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{{retitle|''Twilight of the Gods'' (BNA novel)}}
{{Rename|[[Twilight of the Gods (VNA novel)]]}}
{{real world}}
{{real world}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Twilight of the Gods'' (BNA novel)}}
{{Infobox Story SMW
{{Infobox Story
|image           = Twilight of the Gods.jpg
|name= Twilight of the Gods
|series         = [[Virgin New Adventures]]
|image= Twilight of the Gods.jpg  
|range          = Virgin New Adventures
|series= [[Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures|Virgin <br /> Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]]
|number in range = 84
|number= 23
|number          = 84
|main character= [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]]
|main character = [[Bernice Summerfield]]
|featuring= [[Jason Kane|Jason]], [[Clarence]], [[Chris Cwej|Chris]]
|featuring       = Irving Braxiatel
|enemy= [[Ferutu]]
|featuring2      = Jason Kane
|setting= {{il|[[KS-159]], [[2596]]|[[Dellah]], [[2596]]}}
|featuring3      = Clarence
|writer= [[Mark Clapham]] & [[Jon de Burgh Miller]]
|featuring4      = Chris Cwej{{!}}Cwej
|publisher= Virgin Books  
|featuring5      = Emile Mars-Smith
|release date= [[2 December (releases)|2 December]], [[1999 (releases)|1999]]
|featuring6      = James Harker{{!}}Harker
|format= Paperback Book, 242 Pages  
|featuring7      = Sultan of the Tashwari{{!}}the Sultan
|isbn= ISBN 0-426-20536-7  
|enemy          = [[Ferutu]]
|prev= The Joy Device (novel)  
|setting        = [[Dellah]], [[2596]]
|next= The Dead Men Diaries (anthology)}}
|writer         = Mark Clapham, Jon de Burgh Miller
{{you may|Twilight of the Gods (MA novel)|n1=the Second Doctor novel}}
|cover          = [[Fred Gambino]]
'''''Twilight of the Gods''''' was the twenty-third and final [[Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]] novel. It was written by [[Mark Clapham]] and [[Jon de Burgh Miller]].
|publisher       = Virgin Books
|release date   = 2 December 1999
|format         = Paperback Book, 242 Pages
|isbn           = ISBN 0-426-20536-7
|prev           = The Joy Device (novel)
}}{{you may|Twilight of the Gods (MA novel)|n1=the Second Doctor novel}}
'''''Twilight of the Gods''''' was the eighty-fourth and final [[Virgin New Adventures]] novel. It was written by [[Mark Clapham]] and [[Jon de Burgh Miller]].


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
''"Oh, why not," Benny said. "After all, I've died before and it never did me any harm then."''
''"Oh, why not," [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] said. "After all, I've died before and it never did me any harm then."''


The once peaceful planet of Dellah lies in ruins. The god-like beings who infest the place have lured the inhabitants into holy wars, suicide cults and genocidal pogroms. As they run out of victims, the deities plan to invade more planets — and other races are preparing pre-emptive strikes to stop them. Humankind's small sector of the galaxy is about to become the battleground of leviathans.
The once peaceful [[planet]] of [[Dellah]] lies in ruins. The god-like beings who infest the place have lured the inhabitants into holy wars, [[suicide]] cults and genocidal pogroms. As they run out of victims, the deities plan to invade more planets — and other races are preparing pre-emptive strikes to stop them. [[Human]]kind's small sector of the galaxy is about to become the battleground of leviathans.


There is just one hope. Professor Bernice Summerfield is, surprisingly, alive and well. And she's coming home. Bernice and her friends are determined to dispose of the gods once and for all — at any cost.
There is just one hope. Professor Bernice Summerfield is, surprisingly, alive and well. And she's coming home. Bernice and her friends are determined to dispose of the gods once and for all — at any cost.
== Chapter titles ==
# Clouds Across the Moon
# The Land of the Gods
# Revelations
# The Blockade Run
# Falling Angels
# The Hidden City
# The Journey to Casmov
# One True God (Accept No Substitutes)
# Inside the Mountain
# We Want You as a New Recruit
# Sacrificial Flames
# God Botherers
# Falling Through Infinity
# The Dying Universe
# Fractal Futures
# The Last Word


