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Garovel brought the conversation back on track. ‘So you think we’re in a pocket dimension. Is that right?’

‘Pretty much,’ said Chergoa. ‘You got a better theory?’

‘Well. “Better” is a strong word. A strong, accurate word.’

‘Uh-huh. Go on then, genius.’

‘I think you’re right. I think this is a pocket dimension. And I think we’re inside the shards, right now.’

‘Yeah, I already put that together,’ said Chergoa.

‘Shame you didn’t mention it, then. Now the credit’s all mine.’

‘No one cares.’

‘Hector cares. Don’t you, Hector?’

‘...I’m not involved in this conversation.’

Expectedly, the discussion derailed for quite a while. The reapers went on and on, back and forth, and Hector was about to just stop listening entirely until Emiliana intervened.

‘This is all very interesting,’ she said, ‘but how do we leave this place?’

And both reapers shut up for a moment.

‘Well,’ said Garovel. ‘There’s good news and bad news with that.’

‘More like okay news and weapons-grade-terrible news,’ said Chergoa.

‘Wonderful,’ said Emiliana. ‘Bad news first, then.”

Both reapers hesitated again, perhaps waiting for each other to take the liberty of explaining.

‘Come on,’ said Hector. ‘Tell us.’

‘Okay,’ said Garovel. ‘When we say that we’re stuck here, we mean it. There’s literally nothing we can do besides wait for the pocket dimension to degrade on its own and let us out.’

‘Yep,’ Chergoa added. ‘And the wait could be very long.’

‘HOW long?’ said Emiliana.

‘Dunno,’ said Chergoa. ‘A few hours, if we’re lucky. A few decades, if we’re not.’

‘DECADES?!’ Hector and Emiliana both said.

‘We’d have to be stupidly unlucky, though,’ said Garovel.

‘We ARE stupidly unlucky!’ said Hector.

‘Eh, I’m sure it won’t be that long,’ said Garovel. ‘Though, even if it were, that could be a good thing.’