A horde of blue octopus-headed creatures were floating down from an airship. Each of them was dual-wielding a crossbows and loading arrows into it with its tentacles.

“Jenny, let’s shift the hell out of here!” shouted Gates as they ducked into the trees.

“I can’t! We’re not in the same skein of the multiversal weave. Shifting probably doesn’t even work the same way here. And we can’t get you home without a convergence point—hey, wait a minute!” She stopped in her tracks and walked out of the trees as Gates gaped incredulously. “Hi there!” she shouted, waving at the octopoids. They abruptly stopped firing and looked at her with what seemed to be puzzlement.

One of them floated over to her. Gates noticed that they weren’t quite touching the ground. It wrapped one of its tentacles around her head. Gates couldn’t help but think of anime porn, but Jenny seemed reassured. Then before Gates could run, an octopoid’s tentacle grabbed him, and he felt its thoughts flood into his mind…