They stayed in their place.
Together.
‘You have to finish,’ Stella said. ‘You have to tell me about Saviour 1. You promised.’
‘You know I once said that exact same thing to Dad.’
‘You never talk about Daddy.’
Mae held her sister close, Sail leaned in. Felix sat beside them, smiled across at his parents and closed his eyes.
‘Tell me about the Saviours,’ Mae said.
Her father held her hand as they walked barefoot along the sand.
She was nine and the world was hers.
Summer was infinite and though people talked about the rock in space it was nothing more than something to be gossiped about over TV dinners.
A dozen movies were spawned. Mae and her father would stay up late on a Saturday night and watch them. She would fall asleep long before the end.
‘There’s plans to save us. The people … from all over the world. They formed a task force. Do you know what that means?’
‘They come together to complete a task.’
He smiled like she was clever.
He was average height,
average build,
average at everything except for loving her.
He was brilliant at that.
‘The Saviour rocket will launch in a few days.’ They stopped and faced the water.
‘Will the baby come soon?’
He nodded. He wore an old watch and sometimes when he came in from work he’d slip it over her wrist and she’d take his briefcase and his overcoat and pretend she worked in an office.
‘And we’ll be living somewhere else?’
He dropped to kneel in the sand. He wore shorts and the water came in and reached his knees. ‘We’ll be living somewhere else. Does that scare you?’
‘Yes.’
‘We’ll be together. Me and you and your mum … and your sister.’
Mae looked over at him.
He was smiling.
‘It’s a girl?’
‘Your mum said I could be the one to tell you. You’ll have to look after her. She’ll look up to you.’
‘I’ll teach her the bad words.’
‘Of course. And maybe you could teach her to be kind, like you.’
‘I’ll protect her. That’s what I’ll do.’
‘Promise?’
‘I promise.’
Mae hugged him, so hard he lost his balance and they fell back.
She screamed as the water soaked them.
Mae looked across the beach to that same spot, and she wondered if in three billion years another little girl would make that same promise and keep it.
And then she looked to her friend, Felix Baxter, who had finally fallen into a deep sleep.
‘It’s time,’ Sail said.
‘Will we stay together?’ Stella said.
‘Yes.’
She pressed her hands to Stella’s ears.
The calm lasted till the first scream.
People turned and began to run.
Mae held her sister tightly.
Someone once asked her how you make your death count.
‘I love you,’ Sail spoke the words close to her ear.
‘I love you.’
The light was blinding.
It made their world brighter.