Author's note

Due to recent events, I'm going to be putting this story aside for a bit. For those of you who have already read and reviewed it, I'd like to explain why.

I had intended for the next chapter to include a flashback that dealt with the disaster that destroyed Los Angeles. I imagined that disaster to be an extremely powerful earthquake that caused a catastrophic meltdown at a nuclear power plant. When I dreamed up that scenario, it was still science fiction. I started writing my next chapter last week. I was about half finished when I heard about the earthquake in Japan. Since then, as the news from Japan has gone from bad to worse, I've been unable to continue writing this story.

I do intend to get back to this story in a few weeks, once I've had time to think it over. When I do, I'll probably take it in a slightly different direction. Until then, thanks for all of the encouraging comments.