I've been at the Ancients' base for over a week. All this time my ship was over Antarctica, completely ignoring all attempts of Earthlings to contact him. Finally, I pulled out all useful information from the Outpost and gave the command to hat’ak to pick me up.
When I returned to Earth, I left the ship in orbit under disguise, and myself appeared at the base of the Stargate directly in the office of Elizabeth Weir.
“Good afternoon, Elizabeth. How are you doing?”
“Imhotep! Good to see you.”
‘Really? It seems there something very bad has happened and you need my help again.”
“Huh? Yes. Excuse me. Goa’ulds sent to us an invitation to negotiate. Your ship destroyed Anubis's fleet, but I was informed half an hour ago that it had left the atmosphere.”
“Yeah. I've finished studying the Outpost of the Ancients. Actually, I was not going to destroy Anubis, but he attacked my ship and signed his own sentence. Now, I'm going to do my business, and I will leave you on your own.”
“But... Goa’ulds can attack Earth. The Colonel tried to activate some systems at an ancient Outpost in Antarctica but now he's in stasis, and we don't have the people to activate that device.”
“I'm sorry for your grief. When the Earth will be burned in nuclear fire, I will return to visit your graves.”
“Can't you help us?” I could hear the despair in the voice of Weir.
“I can. But everything has a price.”
“What do you want?”
“It's simple. I will heal Colonel O'Neill and I will hold negotiations with Goa’ulds. In return, you will appoint Jack as supreme king of the Earth and give him the title of System Lord. Well, for one give him position of head of the Stargate program.”
“It... I can't decide for the whole Earth. We have a lot of countries…”
“I can make precautionary shots to the capitals cities of dissenting countries or wipe all people of that countries. After that, there will be no one alive to object against you.”
“It's more like an ultimatum.”
“The will of the gods is sacred. You should do it, not question it.”
“I... I can't make that decision. I simply don't have such authority.”
“Then inform those who have such authority. If someone will be against, tell me their names. I will teleport them to my ship, inflict inhuman tortures to them, and then brainwash them. I think in a couple of days from such therapy, there won't be any politicians on your planet who won't worship me as a true God. And please note that my ship destroyed Anubis' fleet in one second. I think it really shows the limits of my abilities.”
“Yeah, sure.” Elizabeth agreed to my arguments. As a professional politician, she has repeatedly dictated her terms, taking advantage of the superiority in force.
“Well, then I will leave here my energy projection, which will resolve all of these bureaucratic delays. See you soon.”
I created a clone and teleported to the base in Antarctica. There I extracted Jack from stasis and began to study his condition. In general, I found nothing particularly complex or interesting. Now I knew exactly how exactly ‘the knowledge decompression program’ working algorithm, so I could easily reverse it, erasing all knowledge that had a certain quantum signature.
Fifteen minutes later, Jack was strong as an ox. I healed all his age-related sores and generally brought his body back to normal twenty years old state, while not greatly changing his face. The last casted spell brought him to consciousness.
“Wake up and sing, Jack.” I greeted him.
“Imhotep? What happened to me?”
“Well, you put your head in that ancient thing, and then you did a series of heroic deeds and almost saved the Earth.”
“Almost?” Colonel rose from his bed and looked around.
“You didn't saved.”
“What?!! Was Earth destroyed?” He was worried.
“I mean, I saved it before you.”
“Ah... Good.”
“In general, I fixed your brain, but unfortunately your memory records since of the Ancients' knowledge recording into the brain was erased.”
“Where are we?” Jack asked, looking around the room.
“Ancient’s base in Antarctica. Here is a device that is able to protect the Earth from Goa’ulds, and only you can use it. Well, at least in near future.”
“Not bad. How to manage it?”
"Sit in that chair and mentally form a desire to destroy those who disagree with you. It should be simple.”
Jack sat in the indicated chair, leaned back and called the visual interface of the protection system.
“That's Daedalus.” I pointed to the Earthling’s ship. “This is my 'Grim Reaper'.”
“It's marked as a friendly target.”
“Yes, this system can not threaten me by definition.”
“Any other good news?” Jack asked, playing with the system.
“Full complect. You have been appointed as System Lord and as Supreme King of the Earth.”
“Who appointed?”
“What a stupid question? Of course, I appointed.”
