"It's what?" said Karyn.
"It drains life force," replied Jon. "Or so Morganna said, but I'm pretty certain she's telling the truth. If she wasn't, the counter wouldn't work."
"Well, she was wrong about Iraq being in Africa, maybe she was wrong about this?"
"I don't know," replied Jon. "But I think she must have been wrong about turning the people in Africa into wraiths. She just finished telling me that only happens if more life is taken than the person has, and I just wished that the same amount the person has is taken--not more. And there's another thing. I had a hunch."
"A hunch?"
"Yeah. The stone has a range--at least it's supposed to have a range. My hunch was that was the range for using its magic--not for telling it how to get more magic. I was right."
They stared at the stone's counter, but in the end didn't dare to make any more wishes that day. Sometimes the counter sped up--it must have been a massacre--and sometimes it slowed down. Later in the day, Jon turned on the news and waited for a story about Africa. Sure enough, there was a spate of mysterious deaths of genocide perpetrators. Locals blamed it on some sort of magic--not far from the truth at all--or on a biological weapon used by the inferior races. But Jon knew. There would be no more genocide. Not any more. Anyone who participated in destroying an entire race would be turned into stone fuel.
A week later, the stone's counter had pretty much stopped, at 6209.
"It's over," said Jon. "I haven't seen that number change since yesterday morning."
"Yeah," replied Karyn. "You're not going to chop your neighbor in two if everyone else who tried it instantly died. Now what?"
"We use the stone, of course," said Jon. "But I have to be very careful. I don't want to be tempted into draining life for smaller and smaller crimes. It's okay to target mass murderers, but I really don't want to use it to kill someone where there's even the slightest bit of doubt. So 6000 charges--6000 lives--is all I've got. I have to assume I'm never going to get any more."
"Well," said Karyn, "if this was a week ago I'd say we should get new cars, but..."
"But... if we had to get them this way it isn't worth it. And I wonder who made the stone. I really don't think whoever made it meant for it to save people from genocide. It's probably there as some kind of temptation. God, I wish I really could use it for my own benefit..." Fortunately, he wasn't holding it, but that wish would have done nothing anyway--he could use it for his own benefit, he just had moral qualms. "One wish though... I wish that when I think about making a wish, I'll know how many charges it uses."
He knew then, a wish for knowledge only took a fraction of a life. It had to be a fraction--otherwise a single wish for knowledge would kill the bearer. Many other wishes took larger fractions, but still not much--giving Karyn big breasts certainly didn't drain enough life to make her drop dead. And there were other possibilities.
"A cure for cancer," said Jon hopefully. "And by that I mean a cure that anyone can make without using the stone again. Or a cure for some other disease. Maybe feeding all the poor people... no, there's the stone range to worry about."
"Hmm," said Karyn. "I have a better idea. Why don't you wish for..."
