"I think we should trust them," the woman a.s.serted to the male next to her, who seemed to be in command of the small triad.

"Are you sure, Alejandra?"

Old-timer noted that her words carried enormous weight with their leader for some reason.

"Don't do it, Lieutenant!" Gernot shouted.

"If you're wrong-" the lieutenant began.

"I'm not wrong. I sense enormous good in them-especially in him," she said, locking eyes with Old-timer.

Her eyes were unlike any Old-timer had ever seen. They carried something within them that made Old-timer see beyond the crystal blueness and into something altogether more beautiful. He didn't know how to respond.

Just then, Thel and James swooped into the scene behind Old-timer and Rich. Their appearance was sudden and startled the lieutenant. "You said you were the last!" the lieutenant yelled.

"What?" Gernot shouted before turning to see even more a.s.sailants approaching. He opened fire with the instinctive response of a trapped mouse watching a hawk swoop down toward it. With no more room for flight, it was time to fight.

4.

The battle was over almost before it began. Bullets on fire bounced off the protection of Thel's magnetic field harmlessly, while Old-timer reengaged his full protection. Gernot's back was now turned on Djanet, and it was only a matter of a quick thought before energy flashed toward him, instantly rendering him unconscious. The lieutenant and Alejandra watched in horror as he fell over limply, his face planting into the soft, dead earth.

"What did you do to him?" the lieutenant demanded, panic still the tune of his vocal cords.

"I've had enough of this," Djanet a.s.serted as she flashed more energy out toward the weapons to which the Purists clung. The guns were knocked out of their hands and sent flying several meters away. Once she had disarmed them, Djanet strode over to Alejandra and grabbed her roughly by the hair, pulling her toward her. "You're going to help us whether you like it or not!"

Alejandra responded by taking hold of Djanet's wrist and twisting it until she sharply shrieked. In the same fluid motion, she swung her leg up and kicked her under the chin, sending Djanet tumbling backward onto the ground.

"Don't touch me."

Old-timer quickly disengaged his magnetic field and ran over to Djanet's aid while Alejandra and the lieutenant tended to Gernot.

"We shouldn't be fighting!" Old-timer shouted. "We're all on the same side!"

"You said you were the last!" the lieutenant replied, indignantly.

"We are!"

"Then who the h.e.l.l are they?" the lieutenant demanded, pointing toward Thel and James. Thel was helping James lie down against the cold, black ground.

"That's the last of us. The people you see before you are all that's left. Believe me!"

"What did she do to Gernot?"

"Your companion is fine," Old-timer replied. "She just gave him a mild shock. He'll start to come around anytime now." As he spoke, he watched Djanet's eyes flutter as she, too, began to come around. A purple bruise was already beginning to form on her chin, and her lip was cut where she had apparently bitten down.

"I'm sorry about that," Alejandra said to Old-timer as she knelt with Gernot's head in her lap.

Old-timer looked up at her, and their eyes met once again. The blue disks stole his breath as he felt something unlike anything he had ever felt. Only one word reverberated in his mind: Pure.

Thel entered the scene and knelt beside the Purists. She spoke earnestly to the lieutenant and Alejandra. "We need your help. If you have a doctor and medical facilities, we need to get to her right away. Our friend is dying."

Alejandra's eyes met Thel's for a brief moment before she reached out and touched her arm. She smiled and then regarded the lieutenant. "We can trust them. "

The lieutenant looked exasperated as the spiraling situation nearly overwhelmed him. "Alejandra, they could kill everyone. I'd rather die than-"

"But they won't. Trust me."

Old-timer watched as the blue pureness calmed her companion. The heaving of his shoulders as he panted suddenly began to slow, and his eyes began to narrow and focus. What is this power that this woman has?

"Okay. We trust them." The lieutenant then turned to Thel. "We aren't far from our hospital. Almost everyone who is left is located in a complex three clicks from here. How bad is your wounded?"

"He's in bad shape. We have to get him to a doctor as quickly as possible. We can transport you there if you'll show us the way."

"Transport us? How?"

"Piggyback," Old-timer interjected.

"Djanet, are you all right?" Thel questioned as Djanet rubbed her neck and jaw. She was now sitting upright next to Old-timer.

"I'll live," she replied, grudgingly resisting the urge to fry Alejandra with the ease of a thought.

"Can you piggyback one of our new friends back to their base?"

It was clear from the look on Djanet's face that she didn't like the idea, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah."

"Good. You take their leader."

"Lieutenant Patrick," the lieutenant announced, introducing himself to the group. "Nice to meet you all."

"Thank you for your help, Lieutenant Patrick," Thel replied. "Old-timer, you take the young lady."

"Alejandra," Old-timer said. He didn't know why he said it. Nervousness was beginning to capture him again. He hoped he wouldn't sweat.

"Rich, can you take their wounded man?"

"I'm not wounded," replied Gernot. "I'm fine. Although I owe that bi-"

"Just try it, junior," Djanet replied, acid dripping from her voice.

"I'm not scared of you, cyborg!"

Djanet responded by igniting an energy field in front of her and elongating it until it was only centimeters from Gernot's face.

