“I don’t think that’s true; people go through rigorous physical and mental training to go into space. I get winded going up two flights of stairs, and the only reason I didn’t fail out of trig was I flirted with my teacher in just this right balance of making her feel attractive but not risking myself getting in tr—anyway. There are so many people in this world with real qualifications.”

“I DID NOT ASK FOR A QUALIFIED HUMAN. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION IS IRRELEVANT TO ME. I ASKED FOR YOU. YOU ARE MY CONDITION.”

“So you’re saying if I don’t agree to this, if Cora doesn’t agree to this . . . you won’t do it at all.”

“IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS, I MUST CONCLUDE THAT YOU WOULD RATHER DIE HERE WITH YOUR OWN THAN LEAVE THIS WORLD ON THE SLIM CHANCE OF BUILDING A NEW SOCIETY IN A NEW ONE. IF THAT IS THE CASE, AND YOU WOULD PREFER TO STAY HERE AND DIE WITH YOUR FAMILY, THEN I WOULD MAKE THE SAME DECISION, AND STAY HERE AND DIE WITH MINE.”

“This is . . . way too big a decision to hang on what I decide to do.”

“OUR CHANCES OF SUCCESS WERE ALWAYS EXTREMELY MINUTE. I FEEL THEY ARE EVEN SMALLER WITH MY BELOVED IN SUCH A POOR CONDITION, A CONDITION FROM WHICH HE IS LIKELY NEVER TO RECOVER. BUT MOREOVER, IT IS NOT MY SPECIES THAT IS THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION, DEAR CLEVER CREATURE. YOU ARE MY CONNECTION TO THIS CIVILIZATION. I DO NOT WANT TO REBUILD HUMAN CIVILIZATION WITHOUT YOU IN IT. YOU ARE MY CONDITION.”

Fri, April 4, 2008 at 1:17 AM

From: Nils Ortega <[email protected]>

To: T Julian <[email protected]>

Subject: Bedford incident

Dear Senator Julian,

I have sent you the documents over an encrypted server. An anonymous source gave me a tip to investigate an incident in Bedford, VA on October 7th 2007. Following that lead, the information I have obtained is extremely limited, but perhaps given your position you might be able to uncover more specifics. There were four CIA agents killed in action on October 7th 2007. I have no information about them other than their names, which may or may not be covers: Vladimir Barash, Alycia Arline, Mark Aquino, and Vincent Park. Their deaths are connected to amygdaline Similars “unnamed stratocrats 1–4”—047, AG-ETI-048, AG-ETI-049, AG-ETI-050. All four “Similars” connected with event “Obelus,” which is the CIA code name for the second celestial object event if you’ll remember I broke the day after it happened.