Lucas held a shaky hand up and massaged his throat. Peyton again brought the ORS bottle to his lips and let him drink a bit.

“How was Desmond Hughes involved in your company?”

“He’s an investor,” Lucas said, his voice a little clearer. “We only met him a few times. He’s a technology investor and philanthropist. Kind of intense. Really smart. Into some crazy stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Change-the-world type projects. Everything from AI to medical research to quantum physics. He said the only thing humanity hasn’t upgraded is itself. He thinks it’s time. He said the next version would be a quantum leap forward. He was even using himself as a guinea pig.”

“Why was he interested in CityForge?”

“He said building better cities was the third world’s only chance.”

“Chance of what?”

“Surviving.”

That got Peyton’s attention. “Surviving?”

“His words, not mine. He believes if the third world doesn’t catch up to the rest of the world, there will be a major catastrophe—an extinction-level event. He said that’s why our work is so important.”

“Interesting,” Peyton said. “Why does he think that?”

“The absence of space junk.”

“Space junk?”

“Probes from other civilizations. This was over dinner, so maybe he was drunk.” Lucas thought for a moment. “Actually, I don’t think he was drinking. Anyway, he said that the most disturbing revelation in human history is the existence of two seemingly impossible facts: one, that the universe is billions of years old; and two, that the moon is not covered with wrecked space probes from other advanced civilizations that came before us.”

Peyton was confused. “How is any of that related to an impending extinction-level event?”

“I don’t know. He said he and a small group of people knew the real truth about why there’s no space junk. He said they would soon test their theory. He was pretty cryptic about the whole thing, to be honest, and I guess we were sort of blown away by him, so we weren’t really asking a lot of questions. He’s kind of larger than life. And his check for $150,000 cleared, so, you know, we listened and nodded.” He paused. “Why all the questions about Desmond? Is he somehow connected to this? Is he sick?”

“Not that we’re aware of,” Peyton said, deep in thought.

“Was the food contaminated? Are people back in North Carolina infected?”

“No,” Peyton said. “We still believe this is an isolated outbreak. I’m just covering all the bases. Listen, you’ve been very helpful, Lucas. I’ll be right back, okay?”