It inched forward. 10%... 30%... 70%... Andrei held his breath. This was the moment where JDPaint usually summoned the Blue Screen of Death. But the bar hit 100%.

He inserted the disk. Pressed Start .

“Why is it always ‘OK’?” Andrei sighed. “What am I saying ‘OK’ to? The end of the world?”

He tried again. He selected the oval boundary. He selected the 3D relief. He hit Calculate . The little hourglass appeared—the old Windows XP style, sand stuck sideways. And then, a miracle.

A dialog box popped up. In perfect, elegant Cyrillic, it read: “The toolpath has been generated. However, the universe now owes you one favor. Use it wisely.”