Chloe turned her head toward Max. Just a little. Not enough that she'd notice. But enough to catch the sunshine passing through her cornea as she looked off to the horizon. Chloe could see it there, just a little. The light bent wrong. Just a tiny bit too much. Never even notice if you didn't know what to look for.

"I'm in love with an entire universe…" she whispered into Max's bare shoulder, lips touching soft skin.

Max cracked a smile, a little laugh. Sweet sounds. She whispered, "And an entire universe loves you back…"

That smile. The curve of her lower lip, when she bit it just a little. Chloe kissed her shoulder, her collarbone. The small part of her neck, right below her ear.

Max let out a small sound. Smacked her. "Distract much?"

"Sorry. You smell really nice."

"I'm gonna crash us if you keep doing that." Max's voice was more playful than impatient.

"Worth it."

"You say that now. You'll be sad when you're all wet. You should be helping me look." Max pointed outward.

All Chloe could see were the lines of her arm, the curves of her breasts… "I…am looking."

Max with another little laugh. "You're looking at me."

"That's…that's what I said."

"So not helping."

"Helping me."

"Bad Chloe. Bad."

Chloe broke off her visual caress, scanned the horizon. "Fine. What about over there?"

"Where?"

"That stretch there. Left of the giant ass rock?"

"Let's go look." Max moved them across the water toward the shoreline.

Chloe laid back down on the…grass maybe? It seemed like grass. Green. Spongy. Mix of blade-like leaves without the sharp edges and…something halfway to moss. Smelled unlike anything she'd experienced. But it was pleasant. The patch they were on was wider than both of them end to end, at the bottom of the sphere. Chloe's hands were behind her head, legs stretched out. Max was sitting up, looking where they were going.

Like riding a magic grass carpet… Chloe thought, warm in the sunshine. We both need this.

Max said the world was only slowed by a tenth of a second, but it was enough for her to create the hard boundary. Different technique. She wanted to explore, but didn't know where she was going yet. This seemed the easiest way.

Sunlight reflected like crazy off the water with all three suns up. It was like diamond soup out to the edge of the sea. Chloe watched the clouds drift lazily above them. Blue sky. A little different from home, but close. Sparkling light. Suns on Max's back, shadows paying with her shoulder blades. The flimsy string of her top hanging between them… just one mental pull…and…

"Okay - This…looks pretty good, actually." Max hovered them over the sandy beach. "You ready Chlo?"

"Yeah. Um - give me a second." Chloe sat up, scooted in closer to Max. "K."

Max synchronized their time with the outside. The boundary collapsed as air rushed through. The outer edges of the grass carpet dropped a couple of feet, leaving them sitting on a mound in the center. Chloe picked up the blanket and cooler. Max grabbed the basket with the food.

"Dude, you sure nothing's gonna try and eat us out here?" Chloe asked, for the fourth time, spreading out the blanket.

"It's a strange new world. Anything could happen." Max said, for the third.

"I don't want to be eaten, Max."

"You…walk right into these, Chlo…"

"Heh. Hey - have you given it a name yet?"

"What? The planet?"

"Yeah." Chloe sat down next to Max, cooler behind them, away from the water.

"What do you think of 'Steve'?"

"I don't know… Seems like more of a 'Gorak'."

"I'm thinking 'Steve'."

"Gorak." Chloe nodded to herself.

"We're clearly at an impasse." Max moved the picnic basket to the other side of her.

"Seems that way. We could vote?"

"That won't help. Only two of us. Even number."

"One. I'm pretty sure you have to be a member of this universe to vote, yeah?"

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be?" Max laughed.

"Rules are rules." Chloe shrugged.

"Then you probably don't want any of this food? And I'm sure you'd much rather I keep my swimsuit on for the day?" Max reached back with one hand, fingers teasing one dangling string behind her back, while her other hand played with the strings at her hip…

"Totally seems like a Planet Steve. Not sure why you're fighting me on this, Caulfield…"

Max was thinking tent. Chloe was thinking bouncy-castle. So here they were. Spending the night on another planet. In an open field, near the sea. Under two moons. In a bouncy-castle. They actually had a really hard time finding one that didn't require a blower to stay inflated.

