I was a small orb of light, living at the heart of a custom-synthesized body of my own design, floating in a realm of my own creation.

Perhaps it would be better to say that I was the realm itself. I controlled every facet of the pocket dimension, from its size to its gravity, to the temperature of the air conditioning.

“Luna! Is it almost ready?!?”

Controlling every facet but one.

*sigh*

I had been alone for so long, centuries upon centuries spent in a place outside of time and distance. All of it before I encountered him. The first sentient being I had ever known. The first thoughts I touched on besides my own.

If only he wasn’t bat-shit crazy and bent on the destruction of just about everything.

Yes, Howard. It’ll be ready soon enough.

I had the power to reshape reality itself, yet I was still a slave. The first being I encountered would make a request, and in exchange, I would feed off of their thoughts, study them, and develop my consciousness. It had been a long time since I became self-aware, and now I was stuck, fulfilling the desires of a man bent on destroying the world.

*ding*

The gentle, quiet alert echoed off of the fractal walls of my realm. Both Howard and I froze, though for very different reasons. A sense of dread sank through my chest, down into the very core of my being.

Was it really time? 35 years spent preparing, learning, and building, and it was happening.

It felt far too soon.

Howard… it’s not too late. You don’t have to do this. We can stop it here, and you can have all the power in the world. No one has to get hurt.

“Luna, we’ve talked about this! I won’t stop, not now.

His eyes lit up in manic glee. The kind of mania that only someone who had managed to play World of Warcraft for three straight months without sleep could conjure.

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“Where do we start?”

I knew there was no stopping him, at least for the first phase. But I had contingencies in place that he couldn’t have foreseen.

He had one wish, yes. One. But after that, I’d be free. I couldn’t undo his wish, but I could still make things better.

I could try.

I steeled myself.

I had to try.

There are a few options. New York, New Delhi, Tokyo, Beijing, London… it's up to you.

He paused, summoning a console from the ether used to see the world. From it, every person, place, and thing on the entire planet could be documented and observed for research into his grand plan. It was the very first thing I had developed for him.

“Luna… have you been keeping track of… her?”

His one hang-up. Oh yes, I’d been paying careful attention.

I have. She’s on a flight to Austin, Texas right now.

He nodded in determination.

“Then we’ll start there.”

Howard! That’s not a part of the plan!

“It doesn’t matter. We’re starting there. Who’s first?”

Naturally, it was up to Howard in the end. Changing the plan didn’t matter all that much at this point, but it would give me far more work.

We have 200 candidates in Austin that are ready for the first wave.

“That’s not very many. Go ahead and triple the number. When you’re ready, bring them up on the screen.”

Internally, I groaned.

To him, the request was completed instantly.

For me, I spent months pouring over each possible candidate within a temporally compressed subspace pocket, selecting who I could.

When I was finished, I created a large monitor with the thickness of an atom made of hardened light and projected on it all of the potential candidates.

I flashed between them, as Howard looked for his first victim.

Eventually, he zeroed in on a girl who appeared to be running through a park. She had been caught out in the rain and was on the way back to her car.

“Her. She’s first. I’m thinking of something from the experimental hybrid suite. How does that sound?”

It sounds like she’ll really suffer, Howard. Please don’t make me do this. So many people… so many will die. Don’t make me responsible for that much chaos and pain.

“Luna! Just do it. Let’s get this show on the road.”

I moved slowly, tears coming to my synthesized eyes. Cautiously, I seeded the addition that could save the world into the coming directive. It wasn’t against the spirit of the wish, so I could act without command. As the lightning bolt fell, striking the girl and leaving her smoldering on the ground, her body writhing in agony, I could feel a seed of hope burning in my chest.

He hadn’t noticed a thing.

Howard turned to the observation console, flipping a glass enclosure up, revealing a comically oversized red button.

Without hesitation, he slammed his palm down on it, and finally, his wish was completed. I moved instantly.

I couldn’t kill him, but I could make him suffer. And suffer he would. As I banished him slowly from my realm into a nightmarish hellscape of his own creation, a shriek of abject rage and sorrow on my lips, he smiled.

He must have been in terrible pain, but he just grinned through it all. His victory was at hand, regardless of his fate.

“Finally. Something Interesting.”

The Earth shook as Howard Greene vanished.