It's a new morning at the shop. Paul has a talk with Bathsheba over breakfast at the diner to find out if she's OK.
Svenga shows up at the store, pretty cheerful. Her next door neighbor and former hostage, Andrea, is her new BFF and has just taken her shopping for clothes. Svenga is all dolled up in Emo-wear. A Bouralian escort is waiting discreetly on the sidewalk outside. Paul and Ringo invite the pair for brunch at the diner. They learn that Andrea is a music journalist (reviewer for a website) and her boyfriend is a Bassist for a band. Paul lets Svenga read a comic - The Authority and explains to her the concepts of comics, fiction, advertising, metaphor and irony - the false truths. This braingasm puts her in the mood for pollination. Paul can not oblige her - his watchmen_code prevents him from accepting fringe benefits. Therefore she subversiates her escort. In the back room, for 4 hours. Loudly.
Possibly attracted by the odor of alien pheromones, an annoying high-tech mogul caled John Rothschild shows up, eager to buy up the store, or its whole stock, or something. Ringo tries to convince him to fund a comics publishing company, but Paul shows him the box (after chastizing him and telling him he can't have it), and soon the guy is running off to buy up Hank's computers.
Paul talks to Terri, while Ringo goes to visit (have Lunch) with Venus and practice his hammer-flying and bug-eating. At the VenusCon, he finds himself surrounded by Miranda-like people - all parallel instances of the same entity of various values of godhead.
Monday. Paul and Ringo lay an ambush for the collectors at Sven's store. They swoop in and demand they return Sven's money. The collectors seem confused, but promptly oblige. They claim to be working for Ringo, and in fact are hammer-amulet-wearing devotees of “his” organization.
Paul and Ringo ask them about their higher-ups, and follow a tortuously long line up the org chart (see diagram below), until ending up on the phone with Laurelle, the PA of Belle. In fact, Ringo's own Auntie Bella.
They fly to Chicago and meet Bella - close with Bella asking Ringo for a hug.
Mentioned in session: