Tilly sat fidgeting behind the terminal. Her hands rested on the keyboard, but she pulled them off again. "You're sure it's her?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "She knows you. She sent me design notes for your gene model. Look, she just signed in."
On the screen was a blinking cursor and the word "Hello" next to Kelly's chat room ID.
Tilly put her hands on the keys again and began to type. "Hey. It's me, Tilly."
"Tilly, honey, I've been so worried about you. I'm so glad you're safe. How are you doing?"
Tilly's fingers hovered over the keyboard for a few moments before she started typing. "I'm still having trouble believing it's really over. Did Norm tell you what happened?"
"Yes, though not all of it, I think. Is he there?"
Tilly smiled wryly to herself. "Yes, he's looking over my shoulder, and he says 'hi'. I'll tell you more about it when I can, but not right now. So, how are you? What have you been doing?"
"I'm okay, under the circumstances. I'm doing government work, and it really sucks. They're having me evaluate and catalog genetic research documents. Believe me, it could be worse. I've heard stories of some of the things being worked on by my former colleagues. Not all of them are true, I'm sure."
"We have a lot to catch up on," Tilly typed. "I've missed you, mom."
"Look, the only time they give me any privacy is when I go to the bathroom. I've got about five more minutes before someone comes looking for me. Ask me anything you want."
I let the two of them have their privacy to converse. Wendy and Nissi were sitting together on the sofa, and Wendy moved over to make room for me. Once things had settled, one of the first things that Tilly had asked is if she could speak to her mother. She knew that I had been in contact with her from listening in to my conversation with Wendy. It had taken two days to arrange the meeting, but Kelly had been ecstatic in her messages to me.
Tilly came to find me after she was finished. "Thank you, Norm," she said. "I still can't believe you were able to contact her."
The movie that was running on the TV suddenly winked off, replaced a moment later by a view of an empty podium with the seal of the president on the front of it. A voice over announced, "We interrupt this program for a special announcement from the president of the United States."
Stansy came running in from her bedroom to stand behind the couch. President John McCain approached the a podium, flanked by secret service agents and trailed by aides and various officials. He was all business, sparing only a brief smile and nod to members of the audience. He placed a small stack of papers on the podium and unfolded a pair of reading glasses from a breast pocket, then began to speak. "Good evening, my fellow Americans. It is with a heavy heart that I stand before you tonight. Today marks nine years since the Rot was first unleashed upon our world. It has been more than seven years since this administration passed a resolution to ban the genetic engineering that spawned that horrible plague.
"In that time, we have done everything we can to reverse the often horrifying effects of the runaway genetic tampering of the previous half century. We, the American people, have worked to mitigate the damage, not just to our food supply, but to our very way of life. We have extended our welcome to the victims of genetic engineering to bring them back into the fold of humanity, and up to this point have given them every opportunity to do so. Many have accepted that offer and been made whole. Others have rejected it. In so doing, they have rejected their humanity and declared war on all of us. This, we can abide no longer. As president and by the authority of the Emergency Executive Powers Act, I hereby declare that all genetically modified humans currently at large are guilty of treason against the United States."
He paused, and a smattering of applause went up, but quickly died down as he surveyed the audience soberly. "It is a decision I did not come to lightly, and not without regret. However, as a gesture of goodwill and of mercy, any genemod who willingly surrenders to the custody of local or federal law enforcement within the next six months will receive a full pardon for his or her crimes, contingent upon undergoing voluntary reversion of genetic modification. After that grace period, the full force of the law will be brought to bear. Consummate with that order, individuals found to be guilty of aiding and abetting genemods will receive stiff penalties for their actions, up to and including capital punishment. We will search door-to-door if we have to, until each of them is found and brought to justice.
"Once more, I do regret that we have come to this point, but the way forward is clear. The human race cannot survive another Rot. It is time to bring this unhappy chapter of our history to a close. It is time to take a stand against those who would bring humanity to its knees, those who would try to usurp our rightful place as masters of this Earth. Thank you."
