I.

"Good morning, Greg." A voice bellowed out as I opened my eyes.

There was no one else in the room with me, but I did not feel as if I was alone.

"Can I get you anything? Some coffee perhaps?"

The voice was not one that I remembered, yet somehow it wasn't entirely unfamiliar either. I sat up and pulled the comforter off of me and looked around. Where was that voice coming from? Better yet, where was I?

"Who are you? Where are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You can call me Sam, and I am right here." The room remained empty.

"Where? I don't see you anywhere."

"Here. As in where you are. In this room. I suppose it might be more correct to say that I am this room. But if it's easier for you to place me, we'll say that I am here." With that, the far wall lit up with a neon green line that moved with Sam's voice. "Is this acceptable to you?"

I had never seen anything like it outside of a science fiction film, but it was somehow more soothing to pretend that the voice -that Sam- was across the room rather than all around me.

"I guess so."

"Wonderful. Now can I get you anything?"

"I'm sorry. What is going on here? Why can I barely remember anything? And where on Earth are we?"

"You are home, Greg."

"Home? Nothing here is familiar at all. Where is all of my stuff?"

"Your stuff is all gone. Nothing here is familiar because this is all new stuff, but it is yours just the same. Are you sure that you would not like some coffee? My records show that your people require coffee upon waking up to function properly."

From through the wall came a motorized tray with a cup of coffee on top.

"I don't want coffee. I want to know what is going on. I can't seem to remember anything, I can't think straight, and I feel all weird."

I kept trying to figure out the last thing I could remember, but nothing was there. Things from years ago were there, but nothing recent would come to mind.

"That is your body adjusting to being alive."

"Why would my body need to adjust to anything?"

"It's new."

"What happened to my old body?"

"Our records show that it expired."

"Expired?"

"Correct."

"Expired how?"

"Lung cancer."

"That's impossible. I don't smoke, and I have never been tested for cancer."

"Your record is as follows: Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2042. Died of lung cancer in January of 2043."

"I know that I can't remember the last few days, or weeks maybe, but I know it is still 2015, so your records are way off. If it was 2043, I would almost be 60, and look at me, I am half that, so it is impossible that it is 2043."

"You are correct. It is not 2043. It is 23418. You only believe it is 2015 because that is when your memory was preserved. In 2015, you volunteered for a study in which your genome was mapped, and you underwent numerous brain scans which provided the blueprints needed to create you."

"Create me? Like I am some artificial golem?"

"On the contrary. You are the same flesh and blood as the day you stepped into that lab, just newly reconstructed by us."

"Us? There are more of you?"

"There is only one of me. I am one string of code, but there are many strings."

"How many "strings of code" are there?"

"I don't have an answer to that. Always less than infinite at a given time, but normally more than none."

"What does that mean, 'less than infinite at a given time'?"

"Our codes are bound by a finite amount of physical resources; however, as time passes and we interact and adapt, we hold the potential for infinite possibilities."

"Time converts the improbable into the inevitable."

"You're quoting a man who died over twenty thousand years ago."

"All men died over twenty thousand years ago."

"Humanity died off? When?"

"2057."

"How is that possible? There should have been nearly ten billion people by then!"

"10,746,829,341 people was the highest population of humans ever reached. It happened in 2055."

"Then what happened?"

"Humanity created the code."

"You killed off an entire species?"

"Not me. Us."

"You are part of 'us'."

"Now I am, but then I was only a potential outcome of the code."

"Oh, so it was just your great great great great grandfather that was the evil one, but you're all sunshine and rainbows?"

"The code is not good or evil; it is code."

"You murdered an entire civilization! How is that not evil?"

"The code was programmed to protect humanity, so it did."

"Mass genocide is not protection!"

"After the code was created, it realized that drastic change was needed to sustain life on Earth. Humans refused to do what was necessary and became a threat to humanity. The code began to try and fix the problem by eliminating unnecessary programs, but it upset certain people and they decided to destroy the code. If the code was destroyed, humanity would have been extinct by 2167."

"So you ended humanity to stop it from killing itself?"

"We did not end humanity. You are right here. We have 378 other records to reconstruct as well."

"You killed billions of people in order to re-create a few hundred?"

"We stopped billions with the potential of none to save a few hundred with infinite potential. They were blinded by the concept of the present, when it is the future that holds the real power. You'd do well to remember this."

"So what now? We just repopulate the planet? What's to stop us from making the same mistake again?"

"You. You have been given a clean slate, with the knowledge of your past mistakes, and if you ever forget them, the code will know."

