"Shaddap. But yeah. You remember the doomsday clock we used to have on Earth to measure the chances of annihilation?" I waited for nods, then continued. "Well, the Quinlans had taken it far, far closer to midnight on their world. They were ahead of us in a lot of the sciences, and the stuff they were behind on wouldn’t impact their ability to make war, at least at a planetary level. I guess some of them figured out they were a hair’s breadth away from killing themselves off. So a consortium got together and decided to build Heaven’s River. Initially it was going to be only open to select groups, those who considered themselves more mature and peaceful than average."