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Abruptly, the majority of the Surgeons turn away from you. You are no longer a threat to their plans, so you are no longer of interest. A few dozen stay nearby, to stop from you wandering away. But the rest of the multitude swarm toward the portal, up the machine at its base, and away—to Earth.

For an hour, and then a second hour, they pass through the portal. A third hour, and you can no longer estimate how many of them you have seen hurl themselves into that great black portal. A hundred thousand? More?

And then, at last, that great torrent of Surgeon bodies becomes a trickle. The bulk of their work is done. Those aliens nearest to you disperse somewhat—but they do not leave you completely alone, you note.

Few of the Surgeons remain in this world. Tentatively, you approach the portal, and the great organic machine at its base. You are not stopped. With no other place to go, you climb it, as you saw the vast horde of Surgeons do before you.

The portal, the gateway to your own world, remains open. From a running start, you leap up and into it. And then you have left behind the Surgeons' homeworld for good.

You blacked out the first time you passed through this conduit. This time too, it is a battle to retain your consciousness, or to understand at any level the non-space that surrounds you.

You are going home. You can only hope that you have not destroyed that home through your choices in this strange world.

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