Frightened, he jerked his head back. "Yeah, whatever, you calculator-head!"

"Oookay, so I get to transport the psycho," Rich whispered to Thel. "Good. I'm really happy about this. I think this will be fun. Thank you, Thel."

"I'm sorry, Rich. We have no choice. Just drop him if he tries anything."

"Yeah. After he pulls out my eye, I'll drop him. That'll make me feel all better."

Thel stood to her feet. "Okay, Lieutenant Patrick. We'll follow your lead. Everyone, let's move out quickly!"

The three pairs awkwardly joined together. The lieutenant and Djanet barely spoke to one another. He quickly said, "Hi," and she nodded in response.

Alejandra locked her eyes on Old-timer and smiled, but he couldn't match her gaze. He put his head down and smiled sheepishly before saying, "Heya."

She smiled and said, "Heya," back.

Meanwhile, Gernot glared at Rich and spat before walking behind him. Rich closed his eyes in disgust. "You just fly nice and careful. Got that?"

Rich replied, "Yep, I'll do my best, sir," before quietly adding under his breath, "just please don't eat me."

"What was that?" Gernot demanded.

"Nothing. Clearing my throat. Ahem."

Thel gathered James into her arms. "We've found a doctor, James." He opened his eyes slightly in response and smiled. He was too weak now to help her, and she struggled to hold him in front of her.

"Okay! Let's go!" she shouted to the rest of the group.

One by one, the pairs coc.o.o.ned and lifted off the ground into a sky that was quickly growing dark.

As James was carried toward possible salvation, he opened his eyes and watched the light fade.

5.

Old-timer knew that he should not have been feeling this. The last time the sun had faded into the west, he was with his wife of seventy-seven years. Another walk on the beach; Daniella always liked to watch the sunset on the beach. Always. They flew down from San Antonio and watched the waves crash against the sh.o.r.e in Corpus Christi. At that time of year, storms forming off the coast of Africa created powerful waves that would pound the sh.o.r.eline. Yet, beautiful as they were, they didn't fill him with awe; he barely paid any attention. He looked down at his toes in the sand and counted as he took each step. There was going to be an interesting interview broadcast in an hour about the next day's download, and he wanted to be sitting in his armchair and sipping iced tea when it started. He would set himself to sleep after that and wake up early enough for a big breakfast before he headed out to Venus. The evening was perfectly comfortable. Perfectly routine. Daniella's fingers twitched in his hand, reminding him that she was with him. Seventy-seven years of marriage, and now she was like a part of his body. They were always together, except for the hours that he spent on Venus. He liked it that way.

When he had left the Vancouver Library with the others earlier in the day, desperately praying that she would be all right, he felt as though he were frozen. The thought had never occurred to him that he would have to live without her someday. He'd landed outside of his house and broken through the door, just as James had done in his own home. By then, after flying over San Antonio and seeing it in flames, he had almost lost all hope.

What was left of her was in the backyard.

She was learning to grow flowers and had been doing something with them when it happened. There was a trowel that still had the imprint of her hand melded into the plastic handle. She had died in pain.

He had no body to cradle. No open eyes to close. No hair to touch. She was gone. He should have had a chance to say goodbye. His partner and his oldest friend was gone. Why did he ever leave her alone?

And so now, only hours later, how could he be feeling this? This body, warm on his back, arms holding tight around his chest, breath on his ear, and hot as he breathed it into his own lungs.

James might die.

Old-timer had medical training from back before this brave new world emerged, but it was so, so long ago, and without a hospital, there was little, if anything that he could do. They needed to get to the Purist hospital and quickly.

The A.I. had turned on them and destroyed civilization and most of the human race.

And yet his focus was on this girl.

She was just a child compared to him. Their bodies were the same age, but he was old enough to be her great-grandfather. Yet, he felt a kind of euphoria as she breathed and he took the air into his lungs. What was this power that this woman had? And what kind of man was he, that he would be attracted to a child only hours after learning of his wife's death? Was he a monster?

"You're not a monster," Alejandra said.

"What? How...?" Old-timer stammered between gasps.

"You were questioning whether or not you are a monster. You were thinking about your wife."

"You...you're a psychic?"

"No. I am an empath."

"But you read my thoughts."

"I can't read thoughts, but I can sense the intense emotions they create. I've had this ability my entire life, and your emotions revealed your thoughts. I was right, wasn't I?"

"I...please stop doing that. This is very embarra.s.sing-"

"I can't turn it off. I am sorry. If you would like, I won't reveal what I am sensing to you in the future. I am sorry if I have offended you."

"It's not that. I'm not offended. I just...I don't think I should have been feeling those things."

"Feelings are never wrong. Only actions can be wrong."

Old-timer fought to catch his breath. The skin on his face burned with embarra.s.sment and guilt. "I'm...I shouldn't feel this way."

"Feelings are never wrong."

6.

"That's it," Lieutenant Patrick announced as he pointed to a patch of dead earth at the base of a large and rolling hill that didn't look much different than all the rest of the dead earth everywhere on the planet.

"How can you tell?" Djanet asked him. "There are no landmarks anymore. Everything is dead."