“That explains a lot. Is United Nations aware of such decree?”
“They'll be notified. I'll leave my projection here to make sure that you have all the levers of control of the planet.”
“What do I need to do with this power?
“Do whatever you want. Get yourself a harem, build a palace, issue some laws. I'm not sure, really, whether someone will perform them. Well, you know these politicians.”
“I know perfectly well. And that's why I'm not eager to get into all this garbage.”
"Or you could just become a nominal ruler, like the Emperor in Japan. Your choice.”
“I'll think about it.”
“Nice. Then let me get you to Stargate base, and I'll do my own business. I need to meet our common friend.”
I teleported myself and Jack to the base, said goodbye, and teleported to my ship. My next destination was a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way, where Thor settled. He should be having trouble with the replicators right now. I took the coordinates of the planet from the Earthlings’ computer.
Coming out of the jump, as I expected, there was vicinity of a black hole, which was local star. It was just one of the tricks that ignored the law of conservation of energy. All the electrons inside the star turned into stable Tau leptons. As a result, its mass increased so much that it turned into a black hole, and the planet with replicators began to fall on it.
I found Thor’s ship and contacted it.
“Greetings Thor. How are you?” I welcomed.
“Imhotep... this is a very unexpected meeting. What are you doing here?”
"I want to see your most epic failure in the new history of the galaxy."
“What do you mean?”
“Your attempt to destroy the Replicators will be fail.”
“At the moment, radar readings suggesting opposite. Soon, the planet will get closer to the horizon of events and will be ripped apart by tidal forces. After month, all replicators and their remains will be completely destroyed and absorbed by the black hole.”
“I think we should watch this process a little longer.”
“That's why I'm here. I need to make sure the replicators are completely destroyed.” Thor’s melancholic voice created the impression that he do not care what the outcome of his attempts will be. However, he was a computer, so, that's exactly what it was.
I gave to my ship the command to follow Thor's ship and went to do my other business. After about a day, the planet began to turn into an elongated cloud of hot matter. But beyond that, mass of replicators separated from planet gathering in a clump. After a while, the swarm of replicators began to move away from the black hole. They were able to unite and create a more powerful version of the impulse engine.
“Thor, are not you seeing anything strange?” I got in touch with stubborn Asgard.
“I am seeing.” He agreed “The replicators are moving away from the black hole. I wonder what would cause it?”
"Could it be that they were able to get out of your trap?" Frankly, after such a question, I began to suspect that Thor is another member of the Troll community.
“They have a time dilator. I don't know how, but they can withstand the gravity of a black hole.”
“Oh! They're directing to us.” I said in voice of the commentator of the TV program 'In the world of animals'. “I think they decided to eat us. I am wondering, how long time it'll take?”
Thor tried to escape in response, but his engines could handle gravity much worse. A minute later, the Replicators’ ship fired twice. One charge, consisting of replicators, flew towards to the Thor’s ship, and the second was intended for me. I met this gift with particularly powerful protective field, reinforced with magic. Additive magic shield will not be superfluous, because the Replicators learned to generate a field for neutralizing shields. Although the technology of the Ancients and the Asgards was different, the replicators were originally creations of the Ancients, and therefore their attacks were effective against my ship.
I took the Replicators’ charge, isolated it in magic barrier, and sent it to a special secure chamber. It was designed in such way that in case of violation of the protection, all its contents will be destroyed to the level of quark-gluon plasma. My ship had the protection from the replicators, but when talking about robots size in nanometers, their localization and elimination could be a difficult task.
"Thor, my friend, let me know when the replicators will start gnawing you."
“Ok.” Biorobot agreed complacently.
“You still don't want to accept my offer to return you to the world conventionally? You still have the risk of becoming a bunch of replicators, only it will be wild replicators which you can't control.”
Meanwhile, on Earth began the planned negotiations between humans and the System Lords. My clone was met three ambassadors, in the gateroom. To negotiate arrived Lord Yu, Amaterasu and Hamul. In addition to them passed through the gate Lord Yu’s assistant and the team SG-8.
"Bow before the true God, mortals.” I greeted them, flashing my eyes like a real Goa’uld. Ambassadors stood as rooted to the spot, stunned by the presence here of another Goa’uld, dressed in adorned with gold and precious stones clothing.
