The End of All Things

by John Scalzi

  “To evoke pity.”

  “Yes,” Wilson said. “Among other things. Also, we kind of need a ship.”

  I thought about this. “For how long?” I asked.

  “Hopefully not too long,” Wilson said. “Things are moving fast now. We’re already a week behind. We’ve sent back-channel messages to the Conclave and are arranging meetings now. We’re trying the same with Earth. In both cases things are complicated by the fact that some of their people are involved too. And meanwhile Equilibrium is still out there. And you’ve probably accelerated their schedule. Everything’s going to get done very soon, I expect.”

  “And if it all works out, then my body is waiting for me.”

  “Even if it doesn’t work out your body will be waiting for you,” Wilson said. “Although in that case you may have less time to enjoy it than you’d want.”

  “Let me think about it,” I said.

  “Of course,” Wilson said. “If you can give me an answer in a couple of days that would be good.”

  “I will.”

  “Also, if you say yes, then we’ll be working together,” Wilson said. “You and me and Hart Schmidt. Who is worried about you and quietly furious that he’s not allowed to talk to you yet and that I can’t tell him anything. Let me suggest that you let him in to see you as soon as that’s cleared from above.”

  “I will,” I said again.

  “You also need to tell us whether you want us to tell your parents about you yet,” Wilson said, gently.

  This was something I had been waffling about. I was alive. But I didn’t think my family would be comforted by how I was right now.

  “They still think I was lost with the rest of the crew,” I asked.

  “Yes,” Wilson said. “We found lifepods and are retrieving the bodies and notifying the families. There was one lifepod that was destroyed. As you know. We can always say to your parents that some bodies haven’t been found. Which happens to be true, as far as it goes.”

  “I’ll tell you what to do when I give you my other answer,” I said.

  “Fair enough.” Wilson stood up. “One last thing. The State Department asked me to ask you if you’d do a write-up of your experience. A personal history.”

  “You’ve already debriefed me.”

  “I did,” Wilson agreed. “I got all the facts. I think they’re wanting to know everything else, too. You’re not the only person they’ve done this to, Rafe. I know that for a fact. At the end of this we’re going to have to put other people back together too. You telling us what it’s been like for you might help with that.”

  “I’m not a writer,” I said.

  “You don’t need to be,” Wilson said. “We’ll get someone to clean it up so it scans. Just talk the whole thing through. We’ll figure it out from there.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  And that’s what I did.

  And that’s what this is.

  The life of the mind.

  Well, my mind, anyway.

  So far.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular and acclaimed SF authors to emerge in the last decade. His debut, Old Man’s War, won him science fiction’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, his most recent novel Lock In, and also Redshirts, which won 2013’s Hugo Award for Best Novel. Material from his widely read blog Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com) has earned him two other Hugo Awards as well. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.

  By John Scalzi

  The Old Man’s War Series

  Old Man’s War

  The Ghost Brigades

  The Last Colony

  Zoe’s Tale

  The Human Division

  The End of All Things

  First published 2015 by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  This electronic edition published 2015 by Tor

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-4472-9842-7

  Copyright © John Scalzi, 2015

  The right of John Scalzi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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