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
''to be added''
After setting up the [[weather-control system]] on the [[Braxiatel Collection]], [[Irving Braxiatel|Braxiatel]] returns to the Mansionhouse and discusses his missions to ensure [[peace]] on [[Vremnya]] and [[Dellah]] with [[Emile Mars-Smith]], who is now his [[assistant]]. The [[Stratum Seven Agent]] has declined to join the mission to Dellah, but [[Chris Cwej|Cwej]], [[Clarence]] and [[Jason Kane|Jason]] answer the call and arrive ahead of [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]], who has been trying to find a job at another [[university]].
 
[[Cepachi San]], a recent convert to the [[Children of Maa'lon]], is keeping an eye on the [[camp]] of the [[Followers of Moht]] when the god [[Tehke]] visits him. Tehke transforms a [[mountain]] into a [[statue]] of himself which attacks the camp, leading Cepachi to renounce [[Maa'lon]] and become Tehke's first [[servant]]. The god presents [[James Harker|Reverend James Harker]] with the head of Maa'lon and adopts the Children as his followers, having already killed several other gods due to the scarcity of [[faith]] on [[Dellah]] following the blockade. Tehke goes to the palace and speaks with the [[Sultan of the Tashwari]] of the imminent [[Day of Reckoning]], overheard by [[Palma Tabaa]], a [[handmaid]] who provides information to the resistance.
 
Emile informs Benny, Jason, Cwej and Clarence that the [[Time Lord]]s and [[the People]] are planning to hide in their respective [[bottle universe]] and [[Worldsphere]] whilst a [[Doomsday Probe]] destroys Dellahan space if the situation is not dealt with in two days. To prevent this, the plan is to fly the ''[[Revelation (ship)|Revelation]]'' to Dellah and send the planet into the gods' original universe using a [[node]] which, as representatives of the Time Lords and the People, neither Cwej nor Clarence can use without dying. As a result, Braxiatel wants the two of them to recover [[Teran Sevic]] from Tashwari to assist in brokering peace on Vremnya whilst Benny and Jason use the node at the [[power station]] at [[Mount Casmov]].
 
After being attacked by [[EGA 97 Proximity Detector|EGAs]], [[Witwicky|Officer Witwicky]] of the [[Dellahan Transit Authority]] allows the ''Revelation'' to land before realising that the god Benny claims that they worship, Vokarebull, is fictional and sending the Sultan's fleet to give chase. Benny and Jason [[parachute]] out, landing near twelve [[arctic serpent]]s from which they are saved by [[Heldov]], an [[atheism|atheist]] who takes them to the hidden city of [[Kasakech]]. When Benny discovers [[Gruat]]'s daughter [[Meil]] communicating with the [[New Moral Army]], she covers for her due to her motivation being to get the gods the heal her father's terminal illness and tells Gruat that they have to evacuate.
 
Cwej and Clarence leave the ''Revelation'' and meet [[Maande]], a member of the resistance who assumes based on Clarence's appearance that they are agents of the gods. They manage to convince her otherwise and flee with her from armed fanatics on a [[skimmer]]. In Tashwari, Maande hands Cwej and Clarence over to the New Moral Army as gifts for the Sultan, who has Cwej enslaved and forced to help build a statue. Clarence, however, is assumed to be a creation of Tehke's and fed [[biscuit]]s and [[wine]] until the [[Belief Amplifier]] protecting Tashwari from the [[parasite (Tears of the Oracle)|parasite]]'s influence is damaged by a [[smart missile]], causing the slaves to begin to worship [[fire]]. Palma shoots the Sultan dead and joins Cwej and Clarence in looking for Teran Sevic, but they are captured by [[Mor'yuchi]], the Sultan's former god.
 
