Chapter 39

Six years later...

Earth time: January 1, 2050 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time

I was reading a book in the main library, sitting in one of the comfortable reclining chairs. Isabelle came into the room and sat on my lap and kissed me. "Happy New Years dad!"

"Huh? Already?" I kissed her back and looked at the clock.

Isabelle shrugged. "I was thinking of Aina base time. They used to use Eastern Standard Time as a reference... from their connection to West Virginia..."

I nodded. The Freeway is still locked on West Virginia time too, but our portal to the WFM internet is through Hawaii, through the Ring shadows in the slip ships. We tend to think in Hawaiian time now... "Yeah, I remember. What time would it be on Aina?"

Isabelle shook her head. "The bubbles are no longer connected. Your question does not have a well defined answer."

"Oh, I know, but still?"

Isabelle paused for a moment as she thought. "It would be day 75 of 1458, three days after their autumn Festival of harvest, a little after 2 PM I think. But really dad. That's not the right way to think about it."

"I know."

Isabelle rested her head against my chest and sighed. I smiled and petted her and kissed her again, this time on the top of her head. After a moment I put my book down and turned off my reading light. I closed my eyes and put my arms around Issie and hugged her. She hugged back. We both were enjoying the contact profoundly. Neither of us moved for a long while. Then we started talking to each other with our eyes closed.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I was monitoring the WFM, their medical journals... the latest blogs..."

"Ah... Yeah... Do you think they'll find the problem with their incubator approach soon?"

"They just did. The leaders were not pleased. The top researchers were executed for their failure."

"Oh, that was smart..."

Isabelle whispered, "Once you get used to killing... to solve your problems..."

I nodded, kissing her again, my eyes still closed. "Yeah... What the latest on their population?"

"Right now? Just about 700 million, about where Earth's population was 350 years ago. But the age profiles are all wrong. The average woman is 55-years old now. Earth is starting to become a ghost planet. Large areas are totally vacant... around the Great Lakes in North America of course... but not just that, large areas in Africa and Europe too... Well, except for isolated pockets of wilds. They're in such rough shape, the WFM isn't even bothering with them." Isabelle sighed deeply.

"How many guys you think are left?"

"Oh, about the only guys left are in captivity. WFM records list 42,000 of them. WFM bio-weapon experts estimate there are less than one hundred men not under WFM control. Their Y-chromosome weapons are that potent..."

"My God... Well, we shouldn't dance on the WFM's grave. We need them to succeed, in order to succeed ourselves..."

"Yeah... Dad..."

"Yeah?"

"You ever think of South America any more? Of Santiago?"

I sighed. "Sometimes... I love A'moth. She's my wife, and I'm her husband... But yeah, sometimes I still dream of Chile... and Carlotta... It still feels like home..."

"Yeah, for me too... Did you know Earth's youngest person was born in Chile? The WFM had a show on her. She turned forty yesterday. She was born in the evening of December 31, 2009, just a couple of days before mom died. She's the youngest edge baby known to have survived... The WFM has 150,000,000 women ages 40 to 44. It's the core of their hope to jump-start the population again, if they can fix the problems with their incubators..."

"You saw it coming Isabelle, how their research was heading into a dead end. None of us did. You had a lot of foresight Issie... to concentrate in the medical sciences... since the war..."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I see a solution to their problem. Think I should work on it?"

I was silent for a long moment, drifting in my daughter's love. "Yeah... I think I do..." I sighed deeply and fell asleep, my darling daughter dozing on my chest.

Five years later...

Earth time: Monday, March 15, 2055 1:44 PM Central Standard Time

I stood in the cornfield, the walls of Antelope Freeway twenty-three kilometers away in all directions. A'moth was giving me one last hug, and neither of us was eager to have it end. This hug was going to be one for the record books. A few feet away, three owls waited patiently...