Coop motioned for Giselle to come with him across the room.

“What do you think? Is he really an angel?” she said.

Coop shook his head. “I don’t know. But I’m a little past being surprised by anything right now.”

“Me, too.” Giselle opened the pizza box an inch and sniffed it. “Smells good,” she said.

“Yeah. It does.”

She got a little closer to Coop and spoke softly. “You know, that was almost gallant what you did back there. Getting between me and Eddie.”

“I just didn’t want him to see you and think I’m dating a cop.”

Giselle cocked her head. “Dating? Are we dating now?”

“You know what I mean.”

She glanced over at Qaphsiel, who seemed lost in his own celestial misery. “So, one last time, are you going to send me home? I’d like to remind you that there’s something out there that can destroy the world.”

“If we believe that guy,” said Coop.

“And even if no one opens the box, they might bump it wrong or x-ray it, and set it off without meaning to.”

Coop nodded and looked at her, holding the pizza box between them. “That would be a bad thing.”

“It would be worse if you threw me out.”

“Yeah, if I did that, you’d probably forget all that gallant stuff.”

“You can bet your ass on that. Gone like that,” she said, snapping her fingers.

“Tough choice for me,” said Coop. “If I let you stay I have to share my pizza.”

Giselle pinched his arm hard.

“Ow.”

“The world could literally end tonight. You’re seriously going to send me home alone?”

Coop looked at the pizza. At Qaphsiel. At Giselle. “You want to finish Forbidden Planet and eat pizza in my room?”

She smiled. “You know how robots turn me on.”

Coop looked back at the angel. “Hey, Qaphsiel. There’s blankets in the hall closet. Feel free not to knock on my door. If Morty comes in, don’t blow him up. And don’t tell him you’re an angel. Tell him you’re someone I knew in jail.”

“I can’t lie,” said Qaphsiel.

“Then tell him you’re an angel and that we’ll explain things in the morning,” said Giselle.

“Thank you.”

“Good night,” she said. She was going to say something else, but Coop was already pulling her into his room. She closed and locked the door.

THIRTY-TWO

THE NEXT MORNING, GISELLE FOUND COOP ON HIS knees making retching noises in front of the toilet.

He was dressed in his pajama bottoms. She was in his one clean shirt. “Are you all right?” she said. “Was it the pizza?”

Coop waved a hand at her, staying on his knees. “Don’t worry. It’s just my traditional someone-tried-to-shoot-me-oh-god-is-there-a-spider-on-my-face ritual.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah. If anyone asks, tell them about how brave I was and not this.”