\nThe naked man, washed up from the sea, watched Misaki from a crouch on the snow-covered shore. In the gray light of early evening, she thought he looked like Michelangelo\u2019s David, carved from obsidian.\n<\/p>\n
\nMisaki\u2019s breath steamed from her hike down the rocky shore to the harbor. Beside her, her dog growled.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe man\u2019s breath didn\u2019t frost in the air. His naked black limbs didn\u2019t tremble in the cold wind off the sea. Misaki\u2019s hope of companionship withered.\n<\/p>\n
\nAnd Man created android in his own image.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nBehind him in the harbor, seawater surged over drowned piers. The derelict remains of the island\u2019s defense platform were no more than a breakwater now. Waves crashed against the slagged framework, revealing no hint of its iceberg-like bulk in the depths.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCalm, Akira,\u201d whispered Misaki, her gloved hand trembling on the dog\u2019s back. She felt the rumble of Akira\u2019s growl, but wind and surf snatched away the sound.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android\u2019s eyes held hers. She bowed, a useless gesture. How had he gotten here? The only boats were her yellow kayak, dragged up on the harbor shore, and storm-smashed boats on the rocks behind her. She couldn\u2019t outrun him.\n<\/p>\n \nHer dog slipped free, advancing toward him, fangs bared.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAkira!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe caught up, pulled off her glove, and grabbed a handful of dark fur. She forced Akira to sit, kneeling beside him in the snow.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android was only a few arms lengths away. His head tilted slightly, studying the dog, not Misaki. Above high cheekbones, the android\u2019s eyes had internal facets like liquid origami. Snowflakes danced over his dark skin without melting. The skin had no cuts, no bruises, no abrasions of any kind. Misaki\u2019s long hair was going prematurely gray, and she had more scars than she could count. Most were from the past two years, since the Singularity had left her alone on the island.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSorry for my dog,\u201d she said. Even as she said it, she realized how futile that was. He had as much in common with her as a submarine had with a shrimp. And was just as dangerous.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDog,\u201d he repeated, mimicking her voice exactly.\n<\/p>\n \nShe shuddered, remembering deceptions during the war. \u201cYes, this island is our home.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMaybe he came from the west and only knew Russian. No, he must be networked, fluent in every language. And he certainly wasn\u2019t here by accident. She had a good idea why: the island\u2019s lighthouse. That didn\u2019t bode well.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhy are you here?\u201d She kneaded her hand in the nape of Akira\u2019s neck, trying to calm him and herself.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android turned his attention back to her.\n<\/p>\n \nInstantly she regretted speaking. He was handsome and powerfully built, a foot taller than her. Her heart was pounding, her mouth dry.\n<\/p>\n \nShe stood, pulling Akira back, fighting the instinct to run.\n<\/p>\n \nHe stood as well.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe won\u2019t bother you,\u201d she said, trying to sound calm.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou,\u201d he echoed.\n<\/p>\n \nAn accusation or a question?\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMisaki. And my dog, Akira.\u201d She wondered if he\u2019d been damaged by the recent storm. Could he be offline? A disconnected fragment of the AI hive mind?\n<\/p>\n \nShe retreated up the shore, head turned to watch him. Her pulse raced as she dragged Akira by the scruff of his neck.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android followed like a wolf stalking stragglers of a herd. Akira\u2019s head was turned like Misaka\u2019s, growling. Misaki breathed shallow and fast. She fervently wished she hadn\u2019t come down to the shore. But it had been over two years since the Singularity. She\u2019d grown complacent. What could she do now? It wasn\u2019t safe to lead him to her cottage, but was anyplace safe? She couldn\u2019t outrun him, couldn\u2019t hide. Her only hope was that he\u2019d think she was like the birds on the shore: harmless wildlife. She tried not to think about the weapon in the lighthouse, afraid her body language would give her away. The weapon was as likely to get her killed as save her. She\u2019d be like a garter snake attacking a mongoose.\n<\/p>\n \nShe walked up the shore stooped over, afraid to release her grip on Akira to put her glove back on. The wind was cold on the back of her hand, in contrast to her fingers warm in his long fur. She sang to him, voice threatening to crack. She didn\u2019t dare let go, or the fool dog would get himself killed. The path rose toward her cottage overlooking the harbor.