I nodded. “Yes . . . but I lost my nerve. I couldn’t follow through.”

“And what kind of world is the most peaceful, do you think?”

I thought it was a trick question, because the answer was pretty simple. “A world without war. Without suffering. Without prejudice. Without inhumanity.”

“Yes,” agreed Eduardo. “Without inhumanity . . . or humanity.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. “Wait . . . you mean—”

“I mean that the most peaceful versions of Earth are the ones where intelligent life never developed.”

“Actually,” said Ned, “the ones where life never developed at all would be the most peaceful.”

Edd crossed his arms. “So in your naïve stupidity, you almost erased all life from your planet.”

It seems obvious to me now, but at the time, the truth was a crushing revelation. I could have killed everything in the blink of an eye. I’d be gone, along with everyone who had ever lived, leaving behind a sterile, silent world. It would be peaceful and serene, because there’d be nothing to stir up trouble but the wind.

“You say you lost your nerve . . . but what you felt wasn’t fear,” Eduardo said. “It was intuition.”

I went back to the hole in the pulpit and looked down at Teddy. “Is all that true?”

And although he wouldn’t look me in the eye, he gave me his reluctant answer. “Choosing a lifeless world would have prevented a correction,” he said. “And life could evolve again.”

“He’s right about that,” offered Eddy. “The QuIRT says the bacteria we’d leave behind here would evolve. Who’s to say you wouldn’t be born into a better world a few hundred million years from now?”

Edd looked at me with an arrogant, superior sneer. “Only a self-centered, privileged fool thinks they can single-handedly fix problems it took all of human history to create.” He shook his head in disgust. “The best you could have possibly achieved was a reset to where you started, with the hope your species could eventually find wisdom enough to heal its self-inflicted wounds . . . But it’s all moot now.”

I did not like the sound of that. “Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Edd’s gaze, as cold as it was, dipped way below zero. “It means that your meddling stops here! You’ve made your last jump. You are ordered to leave the world just as it is. You’ll keep away from others, and stay away from any situation that might trigger a jump until you’re no longer the subjective locus. And if you ask me, that moment can’t come soon enough.”

But after all I’d been through, I refused to be bullied.

“What if I don’t want to be a good little girl and follow orders?” I asked Edd with my best sarcastic sneer.