Dustin lay back in the seat and watched the station recede from view. The old programming in the escape pod had them about to jump back through space to Earth. Olivia lay beside him, in her own chair, finally calmed down from their flight through the halls of the station. It had taken everything they had to keep up with the AI robot as it zoomed through the halls to this ship.

  He still wasn’t sure if everything the man in crystal had told him was true, but it was too late now. The countdown to their jump ended, and the screen in front of them became a blur. Stars disappeared and he closed his eyes to keep from getting dizzy. When he opened them again, he was surprised to find himself in a debris field. Earth loomed before them, large, and beautiful.

  “I never thought I would actually live to see it,” whispered Olivia, as Dustin took over the controls.

  “It looks like the station that was in orbit has been blown up. I wonder if anyone’s still alive down on the surface?” he wondered.

  “I hope so. I miss people. Not that being with you isn’t great,” she turned to look at him, then away in embarrassment.

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  “Don’t worry, you’re a great lay, but I’m sure other girls will appreciate me more.”

  “Wait, what!”

  He chuckled at the scandalized look she threw him.

  After a moment of silence, she asked, “Do you think we should return to our human forms, so that when we come out of the ship, people don’t try to shoot us?”

  Glancing down at himself, he sighed. The thought had occurred to him, but he had been holding off on suggesting it. He greatly enjoyed all of the abilities he had acquired.

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take the form of a human. We could still keep our abilities, and with the PED’s we could always just change if we needed to.”

  “I plan to keep the crystal plates under my skin so no one can shoot me.”

  “That’s a great idea!” he said, smiling as he started to focus on what he was doing a bit more.

  The cities were leveled in some war. Green covered everything, and like in those movies of post-apocalyptic times, animals fled their ship.

  “I guess if there were any survivors, we’re going to have to search for them,” Dustin said, unstrapping himself.

  “No need, they found us,” Olivia said, touching his arm.

  Looking up, Dustin saw a group peering out at them from through some tree branches, holding makeshift weapons and dressed in furs.

  “Well, this aught to be fun.”