“I believe in your integrity,” Kade said. “I believe your goals are good. I’d love to work with you in a hundred different ways. I’d love to see you make your solutions real.” He paused. “I know how good it feels to do something right. How satisfying it is. But that’s a trap. Don’t you see? It’s an addiction. It just leads to more and more.”

Shiva opened his mouth, but Kade pressed on, letting the words pour out of him, holding the older man’s eyes with his own. “We’re only part of the world, you and I,” he told Shiva. “We’re only part of humanity. The solutions to our problems can’t be forced on the world. No one should have that kind of power. No one.”

“No one but you,” Shiva corrected.

Kade lifted his eyes to the darkened sea. “I’m done with it. You’ve shown me where this leads. If I keep the back door, I’ll use it more and more, in larger and larger ways. If you ever let me leave here, I’ll close it, instead. I’ll give up that power. People will have to solve their problems themselves.”

Shiva stared at him aghast. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m completely serious,” Kade replied.

Shiva leaned forward, his hands reaching towards Kade, almost beseeching. “We have a chance here, Kade. A chance to fix the world. This isn’t a game. This isn’t some philosophical exercise. This is the lives of billions we’re talking about.”

Kade looked calmly into the man’s eyes. “I won’t give you the tools to control people.”

“I don’t want to control people!” Shiva almost shouted, gesturing with his hands. “I want to SAVE them!”

“You wouldn’t stop there,” Kade told him. “You’d use that power, and every time you did, you’d find more reasons to use it. If I keep this, I’ll become you. And you? You’ll become a dictator.”

“Damn it!” Shiva slammed one hand against the railing. “There is no one else!” Spittle flew from his mouth.

“There’s them,” Kade replied softly. “Those billions of people. They have to do it for themselves. They have to come together. Nexus can help them. But it has to happen from the bottom up. They have to want it.”

He was in the club again, dancing, merging, choosing to become part of one grander organism.

Shiva shook his head, his jaw set angrily, his mouth working. His eyes went out to the darkened sea. His whole body was tense, coiled tight.

Finally he turned to Kade, and waved his hand dismissively. “Get out of my sight, Kade. Get out of my sight.”