"Prisoners, what can you expect? You can't trust them" - I explained the situation.

"You mentioned something about sex."

"Yes. We decided to retain that function. People need a way to enjoy themselves. So we took a few women, transplanted them into new bodies, and then allowed the prisoners to relax. All on a voluntary basis. The duration of sex is limited to a couple of hours a day. This is a temporary solution because the issue is too complex. But as you can see, the prisoners like their situation, and the threat of taking away their sex is very serious."

We observed as kinetic and plasma weapons, a flamethrower, and even an anti-tank missile failed to cause any significant harm to the target. A triple shot from a grenade launcher tore the subject apart, but within five seconds, he reassembled and stood by the wall, whistling with a nasty grin.

"That's... impressive" - the guest admitted.

"This model is for prisoners. Soldiers can be equipped with built-in magical artifacts that turn a person into a heavy assault infantry unit."

"But for that, you need to be a mage?"

"Any person who receives this body becomes a mage. Maybe not an outstanding one, but sufficient to be a serious combat unit on the battlefield."

"And how will this affect civilian life?"

"Well, for each other, such shots would be nothing more than a slap. This weapon poses no threat to the vritras. We can come up with a model for social regulation once the threat of imminent destruction no longer hangs over us."

"Can you demonstrate all this to the Council?"

"Of course. But for the demonstration, I would prefer to use soldiers loyal to the command. Prisoners are not suitable for this. Here, they are under strict control, and I wouldn't want to trust them more than necessary."

"Yes, I understand. I have four marines under my command. You can use them."

I glanced at the four armored figures.

"Only with their voluntary consent."

"We agree" - one of the four responded. - "If we could demonstrate this on the battlefield, the enemies would already be begging for a truce."

"Then we need to prepare. In an hour, I can show you how an ordinary person can become immortal."

With that, we parted ways. The advisor and his entourage went to rest, and I had to organize a spectacular show. Of course, I wasn't going to give these people the military version. The civilian one would suffice. Perhaps with the ability to cast a dozen spells. Let's call it the police version.

There's no need to describe the rest. I transformed the four people into vritras and held another demonstration of their new abilities. After that, it was decided to take me on the courier ship to the planet where the Council of Wise Men was currently in session. I had already extracted everything I could from this station, so I agreed. I insisted on being accompanied by bodyguards. Finally, I boarded the ship, taking with me a 'field kit' of equipment and a hundred crystals, and we set off.

The planet Nibiru greeted us with a bristling fleet that took several hours to verify who we were and where we came from. Every arriving ship was scanned by all available means and held in quarantine. As the advisor explained, this was to protect against attacks by various non-humans posing as civilians. Necromancers caused the most trouble, turning people into the undead who could turn victims into their kind through a bite.

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Incidentally, the scanners identified us as humans. Such a detail as emulating the structure of the human body and aura was a basic function. The 'death' demonstrated by the prisoner earlier was a result of this emulation. After landing on the planet, we went through another round of scanning, identity verification, and so on, after which my bodyguards and I were housed in one of the underground bunkers. It seemed things were indeed not going well here.

John Doe recommended I not tell anyone about my invention until the official presentation. Spies from other races were constantly prowling around, and no counterintelligence could guarantee the preservation of secrecy.

We spent three days in the bunker, mostly watching news about recent events. Human civilization indeed seemed to be on its last legs. Industry couldn't keep up with the load, space fighter crews were being filled with recruited operators of space mining ships, and green recruits were being sent into the infantry, with only three out of ten surviving their first battle.

Finally, we were invited to the event where we were to demonstrate the results of our work. I expected to see a large hall filled with hundreds of people, but we were greeted by a couple of dozen, among whom I noticed Papadopoulos and Rigerstein. Ten minutes later, Doe joined them, and the main program of speeches began.

As it turned out, three other players were also present in the audience, whom I literally sensed as soon as they came within a few kilometers. Perhaps this was a capability granted by the Judge. I was scheduled to speak last, so I comfortably settled into a chair and prepared to laugh loudly at the appropriate moments.

The first project was a concept for building spacecraft that could sustain the entire life cycle of humanity. Essentially, it was about creating a closed biosphere capable of supporting the lives of about a million people. The idea was to build hundreds of such ships and leave this inhospitable galaxy behind. The proponent of the idea did not elaborate on the fate of those who wouldn't make it onto the ships. He only noted that only the best of the best—the cream of humanity—would be worthy of bringing the seed of eternal stagnation into the cosmic vacuum.

The project did not generate much enthusiasm. Similar ships had been built before. The only thing impressive was the scale of these giants. But the larger the ship, the harder it was to protect. Therefore, the chances of successfully building even one ship under current conditions were slim.

The second project was presented by a fan of terminators. That's exactly what he called his creation: fully autonomous robots capable of spreading love for humanity to all corners of the galaxy. I couldn't help but laugh at such blatant plagiarism, earning angry looks from the robotics enthusiast.

During the Q&A session, I even asked: what is the likelihood of a machine uprising, and do our enemies have similar systems? The first question was met with an unconvincing denial of such a possibility, and the second was answered by the Council's weapons expert, who spoke of an entire race of intelligent robots ranked even lower than humans in the world hierarchy because they couldn't use magic. Our creations of grim tectonic genius didn't possess magic themselves but at least had protection against basic spells.

The author of this project mainly emphasized the potential to build fully autonomous factories capable of overwhelming all enemies with robots. But my question about the uprising sowed the necessary doubts among the listeners, so I didn't expect much competition here.

The third project was extremely unexpected. In some ways, it repeated the first one. Its main concept was also escape but on a much larger scale. The author proposed nothing less than cutting off a chunk of cosmic space with an indestructible force field and living in this isolated piece of the universe, without worrying about what was happening outside.

Oddly enough, this option was quite appealing to the councilors. Primarily because it allowed maintaining the status quo. The entire structure of power and society remained unchanged. Only the factor of external threat was removed. I had to shatter these rosy dreams with my tricky questions.

"You mentioned that the shields would effectively cut off a part of space, creating a new metaverse" - I asked the third figure. His name was Kira Xenakis, and judging by his fat face, he was a relative of Papadopoulos.

"Yes, that's correct. This guarantees that no one and nothing can pass through this barrier" - explained the sweating candidate for victory.

"But it's known that space is constantly expanding. How will the absence of back pressure from the surrounding space affect life in this universe?"

"Well..." - Xenakis' eyes darted around, seeking support from the audience. - "It depends on the volume of isolated space. According to Chandravishnu's formulas..."

"How long exactly will we be able to live inside?" - I interrupted him.

"Quite a long time. More than a hundred thousand years."

"And I somehow think that even less than a hundred years" - I grinned triumphantly. - "I think it’s worth checking with independent experts. Moreover, such a fate is essentially a way to guarantee self-destruction. I wouldn’t call that a salvation approach."

The hum of discussion filled the hall, and Kira Xenakis began sweating even more, although the room temperature did not exceed twenty degrees. Quite cool, in my opinion.

"The Council will assign a group of independent experts to study the materials of the third project" - finally pronounced one of the Council members. - "Let’s move on to the fourth project. Its author has excelled in tricky questions, and I would like to see what he himself can propose."