Great Will: Alone... or... is it? [Episode 49770]

by Sgt. Chibi De`Ohki

No sign of any living thing at all.

"What the hell is going on here?" he asked himself slowly.

An extended survey of his surroundings revealed nothing new. All of the buildings in the area had suffered the decay he imagined could only form after years... no... decades of neglect.

"I left in 1996... it's gotta be at least 2041." One hand rose idly to brush a thick layer of dust off of a memorial of some kind. This edge of the part was clear of the area he had somehow restored. "'In memory of the crew of the Von Braun, destroyed during re-entry in 2037,'" he read aloud.

The dust was thick, grime nearly concealing some of the letters, but the words were still unmistakable. "I don't get it," he mumbled, looking around. The sun was descending, casting ominous shadows across the ruined and derilect city.

He shivered uncomfortably, and then mused, "What do I got to be scared of? I've got the power of...."

But who was he to talk to? He was entirely alone. No one needed to hear him talk about how powerful he truly was. But... it would have been nice to have someone... anyone to talk to, really. He contemplated using his powers to bring someone to talk to -- surely a complete and universal power could bring someone to him for company.

That thought died quickly; why would he make someone else share this desolate wasteland with him? And, anyway, what if everyone was... dead? It seemed grim, but there was no sign of life, here. Even if humanity had abandoned the city, plant life should have continued... but even that seemed to have stopped at some point, judging by the dead weeds choking the cracks in the streets.

He lumbered upwards across one particularly large angled concrete block, one that allowed him to look back over the park, and see more of the surrounding streets. His small oasis of restored park was there, a circle of green in a wide field of death. Even as he watched, he imagined that he could see the color leeching out of it.

Why not simply make everything live again? That would be simple enough, with his power.

But no, he knew now why he wouldn't do such a thing. Perhaps there was an unmentioned cost for his powers, and perhaps... just perhaps... this was it. Could he risk more to his planet just for his own amusement?

• No, of course not. But at the same time, there's gotta be someone left alive, maybe outside of the city....
• Well, why not? Everyone's _already_ dead, it's hard to imagine how it could possibly get worse.
• Maybe... he could start small. See what kind of impact a small usage of his power would bring about. Making himself no longer need to sleep or eat seemed like a good place to start.
• What if some of his powers were passive? If he was connected to some kind of power that could read his desires and then build them into something, shouldn't it work both ways? Maybe he could sense the universe around him and figure it out without invoking any power directly....
• Then again, maybe there's someone else with the same power... what are _they_ doing with it?
• This future is not yet written. There exists at this moment, the possibility of all things.

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(Posted Sat, 06 Sep 2003 00:52)

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