She nods slowly. "There is a device called an anti-inertial projector; it neutralizes inertia. You can point it at a planet and if you get the tidal forces just right, it will go ZIP! right off into its sun. Or more slowly, if you prefer. So yes, I had the power to do it.
"The will to do it...is a trickier question." A sigh. "To kill seventeen billion, and free one point seven quadrillion from the Empire - is it worth it? Is it a choice that I am entitled to make? Or is there another answer? If I had the power to just put the whole planet in a stasis field, leave them frozen until the civilizations around them evolved to the point that the Living People were no longer a threat - well, that would be the coward's way out, I suppose. Letting some future generation decide what to do."
"Squint hard enough, and you can always find something to thank your creator for. Or curse them. Thanking is usually easier on the mind."
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"The will to do it...is a trickier question." A sigh. "To kill seventeen billion, and free one point seven quadrillion from the Empire - is it worth it? Is it a choice that I am entitled to make? Or is there another answer? If I had the power to just put the whole planet in a stasis field, leave them frozen until the civilizations around them evolved to the point that the Living People were no longer a threat - well, that would be the coward's way out, I suppose. Letting some future generation decide what to do."
"Squint hard enough, and you can always find something to thank your creator for. Or curse them. Thanking is usually easier on the mind."