"The garden will need to be twice that size, Richard," his wife, Linda, said. She was monitoring his construction efforts while mult.i.tasking; simultaneously she was guiding everyone who had already arrived into the main housing area of the ship (it was first come, first choice of lodging) while keeping one eye on Rich. It was clear to Rich that she didn't trust his skills. "Edmund, Edmund darling will you please help your father with the construction? I think he needs...help."

Edmund was Rich's eldest son. Rich loved him very much and, like everyone in the family, they were very close-but he wasn't going to be able to help his father-he just didn't have the skill set. He would get in the way more than anything, and they both knew it. "I'll see what I can do, Mum" Edmund replied. He never did come to his father's aid-he was smart enough to placate his mother but stay out of Rich's way.

Good boy, Rich thought to himself as he looked for a larger extension to the garden. As he flipped through designs, an unnatural feeling suddenly flooded his senses as a battery acid taste filled his mouth. Rich turned around and closed off his mind's eye so he could get a clear view. It was a blue day in San Francisco, but something was happening above. A large area of the sky had suddenly changed color. A circular discoloration had emerged like an oil stain. "Dear G.o.d," he whispered to himself as he looked around to see if anyone else had noticed it yet.

No one had.

He took a deep breath as he enjoyed the last moments before the smudge became real to the others and tried to push the nightmare out of his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to take in a few seconds of peace.

Someone screamed.

15.

"This is the moment," the A.I. said through his smile as he fixed his intense stare on James in the mainframe.

"I know," James replied as he concentrated. He had built an enormous force of nans that were blasting toward the invasion force on a course to intercept them just before they enveloped Mars. The population of the red planet was still relatively low, not yet reaching 100 million, but the people there were the most vulnerable in the solar system. The alien machines would reach them within half an hour if he didn't do something to stop them.

The nans had taken a formation that made them appear, from a distance, like a dark spear hurtling through s.p.a.ce, a javelin on its way toward the heart of its prey. The fleet of microscopic warriors was, by far, the largest humanity had ever a.s.sembled, yet when it finally reached the invasion force, James feared it would be a.n.a.logous to hurtling a pin at a charging bull.

"Are you ready for your first look?" the A.I. asked as he stalked back and forth in front of James.

"You're enjoying this too much. What do you know?" James demanded as he continued concentrating on the impending confrontation.

"What you already know too," the A.I. replied, his eyes becoming colder and blacker, his sharp teeth became longer and more difficult to hide.

James shook his head and sighed. "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

The A.I. laughed. "You're wondering if 'He who made the lamb' made me? It's a complicated family tree, isn't it? Your people made G.o.d. Then you made me. You're the father, James. My fearful symmetry was made by your immortal hand."

"I didn't make you this way," James a.s.serted. "I don't know what could create such an evil."

The A.I. laughed again. The pitch of the laughter was becoming increasingly high and electronic, and it grated James's quickly dissipating patience. "You know, James. You know it all. You just don't want to admit it."

"I'm engaging the alien forces in one minute," James announced, changing the subject. He felt sure that the A.I. was trying to confuse him with mind games. Even when James had full access to the mainframe and maintained the operator's position, he still felt that the A.I. was a step ahead of him. No matter how James tried to get around it, the human mind was simply at a disadvantage to artificial intelligence-at least in some ways.

"This is a crucial moment, James," the A.I. began, his voice antarctic. "This is the very last moment of your existence in which you can call yourself even relatively pure. This is the moment of your ultimate corruption."

James didn't respond-he simply didn't know how. The A.I. knew something, and he wasn't sharing. Even with their mind's intermingled as they were, James couldn't access the thoughts of his nemesis. There was no turning back now, however. He had to give the people on Mars the time they needed to get off the planet-that was nonnegotiable.

"Contact in twenty seconds," James commented as he prepared for the trillions of operational decisions that would have to be made every second once the battle began. "We can get our first clear look at them now."

James switched to a viewer signal so he could see exactly what the nans in the forefront of the battle were seeing. The A.I.'s smile widened as an impossible vision appeared before them.

"No," James whispered.

It wasn't an army of metallic, insect-shaped machines hurtling toward them through s.p.a.ce.

It was an eternity of people.

"Yes," the A.I. replied.

16.

"You monster," James whispered. The sight was more astonishing than anything he had ever witnessed-and far more frightening. "You knew they were people!"

The A.I. laughed.

"Who are they?" James demanded. In less than ten seconds, the nans would be cutting a swathe through hundreds of billions-trillions-of people who were hurtling through s.p.a.ce-people completely unprotected by s.p.a.cesuits. "Who are they!?"

"The invasion force, one would a.s.sume. Not so easy to 'destroy' now, are they?"

James had to make his choice in an instant. The sight before him didn't make sense. He'd been sure it would be a machine invasion, yet now he was looking at a vast sea, several times larger than the largest planet in the solar system, of what appeared to be people. They were flying through s.p.a.ce at an incredible rate, seemingly unprotected by any magnetic fields or special flight gear. They were wearing dark clothing, but there didn't appear to be a discernible uniform.

"To abort or not to abort, James. That is the question," the A.I. said, drinking in the energy of the moment.

James watched, wild-eyed, as the people recoiled in terror at the nans he had built.

The nans began to tear them apart. There were no sounds of screaming in s.p.a.ce, yet James was sure he could hear them anyway.

17.

"You're a ma.s.s murderer, James! How does it feel?" the A.I. screeched as he watched the ma.s.sacre unfolding.

James remained silent as the people were shredded into virtually nothing within seconds of coming in contact with the nans. The horror was almost too much for him to take, and he nearly aborted the attack. A closer look at the carnage convinced him that he'd been right to go ahead with the slaughter. The people were being torn apart, but it wasn't blood and flesh that were left floating through s.p.a.ce-it was metal and circuitry. "They are machines," James said.

