Extinction Game by Gary Gibson Read Free Book Online Page B

said Yuichi, ‘it’s that each of the Pathfinders is the survivor of an extinction event. We all come from
alternates where the human race was nearly or completely obliterated – and one or two of us, like you, have every reason to think we might actually have been the last living people on our
worlds.’
    I looked between them and laughed, the sound edging towards hysteria. ‘Just to be clear – you’re telling me you’re the last man and woman on Earth, but from
different
Earths?’
    ‘It’s not quite that simple,’ said Yuichi, ‘but close enough.’
    ‘You’re here,’ said Nadia, ‘because we’re recruiting. There are about a dozen of us, and we all learned how to survive for very long periods of time in extremely
hostile environments. In the eyes of the Authority, that makes us uniquely qualified for the kind of work they ask us to do.’
    ‘And the Authority are who, exactly?’
    ‘That’s where it gets complicated,’ said Nadia, folding her arms. ‘We don’t really know.’
    I blinked, unsure at first I had heard her correctly. ‘You don’t
know
?’
    ‘We know they invented the transfer stage technology,’ she continued. ‘But they keep their cards close to their chest about anything else. What matters is that they rescued us
from our various alternates and gave us a chance at a new life, when a lot of us had every reason to believe we would never set eyes on another living human being ever again.’ Her gaze fixed
on mine. ‘I know just how hard it can be, Jerry, to be alone for so very long. It drives you mad, pushes you over the edge, until the day you wake up and realize you’d rather end it all
than suffer one more day alone on a dead world. After that, it’s just a matter of time before you either lose your mind or take the easy way out.’ She stepped a little closer to me.
‘Does that sound familiar to you?’
    ‘A little,’ I said, unable to hide more than a hint of defensiveness. What she had said sounded so familiar, in fact, I wondered if she had spoken with Sykes, the psychiatrist who
had interviewed me.
    She smiled humourlessly. ‘When you get a chance at a new life like that, you don’t ask too many questions. You’re just overjoyed not to be on your own. I’ll be straight
with you, Jerry – you’re here because we know all about you. We know from your diaries you went all across the globe looking for the people who murdered your alternate, and that you
managed to kill some of the people responsible. Most people couldn’t manage a fraction of what you’ve done, and you did it knowing you might well be alone for the rest of your life.
That,’ she said, ‘makes you an exceptional human being, and that is why the Authority want to recruit you to work for them.’
    I looked between the both of them, unsure at first what to say. I was still struggling to absorb everything I had been told and learned in just the last few hours.
    ‘Do I get a choice in this?’ I asked at length.
    ‘Sure,’ said Yuichi. He looked at Nadia. ‘Tell him.’
    ‘The Authority can’t force you to work for them,’ she said. ‘But the alternative is just going back where you came from.’
    ‘Did anybody ever choose to go back?’ I asked.
    She laughed as if I’d said the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. ‘Are you fucking crazy?’ she said. ‘Of course they didn’t. Who the hell in their right
mind would?’
    ‘It’s just a lot to take in,’ I said, massaging my temples with both hands. ‘I mean – Jesus, a few days ago I was staring at a gun in a drawer wondering if I could
use it on myself, and now here I am, and you’re telling me all this, and . . .’
    ‘I know,’ said Nadia with apparently genuine sympathy. She put a hand on my shoulder. ‘I had to make the same choice myself. We all did.’
    I realized I was crying; whether from joy, or grief, or sheer sensory shock, I couldn’t tell you. Most probably some combination of all of the above.