"Then let's go!" she says, grinning, and leads the way.

Flap flap.

Down the elevator past the security guards into a not-quite-sunny-yet morning in Rio de Janeiro.

Flap flap!

"I noticed a book in your room."

"I woke up in the middle of the night. I guess because I went to bed in the middle of the day."

She smiles. "What book was it?"

"Principles of Urban Engineering." He even remembered to make it in Portuguese!!

"Wow. Isn't that a bit advanced?"

"If I'm going to fly around making stuff all the time - and that's kinda what I want to do - I need to know how to make stuff that won't fall apart or have the foundations crumble or sink into the ground or whatever."

"And you can understand all of it?"

"No, but if I don't get something it usually suddenly makes sense later, or I can ask someone, or I can make models and try it."

"That makes sense. You're a very intelligent kid."

Bounce bounce. "I have the best powers and I want to fix everything. If people died because I was dumb and didn't know what I was doing that would be horrible."

"That seems like an awful lot of responsibility to bear."

"I guess. But it'd still be true if I pretended it wasn't my problem."

"I'm not sure that's the most constructive way to think of it."

"...but is it true?"

"I don't want to sound philosophical when I say truth is relative. The world is what it is, but there are different ways of facing it and interpreting the truth while still accepting it, and some of them are better than others for our health and to get the things we want. Does that make sense?"

"...I guess?"

"And one way of facing the truth I sometimes find is not very productive is feeling guilt. People often tell me it's justified, that they should have done better, or that it motivates them. In my experience, it tends to do more harm than good. Or, at least, more harm than alternatives."

"I'm gonna resurrect people somehow and then it won't matter if it's my fault they're dead."

He mentioned that before. She thought about it some and—it would really be very good, and she can't think of a good reason why it wouldn't worry.

"You really think you'll be able to? Bring people back?"

"Not yet but I'll figure it out. Somehow."

"That's an admirable goal."