\n<\/p>\n \nShe\u2019d moved in after the last refugee boats had left and the island was abandoned. At the time she\u2019d been too sick to leave. Afterwards she\u2019d been alone until she found two other left-behinds: Akira and a starving cat, Mao.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd now the android.\n<\/p>\n \nShe glanced behind. He still followed but wasn\u2019t looking at her. His focus was on the houses up the hill. Most were storm-damaged. After two years, hers was the only one in good shape. She\u2019d replaced windows blown out by storms, cannibalizing other houses. It was a good cottage. It was her <\/em>cottage. She cursed the android, working swear words into the song she sang Akira.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen she reached the door to her cottage, she unlatched it, pushing Akira inside. She considered darting in after him and locking the door. Pointless. The android could rip it off its hinges as easily as she could close it.\n<\/p>\n \nShe stepped inside. He followed, and she shivered at the danger of this naked man in her refuge.\n<\/p>\n \nThe cottage was a single level: one main room, two smaller ones and a bathroom. She had running water from a gravity tank and a system of pipes she\u2019d built. There was a fire pit in the center of the main room, with a wide-flanged stove pipe suspended above.\n<\/p>\n \nMao came over, purring against her leg. Unlike Akira, he didn\u2019t recognize the android as a threat.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMao,\u201d she explained. \u201cMy cat.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMy cat,\u201d said the android in her voice.\n<\/p>\n \nShe could lead him out now, leaving Akira and Mao here. Lure the android to the lighthouse where the weapon was. Destroy him. But if he defeated her, what would happen to Akira and Mao? She wasn\u2019t brave enough. Here, she had the comfort of her companions. Perhaps the android would lose interest and leave.\n<\/p>\n \nMao, still rubbing against her, meowed.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAre we starving, poor thing?\u201d Her voice shook. She rubbed under the cat\u2019s chin.\n<\/p>\n \nShe glanced at the android. Behind him, the windows looked out on the harbor. The light had faded enough that she could just make out the beam from the lighthouse sweeping out to sea.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira settled onto his bed by the fire pit, watching warily.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI make a fire every night,\u201d Misaki said to the android. She wondered if he understood anything. Was talking to it good or bad? \u201cI found a wood stove in another house but couldn\u2019t loosen the bolts to take it. An open fire isn\u2019t very efficient. You know all about that, don\u2019t you? Efficiency.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe watched his handsome face and those liquid origami eyes that she couldn\u2019t read, wishing he were human: kind and gentle. Not a killing machine. She turned away, kneeling by the fire pit. Her shoulders tensed, knowing he was behind her. She brushed the old ashes aside and picked up her knife and a stick, whittling a pile of wood shavings.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n\u201cThis used to be illegal, a fire like this. Back when climate change was our biggest worry.\u201d And then Homo sapiens created something far more dangerous. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nShe nested the shavings together and scraped magnesium flakes from her fire starter onto them. When she struck sparks, the pile lit, and she blew on it. She built the fire layer by layer from there.\n<\/p>\n \nAs the flames grew, the android knelt and reached his hand in, wrapping his fingers around a burning pine cone.\n<\/p>\n \nInstinctively, Misaki grabbed his hand, knocking loose the pine cone. Instantly she realized her error, releasing his hand.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt burns,\u201d she said lamely. Meaning the pine cone, because it wouldn\u2019t burn his hand.\n<\/p>\n \nHis hand took hers \u2013 firmly, the way she\u2019d taken his \u2013 and shook it. His hand was warm now, warm from the flames. And she realized he could hold her hand in the fire till all her flesh burned off.\n<\/p>\n \nShe jerked her hand back.\n<\/p>\n \nIn response, Akira lunged for the android. Misaki barely caught him in time. \u201cNo, Akira!\u201d She didn\u2019t say bad dog. <\/em>Didn\u2019t say friend<\/em>, either.\n<\/p>\n \nShe led him back to his bed, where he continued growling.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe\u2019re not used to visitors,\u201d she said, breathing hard.\n<\/p>\n \nMao had fled into a pile of boxes in the kitchen, claws skittering on the wood floor. The android picked up the pine cone and carefully placed it back in the flames.