“Who are you?” Amaterasu asked, a woman of Eastern appearance in a beautiful dress.
“I am Imhotep, God of knowledge and architecture.”
“First time I heard about you.” Hamul expressed their dissatisfaction.
“Your ignorance is your disgrace.” I snorted back. "I am the strongest of the gods in this galaxy. It was my ship that destroyed my brother Anubis's fleet.”
“What?!!” Goa’ulds again experienced a torn of pattern. “Anubis had a brother?”
“Let's go to the conference room. You shouldn't be showing your ignorance to the Tauri people.”
“Open the gate! I'm going back.” Amaterasu tried to show her temper to me.
“You are my hostages. You can leave only if I want.”
“It's a breach of agreement!” Hamul shouted.
“You did agreement with Tauri, but not with me. Blame yourself for signing contracting with slaves instead of their master.”
Elizabeth Weir wanted to be indignant and tried to say something, but couldn't say a word. Clone perfectly mastered the chakra based techniques, so I found something to ensure the compliance of others to my scenario.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Are you going to negotiate, or can I just throw you out into a world filled with lava?" I asked, smiling disgustedly.
Goa’ulds looked at each other.
“We'll talk to you.” Lord Yu expressed the common opinion.
“Please follow me to negotiation room.”
We walked through the corridors and into a room decorated with gold and silk. There was only Jack O'neill from humans race as my prospective Governor. When everyone was seated, I continued the conversation.
“So. I'm not going to pretend that we having there some negotiations. I will state my demands, and you will humbly agree with them. This applies not only to you, but to all those system lords on whose behalf you speak.”
"It is not we who make the decision, but the Union of system lords.” Hamul said.
“You're wrong. They don't make any decisions either. If anyone tries to challenge my authority, I will simply destroy them.”
“How can you prove your strength?” Lord Yu asked angrily.
"My ship destroyed Anubis's fleet in one second. Unfortunately, none of the enemies survived to witness this. But you can bring your fleet here, and then I can once again show you this divine miracle.”
Goa’ulds looked at each other as if deciding which one of them have extra fleet.
"If you have such power, you must help us in the war against Ba’al." Hamul started attacking me.
“I don't owe anything to anyone. But you don't have to worry about Ba'al. When my brother Anubis will return to life, he will easily subdue Ba’al and all of you.”
“What? Anubis is dead! You said that you destroyed his flagship by yourself.”
“Anubis is God. Unlike you, false gods, he cannot be killed in such a primitive way.”
"So you're saying you're immortal, too?" Lord Yu’s assistant I asked me, through whom he referred the matter.
“Of course, I'm immortal. Here you go.” I throwed in advance prepared dagger on the table. "Anyone of you can come to me and strike as many blows as you want.” Hamul picked up the blade. "But I warn you, after you finish, I will strike you with the same blade."
Such conditions have cooled Goa’ulds zeal, however, filling his mind with doubt. After attacking me, he will risk to meet his own death if I really turned out to be God. But on the other hand, it was like a bluff. After all, if he does not have the determination to attack me, he will never know if I am truly immortal.
“My Jaffa will do it.” Lord Yu said.
His assistant looked at his master fearfully, then reached out his hand to Hamul. He hesitated a bit and gave the dagger. Jaffa came up to me, and I spun in my chair to face him.
“So, where will you strike?” I asked him with a mocking smile.
While my clone had fun with Goa’ulds, my real body continued the conversation with Thor. He didn't answer my last question, so I kept pushing him.
“By the way, what about your project to revive the Asgard race with the help of that clone? You had two years to get results.”
“We're continuing our research. Apparently, a long suspending body caused changes in the biochemical processes occurring in the nerve tissues, which is why we can not activate the higher nervous activity in these clones.”
“In short, the project failed, and you are still on the verge of extinction.”
“Alas.”
"Thor, it looks like the replicators have reached your onboard computer and transferred the data from it to their brethren. Their main ship changed course.”
"Yes, they are heading to the planet Orilla, where we are reviving Asgard civilization. I fear all my brethren are under threat of destruction.”
"But you still think it's better to be eaten by replicators than to be reborn as a new form of life?"
After a few seconds of delay, Asgard replied in a slightly more lively voice.
“I saw what you did to my brothers in the Hades galaxy. Replicators are not a form of life.”
