Policy

In the absence of fire, ice will suffice. Whether you die by melting or freezing makes no difference in the end—cause has no relevance here, all we care about is effect. And the effect must be your demise.

It's policy, you know. People aren't meant to understand the hidden world, you're meant to stay in your superficial bubble living your superficial lives. Your existence is trivial, but you aren't supposed to be aware of that. Live your lies.

Of course, an active mind tends to wander, and wandering is not a crime. Well, not one that we can persecute, anyway. It's not our job to delineate the permissible paths from the forbidden. That's up to the Department of Waywardness and Order.

What department are we? Pardon me, I thought you knew.

We are the Department of Secrecy. It's up to us to maintain the distance between humanity and the hidden world. All your great discoveries, your novel inventions, your groundbreaking progresses—they all come from our vault. Understanding the universe is a puzzle, and we decide when to send you a piece of that puzzle.

Why? Well, humans are our greatest experiment yet, though we admit that your proclivity toward destruction poses a concern about our experiment's durability. You're a truly fascinating lot. You're capable of such harm and devastation, yet simultaneously capable of such compassion and kindness.

What are we measuring? That's forbidden knowledge, I'm afraid. You'll be dead within the hour, but even so I can't let you take that knowledge anywhere, not even to the grave. It remains here, with the Department of Secrecy.

Why must we kill you? Again, it's policy. You know too much. You're a liability to the experiment. Death is the only method by which we can ensure silence, so death is the method we must utilize. Apologies, I can see your life meant a lot to you. I hope you know that you're very lucky. You enjoyed your life, you valued your friends and chose kindness wherever possible. Yet your penchant for asking questions led you astray, led you to question that life, led you to discover too much.

Alright, it's been decided—you will die by ice. Please take solace in the fact that your existence had a net positive effect on the world. We thank you for your cooperation, farewell.