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"Yes, of course it was. You're a bright lad, try to keep up. Now, for the new narrative, I was thinking-.""Whow whow whow whow whow. Let's just go back to the bit where you were. How long for?""Why does it matter? What does it materially change about the situation?"nothing, but that's not the point. I may know your name, but I don't actually know what you are, what you want or what you can do. I want to know what I was trying to work around."His shoulders sag slightly in a pantomime of a sigh, though I don't hear him exhale."I'm Boss Smiley.""The boss of"How about we start with?""You haveover me, that was never in dispute.""Then, I don't see how telling you achieves anything." He waves his right hand to the side. "If I told you that I was the boss of a small construction firm in Central City , what would it change? You'd still be down there and I'd still be up here. What if I told you I was the Prince of the World ? A spirit created by the prophet Abraham to keep tabs on the Silver City? A trickster god from a South American tribe the Aztecs killed, who infiltrated the heaven of the White Men to avenge his people? A proto-Slavic moon god who jumped ship as Christianity spread but never quite fit in? A diseased angel, a fallen saint… Any one of a hundred things? For all you can tell I might really be the Mind of God. What does it matter?""It would make me feel slightly better."He leans forward slightly. "Oh, you want something more meaningful? Fine. I don't exist.""What?""You don't think you'd have heard of me if I existed?""There are probably hundreds of gods I haven't heard of.""Gods." That pseudo-plastic face is getting a bit grating. I would be fine if it was just a mask, but there's enough animation in it that it goesinto the uncanny valley. "Those are useful things. Why does lightning happen? Gods. Why does the weather get hotter and colder? Gods. Why do people get sick, why do crops fail, why is there war, why is there peace..? It's the gods, no further analysis necessary." He fake-sighs again. "Simpler times. Easier times.""Except for the people getting struck by lightning, frozen to death, killed by curable diseases, starving due to poor agricultural techniques, killed in warfare..."He makes another dismissive gesture. "But civilisation marches on. Controlled and predictable. Safe.""I.. don't understand.""How hard would it be for someone to wipe out the human race tomorrow?""Someone from Earth, or an alien?""From Earth.""A.. few.. types of engineered diseases could probably do it. Nuclear weapons, but it would be pretty hard going for the survivors. Certain.. exotic weapons could do it. The Sivanas certainly could, if they actually wanted to. Magic… It would beto do with magic, but I suppose that a sufficiently large sacrifice could alter the world in a way that wasn't survivable by humans.""And how many of those were available a thousand years ago?"Iswhere he's coming from?"None. We didn't have the technology to create diseases intentionally, we didn't have fission weapons and it would have been difficult to get enough people in one place for the sort of sacrifice you would need. Are you saying that you believe that improved technology will inevitably result in humanity's destruction?""No. Not at all. Technology is developed and spreads because it serves a need, after all. There's no sense in keeping people living in caves if a natural part of the carbon cycle will result in a climatic shift that they can't survive without technology I prevented them from developing. No sense in preventing the spread of medicine when natural mutation can create a disease just as deadly as any laboratory. I'm just a natural conservative. I'm more comfortable when societal change is, and when the levers of total destruction are in the hands of as small a number of people as possible.""How… Conservative?""Did you have a chance to have a good look around the Earth when you were alive?""Yes.""That conservative. Magic was a problem early on, but a few whispers in the right place and hardly anyone uses it. Fission weapons looked like they might be a problem, but after a few polite conversations everyone was too paranoid to risk them. Superpowers, meet balance of power. But then there's you.""What, you couldn't find me?""I couldn't speak to you. And I think you might have powered through anyway. You're invested in novel technology as an end in itself. But if it wasn't you then it would have eventually been someone else. As I said, I'm reaching the limits of what I can do within the current narrative.""So...""I can send you back to Earth. You'd be.. alive, and I'm sure that a resourceful young man like yourself could get his equipment back before too long. And you'll work for me.""In what way?""'Orange Lantern's technological revolution'. How about that? You can establish research centres…" He moves his right hand so that it's resting against his chin, and his left hand moves to support his right elbow. "Off Earth, under the sea… I suppose that it doesn't really matter exactly where they are. As long as they're out of the way. You can develop whatever you like, recruit whoever you like,whatever you like. And I'll arrange for someone to set up a review board so they can carefully consider which bits of what you develop can be safely released into wider society.""I'm not sure that's actually helpful.""The bit where you stop being dead is the helpful bit. The bit where I tell the angels that you've repented and that your friends aren't the enemies of Almighty God any longer is the helpful bit. I've got you over a barrel, and I know-" He clicks his right thumb and forefinger together, conjuring an image of my blue alter ego. "-that you can be a rational man when you don't have any say in the matter.""Why are you so worried about this?""Do you know what happens to a civilisation when everyone gets super strength?""Mars manages."He tilts his disc a little to the left. "Mars. Where their whole species had to be reengineered by the Guardians. And where they've been physically unchanged ever since.""Yes?""There are few things that humans can't adapt to, given time. But a change like that would flip the board. The economy, society… Huge amounts of the wonderfully intricate complexity of human civilisation would become irrelevant. Do you know how many wars that could cause? And then you've got every country arming up so that their armies can cope with people who can laugh off anti-tank rounds. A few people that strong? Great, everyone needs heroes. Everyone? No, chaos and misery and a reasonable chance of an extinction event. I won't allow that. So either you become my man on the inside, or I keep on with the extreme measures."He stands, towering over me."Why don't I leave you to think about it for a little while?"