Chapter 1

Baz was a very powerful being, stronger than any other being in the Universe except the Emperor himself. He could do almost anything and was as strong as any of his peers.

He rarely saw the Emperor and never got to speak with him, but at times the Emperor gave orders and assignments and after many eons of devoted service Baz was placed in charge of three solar systems the Emperor had created long ago.

The planets had a variety of sizes and shapes, mostly bumpy spheres. Some were hot. Some were cold. Some had no life. Others teemed with many diverse species. Most of the inhabitants were good, though the distribution of virtue among the inhabitants was uneven.

Baz understood his orders. He was to watch what happened on these planets and record events for the Emperor to review. Baz started watching the planets. Sometimes he stood on a mountain or moon. Sometimes he floated by quietly in a cloud to study what the beings were doing.

Baz was nice and his species was invincible. He knew everything else died and accepted that, but hated to see the beings suffer. Occasionally he interfered, stopping a creature from bleeding sooner than normal, healing sick children of fevers and other small deeds.

Baz was sure the things he did were all for the best. He never stopped anything from dying on schedule, just made them more comfortable sometimes. Though Baz was smart he could not read minds, nor hear every conversation.

He didn't know for example that when he healed several people in a small village a young resident canceled his plans to become a doctor because no one stayed sick long enough to need a second physician there.

After a long time a drought struck one of his favorite planets. Day after day there was not a drop of rain. All life there started to suffer as lakes went dry and great rivers shrank to streams. The living creatures on the planet were very frail already. Most animals died younger than animals on other planets.

At last Baz could restrain himself no longer. He caused it to rain every day there, refilling the lakes, enlarging the streams and slowly returning the planet to its rich moist state as before.

At last the Emperor paid Baz a visit. The Emperor was aware of the problems on those planets, and was also aware of what Baz had done. It was time to stop Baz from interfering.

The Emperor took Baz to the planet and made them both ethereal so they could pass through the rocks and soil and down into the center of the planet.

There Baz beheld a vast ocean of fresh water, enough to irrigate the planet from beneath forever.

"This is not just regular water," the Emperor told Baz. "Anyone who drinks this water, full of the minerals and vitamins from below the surface, will double their life expectancy and rarely get ill."

"Why don't you bring it to the surface?' Baz asked.

Next the Emperor took him to a little house on a hilltop. they floated through the wall and observed an old man burning blueprints in a fire. Baz had seen the old man before, but made no special note of him. Neither did anyone else on the planet.

Pointing to the burning blueprint the Emperor explained,

"This man is an engineer. He had just designed a machine that would have dug through the soil and rock and started pumping the water from below to the surface. No one needs that now after you replenished the water, so he's destroying the plans he worked on for years. Many centuries may now pass before anyone tastes that precious water beneath, because you exceeded your duties."

A sad lesson learned, Baz returned to his position, watching but not intervening in the events below...most of the time