But she had to admit… It was pretty comfortable. Totally worth the quick fold back.

They just had to be careful. Gravity was one third earth normal here. They could easily hit the roof if they tried to bounce in it for real. So sleeping only. Mostly.

They'd seen a few shy six legged fuzzies sniffing at the edges, but nothing that seemed remotely predatory. Chloe was concerned for a quick moment about pathogens and cross-world contamination until Max reminded her that OtherChloe decided what was here and what wasn't. If it had been her, and she knew they'd be moving back and forth - cause how could they not - would she have taken any steps to try to minimize dangers? Chloe let that fear go after thinking about it.

The suns had set an hour ago. Max guessed they had about five hours til first sunrise.

The blanket was mostly between them and the vinyl below, but it slid around a little. They still made the occasional rubbing-squeak sounds when they moved against the bottom. Their clothes were in the corner. Chloe was up against an inflated edge, using it for a pillow. Max curled over her from the side, like a breaking wave, her head resting on Chloe's shoulder.

Max could feel her breathing. Hear her heart. Felt like home. It was putting her to sleep.

Chloe spoke softly. "I like this. This place. You. Me. We…we could stay."

Max nuzzled into her a bit more. "run away to a faraway planet together? just leave it all behind?"

"Why not? We could you know… build a little house over there, just up from the beach."

"food? water?"

"All here somewhere… We have time to figure it out. Follow all those fuzzy little guys? See what they eat? If I die, rewind and maybe we don't eat that? Plant stuff that's safe? Big ocean. There's fish too, right?"

Max smiled, one hand absently caressing Chloe. "fall asleep like this, to the sound of small waves every night? worse fates…"

"We could still hop back for grocery runs… books, movies…"

"electricity?"

"Easy. Solar. Three and all…"

Max sighed, nearly dreaming. These weren't unpleasant thoughts to fall asleep to. "we'd miss it though. home."

"Yeah, I know. But…"

"…we could always go back…"

"We could." Chloe pushed hair out of Max's face. Leaned to kiss the top of her head.

Max said sleepily, "not forever though. we're immortal. but they're not. if we don't help, there won't be anywhere to go back to…at some point anyway… without us there to help prevent… or at least help heal, like we did before…"

Chloe let out a breath. "No, you're right… I can…still daydream. At…night. I just…want something for just the two of us…you know?"

"it's always ever been…"

"…I guess… But not totally. I mean…I think…maybe, sometimes, I'm a little jealous of her?"

"…of yourself?"

"Not exactly. Just… she…I…had so much time with you. Past few days…sometimes you'll say something, and I know it was something from over there. Then. I just…wish that wasn't all gone for me… feel outside sometimes. I don't know."

Max forced herself to wake up a little. "I'm sorry Chlo. I know this is hard."

"Comes with the territory I guess. It's not huge. And I'll get past. I just, we had a deal, right? No secrets. I'm just sharing."

Max kissed Chloe below her collarbone, another on her neck, as she nuzzled again. "What can I do?"

"I don't know. Just keep being you?"

"remind me about this tomorrow? longer talk. i have an idea maybe…"

They lay in silence, eventually drifting off to sleep.

Chloe awoke to first sun poking her right in the eyelids. She squinted, stretched, a little annoyed. Max was cuddled up into her, both of them warm and naked in daylight. Suddenly, less annoyed. A few long white bird-ish animals with four wings and long flowing tails walked along the water, digging in the sand for breakfast. She could hear the sounds of nature beyond. Little waves. Slight breeze.

Max's eyes opened slightly, smiling as she saw Chloe. "Hey."

"Morning, sleepyhead."

"How long have you been up?" Max stretched a little, but didn't let go.

"Just now."

Max pulled herself up on top, straddling Chloe, gave her a kiss, her eyes closed.

Max's hair flopped around her face.

"You're a mess." Chloe teased.

"A cute mess at least?" Max gave her that look.

"No birds in your hair this time. But yes. You're a terribly cute mess."

