[Extract from the diary of Bernice Summerfield]

 [Large post-it note, with just the following written on it]

 Well, all I have to say is, thank goodness that's over with. This whole business with the Totems has seemed like nothing but one gigantic, complicated, over-convoluted mess, and I for one am glad to be well out of it with my entirely too gorgeous body intact. Time to find a good pub and drink, something I have not had a chance to do since this whole thing started.

 [paper entry underneath post-it note]

 Well, all I have to say is, good-bye universe. What was, what is, what will be...all poofed now, I'm afraid, or at least, it will be within a few hours. Or will have been. Or will have been about to be. I never did understand how that business with tenses worked when dealing with changing history. All I know is, the Totems are feeding off of the energy of the time-loop to time travel; I've had enough experience with it to recognize the sensation. I don't know how far back we've gone, but it's probably far enough for them to do some real damage to The Way Things Are. Meanwhile, I'm stuck here with an immortal native of the planet, Huignar, and Clarence is here too...somewhere...so is Angel Delbarre, who has turned out to be a member of a species that has produced several notorious manipulators. I don't want to think about how much I've been manipulated right now; it would really depress me. I also don't want to think about the fact that in a few hours, once we've moved back into real time, the ancient ancestors of said manipulators will themselves be manipulated; the Trin'l will offer them a deal they can't refuse--the power of Godhood. Still, the archaeological instincts are revving up...it's not every day you get to be present for history in the breaking.

 [Extract ends]

 "They know we're here," Angel whispered to Benny.

 "Giant winged figure swoops in, catches me in mid-air, and delivers me to this spot before swooping out again. Tell me, how did you do in your 'Spotting the Obvious' class?"

 "No, I mean...the Totem of Malevolence was up here with us. It re- merged with the Trin'l. The Trin'l now knows everything that the Totem knew. Ergo, they know we're here. Ergo, our purpose in hiding up here, to avoid their attentions, is now utterly pointless. We might as well go down and get information directly."

 "That does not strike me as a good plan," Huignar said. "The Trin'l will more than likely destroy us, and there is nothing we can do to stop it now in any event. Once the three Totems have merged into the Trin'l, they cannot be not-merged."

 "But they're not the Trin'l," retorted Angel. "Not yet. They've used Miles Bain as a conduit to form a pseudo-Trin'l, but they need to find the Third Totem to form the real thing. Right now, they're still vulnerable. That's why they couldn't bring us directly back to the time period they wanted to."

 "But they will soon find the Third Totem; and we have no way of stopping them from doing so."

 "That doesn't mean we shouldn't try."

 "If I might interject?" askd Benny, putting away her diary. "If they're going to zap us, they can do it from here pretty easily, I should imagine. So we might as well go down and see if we can't stop them from finding the Third Totem. After all, once that's found, it's game over...right?"

 Angel nodded. "There'd be an influx of immense, uncontrolled power as they attained their godhood...then after that, they could steer this whole planet anywhere in space and time. This world would become a trans-temporal anomaly, which they could use as an extra-spatial base of operations. Then from there, it'd be a very simple matter to manipulate history on a grand scale. And..." he shrugged. "Game over. Like you said."

 "Then let's do what we can." And with that, Benny stood up, and began making her way down the cliffside.

 "'So we look to the future,'" Benny commented in a sing-song tone as she finally approached the area, flanked by Huignar and Angel. "'But there's not much love to go round.' I didn't know you were a fan of Genesis."

 "Ah, Miss Summerfield," the Trin'l said in a supercilious tone that made Benny suspect that Miles was still in there somewhere, "Indeed I am. Not in the sense you mean, I'm sure, but it's the thought that counts. Soon you'll see the sort of Genesis I mean...soon, when the final part of myself is located, I'll--"

 "How can you form the Trin'l without the third Totem?" Benny asked. "I'm a little confused." She clapped a hand to her cheek in mock embarrassment. "Sorry--I interrupted you mid-rant, didn't I?"

 "Yes, but I'm not one of those villains that throws a temper tantrum and screams when I get interrupted." There was a blinding flash of light, and Benny was slammed to the ground by an unseen force. "I just hit things. Now, to answer your question...ever done a jigsaw puzzle? I haven't, but I imagine the process is somewhat similar. With two Totems, I can extrapolate what the third must be. I then put the results of that extrapolation into a convenient vessel--your Miles. As soon as we find the third Totem, though, there'll be no need for such makeshift measures. The true, final, stable Trin'l will be formed. And then--"

 "At the risk of interrupting again," Benny said, struggling to her knees, "you've never...formed...the Trin'l before, have you?"

 The Trin'l flexed its fingers, and Benny felt herself crash into the ground again. "No...never. The original Totems--"

 Benny's lips felt thick, and her head hurt, but she perservered. "The race that came here--the one you plan to merge with--they only made the first two Totems, didn't they?"

 Benny hit the ground again. "Yes. They made the first two Totems, then the Eternal Ones modified them to interact with the third."

