"Don't listen to them-" James began before the A.I. sent the excruciating pain through him again, dropping him to his knees.

"Answer the question, James."

The doppelganger looked down at James as he squirmed on the ground. He looked up at the person who seemed to have been his wife a short time ago. "I-I love Thel."

Katherine's eyes met the doppelganger's with disbelief. She searched the doppelganger's eyes for signs of insincerity, but there were none. She panted heavily. The physical pain was suddenly the second-worst pain she was experiencing. She turned her head to James, who was now regaining his feet.

"It's not true, Katherine. Don't listen to them."

Katherine looked at James's face as though he were the one who had placed her on the crucifix; tears streamed down her face. "Liar," she whispered before another wave of pain hit her and she groaned like an animal in a trap, forgotten by the trapper in frozen tundra, never to be discovered again.

"James, look what you've done," the A.I. began as he stepped behind Katherine, a spear of white electric light suddenly in his hands. "You've broken her heart!" he shouted as he thrust the spear into her back and through her heart.

15.

James's eyes suddenly fluttered open, and he gasped for air as though he'd been underwater for several minutes.

"James?" Thel said in surprise before rushing to his side and throwing her arms around him. "You're back!"

James suddenly sat upright and gently separated himself from Thel. "Is the general still here?"

"Yes," said the general's gruff voice as he drew himself out of the chair in which he had been sitting. "You've only been unconscious for a few minutes."

"We have to leave this complex," James said breathlessly. "The A.I. knew I was coming. He was waiting for me. He traced my signal back here. He's sending his hordes as we speak."

"Oh Christ," the general responded, turning in disgust, his hands suddenly shaking with a c.o.c.ktail of fear and anger.

"I'm sorry, General. The A.I. is even more brilliant than I imagined. He truly has turned himself into a G.o.d. I didn't think it was possible that he would know my plan, but he did. Is there another complex we can get these people to in time?"

"How much time do we have?" asked the general.

"A half-hour at the maximum."

"Yes, there's another compound three kilometers to the south."

"You have to start an evacuation immediately," Thel a.s.serted to the general. "We need to get these people out of here!"

"There are over 10,000 people in this complex. You want me to move them out into the open, three kilometers away, in less than thirty minutes?"

"We have no choice, General," James replied. "I'm sorry. The A.I. is just too...perfect."

The general's eyes were filled with bottled fury. Why did I trust these outsiders? he thought to himself. He was going to lose thousands in the next few minutes, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it!" he shouted before turning on his heels and bounding out of the room. Less than a minute later, a siren began to echo down the endless concrete caverns of the complex.

"This isn't good, buddy. There's no way we can get all these people to the other complex in time," said Old-timer gravely.

"No, I've failed. I never should have matched wits with a being like the A.I.," James replied.

"You couldn't have known, James," Thel said. "It's done. At least you're back safely."

"Old-timer, Djanet, Rich, Thel...all of you get out there right now and do everything you can to help these people evacuate the complex."

"What about you?" asked Thel.

"I'll be with you shortly. I'm still woozy. I need a few minutes for the nans to recover me." The others left the room, but Thel continued to hesitate. "It's okay, Thel. I love you. I'll be beside you in moments."

Thel kissed James hard on the mouth before running out of the room.

The A.I. smiled as he watched her go. He got off of the makeshift bed and stepped onto the ground and surveyed his surroundings. "So this is the nest," he said to himself. "Disgusting." He began to walk to the door but caught sight of himself in the reflection of a gla.s.s cabinet. "h.e.l.lo, James," he said, smiling. His smile, however, disturbed him as he watched the teeth emerge from behind the fleshy lips. "You are a repulsive creature. I'll enjoy watching you be eaten from the inside out."

When the A.I. reached the main hub of the complex, he saw thousands of humans jammed together like frightened cattle at a rodeo, not moving but huddling together near the exit. "What's going on? Why aren't they exiting?" he asked Djanet, who was helping stragglers join the sea of humanity.

"They are exiting! The exit's just too small. They only have so many elevators. Thel and Old-timer are over there making sure people don't get crushed. It's a mess, Commander!"

The A.I. sighed. "Must these people have everything done for them?" Djanet was suddenly taken aback by James's words. The extreme stress of the situation must have been getting to him. She had been thinking the same thing only moments before, but James had always seemed to have unflappable integrity and empathy for other human beings. She often wondered how he could stand serving regular people with little or no thanks, but she never expected him to crack.

The A.I. stepped back and generated a force field of ma.s.sive proportions. He began to push the kilometer of earth above them, out of the way. The entire complex vibrated with this effort, and Djanet was left in awe as she watched James tap into more power than she knew it was possible to generate. Once she saw what James was doing, she joined in and helped him as he created a ma.s.sive escape hole, inclining gently upwards. Within only a couple of minutes, the dim light of the outside world could be seen at the end of the tunnel. The A.I. disengaged his force field. "Nice work," Djanet commented.

"Thank you, my dear," replied the A.I. before he lifted off into the air and flew above the crowd and towards the tunnel exit, gesturing for the people below him to follow.