"You're just saying that cause it's true. And cause we're naked…" Max leaned forward, nibbled on Chloe's earlobe, warm breath.

"Oh, you meant good morning…"

Chloe reached down, one hand to Max's breast, the other teasing down her stomach, ending between her legs. Max tilted her head, let out that little sound she does… Before Max could move again, Chloe pulled her hand back just outside of touching, teasing, then gave her a deep low frequency telekinetic pulse. Max's knees went out from under her with a vinyl squeak, and she dropped down onto Chloe's hand. Chloe continued with low frequency pushes and pulls, enhancing her physical manipulations, while Max melted and quivered over her in the morning sunlight.

"hi." said Max, hair a mess, chest, neck and face flushed, voice still shaking a little.

"Awake yet?"

"Oh my god, yes. Unless you're going to do that again. In which case, no. Still not quite awake." Max collapsed into Chloe. "Wow. That's… that's never getting old."

Chloe laughed. "I've been practicing on myself."

"That explains a lot over the past few days… just, if you do practice more, don't forget to make me a video? You know, for science?"

Then Max took her own turn. Re-introduced Chloe to some of the benefits of centuries of intimate knowledge of Chloe's body, how she works… And a few tricks of her own. Her mouth... tongue... fingers... mixed with overlapping highly localized time gradients flowing in different directions, at different rates, pulsing cancellation and amplification waves of time, toying with her nerves, forward and back with signal paths, and eventually, her brain.

Max's efforts quickly brought Chloe to the tipping point, then held her there, flowing through time, but signals in stasis, nerve endings firing, un-firing, re-firing, backing off when needed, bringing her forward in intensity until Chloe thought her head would literally explode, eventually releasing her to a more natural conclusion…

They spent the rest of the day reacquainting themselves with themselves, and periodically snacking. Because snacks. Finally falling exhausted as the final sun turned over the horizon.

Off-world bouncy castle weekend for the win… as Chloe drifted off.

Max linked up with Sophie once they were back, after she and Chloe had discussed it.

Hello Max. Yes, of course the offer is still good. There's far more memory to share now, but…

How selectable is it, Sophie?

What do you mean?

What if there's some periods of time I don't want her to see - can they be…clipped out?

Oh, I see. Yes. Her torture. The one you erased is still in your head. The truth about Arnault… I'm so sorry Max.

I don't want her to experience any part of that.

No, of course not. It should be okay.

And a few other…timeframes… Mid 22nd century… I've tried to be careful. To leave her with a life that includes a mostly positive non-traumatic set of final memories. That doesn't work if she sees them. Or sees what I've had to do to ensure she never had them.

Of course. It should be okay… Oh. And that. Max - that's…a full twenty-year period of time. That you repeated four entire times to get her out without…? my God. I…I understand. I had no idea you were carrying anything like this around with you. You don't show any of the outward signs I'd expect.

It was the only way. For her. (sadface)

Max, I'm so sorry.

Thanks Sophie. It's in the past. After five hundred years, you learn what to let go of… mostly. Will there be obvious gaps in memory, or can you smooth out the edges a little?

If we only show her the final timelines of each maybe it shouldn't be noticeable…

Sophie, what about him? I don't want her to…

You found Roland! Oh. Shit. I swear I didn't know. I'd…never met him.

Well, you did try to warn me about them.

I never dreamed they'd… Oh. Max… is that…?

Let's keep that isolated too. I owe him Sophie. You know I do.

I can't judge you Max. I feel what you feel. But at some point…

I can't tell you how much your help means Sophie.

We all owe each other. Everything goes around. Thinking of which, I should let the others know. Not the details of the 22nd, but my feelings after - so they understand. If they didn't realize already, this should be a final thing to make it clear. There's no danger that you'll capitulate to them, or…well…anyone really.

And Max, you know, I'll keep this close. Roland. But if you ever need to talk.

Thanks Sophie. And what you're doing, for Chloe and I - this is truly a gift. So, um - how do we do this?

We just need you two somewhere quiet. It would be best if we were all close. It should only take half a day.

Max held Chloe's hand as they stepped from their hotel in Atlanta to a room in a house in quiet village outside of Paris.

