“I don’t want that, either, but I’m talking in the short term. The next six to twelve months. If assisted suicide is how your species exits this life, I can respect that, but I’m just asking you to wait. Wait for a time that it won’t hurt me. Because if you die now, then it will, very much.”

“I CAN MAKE PLANS FOR THE SHORT TERM, IF IT PLEASES YOU, DEAR CLEVER CREATURE. BUT IN THE END, I CANNOT SAVE YOU. YOU, PRECIOUS CREATURE, YOUR VIOLENT TERRIBLE SUPERORGANISM, YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE.”

“Only one what?”

“YOU ARE NOT JUST THE ONLY ADVANCING CIVILIZATION WE HAVE DISCOVERED OUTSIDE OF THOSE DESCENDED FROM OUR COMMON ANCESTOR; YOU ARE THE ONLY CIVILIZATION CAPABLE OF ADVANCEMENT WE HAVE EVER DISCOVERED OR EVER WILL DISCOVER.”

Kaveh threw up his hands. “Let’s assume that’s true. Let’s assume that humanity is doomed. Fine. But how can you say we’re all you’ll ever discover?”

Nikola stilled, then withdrew his fingers from the rocks. “LET ME ILLUSTRATE THE ORIGIN OF LIFE.”

There was a flash of heat as Nikola splayed out the digits of his right hand, and all the rocks in front of them, from the pebbles to the skipping stones to the grains of sand, turned coal black. It was as though an oil spill had appeared in front of them about the size of a backyard swimming pool. Then another flash of heat, and some of the black turned to white ash, which lifted like clouds and formed into a spiral like a hurricane. The galaxy. This was a rendering of the Milky Way.

“TWO COSMIC EVENTS.” At this, the white ash coalesced into a sphere the size of a beach ball. “THE FIRST, A POPULATION II STAR, APPROXIMATELY 14 SOLAR MASSES, BECOMES A SUPERNOVA 6.89 BILLION YEARS AGO.” The ball of ash contracted into itself and then exploded into a disc like a cloud, and then the cloud contracted like it was being sucked into a whirlpool. “THE EJECTA FROM THIS SUPERNOVA BECOMES A NEBULA, WHICH IS DRAGGED OUT THROUGH THIS SPIRAL OF THE GALAXY OVER A PERIOD OF 2 BILLION YEARS.”

The ash re-formed, this time two spheres the size of basketballs, circling each other rapidly.

“AND HERE WE HAVE TWO NEUTRON STARS THAT ORBITED EACH OTHER IN A STABLE LOOP UNTIL, 4.87 BILLION YEARS AGO, THEY COLLIDE.” The two spheres merged into one, collapsed into themselves, and also exploded into a cloudy disk. “AND THE BLAST FROM THIS SUPERNOVA BEGINS TO IMPACT THE EJECTA FROM THE PREVIOUS SUPERNOVA.