Inhuman(3)

“You’re a wise man,” Aldous replied, forcing a smile and nodding. He swallowed. “You know, no one living knows that story,” Aldous confided. “I don’t know why I told you. I guess because you loved her, too, so perhaps you could understand.”

Old-timer was left speechless once again.

“I haven’t even told…” Aldous didn’t finish his sentence, but Old-timer knew immediately who he was referring to.

“How…how is she?” he asked.

“How’s who?” Daniella asked as she appeared suddenly, flying over the edge of the roof before floating to a rest next to Old-timer, a look of deep concern on her face.

Aldous’s face paled, a look of embarrassed remorse quickly replaced by an equally embarrassed smile. “Daniella, I am so sorry that we woke you. It wasn’t my intention. Craig here was just discussing a favor I’ve asked of him.”

“In the middle of the night?” Daniella retorted. “It must be some kind of favor.”

“It is rather important,” Aldous confirmed. “And time is running short.” He turned to Old-timer. “Craig, you must promise me you’ll speak to him. Be the cautionary voice he needs—the one he’ll listen to.”

“Speak to whom?” Daniella asked Old-timer.

“James,” Old-timer answered her. “Aldous here is just asking me to give some advice to—”

“James?” Daniella replied, incredulously before turning to the chief. “Aldous, you’re here to ask my husband to tell a man who’s become a virtual god what he should do? In the middle of the night?”

“Again, I’m so sorry,” Aldous apologized, his embarrassed expression returning.

“It shouldn’t fall on Craig’s shoulders,” Daniella insisted, protecting her husband as had been her custom since they’d met more than seventy-five years earlier. “He’s done enough for the world, and done enough for James. You can’t keep asking for—”

“Daniella,” Old-timer responded calmly, putting his hand on his wife’s arm to soothe her frustration, “it’s okay. We’re just talking.”

Aldous took this as an opportunity to change gears. “Daniella, it is so good to see you again,” he began, the kindly politician returning to his charismatic demeanor. “It has been too long. I should have had more consideration for the woman who saved my life.”

“Don’t mention it,” Daniella replied, biting her tongue before she said more, satisfied that she’d made her point.

“Craig,” Aldous continued, turning back to Old-timer, “she’s right. I have no right to ask any more of you. I’m sorry I disturbed your sleep. Goodnight.” He turned and lifted off the surface of the roof, his green magnetic field engaging almost immediately, facilitating his lightning-fast blast-off into the starry night. A second later, he was just a greenish twinkle in a sea of sparkling twinkles in the sky.

Daniella shook her head. “I don’t like that, Craig. I don’t like that one bit.”

Old-timer sighed. “It was…unorthodox, wasn’t it?”

“What makes him think he can just show up here like—”

“It’s okay, honey,” Old-timer replied, putting his arm around his wife, about to take her under his arm and back down to the ground before she stopped him.

“It’s not okay,” she insisted vehemently. “For him to come here, there must be something really wrong. Why does he need you to deal with it?”

“He’s just…” Old-timer paused as he tried to find the words to describe Aldous’s frame of mind. “He’s just having trouble adjusting to the new world, that’s all. We don’t have anything to worry about. You were right, James and the A.I. have this handled.”

“Exactly,” Daniella said, folding her arms and allowing Old-timer to gently lift her off the roof and float with her back down to their front porch.

“Still,” Old-timer began, “I should speak with James.”

Daniella suddenly went rigid and pulled away. “What? Why?”

Old-timer shrugged. “Because he’s my friend. Because I know something about the universe that he might not. I should give him a heads-up, don’t you think?”

She shook her head, her lips pulled into a tight frown. “I don’t want you getting involved in these things anymore, Craig. You were just supposed to be a terraformer, not a…” she stopped, her eyes darting back and forth as she, exasperated, tried to find the word.

“Not a what?” Old-timer asked, his eyes narrowed.