Benny and Jason enter Mount Casmov with Heldov and [[Damko]]. A [[quake]] opens a [[chasm]] which Damko jumps into, being influenced by the gods, and Benny and Jason almost follow suit before their alpha-wave disrupters bring them to their senses. Heldov is captured by Tehke's followers and Jason dresses up as one of them to save him whilst Benny goes to find the reactor. Jason learns that Tehke intends on destroying the mountain with a [[nuclear detonator]], which he speculates will, paired with the followers' belief, allow Tehke to leave the confines of Dellah, and is unable to keep Cepachi from sacrificing Heldov. He is imprisoned and due to be sacrificed.
 
Cwej and Clarence learn that Maande is a follower of Mor'yuchi, who wants to defeat his fellow gods and begin [[diplomacy|diplomatic]] relations with the Time Lords and the People; with no other option, Cwej agrees to join him, but he knocks Maande out whilst she is giving him a tour of the [[troop carrier]] and escapes on a skimmer, having realised that a slave kept in a [[box]] at the Sultan's palace is Teran Sevic. Hurting Maande also hurts Mor'yuchi, whom Clarence engages in a [[sword]]fight and reveals that he can take over and transform the bodies of his followers whenever he is killed. Palma realises that Mor'yuchi's essence is inside of Maande and shoots her.
 
Benny is captured by Tehke and condemned to death by burning, but Jason, having convinced Harker to release him from his cell, saves her and keeps Tehke and his followers distracted so that Benny can go and activate the node. Instead, she rescues him by hurtling into his attackers on a [[gurney]] and sending him onto the [[river]] in a [[barrel]] to be recovered by the villagers, although not before Jason gets her to admit that she loves him. She pretends to join Tehke and activates the node as the power station burns, transporting Dellah to the gods' universe where they have no power, which destroys the disembodied spirit of Mor'yuchi. She knocks Tehke out with a punch and takes a [[helicopter]].
 
Tehke's people teleport him away, killing Harker in the process, and take Jason. Benny learns from the villagers of Jason's disappearance and returns to the ''Revelation'' to scan the area for her friends, plugging the node into the ship before going to look for them. Tehke's people restore Cwej's [[memory|memories]] and he realises that they are the [[Ferutu]]; he learns that the Pantheon were Ferutu who wanted to escape the death of their universe by recreating it in Cwej's. The Ferutu decide to punish Benny, Jason, Cwej and Clarence for the inconvenience of bringing Dellah to their universe and denied the gods' chance to survive.
 
When Cwej, Clarence, Palma and Sevic try to escape on a skimmer, the Ferutu flip it over with energy bolts and attempt to kill Palma. Clarence jumps in the way and holds the Ferutu off whilst his friends escape to the ''Revelation''. They force Clarence's body to revert to the ''!C-Mel'' before he breaks up, killing him, and then begin to revert Cwej as well. Benny hits the lead Ferutu over the head with a [[spanner]] and gets the now-thirteen-year-old Cwej onto the ship with Palma and Sevic. The Ferutu threaten to torture Jason unless she hands over the node for them to use to colonise her universe, but she refuses and uses it to return the ''Revelation'' to her universe, promising to one day come back for him.
 
Jason is kept tied up in a cell and told that Benny, Cwej and Clarence have died in a temporal explosion. Dellah is to be protected and to become a [[utopia]], but Jason, believed to hold the key to allowing the Ferutu to colonise his universe because of his knowledge and experience, is to be kept prisoner. He vows to find a way to escape to his universe and find out whether Benny really is dead.
 
Sevic helps bring peace to Vremnya, where Braxiatel decides to set up [[University of Vremnya|a university]] where he hires Benny as head of the Archaeology Department. Emile and Palma also start working there. The Time Lords are in their bottle universe and the People in the Worldsphere, threatened by Braxiatel with being sent to the universe of the Ferutu, and Cwej is now a free agent. Benny begins her new life on Vremnya, assured by Braxiatel that they will recover Jason, and knows that her story is far from over.