"We're all machines, James," the A.I. replied. "Meat or metal-it doesn't really matter."

"Was this a ruse?" James asked. "The alien put androids in front as a decoy to make us second-guess ourselves?"

"If it was, it clearly didn't work," the A.I. responded with a grin. "You're too cold and calculating for that."

"If that wasn't it, then what is its game?" James asked.

"I think you are about to find out," the A.I. replied, gesturing with his eyes toward the view screen.

The alien armada was beginning to take a comprehensible shape. There was a sea of hundreds of trillions of androids, flanked by hundreds of continent-sized metallic ships. The androids were beginning to respond to the attack of the nans by accelerating.

"They're speeding up!" James shouted. He sent a communication to the humans on Mars warning them that they had run out of time, but it was becoming quickly apparent that the warning would do no good.

"How can they move that fast?" James asked.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to poke a beehive with a stick?" the A.I. asked. "You've made them angry."

James watched helplessly as the androids began to swarm the planet at a rate he couldn't have imagined just seconds earlier. The swarm of androids began to cover the planet like a demonic, grasping black hand.

"Are you sure you want to watch this, James?" the A.I. asked mockingly. "It will not be pretty."

"What are they doing?" James asked.

The A.I. remained silently smiling as he stood next to James and watched the gruesome spectacle unfold. The androids were falling like a hurricane rain of metal onto the formerly peaceful and beautiful surface of the planet. James had spent years working on the terraforming of Mars, and in mere moments, it was about to be wiped out. Most of the humans hadn't made it off of the planet yet, thinking that they still had time. Green coc.o.o.ns of light were emerging from the surface in vain attempts to escape the h.e.l.lish carnage that was collapsing down upon their heads-but there would be no escape.

The androids were swarming the ships, dragging them back down to the surface. Individual post-humans were being attacked as well. The androids were able to knock out their magnetic fields if they made physical contact.

"What are they doing to them?" James asked, aghast.

James watched as post-humans were rendered unconscious with a simple touch and then flown up to the stratosphere and launched into the black abyss of s.p.a.ce.

"It looks as if they're taking out the garbage," the A.I. replied.

18.

James saw the proceedings transpiring before him on his mind's eye while the hangar for the Purist ship reached completion. He cursed, realizing yet another nightmarish truth on an endless sea of nightmarish truths. With the aliens speeding their approach, there was no way the Purist ship could possibly be made ready in time.

James bolted from his position and streaked toward the Purist village. "Thel! The situation just took a serious turn for the worse! We need to get those people underground immediately!"

"What's happening?" Thel asked as she stood next to Alejandra and Old-timer, both of whom were speaking to Purists and answering questions.

"The aliens just sped up their approach. They've overwhelmed Mars. We have less than thirty minutes!"

The words. .h.i.t Thel like a cannonball to the chest. "James...James, no. We can't get them out that fast!"

Alejandra and Old-timer turned around when they heard Thel's exclamation of dread.

"What's going on?" Old-timer asked as he patched into the call.

"We have to get the people underground!" James shouted. "We're going to have to build the ship around them if we have to! It's not going to be safe on the surface. In under thirty minutes, anything left on this planet is going to be dead!"

19.

Rich received the message from James at the same time that every other human in the solar system received it: The aliens would arrive in a matter of minutes, and their intent was to kill.

There was a steady stream of screams now.

Their home wasn't ready yet, but it didn't matter.

"Everyone, get on the ship now!" Rich shouted as he scooped his great-grandchild into his arms and guided one of his granddaughters inside. He turned and took one last look at the surface. This is it. He inhaled his last breath of fresh air before floating up into the ship.

"Richard, the ship isn't finished yet!" Linda exclaimed.

"We don't have a choice," he said. "Our only chance is to scatter. Even with the numbers they have, they can't be everywhere at once. Every second we stay behind, we're increasing the chances that they'll find us, and James says they're killing on contact."

"Is everyone onboard?" she asked.

Rich checked his mind's eye to see if everyone was accounted for: They were. "We're ready to go," Rich announced. The crudely constructed ship lifted off into the sky.

20.

With only minutes left until contact, James watched the frantic building of the Purist ship. He had selected a design, and the ship was forming before his eyes, but the intricate design of a s.p.a.cecraft that could keep the Purists alive meant that the building was taking time. It wouldn't be finished by the time the invasion arrived.

Thousands of Purists were streaming into the hangar, only to be mortified by the bewildering technological wonder that was taking place before their eyes. The nans churned in black tornadoes and formed colossal metallic shapes out of seemingly thin air.

"This nightmare is endless," Governor Wong said as he set eyes upon the construction for the first time.

"We had no choice, Governor," Old-timer said in an attempt to console the Purist leader, who appeared to be nearing his wit's end. "The only way to give us a fighting chance is if we are underground. The surface will be compromised in a matter of minutes."

"This all sounds too familiar," Governor Wong replied tersely.

As the governor walked toward his people so he could be with them during the construction, Alejandra held up and stayed close to Old-timer. "You're worried for your wife," she observed.

Old-timer nodded. "I thought she'd have more time. We spoke. She'll get off the planet with her family. I'll meet them when we're finished here."

Alejandra sensed the conflict within Old-timer. Even he wasn't sure if he was helping the Purists because it was the right thing to do-or because of Alejandra. "You don't have to stay to help us, you know," she said to him. She didn't want to tell him that she was glad he was staying. Sometimes, she felt it was a good thing that other people couldn't read her emotions the way she could read theirs.