13. Somewhere Else

Complete story — includes the ending

Michael argues that the humans' postmortem self-improvement, which the immortal beings thought impossible, means the afterlife system is corrupt. Janet tells Jason she loves him, inspiring Chidi to kiss Eleanor. Gen offers to put each of the humans in their own separate Medium Places while she deliberates for up to a million years, but Eleanor refuses the proposal as unjust. Gen believes the humans only improved in pursuit of moral desert, but Michael believes they would have striven to improve, regardless, if encouraged. To test this, Michael rewinds time and saves all four humans from their original deaths, creating a new timeline in which their lives on Earth continue. Michael and Janet monitor the behavior of all four humans, who do not remember their time in the afterlife. Eleanor has an epiphany; she quits her immoral job to work as an environmentalist and tries to be ethical. After six months, Eleanor loses enthusiasm for environmentalism as her kindness has opened her to mistreatment by others; she reverts to her previous lifestyle for another six months. Michael, evading Gen's notice, appears to Eleanor as a bartender and questions her morality, leading her to watch Chidi's three-hour-long online lecture on " what we owe to each other," which enthralls her. Eleanor travels to Australia to meet Chidi, pleasing Michael.