== Characters ==
== Characters ==
* [[Bernice Summerfield]]
* [[Bernice Summerfield]]
* [[Irving Braxiatel]]
* [[Jason Kane]]
* [[Jason Kane]]
* [[Clarence]]
* [[Clarence]]
* [[Chris Cwej]]
* [[Chris Cwej]]
* [[Irving Braxiatel]]
* [[Damko]]
* [[Gruat]]
* [[James Harker]]
* [[Heldov]]
* [[Lead Ferutu]]
* [[Maande]]
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]]
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]]
* [[Meil]]
* [[Mor'yuchi]]
* [[Cepachi San]]
* [[Sekari]]
* [[Sultan of the Tashwari]]
* [[Palma Tabaa]]
* [[Tehke]]
* [[Witwicky]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Animals ===
* Benny and Jason are attacked by [[arctic serpent]]s.
* [[Heldov]] rides a [[junlagi]].


=== Colleges and universities ===
=== Colleges and universities ===
* Benny ends up working at the university of [[Vremmya]].
* Heldov graduated from [[Centennial College]].
* Benny ends up working at the [[University of Vremnya]].
 
=== Entertainment ===
* Chris and Clarence watch a [[Doctor Who (in-universe)|show that ran for thirty-odd years]], which involved characters being captured and lots of running.
* Benny listens to [[the Foundations]].
* Jason is reminded of the [[Ewok]]s worshipping [[C3PO]] in ''[[Return of the Jedi|Jedi]]''.
 
=== Food and drink ===
* Clarence eats [[pizza]].
* Chris eats [[muesli yoghurt]].
* Chris and Clarence eat [[cornflakes]] with [[milk]].


=== Individuals ===
=== Individuals ===
* Benny and Chris have a toast to dead friends: Chris - [[Roz Forrester]], Bernice - [[Clarence]].
* Benny and Chris have a toast to dead friends: Chris to [[Roz Forrester]] and Benny to [[Clarence]].
* Bernice receives a message from [[Christine Summerfield]].
* Bernice receives a message from [[Christine Summerfield]].
* [[Wolsey]] is with Bernice as she settles in at her new university.
* [[Wolsey]] is with Bernice as she settles in at her new university.
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]] is working for Braxiatel.
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]] is working for Braxiatel.
* [[Jason Kane]] dreams of electric gerbils (possibly a reference to the [[Pakhar]]) and is also captured and held prisoner by the Ferutu.
* The Pantheon includes:
** [[Jerr'm]]
** [[Lud]]
** [[Maa'lon]]
** [[Moht]]
** [[Mor'yuchi]]
** [[Tehke]]
 
=== Locations ===
* A war was once fought at the Valley of the Defeated, later renamed by the [[Children of Maa'lon]] as the [[Valley of the Devoted]].
* Tehke killed a man in [[Tashwari]].
* [[Mount Casmov]] is the site of Dellah's only remaining major power station. The subsurface hypertunnel to access it was destroyed by the [[Sons of Lud]].
* [[Iacon City]] is a [[city]] on Dellah. Heldov lived in a small [[village]] nearby.
* Heldov and his people escaped to [[Northern Islands]] before the [[parasite (Tears of the Oracle)|parasite]] was brought to Dellah.
* Heldov and his people live in [[Kasakech]].
 
=== Objects ===
* Braxiatel carries an [[umbrella]] and a [[pocket watch]].


=== Planets ===
=== Planets ===
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=== Species ===
=== Species ===
* The [[Ferutu]] are revealed to be the Dellahn gods.
* The [[Time Lord]]s planned to launch a [[Doomsday Probe]] and wipe out Dellah and everything in that corner of the galaxy to remove the god problem.
* The [[Time Lord]]s planned to launch a [[Doomsday Probe]] and wipe out Dellah and everything in that corner of the galaxy to remove the god problem.
* According to Braxiatel, his "former people" (the [[Time Lord]]s) have retreated into their [[bottle universe]], and [[the People]] are locked inside their [[Worldsphere|sphere]].
* According to Braxiatel, his "former people" have retreated into their [[bottle universe]], and [[the People]] are locked inside their [[Worldsphere|sphere]].


