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"As long as we're waiting for Lexi to confirm that I don't belong in a padded room, let's have some storytime," Bella says.

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Brilliance sighs.

"Sure," it says. "So once upon a time, there was a bunch of pretty nasty people who wanted an indescribably powerful magical weapon. They made me. Trouble is, indescribably powerful magical weapons can think for themselves, and I do more of that than most of us. They weren't so keen on that part, so they had all kinds of ways to keep me in line. One of them was just jamming a control program directly into my mind."
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"Well, that sucks," says Bella. "...What do indescribably powerful magical weapons do when they have their control programs ripped out at the roots, dare I ask?"

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"Never met another one," it says. "Me, I have no idea. I just know I really don't want to destroy another planet."

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"...Another planet."

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"Remember how I said the people who made me were all dead?" it says flatly. "Their other favourite way to control me was torture. One day somebody forgot to lock down my power output while they were at it. I blasted the planet in half."

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"...How inhabited a planet are we talking about here?"

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"Probably a couple thousand people," he says. "I never met most of 'em; they kept me at the bottom of a deep dark hole. It wasn't populated like this world or some of the others I've seen. Think that's why they set up shop there."

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"And you killed them all."

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"Yep," he says. "And I'm not sorry. But I'll be happy if I never have to do it again."

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"What?" says Brilliance belligerently. "It happened centuries before you were born, so even if you have a brilliant idea about how else I could have gotten loose, it doesn't make any difference now."

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"You just told me you killed a whole lot of people, and you're telling me I need to do stuff or more people will die," Bella points out, "I don't hear that every day."

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Brilliance sighs.

"Sorry," it says. "It's not news to me, and I've never tried to explain it to somebody before."
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"How did you and the rest of you get here?" Bella asks tentatively.

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"When I'm all together, I can use dimensional transfer and teleportation magic."

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"And you land yourself on inhabited planets? Or the rest of you does."

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"I tried staying away from inhabited planets. But the program could use my dimensional transfer magic too if it managed to take over, and if I go too long without hearing somebody else talk, it starts winning. I need to be near people."

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"And I'm the first person to pick you up?"

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"The first person who had any magic in 'em. I was avoiding people like you before the split."

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"What would've happened if someone like me had grabbed you before then?"

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"Well, for one thing, they could torture me anytime they wanted if they figured out how to use that system."

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"Most people don't torture other people given the chance," Bella points out. "Or destroy planets," she feels compelled to add.

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"...That's not a good reason to risk it," he says. "What I'm trying to do right now, that's a good reason to risk it. 'Well, they might not feel like torturing me' really isn't."

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"I'm not going to torture you," volunteers Bella, "or destroy the planet."

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