Greg Bear sets "Judgment Engine" at the very twilight of the universe. Matter, energy, and time itself are sputtering out of existence. An entity called a "social=mind" reboots the consciousness of a 21st century human to help out with a vexing moral issue. An ancient mathematical theorem suggests that conquest and brutal warfare is an inescapable feature of any civilization, no matter how advanced. Would it be ethical, then, for the universe's last survivors to attempt a migration into a new universe?

Published in Far Futures.