Sophie was already there. She'd prepared the space. Candles, shades drawn, but letting light through. Two mattresses side by side on the floor, elegant coverings draping over them.

She had Max and Chloe lie down in an open V shape, heads toward the center. Sophie would be the third, placing her head near theirs. She would do the rest.

"All you need to do is relax. If you become frightened or overwhelmed, I'll slow things down. If you fall asleep, it's okay. If you need a break for any reason, I'll know. We can start and stop. It's okay. But I need to ask, are you both absolutely sure this is something you want? It's okay to have reservations, but I need to know. It creates resistance. And it's best if you follow your instincts before we try. It's not harmful, but this is a comprehensive sharing between two minds. Thoughts, feelings, memories, experiences. In both directions. Yes? No?"

She and Chloe looked at each other, both nodded.

It wasn't perfect. But it was the closest they could do.

Chloe wouldn't have OtherChloe's memories of the next few centuries, but she'd at least know Max's.

It was a way for Max to share almost everything of her with Chloe.

A way to bridge the separation.

And a way for Chloe to feel more connected to Max's other life.

Max and Chloe joined hands. Not necessary to the process, but a comfortable habit.

In this quiet, Sophie linked them together, had them empty their thoughts.

She felt Chloe squeeze her hand, gently, but present.

Max could feel something odd.

This wasn't like her rebuild, where pieces were literally joining, giving her immediate awareness and participating in the welcome of new pieces as part of the whole. Sophie had likened it to moving a boat upstream on a river. You'd be aware of water flowing past, but you couldn't see anything distinctly except where you were. You'd have to travel the river before you could remember the journey. This kind of memory sharing was like that. They'd need to take time later to remember their memories together. Talk them through to give context, chronology. Memory was a plastic thing. They needed to find homes for them in their own minds.

This was flowing faster than she could watch, but she could still pick out pieces. Flashes of imagery. Herself as a small child, through Chloe's eyes, feeling excitement that she was there with her friend…

Then a yell and a noise. Everything cut off as all three jumped up away from their place on the floor.

Max reflexively fell back into the wall, almost knocking over candles.

Sophie rolled away, holding her head.

Chloe stood, fear in her eyes, losing her balance.

Max slowed the world, rushed over to catch her. Chloe reached out, steadied herself against Max before she should have known Max was there. Max normalized. Eyes wide, Chloe held her left arm out, away from her.

She scratched at her left shoulder with her right hand.

Turned her wrist.

A flicker of amber light. A holographic curve projected out inches from her shoulder, a thick glowing angled ring of light formed inches above the skin of her left wrist, another at her elbow. A cascade of light as prismatic rectangles of amber winked to life in the spaces between, joining the three in a united form, bending as she moved.

Sophie quickly recast the basic link, and all three minds shared some variation of the same thought.

No. Fucking. Way.

Sophie out of confusion.

Max out of recognition.

Chloe out of activation.

Chloe wiped a tear away. "She gave me everything Max. She…left messages…said she loved me too, and…didn't ever want me to feel lost or feel like I was second. And she didn't want you to feel separated. Alone."

Max was doing less good at keeping up with the tears. "Every memory?"

"That and more. Everything that made her her. Right up til the day you vanished. It's all in here. Plus some other stuff - from after."

"What do you mean?"

"Fucking libraries of information, knowledge, facts, schematics, engineering plans, ideas, things that went way beyond her time with you. Way beyond anything we can do now. There's a bridge that's miles high and looks like spider silk - I have no idea what most of this stuff is… I haven't been able to access too much of it yet. It's still unfurling I think… She only included her memories up to your jump because…I think she didn't want you to worry. Didn't want either of us to feel what it was like for her after."

"Chloe…oh god…I'm…so fucking sorry…" Max broke down, sobbing. "It all…it felt…so…real…"

Chloe held her, crying just as hard. She felt it for all three of them. "She never gave up trying to find you. And she finally did. Max, what she put in me… that butterfly… this is what she was made from…"

"What…do you mean?" Max wiped her eyes. "She gave you memory capsules and processing or?"

