She stopped in her tracks, turning slowly to look at me. The room in Cape Town was full of dignitaries from around the world, as well as our group. When we’d arrived, the nations were in widespread panic. An alert had gone out over all remaining media that an announcement was coming, and for everyone to gather their belongings and loved ones.
That set off more fear, but after all these people had been through, they were getting used to it. We heard stories trickling in about groups working together, and leaders of communities taking charge, directing people to gather in town halls or city parks.
The air was thin; conditions were far from ideal. Oxygen tanks and respiratory centers were being erected around the world for anyone with pulmonary issues. I was proud of the people of Earth.
“They were coming anyway,” was her defense.
“Then you did what you thought best, and they decided to steal our water with us still on the planet.”
“How are we going to get everyone off Earth? And where are we going to put them all?” a mature red-haired woman asked. She looked at Mary and me with thoughtful eyes, concern etched on her face.
Magnus took this one. “Our warships have space to transport a large group of people. We’ll have to bring more supplies to feed them on the two-month journey, but it can be done.”
“And the rest of us?” she asked.
Magnus’ eyes roamed toward me, and the whole room set their gaze in my direction.
I looked around the room: tall ceilings. Mahogany wood beams ran across them. Large windows allowed the midday light to cascade down on us at the central table, where we sat at the south end. It would have been intimidating sitting there with all of these people looking to me for answers in my previous life. Now, I was ready for it.
“We walk to New Spero,” I said, waiting for a response.
I was about to continue when almost everyone in the room began speaking at the same time.
“Trust me. We have a way to transport ourselves from Egypt to New Spero. We’ll send a team there first, tell them what’s transpired, and they’ll begin to accommodate for the new influx of people.” I expected more questions, but that seemed to quiet them.
“How?”
“I’ll show you.”
THIRTY
“You need to sleep,” Mary said as we sat down outside the Giza pyramid.
“I’ll sleep when we’re home.”
We ate sandwiches while watching the procession of people heading into the pyramid, down toward the portal. Clare and Nick were running the trips now, and we’d let the powers that be organize the logistics of getting people from Earth to the warships in orbit, and the rest to Egypt.
The dirt layer separating the bottom of the pyramid from the portal halls had been excavated. It felt wrong to destroy something the Theos had built so long ago, but we had to live another day, and this was the only way.
“What happens after this?” Mary asked, leaning her head on my shoulder as she chewed the last of her roast beef.
I watched the lines of people walking into the Giza pyramid, and spotted a young family with two small children. The mother held her small son in her arms, and the dad held his daughter’s hand, leading them to an uncertain future. Life as they knew it was over, for everyone.
“Dean?”
“After this?” I smiled at her. “We help build a new future for everyone.”
Leonard came out of a tent set up with food, carrying a sandwich and a bottle of water. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.
“Not at all,” Mary said, patting the unused pyramid stone beside her.
“How are you hanging in there, Leonard?” I asked, seriously concerned about my new young friend. We’d been through a crazy adventure together, one where he’d been forced to kill, and be part of something that turned our people’s future forever. His eyes had deep purple bags under them, evidence of the last day’s trials.
“You had to do it,” I said, knowing he’d understand what I referred to.
“Dean’s told me all about you, Leonard,” Mary said. “We’re both very proud of you.”
The man I’d met a couple days ago would have blushed at that, but the new version wasn’t the same youth any longer. “I think I’m done with comics.”
“You don’t mean that. People will want to know what happened.” I surprised myself by saying that.
“Really?” he asked, looking at me with tear-filled eyes.
“Really. You’re a great guy to have by my side. You’ll always have a place on my crew.”
His posture straightened up, and he looked up to the sky, the clouds breaking for a moment so the sun beat down on his face.
We sat there in silence, enjoying each other’s company in near silence as countless people moved from Earth to our new world. Each one of them with a story: a tale about their pre-Event lives, how they survived the Event, why they elected to stay on Earth rather than travel to New Spero, where fate was bringing them after all.
I wondered where their tales would lead them. For that matter, I didn’t know where mine was headed. I sat my hand on Mary’s thigh and gave her a light squeeze. She smiled at me, her hair in a loose ponytail, and a few strands broke free, covering her face. She blew at them, and I loved her more at that moment than ever before.
My future wasn’t set, but my fate was now intertwined with hers. We were partners in whatever was to come.
Magnus approached as the sun went down, followed by Clare and Nick when they swapped out with a duo Magnus trusted to make the portal journeys with the people. The room held four hundred at a time, and they could make the trip every five minutes; the people from Earth arrived at the caves near Terran Five on New Spero.
The warships were able to take a quarter of the Earth’s population, and because of the distance to the pyramids, the Western hemisphere was being brought to the ships rather than to the portal. All in all, almost everyone would be off Earth in five days or less.
Camps were set up, and all Terran cities were pitching in, taking in refugees and donating food, clothing, and shelter where needed. My sister and her husband James were leading the charge at Terran Five, and I couldn’t have been prouder of them.
Slate was the last of my old crew to arrive, and he brought something brown in a clear bottle.
“Where’d you get that?” Magnus asked, taking the bottle and sniffing the contents. He shrugged and grabbed some empty water bottles from around us, filling each with two fingers’ worth.
“What are we toasting to?” Nick asked, looking as exhausted as I felt.
“To surviving.” I raised my plastic bottle in the air, and everyone joined in. “To surviving.” We tapped our drinks and downed some of the liquid.
With that one done, Mary had one more. “To Patrice Dalhousie. One of the strongest and most visionary people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”
“To Patty,” we chorused, and drank the last, Magnus pouring a splash onto the dusty ground.
Mary raced across Africa in the old-style Kraski ship. It had been only six days since we’d made the deal with the Empress, but it felt like weeks.
“Looks clear.” Mary lifted up, taking us higher.
“One more pass?” I asked her.
“Dean, we can’t save them all. If they didn’t make it by now, we can’t do anything.”
Slate made a tapping motion on his wrist, telling me time was up. “You have a last job to do, and so do I.”
Mary nodded and gave the controls over to him.
“Slate, we’ll see you in a couple of months. Don’t worry, we won’t do anything crazy without you,” I said, getting an eye roll from him.