Poe and Cybele aren't physically in this location at this moment. But a shot of the Main Five teammates together, hanging out and luxuriating in the fact that they don't need to fight, was too good a shot to pass up.

(I was always surprised when commenters said "this no-battles plan seems bound to go wrong, the Game has to be for a profound and essential purpose, the hubris of our heroes -- thinking they can successfully make things better! -- is going to be their downfall." Like...maybe there's not, in fact, a fatal downside to making someone's life easier and less painful. Maybe we don't need to be suspicious about the basic proposal of "suffering isn't necessary.")

(I didn't consciously intend the Game to be a metaphor for All Of Capitalism, but here we are.)

Not actually the last page of the series -- but I could've grouped the next 5 pages separately, as The Epilogue, if I had thought of it. They're all flash-forwards and wrap-up.

Bianca: And, Sparrow, once you get home . . . I want you to be the one to edit out Patrick’s battle-code.

Sparrow: You don’t want to stay in the Game a while longer? There’s still a lot to explore there . . . and it doesn’t really hurt them . . .

Bianca: Maybe not. But I don’t want him there. And when a Master’s desires clash with a Being’s hard-coded needs . . . that does really hurt them. It might be the only thing that ever has.

We can’t give them full-on free will, so we can’t write them out of needing Masters. The best we can do . . . is to make the rest of their coding as smooth and friendly as possible.

Besides! Aren’t you ready for some of us to start exploring the stuff they get to do next?

[GAME OVER]