Jon snorts, actual humor in it. "I'd like to hope I'll recognize another ageless prick when I meet one, but I admit, I didn't check.

"He did answer that one, though. This world is dying now. Time is running out, and to put more pressure on the matter, the different countries in the world all have incompatible beliefs about how to stop it. Thorne, or at least Ambrose, believes the Singularity has to be tamed. Solvunn believes it has to be left alone. The Free Cities want to destroy it. I don't know which is right, but the consensus is that the stakes are very high."