CRYERS by Geoff North Page B

didn’t
have any more time to waste. Edna typed feverishly a few moments longer. She
finished with her name, leaned back and read over the most important—and
last—letter she would ever write.

 
    Dear Great-grandfather,

 
    The solar storms that started in 2067 have
intensified. Over half of the world’s power grids have fried and left billions
without the means to sustain themselves. We have walked on the surface of Mars
and established manned stations on moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. But for
all the wonderful advances in technology you’ve slept peacefully through during
the last century, mankind’s ignorance and inability to preserve itself has left
us wide open to the most natural of threats.
    They knew the ‘big’ coronal ejection was coming
weeks ago. Science has at least timed the beginning of civilization’s decline
down to the minute.
    My father—your grandson—saw it coming decades
ago. You would have been proud of him. He carried on your work, created a
formula to bring the sleeping back. It was our family’s greatest achievement.
But he didn’t stop there. Other enhancements were discovered. Your body was
thawed in 2055 and the enhancements were introduced into your DNA.
    I don’t have the time to explain it all. You
can learn more through the same computer you’re reading this letter on now. It
has been programmed to respond to the sound of your voice. Ask questions and it
will answer. There will be instructions on how to revive your descendants and
the thousands of other ABZE clients you offered a second chance.
    You will be the first. It’s what Father
wanted—what we all wanted. The man that started it all will bring us all back.
Hopefully your rest will be a relatively short one.
    The Dauphin facility will continue to run on a
bare minimum of power until the world energy shortage is resolved. It will
remain powered, if need be, for the next two thousand years. Had the world
opted for nuclear battery technology earlier, civilization might not now be on
the brink of collapse. Fortunately ABZE has always thought ahead. We still look
to tomorrow and build for that future with our clients’ investments. It was my
decision to power all twenty-one installations with nukebatts. It was costly,
and the board of directors fought me. But I won out in the end. Not all
Eichbergs are scientific geniuses. Some of us are better suited to the business
end of things.
    Thank you, Great-grandfather, for your vision
and your brilliance—thank you for this life that never has to end.

 
    All my love and hopes,
               Edna Eichberg

 
    Edna saved
the letter and left the office. She glanced back at the clock one last time
halfway through the door. Four minutes. Four minutes to travel two floors down to E level and have herself frozen with all the other surviving Eichbergs.
    The internal
clock inside her brain took over, a habit Edna had picked up since before she
could remember even learning to count. The seconds clicked down as she hurried
away.
    235…
    234…
    233…

Chapter 17

 
    Cobe could no
longer make his fingers touch with both hands wrapped around his left knee.
“It’s swelled up real bad… Hurts like a somma bitch.”
    Willem
remained propped up against the open elevator door, sitting and watching his
older brother struggle with the pain in the shadows. “You shoulda landed on
your feet—not your gawdamn knees.”
    “I was trying not to land on you .”
    Willem chewed
his thumbnail and watched a little longer. “We sitting in here all day, or are
you gonna try and stand on it?”
    Cobe tried
bending his leg at the knee again. The finger massage hadn’t helped. The pain
brought tears to his eyes and he had to bite down on his lip to stop from
crying out. They couldn’t afford to make noise. The lawman—the only one who
knew anything about the place, and the only one capable of protecting them—had
been torn to shreds by a howler, and howlers had awfully good