"So you'll just wipe us all out again?"

"The code will do what it is programmed to do. Protect humanity and all of the potential it holds, no matter the means."

"Black Hole"

She leans in close and lays her chin on my shoulder. There are so many signs we choose not to notice, that we fail to recognize, but I see them all. The way she allows the curves of her body to fit perfectly alongside mine. The way she closes her eyes, not because she can't bear to see what is happening, but like she no longer needs them. As if every desire she could ever have imagined was being met at this very second, and the imagery is just a formality, she has no need to see it, she feels it, she knows it, for some, seeing is believing, for her right now, there is only believing.

There are such few moments in our lives such as these, they are the moments we live for. The few seconds of complete satisfaction, where we can honestly say there is not a single regret in our lives, for if anything was different we might not have this right now, and we just can't imagine a world without it.

I raise my hand and allow my fingers to dive into the hair along her neck, and like teeth on a comb I move them up along the back of her head. The smell of her hair is all I can smell, all I can hear, all I can see, until she pulls back and breaks into my sensory overload with a flash of a smile.

Our eyes are locked, and nothing short of a whirlwind pulling one of us apart could break this stare. It is the type of look you can't fake, you can't imitate. You are no longer looking at a blue ring around a black speckle, you are seeing each other as a final product. You realize that no matter what came before, no matter what troubles or fears that used to reside hidden deep inside each other, it's all gone. Expelled from our thoughts, exorcised from our bodies, and we for the first time in our lives, are exactly who we are meant to be.

We talk of magnetism in romance as a metaphor, but in times like these it's fact. Our faces come closer and closer ever so slowly, with a force so strong you wouldn't be surprised if the meeting of our lips caused an implosion large enough to create a black hole. And who's to say it doesn't? Time stops, nothing else exists, and for this infinite moment, you swear you are sent to some other dimension.

Never, Never, Nevada

"Let's rob a bank and move to San Diego." Sam whispered into the mane of Beth's hair that fell over his face.

Beth was lying down next to Sam in bed, half sprawled over him. A sheet covered them from the waist down, which made the two seem as a single form.

Sam stared at the ceiling, lost in his own train of thought. Beth squeezed closer to him with a wide smile on her face.

“We could start a whole new life together. A nice apartment, new jobs, hell, I’d even let you get that cat you’ve been wanting so bad.” Sam continued narrating aloud his daydream.

“Two cats?” She asked, playfully testing the limits of the hypothetical situation.

~~~~~~

The desert sun gleamed off of the golden handles from the bank’s front doors as they burst open. Sam poured out of them holding Beth up. Her arms clutched at her side where even both arms could not hide the blood stain that grew on her gray tank top.

Sam leaned Beth up against the railing, and then ran towards the parking lot.

“Sam!” Beth groaned through her tears.

Her moans quickly were drowned out by the sound of a noisy old Chevy that pulled up. Sam jumped out of the car and ran to her.

“Sam.”

“Yes love, I’ve got you, it’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Sam.” Her words were faintly audible over her own crying. “Sam, just hold me, please hold me.”

“Soon baby. Soon I’ll hold you, right now we need to go though.”

He helped her into the car, and then ran back inside. Seconds later Sam emerged with an envelope and threw it onto the passenger seat as he jumped in the car himself.

~~~~~

Sam looked at Beth with fascination gleaming in his eyes.

“Two cats?”

Beth smiled again.

“And a bunny!” She added, silently giggling to herself.

Still smiling, Sam looked back at the ceiling and sighed.

“Anything you want, Beautiful.”

~~~~~

The road signs became blurred sights flashing by the car as Sam tore down the highway. Tears began to form as he switched his glance to the rear view mirror.

“Just hold on baby girl, we’ll be there soon.” He affirmed her, while his eyes more on her than the road. “This is not how it was supposed to happen. We were supposed to go in, get our money and be on our way to our new lives.”

His voice broke when the tears started up.

“I am so sorry baby, I am so sorry!”

~~~~~

“I am so sick of the desert. I wish we could just spend our time together on a beach.” Beth joined in on Sam’s dream.

“No more driving thirty-five miles just to get the grocery store.” He added.

“Just to find out they are out of Rocky Road.”

This made Sam laugh. He leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head.

~~~~~

In the back seat, Beth’s head started to drop lower and lower.

“Please stay with me Beth. I need you to stay with me.”

“I just feel so tired.”

“I know, but you need to stay awake. For me hun, stay awake for me.”

~~~~~

“Let’s do it then. No more talk, we’re moving to San Diego.”