“So you're not form of life either. Or do you think that replacing metal components with hydrocarbon ones gives you the right to be called alive? You are computer. Soulless piece of iron, next to which from time to time contacting an ancient ghost. By the way, is the ghost controlling you now, or has he left you to your fate?”
In response, I heard a loud click and silence. I think I've caused the biocomputer to have a nervous breakdown. But five seconds later I heard Thor's voice again.
“Don't ask me those questions. My critical failure counteract system are triggered as soon as a wrong thought arises in my mind.”
“How sad. You don't even have freedom of thought. Look, soon the replicators will eat you and all your comrades, so you'll be left with nothing.”
"No, I can destroy the replicators at the cost of this carrier of my consciousness. Now they all gathered in one place. I will detonate my ship and destroy the entire swarm of replicators. After that, a copy of my consciousness will be uploaded to another clone.”
“Nice. Let's see what you can get out of this.”
Meanwhile, on Earth, Jaffa was trying to kill me with one blow. My clone went into a disembodied state, although his appearance is not affected. Finally, the man plucked up courage and struck me right in the throat, clearly intending for one to finish Goa’uld in my head. Alas, the dagger only pierced the back of the chair.
Jaffa, who had lost his balance, stumbled a little, leaned back, and at that moment I seized his right hand, pulled the dagger from it and with a swift movement thrust it into the throat of jaffa, breaking his spine. Kamikaze fell to the floor as potato bag.
Jack and Hamul jumped to their feet to get a better look at the corpse.
“You killed him?” Jack exclaimed.
“Certainly.” I nodded smugly. "But you must know that death is not the end.”
Colonel looked at me doubtfully, nodded, and sat back down.
“So.” I continued my speech when everyone was convinced of the death of the subject. "You have all seen that mortal weapons are incapable of harming to God.”
“What is this technology?” Amaterasu asked.
“It's not technology. It is the power of the gods. You mortals can't understand that.” I raised my hand, palm up, and a fireball lit up above it, scattering the petals of the flame. “But let’s back to our 'negotiations'.” I with mockery singled the last word. “My requirements are simple. You recognize Jack O'Neill as a System Lord, equal to yourself.” I pointed to my new governor, who was holding his face as a brick. How to behave in negotiations, I explained to him in advance. “The territory of Anubis goes to him in temporary management until my brother returns, and Lord Yu will oversee the implementation of this agreement on your part. In general, that is all.”
"I will never recognize this man as a System Lord!" Amaterasu almost shouted. In response, I struck her with a bolt of lightning that avoided Lord Yu and bit into her chest. Goa’uld jerked in a spasm and fell to the floor together with the chair. The charge wasn't fatal, but it did extensive damage.
“Anyone else have any protest?” I asked, glancing around at the two remaining false gods.
“Why should I defend your territory?” Lord Yu was not afraid of my gaze.
“As payment for my services.” I chuckled. "I can heal and rejuvenate your host. After that, you can live another thousand years.”
“What?!!” Hamul sprang to his feet. “Even the sarcophagus can't heal me.”
“I can.” I threw him a look, under which goa’uld sat back. Amaterasu came in consciousness too and made attempt to rise back on her feet. "Here's a little demonstration of my divine abilities.”
I reached out and used the medical chakra to heal the dead Jaffa. The dagger slipped from his throat and the blood soaked back into his body. After a few seconds jaffa regained consciousness and tried to stand.
“Well, so what?” I asked.
“I agree.” Lord Yu nodded.
“Is there anyone else who wants to challenge my demands?” There was silence in the hall. "Then you can greet new System Lord Jack O'Neill, and I'll take care of my ally's health. Please follow me.”
At my invitation, Lord Yu and his Jaffa followed me into the next room, where there was already a bed from the infirmary.
“Take a sit. This will take five minutes.” I pointed to the only piece of furniture. “And keep in mind, along with the healing, I will put on you a spell that will monitor the performance of the contract from your side.”
After goa’uld took the designated place, I used a disposable amulet with a spell of ‘higher healing’, which was in the pocket of the clone. However, no one noticed, because the amulet was inside the palm. Five minutes later, the spell stopped working and the patient stand up.
“How are you feeling?”
Lord Yu opened his eyes, felt himself, looked at his rejuvenated hands, and then quickly jumped off the couch.