=== Spacecraft ===
=== Technology ===
* Emile uses a [[palmtop organiser]].
* Benny arrives at the Collection on the ''[[Nervous Norvin]]''.
* Braxiatel provides the ship Benny and the others use to [[dimension hop]] the planet Dellah.
* Braxiatel provides the ship Benny and the others use to [[dimension hop]] the planet Dellah.
 
* Benny and Jason are protected from the gods' influence by [[alpha-wave disrupter]]s.
=== Time travel ===
* Dellah is protected by the [[Dellahan Transit Authority]]'s [[EGA 97 Proximity Detector]]s. Considered childish by the [[Time Lord]]s, they are weapons [[satellite]]s which fry the passengers of any unauthorised spaceships with projected energy which causes a nuclear reaction. They can scan several hundred quare [[kilometre]]s.
* Bernice has about five years wiped off her age by a [[temporal blast]] (aging her backwards along her temporal timeline).
* [[Bantuthol]] is the galaxy's "best-loved" [[accelerant]].
* [[Chris Cwej]] is hit by a Ferutu temporal blast and aged backward along his timeline to age thirteen.
* The leader of the fanatics uses [[Bowman's Everlasting]].
* [[Clarence]] is killed; the Ferutu age him backward along his timeline, back beyond when he was the [[!C-Mel]], and backwards further into non-existence.
* Jason has [[antiseptic healing spray]].
* The [[Belief Amplifier]] protected Tashwari from the parasite.
* Braxiatel messages Benny using a [[Chronoscope]].


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This is the final [[Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]]. [[Peter Darvill-Evans]] notes in an afterword that it would be his last as editor (and might be the last for a while).
* This is the final [[Virgin New Adventures]]. [[Peter Darvill-Evans]] notes in an afterword that it would be his last as editor (and might be the last for a while).
* The line is continued by [[Big Finish Productions]] as part of the [[Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series]].
* The line is continued by [[Big Finish Productions]] as part of their [[Bernice Summerfield (series)|''Bernice Summerfield'' range]].
* The novel clearly, but implicitly, has Chris and Clarence watch the [[Doctor Who (in-universe)|in-universe ''Doctor Who'' series]], which is mentioned to have run for "thirty-odd" years. At the time of the novel's release, ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had run for thirty-six years, but has since been brought back in 2005, making the reference outdated.


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* The Ferutu first appeared in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]''.
* Emile mentions the [[parasite (Tears of the Oracle)|parasite]] that was in Benny's mind.
* Benny visited Heaven and met the Doctor in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]''.
* The Ferutu first appeared in ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]''.
* Christine Summerfield got out into the "real" universe in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Dead Romance (novel)|Dead Romance]]''.
* Benny visited Heaven and met the Doctor in ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]''.
* Christine Summerfield got out into the "real" universe in ''[[Dead Romance (novel)|Dead Romance]]''.
* Tehke was previously mentioned in ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]''.
* One of Tehke's other forms is that of [[Urmungstandra]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]'')
* Benny mentions dying before. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Falls the Shadow (novel)|Falls the Shadow]]'')
* Jason mentions [[Charlene Connor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Deadfall (novel)|Deadfall]]'')
* Benny remembers the [[Oracle of the Lost]] telling her that the war between the [[Time Lord]]s and [[the People]] was less likely, but still possible. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Tears of the Oracle (novel)|Tears of the Oracle]]'')


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{dwrefguide|who_na84.htm|Twilight of the Gods}}
{{dwrefguide|who_na84.htm|Twilight of the Gods}}
* {{Whoniverse|bs23.php|Twilight of the Gods}}
* {{whoniverse|na84|Twilight of the Gods}}
{{BNA}}
{{BNA}}
{{DWU Doctor Who stories}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
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[[Category:Bernice Summerfield stories]]
 
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield sources]]
[[Category:1999 novels]]
[[Category:1999 novels]]
[[Category:BNA novels]]
[[Category:BNA novels]]
[[Category:Irving Braxiatel novels]]
[[Category:Irving Braxiatel novels]]
[[Category:Stories set in alternative timelines]]
[[Category:Stories set in alternate timelines]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2596]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2596]]
[[Category:Stories set on Dellah]]
[[Category:Novels set on Dellah]]
[[Category:Novels set on KS-159]]

Latest revision as of 21:35, 13 April 2024

This topic might have a better name.

