18 months later…

  Nik sat absorbed in a bleak report. Another city had vanished off the grid, and it was hard to know why. Usually, it meant its power grid had been hijacked, some occupational force had locked it down, or an atomic weapon had destroyed it outright. Going dark never meant anything good.

  Nik set his tablet screen-side down on the time-worn desk. Dawn was yet to break, a fact he had grown accustomed to. The nights stretched out, and sleep was an infrequent indulgence. At times, the demand for report-making and the influx of information flooding his secluded mountain headquarters kept him awake. More frequently, though, the nightmares robbed him of sleep.

  He sat silently in the dark for another moment before the silence was interrupted by the sound of a rooster in the distance. Nik lifted himself out of the chair and peered out the window. Looking downward, his eyes were greeted by a valley clothed in evergreens, their needles glistening with morning dew under the newborn sun. Nik could barely discern small buildings and other man-made structures among the greenery.

  His original worksite had been reduced to ash, detected by an enemy's keen-eyed aerial reconnaissance drone. After that, everywhere he went, Nik ensured that all the sites were adequately camouflaged into the landscape. This strategy seemed to work because he started receiving far fewer reports of attacks on nodes or STM settlements.

  After stealing another moment of solitude, Nik retrieved his jacket and ventured outside. He followed a rocky path hastily laid out among the trees. It took a few minutes, but eventually, he found himself in a little town. His priority was the river's edge, where against all odds, they had constructed a dam – their lifeline. They used it to power everything, including the STMs.

  The dam at this node made the site the most important one in the cluster. Few people can get a proper power supply these days. Nik spent the first hour checking to see if any of the concealment structures they built over it had problems. He had just finished examining a set of tethered cables when a warm voice cut through the morning air.

  "How many times are you going to check this damn thing?" Nik turned to see Valentine weaving his enormous body through the dense brush.

  "As many as necessary, I suppose," Nik responded, heaving himself to his feet. "What are you doing out here anyway? Shouldn't you be overseeing the new node south of here?"

  "I finished." Valentine Shrugged. "Besides, I figured I'd come to check on you. Someone has to check that the Krylov hermit doesn't recede too far into his shell."

  Nik laughed. That was hardly the case. Nik constantly went from node to node to see the new people arriving. By now, there wasn't a person in the whole cluster who didn't know his face. It was a duty Nik embraced personally. Ever since the Bilocation Network from Project Silent Echo had all but gone dark, he felt it was his responsibility to introduce the real Bilocation Network he and Valentine had created.

  Thinking about Silent Echo left a bitter taste in Nik's mouth after all the work he had put into it. That was too far into the past to worry about now. His sole mission now was to save as many lives as possible, a burden that incessantly rested on his shoulders. Despite the onslaught of dismal reports, Nik often pondered how Valentine maintained such a warm, resilient outlook. Valentine had once told Nik that if the chairman of the Bilocationstion Network gives up hope, then everyone loses hope.

  "Then we should probably head to the main square and make sure everything is still running." Nik smiled before trekking through the woods. Valentine rolled his eyes before following Nik back to town. While they walked, Valentine filled him in on the details about the town's growth and the need for a larger power supply.

  Nik was glad he chose Valentine for the job because life seemed to carry on in the little spheres of existence they had managed to chisel out despite the world's dire situation. He owed that to Valentine, a ceaseless beacon of hope in their bleak world. It was something he felt like he could never do on his own.

  Ever since the devastation of the Trinity Attack stripped him of everything, Nik grappled with a profound sense of incompletion. Almost everyone in his previous life had been incinerated. That alone nearly broke him were it not for Valentine and Erica's friendship. Nik sometimes wondered if Ari had ever managed to find safety, but after months of no word, Nik had given up hope on his friend's survival.

  "Oiy! Are you even listening to me?" Valentine nudged Nik with a meaty elbow. Nik stumbled but quickly recovered.

  "Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about stuff," he said half-heartedly. He suddenly felt terrible that Valentine was trying to get things done, and Nik had let himself get distracted by memories that couldn't be changed.

  "Well, as it happens, I have a little tool to keep us focused." Valentine grinned conspiratorially. Nik knew that grin from a mile away, and he always welcomed it.

  Delving into his cavernous pockets, Valentine produced a pair of well-worn flasks.

  "Here, focus juice." He shoved the little container into Nik's hands. Taking a couple of swigs, Nik found himself mirroring Valentine's grin. He felt chills run down his arms as he put the cap back on and returned the flask to Valentine.

  Nik wasn't an alcoholic by any means, but he would never turn down a drink from his best friend. He also knew Valentine was no alcoholic. One would have to have the capacity to be drunk to be an alcoholic, and Nik had never even so much as seen Valentine slur his words. That man had a rare superpower, in his opinion.

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  "Better?" He asked after finishing the contents of his own flask.

  "Better," Nik replied with a grin. "Let's get over to R&D." The two hiked through the woods until they found a little town hidden in the foliage. It was nestled between a pair of mountain spurs giving it a cozy hiding place. While strolling through, a few passersby waved at Nik and Valentine while they built tiny homes and infrastructure. Nik's eyes fell on an unfamiliar face. It was a teenage boy with a dark complexion. He was poking around one of the STMs.

  "He must have just arrived," Nik thought. He would have to find the kid later to introduce himself and find a place for him to stay. Eventually, the buildings thinned out, and the two approached a steep slope jutting upward. At the base, a small entryway with a metal door protruded outward. Valentine entered a passcode into a small digital display, causing the door to slide open. Valentine motioned for Nik to lead the way.

