Joaquín, whose family had been in the business of wool and its applications for longer than anyone could remember, was in the shop making alterations when Slim called.

Sifting through the rubble Slim came upon a business card for the WDA’s haberdasher.

Examining the site Slim found nothing to explain what Clive and the Well-Dressed Albatross had done together and without Slim’s knowledge. Slim did, however, find Gim.

Following an exhaustive and fruitless search for any remaining wealth attached to the WDA in The States, Slim grew suspicious, flew south, and arrived at the blast zone moments after Clive and the WDA had vacated it.

The WDA was uninclined to give thanks. Clive was uninclined to receive it. The two departed in opposite directions. Wordless. Almost thoughtless. Almost.

Clive was disarmed by the outcome and its intensity, but happy to discover that he’d freed the Well-Dressed Albatross.

For Meg and Peg, never thinking that Ogee could take charge of his own destiny, had made it possible to destroy Ogee remotely. Standing beside the mound of rubble he deployed his own anihilation.

Passing bones of perished creatures resembling himself, Ogee approached the rubble under which the Well-Dressed Albatross was all but entombed—and chose the ultimate binary possibility.

As Clive was engaged in urgent calculations he was approached by Ogee, the golden robotic rat. Ogee had been wandering the earth for weeks ruminating on whether a programmed device like himself could exercise free will.

On the flight back south Clive performed what calculations he could based on the WDA’s description of the situation. On arrival he surveyed the area across which Pim and Bim had travelled only hours before.