\n<\/p>\n \nIt was going to be a long night. She\u2019d have to work up the courage to use the EMP gun before he killed them all.\n<\/p>\n \nIn the meantime, her companions were hungry. She went to the kitchen and opened a tin of cat food. She fished for herself and Akira, but Mao was finicky and only ate canned cat food. The stores had been emptied when the island was evacuated, but she\u2019d broken into veterinary clinics and found cases of it. She coaxed Mao out of his hiding place with the food.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android watched her.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2019m Misaki. Do you go by serial number?\u201d It would be easier to destroy him if he didn\u2019t have a name. She\u2019d never killed anyone.\n<\/p>\n \nShe filleted a fish and put it in an iron skillet, then rearranged the fire and the grill. As she cooked her fish, the android continued watching.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDo you eat?\u201d The weather had been so stormy that if he had a solar skin, he was running low. That was in her favor. Except now he was feeding off the light and warmth of her fire.\n<\/p>\n \nShe flipped the fish.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI fish from my kayak.\u201d Misaki talked to distract herself from the danger. \u201cI had to teach myself after the island was abandoned. I found nets and hooks but I want a bigger boat so I can bring Akira. The other boats were wrecked.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe slid the fish onto a plate to cool and set the hot skillet on the hearth.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android picked up the skillet, and she flinched. He could bash her skull in with that. But he was examining the fish skin stuck to the bottom.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFish,\u201d he said in her voice.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes. Did you swim to the island? Walk underwater?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHe must be offline. That was the only explanation for his lack of language skills.\n<\/p>\n \nShe used chopsticks to divide the fish between herself and a bowl for Akira.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira wolfed down his share and nosed at her elbow as she ate by the fire. She ignored him. The dog looked over at where Mao was eating.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAkira,\u201d she said warningly.\n<\/p>\n \nHe resumed nosing her elbow. At least he wasn\u2019t trying to attack the android. She knew how brutally that would end.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki washed the dishes and returned to the fire by Akira\u2019s bed. Mao climbed in her lap. She watched the android break logs for the fire with his bare hands, logs thicker than her legs. Why? He could break her limbs as easily as a bug\u2019s.\n<\/p>\n \nWatching him brought back memories of phone videos passed around at the end of the war. Humanity\u2019s heavy weapons and defense towers had been destroyed. A small group of androids would arrive in a city, dividing it into sectors. Then, building by building, room by room, they\u2019d exterminate men, women, and children. Like combing for fleas in Akira\u2019s fur. The videos all ended in screams.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki\u2019s only hope was the gun in the lighthouse. It was too late tonight. The rising wind was beginning to rattle the cottage. She stroked Mao\u2019s fur and scratched Akira\u2019s ears. This might be her last night alive. Anger welled up, impotent rage. Her futon was in the other room, but she\u2019d stay by the fire tonight, keeping watch.\n<\/p>\n \nFor a long time, the android crouched with his hands in the fire, turning the burning logs. Then, as if fully charged, he stood. Misaki watched as he padded silently to the kitchen on bare feet. He opened cabinets and drawers, examining each item while the storm rattled the house.\n<\/p>\n \nAre you looking for the gun? How much did you know about me before you came ashore? <\/em>The AIs could have seen her via satellite when she was outside, but she\u2019d been careful never to reveal the EMP gun.\n<\/p>\n \nBetween gusts of wind, she heard soft clicks of containers being opened, tins and boxes rearranged. He was putting everything back in its place. When he moved to her bedroom, she heard the creak of her futon frame as he climbed over it like a spider.\n<\/p>\n \nShe shuddered, taking slow breaths, stroking Akira and Mao. He would find nothing here, but she was shaking. If he did the same search at the lighthouse, he\u2019d find the gun. Unless she got to it ahead of him. But if she tried to sneak out, he\u2019d follow.\n<\/p>\n \nHe searched the bathroom next. She couldn\u2019t see, but he must be opening every jar, sampling every tube; all the things she\u2019d stolen from abandoned houses.\n<\/p>\n \nHe entered the last room, the one she used as a closet.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWant to try on a kimono?\u201d she whispered bitterly.