A small voice in his head tried to speak over the screaming in his broken heart. She's right. Take responsibility for yourself. Pull yourself together and do something about it.

James latched on to those words. Memories of the fight flowed back into his head, and he knew it was his fault. His body had grown weak, and he had allowed it. Whether it was accumulated lag sickness or alcohol abuse, maybe just the years of wear and tear finally catching up to his body, this was all his fault. When Elise and Smitt and everyone else needed him the most, he had checked out, fallen into the bottle and fallen apart. He broke down in tears once again as all hope suddenly escaped him.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely audible.

"Stop saying sorry, James," Grace said. "Nobody cares about your apologies. Figure out how to make things right."

"I don't know if I can..."

"I swear I will smack more sense into you if you keep this up," Grace growled. "We need the old James right now."

"She's right," Franwil said. "The Manhattan Nation won a major battle today. We've defeated our invaders, and scouts have reported that the enemy have all left the Mist Isle. Victory is ours, and the people celebrate. However, a lot of chiefs are dead, and with Elise gone, they're looking for someone to lead. Many are looking to you, chronman."

"I can't lead them," he said. "They don't trust me. They never have. Black abyss, I don't trust me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Franwil said. "Everyone is crediting you with taking back the All Galaxy. Eriao has already said the tribe will be better served with you as war chief."

"Eriao has been dying to pass that buck along for months." Grace chuckled.

"You have to think about the larger picture as well," said Franwil. "There's hundreds of wastelander tribes, all part of the Manhattan, looking for guidance. This whole alliance will fall apart without strong leadership."

"I don't care about the alliance," he cried.

Franwil grabbed him by the shoulder and stared into his eyes. "You lie with your mouth, chronman, but not your heart. You do. I know it."

Grace didn't word it so kindly. "I swear I'm going to hit you again, James. Do you want all of Elise's hard work to fall apart because you were too weak, too afraid, and too full of self-pity to step up? Besides, if we're going to get her back from those bastards, we're going to need all the help we can get."

"What's the point of all this if she's not here?" James asked.

Titus put a hand on James's shoulder. "The point, son, is there's a chance we can get her back. Don't let it slip between your fingers."

Those words hit close to home. He did care about everything they'd built more than he was willing to admit. And finding a way to rescue Elise right now was the only thing that pulled him away from total despair. He swore he would do whatever it took to get her back. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking his time to collect his thoughts.

"What do you need me from me?" he asked. "I'll do whatever it takes."

"Take over as the war chief for the Nation and be the figurehead that Elise was. The people need someone to look to and give them confidence and hope." Grace smiled. "The three of us will actually be the ones running everything."

"We will guide you like we did Elise," Franwil said.

She and Grace looked at Titus, who shrugged. "I guess."

James looked at his advisers. Together, they were just shy of three centuries old. "We're going to need more than just the Manhattan Nation if we're going to go up against a megacorporation."

"Auditor Levin from Earth Central has sent word," Pollock added. "He says ChronoCom wishes to ally with the Manhattan Nation. He wants a meeting with your leaders immediately to discuss the defense of the planet as well as continuing pursuit of a cure for the Earth Plague. How should I respond?"

James looked at everyone looking expectantly at him. He finally nodded. "Tell Levin that the war chief of the Nation of the United Tribes of Manhattan looks forward to meeting with him."

Elise woke up in a white room also thinking she was dead. First she noticed the shiny white walls and ceilings, then she looked to her left and saw that the floors, doors, and even the furniture were all the same impossibly pure white. She thought the color was impossible because in all the times she had been in this present, she had not seen anything so ... not dirty.

Except once. That shiny white building-ship thing back in Chicago.

She sat up. She was in a bed, in a square room, with only a table and two chairs. Nothing else. Everything was snow white, even her clothes, from her pants to her shirt to-she checked-her underwear. For a second, she was ecstatic that she was wearing clean fresh underwear. This pure white room was what she had imagined the future would look like.

Then terror gripped her. Where was she? Who had her? The last thing she remembered was fighting those Valta jerks-those white-uniformed Valta troopers-in Aranea. More memories returned. Her mechanoid was split open and she had lost consciousness. Now she was here.

"Where in Gaia am I?" she said aloud. Her voice felt dead in this window-less room. Dampened. "Hello?" she said louder. "Anyone here?"

A few seconds later, one of the walls hissed, and a tall thin man with an equally long face walked in. He was bald, but in a manicured way. His features were delicate, and he looked almost alien. Like her, he was wearing all white. He moved with an eerie grace. She scooted to the back of her bed as he approached.

The man pulled up a chair and sat next to her. "Hello, Elise Kim. I trust your accommodations are more suitable for you than the horror of what you've experienced the past few months."

"Who are you?" she asked. "What do you want with me?'

The man bowed his head. "I am Sourn, Vice President of Earth Operations of the Valta corporation. We're all terribly excited to have you on board."

Elise's throat sank into her stomach. She tried to cry out, but nothing came. Her hands shook. "You genocidal bastards. You've killed so many of the Elfreth and the Manhattan people. You killed all my friends on the Nutris Platform."

Sourn looked surprised, and then shook his head. "Those fiends and savages have told you lies. It's all right. You're among your own civilized people again. You're safe now."

"What are you talking about?" Elise said. "What do you want with me? Why did you capture me?"

"Capture you?" He looked bemused. "My dear, I think there's been a terrible mistake. You see, ever since we learned about your predicament, we have been doing everything in our power to rescue you from the savages."

"What? Rescue me?" A tinge of doubt crept into her thoughts. She added, "They're not savages."

"Of course they are. Those savages captured and held you for the past year. We're so relieved to have finally mounted a successful rescue."

Elise's jaws dropped. "What are you talking about?"

She knew what she had experienced the past year with James and Grace and Franwil and the Elfreth. That was real. However, what this person Sourn was saying made sense. Could she have somehow misunderstood the situation from the beginning? Was this some strange case of Stockholm syndrome? A very small seed of doubt sprouted inside her. She couldn't be sure anymore.

"What do you want with me?" she asked again, hesitantly.

"We require your expertise, Elise Kim. Valta is trying to cure the Earth of an evil known as Terravira, or what you refer to as the Earth Plague, and we need you to help us do it. Why else do you think we obtained the Nutris machines?" Sourn stood up and offered his hand. "Will you help us heal our planet?"

She pulled back. "Why would I help you?"

"Because," Sourn gave her a warm smile. "We're the good guys."

BOOKS BY WESLEY CHU.

Time Salvager.

The Lives of Tao.

The Deaths of Tao.

The Rebirths of Tao.

The Rise of Io.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

WESLEY CHU was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His debut novel, The Lives of Tao, earned him a Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award and a Science Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Finalist slot. You can sign up for email updates here.

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