"Jay, I... I'm sorry."
Clark had been silent in the car for a long time before he finally spoke. "If I'd noticed this place sooner, maybe..."
"Cut the crap. If a cop dying in the line of duty is your fault, what about car crashes, wars, diseases, or poor bastards who tumble down the stairs and break their spines or choke to death on fish bones? Which of them do you think deserved to die? Are all their deaths your fault?"
"I..."
Clark fell silent again, watching the nighttime scenery fly past the window. After another long while, he said, "If I just tried a little harder..."
"Ha! Try a little harder. Right. Very well put."
Li Jie shook his head with a sneer as he drove. "Clark, then you're still nowhere near trying hard enough. Besides death, there's poverty, exploitation, and oppression. Besides humans, there are rats, cats, dogs, chickens, cattle, horses, and people worked like beasts of burden. Then there's the shrinking rainforest, the melting poles, and the increasingly polluted oceans and permafrost."
He took a deep breath. "Clark, do you want to put the Earth in a bottle and keep it as an ornament?"
"No, Jay, that's not... I've never wanted to..."
Putting the Earth in a bottle was far too absurd, far too arrogant. He had never entertained such a thought. He only wanted to help others, to do everything he could to stop the tragedies he could prevent.
"I know you haven't, Clark. You wouldn't. Let me ask you another question... hold on... FUCK! If you two want to get it on, pull over and do it! Don't fucking block the road!"
He stuck his head out the window and roared at the two young people in the car ahead, who were too busy making