That evening O and I had a big blow up. It had not been our first argument, oh no. But this time he had done something unforgivable. I raged out of the lab and straight up to floor ninety-eight. I knocked on the door before fully realizing who it belonged to.

Wen opened and gazed at me. I said nothing, but the look of desperation in my face must have told him all he needed, because he opened the door the entire way and let me in.

Why had I come here? I was much closer to Sara. Shouldn't I have gone to her first?

I looked and Wen and he looked back at me with eyes that told me he knew why. I relaxed a bit.

"Wen, have you ever wanted to discover something so much that you were willing to risk the safety of others to get it?"

Wen looked at me for a long time and then nodded, as if having made a decision. He held out his hand and a bottle materialized. Then he materialized two glasses and a corkscrew and poured us both a drink. He handed me a glass filled with the deepest, richest purple I had ever seen. I plunged my nose into the glass and inhaled deeply.

"Wow, what is it?"

"I found a wine cellar in the collection of the school archives. When we learned how to scan in items, I hurried down to the storage and collected the best. Now we can enjoy them as often as we want. This one is from 1897 and I drink it whenever I find myself lost, which is becoming more and more common."

I looked at Wen in confusion, "Wen, what are you talking about? You are the most focused and driven of us all. You work longer hours in your lab, and I've never once seen you waver in your resolve."

Wen smiled, "I waver all the time. I just don't share my feelings with anyone." Wen walked over to his couch and sat down. I sat across from him. "James, I grew up in a very successful family. Well, they didn't start successful. My mother and father were broke when they came to this country. They were both top students before they moved. But my father never even thought of going to a top college. He worked multiple jobs to get through school. My mother did the same. It took many years but eventually my father became a successful businessman and my mother rose to influence among the political elite."

Wen took a sip from his wine. "Do you taste the blackberry in this one?"

I took another sip, "Yeah, I do."

Wen continued, "I grew up with every advantage. The best tutors. Never needing to take a job. Tuition through my Ph.D. set aside when I was still learning to walk."

"Sounds nice." I said, uncertain where he intended to go.

"It was. So nice that I thought to myself, if my parents could achieve so much from nothing, shouldn't I achieve far more? I mean, I'm starting with all of these advantages?"

I thought about that. Yes, I could see why that made sense. But what a burden that placed on a a person.

"How old where you when you first thought that?" I asked.

"College, when left home. I told the story of my parents to new acquaintances, and they would comment, saying how impressive their journey had been. I thought, wow, they were right. How had I not noticed that until now. I felt pride in them, but I also felt ashamed of how little I had done with my own advantages. So, I drove myself. I shut everyone and everything out and focused on this goal. The goal that you see me working on today."

He took another sip. I took another sip. I was going to make sure he sent me a copy of this wine.

"What you don't know is that while I focused on this goal, I was approached by one of the security services to work on an application of my energy research. They showed me the research other members of their team had already completed. It would save me years. They offered me a significant budget at a time I struggled to convince the college to fund my work. But, there was a catch."

"Money always comes with a catch," I said.

"They wanted me to focus on a specific application. The development of an invisible weapon that could be pointed at a building and make everyone in it sick. I mean really sick."

Oh god. I had heard of some mysterious sickness hitting non-combat workers in buildings around the world. Had Wen...

He must have sensed my question. He shook his head.

"I did not take the job." Wen answered, as though reading my mind. "You see James, the work itself is not the goal. The goal must be to improve the lives of people. So when O pushes to experiment on people."

I must have changed my expression when he said O's name.

"O is the reason you came to me, yes? I'm guessing because he always pushes to experiment on people?"

I nodded.

"O talks about how these experiments will improve the lives of everyone. But when O pushes to experiment on people, when he knows they might suffer horribly for it, he poison's that dream. And I've found that if people are willing to make exceptions, to take shortcuts, they rarely find their way back to the main path. Shortcuts looks as though they lead to the same place, but they almost never do. And each time you take that shortcut, each time you make a mistake for the sake of the greater goal, you make it harder and harder to admit you are wrong. Because admitting you are wrong would condemn your actions, would make you evil."

"I had no idea you had this side." I said, amazed by the clarity and common sense of this small man sitting in front of me.

"But I feel like I've warned O of this, he thinks I'm holding him back."

Wen nodded, "Sometimes we aren't ready to hear things until we are ready to understand them."

"So, what do I do about O? Tonight, he experimented on a human being. They asked for the modification, but we don't have a reliable way to make changes to people and it went badly. He should have refused."

A long silence followed.

Finally, Wen asked, "What are your options?"

"I don't think I can stop him. This has been a long time coming. If we kick him out of the Beacon, he will do it himself. Probably even more aggressively without us there to moderate him."

"So, you can choose to carry the weight yourself, to see people in pain. Or you can relieve yourself of the burden, but know that many more people might suffer. Or you can lock him up."

Lock him up? Yes, that would be an option. "What would you do?"

"Oh, usually I leave it to others who I trust to make the best decision."

"Thanks Wen."

Wen looked surprised, "Not you, I mean Sara."

My face went through surprise, confusion, and anger simultaneously.

Wen smiled, "I'm kidding, yes, you. You have made many decisions just like these. They may not feel as heavy as this one, but you have a way of finding the best choice. You will figure it out."

I left Wen's place and would have turned in, but a thought occurred to me. I sought out Eyal.

I found Eyal in the training room with two newer members of the security team.

Eyal motioned at them, and they attacked. Physically the newbies were larger than Eyal. But despite that advantage they never stood a chance. Eyal moved in a blur. He grabbed one of the punches at the wrist and hurled the first man into the second. Eyal backed away and waited. They overcame their initial surprise to find a hand extended to them. Eyal helped them up and asked them to continue without him. Eyal walked over to me.

"What is it, James?" Eyal said. I knew he wasn't angry with me, but it always sounded like anger to me. All business, all the time.

"You did background checks on all of us at the beginning, yes? Before we lost the internet?"

Eyal nodded.

"Does O have any family in the area?"

Eyal nodded again. "A younger brother. He lives over in New Jersey."

"How did the brother do with the change?" I asked, ashamed of what I hoped for.

"Not well. He is lazy. Lazy people didn't do well before the change. Lazy people don't do well after the change. He rants about life being unfair."

I nodded. "Would you be willing to drive over to see him with me?"

Eyal answered my question with a question, "Does this have to do with O's screw up tonight with that citizen?"

Eyal knew everything. I nodded.

Eyal asked, "Do you intend to bring him back here?"

I nodded, "I think so."

"And you think that he will want to be augmented?"

Wow, Eyal. "Yes."

"And you think that when O sees that his brother might be the one to suffer, that he will see the error of his way?"

I nodded.

Eyal shook his head.

I frowned, "You don't think it will work?"

Eyal motioned for us to walk to the door. "There is a story in the bible. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son to honor him. Abraham brings his son to the alter and lifts his blade, ready to drop it on his son, to kill him for God. A second before the knife cuts flesh, God stops him. He rewards Abraham's faith in God with a lamb to sacrifice instead."

"I've heard that story before. It always sounded like a dick move to me."

"I don't know about that."

I waited for more, Eyal said nothing. "So... what's your point?"

Eyal put his hand on my shoulder. "You better be ready to stop the blade yourself."