“What is it?”

“A video message. But the file is corrupt. Only the audio is functional.”

“From what source?”

“Only a Grid address is listed. It is Ray4306.”

“No name is attached?”

“No.”

“Please play the message.”

I sat back and listened. The man sounded older, in his eighties perhaps. “Eli, I wanted to meet with you in VR and say this face to face, but I’ll leave you this brief message. I’m sending parallel messages to Sam and Lauren. I hope somehow he is able to receive his, and I hope after all these years she is willing to respond. I don’t know if I can trust her, but my options are few. I realize we only recently reignited a friendship that began decades ago, but I do trust you.

“I’ve never been an alarmist. But now I am alarmed. I’m afraid I’ve made a grave mistake in my involvement here all these years. My associate is willing to go to extremes I never envisioned to accomplish his objective. I fear humanity itself is about to be led down a tragic path, one from which there may be no escape. And I’ve collaborated in it.”

There was a pause, then the message continued. “This has something to do with what you and I have been discussing. I apologize if all this sounds like the ramblings of a madman. I didn’t intend that. But events have given me the clarity I’ve been missing all along. Please tap me as soon as you get this.”

I leaned back into the office chair and exhaled deeply. Who was this man? I didn’t recognize the voice. My father had known him for decades? What was my father’s association with someone like this? The man did indeed sound, if not demented, at least mildly paranoid.

“Alistair, in what year was this message sent?”

“This year.”

“This year? On what date?”

“April 14.”

A week before my father died.

Kate turned off the fan over her stove and dished two servings of linguine and pesto sauce onto plates. She cocked her ear to the side. What was that noise? She followed the sound to her bathroom, where Abby had gone for a moment before dinner. She could hear water running inside. And Abby crying.

“Abby? Are you all right?” She knocked gently on the door. “Abby, it’s Kate. Are you okay? May I come in?”

There was a pause. “Yes. Come in.”

Kate opened the door. Abby was leaning over the sink, trying with her hands to plug the water pouring from the faucet. Water was spraying everywhere.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just…I don’t know…how to stop…wasting this water.”

Kate stepped to the sink. “You wave your hand in front of this motion sensor.”