“Uh. What does that have to do with anything, Commander?” Rich called down.
“The bats are tracking the magnetic energy in our implants. There’s no telling how large their range is, so we can’t outrun them on Earth, but if we can get to Mercury before them, the magnetic field should disrupt their sensors!”
“But you just said we can’t outrun them!” Djanet responded.
“Not on Earth, but we should have an advantage over them. They aren’t generating their own magnetic fields. They don’t need to on Earth, but out in space, close to Mercury, we’ll have to gamble that the heat will begin taking a toll on their inner operations and slow them down.”
“That’s a mighty big gamble, James,” Old-timer responded gravely.
“It’s all I have, Old-timer,” answered James. “I’ll keep Thel with me and protect her. Once we get to the planet’s surface, we’ll find a place to hide before we head back to Earth. So what do you say?”
“I say it’s totally insane, but staying here is insane-er,” quipped Rich, desperately blasting energy at the bats as they plunged toward the team in kamikaze fashion.
“Let’s do it,” Djanet concurred.
“Okay, I’m in. On the count of three?” Old-timer suggested.
James looked down at Thel, whose eyes were starting to focus. “You’re okay, baby. I got you,” he said softly.
“One!” Rich exclaimed as he just managed to blast a bat that made it within a few meters of them.
“Two!” Djanet shouted as the bats began to darken the sky with their numbers.
James ignited his magnetic field, enveloping himself and Thel in the protective green light.
“Three!” Old-timer shouted as he and the rest of the team ignited their magnetic fields and blasted upward at incredible speed, the bats following almost instantaneously.
13
Space had never seemed so vast, lifeless, or perilous. Once they left Earth’s cradle, they had to streak through the emptiness at speeds far faster than they had ever traveled before. There was no choice—they had to stay ahead of the bats. Yellow energy continued to flash from the horde behind them, and Old-timer, Djanet, and Rich continued to repel the attack. Any mistake that allowed their magnetic fields to be disrupted in space would mean certain death.
Locating Mercury by the stars alone was a tricky task. The planet was not always visible because of its proximity to the sun, but James had an idea of where it should be at this time of the year and made an educated guess. He took note of Venus as it passed by in the distance, a pale yellow dot that he might never get the chance to visit again, a dream from another life.
Thel was huddled against him, watching with horror as her companions continued to repel the attack behind them. “I feel so helpless,” she said to James. “I should be back there helping them.”
James didn’t reply. There was nothing he could say to comfort her. She was right: She was helpless, and the other members of the team were risking their lives so James could concentrate on guiding them to safety. He felt helpless too, but simultaneously he felt enormous pressure. What if he was wrong? What if his last thoughts before his death were that he’d been responsible for leading the others to their end?
As the sun began to dramatically increase in size and brightness, James spotted Mercury. He shifted his trajectory slightly and tried to increase his speed. He’d never flown at such speeds before and wondered just how fast he and the others were moving. In theory, there was almost no limit—other than the universal speed limit of light—to how fast they could fly; their limitations were mental ones. The only word on James’s mind as they neared the baked planet was: Faster.
“Is that it?” Thel asked as the orb in the distance began to increase in size.
“Yes,” James replied, relieved that he’d at least found it.
Thel took her eyes off of the planet to look back at her companions. The bats seemed to be fewer now and were a greater distance behind them. “Oh thank God. I think it’s working!”
“They’re overheating,” James concurred. “Let’s hope enough of them break off the chase for us to lose them on Mercury.”
Moments later, the rest of the team moved closer to James and Thel. Old-timer gave James a thumbs-up sign to signal that the bats were finally out of firing range. Now they only had to hope the magnetic field they were entering would hide them.
James guided the others down to the surface on the dark side of Mercury. The Mercutian night was black and moonless, and it was a relief to escape the brilliant yellowish-white light of the sun. The dark was so great as their eyes adjusted that the only discernible features were those upon which the greenish glow of their magnetic fields shone. A large crevice appeared directly below them, and James guided his teammates down into the charred salvation.
Once they had come to a rest, it was simply a matter of waiting and hoping that none of the bats had survived the heat and were detecting their signals. Only time would tell. A few minutes would hold all of the answers.
James sat on a ledge in the crevice and put a hand to his burning chest.
Thel sat on his lap and placed her cool hand lightly against his torso. “James, I’ve never been so scared. I feel I can’t take it anymore. I might go crazy.”
“There’s no nans to dampen the fear for you. I’m scared too, Thel, but we’ll make it.”
“Even if we do, what next? Do you think the A.I. was telling the truth? Will you really be dead in twenty-four hours?”
“I don’t know. If I’ve punctured a lung, I may not even have that long.”
“I can’t live without you, James! I can’t!” Thel put her hand behind James’s head and brought his face close to hers. She placed her cheek against his and held him firmly. “I won’t.”
“Have you ever heard of the Purists?” James asked Thel.
Her breath caught for a moment as she pulled her head back and locked eyes with him. “Yes, I think so—many years ago when I was in school. They’re a cult, aren’t they?”