"No Max. That was the state of the art when you jumped back. This is… something else entirely. She left messages afterwards, markers, but no direct memories. A few things we'd need to understand. But she left plenty of room for mystery too. Things for us to figure out together."

"…tell me."

Chloe held Max's hand in her lap. "The state of art in augment-tech at the point you jumped - was gen 23? Hundred years after the first models, right?"

"Yeah, I…think that's right."

"Max, this is almost eighty-seven thousand years beyond that. She left the date markers clear. I'm…not joking. With continuous development…each new major generation designed by her while using the prior generation — so she hit an exponential curve almost immediately. She had to. Once you left, your immortality field went away - she only had sixty years to find a way to continue, all the while knowing she had to leave her body behind…"

"Oh…no…."

"She needed a place to go. To keep looking for you. She found a way, over years, bridging tech, with their help…mapped, blended, finally merged with the fourth generation AI as a lifeboat. Each generation was built by the sentient synthetic intelligence that came before it, so these were already way super far beyond us even before the third… They…helped her do it Max. They gave her everything."

Max, still in tears "She was so excited with the first… And when it created…a child…"

Chloe put her arm around Max's shoulders. "Max, she continued on from there. New bodies, new minds… Self assembling seeds. Not even sure this should be called tech anymore. They continued evolving together. Her, the synthetics… This is so far beyond cybernetics, AI, nanotech, bio - might as well be super-aliens and fucking space magic… I don't even know how many dimensions this stuff is taking up. That's what she gave me. The end state. The final generation. Since her butterfly, they've been replicating. In me. Building. Adding. Replacing."

"Chlo? Wait - are you still…you? Now-you?"

"Yes. Absolutely. It's okay. Now that the first stage is up, I know I know the difference. Between her memories and mine. She marked them all clearly. I can't explain it right, but she didn't want me to ever get confused. She didn't design it to take over me. She made it as something to step into when I wanted it. Needed it. When I was ready. I can access any of it on the side, or, if I want, I can move in permanently. Extend it myself, become the next gen, beyond what she was when she sent this. If I want. It's already upgrading my body. My cells. Redundancies. Resilience… It's still unpacking… So much more. She wanted me to be free to be me. With you. But to have a little gift from her to make it better for both of us."

After a few minutes absorbing, Max asked, "Chloe - um…" she sniffled, "how will this interact with your new talent? Does that…"

Chloe smiled. "Let's just say that now, between the two of us? Max, they'll never fucking know what hit them…"

"I don't even know what to say Chlo…" Max hugged into her, face wet. "…everything she's given…for us…"

"She loved you…so much Max…"

Max said quietly "I loved her too… and I never would have…"

"She knew. And that you'd never leave her. Not willingly. Not knowingly." Chloe held on while Max let go.

Max leaned back on the bench. Her squirrel terrarium… All she needed now were the squirrels. Plants had taken hold. Waterproofing. Drip systems. Open spaces, hiding places. Three floors high, one wing. Would be open to everyone. A few trees. Sun streaming in, fountains burbling. Fish ponds. Paths through the grass. All indoor. Glass on all sides. It was better than she'd hoped. Critter advisors suggested she wait a couple of months. Let the ecosystem settle into a rhythm before adding the squirrels.

The top two floors on all three spokes were theirs, including the glass pool intruding into the top floor of one wing from above. So pretty at night. They turned them into glass walls, hallways on that floor. Worked with it. Lit from the water side. It came out awesome. This was finally their home.

The rest would be finished within a couple of weeks.

It had been six months. They'd bring the others in, start consolidating. A few of the labs were already open. Even if the elevators weren't completely working yet. It had taken longer than expected, but all of the last minute design and build changes from Chloe last year - structural, material, and otherwise - doubled the construction time, even with all three shifts going. Still. It was seriously badass.

She liked coming here, even without the squirrels.

It was a place where she could center herself. Watching the Koi. Calm her mind.

She'd usually come back after too. Stay for a while.

It always helped.

Max folded directly to the room. 6310. Modern suite in a fashionable hotel complex in Rio. White interior, polished marble surfaces, low seating.

"Roland."