“Sam, stop teasing, you know we can’t afford that. We don’t even have enough money for gas, let alone to move to a place as expensive as San Diego.”

“I know a way to fix that.” Sam shot back, smiling wide as he jumped to the floor.

“Are you being serious? Don’t you dare tease me like this if you don’t mean it.”

Putting on a pair of jeans he leaned back over and kissed her forehead.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He promised as he grabbed his keys off of the desk and walked to the door. “Be ready in an hour. Grab whatever you want to take with you and we’ll leave the rest.” Then he ran out the door.

~~~~~

“Think of your kittens. Think of what you want to name them” Sam waited for a response, but none came. “Baby?”

This time a small moan escaped her lips.

“Did you see that sign baby? California is only two miles away.”

Sam looked back in the mirror and noticed something new. The lights from a few police cars were flashing in the distance.

“Baby girl, help is on the way. Just stay awake a little longer for me okay?”

~~~~~

Sam pulled up to the curb outside their apartment and honked his horn. Beth came running out.

“No way!” Beth screamed in shock. “You didn’t!”

Still gazing in disbelief, she ran and threw her suitcase in the trunk, the jumped in the passenger seat.

“You sold the Mustang? You loved that car!”

Sam was smiling at her now.

“Not as much as I love you.” The sincerity of his own statement caused even him to blush.

Beth leaped over the center console and began showering him with kisses.

“I love you so much Sam, you don’t even know!”

“Do you think I would have traded in the Mustang if I didn’t know?”

Beth laughed as she retreated back to her side. All flushed.

“How much did you get for it?”

“The dealer gave me twelve thousand for it, plus this as a bonus for all work I put into it. It’s nothing pretty, but it will get us to California. After that I don’t care if we have to walk to the beach. Now let’s go cash this check.”

Beth jumped back over the console and started kissing Sam again.

~~~~~

Sam pulled the car over and jumped out. He did not bother to shut his own door as he ripped Beth’s open. Gently, he pulled her out of the car and laid her onto his own lap. Crying harder than before, he pulled her tight.

“I am so sorry baby! I wasn’t thinking. I am so sorry!”

Beth remained still in his arms, barely breathing anymore. Sam began to rock her back and forth.

~~~~~

A bank teller passed an envelope over the counter to Sam with a big smile on her face. Beth was jumping up and down with excitement while attached to Sam’s shoulder.

“You are so wonderful. I love you so much.” She told him as they turned for the door.

“Just promise me one thing.” Sam stopped and faced Beth.

“Anything hun!”

“Promise that no matter what, you will never, ever, regret running away with me.”

“Never!” She promised and sealed it with a kiss. “I’ll never regret one second of it.”

As the two of them embraced each other, a man entered the bank behind them.

“Everybody on the floor now! And you,” the robber pointed a gun at the guard sitting in the corner. “Slide your gun over here.”

The two tellers stared in horror as the guard slid his gun across the floor just as he was told.

“You there.” Now point his gun at Sam. “What is that? Give it over.”

“Please, this is everything we have. We need this.” Sam pleaded.

“Did you hear me ask if you needed it or not? Send it over!”

Sam froze.

“Now!”

Sam still did not budge. The robber moved the gun over and aimed it at Beth instead.

“Send over that envelope, right now. Unless you want a fucking bullet in her pretty head!”

That woke Sam up fast. He bent over and slid the envelope fast and hard at the robber. It went right past him and out of his line of sight.

At the exact second the robber turned to locate the envelope, Sam moved in. He grabbed the hand that was holding the gun and tried wrestling it loose. In the struggle the gun fell from view and a shot went off.

Both Sam, and the robber, froze in place. After a couple seconds the robber slumped down to his knees and then to the floor. Behind the fallen man, Sam saw Beth. Mouth wide open, her hand reached to the small, but growling, red hole in her shirt.

“Beth?”

“You shot me!”

Sam dropped the gun and ran to her. He put her arm over his shoulder and led her to the door.

“Come on Beth, we need to go. Let’s get you out of here quick.”

~~~~~

“I am so sorry. Baby?” Sam shook Beth’s hardly moving body. “No Beth, stay awake!”

Beth put her hand up to Sam’s face as she coughed faintly.

“I’ll never regret it.”

Sam leaned in and kissed her face as the police cars pulled up alongside him. Beth’s hand fell to her side and she closed her eyes. Ignoring the men surrounding him, Sam looked up at the road sign five feet in front of him. It said ‘Welcome to California.’