  The interior held a bustling workshop, compact yet vibrant, stocked with tools crucial for village duties ranging from research and development to security and public administration. Its inhabitants moved with ceaseless energy. Nik surmised their relentless drive was born from a prevailing sense of looming doom. In these times, relaxation was a luxury, survival the necessity.

  Nik did his best to help everyone he encountered. He imparted all he knew about STMs, from assembly to programming and maintenance. His efforts were finally starting to pay off, too. Nik and Valentine started noticing small STM node settlements springing up everywhere lately. Of course, when they learned about a node's existence, they did everything they could to encourage its growth and integration with the other settlements.

  "Any new findings?" Valentine's voice reached the back of the cramped facility, causing everyone to pause momentarily.

  "Not yet, Mr. Chairman." One of the techs replied grimly.

  "It's fine. We'll keep going until we have a breakthrough." Valentine pulled a small box from his coat and handed it to the tech. "A present from my wife to your daughters." He gave the tech a little wink before moving to the primary facility monitor.

  Nik followed behind quietly. He knew Valentine was doing his job as chairman but couldn't help but feel disappointed. Since the Trinity Attack, Nik had felt desperate to protect the STM networks. The biggest problem had carried over from Silent Echo. They remained handicapped by their inability to encrypt the STM data transmissions.

  There was just too much data. If they applied standard quantum encryption, it would take days to safely transmit something as simple as a cubic foot of oxygen. Nik didn't want to think about how long it would take to send a full-sized STM container with a person inside.

  Wireless transmitting was out of the question since they couldn't encrypt the data. There was no telling who could intercept the data nor what they would do with it. Nik shuddered, thinking about the possibilities.

  Suddenly, a piercing siren filled the facility. Everyone's eyes flitted to the central monitor. Nik rushed over to see what was happening. One look at the monitor drained the color from his face.

  "Begin evacuations NOW!" Valentine's voice boomed. He reached toward a desk and snatched up a microphone. "Patch me through to the town PA system." The tech nodded and feverishly worked for a moment. When he gave the thumbs-up, Valentine spoke into the microphone.

  "Attention, Attention, this is Valentine Cooper. Stop what you are doing and proceed to your evacuation waypoints. This is not a drill. Unidentified aircraft are converging on this location. I say again, this is not a drill."

  Nik knew what that meant. Incoming aircraft pointed to only one possibility. Impending nuclear attack.

  "How long until it reaches us?" Valentine's voice shook, but he maintained clear command.

  "Approximately fifteen minutes." The tech from earlier replied. People were already in a frenzy, packing up their essential data systems and bolting out of the facility to find their families. Valentine remained where he was, staring at the approaching aircraft signatures on the monitor.

  "Val, go find Erica," Nik yelled. Valentine stood rooted to the spot.

  "VAL, PROTECT ERICA!" Nik shouted, snapping Valentine out of his momentary stupor.

  "Right." He said, heading back to the facility door. Before leaving, he turned back to Nik. He wore a look of apprehension on his face.

  "Don't worry about me," Nik said. "I'll make sure the evacuation is completed. "You need to keep everyone together. Now GO!". Nik's tone of finality made Valentine frown, but he nodded and rushed out to the town.

  Nik turned to the monitor and pulled up a list of signatures representing everyone in town. Names began disappearing from the list as people had been transported away. Nik opened a digital map of the village that monitored where everyone lived. Sections began to glow green on the digital map as successful evacuations were reported. Much of the town still blinked in red.

  "Come on, come on," Nik muttered under his breath. He was the last one left inside the workshop. Minutes ticked away, making Nik's heart beat uncontrollably. "Just three more sectors."

  "Two"

  "One more. Come on, folks, let's move!" There were less than five minutes left, and one sector was still red. Nik looked at the list and saw his name and one other: Aydin Reat. The name was unfamiliar.

  "Screw it. I'll do it myself," Nik declared, bolting out of the facility. He sprinted down the short path, looking for the building on the map. It was empty when he looked inside, making Nik panic. "Shit, shit, shit," He said, sprinting mindlessly about while looking for the straggler. He glanced at his watch. Three minutes.

  Nik continued to dart around the town, searching for this Reat guy. He stopped to catch his breath when he heard a faint voice from the back of a kitchen. Nik sprinted to find the teenage boy he had seen earlier pinned underneath an overturned cart filled with batteries. He raced over and quickly helped pull the kid out.

  "Come on, we gotta hurry." He said. The kid was having trouble walking, so Nik hoisted him over his shoulders and began to run to the nearest evacuation point.

  One minute left. The distant drone of an aircraft reached Nik's ears.

  "Shit." He said as he practically chucked the poor boy into the STM. Suddenly a series of small explosions erupted at various places outside of town. Nik's eyes grew wide, looking at the monitor. The explosions were missiles that had taken out all of their landlines. They were trapped.

  Nik felt his breathing catching in his lungs as he scrambled for a solution.

  "That's it!." He thought. It was a risk, but he didn't have a choice. Nik unplugged the main transmission line and grabbed the uplink to the radio tower. He quickly disabled the junk encryption and smashed the initiate button.

  Nik rushed into the STM pod just before the doors closed, pulling the kid behind him. As the STM counted down, he glanced upwards. There it was. High in the sky, a colossal missile plummeted to earth like an unworldly harbinger of death. Three more seconds before the STM initialized.

  "CLOSE YOUR EYES!" He bellowed as the missile disappeared into the distant treeline. Two seconds.

  A searing flash engulfed the sky.

  One second.

  An eerie silence descended.