Inhuman(18)

And with that, Old-timer flew away, disappearing so quickly that he would’ve appeared to have vanished to a normal human, but James saw every movement, every expression of uncertainty flickering across his eyes, and every bit of the willpower and bravery exhibited by the hero he’d known for nearly twenty years.

“And I’ll pick up Thel,” James said to the A.I.

The A.I.’s visage disappeared as James blasted off toward the Venusian atmosphere.

In the mainframe, the duo continued to converse in their shared operator’s position. “The sim is running smoothly,” the A.I. related. “If all goes as planned, we’ll be able to intervene with the final phase within the hour.”

“Perfect,” James replied.

*****

On the surface of Venus, Thel watched as an orange streak of light suddenly became a yellow ball that for a little more than a second rivaled the sun in its luminescence, causing the sky to become blue and the ocean to sparkle. The large crowd of thousands of Purists watched the display and erupted into gasps and shrieks before the light faded and the glow diminished, James having leveled off his speed to avoid causing a shockwave that could’ve injured the onlookers below.

His body continued to glow bright enough that he appeared like a slow-moving, shooting star, twinkling as it neared, until eventually he descended on an almost vertical trajectory, splashing down into the ocean just a few hundred meters from shore. The splashdown sent water dozens of meters into the air, followed by a line of steam from the surface that traced James’s path as he made his way underwater toward the beach. Like a vein of underwater lava, James’s body made short work of the water, and when he finally breached the water’s surface, his chrome-colored body continued to glow, though slightly diminished by the cooling effect of the water, the white steam painted orange as it swirled angrily and spectacularly around him.

The crowd erupted into applause.

James waved at them and smiled as he walked through the surf toward Thel, who stood on the edge of the sand, close enough to the water that the warm waves lapped up against her toes.

“I’d hug you, but I think I’d end up with third degree burns!” she yelled out to him over the sound of the applause and the surf.

“I can fix that,” James replied as his chrome-colored body faded away, morphing into his human form. He was wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts and held his arms out to embrace Thel.

She kissed him, then pulled back and looked at Europa, glowing beautiful and full in the sky. “You can fix anything apparently.”

“I try,” he replied.

“Old-timer’s not with you?” Thel suddenly asked, her eyes quizzically narrowed.

“No, he’s pretty busy at the moment,” James replied.

“That’s a shame,” Thel replied. She tilted her head slightly for James to look over her right shoulder, where Alejandra was standing on the beach, her eyes still on the sky, her expression one of disappointment. “Alejandra was asking for him.”

“Hmm,” James reacted. “Old-timer’s gotta lot going on right now without getting into all of that.”

Thel’s expression suddenly became one of concern. “Why’s he so busy? What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you about it on the way to Earth.”

“We’re not staying for the celebration? You know, it’s not every day that a planet gets a moon.”

James sighed. “I wish we could, but we need you in the sim. We’re bumping up our timeline.”

Thel nodded. “Okay. I’m ready for my close-up.”

“Good,” James replied as he kissed her quickly before taking her hand and walking with her toward their Venusian home, just behind the tree line. “Let’s get your flight suit.”

“Should I be worried?” she asked him.

He shook his head and shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. That’s the problem.”

She swallowed as she considered his answer. “James, if you don’t know, then we all have reason to worry.”

He squeezed her hand. “We’ll be okay. We just have to do what we always do. The best we can.”





10



“I thought you said we were getting out of the saving-the-universe business,” Djanet reminded Rich as they neared the coordinates the A.I. had sent them.

“I know,” Rich said as he got up from his seat and started to make his way back to the ship’s replicator. “You oughtta know by now that I’m full of it. Besides,” he said with a shrug, “it’s Old-timer, and there are no androids to deal with this time.”

“There is a parallel universe,” Djanet countered as she got up and followed him. “That seems like it might be a teeny bit dangerous,” she observed in an intentionally understated tone.