\n<\/p>\n \nShe\u2019d barely breathed the words, but he must have heard, for he abruptly towered naked in the doorway. His eyes glowed indigo in the reflected firelight, like some exotic beast. She stared back, saying nothing. Eventually he resumed his inventory.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki jerked at the creak of nails being pried from wood. Then there was a thump from the ceiling. He must have leapt into the attic.\n<\/p>\n \nI have an attic? <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nShe\u2019d lived here almost two years without knowing it. How had he found an access panel? She heard the scrape of a trunk sliding over a wood floor. The house\u2019s owners must have hidden their valuables up there, hoping to return.\n<\/p>\n \nHe spent the rest of the night exploring up there, examining treasures Misaki didn\u2019t know she had. She had to lift Mao off her lap several times to build up the fire. Each time, Mao resettled on her lap, purring. Akira snored.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen the sky outside the windows finally lightened, she was exhausted emotionally and physically. The android returned to the fire. She\u2019d let it die down to coals in preparation for going out, but he built it up again, pressing coals into pinecones. Akira growled from his bed. The wind had calmed down.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki made a breakfast of rice and dried fish for herself and Akira. Mao had a tin of Kobe Beef Wellington.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android\u2019s obsession with her belongings had given her a plan: She\u2019d lead him to the town\u2019s library. Even if he couldn\u2019t access the electronic recordings, there were thousands of old books on paper. His artificial brain would get trapped in a loop, examining every book, recording every page. That would buy her time to get to the lighthouse ahead of him.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWalk?\u201d she said, fastening her coat.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira bounded to the door.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen she opened the door, Akira ran ahead. Misaki breathed in the sea air, her boots crunching in fresh snow. The android followed, and she turned to look. His bare feet carefully stepped in prints left by her boots. Behind him, the chimney of her cottage leaked smoke that the wind snatched away. Patches of blue sky peeked between clouds.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira sniffed at holes in the snow, his tracks zigzagging all over. He no longer paid attention to the android, thinking the danger had passed.\n<\/p>\n \nComing into town brought depressing memories of friends who\u2019d lived here. Wind chimes rang on abandoned houses. Misaki passed a teahouse she used to frequent. The sign over the door was broken, half the characters missing. The owner had left on the evacuation flotilla, taking the tea as Misaki lay bedridden, forgotten and alone.\n<\/p>\n \nShe turned into the street leading to the library, calling Akira to her. Snow lay in drifts on the library\u2019s stone steps. Misaki, who\u2019d searched every building for left-behinds, knew the front doors were securely bolted. She led the way to a side door she\u2019d forced open long ago and let Akira in first.\n<\/p>\n \nShe followed the dark, silent corridor to the children\u2019s section with its still-intact windows. Akira sniffed along low bookshelves. Misaki picked up a picture book and opened it, holding it out to the android.\n<\/p>\n \nHe didn\u2019t take it.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBook,\u201d she said, hope sinking as he showed no interest. \u201cIt\u2019s how we transferred knowledge,\u201d she explained, \u201cbefore terabit links.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHis eyes were on hers, internal facets unfolding as he studied her, not the book.\n<\/p>\n \nShe looked down at it, tears running down her cheeks as she flipped pages, thinking of children who would never learn to read the neatly stroked characters. And wishing she had the gun right now.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWould you like to see the lighthouse?\u201d she said bitterly. She\u2019d put it off long enough. It was time to kill the beast.\n<\/p>\n \nHe watched her, saying nothing.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAkira!\u201d she called.\n<\/p>\n \nThey left the library. The shortest route to the lighthouse was along the shoreline. Akira ran ahead through the snow.\n<\/p>\n \nThe focused EMP gun was in the lighthouse because it was the only place on the island to keep it charged. Misaki had no idea how it had been left behind during the evacuation. EMP guns were priceless, manufactured at the start of the war, when Humanity haughtily believed it could win. There were no factories to build them now. She\u2019d seen phone videos of the guns used against androids: the silent click of the trigger, an invisible pulse, and an android toppling as if turned to stone. But there hadn\u2019t been enough guns, and humans were Neanderthals compared to AIs.