Post-Human 05 - Inhuman Read Online Free PDF Page A

Instead, after a few moments in which he tried to catch his breath from the fright, he opened his eyes to see James’s smiling countenance in his mind’s eye.
    “Hey,” James said, his chrome-colored lips forming the same friendly, instantly recognizable smile that Old-timer had known for almost twenty years.
    Old-timer’s hands lowered from their protective position over his face, as did the magnetic field that his new skin didn’t require him to use for protection in space, but that he’d kept nonetheless for its other advantages when he’d designed his new upgraded body with James. The tendrils also re-furled onto his torso, but as he looked down, he noticed—much to his chagrin—that many of them had punctured his shirt, leaving it looking like Swiss cheese. “I thought I’d just bought the farm,” Old-timer exhaled, relieved.
    “Sorry,” James replied. “I sensed you, but time and space were warped for me. Heh, uh, it’s my first time dragging a moon through the solar system so, you’ll have to forgive my bad driving.”
    Old-timer grinned and slapped his friend on the shoulder before laughing. “So, even with your godlike abilities, you still make mistakes?”
    “Oh yeah,” James replied, as friendly as ever. “I know it seems godlike—magical even—but as Clarke said, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,’ and make no mistake, it’s just technology.”
    Old-timer turned to the gleaming white surface of the moon James was dragging through space, the albedo of the white surface so bright that he had to squint as his eyes adjusted. The surface, though relatively smooth compared to the surface of a planet like Mercury, was crisscrossed with lines, cracks and speckled with circular domes and pits. “Is that Europa?” he asked in astonished disbelief, even though he already knew the answer. He recognized it from the many times he and James had flown over it on scouting missions over the years, the familiar clay-colored streaks called lineae, on the otherwise white surface, were a dead giveaway. He asked the question anyway, his astonishment preventing him from accepting the reality before his eyes.
    James looked over his shoulder proudly at the moon before turning back to Old-timer with a smile. “It sure is.”
    “I can’t believe it,” Old-timer said in barely more than a whisper. He shook his head, the awe still not abating. “I remember you talking about how you wished you could…but I can’t believe you’re actually doing it.”
    “Amazing, isn’t it? Years ago, when I told you that Europa would be a perfect moon for Venus, I thought it would be something we might be able to do in a distant future, but—”
    “You didn’t know you’d turn yourself into a god,” Old-timer observed, an impressed expression on his face.
    “Ha! There’s that ‘god’ word again. Old-timer, I’m far from it,” James answered. “Listen, get beside me, I have to make sure you’re inside the bubble.”
    “Bubble?”
    “I’ll explain it to you on the way to Venus. Once I explain it to you, the mystery will fade, and you’ll be far less impressed, I promise.”
    Old-timer adjusted his position in space so that he was next to James and facing the same direction, a direction that pointed them toward Venus. “All right, it’s been a while since we’ve made a bet. The challenge is on. I dare you to try make this unimpressive to me.”
    “A lot less impressive,” James corrected with a slight laugh. “Not entirely unimpressive.” He motioned with his right arm and faced his palm to the planet.
    Old-timer watched as something seemed to happen to the stars in the background, their positions shifting noticeably as though their distant lights were refracting in water. Their positions continued to shift and Old-timer turned around, facing forward again when his mouth dropped in astonishment. The sun was noticeably growing in size in front of him, though it was