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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
She'd never really seen anything like it before, but judging from the faint, watery stains on its translucent body and the dust all over its metal base, it must've been fairly old.

She was curious to know more about what the function of such a thing might be, but she wasn't yet finished with the subject that they'd been discussing.

"So if the problem is that humans are too corrupt," she said, "then how do you intend to change that?"

"Perhaps you would like to guess," said Gohvis as he fiddled with something in the corner of the room.

Her expression flattened. "I really wouldn't."

"How are you to learn to think for yourself if I simply tell you everything?"

She resented that question a little. "I think for myself quite a bit, thank you very much."

"Oh? Then you should have no problem coming up with potential answers."

Hmph. He really did know how to be annoying, sometimes.

She tried to think.

If the hypothetical problem was corruption, and the method of resolution was changing human nature, then... what aspects of human nature, if somehow tweaked, could possibly eliminate corruption?

"...Is this where conflict comes back into the picture?" she asked. "If you remove the human desire for conflict, then corruption might also be eliminated?"

At that, she saw the Monster of the East stand up more rigidly in his corner of the room. Then his shoulders began to tremble, and she heard a low rumble from him.

Wait, was he laughing?

He was! Quietly, but he was!

"No," he said through a subdued chortle. "Removing all desire for conflict could have any number of unintended consequences. In fact, I'm quite sure that such a change would simply destroy a cvilization instead of sustaining it." He laughed a little more strongly now. "And coming from a soft heart such as yours, that was a very amusing answer."

She frowned with frustration. "Well, then I don't know what answer you're looking for!"

"Mm."