\n<\/p>\n \nWaves swept onto the rocky shore below as gulls cried overhead. She followed the upper trail, the one leading past her amateurish boat project. It lay upside-down by the path. The coat of snow made the holes in the hull stand out.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMy kayak is too small for a sail, too small to take Akira and Mao to another island. I\u2019m trying to repair this one but I\u2019m having trouble with the fiberglass epoxy. I wish I could repair one of the carbon racing boats.\u201d She was babbling to control her terror. \u201cI can\u2019t re-weave nanotubes. This is too heavy of a boat.\u201d She lifted the side a few inches and dropped it, shaking snow loose.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHeavy boat,\u201d echoed the android. Then with powerful arms, he lifted it over his head as if it were folded rice paper, peering up through the holes.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNot heavy for you,\u201d she muttered. She turned, walking toward the lighthouse.\n<\/p>\n \nHe set the boat on the snow and followed.\n<\/p>\n \nThe lighthouse jutted from a bluff at the end of the harbor. It was in the style of a tall stone lantern, rectangular with a pagoda roof. The attack that had slagged the harbor\u2019s defense tower hadn\u2019t touched the lighthouse. The AIs were impeccably precise in what they destroyed, wasting no firepower.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou must have wondered how the lighthouse could still be running. Nothing works forever, especially near the sea.\u201d She didn\u2019t say, I kept it lit so people would come back for me.<\/em> \u201cThe British told a story about a man named Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on an island. He made things, fixed things. I\u2019m like him, except I almost electrocuted myself the first time I fixed the lighthouse. There\u2019s a reason they kept the service door locked.\u201d Maybe she could get the gun while he examined the service room.\n<\/p>\n \nThe path led upward past the solar panels that fed the lighthouse. Snow coated them, blocking out the sun. There was a broom beneath one of the panels, and Misaki pulled it out. She began sweeping snow off the panel. It was habit, keeping the panels clear. If the android defeated her, this would be the last time they\u2019d be clean. The lighthouse would gradually go dark, turning off the island\u2019s last sign of Homo sapiens.\n<\/p>\n \nThe android watched her, then walked to a pine tree and ripped off a low branch. He began sweeping another panel clear, pine needles acting as a broom.\n<\/p>\n \nWas he helping her, or helping the lighthouse, a machine like himself?\n<\/p>\n \nAkira sat in the snow, watching. She and the android swept until all the panels were clear.\n<\/p>\n \nShe didn\u2019t thank him. You don\u2019t thank someone you\u2019re going to destroy.\n<\/p>\n \nThe path ended at the lighthouse. She moved a rock holding shut the door she\u2019d broken open long ago. Akira slipped in ahead. The android followed her.\n<\/p>\n \nThe lighthouse was too small for anyone to live in. On the base level were a service room and two storage closets. One hid the gun, charging. She worried he could see it like he\u2019d found the attic in her house. Zigzagging metal stairs led to the lantern room high above.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki\u2019s heart was pounding, dreading the confrontation to come.\n<\/p>\n \nThen the android spoke, \u201cWhy are you here?\u201d They were her words, her voice.\n<\/p>\n \nHer mouth was dry. Did he know? Was this a test? She remembered asking him the exact same question when she\u2019d first encountered him by on the shore. He hadn\u2019t answered. Now she couldn\u2019t answer. Couldn\u2019t say, I\u2019m here to kill a monster. <\/em>But he could read her terror, couldn\u2019t he? Or was he truly a blank slate?\n<\/p>\n \nShe licked dry lips. \u201cWhy are you <\/em>here?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAgain there was no answer, only his eyes looking into hers.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira started up the metal stairs.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki almost called him back. Instead she said, \u201cLet me show you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe climbed after Akira, boots clanging on the metal steps. The android followed on bare feet, back and forth between each steel landing.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira was waiting at the top. Sun peeked through clouds, reflecting off the sea so that sunlight filled the lantern room. Misaki stepped to the windows that looked out on the sea.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThis was my world,\u201d she said. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMy world\u201d repeated the android.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki opened her mouth for an angry retort but instead said, \u201cOur world.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOur world,\u201d he repeated.