Declan stared into the hard cold eyes of the woman he had just saved . . .from himself. He had to admit it. He had just doomed her world, and he had been magnanimous enough to save her from his misdeeds. He really was some kind of hero. It killed him to think that he had just done to her what had been done with him, only she had no idea of who was really responsible for what happened to her world.

  He realized that if she ever learned the truth that she, and more than likely all subsequent Sarahs would hate him forever. This was his Scylla and Charybdis, he couldn't stop destroying worlds, nor could he ever let the Sarahs that were to come know what he was doing. His eyes never left her gaze, and he saw just how much she was like his Sarah. So strong, so resolved and resolute that she would do everything in her power to keep her word. He'd just gotten started, and he'd already ruined a potential relationship by not being honest and open with her.

  "Sarah," he began, "I am so sorry for what happened to your world. I'm just glad that I could save you, and your cat." He knew that was probably the dumbest thing he could have said, but he had no idea of how he could make her feel better. He realized that he couldn't start out his relationship with the woman before him with this giant obstacle between them. He had to come clean, hope she would eventually come to understand that he had no choice. He could live with her hate, but he couldn't live with a lie between them. "Look, Sarah, I have to tell you something. . ."

  Just as he was about to come clean, he heard a small puttering sound, and saw Kristine come flying into the room from the far door. She was back in her car form and was moving rapidly towards him and Sarah. She made a beeline right for them without showing any indication of slowing down. Declan almost ducked but the miniature car pulled her front end up like a plane going in for a landing and stopped just two feet shy of his face. She hovered in the air and revved her engine. "Kristine, is something the matter?"

  He would have said that the car looked impatient, that that was foolish; still she did turn towards Second Sarah and then back to him. He realized immediately that she wanted to talk to him alone. "Kristine, just give me a rundown. What's going on?"

  The faux '57 Chevy floated a little nearer, and whispered, "Mother said that five more worlds just went hot, and that you only have hours to take care of things."

  Sarah stepped beside Declan, and grabbed his hand. He realized that his palm had gone all sweaty and her hand was dry as a cotton swab. "Are you saying that more worlds are going to be destroyed, and that Declan only has a few hours to help save some more people?"

  Declan swore that the car looked uncomfortable, "Yeeeah. He only has hours to take care of the people on five worlds. I need him to come with me. Right now," she hastily added the last part.

  The man in the blue business suit and red tie released the hand of the woman who looked like his dead fiancée, turned to her and said, "I've gotta go, but I'll be back as soon as we can, and we'll talk then. Hopefully, I'll be sending you some refugees. Help them. They'll need someone to guide them as they arrive."

  Sarah sputtered, "I-I-I just got here myself!"

  Declan smiled at her, "Who better to help then?" He nodded at the mini-car, which turned around and flew towards the exit. "I'm counting on you." He gave her a wink and followed the car. Minutes later he was heading back to the launch bay and idly wondered why it had that name, nothing was launched from there and there wasn't a ship contained therein.

  "All right, give me the run down. What is going on?"

  Kristine whipped around to face him, but continued her forward trajectory. It was a little disconcerting to see her flying backwards without any sign of it being a hindrance. "You need to turn your notifications on. Mother sent you several notices which you either ignored or were clueless of . . . kinda hard to tell with you right now. Sarah does seem to be the main subject of your focus.”

  Declan sucked air in through his teeth. “You’re right, Kristine, but I can’t help it. She’s all I’ve thought about since this whole thing happened. I’ve got to focus. One thing, though,” he said with a grimace, “I can’t let them know that I’m the cause of all this. They’ll never forgive me, and I’ll never be able to bear the thought of them hating me. Can we do that? Keep them from knowing what we do?”

  The car’s little headlights flashed, “Neither Mother, nor myself, will tell them.”

  Declan’s heart grew a little heavier at the thought of having to lie to Sarah, any Sarah, but he knew it had to be done just to keep the peace. Maybe one day he’d build them all a home, a Sarah Terra so to speak, and he’d let them decide for themselves what they wanted to do with him. Right now, however, he had an impending deadline, and Sarahs to save.

  He called up his HUD and saw the flashing light in the right hand corner. He opened it up and saw dozens of alerts from Mother regarding his new assignments. It was just dozens of the same message letting him know that the Invigilator had sent him not one but five new planets to be destroyed. He closed them up as son as he saw a slot that read MISSIONS and opened it up instead. Five boxes slid across his HUD and he tapped the first one. The box enlarged and read:

  A sixth box appeared:

  Then a seventh box popped up on his screen:

  Declan studied the information before him. He scanned everything once quickly, just to get an impression of what he was up against. His decision came down to a matter of how much time was left for him to complete his task at hand.

  “Looks like I’m going to go to Earth 6346 first,” he said to Kristine. “It has the least amount of time left on the clock so I’ll head there first.” The Launch Bay came into sight and he suddenly wished he had some time to actually do some prep before he went down there. It sounded pretty rough down there. He began to suspect that a business suit and dress shoes probably weren’t the best attire for a world that was already half dead. Still, time dictated that he move forward as fast as he could, and so he gritted his teeth and soldiered onward.

  Kristine puttered up beside him, “Would you like me to come with you? I’m sure I could help.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and looked at her as he walked. He’d have preferred to have left her here to keep Second Sarah company, but the mission took precedence over her comfort levels. It pained him to admit it, but it was the truth. “I would love to have you along.”

  She gave a happy honk and zipped into the Launch Bay ahead of him. He arrived a minute later, a little out of breath. “Making me look bad, Kirstine.” She did a little loop de loop and came to a stop before him. He swore she was looking him up and down. “Not possible, Declan,” she cooed. He loved that voice of hers.

  He checked his pockets. They were empty. He felt like he should at least have a lighter or a knife. Hell, a gun would have been just about perfect in this situation. “Kristine, do we have any weapons on Homeworld? Something I could take with me?”

  The minicar somehow managed to look dejected. “I am sorry Deck, but no. We could have mother start making something, but her printers will take a while, and we do not have that kind of time. I could have her start something now, and it should be ready when we get back. Is there something you’d prefer?”

  “Maybe a couple of handguns, something I could conceal, but I’m probably going to want something with more kick for situations that become a little too hairy. Not sure what would work best. Have Mother give her best guess on what I’ll need and have her create a pack for me.”

  “Good idea, I’ll give her the parameters you mentioned and see that it is done when we get back, but Deck. . .”

  “Yes?”

  “With the time constraints you are under with multiple assignments and short deadlines on each, I don’t think we’ll be able to come back here in between the completion of a mission. We’ll be cutting it too close.”

  Declan palmed his eyes with his left hand, “Are you saying we won’t be able to save any Sarahs?”

  “No,” she replied hurriedly, “If you come across a Sarah to save then you can just direct send her back to the launch bay, as we head to the next world.” A wave of relief washed across his face, and he unbuttoned his jacket. If he was going to a post-apocalyptic alien world then he was going to go in comfort. He even loosened his tie from around his neck and undid the top button of his shirt. Now he was ready to face whatever the Invigilator was going to throw at him. He stepped onto the so-called Launch Bay pad and felt its energies caressing his body. In a brief flash of light and sound he vanished from his new home.