"People exist in a vast abundance and frequently get in his way such that killing or harming them would be a viable solution, and yet he does not," says Sherlock. "He has killed one person and I can imagine few ways in which that murder would not have been ethically justified."

"Okay... this still hinges on the intact personality thing and I'd sooner not count on it."

"Yes, I agree. But if we had a guarantee on the personality, I would wholeheartedly back his prediction that he needs no outside intervention to stop him eating people."

"You're the expert on the half of him that isn't an insane midget, and the half of him that isn't an insane midget is probably the best source on the half that is."

"He laughed, by the way. And said that you clearly need to meet his insane midget brother."

"I'd rather meet his sister-in-law, who apparently in addition to being prettier than me is also a thirtieth-century galaxy-class expert in electrical engineering, programming, neurology, genetics, and music." She waves a research paper.

"What, all of them?"

"Yep. She's only published papers on the neurology thing, but I found a press piece about her revolutionary little computing gadget and it had some biographical information on her other hobbies. She's genetically engineered for various things including spectacular levels of intelligence. Oh, and she speaks twenty-five languages as of whenever the article came out. Gives a lot of money to useful charities. Very well-traveled. I kind of want to meet her right away, and I also kind of want to run off and accomplish a century's worth of shit first."

"Well, you'd best decide which. Although I suppose the difficulty of actually meeting her might make your choice for you."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not actually up to me."

"Well, if you wanted very badly to meet her as soon as possible, I'm sure Mark could be convinced to send you her way. There would be a slight issue where you might never see your home universe again."

"Yeah, and while my home universe is a little bit demon-infested, I feel some responsibility about that."

"So I've gathered."

"That and I have parents. And most of what I'd hope to walk away with from a meeting with Linyabel is cool stuff to deploy at home, since it seems like she's already very busy doing things I can't meaningfully help with on her end."

"So much for that, then."

"Yeah. Alas."

"Alas," Sherlock agrees.

"But there's still a magic bar! Who is very good about recommending reading material. And Orange Juliuses. I asked and she can also do blood which is both tasty and also no-people-were-harmed-in-the-process, not that you need that sorted particularly urgently."

"Yes," says Sherlock. "I had a light snack not too long ago."

"And you don't need a case of the stuff packed with some futuristic preservation methods for the next few months, either, because I'm so handy-dandy. Oh well."

"Not that I'd say no to trying some magic bar blood. It sounds interesting."

"She might be able to come up with something exotic. Some sort of drinkable non-human blood or a substitute or something."

And he gets a burgundy glass of something thin and metallic-smelling.