A few hours later, Nick finally got a call from the Guranaki Melor. He accepted it right away.

"Hello, Captain Telnik."

"Hello, Boss. Just letting you know, we're in business. The beep beep... The simulations are up and running."

Nick let out a big sigh of relief. "That's fantastic! Thank you!"

"It will take me another day or so to work out a full set of recommendations, though. Each action changes the system, so it takes a while to map out the consequences and the right order to do things. I've been keeping track of everything you've been sending and updating the...simulation.

"I know you're probably eager to get started, so I came up with some small things you can do immediately that shouldn't mess your society up too badly."

"Like what?"

"Well, first, you can release the Arrurran math to the public—just the first volume for the moment. Give your people time to digest it before you add more. I checked that it doesn't have any code-breaking math, which is the important part. Your people will be greatly affected by the statistics section, but that will take months at a minimum to start having any effect."

"Sounds good."

"Well, next is starting to clean up your law enforcement. Not all at once, of course, but the worst of the worst with provable crimes can be taken off the streets. A small enough number that people won't notice the trend for a while unless they're looking for it."

"Getting rid of the worst dirty cops? Let's do it." Nick was enthusiastic. "What else?"

"With your permission, I want to do an active scan of the planet itself. It shouldn't be detectable by your people."

"What will that do?"

"It will give me more background information for the model—things your people don't know because you don't have the technology to detect them."

Nick shrugged. "If it doesn't hurt anything, go right ahead."

"Thanks, boss." The giant woodchuck on the screen seemed to mime washing his hands a few times. "So...Boss, I have a big question for you."

"What is it?"

"May I have your permission to kill some humans?"

Nick blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Not many! But there are some key people who are...let's just say they are categorically opposed to your goals of truth, justice and freedom, and are in the process of hurting people, right now. Lots of people, in some cases."

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Nick leaned back in his seat and thought hard. I'm sort of already doing that with the CIA, pointing them at targets. But this time I would be picking the targets, or Captain Telnik would on my behalf. Are my hands dirty already, or is this beyond what I've done up to now? Is this a step too far?

God damn it. Can't I just do nice things like giving people math and safe nuclear reactors? Why do people have to be such bastards? This is why we can't have nice things.

"Boss...your species values your young, right?" the alien captain prodded gently.

Nick felt sick. He swallowed and nodded.

"So, if young humans are being very, very badly mistreated somewhere, may I intervene?"

Nick wanted to throw up, but made himself take a breath. To stall, he asked, "Won't that tip people off about my getting all the computer data on Earth? I thought you wanted that kept secret."

"Well, I can pick up things on my ship's scanners and go intervene without it being traced back to your data heist. Your people don't know how good my sensors are."

"What about contamination?"

"Anyone who touches down will be suited up and the exterior sterilized to Galactic standards."

"And if a human shoots one of your crew?"

Captain Telnik's smile showed his buck teeth. "They can try."

Nick took a few more deep breaths, agonizing over the decision, then reluctantly nodded. "Do it."

"Thank you, Boss. I'll only hit a few sites at first, because I don't want any of those kids to dodge the claws by jumping between the jaws. Um...sorry, that's an idiom. It means—"

"'Out of the frying pan, into the fire?'" Nick guessed.

There was a brief pause. "I think we're reading the same book, Boss. My point is, I'm trying to trace out consequences for good outcomes. I'll start with isolated locations, so there won't be any witnesses."

"And the others? The ones that aren't isolated?"

"I can't do everything at once. We'll turn that corner when we reach it." Nick wondered at the sudden flurry of idioms. Maybe Captain Telnik is starting to get comfortable with me, and less formal and careful in how he's talking.

Or maybe I worded an instruction to Petra badly about translations. That's always a possibility.

They discussed about a few more things Nick could get started with, more positive actions like announcing the fusion reactors, releasing cures as soon as Sana had them ready, and anonymously locating missing children. That last had to be handled delicately as well. He was going to be asking Petra to do some pretty detailed analysis, and he hoped his skill level at giving instructions was up to the task.

"I think that's enough for now," he told the alien captain. "I...need some time to get used to all this."

"Of course." Telnik did the hand washing thing again. "Just so you know, Boss...I think you're doing well. You may have trouble sleeping, but I have got to tell you, I'm going to be sleeping better after doing this. Some jobs we take aren't all that pleasant. This time, we're getting well paid to be the good actors here. So, for what it's worth, I'm glad I took this job. Talk to you later, Boss." They ended the call.

Am I going mad with power? Or just being a decent person? I need to talk with the Apocalypse Team after this. And possibly a therapist. He had the traitorous thought that he could just...not tell anyone. Captain Telnik would be acting in secret. It would arguably be even safer.

And I can't talk to my friends without the CIA listening in, so unless I want them to know too, I can't tell my friends about this.

Nick wasn't a pacifist. He hadn't actually killed anyone with his own hands yet, but he'd certainly helped others kill. Sometimes, it needed doing. He understood that some people disagreed. He didn't know whether this made him a bad person or just more sensible.

But having this power, and not using it, would be like saying I was all right with their crimes. I didn't ask for this responsibility, but God damn it, I will not take the coward's way out. For whatever stupid random reason, this is my job.

And I always do my job.

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