Post-Human Trilogy

“I love you.”

She loved him? He’d wanted to hear those words for a long time. He’d dreamt of it. But it couldn’t be. “Thel…we can’t—”

“We can,” she countered, her eyes locked with his. “Right now. We don’t need thirty minutes to pack up—no one is taking anything but their flight suits—we could have been at the airlock in ninety seconds.”

She was right. Why did he say thirty minutes? She continued looking straight into his eyes, strangely, fixedly, expectantly.

“Because we can do it doesn’t mean we should. It doesn’t make it right,” James replied.

She touched his face and pressed her torso against his. “People have lived for more than half a century, never being offline, never able to break the rules because the nans will record it, report it, and destroy their lives. But the nans aren’t functioning. No one is watching us. There is no law.”

“It still doesn’t make it right, Thel. Divorce and extramarital affairs are illegal for a reason.”

“Spare me.”

“It’s true, Thel. It’s the price we pay for immortality. We can’t go switching partners and procreating endlessly throughout eternity. Family would become meaningless. Civilization would break down.”

“Now you sound like the Governing Council.”

James gave a long sigh. “Maybe so. But I still can’t see my way around it.”

“Is it right that two people who love each other aren’t allowed to be together? Should people be trapped in loveless marriages because of decisions they made when they were barely more than children?”

Her words cut right through to the heart of James’s feelings.

“It’s not your fault that divorce is illegal. It’s not your fault that you feel the way you do. And it’s not fair for her to punish you forever for being human—and for making the mistake of marrying her when you were too young to know better. It’s not your fault that you are only human.”

“Everything you just said was right…but I’m trapped.”

“I love you, James. I’m ready to choose what I want now. So are you. And if we don’t do this now, if we don’t take our chance right this minute, while we’re free, you know as well as I do that we’ll spend the next hundred years, maybe the next millennium, maybe the rest of eternity, regretting it. People don’t go offline every day, James. It’s rare and becoming rarer. It might never happen to us again.” She kissed him again, lightly and quickly. “It’s up to you.”

This was one of those decisive moments, James thought, where you made a decision that would alter you forever. He looked pained as he struggled to weigh the variables in his mind.

She smiled at him and raised his chin with her hand so his eyes met hers. “Don’t be afraid. I just want to make ‘the beast with two backs’ with you.”

He suddenly laughed. “Othello.”

“That’s right.” She kissed him again.

He kissed her.

In a moment, he had her on her back on his desk and was removing her shirt, sucking on her mouth, tasting her neck. Her fingers were digging into his shoulders.

She whispered his name…

5

At 10:08 a.m. Pacific time, Thel and James rendezvoused with the rest of the research team at the main airlock. Some awkward glances were exchanged between Thel and the others, but James didn’t notice; he was focused on the task at hand—getting his crew home safely.

“All right, team, this is how this is going to go. First, we need to stick together. We won’t have the Net to guide our trajectories, and the cloud cover is thick and dark, so stay within one meter of the person directly in front of you. If we get separated, there’ll be no way to find them out there. Hopefully, I’ll be able to guide us straight up to the stratosphere. We won’t be able to communicate once we activate our magnetic fields, other than with hand gestures, so this is the itinerary. The first step, obviously, is opening the airlock. Now, keep in mind that without the outer magnetic field operating, there will be nothing to stop a massive change in air pressure within the lab. The pressure is immense outside and would crush you like a grape if you weren’t protected.”

“Lovely thought,” Rich whispered to Djanet.

“The moment we release the airlock, begin pushing toward the door, or the pressure will knock you back into the lab. Once we’ve cleared the cloud cover, I’ll need to take a moment to read the stars and locate Earth. As soon as I’m ready, I’ll signal to the rest of you, and we’ll move out slow. Again, stay very close to the person in front of you. Old-timer, you take the rear, okay?”

“You got it, buddy.”

“Okay. I think if everything goes smoothly, I can have you all back on Earth in ninety minutes. We’ll descend to Vancouver and report for a nan transfusion and get you all back online. Then, all that will be left for you to do will be to head home, relax, and eat a late lunch.”

“So, are you saying we’ll be getting back just before noon Pacific?” Rich asked.

“Give or take. I think that’s a fair estimate,” James replied.

“Well, I would just like to point out that today’s download occurs at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time—just under an hour from now. So, with the exception of you, Commander, when we get back to Earth, the rest of us will officially be the stupidest people on the planet.”

The team laughed, and the tension of the moment was mercifully broken.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll protect you from the geniuses,” James replied.

“You better,” said Old-timer, wearing a grin.

“Okay, team, let’s get those helmets on and get ready. As soon as I’ve got my hand on the airlock handle, I want you to activate your fields. As soon as I give the signal that I’m opening the door, I want you to move forward. Copy?”

“We’re ready,” Thel answered for everyone.

“Okay,” James said, taking a deep breath before putting on his helmet.

He wasted no time moving to the airlock handle. It was fixed on the wall, three meters from the actual door; that was important because as soon as the seal was broken, the door would swing open violently. James turned to the group and pointed, giving them the signal to activate their fields, and four green lights appeared, cocooning the crew. James activated his field last, then signaled to the crew to move forward as he opened the door.

The pressure was so powerful that the door swung open fast enough to rip free from its hinges and tear toward Thel like a missile. It bounced harmlessly off of her magnetic field, but the sight of a 150-kilogram metallic projectile streaking through the room and impacting one of the team members sent their collective adrenaline, already running high, even higher. The team quickly exited one after the other and immediately began to ascend. James turned for one last look at the rest of the crew before they entered the cloud cover. Don’t lose them, he thought to himself.

Gravity couldn’t be felt once one was cocooned in a magnetic field. The clouds were so thick that it was as though darkness had tangibility. He had to concentrate. He knew if he began to veer to one side or the other, they might spend hours trapped in the darkness. He felt he was in a maze. He had to keep moving forward and trust he would get somewhere in the end.

After a few minutes, he and the others emerged. Stars speckled the Venusian sky—a million destinations. He looked for Earth, but it wasn’t where he was expecting it. He had veered to one side and emerged dozens of kilometers from where he planned to be. It didn’t matter—Earth was still the brightest star in the sky and easy to find.

He paused for a moment while he got his bearings and waited for his companions to gather behind him. He signaled to them that he was about to head out, and they signaled that they understood. His motion was slow at