After Eden by Helen Douglas Page B

don’t trust me?”
    “It has nothing to do with trust. Even in my own time, nobody will know the real reason for my mission. There will be a cover story.”
    I sipped my coffee. “How do I know you’re a good guy and not a bad guy if you won’t tell me why you’re here?”
    Ryan frowned. “You think I might be a bad guy?”
    “I know that Connor isn’t.”
    Ryan sighed deeply. “Connor isn’t a bad guy. But neither am I.”
    “You expect me to just accept that because you said so?”
    He hesitated. “You’re right. You do know too much already.” He looked into my eyes. “But you have to promise me that you will never, ever repeat what I tell you.”
    “I can keep a secret.”
    “Okay. This summer Connor discovers the existence of a planet.”
    I thought back to what Ben had just said about planets being discovered all the time.
    “Lots of planets are being discovered,” said Ryan, as if reading my mind. “But they are almost all gas giants. Even those initially thought to be Earth-like turn out not to be. But the one Connor discovers is a habitable, Earth-like planet. A planet with water and a breathable atmosphere.”
    “I saw a photo in that book. Connor surrounded by pink cliffs and a river and what looked like jungle.”
    “The planet he discovers has life,” said Ryan. “Plants and animals. Even now, when I come from, Eden is the only planet we’ve discovered that has life.”
    “It looked beautiful.”
    “It is beautiful,” said Ryan, nodding. “Very beautiful. And very deadly. It looks a lot like Earth; it has evolved like Earth in lots of ways.”
    “Does it have humans?”
    “No mammals. Just birds and insects and lots of plants.”
    “How is it deadly?”
    “A microscopic parasite lives on Eden. It’s harmless to life on Eden. But back on Earth it’s deadly. When tradeships moved between Eden and Earth, they inadvertently transported the parasite with them. It was so hard to identify that our quarantine procedures didn’t detect it. Within months of transporting resources from Eden to Earth, entire habitats on Earth started dying off. It took decades before the parasite was discovered. By then, it was too late. Most of the globe had been infected. Many parts of the Earth are uninhabitable.”
    I shook my head. “That’s terrible.”
    Ryan shrugged. “Earth is dying. Most of the trees have gone. So many plant species have died out.”
    “What about people?”
    “The parasite doesn’t hurt animals directly. But by destroying plants, it destroyed the habitats of many animals. Including humans. Do you know how many people there are on Earth now?”
    “About seven billion?”
    “When I’m from, the population is less than one billion. The rapid reduction is due to global famine. Many people think the human race will be finished in less than fifty years.”
    I stared into my coffee cup. “Can’t you find a way to destroy the parasite?”
    “It’s too widespread.”
    “What about moving people to Eden? Can’t the inhabitants of Earth relocate?”
    Ryan shook his head. “Eden only has a very small habitable region. Most of the planet is too hot or too cold. It’s not an alternative to living on Earth.”
    Suddenly everything was clear. “So you’re here to prevent Eden from ever being discovered.”
    “That’s right. Eden is beautiful, but it’s lethal to life on Earth.”
    My coffee was getting cold. I drained the mug and tried to take in the enormity of Ryan’s purpose here. “If Connor doesn’t discover the planet this summer, won’t someone else discover Eden? I mean, if it’s there, surely someone will discover it eventually. You can’t prevent that.”
    “And you said you don’t believe in Fate.”
    “I don’t. All I’m saying is that if Connor discovered it, it can’t be that hard to find. No offense to Connor, but he’s not exactly a genius.”
    “Eden is actually very hard to detect from Earth. It’s possible to detect for a few hours this