The blue room feels smaller than it did before, as if the empty space has finally begun to press inward around us.
"I don't want to take away people's free will, there are better ways," I tell her firmly. My voice echoes slightly in the empty blue room, sounding stronger than I actually feel. The words settle between us, heavy with conviction, and I force myself not to look away from her steady gaze.
"You could stop wars, create peace, rebuild the economy, and even make yourself rich in the process." I know I need to stay on her good side. She's too dangerous to have as an enemy, but she's really getting under my skin. There is something about the calm certainty in her tone that makes the temptation sound reasonable, almost clinical, as if she is describing the solution to a complex equation rather than the reshaping of civilization.