The man who can lie to telepaths… the fucking infiltrator…

He was sitting at a cafe table on the covered balcony outside, at the other end of the room, tablet propped up against a carafe of water. Fruit. Cheese. Espresso. He appeared startled, but not surprised.

"It's only been two days. Didn't expect you'd track me down quite this quickly."

This first part was always rote. "Took us a few months. Worked backwards from there. Wrote myself a note near the beginning."

"Of course. You sh…"

Max fought the urge to speed through. But this part was always just sad. Confessing his part. Denying his part. She cut him off again. "Blah fucking blah. I get it. You know, I could have worked with that. The secret talent climbing the bad guy ladder bit, hard trade-offs for the greater mission, greater good. Nice - identify the string pullers… fuck it. whatever. Then I come along. Sure. You saw a weapon you could point at them. I could understand. All of it. But not what you did to her."

Sometimes she wondered if she just came here to yell at him.

She continued before he could say the next lines. "As long as I've been coming here, there's never been anything you've said that has kept you alive beyond these few moments."

Dawning realization. "How long?"

"Few months. We're at sixty or so out of a target of ten thousand."

"That's probably not healthy. Does she know?"

"It wouldn't save you if she did."

"Max, after today, you need to stop. Not for me - for you. I didn't…"

"You didn't what, Roland? Go to all this trouble? For me? The world? This is your sacrifice? I've heard it all. We've had…time. I know what you are. What you did. Why you think you did it. You lost your way a long time ago."

"It worked though. That's all that really matters. Look at you."

"Sophie was right about you guys. You're all fucking nuts. World's worst fan club."

"They have a chance now, you know? I made you stronger. Better. She…Chloe…it didn't really happen anyway. Not really. And without you, that b…"

"Doesn't matter. Three fucking hours, Roland. What you did to her. I could erase it from Chloe. From you. But not from me."

"There's…a part of me that's sorry for that, Max…"

"I know."

She shifted, striking the air with the back of her hand. Behind her movements, an echoing trail of exploding microscopic lights followed. Each giving birth to a new universe.

The explosive shockwave pushed through the open cube of the room, bulging the walls only slightly, the force carrying furniture, artworks, and Roland out into the empty air sixty-three stories up. His body traveled a mile from the hotel before hitting the ground.

It didn't ever seem to matter how this hour played out. As long as Roland was dead before she jumped back, the effect on the future remained the same. Nothing.

She'd have to remember to pick up koi pellets on her way back this time.

Max knew Chloe was a little nervous, standing off to the side. This wasn't Max's first time in front of people. It had always been easier for her though - if she fucked it up, she could just rewind. Chloe had all of the memories of leadership, but they were given to her. She'd still need to earn her way to confidence on things outside her current comfort zone.

This was still outside Max's preference zone, but she knew she had to play a role here today. Leadership was partly administration. Long hours. Paperwork. Partly being out there doing the actual work alongside others. But you also had to be able to communicate a valuable and believable vision for the future. Inspire people to do their best, most thoughtful work toward a common goal. Why are we all here? What are we all trying to do? Help people understand that they affect the outcome, succeed or fail. That they have a stake in all of it and a reason for being here that goes beyond a paycheck. And that you're right there with them. They had to believe in the leaders, each other, and in the mission. Not without question - they had to care enough do that too.

That she was good at all of this was beside the point. It was still outside her preference zone. Just before the time hit, Chloe pulled her over, fussed with her collar for a second. A grown-up shirt. Pleh.

Chloe brushed Max's blue streaks to one side, gave her a sharp nod and a smile. Whispered, "You seem all serious-pants. You know what you're gonna say?"

"I thought maybe I'd just go up and talk about boys for like twenty minutes?" whispered Max, casually.

"If you want, I could go up and lead everyone in a quick prayer? Dear Max, thank you for these chairs…"

"I'm gonna punch you right in the beak Price! Don't you dare!"

Chloe sidled up, leaned in conspiratorially, "Or I could go up, introduce you? Tell them the part where you're like the sole occupant and goddess of your own magical space universe, slumming down here with us mortals?"

