(Journal continues in another pen, clearly written later.)

I can't believe it!

After all that talk of urgency and universal collapse… the Word Lords appear to have lost interest. Whenever I ask to see my Riven book, or to help them to stabilize the universe, they brush me off.

"Go talk to the matter-creatures," they tell me. "Make your judgement."

All I can think of is my wife, Catherine. What must she be enduring, at the hands of my father? Has he taken her prisoner? Has he killed her?

I can't think this.

If the Word Lords wish to determine whether the two strangers have caused our universe's problems, then I suppose I must help. I shall write my impressions of them below.

They are close. Perhaps married? It's clear they love each other, anyways, in the same way I love my Catherine.

Dave is easy enough to understand. He always has to be the hero. Diving into things and trying to save the universe — even when the Word Lords won't let him. He strikes me as a little rash and short-sighted, but basically good inside.

Seo, the woman, is more… difficult to characterize.

The Word Lords make her jumpy, and she has a million and one conspiracy theories concerning them. In particular, she believes that the Word Lords only spared her and Dave because they were interested in my personal life, and my history. She also believes that the Word Lords want something in Riven.

I told her about their library of linking books, that link to every Age. Even the ones that haven't been written, yet!

I asked her why the Word Lords would need my Riven book, when they could go to Riven any time they liked, using their own linking book.

"Because the Word Lords are arrogant pricks who believe they can and should rule the universe," Seo told me. "And everything and everyone inside it. Including you. They're manipulating you!"

I asked why.

But she couldn't answer that.

"They don't need a reason," Seo insisted. "Trust me, I know the type. The Time Lords murdered my aunt and killed her family. They were just the same." Then, looking around, she leaned in closer to me, and whispered, "And why do you keep doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Not really talking to me, but just writing your responses down in that journal?" Seo nodded at my journal, which — at that time — was tucked into a satchel by my side. "Perhaps this conversation is happening in the past, from your perspective. But for me… I'm talking to you, right now. Inside your journal."

This confused me, because I wasn't writing in my journal.

But now that I am… I wonder… if this is what she meant? Is she somehow perceiving this universe differently from me, so that time itself flows differently for her?

"Of course," Seo said. "I just spoke to you, three paragraphs ago. As far as I'm concerned, all the events you're writing about are getting smushed together… along with this conversation."

She held out her hand.

"Now, give me the Riven book," she demanded.

I admitted to her that I didn't have it. I'd given it to the Word Lords.

"What?!" Seo shouted.

But the Word Lords had placed the Age into a stasis bubble, a place where living energy can breathe into an Age — so long as it's small — and keep it stable.

"If the Word Lords get what they want from Riven," Seo warned me, "your wife — and everyone else inside — will be dead."

I felt shaken by this.

But after talking with the Word Lords, again, I've decided that Seo's words can't be true.

Seo then asked about me. She asked about my upbringing, about my heritage, and about the D'ni. She even asked me about Riven.

Riven.

I despair of that name.

The Age my father wrote. An ambitious Age that he should never have written, and as a result — it's falling apart!

I told her none of this.

But she listened as I told her everything about myself and my life — and everything that my grandmother had told me about the D'ni. However, when I told her that D'ni had fallen and that few had survived, she'd laughed.

"Sometimes, ancient races should be wiped out," Seo said. "It's better for everyone, that way."

This seemed to come out of nowhere.

"I want to restart the D'ni civilization," I explained. "Find the survivors and rebuild."

"Are you insane?!" Seo shouted. "It's dead. It's gone! Put it out of its misery, already, and do us all a favor!"

I didn't understand this outburst until later, when I found Dave. And told him what she'd said.

"Seo has a right to feel bitter," Dave told me. "She's the descendent of an ancient, powerful race. The race was wiped out in a massive Time War — until Seo's father went back and changed history so the race survived."

It seems that Seo understood about rebuilding destroyed civilizations.

"And because of that… Seo's aunt was murdered," Dave explained. "Seo knows that Dawn wanted it that way. She knows that Dawn died saving Gallifrey. But it doesn't stop her being bitter about it. She loved her aunt very much, and if it hadn't been for the corrupt nature of Gallifreyan politics, Dawn would never have been in danger in the first place."

I spoke to Seo about this, later.

Seo was very quiet on the subject, at first. But, eventually, admitted that what Dave's story was true.

"There are few times in my life when I've wanted to wipe a race out of the universe," Seo admitted. "When I found out what they did… I thought about it. Very hard."

I asked her what she did to them.

"Nothing," Seo replied. "I left."

This proves to me, beyond a doubt, that Seo is a good person. She isn't a threat to the Word Lords, or to our universe.

I will go to the Word Lords this evening, and make my report about the two matter-creatures.

I'm certain the Word Lords will believe me when I tell them that Seo and Dave are no threat to us, and that they should be let free from here and allowed to return to their own universe.

…nagebsdrowehterehwgninnigebyrevehtotthgiryrotsehtpudnapudnapudepsevaD…

…and back and back…

Atrus goes into the Word Lords' chamber and gives his judgement about the strangers — that they're good people and don't want to harm anyone.

"I have written Ages all my life," Atrus tells them. "And through exploring those Ages, I've learned not to fear strangers from other worlds, but instead, to learn from them. Their customs and ways might be strange, but if we immediately destroyed them, we'd deprive ourselves of their knowledge and wisdom."

"You're too trusting," the Word Lords tell Atrus. "As evidenced by the trust you placed in your two sons — who burned your Ages and trapped you in the ruins of D'ni."

Atrus tells them what he learned about the strangers, and what he believes their character to be. He trusts that they honestly did come here by accident, and that they don't want to destroy the universe. If anything, Atrus proposes, perhaps they could save it.

The Word Lords think about this.

Then it comes to the Word Lords' attention that Seo and Dave have escaped.

…nagebsdrowehterehwgninnigebyrevehtotthgiryrotsehtpudnapudnapudepsevaD…

…and back and back…