Gaia watched as her six guests walked around the space she had prepared for them at James’ behest. Three of them were curious creatures, animated teddy bears, she had heard them called, but they were more than that. Each of them had the beginnings of a soul inside them. The one called Zelda was almost completely formed.

It made her intensely curious as to the power behind the system the three humanoids used. How strong did it have to be for it to give a young girl the power to animate and freely give souls to things?

One thing was for sure, it was leagues ahead of what the trash gods had created for her world. Of course, if what the kids said was true, then it needed to be. It wasn’t used on just one world, but dozens, maybe even hundreds.

The thought boggled her mind. She was struggling to keep everything working on just her world. How were they managing it on so many? Had the High God behind those worlds permanently connected all the world spirits in some way?

It was both a terrifying and welcoming idea at the same time. She desperately wanted to get in touch with Luna and the rest, to make sure they were all right. Her efforts with the space station and its telescope from the day before had been minimally successful. There had been something there, but it was little more than faint echoes.

Luna was in a deep slumber, or at least that is all she hoped it was.

Either way, she needed to revise what she had planned. Clearly, the system they were using was far superior to hers in nearly every way. It came with some odd restrictions as well, possibly to keep it working so well across so many different worlds. She wasn’t sure, yet.

With a thought, Gaia put them all to sleep. It was time to begin her examination of their system, to delve deep into what made it tick. Everything.

If she was successful, then just as she had with Kate, Beth, and Inara, rewards would be awaiting them. On the other hand, if she wasn’t successful, then she would have to simply erase their system entirely and make what corrections she could on her own.

That would be sad because she had a feeling that if she did that the girl would lose her ability to animate the bears. At least until they made it home, maybe even longer. The three walking teddy bears would die, in all likelihood for good.

Regardless, she wasn’t at that point yet. Besides, she had just received a nice boost of divinity from all the gods who had decided to join the rest of their brethren on her surface. Fallen gods as they had taken to calling themselves, it was a rather apt description. They had fallen from power and grace, and she would make sure they never regained either.

The little kingdoms they were carving out for themselves were all they would ever have from here on out. Except for the few she favored, of course, they would naturally rise above the others in time.

After only a few months, the game the gods had created was breaking down, and she loved it. Now if only she could figure out where Bob, or rather Dantanian, went. He had been mysteriously absent since Charles and Charlotte had figured out he wasn’t truly their uncle.

It was too bad; she could have used his help right about now. He may not have cared about the humans, but he had been the closest thing she had to a not-a-friend, but not an enemy either in years. He was in that sweet spot where she didn’t know what to call him, an acquaintance, an almost friend, something else?

Oh well, he wasn’t the High God who had created Earth in any case, so his power to help would have been limited ultimately. Of course any help at all would have been appreciated.

Gaia sighed and focused again on the kids. She was struggling to keep everything together to the point that her mind was no longer even focusing properly. The thousands of tasks she was doing at that moment were all going slower than usual as a result.

She really needed to fix this, and quickly.