Free Just in Time: Portals of Time by Kathryn Shay Page B

now. Your distaste of our food. Your misuse of words and unfamiliarity of little things.”
    “Believe me,
hotshot?”
    She’d learned another new word.
    David said, “Can I ask something?”
    Alisha nodded.
    “What happened with religion in the future?”
    “History chips show that in the twenty-second century, people began building the Domes before the pollution they knew was coming became untenable. Just as they finished, a cyber war broke out among a myriad of countries, and chemical weapons were released into the air and spread throughout the world. Sixty-nine percent of the population was destroyed. The Domes saved civilization, but all people were confined inside. Later that century, a fertility factor threatened the population. Though endangerment of our very existence caused the world to unite by 2300, it also erased hope. And faith.”
    “Your language?” Luke asked. “You use the word Nord.”
    “A negation of your concept Lord.”
    “The godheads?”
    “Reducing your god to a figurehead.”
    “Hellor?” Luke asked. Dorian had slipped and used it in front of him.
    The women looked at each other. Alisha shrugged. “I have no idea.”
    “That is so sad.” David’s expression made even Alisha squirm. “All of it was lost?”
    “I seek your forgiveness, yes.”
    He was thoughtful. “So, you say if you keep Jess alive, the future will change?”
    “Not necessarily. There’s another factor we must address in conjunction with this one.”
    “The other one’s working on it—Celeste, right?” Luke asked.
    “Yes. She has a different mission.”
    “Does it have to do with the fertility problem you mentioned?”
    Alisha’s face grew stern. “We’re not discussing this. Suffice it to say, we’ve narrowed down the end of the human race to two causes. One is climate change. There’s another, and yes, it has to do with fertility. But that’s all I’ll say.” She glared at Dorian. “All any of us will say.”
    “You expect me to just accept part of the story and not get all the information?” Luke’s anger increased.
    Dorian seemed uneasy.
    Alisha didn’t. She said, “In fact, we’re going to have to insist.”

Chapter 7
     
    SITTING IN THE huge sleeping room, awash with green-and-blue walls and accents, the sleeping bed plump and fluffy, Celeste stared at the likeness of Alex Lansing on the computeller. He was very appealing. His hair was the color of wheat fields she’d seen in the Ancient Galleries. His eyes were as blue as the water bodies in this era, which she’d viewed in preparation for coming here and hoped one day to visit in person. But it was the younglings that mostly affected her. She’d encountered some real live ones when she walked out of inside, but she wasn’t able to examine them. The Lansing younglings were all fair-haired, blue-eyed and beautiful.
    She thought back to the
Star Trek
chips she’d watched after Alisha remarked on the resemblance of Alex Lansing to James T. Kirk. Dr. Lansing was taller and with lighter eyes, but the resemblance was remarkable. And they had the same…magnetism. She’d enjoyed watching the predictions in the show that had come true—the unification of the world, though it didn’t seem theirs came out of desperation. Equality of men and women. Friendship among men. Alien species. Often Celeste had wondered if other worlds did exist. Earth’s society was never able to pursue contact with extraterrestrials because people were too busy securing their own survival.
    She looked up. Someone was at the door. A gentle knock followed the precognition. “Come inside,” she called, setting the device on the night table.
    Helen entered. Red-rimmed eyes testified to water leakage—tears, she must remember to call them. Even from across the sleeping space, Celeste could feel the woman’s acute pain. Her posture, petite to begin with, seemed shrunken under the weight of what she carried—a serving tray with containers, which she set down on