"Chloe! Shush. You know it's not like that. Don't tell them that. Some of the new people would totally believe you…"

"Dear Max. For Maxmas, I want a pony, and a PS4 and…"

"Brat. Stop making me laugh. I have to do this right. You're sooo gonna get it later."

"Promise?"

"You will bow before your god." Max said seriously, but softly.

"I like you. And this? Never getting old…"

Max rolled her eyes, walked up to the front onto the elevated platform. Tripped on the edge and fell flat on her face.

Chloe just laughed, turned away, shaking her head. Gave Max the rewind motion.

Max rolled her eyes again. Rewound.

Max appeared on the elevated platform. Gave herself a minute to get her mind back to the right place for what she had to do here. It actually was a pretty serious-pants moment… back in character…

She looked out over the small sea of faces behind monitors, bunched rolling chairs, groups hanging out between aisles, the small drones relaying video to other floors, wings, a few out in the field on mobiles. Sophie near the front, linked to still more, relaying.

This is the real beginning, she thought, taking in the room, the people around her, feeling the building, spaces, people. This was where the next phase started. This is where they would all come together as a full team. The corrective measure. The opposing force. The immovable fucking object. The lighthouse against the darkness.

"So first, hi everyone. Um. Most of you know, I'm Max Caulfield. I'm the MC in MCCP… somewhere outside on the building I think… unless it fell off again? I…we…wanted to thank you. For being here. For all the hard work you've put in to get this building, this sanctuary, the biolabs, R&D, tech center, talent training, and this permanent operations center up and running. I know we've all been running while tying our shoes here, so yeah. I think we have, what, eight live ops going on right now closing down the last of the stragglers from the December actions?"

Tyrell nodded.

"And three candidates for cold fusion designs nearing fight-club stage? And a prototype electrical transformer that can heal damage from solar flares, EMP bursts?"

Chloe nodded.

"And a new team in C-wing is almost ready to fertilize new black rhino embryos for surrogate implantation? This is all amazing work, especially with the lights still flickering…and yes, I'm sorry a few of you got stuck in the elevator earlier…"

Laughter.

"So you're going to hear from a few people up here today representing a range of disciplines. For those of you who've been with us a while, some of this will be a repeat. But there are enough of you who are brand new that we thought it made some sense to do this. Big picture. There are also people in a variety of fields who aren't used to this kind of cross-functional sharing. It's all connected, so this is how it should work day to day. We have three wings of forty floors each. Another twenty below. Kitchens and coffee in the middle. Talk to people. It's why your workspaces are intermingled. Anyway, this is our first real week here together in this new building, and we thought you should all understand why."

She continued. "So John Michaels, our EVP on the ops side, will brief you all on the backstory in a minute. Which is also a forward story, or a side story. Maybe. Shut up. You know what I mean."

A few chuckles around the room.

"Yeah, I'm not even gonna bother rewinding. You're all stuck with that in your heads… Permanent record. Your fault." she made a face. She could see Chloe cringing off to the side. Charming goofball is part of the role too, dear…keeps us relatable. approachable. we need that to ground us; temper the other parts of us in their eyes…

"But we need you to really understand - what you do here is important. It matters. I don't mean that in the abstract. In the past six months, with limited staff and support, working out of warehouses around the country, you and your teammates brought four species back from the edge, while others beside you have saved literally tens of thousands of human lives around the world. Let that sink in for a second."

A small voice from the back, "we're still trying to catch up!" laugher in the room.

Chloe touched a glowing amber prism above her forearm, bringing the holo-display above Max to life, with a single bright amber line running from left to right…

"This is why I'm here. This end is today, July 10th, 2014. That end is October, 2338." Small dots began to appear on the timeline. Then joined by large. Then clusters one-third of the way along, falling off the line, and another massive set with really large dots and clusters obscuring the line and space on each side completely for a quarter of the total timeline over the two-thirds mark.

"Each of those dots, circles, represents a future historical event. Each pixel is a million dead." She let that sink in.

