The Ursine Brood (short story)

 was the sixteenth short story in Down the Middle. It marked a turning point in the anthology's narrative, beginning a sequence of connected stories which close the book.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Chris Cwej
 * Larles
 * Kwol
 * The Ursine Brood
 * Cwej-Ursa

Worldbuilding

 * Cwej is supposed to go an adventure at the Gowlbone Castle on the inner surface of the Omnium Sphere in the 51st century, in which a washed-up Cwej has to rescue Bicktöv the Millionth from the Primordial Liberation Front.
 * Larles and Kwol's abstract sculpture of the Grigori Goddess resembles a large 3D asterisk.
 * Chris knows of some Cwejen who have deserted, including one who became a DJ on Thoros Minor.
 * One Cwej-Plus becomes a preacher for Ursa.
 * The Superiors' initial production of the Cwejen had consumed a literally infinite military budget, with tetradimensional diffraction combs specially bred and even skilled temporal engineers retroactively conceived specifically for the project.
 * The Superiors have specialist shipbreakers to euthanise timeships once they become senile or defective.
 * When he was very young, Chris had had a beloved teddy bear.

Story notes

 * An online-exclusive illustration for the story was created by artist Kern McCarthy and released through the series's official Facebook page.
 * In-line with the story's religious themes, Cwej-Ursa's final regeneration resembles an.

Continuity

 * Chris is aware that one Cwej ran off to start a family in New New York. (TV: Gridlock)
 * The Vicinity was "caesarean-sliced" (TV: Dark Water) from the Superiors' "great mother-computer" (PROSE: Toy Story) which is made of crystals. (PROSE: The Nth Doctor, The V Cwejes)
 * Chris and other Cwejen possess low level psychic power. (PROSE: SLEEPY, et al.)
 * Ursa arrived on the planet in a crashed "70-Form" timeship, (PROSE: The Book of the War, AUDIO: Embrace the Darkness, et al.) which resembles a gray metallic cylinder without its camouflage unit. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
 * A 70-form is an outdated model from Chris' perspective. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * The crashed timeship has its dimensional transcendentalism leaking. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
 * Chris analogizes the Ursine Brood as a "Faction Christopher" to the "Little House of Cwejes". (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * In preparation for the mass production of the Cwejen, Superior occultists used the surviving "black scrolls" (TV: The Five Doctors) to invoke the aid of entities from the Old Times. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times, et al.)
 * Chris speculates that Cwej-Ursa's long process of regeneration was influenced by traces of the bear body bepple he'd had for a few months as a young man. (PROSE: Original Sin)
 * Chris' trauma from this story continues into PROSE: The Trauma Deception.