it with something Gramps taught me, but I'm not exactly confident yet," she replied.

"Good luck, I've gotta head for the apartments. Maud found something," I said just before taking off in a jog toward the center of the city. Connie instead had to head the opposite direction, as Elody and Yorela were both outside the city working on a way to deal with the monsters on the other side of the gate. I hoped they were successful. Even with Mel's new artillery, I wasn't overly confident we were ready for the fight.

So much work was going on around me as I ran. The Reltleons had taken the message of bringing everything they could to heart. I saw teams working to disassemble various works of art, and even a memorial. What surprised me were the ones uprooting trees. I hadn't expected them to attempt to bring their plants fully grown, but if we could do it, I was in favor. The easier this transition was on them, the better it would be for their future stability.

I spotted the apartments in the distance, and Maud, standing outside one of the buildings, told me which one they were currently working to clear. "What's up?" I asked as I reached her. I was reasonably sure I had just cleared the distance in record time. So much for thinking I was only equal to a peak human. I had left that limitation behind at some point.

"Let's go downstairs first, Glunderlin is already there," Maud replied. She didn't seem to be acting strange at all, so what the hell had they found that needed both me and mayor to look at?

"Lead the way," I said. I followed her down several flights of stairs deep into what looked like recently emptied storage spaces until the voices of Elicec and Glunderlin could be heard.

"This doesn't make any sense. Where would this have come from?"Glunderlin's voice sounded bewildered.

"Where could what come from?" I asked as I walked into the room. There was a single large box on the ground.

"We found this box that no one had claimed yet back here, and as I was looking through it to find an owner, I spotted this small diary from a man named Ronald Tammen. He apparently was someone who ended up in the Spiral from an unconnected world," Elicec said, thumbing through pages as he did so.

"Okay, so strange box, what's the giant issue?" I asked, knowing I was missing something.

"Several places he references from before he found himself in the Spiral match up to names on maps I've seen of Earth," Elicec replied. I felt my stomach lurch at that revelation. Was this the person Sanquar had to find?

"Okay, we need that whole box packed up. In fact, I'm going to take it with me." I turned to look at Glunderlin after I said that. "You really have no idea who he is or how this could be here, Glunderlin?" I asked. There was no real reason I could see for him to lie, so I believed it, but that left the question of how it had come to be here.

"I don't. I swear." There was an obvious fear in his voice that I hadn't meant to put there.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you did. Please don't take this the wrong way, it's just this is somehow a key to something a friend of ours is looking for, and it showing up here is entirely unexpected," I replied. My attempt to calm him down looked to have worked.

"Oh, well, yes, absolutely take it, with my blessing. Once we are on your world, I promise to help determine how it got here. We can go through all the records of who has stayed in this location. I should have them all," the mayor replied.

"Perfect, thank you," I said, grabbing the box and placing it in my own System storage. "Since I'm already here, any other snags today?"

"No, at our current rate, we should have everything cleared within another day or two at most. I confess I am terrified about the current state of the highways," Glunderlin answered.

"We will get you're people through it, I promise. I'm going to grab some food before the next thing invariably goes wrong," I said, smiling reassuringly at the mayor as I did so.

"Good luck, we've gotta start figuring out the livestock again soon ourselves," Cecile added.

As I made my way to where John was serving lunch, I couldn't help but dwell on what they had found. Had the first person to leave Earth been here, or had the box come over with someone else? Considering how new the town was, the second option seemed the most likely. Either way, the book was sure to enlighten me on a few mysteries at least. That would wait until we returned, though. Right now, the only mystery I was planning to solve was what John had prepared.

Certain musical effects work differently in chaotic space. For whatever reason, the magic inherent in some of the more amazing works of art transforms in the wild reaches of that place. This is both terrifying and amazing, and it's the reason so many bards have risked life and limb for one last great concert.

A History of Music in the Spiral by Emwood Greens

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