Total Eclipse

Except mine and Davids, of course. We were just keeping the cushions warm.

We were an hour into the meeting, and what had started out as a grim list of problems had only gotten worse.

Reports coming in from South America, said Kyril Valotte, an exotic- looking young man who missed being handsome by the narrow set of his eyes. Earthquakes and lava flows in Venezuela. Weve got teams heading there now, but weve also got reports of odd animal attacks in Panama, some kind of disease outbreak in Guatemala. . . . Its a lot for the Earth team to handle at once.

I can send four Wardens out of Texas, said the head of the Southwest U.S. region, and made some notes on his map. Earth Wardens I got. Weather Wardens I need.

Ill send as many as I can, Kyril said with a nod. Well need ground transportation.

I held up my hand. Ill take it. I can still make phone calls.

They looked up, and I saw the frank confusion in their faces for a second before memory caught up. Then they both just looked uncomfortable. Kyril nodded and murmured something meaninglessly kind. The U.S. WardenJerry something?didnt bother. He just went back to his maps.

There was a lot of that going on. Lower- ranked Wardens came in and out, delivering notes and whispered messages to their bosses, and with each note, the deployments ended up revised. Thankfully, Cherise had come to my rescue with a genuine computer and network uplink, so I was dispatching travel authorizations and setting up rental cars at the speed ofwell, not light, but at the speed of whatever satellite I was bouncing my signal from. It was something useful to do, at least.

I was glad, because listening to the trouble was somehow worse than not knowing about it at all.

Lewis looked at his watch and said, Hour update, which was the trigger for us to go around the table, one by one, and list off the emerging issues, the ones being handled, and estimated numbers of casualties. I tallied it up in a spreadsheet. Nice and clean and neat.

By the time silence fell again, and my fingers stopped typing, I was shaking. The pause was deep and profound. I stared at the list of things Id recorded.

Jo? Lewiss voice was gentle. He already knew.

I cleared my throat. Were up to more than a thousand reported anomalies and severe issues, I said. Estimated casualties worldwide are climbing steadily. Right now, from what we have reported, the worst case scenario puts human lives lost at about half a million people.

People who were bad at math took in sharp breaths around the table.

Its going to get worse, David said, in the silence. The Dji

Why? Why would they do that? It was an emotional question, not a rational one, and it came from Kelley, down near the end of the table. She was upset, clearly.

Because they dont have a choice, David said. The Dji

We all knew what that meant; hostile Dji

Focus on what we can control, Lewis said. Were dispatching Wardens to cover the hot spots, but thats reacting. We need to get ahead of this.

Someone let out a hollow laugh. How?

We need to get to the source of the problem, Lewis said. We need to get to the Mother herself.

This time, I felt David take a breath. A sharp one, which he let out slowly before saying, I dont think thats a good idea.

I realize that were just humans, Lewis said, but sooner or later, she needs to understand what shes killing.

You think she doesnt? David asked, very mildly. That brought another few seconds of silence around the table. Humanity has done stupid things in the name of its own blind survival, worse in the name of its own comfort. Shes not concerned with individuals, Lewis. Shes concerned with balance. If you put all of humanity on one side of the scales, and all of the other life on Earth on the other side . . .

You know what? Im not here to debate humanitys crappy conservation record, Lewis snapped, and then he rubbed his face and sat back in his chair. Sorry. I get your point, but this has been brewing for a long time. If we cant establish direct contact with the Mother, we have to rely on the Dji

Not at all, David said. But then, Im not feeling good about putting a human face to face with a being so vast and powerful that the Dji

Oracles do, I said. Imara does.

And Imaras done all she can to make humanitys case. Shes young, shes new, and the Mother may not listen.

I could do it.

No, Jo, you cant. You had a lot of advantages the last time you tried something like this; you were a Warden, you had access through Imara and through me. Its not a good idea.

Because mere humans shouldnt be front and center? I shot back to David. Come on, this is about mere humans. Not Wardens. Not Dji

I know theyre real, he said. But they have no voicenot that she can hear and understand. You have no voice, Jo. Not as you are.

Bullshit!

He smiled. Yelling isnt going to solve the problem, you know.

But it makes me feel tons better, sweetie. I wasnt about to let his charm veer me off course. Well, not far off course, anyway. We needed to go to the Oracles anyway. Theyre our one real hope of getting our powers back, fast. Im the logical one to do it. Lewis, if I get burned out, youre not losing much at this point.

He was looking at me, and I saw the expression that flickered over his face. We both knew that in personal terms, that absolutely was a lie, but on pure, coldly logical ground I was correct. I was human. Not a triple-powered Warden any longer. Not consort to the leader of half of the Dji

Just Joa

And Lewis nodded, face gone utterly still and controlled. Yeah, he agreed. It makes sense. Youve got the technical knowledge, we can help you get where you need to be, and if it doesnt workthen we havent lost a vital Warden.

David stood up. Are you insane? You cant encourage her. You know how she is.

I know exactly how she is, and who she is, and what she can do if I give her the chance. Dont underestimate her just because you love her and you want to protect her. Lewiss eyes were bleak and full of things that I didnt want to see, didnt want to know. Jo, were fourteen hours out from port. Get ready. Once we make landfall were going to be very busy.

You know me, I love a good crisis, I said. Ill be ready.

Lewis nodded, and the meeting broke up for the next four hours so most could get some much- needed downtime. Not that they would get it, considering the pace at which things were happening.

I felt oddly . . . disco

Then again, Id made the case that being just plain human was an asset. Inconsistency, thy name is Joa

I saved the spreadsheet and left everything up and ru