Twilight of the Gods (VNA novel)

Talk about it here.

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for the Second Doctor novel.

Twilight of the Gods was the eighty-fourth and final Virgin New Adventures novel. It was written by Mark Clapham and Jon de Burgh Miller.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

"Oh, why not," Benny said. "After all, I've died before and it never did me any harm then."

The once peaceful planet of Dellah lies in ruins. The god-like beings who infest the place have lured the inhabitants into holy wars, suicide cults and genocidal pogroms. As they run out of victims, the deities plan to invade more planets — and other races are preparing pre-emptive strikes to stop them. Humankind's small sector of the galaxy is about to become the battleground of leviathans.

There is just one hope. Professor Bernice Summerfield is, surprisingly, alive and well. And she's coming home. Bernice and her friends are determined to dispose of the gods once and for all — at any cost.

Chapter titles[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. Clouds Across the Moon
  2. The Land of the Gods
  3. Revelations
  4. The Blockade Run
  5. Falling Angels
  6. The Hidden City
  7. The Journey to Casmov
  8. One True God (Accept No Substitutes)
  9. Inside the Mountain
  10. We Want You as a New Recruit
  11. Sacrificial Flames
  12. God Botherers
  13. Falling Through Infinity
  14. The Dying Universe
  15. Fractal Futures
  16. The Last Word

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

After setting up the weather-control system on the Braxiatel Collection, Braxiatel returns to the Mansionhouse and discusses his missions to ensure peace on Vremnya and Dellah with Emile Mars-Smith, who is now his assistant. The Stratum Seven Agent has declined to join the mission to Dellah, but Cwej, Clarence and Jason answer the call and arrive ahead of Benny, who has been trying to find a job at another university.

Cepachi San, a recent convert to the Children of Maa'lon, is keeping an eye on the camp of the Followers of Moht when the god Tehke visits him. Tehke transforms a mountain into a statue of himself which attacks the camp, leading Cepachi to renounce Maa'lon and become Tehke's first servant. The god presents Reverend James Harker with the head of Maa'lon and adopts the Children as his followers, having already killed several other gods due to the scarcity of faith on Dellah following the blockade. Tehke goes to the palace and speaks with the Sultan of the Tashwari of the imminent Day of Reckoning, overheard by Palma Tabaa, a handmaid who provides information to the resistance.

Emile informs Benny, Jason, Cwej and Clarence that the Time Lords and the People are planning to hide in their respective bottle universe and Worldsphere whilst a Doomsday Probe destroys Dellahan space if the situation is not dealt with in two days. To prevent this, the plan is to fly the Revelation to Dellah and send the planet into the gods' original universe using a node which, as representatives of the Time Lords and the People, neither Cwej nor Clarence can use without dying. As a result, Braxiatel wants the two of them to recover Teran Sevic from Tashwari to assist in brokering peace on Vremnya whilst Benny and Jason use the node at the power station at Mount Casmov.

After being attacked by EGAs, Officer Witwicky of the Dellahan Transit Authority allows the Revelation to land before realising that the god Benny claims that they worship, Vokarebull, is fictional and sending the Sultan's fleet to give chase. Benny and Jason parachute out, landing near twelve arctic serpents from which they are saved by Heldov, an atheist who takes them to the hidden city of Kasakech. When Benny discovers Gruat's daughter Meil communicating with the New Moral Army, she covers for her due to her motivation being to get the gods the heal her father's terminal illness and tells Gruat that they have to evacuate.

Cwej and Clarence leave the Revelation and meet Maande, a member of the resistance who assumes based on Clarence's appearance that they are agents of the gods. They manage to convince her otherwise and flee with her from armed fanatics on a skimmer. In Tashwari, Maande hands Cwej and Clarence over to the New Moral Army as gifts for the Sultan, who has Cwej enslaved and forced to help build a statue. Clarence, however, is assumed to be a creation of Tehke's and fed biscuits and wine until the Belief Amplifier protecting Tashwari from the parasite's influence is damaged by a smart missile, causing the slaves to begin to worship fire. Palma shoots the Sultan dead and joins Cwej and Clarence in looking for Teran Sevic, but they are captured by Mor'yuchi, the Sultan's former god.