“Incredibly. I accept the terms of our agreement.”
“Perfectly.”
We returned to the common room, interrupting the impending squabble. Goa’ulds looked at his ally and froze with open mouths.
“So, I will explain once again for those who had low IQ. The territory of Anubis belongs to Jack. If one of you encroaches on this territory, then Lord Yu will deal with the intruder. As for Ba’al, I will find a way to explain to him who is the master in this galaxy. Now, I ask you all to leave this planet. All those who disagree with my decision can come here with fleet and get a plasma charge in the forehead. We will open fire without warning.”
The solemn part was over, and goa’ulds was kicked through the gate.
“Jack, have fun.” I turned to the ruler of the Earth when the portal closed. “I'll talk to Ba’al.”
That was the end of my clone, and I focused on what was happening in the Asgard galaxy.
The ship of the replicators escaped from the zone of distortion of space around a black hole and turned on hyperdrives. Thor sent his ship after him, using the existing gap in space. As a result, Thor's ship was now flying behind of the replicators along the corridor they had created. I made another puncture of space, moving parallel course and watching what is happening there from the side.
Thor tried to catch up with the Replicators ship. Since he didn't need to form a new corridor, even with weaker engines, he could move faster. But after a few moments his speed dropped significantly. As I knew, it was the replicators that got to the ship's control system.
However, Thor did not despair and send characteristics of the corridor in hyperspace through which he moved to their planet. This made it possible to calculate the approximate exit point of the Replicator ship from the hyperspace jump.
Five minutes later we reached our destination. Several Asgard ships shot the replicators, smashing their ship to pieces. But it did not help much, because these pieces fell to planet as rain. And many of them were strong enough to survive the fall.
I came out of the jump almost at the same time as Thor and scanned the surroundings.
“Thor, you really screwed up. This planet is doomed, and you can't save your countrymen from the terrible fate of being eaten alive by replicators. Your last chance to save them is to accept my offer.”
To be honest, I'm sick and tired of that stupid stubborn, pathetic ghost. If he doesn't agree now, I'll leave him to die. I don't care about the story. His intervention wasn't that important. At the very least, I'll ask Loki for help. I think he will not refuse to allocate a couple of Asgard for crowd scene.
“Do you think I'll take help from another player's figure?” Finally, Thor gave birth. That's what's bothering him. “If I become a Replicator, it will automatically mean your victory.”
“Stop-stop-stop. Are you think I'm a Replicator? Have you lost your memory? I saved you from the replicators when your ship was in earth orbit.”
“It was your cunning move to gain my trust.” Hypochondriac ghost Thor put forward his argument. “You were able to defeat the replicators just because they listened to you. I analyzed the records from the ship's tracking systems and found no trace of the using any technology that can actually destroy the replicators.”
“Ah! Your words breaking my heart!” I exclaimed. “I came to you with the entire soul of, and you!... If you don't believe me, let's find the Replicator figure and ask him what he thinks about it.”
I scanned the planet again and found a cluster of replicators whose behavior indicated they had a reasonable leader. After that, I teleported to Thor's ship, sealed him in fuinjutsu and jumped to the planet at the desired point. Then I got to the humanoid Replicator and unloaded Thor.
“So, welcome to you.” I began my speech. “I think we should start by meeting. I am Imhotep, God of knowledge and architecture. This is the Fifth - the figure of replicators. And this is Thor, the Asgard.”
“Imhotep? So you're the reason that I lost control of the replicators in the Hades galaxy?” The Fifth was indignant, completely ignoring Thor. “You turned them into asgards!”
“No, he turned Asgard to the replicators.” Thor did not agree with his assessment.
“No, the replicators turned to the Asgard.”
“No, the Asgard turned to the Replicator.”
Both my interlocutors looked at each other, and then with a challenge stared at me.
“What? You first deal with each other, which of you losing. And then I'll decide what to do next.”
While the Fifth thought about what my words meant, Thor finally understood what the expression of irritation on my face meant.
“Well, he's lost. Replicators became asgards.” Thor spoke in an accelerated voice.
“Great.”
With that, I gave the command to my ship, and it activated the weapons designed to fight the replicators. Energy wave perturbation walked the planet, switching off all blocks of the replicators. The fifth crumbled into dust, and his soul was left without a physical body. Interestingly, is this can be considered as death? The spirit of the Fifth fled from the area of my perception, I focused on the soul of the Thor.