 Benny waited until she was sure he'd finished his sentence. "A Totem of Benevolence, a Totem of Malevolence, and a third totem." She smiled. "One that vanished shortly after it was found. You know, I think this is beginning to sound a bit familiar--"

 Benny was cut off by the excited cry of one of the Cursed. "We've found it!" they shouted. All heads turned towards the dig, as one of the diggers climbed up from the pit of ash and wreckage left by the Totem of Malevolence in its original incarnation. He carried a silver statue that seemed to shimmer, as though it was always being looked at from the wrong angle to see it properly.

 "At last," the Trin'l said. It gestured, and the Third Totem ripped itself from the Cursed's hands and came flying towards it.

 Then Benny leapt in the way.

 And finally...overwhelming familiarity. Remembrance. And with it came...control.

 And things...unhappened.

 Stars and planets began to dance their cosmic dance, but this time the music was playing backwards. The red shift became indigo as the universe began to contract backwards, towards the moment of truth--the moment wherein the universe became more than just an abstract concept in the minds of...well, whoever was around back then. It's difficult to know, because it's impossible to exist before the event itself. That, in fact, is why it's called Event One.

 Din-el moved. Or rather, Din-el stayed still, and the universe moved around it.

 Benny nodded. "Usually, the phrase, 'A memory struck me' is more metaphorical. I'm beginning to be very grateful." She looked at Angel. "I know what the Third Totem is now. It's a...well, the person who made it described it to me as a 'metacultural engine', but that never really made much sense. It's the third side--something opposite of both good and evil. It's freedom." She paused. "Did that make any sense at all?"

 Angel shook his head.

 Benny shrugged. "Ask me how many years I've had to hear explanations just like it, sunshine. When are we, anyway? And by the by, I'll be quite grateful for the opportunity, someday, to be allowed to just ask 'Where are we?' instead of 'When are we?'"

 Huignar sighed. "At the beginning. At the end."

 Benny sighed. "And third place in the Intergalactic Vague Statements Competition goes to Huignar! Let's try that again. What happened?"

 The Trin'l smiled. "We happened. We have attained our full self--the energies unleashed have taken us further back than we intended, but we have merged to form the true Trin'l."

 Benny smiled a small, grim smile. "You've corrupted the metahedron, you mean."

 The Trin'l snarled. "Then you know what it is."

 "I met its creator once or twice. He was at my wedding, in fact. And he didn't make any Totem. It was never a Totem at all. It was never meant to be a part of your joining. It was meant to be a wedge between the Gods and the universe, and now you've made it into the exact opposite!"

 The Trin'l nodded. "Between that, and our merging with the Empire of the Pythia, we will be able to make it so that opposition to us will never arise. Good and evil, black and white--everyone will have a cause, and the cause will be the Gods. The universe will be...simple."

 Behind him, a voice said, "I hate things that are simple."

 The Trin'l turned. Behind it was a man...a painfully nondescript man, wearing grey clothes and dark glasses that hid his eyes. Everything about him seemed to simply scream...grey. It was almost as if he wasn't even there.

 The Trin'l shook its head. "You can't exist. They killed you."

 Benny had to laugh. "Not yet they haven't. In your time, perhaps. Because in your time, Cathedral already exists. The metahedron's already been created, and he's already put most of his power into it...and the Gods have already killed him. But in your 'uncontrolled' time travel--by the way, I did that, during the few seconds I had the metahedron...I already knew a bit about it, from before. Or after. Or...what was I saying? Oh, yes--you went back in time to a point where he did exist, with his full power. Right here. Right now. At the beginning of time."

 The grey man nodded. "I saw what you did. I moved myself in time to see it. It is a clever trap you have set up for the thing I will create. The metahedron's defenses aren't designed to stop you. You would merge with it." He paused. "But I have better defenses than it does. I have a will. And your masters did not endow you with the power to oppose me." He snapped his fingers. The Trin'l bubbled, shrieked, and finally exploded into a thousand little particles. At last, like the final rolling wheel that always comes out of a car crash, the metahedron tumbled back into existence to fall back to the ground with a thud.

 The grey man sighed. "That seemed like such a...simplistic way to stop that. Just blow things up. Will it always be that way?"

 Benny shrugged. "It's how everyone I know handles things."

 After that, things were pretty simple. The grey man put everything back to rights; he restored Din-el to its proper place and time, put us back where we needed to be; he even destroyed the Cursed, at their own request. Then he went back to his proper time--to make Cathedral, and to die. And Cathedral would be destroyed. By me. Well, me and a couple of rejects from 'Sapphire and Steel', but I had a hand in it as well.

 And without Cathedral, the Gods were able to assert themselves again, after a while. And that led to Emile, and to Dellah, and to...

 [post-it note covering the above]

 After that, things were pretty simple. The grey man put everything back to rights, and took us home. Well, to Din-el, in any event. From there, though, I should be able to catch a shuttle to somewhere that has a decent bar.

 [Extract ends]

 "Krau Summerfield," said the ticket-bot, "there should be another person attached to this pass. A Miles Bain?"

 Benny shook her head, her eyes bright. "He won't be coming on this flight," she said.

 Eventually, the shuttle left Din-el.

 THE END