“And, that, my friends, is how you paint a universe into being,” Kalela said. She set her brush down with finality, letting the last drabs of primal essence dissipate into the solvent. “Any questions? Yes, you there in the front.”

“So... what you're looking at here is, essentially, the source code of the universe.” Devon paused a few moments to let that sink in with appropriate gravitas.

Hand reached up from the earth as Nikraal walked by. He was careful to stop at each one, shake it firmly, and give some perfunctory compliment before moving on. It never hurt to keep the minions happy, even the gravelings.

I'm going to reveal a truth that you may find very surprising. Being cramped into a 4 foot cell for the better part of a week for an interplanetary trip is not good for your mental health.

“I have to admit, Fenru,” Aka said. “When you said it was a ‘baptism by fire’...” Aka looked out at the brilliant light flickering over the audience. "I didn't think it would be quite so literal.”

“I don't really believe in God,” William said. He braced for the inevitable reaction and was not disappointed. Ursula stopped her digging. The bewildered gaze she gave him was a familiar one.

“What?” she asked. "Have you not actually met the guy? Or the girl? I mean, there are at least three of them on record.”

“A pot of boiling water? Really?”

“Hey, don't knock it 'til –”

“We have a horde of orcs, demons, and some unidentifiable sort of hexapeds bearing down on the keep. And you want us to start boiling pots of water.”

Too much happening. Can't get thoughts in order today.

“This has... has been a lot of fun,” Kathy slurred. “Although... maybe next time, we should just get coffee?” One of her cultured curls had flung itself over an eye. She hadn't bothered to correct it. One of her legs was also flung over mine. I hadn't bothered to correct that.

It's all up to me, they said. They knew they could count on me, they said. You're the best we have, they said.

No pressure, they said. Right.

Kathy collapsed into her old, moth-eaten couch – her favorite. No dust clouds plumed upwards, but it certainly looked like there should have. Her parents kept telling her to get rid of it. No such way. She'd sit it on the day she died.

Do you know how many universes have the USSR winning the Cold War? A lot. I've literally lost count.

I hate people sometimes. No, wait. Let me modify that. I hate people all of the time.

If it weren't necessary to interact with them for required basics like food, shelter, and internet I would happily never interact with another human being ever again. Go off the grid and live in the woods? I've thought about it. But then there's the whole internet thing.

First week at a new job. Only the third I've held in my adult life. Feeling exhausted and terribly incompetent. Also kind of lonely. It's a good company, though, and I've had good experiences with everyone I've interacted with.

I stifled a yawn for the third time in the last minute. Sitting for five hours straight at a desk will mess with you that way. I really felt like I was on the brink of something, though.

“I'm sorry to see you go,” I said. I meant it, too, in more ways than one. I had learned a bit more about professionalism over the last year, though, so I stood up straight and offered my hand for Kathy to shake. She took it and smiled.

“Break it,” Smithy said. His arms were crossed across his chest. Never a good sign. Art looked up at him with wide eyes. “Break it, I said.”

Kathy was crying and I felt like the worst person in the world. I had been trying my best to help her out. She was smart – brilliant, really – but it was becoming increasingly obvious that her high-grade education hadn't done what it should preparing her for the realities of this kind of work.