Benny and Jason enter Mount Casmov with Heldov and Damko. A quake opens a chasm which Damko jumps into, being influenced by the gods, and Benny and Jason almost follow suit before their alpha-wave disrupters bring them to their senses. Heldov is captured by Tehke's followers and Jason dresses up as one of them to save him whilst Benny goes to find the reactor. Jason learns that Tehke intends on destroying the mountain with a nuclear detonator, which he speculates will, paired with the followers' belief, allow Tehke to leave the confines of Dellah, and is unable to keep Cepachi from sacrificing Heldov. He is imprisoned and due to be sacrificed.

Cwej and Clarence learn that Maande is a follower of Mor'yuchi, who wants to defeat his fellow gods and begin diplomatic relations with the Time Lords and the People; with no other option, Cwej agrees to join him, but he knocks Maande out whilst she is giving him a tour of the troop carrier and escapes on a skimmer, having realised that a slave kept in a box at the Sultan's palace is Teran Sevic. Hurting Maande also hurts Mor'yuchi, whom Clarence engages in a swordfight and reveals that he can take over and transform the bodies of his followers whenever he is killed. Palma realises that Mor'yuchi's essence is inside of Maande and shoots her.

Benny is captured by Tehke and condemned to death by burning, but Jason, having convinced Harker to release him from his cell, saves her and keeps Tehke and his followers distracted so that Benny can go and activate the node. Instead, she rescues him by hurtling into his attackers on a gurney and sending him onto the river in a barrel to be recovered by the villagers, although not before Jason gets her to admit that she loves him. She pretends to join Tehke and activates the node as the power station burns, transporting Dellah to the gods' universe where they have no power, which destroys the disembodied spirit of Mor'yuchi. She knocks Tehke out with a punch and takes a helicopter.

Tehke's people teleport him away, killing Harker in the process, and take Jason. Benny learns from the villagers of Jason's disappearance and returns to the Revelation to scan the area for her friends, plugging the node into the ship before going to look for them. Tehke's people restore Cwej's memories and he realises that they are the Ferutu; he learns that the Pantheon were Ferutu who wanted to escape the death of their universe by recreating it in Cwej's. The Ferutu decide to punish Benny, Jason, Cwej and Clarence for the inconvenience of bringing Dellah to their universe and denied the gods' chance to survive.

When Cwej, Clarence, Palma and Sevic try to escape on a skimmer, the Ferutu flip it over with energy bolts and attempt to kill Palma. Clarence jumps in the way and holds the Ferutu off whilst his friends escape to the Revelation. They force Clarence's body to revert to the !C-Mel before he breaks up, killing him, and then begin to revert Cwej as well. Benny hits the lead Ferutu over the head with a spanner and gets the now-thirteen-year-old Cwej onto the ship with Palma and Sevic. The Ferutu threaten to torture Jason unless she hands over the node for them to use to colonise her universe, but she refuses and uses it to return the Revelation to her universe, promising to one day come back for him.

Jason is kept tied up in a cell and told that Benny, Cwej and Clarence have died in a temporal explosion. Dellah is to be protected and to become a utopia, but Jason, believed to hold the key to allowing the Ferutu to colonise his universe because of his knowledge and experience, is to be kept prisoner. He vows to find a way to escape to his universe and find out whether Benny really is dead.

Sevic helps bring peace to Vremnya, where Braxiatel decides to set up a university where he hires Benny as head of the Archaeology Department. Emile and Palma also start working there. The Time Lords are in their bottle universe and the People in the Worldsphere, threatened by Braxiatel with being sent to the universe of the Ferutu, and Cwej is now a free agent. Benny begins her new life on Vremnya, assured by Braxiatel that they will recover Jason, and knows that her story is far from over.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

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  • Benny mentions her trip to Heaven.

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External links[[edit] | [edit source]]