Chapter 9

            Val awoke on the bed in James's quarters. She immediately massaged the back of her head where she was struck. Grabbing the gun still on the floor, she ran from the room to report to Roger.

            Roger was in his office and unaware of any commotion on-board.

            “Roger!” she shouted as she entered the room.

            “What happened to you?” he said as he noticed her gripping her head.

            “Grant! He's on to us. He knows about the weapon. And Archer, he's staging a coup.”

            Roger calmly stood up and helped Val sit down. “There's no need to worry about Archer. The crew is loyal to the cause. We'll find him. Where's Grant?”

            “I don't know. He left talking about saving his wife. I failed. I did what you told me, Roger. It didn't work. He's still in love with her. I tried so hard.”

            “Val, you did well,” he said. He knelt beside her. “You’ve more than redeemed yourself in my book. Will you be all right?”

            She wiped a stray tear from her eye and cleared her throat, toughening her demeanor. “I'm fine. I'm with you now to the end.”

            “I'm glad to hear that. Come!” he said, helping her to her feet. “We need to get Archer. He and the crew need to be on the surface when the device is fired!”

            James arrived at the hospital’s entrance in a flurry of light from the teleporter. He hadn’t reset his watch to the current time but the clock outside the hospital told him he only had minutes before his other self would leave her room for the last time and leave the hospital with Archer.

            James rushed ahead to the hospital and into the room where Genesis lay just after he saw Archer and the other James leave the parking lot. She was just as still as he left her. He grabbed the vial from his pocket and took a syringe from the nurse’s tray. Hoping desperately he did it right, he injected the medicine into her arm and waited. A moment went by and there was no change in her condition.

            Minutes went by and still Genesis was motionless. The weapon on the ship could be fired at any moment. All he wanted was to see her smile one last time. He knelt beside her and held her hand. He kissed her skin tenderly and whispered to her: “Wake up. Please wake up.”

            To his shock and simultaneous joy, Genesis suddenly awoke. She coughed slightly before opening her eyes, but James finally saw what he spent months of waiting and slaving for the organization to see: the beautiful smile of his wife. Genesis immediately sat up in surprise and grabbed hold of James’s hand.

            “What happened?” she said.

            He grabbed hold of her and kissed her deep. “Too much to explain now. Hurry! We need to get out of here quickly.”

            “Are we in trouble?” She jumped out of bed and started getting dressed.

            “Not with the law; worse. I’ll explain as we go.”

            “Where are we going?”

            James hadn’t thought of where to go. “I don’t know yet, Gen.”

            Genesis sensed something was wrong. James’s anxiety was palpable. “Tell me. What’s wrong?”

            “I’ve been through hell and back to get to you. I last saw you over three months ago.”

            “I was in a coma for three months?”

            “No, I had to travel decades from now on a spaceship to get the cure I just gave you. But all that effort to see you again has come at a terrible price: the people I worked with lied to me about their intentions. Right now, a terrible weapon is about to launch that will kill every person on this planet, leaving only the people on that ship to survive. I had to choose whether to save the world, or spend ten more minutes with you.”

            Genesis finished dressing and grabbed hold of James’s hand. “Then let’s not waste anymore time. We’ll stop them together.”

            James and Genesis ran out of the room and through the maze of corridors in search of the hospital’s exit. Outside the building, they witnessed a terrifying sight. Above them in mid-atmosphere hovered the massive ship James had abandoned only minutes ago. Chaos ensued on the ground as people screamed and ran in every direction.

            “Is that where the weapon is?” Genesis asked.

            “Yes, and I’m worried that my only friend on that thing has failed.”

            “Can we get aboard?”

            James looked down at the teleport device and tried to activate it – it didn't work. He shook his head. “I guess you should have held onto your powers a little longer.”

            She smiled at her husband. “I don’t regret one second of our life together. If I have to die, at least I’m with you.”

            The ship dropped lower to the earth, close enough for James to see people on the bride. Among them, Roger smiled down at him from the bridge. He motioned to the teleporter on James's wrist. Suddenly, he heard a voice come from the device.

            “Archer’s plan was unsuccessful,” Roger said, his voice blaring from a small speaker on the device. “But I’m afraid you chose poorly, Mr. Grant. Your friend, Doctor Archer, made an impressive and lonesome stand against us. Unfortunately, his contribution to our mission has ended. I regret to add that his will not be the only death this night.”

            James took hold of the device and answered back. “I stand by my choice.”

            “Are you sure?” Roger grinned again as Val approached his side. She waved to Genesis and blew a kiss to James. She then disappeared from view, her laugh drowning out on the device.

            Genesis looked up at her husband and gave him a reassuring smile; he didn’t need to defend himself.

            They embraced as the ground beneath them began to shake from the ship’s engines revving up. James looked up at the ship with an expression of fear that Genesis had never seen before.

            Genesis turned to face James. “I love you, James.”

            He smiled, pulled her close, and tenderly kissed her.

            The ship lifted and stationed itself high in the atmosphere. James and Genesis stood holding each other, preparing for the worst, when they saw a flash of blue light all around them. The ship's crew stood gathered in a group – seventy men and women – huddled together in fear of their fate, which they now realized was unavoidable.

            The weapon fired a moment later. All over the planet, human beings were vaporized while all other forms of life watched the massacre. Outside the hospital, the people around James and Genesis Grant gasped at the sight of each other’s death. Bloodcurdling screams from all over the planet cried in unison as nearly seven billion souls breathed for the last time.

            “I’m scared,” Genesis said. Suddenly, she felt the same sensation she hadn’t felt since returning to James. She looked up at her husband in fear as a wash of blue light surrounded them.

            “What’s happening?” he asked.

            “A miracle,” she said.

            As the last humans on Earth dematerialized into thin air, James and Genesis disappeared from in front of the hospital. They were gone, lost in the streams of time.