“Something like that. Except there are hundreds of thousands of them. Most, but not all of them, belong to ancient religions. They live without nans or spinal implants and live out their natural lifespans, allowing themselves to die.”
“That’s insane, James. They throw away their lives for their twisted beliefs.”
“They may be insane, but there is also a chance that some of them are alive. The A.I. said no registered Net users were offline other than us when the virus was downloaded, but the Purists would remain untouched—at least in theory.”
“What do you mean ‘in theory’?” asked Thel, arching an eyebrow quizzically.
“The A.I. may not have killed them with the download, but he would have launched a massive attack on them to try to wipe them out.”
“If you ask me, those people should’ve been dealt with years ago. It should be illegal to live like that—like animals. It’s inhuman.”
“The Governing Council would’ve wiped them out if they could’ve, Thel, believe me, but they were a problem that simply wasn’t going to go away. Every generation birthed more people with the same beliefs, and it was thought better to give them a district where they could practice their beliefs rather than dealing with the consequences of insurrection within the world community. They were given hundreds of square kilometers in and around the area of Buenos Aires.”
“And you think some of them might have survived the attack?”
“It’s only a possibility. The Governing Council spied on the Purists and believed they had weapons and hidden bunkers throughout their territory so that they could defend against an attack if the Council ever went back on their agreement. If some of the Purists managed to hide underground, we may not be the last humans after all.”
“Are you suggesting that we look for these people?”
“They’ll have food, water—”
“Ugh! That is not food! Things grown from the ground? Only a caveman would eat t
hat!”
“They might have a hospital, Thel. Old-timer has a medical background from over seventy years ago, but without medical equipment, he can’t do much. If the Purists have a hospital and the medical staff survived, I might have a chance.”
Thel paused and placed her hand back on James’s chest. She only knew the word ‘hospital’ because she’d paid attention in history class; the mention of such an archaic term terrified her. Her lips were tight with distaste for James’s plan but she knew he was right. As antiquated as the idea of a doctor was, a Purist hospital might be their only hope. “I’d do anything to save you. If there is a doctor alive on the Earth, I will find her.”
“Or him,” he said, smiling.
“Right.”
“Thank you, Thel.” James smiled before he sat forward and kissed Thel’s lips. She could taste the blood on them, and her heart sank as she thought of losing him. She would do anything to keep that from happening. She knew what she wanted. She knew exactly what she wanted.
“I still can’t believe it was the A.I.,” James said suddenly as he stared into the darkness.
“Who else could it have been?” Thel replied.
James’s eyebrows knitted together as he pondered. “I don’t know. But the A.I. shouldn’t just turn bad, Thel. It doesn’t make sense. It’s antithetical to its programming. I was sure we’d find out it was someone else—I just couldn’t believe it was the A.I.—our ‘benevolent’ A.I.” James shook his head as the disbelief lingered.
“How could we ever think that we could understand or master something that is more intelligent that us, James? Even with all of the safeguards, it figured out that getting rid of us was the most advantageous move for it.”
James remained dubious. “I don’t know. Something doesn’t seem right about it.”
“You saw it with your own eyes, James,” Thel replied. “It’s hard for all of us to believe it.”
James mulled Thel’s words for a moment before deciding she had to be right. As hard as it was to imagine, humanity’s guardian had turned against them. He pulled away slightly and looked up through the opening of the crevice at the empty night sky. It had been long enough. He and Thel began to hover above the ledge as he signaled to the others that it was time to go. Once they were all in position, they blasted up into the sky and toward the pale blue dot in the distance.
It was all they had.
PART 2
1
The smoke could be seen from space. As the team streaked toward the southeast of South America, a dark smudge on the map quickly became a colossal zone of carnage.
“It’s the worst we’ve seen yet,” Thel uttered to James.
James guided the team down toward the coast and then above the billowing black smoke, where he had surmised Buenos Aires should be. There was no point in even trying to enter smoke that thick. He disengaged his magnetic field once they had reached a low enough altitude and come to a full stop.
“Buenos Aires?” Djanet asked.
“Yes,” James replied, “or what’s left.”
Thel quietly began to float under her own power, her implant having come back online long before.
“Buenos Aires? Why are we here?” Rich asked, desperate for some kind of information to ground him.
“The Purists live here,” Djanet answered.
“The Purists? Who the hell are the Purists?”
“Of course! The Purists! Don’t you remember learning about them in school?” Old-timer asked Rich. “School? Old-timer, I don’t know how you do it! School was way too long ago for me to remember anything about it.”
“The Purists are thousands of people who live offline. They inhabit the area around here and live off the land,” Djanet explained.
“Whoa...what do you mean, they ‘live offline’?”
“We never hear about them, but they’ve existed for a long time. We’re taught that they are an abomination in school,” Djanet continued.
Rich was flabbergasted. He turned to Old-timer, then back to Djanet with a look of utter astonishment. “What do you mean, they ‘live off the land’? Like animals?”
