“That’s true,” said Marie, and her tone sounded conciliatory. “That’s why we wanted to speak with you personally. You have nothing to fear from us.”
Kepler wasn’t so sure about that. Marie articulated the last sentence in a way that made it sound like a threat. She was really good at this. If he had known something, would he have spilled it? But he didn’t know anything!
“What even gives you the right to interrogate me like this? You’re wasting your time,” he said.
“I have that impression too,” said Pierre. “We should go.”
“Yes, we should.”
When the couple spoke aloud to one another, they almost seemed insane. Was it really such a good idea to surrender yourself like that to someone else? Kepler was glad he’d never needed to – even with Zhenyi, whom he had truly loved a long time ago.
For many billions of years, humans—having conquered the curse of aging—spread throughout the entire Milky Way. They are able to live all their dreams, but to their great disappointment, no other intelligent species has ever been encountered. Now, humanity itself is on the brink of extinction because the universe is dying a protracted yet inevitable death.
They have only one hope: The ‘Rescue Project’ was designed to feed the black hole in the center of the galaxy until it becomes a quasar, delivering much-needed energy to humankind during its last breaths. But then something happens that no one ever expected—and humanity is forced to look at itself and its existence in an entirely new way.
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Brandon Q. Morris
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www.hard-sf.com
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Translator: Rachel Hildebrandt
Editing: Marcia Kwiecinski, A.A.S., and Stephen Kwiecinski, B.S.
Cover design: Audible Germany
Mars Nation 3 Page 30