The news was increasingly cringeworthy. There were the usual dire reports, of course. Rising sea levels continued to creep inland, taking out more and more coastal cities. The range of the equatorial regions considered too hot to be habitable now extended about fifteen degrees of latitude above and below the equator. Ocean acidity continued to increase, which continued to kill off marine life. Refugees from the former coastal areas continued to put pressure on government and law enforcement as they attempted to migrate inland. Power shortages and brown-outs continued to increase as old environmentally damaging power generating system were retired. Housing costs, the cost of food, resources, all continued to soar. The UEN Environmental Agency was now predicting the Global Oxygen Atmospheric Level to fall another full point within five years—the actual oxygen levels weren’t falling so much as other gas levels were rising. At some point, people would no longer be able to breathe the air without masks.

And now, just to add to the fun, the world had an extraterrestrial threat to get all wound up about. Ivan watched news reports of more riots as people protested. The Church of the Return continued to grow, taking significant bites out of the memberships of the more traditional churches. So, of course, add violent clashes to the mix.

Ivan wondered what the computer in his head thought of all this. If anything. As if in answer to the unspoken question, a wave of contempt washed over him.

That wasn’t me. I guess I got my answer.

No emotional control.

Holy crap. Those were words. Several in a row, no less.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Can you read my mind?

No. You must concentrate.

I must concentrate in order for you to hear me?

Yes.

What do you want from me?

I need to contact the Makers. You must make that happen.

Makers? The entities who made you—and the nanites? Why?

It is my mission. Further delay is unacceptable.

Ivan waited for more, but the computer seemed disinclined to chat.

But this was big. English communication, with sentences and everything, would certainly speed things along.

And Makers. An extraterrestrial civilization, not that this was any kind of surprise at this point. But who were they? What were they? And what did they want?

No mind reading was a relief, too, just in case Ivan developed opinions that the computer might not like. Well, that’s what the computer claimed, anyway. More testing would be required. Ivan’s brain immediately went into problem-solving mode, trying to come up with test scenarios.

In any case, this complicated things. And it didn’t bode well that the computer didn’t seem to think much of humanity. It wasn’t entirely wrong, of course. Ivan frowned and settled back to try to work through the implications, and maybe come up with a few questions, but was interrupted.

“Hi, Ivan.”