The shot switched to a wide-angle view of the audience standing and applauding as Mr. McCain turned and walked from the stage. The secretary of state came forward to field questions from the press.
"Holy shit!" Nissi rasped, getting to her feet. She turned to me. "Norm, did you catch that?"
"Escalation," I said, remembering Sasha's words from weeks earlier.
Her brow furrowed. "What?"
"Never mind."
"We are well and truly fucked," Nock said.
Stansy just covered her face for a moment and walked away, muttering curses.
I saw that Tilly had gotten up and wandered over at some point in the speech. She was staring silently at the screen.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine," she said. She looked for a few moments more and seemed to shake herself out of whatever she had been thinking. "Stan, how are we doing on the user authentication code?"
She and Stan went back over to the terminal and got to work, and Stan looked happy for the diversion. I looked at Nock, who seemed intent on avoiding my gaze. He flipped through the channels until he found one where they weren't talking about the announcement.
I could understand a little of what they were going through. In an instant, our fortunes had flipped. I still faced a long prison sentence for my crimes. The genemods faced execution. They would remain alive only as long as they could remain hidden.
Nissi sat back down and leaned heavily against me. "It just gets worse all the time," she said. "Why can't they just leave us alone?"
I stroked the back of her head. "I don't know." I thought to say something more, about how things would have to get better eventually, but the words rang hollow in my mind. What hope was there for any of them but to escape the madness that had taken hold of the country?
When the movie ended, Nissi took my hand. "Come on," she said, and led me back to her room. She put on a record and Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" began to play from her speakers. Flashing me a smile he took my hand in hers and put other her arm around me, and we danced in the tiny space. I found her pressing her body closer against me and she rested her head on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and breathed her in. "I love you," I said.
Her arms tightened on me reflexively. I felt and heard her take a deep breath, but it hitched in her throat. She whimpered and shook, but wouldn't let me pull away when I became alarmed. Only then did I realize that she was crying. "It's okay," I whispered in her ear, still rocking slowly to the music. I had never seen her cry before, and I got the sense that she wasn't used to it either. The song ended quickly and moved on to the next, but we danced on until Nissi's sniffles had stopped and the tension had left her body.
Nissi finally pulled away from me, turning her back to me as she did. She began to strip, so I did the same, until we were both standing in our underwear. When she turned back to me, she looked like a mess, with her makeup smudged and her eyes red and puffy. She closed the distance between us and kissed me fiercely. When it was over, she pressed her forehead against mine. "It frightens me," she said in a hoarse voice.
"I know it does," I said, thinking that she meant the new presidential order. "I'm scared too.
"No," she said. "It frightens me how much I need you. If something ever happened to you, Norm, I don't know how I could go on." She sighed. "Every time something like this happens, it rips away the illusion that things are normal and all the fear and pain come rushing back. I wanted to bring you in here and fuck you silly, just to forget for a while, but I can't even do that right. Look at me, crying like some simpering little girl."
"It's okay," I said. "I'm not even sure I could get it up right now."
She smiled slightly in amusement. "That almost sounds like a challenge, but really, I think I just want to cuddle."
We got into bed together and Nissi fitted her body against mine, though she couldn't resist a quick grind against my crotch before settling down. I ran my fingers through her hair and planted soft kisses on her bare neck and shoulder. She sighed her contentment. "I love you," she mumbled. Less than a minute later, I felt and heard her slip into sleep. I waited for a bit longer to make sure she was truly out before slipping away to get dressed.
I found my door open and light streaming out into the hallway. "Tilly?" I said, finding her seated on my bed with her hands in her lap. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Hi, sorry. I thought you might be coming back to sleep in your own room, and I wanted to have a word."
I started to close the door, but something about the intimacy of having Tilly in my room bothered me, and I stopped.
"In private, if you don't mind." she said.
I closed the door the rest of the way and stepped toward the bed but stopped. My thoughts flashed suddenly and inexplicably back to that kiss, when she had first awakened following her treatment. A not-unpleasant chill went through me at the memory, but I pushed it from my mind. I held my distance, awkward though it felt, halfway between the door and the bed. "What's on your mind?"
