Short Trips Rarities 9: Twilight's End (spoilers)

Initially published as part of the Short Trips: Defining Patterns release (published June 2008), the reading by Beth Chalmers was first available to those with the Main Range release Rat Trap (June 2011) in their subscription.

Despite one major niggle, which I'll get to soon, it's a great way to tie off the Forge as a whole. Even the title reflects the story of the Forge, and indeed Nimrod (as they've always been one and the same), coming full circle. There are references to many Forge stories, including The Gathering (that's James Clark and the blond haired Doctor he met in Australia, as well as the origin of Oracle and indeed System from The Harvest).

The one niggle can easily be explained by the timing of when the story was written. It must have been mid 2008 at the latest, so the ending of Project: Destiny, which only works with this story if you squint really hard, can't have been written or the intention of Destiny to wrap up the storyline of the Forge. There's reference to Hex and and vague mention of his encountering the Forge, so Destiny must have at least been a glimmer in the mind of messers Scott and Wright. Personally I prefer Twilight's End as a conclusion to the Forge, in part because it's not about Hex's emotional baggage with the Doctor about his mother.