Jay walked down the drop-ship’s boarding ramp, pulling at the uncomfortably tight collar of his shirt. Mag came towards him with a broad grin on her face, throwing her arms around him and hugging him hard.
‘You do know you look super hot in a suit and tie, don’t you?’ she said.
‘I feel like I’m wearing a straitjacket,’ Jay replied with a sigh. ‘I’m just glad that I’ve only got to keep this ridiculous get-up on for an hour or two.’
‘Oh, stop moaning,’ Mag laughed. ‘The others are dying to see you.’
He followed Mag through the immaculately maintained park, its sweeping paths surrounded by manicured lawns and carefully tended flower beds. The half-dozen close-protection agents who were surrounding them at a respectful distance did their typically terrible job of being invisible. As they walked, the people who were wandering around the park looked furtively in their direction, whispering to each other as they passed. Jay wondered if he’d ever get used to it. He’d decided a while ago that he’d rather fight a dozen Grendels than have to put up with people treating him like he was some kind of celebrity, but it wasn’t like he had a lot of say in the matter. He was, after all, one of the six most famous people on Earth.
‘Mr Sawyer,’ said the sharply dressed man who was waiting at the entrance gate as they approached.
‘Jay,’ he replied, ‘please. No one calls me that.’
‘Sorry . . . erm . . . yes, of course,’ the man said. ‘I’m so glad you’re here. The dedication ceremony is about to begin. Please follow me.’ He gestured for them to accompany him through the entrance, leading the pair into a lawned area that was lined with seats, most of which were now occupied with conspicuously important people and dignitaries of one description or another.
‘Just make sure I don’t end up talking to the prime minister again,’ Jay said quietly to Mag as the man led them between the rows of seats towards the front of the lawn. ‘She bores me rigid.’
‘I’ll keep an eye out for you,’ Mag said with a smile. ‘Don’t worry.’
‘Jay!’ Nat squealed with excitement as she saw him approaching. She and Anne ran down the aisle between the seats, almost knocking him over as they both hugged him. ‘I thought you were still in China?’
‘I was,’ Jay said with a smile. ‘They’ve got most of the power grid back up now. They think they’re going to be ready to wake the next group of Sleepers within a month. There was no way I was going to miss this, though. Even if it did mean a couple of hours of handshake duty.’
‘You’ve just lost me some money,’ Jack said with a grin, hugging Jay. ‘I bet this lot you wouldn’t show today.’
‘Like to keep you guessing,’ Jay said, clapping his friend on the back. ‘Besides, I wanted to see what you’d been up to. How’re you getting on with the reconstruction?’
‘Slowly,’ Jack said. ‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ He gestured for Jay to follow him and the pair of them walked past the lectern and screen that were set up in front of the rows of seats and towards the railing at the end of the lawn. Beyond the barrier the lawn disappeared and the ground dropped away in a steep slope. The London crater extended ten miles into the distance, its opposite side barely visible through the haze. All around the edge of the crater, new buildings were under construction and Jay could just make out the Voidborn Hunters swarming around their skeletal steel frameworks.
‘Those things still make me nervous,’ Jay said.
‘We don’t call them Hunters now obviously,’ Jack said. ‘They’re just construction drones. But, yeah, I do know what you mean. At least we don’t have to worry about the person controlling them any more.’
‘I guess not,’ Jay said quietly.
‘Is he coming today?’ Jack asked.
‘I’ve got no idea,’ Jay replied. ‘I haven’t seen him in months.’
‘He’s busy, I suppose,’ Jack said. ‘Will saw him last month. A dam collapsed in Canada and he showed up there to help with the rescue efforts. Will didn’t speak to him, but . . .’
‘Let’s get back,’ Jay said, after staring down into the crater for a few seconds.
They walked back to the seating area and took their places in their reserved seats at the front.
After a couple of minutes, the crowd fell silent as the prime minister took the stage. She stood there for a moment and then addressed the crowd.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ she said, ‘we have come here today to unveil the London Memorial, and while this is inevitably a time of sadness and reflection for us all, we should also take this opportunity to recognise the bravery of the people we are so lucky to have join us here today . . .’
An hour later, the ceremony was over and Jay studied the list of names carved into the slab of black marble on the monument in front of him. The others had left for the reception that was taking place in a marquee nearby. He stood there alone, his bodyguards standing near the entrance to the garden and keeping a wary eye on him. To most people, they were the names of heroes, names that would be found in history books for centuries to come, but to him they were dead friends.
‘Hello, Jay,’ Sam said.
Jay spun round to see his friend standing just a couple of metres away, as if he had simply appeared from thin air.
‘I didn’t think you were coming,’ Jay said, trying to keep the emotion from his voice.
‘I wasn’t going to. I don’t like coming here.’
‘None of us do. I’m glad you did, though. I’ve missed you, Sam. We all have.’
‘I’ve had a lot to do,’ Sam said. ‘There’s a world to fix.’
‘Yeah, I guess there is,’ Jay replied. There was something different about his friend and there had been ever since the defeat of the Primarch. He was cold and distant, not at all the person Jay had once known.
‘It’s Nat’s birthday next week,’ Jay said. ‘She’s having the biggest party imaginable, of course. It would mean a lot to her if you came.’
‘I’ll try to be there,’ Sam replied.
‘No, you won’t,’ Jay said. ‘What is it, Sam? What happened to you?’
‘Everything.’ Sam looked at Jay with a haunted expression. An instant later he vanished, leaving just a faint cloud of glowing particles hanging in the air.
Jay turned back to the memorial.
‘There’s one name missing,’ he whispered to himself.
Far above the Earth, someone looked down on his home planet, feeling the input from the countless Voidborn below that worked tirelessly to restore the war-torn world.
He wasn’t Sam Riley any more. He wasn’t the last of the Illuminate. He wasn’t the Primarch of the Voidborn. He was all of those things.
The humans below were slowly being roused from their long sleep, as their society rebuilt itself to a point where all the Sleepers could finally be woken once more. Until then he would stand guard over the planet below, help it rebuild, help it grow. Watching over humanity.
And then, when the time was right, he would lead his people to the stars.