I was still in the middle of cussing Colin out a blue streak when Sid walked in the door, carrying the unharmed planet. “You’re lucky I was playing basketball down there.”

“Oh, wow, thanks, Sid. You’re my savior.”

“Well, He was supposed to return, wasn’t He? And bind a dragon in a pit for a thousand years…?”

“Hey—what’re you guys both looking at me like that for?” Colin asked, backing away.

—

“You know, you were right, Sid. The one thing the place was missing to make it complete was a person in it.” Sid and I watched through the glass as a tiny Colin stood on top of the building, waved his arms, and shouted obscenities that neither one of us could hear. “You weren’t serious about the thousand years, though, were you?”

“I’ll show you how to speed up time within the sphere, it’s no big deal.”

“But won’t he die?”

“Oh, no, I’ll just set the physical laws so he won’t age.” Sid grinned. “Think a thousand years without booze is enough time to sober him up?”

“Hope he won’t mind sleeping on a hump,” I said.