“I only fought one, and it took more than twenty of me to bring him down,” said Rigg. “And it wasn’t actually me. The ones who did the fighting left the knife and the ship’s logs with Umbo, and he stopped us from getting into the fight. So all I know of it is what the ship’s log recorded.”

“Nice to know you had it in you though, isn’t it?” asked Noxon.

“You’re the one who saved the world.”

“Well, as I said, that wasn’t me, either. You and I are just ­copies of the heroes.”

“Good enough for me,” said Umbo.

“Only now both of us are back here,” said Noxon. “So we still have to try to keep out of each other’s way.”

Rigg shook his head. “Square taught me how to get the facemask to give me a new face. Turns out we have a lot more control over our appearance than we knew.”

“That’s right,” said Noxon. “You look like me now. I mean, the way we were. Originally. I didn’t even realize it because that’s how I’m supposed to look. Can you get my mask to do that?”

“Why?” asked Rigg. “With you butt ugly like that, people can tell us apart really easily.”

“And who is Square?” asked Noxon.

Leaky sighed a little.

“All will be explained in due time,” said Ram Odin. “But I think it’s clear now that you’ve saved the world, we have a war to fight, and your—friend? Wife?—wants a facemask.”

“I want it even more now,” said Deborah. “I won’t have to be as ugly as Noxon after all.”

“You can be whatever you want,” said Square.

“If you can control the facemask,” said Param. “Not everybody can.”

Ram Odin once again tried to take control. “Please. We’ve all seen each other, we know pretty much what happened, and we can get the details in the days and weeks to come. Let’s let Noxon and Deborah do what they came here to do, and the rest of us should get back to our responsibilities.”

“How did it work out with the mice and the computers?” asked Umbo.

“As far as we know,” said Rigg, “the mice now rule the world.”

“I’m so relieved,” said Umbo. “You and Ram Odin were doing kind of a lousy job of it.”

“Well, now you get to be king,” said Rigg.

“Just a figurehead,” said Umbo.

Param took his hand. “He keeps saying that, but when I try to give him responsibilities he refuses.”

“I don’t want to be in charge of anything,” said Umbo. “I just want to be able to complain about it.”

“He works hard,” said Param, “and he does a good job.”