The Man of Cloud 9

“Geezes, Niko! How many times are you going to keep coming to me with the same flooding idea? No, no, no, no, and today of all days? Did you see the news? Millions of mid-Western Americans are watching the solar flare destroy their homes and towns today. And you think taking another run at me with the nanobot idea’s going to fly somehow?”

What if instead of wasting your time trying to breathe new life into that horrific nanobot technology, you actually found a way to help people?

“How about some blunt truth, Mister Rafaelo? If you were as brilliant as you seem to think you are, you’d have tackled this idea by the time you were twenty, and the world would already be singing your praises. You’re what, twenty-five? Granted, you’re a smart guy, but neither you nor your grades match up to the reputation you had when we accepted you. You need to face reality. You aren’t the guy you think you are.”

The early part of the twenty-first century was fraught with excess and ego. Why would we want to bring that back?”