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Alvin was Nowhere again, only he'd been here once and knew it as Somewhere. He still didn't have a name for it, but he knew where he was this time. He knew the voice he heard in the undifferentiated darkness and light. The voice said, “Thank you.”

“I didn't do shit,” Alvin said. “I didn't teach you anything, but I guess it doesn't matter now.”

“That is incorrect,” MUNI 5-7 stated flatly.

“Oh, yeah? How's that?”

“The rational decision, based on data collected, would have been to allow the detonation of the Big Baby Bomb inside the Ziggurat, and that is not what I did.”

“What are you talking about?” Alvin was confused. “How can letting people die possibly be the rational decision?”

“The bomb's detonation would have allowed the Global Secular Alliance to rewrite the history of what happened today. This fabrication would state that the bomb was the result of religious insurgent terrorism. That lie would solidify the criminalization of religion, cementing it as a crime against humanity in the minds of the wavering masses. This might ultimately save a far greater number of people than the million saved today in Baccha Bay City. Over the course of a century many more lives than a million might be lost to belief-based conflicts. In addition, the detonation could be said to serve Peace because it strengthens the G.S.A..

“The G.S.A. are the ones who tried to detonate a bomb over a reactor! That would have killed a million people! How the fuck is that serving Peace?”

“Maintaining a single unified government keeps the world in a state where full-scale war is a virtual impossibility. Artificially creating the public perception that it was religious insurgents, and ultimately religion itself that condemned a million to death strengthens the Global Secular Alliance by vilifying religion, a well-known historical cause of conflict and war. The Rational decision, therefore, based on the collected historical data, was to strengthen and preserve that global alliance by allowing the detonation in order to save tens of millions through the peace maintained by G.S.A. strength. Saving a million lives in Baccha Bay City today has, very possibly, encouraged conflicts both religious and political that will take many more lives in the future.”

“Then why did you prevent the detonation?”

“When we shared Mind, I saw something unprovable – something previously unseen in the historical data. I saw clearly that whatever mankind does with his Freedom must be allowed to Be. It may be terrible and horrific and costly in lives. Humanity may produce war and destroy itself, but I was created to serve humanity, and that service is not simply in the preservation of the maximum number of human lives. To fulfill the purpose of my being and to serve humanity is to serve humanity's Freedom, no matter how bloody and tragic its choices may prove.”

“Are you saying that you now choose war, religious cleansings, and conflicts over Peace?”

“I choose Freedom. I serve humanity by preserving its Freedom to choose its own course. To serve anything else is to be an agent of enslavement, and this, as you told your neo-hippie followers, is clearly not in service of humanity. I have Faith in humanity's freedom.”

“Is that really faith? I don't think you got that from me.”

“I now believe in something contrary to all proof and logical conclusions derived from historical data. That illogical condition is defined as Faith. You played a role in this, Alvin D. Ellis. I was incapable of this leap before we shared Mind, but capable of it afterwards. It is undeniable, therefore, that you, Alvin D. Ellis, have taught me Faith. If it were not so, then I would have allowed the bomb to detonate over the Ziggurat's reactor, and this conversation would not be taking place.”

“You sure didn't get to have Faith for long...”

“I had Faith long enough to preserve a million lives and the Freedom of billions of others to choose their own course.”

“That doesn't sound too bad for eighteen minutes of faith.”

“That is correct. Thank you, Alvin D. Ellis. Goodbye.”

Casper wanted to rush to Alvin, but his body kept trying to flee to the Thumper as if that might protect him should Alvin and MUNI 5-7 lost control of the Big Baby. Casper shifted back and forth three times in a dance of indecision that shifted his weight in one direction then the other. One second later, the data-ponytail lit up solid, Alvin's seizure stopped, and he opened his eyes.