\n<\/p>\n \nShe stared out at the empty sea where the lighthouse would shine its beam tonight. Still beckoning after two years of fruitless effort. No one was coming to save her.\n<\/p>\n \nShe and Akira started back down the stairs. She thought about the gun. The world had changed forever. Would the gun even make any difference? The AIs would just send another android. But she wouldn\u2019t get another chance if she didn\u2019t kill him now.\n<\/p>\n \nAkira reached the bottom of the stairs and ran toward door swinging in the wind.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAkira!\u201d she called. She needed him here, to distract the android while she got the gun.\n<\/p>\n \nBehind her on the stairs, the android said, \u201cOur dog,\u201d in Misaki\u2019s voice.\n<\/p>\n \nShe shook her head. He didn\u2019t get it. He would never understand. But he seemed to be trying. She had to kill him before her resolve wavered.\n<\/p>\n \nShe paused for half a step as she walked past the room with the gun. Then she continued to the exit, fists gradually unclenching. Akira stood outside in the snow, wagging his tail expectantly.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOur dog,\u201d repeated the android.\n<\/p>\n \nMisaki closed her eyes, choking back a sob at the missed opportunity.\n<\/p>\n \nShe and Akira made new trails in the snow as they walked back toward town. The android followed in her footprints. She wondered if she\u2019d get another chance.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen they reached town, it was Akira who first noticed the android wasn\u2019t following. Misaki followed his gaze to see the android making his own path along the shore. Her heart filled with hope. Would he swim back to wherever he\u2019d come from? Or was he looking for something else?\n<\/p>\n \n \nBy nightfall, he hadn\u2019t returned to her cottage. She considered fleeing with her companions but knew he could track her.\n<\/p>\n \nThe beam from the lighthouse swept out to sea as if nothing had changed. Maybe he was here to test her, a sort of reverse Turing test. Maybe he\u2019d eventually pass a meme back to the AI hive mind, demonstrating that Homo sapiens could co-exist with androids.\n<\/p>\n \nExhausted with worry, she fell asleep on her futon, Mao atop her.\n<\/p>\n \n \nMisaki awoke at dawn to a cold cottage. She explored cautiously, but the android hadn\u2019t returned.\n<\/p>\n \nAfter breakfast, she and Akira tried to track his footprints from the previous day. They lost them where a snowdrift had formed overnight.\n<\/p>\n \nFollowing the shoreline, she finally found a trail of bare footprints. They led from the snow onto sand and pebbles, where the surf had erased them. She stared at the open water. There was no sign of the android. Relief washed over her.\n<\/p>\n \nTurning, she followed the footprints the other way, where they\u2019d come from. But as she climbed, she realized they were leading from the fiberglass hull she\u2019d been repairing. \u201cOh, no,\u201d she whispered. The android must have smashed it, stranding her forever. Like a barrier to contain an infection.\n<\/p>\n \nShe increased her pace up the slope. Maybe the damage wasn\u2019t too bad. Maybe she could still repair it.\n<\/p>\n \nShe found her boat, still intact. And beside it, another boat. Not heavy fiberglass but a carbon hull. She recognized it from the other end of the harbor, where it had been a wreck beyond hope of repair. Yet here it was, nanotubes rewoven. The hull and mast were paper-light; all the weight was in the retractable keel. And where had he found the sail?\n<\/p>\n \nShe let out the breath she\u2019d been holding and turned to her dog. \u201cWant to go sailing?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAkira wagged his tail.\n<\/p>\n George S. Walker is an engineer and writer in Portland, Oregon, USA. The naked man, washed up from the sea, watched Misaki from a crouch on the snow-covered shore. In the gray light of early evening, she thought he looked like Michelangelo\u2019s David, carved from obsidian. Misaki\u2019s breath steamed from her hike down the rocky shore to the harbor. Beside her, her dog growled. The man\u2019s breath …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,20125],"tags":[20122],"class_list":["post-140242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-publications","category-tcl-47-spring-2023-publications","tag-the-colored-lens-47-spring-2023","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140243,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140242\/revisions\/140243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nHis work has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Andromeda Spaceways, The Colored Lens, Electric Spec, and elsewhere. Anthologies containing his work include Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism & Beyond, Bibliotheca Fantastica, and The Best of Abyss & Apex (Vol. 2 & 3).
\nHis website is sites.google.com\/site\/georgeswalker\/<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"