David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“What are you going to do?” Old-timer asked James.

“I’m going to New York with Thel to check on her sister,” he replied. “Go as quickly as you can.”

And with that, each member of the team made his or her way out of the building and into the air. James shared a last look with Old-timer before the centenarian activated his magnetic field and darted upward like a flash of lightning striking back at God.

Thel and James darted upward too, up into space, up above the world that had cradled humanity from the beginning to what appeared to be the end.

When Old-timer and James shared that last look, Old-timer’s eyes had said what James was thinking. “ We’re the last. We’re the Omega. ”

James followed Thel’s lead as they streaked out of the atmosphere and eastward, above the continent. There was no way to communicate other than with hand signals, but Thel’s extreme speed was making it impossible for James to stay within range of her. For most of the trip, Thel was just a little green star, at times more than a kilometer away from him. He understood her mindset: She had to get home. But with each passing moment, James was becoming more and more sure that there would be no one to greet her when they arrived.

Thel slowed for a moment over the eastern seaboard of North America before plunging downward at several times the speed of sound. Most of the east coast was completely clear of cloud cover, and it made it easy for her to eyeball her home. James lost sight of her as she darted downward, but he figured it would be easy enough to pick her up again, as he guessed for himself where the city was. Nevertheless, he estimated a little too far to the south and found himself traveling up the coastline. Before long, he reached Manhattan and was slowing down as he flew over the Brooklyn Bridge.

He’d visited Thel in New York countless times, including that fateful night last New Year’s Eve when he’d started to have the wrong thoughts—the ones that were recorded by the nans and reported to his wife—reported to everyone. The message e-mailed to everyone on his contact list, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, was simple:

High Sexual Arousal in Presence of Thel Cleland, Saturday, December 31st.

The thoughts were reported because he was married. The nans didn’t report regular sexual attraction to members of the opposite sex, even if those feelings occurred outside of a marriage. They only reported the strong feelings—the ones strong enough that they might cause the subject to act. People were reported all the time. Most people were reported several times in their marriages, but it was the first time that it had happened to James—and James was supposed to be special.

Despite the number of times James had been to New York, he’d never visited the Brooklyn Bridge. Like the Vancouver Public Library, it was a relic, even more so in fact, but unlike the library and very much like modern architecture, it had been practical in its time. It wasn’t very functional anymore; no one had need for a bridge now so it was preserved as a keepsake of an earlier time—an odd time when the bridge was a lifeline to the rest of the world. Crude petrol-fueled vehicles had once rolled over the bridge on crude rubber tires; nowadays, the only people who visited it were those curious about a bygone era. One could walk over the bridge and pretend they were like those sad creatures who were locked to the ground, slaves to gravity like most mammalians.

A closer inspection of the bridge revealed more red stains. Icaruses all over .

New York, the second biggest hive in North America, was deserted. Just like Vancouver, there was no one flying above the massive skyscrapers and famous skyline—no one but James.

James darted toward Thel’s apartment. She lived in a skyscraper near the Empire State Building. Her building dwarfed the old relic and stretched over 300 stories into the sky, but even it was nowhere near the tallest building in the city. Thel lived on the 193 rdfloor, but with no automatic guiding system, it was extremely difficult to find her apartment among the thousands in the building. He guessed the general proximity and disengaged his magnetic field. “Thel!” he called out.

“James!” Thel sobbed in return. She was above him, leaning out of the entrance to the apartment she shared with her younger sister. She looked faint and, with no nans to prevent her from falling victim to shock, she stumbled off the ledge.

James raced up to catch her in his arms and then guided her back into her apartment. It was luxurious inside, as all homes were now. With no limits to the size of new buildings, it became possible for massive numbers of people to live in spacious apartments, even in places as densely populated as New York City. James put Thel down on her couch as she sobbed and held her hands to her head.

“She was…she’s…in her bedroom,” she related to James in a weak voice. “There’s…almost nothing. Oh God.”

James didn’t say anything in response. The pain was beyond words. He’d experienced it too. Everyone was gone. Everyone. The loss was complete—inescapable—blackness.

“I’m gonna be sick,” Thel uttered before holding her hands to her mouth.

“Don’t!” James responded, holding her head back as the vomit rushed into her mouth. “We don’t have any food. You need to keep it in, Thel. I need you to swallow it down.”

Thel did as James asked her, choking back the vomit and wiping tears from her eyes.

“You’ll need those calories. We don’t have a replicator. There’s no way to eat.”

“James, what’s happening? What could have done this…and why?”

James stood and walked to the entrance of Thel’s apartment. The magnetic door was still disengaged, and the wind blew through his hair as he reached the ledge. Like Vancouver, there were fires in the city and robots fighting those fires and cleaning the streets, but other than that, there was nothing—not even people. No people. That was the future. But in a way, it was also like looking back in time.

“It was definitely the nans, but other than that, I’m not sure yet.”

“Is it everywhere? Is there…anyone left besides us?”

“I’m not—”

“James, tell me what you’re thinking! I know you have an idea. I can see it in your eyes!”

She could see right through him.

“I think something went wrong with the download.” He turned to Thel, who was still sitting on the couch, ghostly white and streaked with tears and sweat and vomit. “I think there was a virus in the upgrade.”

“How? There are so many safeguards. It’s impossible…isn’t it?”

James shook his head. This he really did not know. “Thel, we need to rendezvous with the others as quickly as possible. We’re not safe. None of us should be alone.”

Rich Borges sucked his lips back against his teeth, a habit he’d had since he was old enough to experience stress for the first time. Stress became a frequent visitor when the Governing Council identified you as a gifted scientist. Decades of trials and tests were all one had to look forward to before they finally deemed you fit to participate on a real project. Rich was fifty-four years old before he was chosen to replace another scientist during the Martian terraforming project. That was over fifteen years ago. Ever since then, his life had been far less stressful. He got along beautifully with Commander Keats and, as a result, was handpicked to participate with the small group who were working on Venus. Added to that, the nans usually regulated his mood enough to keep his anxiety problems in check. But now, without their assistance, he was coming apart at the seams, reverting to that old familiar sucking and the grinding of his teeth that used to accompany every exam situation. A twisting feeling roiled in his stomach as he wondered if he knew all the variables.