Post-Human Series Books 1-4 by David Simpson

at it.”
    “We’ve less than three minutes now,” Samantha announced.
    “Okay. Well, we better get started. How does this work?”
    “First, we step up on that platform,” she began, pointing to the small, silver platform. “The machine will harness the fusion energy from the generator and, for a microsecond, boil space, for lack of a better description.”
    “Boil space?”
    She nodded. “You’ll be protected by a magnetic field, but you’ll slip through the hole into the next universe.”
    “You haven’t been through before?”
    “No one has.”
    “That’s not very reassuring.”
    “We’ve sent probes, and so far they’ve all come back fine.”
    “And what about the nanobots?” he asked, holding up the syringe. “Aren’t I suppose to inject you with these?”
    “We can do that on the other side,” she said. She was no longer looking at him, but speaking as though she were in a trance.
    “I think we better go then,” Craig stated. “Time’s short.”
    “Yes. Time’s short.”
    “Sam. Are you okay?”
    “Craig,” she said, the look in her eyes warning Craig too late that something was very wrong, “I’m afraid I won’t be coming with you.”
    Before Craig could verbally respond, she held up her hand and sent green sparks of energy flashing toward him, stunning him unconscious and collapsing him to the ground.
    There were only ninety seconds left now before the Purist attack force arrived. She rushed to Craig and quickly turned him over so the back of his head faced her. She grabbed the syringe and quickly stuck it into the soft flesh just below the occipital bone and pumped the nanobots, complete with the A.I.’s mother program, into his body. Then she clutched his shirt and, with a grunt, began to drag his six-five frame up onto the Planck platform. Craig groaned, but his eyes remained shut.
    “I don’t know if you can hear me,” she began as she folded his arms and placed his body into the fetal position so there was no danger of any of his limbs dangling over the ledge and being left behind in Universe 1, “but no matter what you think, I do love you.” She opened the controls for the Planck platform in her mind’s eye and readied herself to activate the machine. “I always dreamt that I could bring you back, Craig, but you were gone a long time. Maybe someday, you’ll understand. I hope you will anyway.” She leaned over him and kissed his lips. He moved slightly, but she couldn’t be sure if he felt the kiss or had heard what she said. It didn’t matter anymore anyway. They had run out of time.
    She stepped away from the platform and activated the machine. Craig instantly vanished, the ripple in space and time moving through her, causing the walls to bend and twist. In a few moments, everything was stable once again.
    “Goodbye, Craig.”
    In Universe 66, Craig and the silver Planck platform suddenly appeared on a small outcrop on an icy ledge. The freezing air cut through him, and he quickly began to stir, reaching up with his hand to touch his aching forehead. He opened his eyes slightly but found only a pitch-black night. He leaned forward, trying to pull himself up to a sitting position, but he was still too weak to accomplish the maneuver. He reached backward in an attempt to get the leverage to rock himself up, but his hand slipped over the edge of the platform, and he was sent backward, tumbling over the ledge into the darkness, splashing into the freezing water of the vast, black ocean.

9
    “No!” Aldous shouted when he saw Samantha flying toward him as he stood with over 200 other post-humans at the main entrance of the complex. The entrance was a large, square concrete loading bay built into the side of a rocky outcrop on the eastern side of Mount Andromeda. It was hidden by a convincing holographic image of a snow-covered slope, but the image was only visible one way, and the post-humans had a clear view of the Purist invasion force gathering outside.
    “I