“So. I am asking for the last time, do you agree to undergo the rebirth procedure? Hint: if you say `no`, I'm going to blow up this planet right now.”
“Agree.” Thor rattled.
“Wonderful. Let's begin.”
I used a long-practiced method of catching souls in magical snares, and then took the biorobot and transferred to his ship. In the last couple of minutes of his worthless life, the Fifth gave me the idea how to tie soul and 'flesh' of replicators as fully as possible. This will be provide a more vivid sense of the body, although the soul could experience not only pleasure but also pain.
In other words, I saw how to create astral shells, more similar to those that were created under the influence of the natural laws of the Universe. I unwillingly to check such experiments on myself, so Thor will be my guinessa gip. I'm getting really sick of him.
While I was working on changing Jotun technology, my new clone moved to the milky way galaxy to meet Ba’al there. Finding the strongest System Lord took half an hour. I used already developed technology of reading thoughts with the help of clone. All I need is to find a victim, to deprive her of consciousness, and then to pull out information about Baal from their brain.
At the last stage I had to hijack a goa’uld’s Shuttle, and then teleport from shuttle to the flagship of the Ba’al’s fleet with the transport rings. Then I reached the command room of the ship under henge jutsu picturing Jaffa without hindrance, where I paralyzed all jaffa but Baal.
“Well, well, well. Who's there? Rebel slave?” I smiled, looking to the most smart-ass goa’uld in the galaxy.
“Who are you?” He asked while looking around us for at least some of the defenders, capable of defending him. Given the fact that he was now in orbit of his planet in the control room of his flagship, my brazen appearance spoke of the quality of his protection.
"I am Imhotep, God of knowledge and replicators.”
“I heard about you.” Baal grinned, leaning back on the throne, though he felt no confidence at all inside. "You have claimed the entire territory of Anubis and declared the simple human as a System Lord. My opponents are out of their minds if they agree to this.”
“Spies everywhere.” I complained. “So I wanted to surprise you, but you know everything. You have good spies, but no brains.”
“How dare you?”
"Didn't you think it was strange that I showed up on your ship like this, disarming all your bodyguards? If I want to, I would kill you right now.”
"Then why haven't you done it yet?"
“Hm-m-m... really? It would make things easier.”
I waved my hand, and lighting Jutsu easily pierced the shield around Baal, hitting him in the leg. “Oh, sorry. Missed. Don’t worry, I'll fix it”. The second discharge burned the second leg to the bone.
“What do you want?” Baal moaned, clinging to the armrests of his chair. Suddenly, he became extremely uncomfortable to sit without feet.
“Wow, the rudiments of your brain are activated.” I was surprised. “I think you understand. Don't attack Tau'ri planet and do not invade the territory of Jack O'neill. Well, at least until Anubis comes back. There you will understand what to do next.”
“Anubis is dead!” Baal cried out in fear.
“Of course he dead. But that won't stop him from coming back to life. Do you understand my demands?”
“Not to attack the Earth and territory of Anubis until he returns to the world of the living.”
“Exactly. Well, I won't distract you from conquering another world. No, wait. This world used to belong to Anubis. What are you gonna do now?”
“Fly away.” Baal was already fainting from the pain in his burned legs.
“Very correct. Well, you've learned your lesson. Farewell.”
My clone dispelled, leaving injured goa’uld to appeal for help to his irresponsible servants. After all, out of consciousness were all members of the crew of this ship.
After a few hours of scientific experimentation, I created a new modification of replicators related to the Jotun race. They also could not reproduce and be active without the 'spiritual influence'. As 'second-class citizens' I planned to use Asgard computers and a simplified version of replicators of the same modification. They were controlled not directly by the soul, but through the 'brain computer' of Asgard, which could subdue 'first-class citizens'. This architecture has already been worked out, so I just finished the details of the implementation.
As a result, I got a race of replicators incapable of explosive limitless growth. At least this growth was limited by the production of electronic brains and the presence of catched souls in the body. Without a soul, the replicators were inert pieces of metal, which suited me better.
Finally, Thor’s soul underwent the necessary transformation and received a new body. Basic appearance I decided to make a form of Asgard. I didn't know what Thor looked like in life, so I left it to him.