LNH: Looniverse Chronicles #11: "Effective Altruism" (Tales of the Deep Omnilooniverse)

[Drew Nilium]

Looniverse-Zepar. A world close to the Source Code, where the astounding Power
Siegelandshuster allows its bearer to wield any super-power imaginable...

It started off so gloriously. He had become a hero, been chosen to carry a
shard of sacred might! And with that mighty power, he felt a mighty
responsibility - he had such strength, so much ability to help people! He could
create so much good that it seemed like *not* doing so would itself be evil!

He used his Super-Baking to feed the poor! His Super-Construction housed the
homeless! His Super-Antibiotics cured the sick!

And then he discovered a friend - Zachariah Zimmerman, a young genius and
brilliant entrepreneur who wanted to change the world as much as he did!

Together they worked tirelessly! Zachariah would create amazing inventions, the
Crime-Detector and the Fake-Finder and the World-Scanner! And he would use his
Super-Invulnerability to interrupt crimes, his Super-Olfaction to sniff out
counterfeiters, and his Super-Geomorphism to stop volcanoes and earthquakes!

But when he looked around with his Super-Perception, it never seemed like there
was less crime, or less poverty, or less fear. So he met with Zachariah in his
workshop, and told him of his troubles and his doubts.

"I understand! I've been thinking, and I realized - you could do good so much
more efficiently if you focused!"

And Zachariah laid out a plan, and it seemed so good that *not* to do it would
be evil!

So he spent his waking hours zipping between specific places in the world,
using his Super-Gardening to make crops grow, his Super-Digging to mine raw
materials, his Super-Relaxation to calm down angry citizens! Whenever one
mission ended, Zachariah had another one in the pipe! And he felt a sense of
pride in the good he was doing, all over the world!

But Zachariah asked to meet with him! So he traveled to the halls of power,
where Zachariah had been meeting with politicans and generals to hone his
understanding of what was needed!

"Your efforts have lessened the world's suffering, but not eliminated it! You
must focus further, on the *true* problems of the world!"

And his pride dwindled, and Zachariah gave him instructions, and told him how
he could do so much good that *not* doing it would be evil.

And so he used his Super-Endurance to eliminate his need for rest, and his
Super-Spectroscopy to find good places to build solar power plants, and his
Super-Alchemy to craft the rare earth metals needed... *and* his Super-Forging
to build hundreds of solar panels, and his Super-Engineering to put them
together, and his Super-Wiring to connect them to the grid. And then he did the
same for wind turbines, and hydro-generators, and geothermal taps, again and
again all over the world...

And finally, Zachariah summoned him, and he flew to the highest skyscraper, all
the way up to the penthouse office at the top, and stood before an imposing
desk, behind which there was an imperious seat, in which Zachariah sat.

"You have brought great progress to the world, and pushed back the need to
suffer - for the moment. But to push it back forever, you must now be focused
on the single most useful thing you can possibly do - something so good that
not doing it will *always* be evil!"

And the two of them flew down, down, down into the belly of the Earth, to a
great machine surrounded by dynamos and turbines; and a tiny, human-sized
chamber at the center of it.

And he entered the chamber; and Zachariah closed the door.

And he activated his Super-Spinning, and spun at a very precise speed and
frequency, so that the dynamos and turbines could convert the energy of his
spinning into electricity, creating endless clean power, forever.

But as he spun in the darkness, spun in the solitude, he lost track of where he
was, lost track of the world, and the infinite power within him expanded and
expanded and expanded.

And he saw them - the people, the ones he had been doing this for. They were
stacked in neat rows, in cubicles, along assembly line, behind counters and
registers, in rectangular blocks of run-down apartments, along the streets of
suburban developments in houses stamped from a mold.

And they were spinning, spinning, spinning in place, like he was spinning,
spinning, spinning in place. And they were doing so much work, generating so
much energy; but they couldn't use it, it was being drained away, piece by
piece, flowing upward to the top of the mountain.

And he looked to the power plants he had built, drawing the energy from the sun
and wind and sea and earth; and he saw their power flowing upward to the top of
the mountain. And he looked at himself from outside, spinning, spinning, and he
watched the enormous energy he was creating, and it was flowing upward to the
top of the mountain.

And he stopped spinning. And he sat. And he rested.

And he rested for a long while, until Zachariah Zimmerman came down from the
top of the mountain, in a fury, and opened the door.

"Why have you done this evil deed!? Do you know how many will suffer because of
your lapse?!"

And he looked up. And he stood up. And he spoke.

"It was never evil not to do anything. It was never evil to rest. Everyone
could rest, and no one would have to suffer; but they do, because all the good
they make is taken from them, and that is the true evil."

And he used his Super-Teleportation to step away.

And he used his Super-Location to find all the people he had seen in his vision.
And he used his Super-Telepathy to share it with them. And he used his Super-
Switchboarding to connect them to each other.

And they left their cubicles, they left their assembly lines, they left their
counters and registers; and they went, and they rested.

And while they rested, he used his Super-Duplication to protect them, and his
Super-Networking to rewire the grid, and his Super-Delivery to bring food and
water, medicines and painkillers, necessities and fulfillments.

And when the people rose, refreshed, he asked a question.

"Though I have ended my terrible mission, it seems to me that there is still so
much to be done in the world, and I have so much power to *do*. Can you help me
understand - what would be the *good* way to use this power?"

And there were many answers, and many arguments. But there were those who had
understood the vision most, and with his Super-Recognition, he picked out their
words...

"The work to be done belongs to everyone, and we shouldn't tolerate anyone
taking it from us."

"Everyone includes you, and you can do whatever you want; we all can."

"There are enough people who want to do good to make sure the world keeps
spinning, and more every time we prove that."

"But, you know, it'd help pass the message along if you did one particular
thing..."

He flew to the top of the highest skyscraper, to the extended spire that made
it the highest; and with his Super-Disassembly, he took it apart; and with his
Super-Evacuation, he made sure no one got hurt in the process; and with his
Super-Broadcasting, he showed it to all the men at the top of their own
skyscrapers, and told them what this meant.

And he knew that the job wasn't done, that the men at the top of the mountain
would keep trying, keep stealing as much power as they could until they, too,
learned of the value of their own rest, and of the value of their own power.
But still, he rested, proud of the good he had done.

Drew "and they lived, ever after" Nilium