"Thing is, we're not here to save lives. We're here to save generations. Entire family lines. Ethnic bloodlines. Cultures. We're trying to save ten billion people from extinction. More once you consider the generations lost, stretching away beyond them. We're trying to save them all. But also trying to help build them a world, a civilization they'd dream of living in. That everyone can find a place in; be proud of."

A single green line appeared, an overlay. The thickness of the line increased from left to right, widening off the display completely by the two-thirds mark. Started to converge back toward the center in the final third.

"Biodiversity. Each pixel off that center line represents an additional ten thousand species lost per year. That doesn't include the baseline of a hundred and twenty thousand species lost each year since the start of the Holocene extinction event - human related species loss we've been a part of for the past twelve thousand years. Each year, that line resets to zero as the extinct species fall off. Gets bigger every year just the same."

The room was once again sobered.

Red overlay. Blocks of time. "Wars. Global conflicts."

Yellow overlay. "Disease. Bacterial. Viral. Weaponized and natural."

Magenta overlay. Hockey-stick line. "Global temperatures."

Cyan overlay. Jagged line. "Number of people alive on earth. That low point near the bottom there? Ten million souls. Total. Global." She could hear the sharp intakes of breath.

Blue overlay. Point events. "Natural disasters."

Purple overlay. "Number of people living beyond earth. That line never rises above ten."

A bright white line, a tiny stub, appeared on the left side. Zoomed in, all other data visuals faded behind.

"This is the past six months. That white line? That's us." The display zoomed out again. "Everything that's not on that white line — that's preventable. Addressable. Solvable. We're the only ones standing between now - and then. That's why we're here."

She let that sit.

"Now, we'll hear from a few of your peers. To tell you what we're all doing about it. What we're trying to build instead…" Max held for a moment, moved off the platform.

Chloe called this MAXx. Max hated it. Thankfully she didn't say the name out loud to anyone else. They'd start repeating it. This mini-event would go on all day, with food and breaks, as different department heads introduced their teams, walked through their projects. Scientists. Architects. Engineers. Inventors. Roboticists. Biologists. Oceanographers. Materials engineers. Neurologists. Researchers. Talents. Finance and investments. Ops teams. And more. Max walked back to Chloe, on the other end of the floor near the central elevators.

"Can you get me a job here? This place sounds really awesome." whispered Chloe.

"I hate you." smiled Max, under her breath.

"You love me and you know it."

"Busted." Max cast her eyes around the room. "What do you think?"

Chloe answered, "I think we have a long way to go. But it's a really good core team. This is a start. Way more than we had last loop. Getting into this early is a huge edge for the good guys I think."

Max added, "I think our opposition has the message that it's gonna be a fight. And they're winding up to make it as ugly as possible."

"Fuck 'em. They don't deserve this world."

"I'm with you."

"Is that a promise?"

"A threat." Max took her hand.

"So, boss, now that this launch is out of the way, any chance we can head to Thailand for the weekend? Wake up naked on a beach? You kinda promised…"

"Wait… I thought you were the boss? And I did, didn't I? Um. What's airfare like right now?"

Chloe laughed. "I hate you."

"I know…"

"If not Thailand, um, can we at least do that zero-g sex in a space hamster bubble thing again? Cause…that kinda rocked."

"Why not both?" Max leaned into Chloe, kissed her. Their view of the operations center gave way to a bright shiny blue. A hemisphere covered half their sky. Somewhere far below, Max could almost see their Thai beach…

After

One hundred sixty-three thousand light years away, nearly eighty-seven thousand years into the future, a blue hypergiant star five-million times more luminous, and two hundred thirty times more massive than earth's sun, vanishes. Exiting the universe across all of time, as though it had never existed at all.

Final note:

As a closing pointer, this series continues on in the sequel, 'Near Light'. So if you enjoyed this one, you should maybe go check it out. Cause I think more stuff happens over there. I mean, it's just starting, so...I'm assuming more stuff will happen? Kinda misses the opportunity if it doesn't, right? Gah. Can you imagine? After all that, you click over and it's all just "And then, nothing else happened. Ever. The End."

Bright side, it would be super short? Whatever. You get it.

I'll try my best not to totally screw it up, and y'all try your best not to totally yell at me if I make mistakes. Deal? :D