"Maybe." Old-timer smiled back.

James laughed. "Well, you're welcome to, but I think the longer I keep it a secret the more upset the Council is going to be with me when they find out about it. Six months is probably bad enough."

Suddenly, James's mind's eye flashed open. It was an emergency call from Aldous Gibson, Chief of the Governing Council.

James sighed. "Speak of the devil."

"What is it?" Old-timer asked.

"Chief Gibson. This should be interesting."

"Wow. I'm not here," Rich said before James answered.

"Keats here."

"Commander Keats..." Gibson began before pausing; he seemed to struggle to finish his sentence, "we have an...extremely serious situation brewing. We need you here at headquarters immediately." The most concerning part of the call was that, for Gibson to ask for James's help, it meant that he had run out of alternatives. James patched Old-timer, Rich and Thel into the call immediately so that they could listen in.

"What's going on?" James asked.

"Our long range sensors have picked up something-something ma.s.sive. It's headed toward Earth at an impossibly fast rate."

An image of the ma.s.s suddenly appeared in front of James on a map of the solar system that was sent by Gibson. A dark red smudge representing the ma.s.s had just pa.s.sed Neptune.

"We've already calculated its speed and trajectory, and we're expecting it to reach Earth within the next eight hours."

An instant realization struck James. "My G.o.d," he whispered.

"We need you here, Keats. We're formulating an emergency plan as we speak."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," James replied, awestruck by the news.

"Immediately," Gibson a.s.serted.

"It's going to take me a little while," James stammered.

"Keats, did you not hear what I just said?"

"I did. It'll still take me a little while."

"What's your ETA?" Gibson responded tersely.

James paused for a moment. "An hour-maybe less."

A flabbergasted expression contorted Gibson's features. "Where in the h.e.l.l are you that it's going to take you a whole hour to get here?"

"That's my business. I'll be there as soon as humanly possible," James replied before shutting off the communication.

"James, what the h.e.l.l was that thing?" Thel asked over James's mind's eye.

"I have no idea, but you better get your flight suit on. We're heading for Earth."

4.

Just under an hour later, James and his three companions entered Earth's atmosphere, generating a glowing inferno as they did so. James had a.n.a.lyzed the available data a number of times as he made the journey, barely speaking to his companions as he worked his way through the possible explanations. Only one fit-and it was mortifying.

When they reached the front entrance of the Council headquarters, Djanet was there to greet them. Her face appeared stricken by worry, and she began walking with them in step as James hurried into the building. "The situation appears very bad, Commander. No one has any idea what's going on. The anomaly doesn't appear to make any sense...and the chief is furious with you for taking so long to get here," she informed James, her eyes on his flight suit. It would be very difficult for James to explain himself.

"It's okay, Djanet. That's a minor concern right now," he said without even looking at her as he marched toward the door of the emergency strategy room. As soon as he entered, the eyes of all of the Council members who were present, as well as the dozens of a.s.sistants and advisors, fell on him.

"Keats, just where in the h.e.l.l were you?" Gibson thundered as he saw James's flight suit. His eyes narrowed. "You better have one h.e.l.l of an explanation, son."

"I'm not your son," James replied. "I want to know everything that you know so far, and I want to know now."

Gibson was aghast at James's insubordination and exhaled as though he'd been punched. "You arrogant, impudent dog! Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are, Keats? Flying around in s.p.a.ce on some kind of adventure, and then marching in here and giving orders to your superiors? I should have you thrown out!"

"But you can't and you won't, and we both know it. You need me, so stop wasting my time and tell me what's going on."

"Wasting your time? You have the nerve to-"

"Will you shut up please?" James said, putting his hand up to block Gibson's face from his vision and stepping further into the room. "I want to know exactly what's going on here-from the beginning."

Djanet spoke in response. "The new upgrades you made to the A.I.'s long-range sensors before you transferred your powers to the operating program detected something about two hours ago. At first, we thought it was the sensors malfunctioning because the size and speed of the anomaly didn't make any sense, but the object has continued heading this way, directly toward Earth, and it doesn't seem to be affected by gravitational pull or any of the natural forces that would alter the trajectory of a naturally occurring phenomenon."

James remained silent for a moment as he took in this information. It meshed perfectly with the a.n.a.lysis that he had made on the way back to Earth. It was time to share the horrifying truth with those a.s.sembled. "That's because it isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon. It has a purpose."

5.

The room remained in stunned silence for a moment, until Chief Gibson finally scoffed and snapped, "Have you completely lost your mind, Keats? Something that big cannot have a purpose."

"Why not?" James challenged his superior.

Gibson was at a loss for words at first as he tried to a.s.semble an appropriate line of reasoning. "Because it's impossible for something that big to be alive! Have you not seen its size? We've calculated it at..." Gibson paused for a moment as he tried to call up the correct figures in his mind's eye. After a moment of fl.u.s.tered searching, he looked desperately for someone to help him-his eyes fell on Djanet. "Girl! You were the one who told me the size! Tell him!"

Djanet tried to keep her composure but exhaled deeply before answering, "It is well over one million kilometers in diameter-nearly ten times the size of Jupiter."

"Holy..." Rich said under his breath.

"You see?" Gibson shouted. "How can something that large be alive?"

