Free Visions of the Future by Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Greg Bear, Kevin J. Anderson, Ben Bova, Hugh Howey, Robert Sawyer, Ray Kurzweil, Martin Rees Page A

protect you,” the Glint said. “However, it doesn’t protect me.”
    “Your environment can’t change that much. We’re in interstellar space.”
    “Space is far from a true vacuum,” the Glint said. “And it won’t take much to make the plane collapse. Its structure is already strained past its safety limits.”
    A solution had to exist. Every problem had an answer. He just needed to think of it. “Can you set the timer to bring us out at periodic intervals?” Kelric asked. “Do it before our time in stasis becomes too long. We’d only need an instant to readjust. I probably wouldn’t even be conscious.”
    The Glint went silent, and Kelric could almost feel it calculating. Finally it said, “There is a great deal of uncertainty associated with this procedure.”
    Kelric thought of the shadows in his mind. Damn it, he wanted to get better. “I’ll take uncertain life over certain death.”
    “I understand, Captain.”
    “So let’s do it.”
    After a pause, the Glint said, “Ready.”
    Kelric fired the photon thrusters…
    Nausea surged over Kelric and he almost lost the breakfast he had eaten a few hours and who knew how long ago. His forward screen showed Diesha swelling into view like a ruby and turquoise jewel. They weren’t close enough to land, however.
    He struggled to clear his thoughts. “Glint? Why did you wake me up?”
    “We’re going to disintegrate. I thought you would want to know.”
    Hell and damnation! “Get us down as far as you can before the plane falls apart.”
    “Re-entry initiated. I’ve activated my emergency beacon.”
    Kelric wondered if they had returned to a time when anyone existed to pick up that beacon. “Can the reactor’s shielding survive the crash?”
    “Yes.”
    So at least they wouldn’t splatter a nuclear reactor all over the landscape. He hoped the same was true for him. The Glint, designed to be as light as possible, didn’t carry an escape capsule to protect him when he ejected. “Will you be able to slow down enough for me to eject?”
    “I calculate a fifty-three percent probability that you will survive ejection.”
    Well, that was better than zero. Even if he didn’t make it, at least the Glint’s mind would survive. The computer was better shielded even than the reactor.
    Kelric touched the console. “Jessa and her team will have you fixed up in no time.”
    “I don’t think that will be possible,” The Glint sounded subdued.
    “Why not?”
    “When we reinverted, I created a cybershell for your mind. It damaged my systems.”
    “A what shell?”
    “Cybershell. I ran your brain as a subprocess of my own. Your mind wouldn’t have survived reinversion otherwise,”
    Kelric whistled. “That’s impossible.”
    “Not completely. However, it did leave me unprotected during reinversion. It corrupted my systems. By the time we crash, my functions and memory will be degraded past recovery.”
    No, Kelric thought. “You killed yourself so I could live.”
    “I’m only a computer.”
    “A computer, yes.” He spoke quietly. “But ‘only’? I would never use that word for you.”
    “Captain, thank you.” Then it said, “We’re disintegrating.”
    “I won’t forget what you did for me,” Kelric said.
    “Take care.” With just the barest pause, the Glint added, “Let yourself heal, Kelric.”
    The plane ejected him.
    Kelric went out the top, shooting upwards as the Glint fell away from him in pieces. Windblast buffeted him so roughly that he almost blacked out.
    He began to fall. Tucking his chin to his chest, he held his legs together and crossed his arms while he tumbled through the air. Silence surrounded him and clouds covered the landscape. He tried to look at the altimeter on his arm, but the numbers blurred. It took his groggy brain a moment to comprehend that he had used up the air in his emergency tank. He clawed at his helmet, his fingers scraping across the face plate. Darkness closed around him, warm, inviting…
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