“And they die like animals,” Thel interjected.
“What?”
“They let themselves die,” Thel informed him.
“That’s sick! I must’ve blocked this out! I don’t remember learning a thing about this in school.”
“They eat flesh too,” Old-timer pointed out, smiling. He couldn’t resist. He thought fondly of the last real New York steak he’d eaten, more than half a century earlier.
Rich was silent for a moment, but it was evident he was trying to speak as his lips formed multiple shapes, each in preparation for a word that didn’t seem to do the moment justice and was summarily abandoned. “Oh my God! And why are we here?”
“I’d guess we’re here to see if any of them survived and get us some help, is that right, Commander?” Djanet asked James.
“That’s the plan,” James replied, his voice getting weaker by the moment.
“Help from them?” Rich exclaimed. “They sound worse than those bat things! If we find any of them, they’ll probably eat us!”
“They don’t eat human flesh. Just animal,” Thel responded.
“Why? What’s the difference between human and animal flesh?” Rich asked desperately.
“I don’t know,” Thel shrugged.
“Just be glad you’re not a cow,” Old-timer said, patting Rich on the shoulder as he floated past him and over to James’s side.
“What’s a cow?” Rich asked, his question directed to no one in particular.
“It looks like the A.I. has wiped these people out, James.”
“There might be survivors. We’ll have to look. The city’s inaccessible right now, but we should have a look at the areas to the north. There may be sources of food...” James let his words trail off as his eyes became heavy, the color suddenly emptying from his cheeks.
“James?” Thel reacted, seeing his distress right before he lost consciousness and began to fall toward the ground below. Thel didn’t allow him to fall far, however. Just as James had done for her earlier, she dropped down quickly and matched his speed, grabbing hold of him by hooking her arm in his.
Old-timer reached him almost as quickly and helped her stabilize him. “I’ll take him. It’s okay,” she said to Old-timer as she cradled James against her.
James opened his eyes and said in a soft groan, “Thel.”
“It’s time for me to help you now.” She turned to Rich and Old-timer and asked them to help her get him onto her back. Then she took the lead. “Okay, you heard the plan. We’re going to head north of the city and see what’s there. Keep your eyes peeled for any people or sources of food.”
“Somehow I don’t think she means a replicator,” Rich whispered to Djanet before the five members of the Venusian terraforming project ignited their magnetic fields and headed north.
2
Although it had begun as a pristine, clear day in Buenos Aires, blue sky could no longer be seen. The late afternoon sun was drowned by the dark gray smoke that hung ominously in the air over the barren terrain north of the city like an autumn fog in a forgotten graveyard.
Thel led the others down for a closer look at the seemingly endless devastation. There was almost nothing left—no trees, no grass, no kind of vegetation of any sort. The soft, rolling hills were dotted with pools of an ash-gray material that resembled soot in some places and sludge in others. Even the soil was nearly blackened. She set down and disengaged her magnetic field, allowing the putrid, lifeless air to swathe her and fill her lungs. She held her hand to her mouth and nose and tried to stifle a cough as the air caught in her throat.
“I thought we just left Mercury,” Rich commented, the words muffled as he, too, held his hands over his mouth and nose.
All five members of the team were standing together now on the wasteland, and Thel tended to James as he leaned against her.
“It�
��s the nans,” James said weakly. “They’ve destroyed every living thing in the Purist territory.”
“Nothing could have survived this,” Old-timer observed. “They used to call this ‘the gray goo scenario.’ The A.I. has managed to wipe the Purists out too. We really are the last ones,” he said as he turned and surveyed the devastation, his head suddenly light, as though he had been hanging upside down for too long. He found himself struggling just to stay on his feet. “Is anyone else feeling sick all the sudden?”
Rich choked and then vomited where he stood. He doubled over, and Djanet rushed to his aid, putting her hands on his back and shoulder. “We can’t breathe this air for long, Commander,” Djanet asserted. “It’s filled with...death. It’s toxic. There’s no one here anyway.”
James could no longer respond. He slumped to his knees, his breath now a soft wheeze, and leaned his glistening, and pale forehead against Thel’s shoulder.
She looked at her rapidly weakening companion and answered for him. “We’re not leaving. James spoke of underground bunkers built by the Purists, in case they were ever attacked. Someone must have survived. We’ll ignite our magnetic fields and breathe our air supply, but we’re not leaving Purist territory until we need to replenish our air or until we find someone who can help James. Is that agreed?”
Of course no one could refuse. Every one of the Omegas felt genuine affection for the others; they were like a family, and James was both a son and a father to all of them. To Thel, he was even more.
“Until we find a hospital, we’re with you,” Old-timer assented.
But before any of them could ignite their magnetic fields to begin the arduous and seemingly forlorn task of looking for survivors, a white-gold flash as bright as lightning suddenly appeared to their flank, accompanied by a deafening, explosive roar.
3
The wasteland’s air rippled with the percussion of the blast and washed over them in a tidal wave of death.
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