"It depends what your definition of alive is," James replied.

Gibson turned away in disgust and threw his hands in the air in frustration as he gestured toward the other six Council members who were there in person. "It's always riddles with this man! Insufferable!"

One of the other members of the Council, Jun Kim, tried to remain even-keeled. "Commander Keats, can you explain what is happening so that the Council can understand and take appropriate action?"

"Certainly," James replied before answering frankly, "You're almost certainly about to be wiped out by an alien race of machines."

The room became deadly silent, and even Gibson had nothing to say as he whirled around to fix his disbelieving eyes on James. With no one willing or able to respond to his statement, James continued. "We have less than seven hours to evacuate the entire planet and the solar system. The faster people get out, the better chance they'll have of escaping. The people on Mars will have even less time so you better issue the orders immediately."

Again, it was a long moment before Gibson finally let out a guffaw. "You want us to abandon the solar system?"

"You have no choice," James said.

"We have no plan for a solar system evacuation. What do you want us to do? Where do you want us to go?" Gibson demanded.

"It will be everyone for themselves. There will be no rendezvous point-the alien machines would be able to use that information to pursue us and kill the last of humanity."

"The last of..." Gibson couldn't finish the sentence. In his worst nightmares, he'd never dreamt of anything as horrifying as this.

"James," Thel began as she stepped beside him and laced her fingers around his arm, "what's happening?"

"You must be mad," Gibson finally said as he leaned against a workstation, his legs feeling as though they might give out on him.

"I'm sorry, but you simply do not have time to debate this," James said.

"Why?" Gibson demanded. "How do we know you're right? You want us to evacuate the entire species based on what? You've barely looked at our data!"

"I studied the data you sent me on the way here, and I'm telling you there is only one explanation for what we're seeing," James explained in an even but urgent tone. "If I'm wrong, I'm sorry in advance. We'll know in a few hours, and everyone can return to Earth. But if I'm right, and I'm almost certain I am, then there's an alien race of machines heading this way and their numbers are so vast that we don't have a hope in h.e.l.l against them."

"How can you possibly know this?" Gibson asked, still disbelieving.

"I have to confess, old buddy, I wouldn't mind an explanation myself," Old-timer said.

James nodded. "It's simple...and you're right, Chief Gibson. Nothing organic could possibly be moving that quickly toward us so, by your definition of living, nothing alive is headed our way. However, that's a pretty d.a.m.n narrow view of the definition of life."

"You're an arrogant-"

James cut Gibson off before he could finish his remark. "The anomaly wasn't affected by gravitational forces so this isn't a natural, mindless path that it is taking. It is heading toward Earth and it has a purpose."

"And that would be...?" Gibson asked, sarcasm and hatred dripping from his words.

"To make contact with the A.I.," James replied.

6.

"The A.I.?" Old-timer responded, astonished.

"How can you possibly know that?" Gibson demanded suspiciously.

"The A.I. told me that he intended to find another being like himself in the universe and join with it," James related. "As far as he was concerned, it was a virtual certainty that there was another being like him. Apparently, he made contact."

"With an alien?" Rich asked, in disbelief of the absurd turn of events.

"Then what do we do, James?" Thel asked, fear creeping into her voice.

"We have no choice," James explained. "If the A.I. told the alien A.I. that it had wiped out humanity and was reproducing, then it is in for a surprise when it finds out the A.I. is gone. We can only a.s.sume that, from that point on, its intentions toward us will be hostile. Our only chance for survival is escape."

"How do we do that?" asked Old-timer.

"Every dwelling in the solar system can be coc.o.o.ned in a magnetic field and become its own ship," said James "The replicators...o...b..ard can provide all of the air, water, and food necessary for as long as the people within need it and until they find another habitable planet."

"You know d.a.m.n well there's almost no chance of anyone ever finding a habitable planet in their lifetime! What you're talking about is the ma.s.s suicide of the species!" Gibson spat with vitriol.

"It's better than a species-wide holocaust," Thel yelled back at him.

"She's right," Old-timer concurred. "This is the best alternative."

"It's the only alternative with any chance of survival," James a.s.serted. He turned to the rest of the Council members. "I'm sorry, there is just no other way."

"We can't possibly evacuate everyone in time," Gibson said, desperately fighting back.

"I might be able to buy us a little more time," James said.

"How much?" Old-timer asked.

"And how?" Gibson demanded.

"Maybe an hour. Maybe only minutes...but it would mean rea.s.suming the powers of the A.I."

"What?" Gibson shouted furiously. "Now I see your game, Keats! This is all some kind of sham cooked up by you to get back into the A.I. and take control of the solar system!"

"That's absurd!" Thel responded in James's defense.

"Chief Gibson, have you not been listening at all?" asked Councilor Kim. "Have you not seen the evidence for yourself?"

"I've seen data on a computer screen-data that could be faked! Could be faked by him!" Gibson shouted while pointing in James's direction.

James ignored the accusations and explained his reasoning to the Council members. "If I a.s.sume the position of the A.I. again, I'll be in a position to facilitate the evacuation and to fight the alien machine forces. I'll also be able to help the Purists."

"The Purists? Why are we wasting our time on them?" Gibson retorted.