Old-timer and Thel stood together near the elevators and watched James pa.s.s overhead. They looked at one another in astonishment. "I didn't know we could do that," Old-timer said to Thel.

Djanet followed James's path, calling down to the people below, "On the double! We'll be under attack in less than thirty minutes!" The crowd quickly rushed up the tunnel, but it was clear from the physical limitations of many of the Purists that the incline would be very difficult to master.

Rich joined Thel and Old-timer by the elevators. "Hey, we gotta do something about the infirmed. A lot of these people can't even walk."

"We could scoop them up in a magnetic field," Old-timer suggested.

"That's too slow. We couldn't carry enough people. I have a better idea," Rich replied. "We can use those old vehicles, the buses. We can load as many people as we can into them and then carry them out."

"Okay, let's do it!" Thel responded.

The three lifted off and flew to the hangar in the main hub of the complex. As they traveled above the sea of humanity, Old-timer noticed Alejandra waving her arms.

"Alejandra!" He flew down to her and embraced her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Craig."

"Do you know what is happening?" Old-timer asked her.

"Yes. We're trying to make it to the southern complex before we are wiped out by the A.I."

"I'm sorry this has happened," Old-timer said.

"You didn't mean it. You sincerely tried your best to help us. I know this, Craig."

"Can you help us persuade the sick and injured into these buses? We're going to fly them to safety."

"Si, Craig," Alejandra replied.

Outside of the complex, the A.I. had joined Lieutenant Patrick and General Wong as they led the thousands behind them toward the southern complex. "We're making good time," the A.I. announced to them.

"We had better be. The southern complex is the only other complex with any survivors. Less than a hundred people made it there. If we don't make it, they will be the only people left on Earth," replied the general.

"We'll make it," the A.I. said in his most rea.s.suring tone.

"How much farther is it?" the general asked Lieutenant Patrick.

"According to the map, it's less than a kilometer from here."

"Then we are going to make it," replied the A.I. "Radio ahead and make sure they are ready to receive us."

"Already done," confirmed Lieutenant Patrick.

"Good. Good."

"Are we ready?" Old-timer called to Rich and Thel. They both waved in confirmation. "Are you ready?" Old-timer asked Alejandra.

"Yes, Craig."

"Then hold on tight," he said to her as she wrapped her arms around him.

Old-timer, Thel, and Rich engaged their magnetic fields and extended them over the three buses that they had filled with the sick and injured. They lifted off and exited the now empty complex and quickly began to fly over the mult.i.tudes of people who were moving quickly south. To Alejandra, it looked like a twisted marathon was being run-or a death march.

James, Djanet, General Wong, and Lieutenant Patrick were just reaching the southern complex as Old-timer and the others reached them.

"Craig," Alejandra began suddenly with alarm, "something is terribly wrong."

"What is it?" Old-timer asked.

"I don't know, but there is betrayal-deception."

Old-timer and the others set down on the ground near the doors of the complex, which was being opened by the Purists inside. Once on the ground, Alejandra immediately let Old-timer go and ran toward the general.

"General!" she called to him before she grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.

"What is it?" asked the general, startled.

"There's something wrong. There is enormous deception around you."

"Deception? Are you sure?" the general asked.

"Yes. I felt it as soon as I saw you."

"I'm being deceived, but by whom?"

As soon as the general asked the question, Alejandra fixed her eyes on the A.I. "By him," she said, pointing.

The A.I. was astonished that a human could have detected him so quickly. "You have an empath," he realized.

"You! What have you done?" the general demanded.

"James?" Old-timer asked as he came upon the scene. "What's going on?"

"You have tricked us! That is what is going on!" the general shouted.

"No, General. It's not all of them. It's just him," Alejandra informed.

"That's impossible," Thel shot back as she rushed towards James. The A.I. gestured to keep Thel from coming closer.

"That's right. I deceived you, and now I shall finish what I started and rid myself of your disgusting flesh once and for all."

"James?" whispered Thel, bewildered.

"The A.I.," Rich said, his teeth suddenly bared in rage.

"Where's James?" Thel demanded.

"He's dead, just as the rest of you will soon be," the A.I. replied.

"Oh dear G.o.d," the general whispered as he saw the black, spidery cloud of nans quickly appear on the horizon. "We have to get these people into the complex immediately!"

"I don't think so," the A.I. responded before using his magnetic energy to attract the general's gun to his hand and using his force field to scoop Alejandra into his grasp. He moved so quickly that no one could stop him. In one swift motion, he had an arm around Alejandra's throat, immobilizing her, and the gun pressed against her temple. "If anyone moves, I kill her."

16.

Katherine screamed out in agony.

"No!" James screamed out with her as he leapt up onto the cross and threw his arms around her shoulders. "Katherine, I'm here," he cried to her as the life rapidly drained from her.

Katherine slumped forward into his torso, barely alive. "James..." she whispered.

"I love you, Katherine. I'm so, so sorry," he said before he kissed her one last time.

"I'm sorry too," she whispered. She lifted her eyes to James ever so briefly before the rest of her color left her, and she lost consciousness. James knew she would never wake again.

"Katherine? Kath-"