Paul Hardy - The Last Man on Earth Club

“Right…” said Liss.

“I think the best thing to do is let Liss tell you her story, and have a discussion afterwards. How does that sound?” I asked.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” said Iokan.

“Some things haven’t changed,” said Liss. Iokan smiled, but his eyes were uncertain.

“Well out with it then!” said Olivia. “Let’s hear your excuses. I haven’t got all day to sit around listening to you lying again…”

“Olivia. Let her talk, please,” I said. Olivia grumped and I went on. “Liss? Perhaps you could start by telling us about your old job?”

“I’m an office manager,” said Liss.

“I meant the other job.”

“Oh. That .” She sighed. “When I was younger… I was one of the people who was supposed to save the world.”

That got the attention of even the most dejected members of the group.

“Fucked that one up, didn’t you?” said Elsbet.

“What is your problem?” demanded Liss.

I jumped in. “I’m sorry, Liss, it’s a bit complicated. Elsbet, please restrain yourself. I know things are difficult but there’s no need to take it out on Liss.” Elsbet just stared ahead, sneering. “Liss, can you go on? You said it was your job to save the world?”

“Yeah. Well. That was a long time ago. I was working in an office when the world ended. It wasn’t my job then.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” said Iokan. “How were you supposed to save the world?”

“Mostly by hitting people in the face.”

The sarcastic tone baffled him. “I… must admit that never occurred to me as an option.”

“How does one save the world by hitting people?” asked Kwame.

“It depends who you hit.”

“Hang on, hang on!” said Olivia. “How can you be going around hitting people? There’s nothing to you! You’d fall over in a stiff breeze…”

Liss sighed again. “I have powers.”

“What, electrical power? Power of attorney? What do you mean?”

“You want me to show you?”

“Go ahead, give us all a laugh, why not…”

Liss got to her feet with a little sneer edging her lips. “Liss, what are you intending to do?” I asked.

“I’m not going to break anything,” she said.

“I’d prefer to know,” I replied.

Liss walked behind the circle of chairs. “I’m just going to pick a chair up.” She squatted behind Olivia’s chair and lifted both it and Olivia two metres up. Olivia yelped with shock.

“Put me down! Put me down!” yelped Olivia, squirming in the chair and trying to hang on.

“Liss, that’s enough, put her down!” I insisted.

“Really? I could do this all day if I wanted,” she said.

“Put me down! ” shouted Olivia.

“Put her down this instant!” I demanded.

“Okay,” said Liss with a smile, and dropped the chair. Olivia bounced as it hit the floor and clung onto the arms.

Liss sat down with a cynical smile. “Any questions?”

“You’re posthuman,” said Iokan.

“No. I’ve got powers.”

“Did you have surgery?”

“No, I was born like this.”

“Was there anyone else…?”

“Yes. Fifty per cent of the population.”

“Ancients… fifty per cent like you?”

“Hah! No. A lot of them were more powerful than me.”

“How could a species like yours be killed…?” asked Kwame.

“They burned.”

“To the dust?” asked Iokan.

“Yes. To ash. That was all true.”

“How did it happen?”

“I don’t know. It was someone from another universe.”

Iokan was intent now, deeply concerned in a way I hadn’t quite seen before. “Who?” he asked.

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t have had to come here.” Iokan sat back, troubled.

Olivia had gotten her breath back. “All right. So you’re bloody superwoman. Why did you lie to us?”

“I’m investigating. I was investigating. I don’t know what I’m doing now.”

“You infiltrated,” said Elsbet.

“I went undercover.”

“Will you kill them?” Elsbet looked at Liss with an intensity that Liss seemed to find disturbing.

“I… I don’t know. I don’t even know who it is.”

“So you’re just going to let them get away with it,” said Elsbet with disgust.

“No. I did kill someone ,” said Liss.

“You killed one of them?” asked Pew, with something like awe.

“Yes.”

“Bully for you. Did it make you feel better?” asked Olivia, contemptuous.

“No.”

“There! You see? That’s a lesson for you!” said Olivia to Pew. Pew withdrew back into his chair.

“What happened?” asked Iokan, still concerned.

“I found the scientist who set it off. I lost my temper.”

Iokan nodded. “I have to say I find that understandable, given the circumstances.”

“It was stupid. I should have questioned him. I’d have found out where he got the technology from. All I got instead was him mumbling about aliens and parallel worlds.”

“You’re sure of that? Someone from a parallel universe?”

“Yeah. Why do you think I’m here?”

“There’s no way you could be mistaken?”

“I checked it out. There’s nothing else it could be.”

“I see…” Iokan still looked troubled.

“And you thought it was this lot that did it?” asked Olivia. “Hah!”

“Yeah, I figured that out, thanks.”

“That’s hilarious. You’re hunting for the people who killed your whole planet and you thought it was the most limp-wristed, weak-minded, lily-livered excuses for human beings in the multiverse?” She dissolved into cackles.

Liss rounded on her. “Well obviously I should have asked for help from your species.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“You wouldn’t have been much use, would you? Couldn’t even figure out proper antibiotics. No wonder you all died.”

“We didn’t have your advantages.”

“No. You got all your food infected and killed yourselves. Obviously we’ve got something to learn from you.”

“You take that back.”

“No.”

“Olivia. Liss,” I said. “Let’s dial it back, shall we? This is a therapy session, after all.”

“Of course,” said Liss. “I’m very sorry.” Olivia sat back in her chair, not mollified in the slightest.

“I for one would like to say that I think you’re very brave,” said Iokan. “Fighting enemies from another universe is hardly the action of a coward. But I do have a question…”

“Okay,” said Liss.

“Why you?”

Liss sighed. “Because I was the only one left! When the computers realised everyone was gone, they looked for survivors. When they found me, they put me in charge of the world and gave me the resources to find the people who did it.”

“I do not think that is the important question,” said Kwame.

“Go on, then,” said Liss.

“How did you survive?”

“ I don’t know . I told you that before.”

“I find that very troubling.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you’re the one who did it,” said Elsbet.

“What…?” said Liss, shocked.

“You survived. Nobody else did. Maybe you killed them all.”

“I don’t think that’s the case, Elsbet,” I said. “Security have gone to a lot of trouble to make sure Liss is telling the truth.”

“That’s right. I gave them access codes. They know everything,” said Liss.

“And yet no one knows why you survived,” said Kwame.

“What, you think I’m hiding something?”

“Memories can be changed. You would not even know if you were hiding something. How can we trust you?”

“We’ve checked this,” I said. “There are no signs of tampering in Liss’s brain.”