Ysa held the tablet between her hands and tapped a series of symbols across the transparent screen. "You just let them talk," she explained. "The system listens, scans, then analyzes whatever language they're speaking."
Lucas nodded slowly. "That simple?"
"More or less."
Dylan pushed himself off the bus wall and stepped inside. A few moments later, he emerged with one of the prisoners.
The man stumbled as Dylan guided him forward. The instant his eyes landed on Ysa, he froze. His face paled.
Ysa's sharp eyes reflected the afternoon light, and the prisoner immediately lowered his gaze.
"Por favor..." he whimpered.
Lucas stepped forward. "Talk."
The prisoner's breathing became uneven. "Por favor, señor..." His voice cracked. "Déjeme ir... Haré cualquier cosa." A sob escaped him. "Por favor... tengo familia..."
The tablet suddenly reacted. Thin strands of light spread across the holographic display. Like roots, like veins. They crawled outward from the center of the projection, weaving through dozens of glowing symbols as the device listened.
The prisoner continued speaking through tears while the web of light expanded and rearranged itself.
Then—
Click.
A small notification appeared.
The hologram shifted. Symbols vanished. New text formed.
Neural-linguistic sequence complete.
Species origin: Homo sapiens.
Dialect cluster identified: Spanish.
The prisoner blinked.
Lucas stared at the display.
Dylan leaned closer. "Huh."
Ysa smirked slightly. "Told you." As her fingers moved across the holographic interface. Symbols shifted and unfolded through the air, layers of translucent text rearranging themselves into unfamiliar geometric patterns.
A few final gestures, and the display settled.
"It's ready," Ysa said. "Talk."
The moment the words left her mouth, a soft pulse traveled through the hologram. A circular waveform bloomed in the air.
Then a calm artificial voice spoke over her, not a second later, but at the exact same time. "Habla."
The prisoner flinched. His eyes widened. He looked from Ysa to the holographic waveform and back again.
For a moment, he seemed too stunned to speak.
Then he swallowed hard and nodded. "¿Qué quiere saber, señorita?"
As the words left his mouth, the waveform shifted color and shape.
The artificial voice immediately translated as he spoke: "What do you wish to know, miss?"
Silence fell.
Lucas and Dylan exchanged a glance.
The prisoner stared at the hologram like he had just witnessed sorcery. Honestly, from his perspective, he probably had.
Lucas grinned as he looked between the prisoner and the floating display. "How's it translating at the same time?" he asked. "It's like it's translating before the words even leave your mouth."
The waveform pulsed.
At the exact same moment Lucas spoke, the artificial voice echoed his statement in Spanish.
The prisoner blinked several times, clearly unsettled by it. Then he shook his head rapidly. "No lo sé. No sé nada de esto. No sé qué está pasando."
The waveform shifted. "I don't know. I don't know anything about this. I don't know what's going on."
Ysa looked at him for a moment. Then she tapped a series of symbols floating in the hologram.
The waveform froze. The translation stopped.
The prisoner immediately fell silent.
Ysa turned toward Lucas. "It's a smart device," she explained. "There are times when it anticipates a word before it even comes out of your mouth."
Dylan frowned. "How's that possible?"
Ysa shrugged lightly. "It studies psychology, behavioral patterns, linguistic structures, and the recorded history of a species. Then it forms predictive models on how an individual is likely to respond."
Dylan stared at her. "Even you sirens?"
"All species."
Lucas kept staring at the tablet. "So it's like the internet?"
Ysa tilted her head. "Human-made internet?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah."
Ysa gave a small shrug. "Think bigger."
Dylan frowned. "How big?"
Ysa answered without hesitation. "Galaxy big."
The words landed.
Both Dylan and Lucas stared at her. Then they looked at each other. Then back at Ysa.
The prisoner glanced nervously between them, having absolutely no idea why everyone suddenly looked shocked.
Lucas let out a short laugh. "No, seriously."
"I am serious."
Lucas blinked.
Dylan rubbed the back of his neck. "Hold on."
Ysa waited patiently.
Lucas pointed at the tablet. "You're telling me that's connected to some kind of galaxy-wide data network thing?"
"Yeah, kind of."
The silence that followed was almost comical.
Dylan looked down at the transparent tablet in Ysa's hands. Then back at Ysa. "Y'all got a galactic internet?"
Lucas looked down at the tablet again. "How come humans aren't connected to this kind of technology?"
Ysa's expression shifted. For the first time, some of the amusement left her face. "We tried."
Lucas frowned. "What?"
"Countless different species tried to reach out. To connect with humans. To help humanity advance..."
The casual atmosphere faded slightly.
Ysa folded her arms. "And what did we get in return?" She waved the tablet. "Whoever guesses correctly can have this for twenty-four hours."
Lucas and Dylan immediately looked at each other.
Dylan pointed at the device. "That ain't yours."
"Yeah," Ysa said. "But it ain't yours either. And I'm closer to the owner, so I feel entitled to make irresponsible decisions."
Dylan rubbed the back of his head.
Lucas thought for a moment. "Okay... you're saying alien life already tried contacting humanity, but got something in return..." He snapped his fingers. "Humans gave the aliens something?"
Ysa immediately scoffed and shook her head.
Dylan narrowed his eyes. "Hold on. Don't think that's it."
Lucas looked over.
Dylan pointed at Ysa. "She's bein' sarcastic."
"Yeah..." Lucas nodded slowly. "She is like that."
Ysa grinned. "You two look like a pair of toddlers trying to solve a murder mystery with crayons."
Lucas looked offended.
Dylan looked even more offended.
Lucas rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Alright, how about this?" he said. "Aliens tried to connect with humanity and got... experimented on instead?"
Ysa barked out a laugh. "Your current's getting warmer."
Lucas immediately straightened. "Really?"
Dylan had been quiet for a moment. Then his eyes narrowed. "Oh."
Ysa looked at him.
Dylan pointed at her. "Humanity slaughtered y'all."
Ysa's eyes widened. Then she snapped her fingers once. Loud. "Echo!"
The two men looked at each other. Blinked, confused. Then back at Ysa.
Ysa pointed accusingly at Dylan. "You absorbed Yve's intelligence through intercourse or something?"
Dylan immediately scoffed. "Oh, shut up."
Lucas snorted.
Ysa continued pointing.
Lucas frowned. "That's really true?"
Ysa looked at him. "I just said it."
"No, I mean..." Lucas gestured vaguely around himself, toward the settlement, toward the bus, toward every human present. "How? If you guys are so advanced, so powerful... how could you get slaughtered by..." He pointed at himself. "...our kind?"
For a moment, Ysa didn't answer. Then she sighed. "Because if we retaliated, your species would've gone extinct."
The casualness of the statement made it somehow worse.
Lucas stared. Dylan blinked. Even the prisoner seemed to sense something serious had just been said.
Ysa continued. "And causing the extinction of a sapient species is a heavily punishable crime."
The two men were silent.
"So most species chose restraint." Ysa looked down at the tablet in her hands, her expression hardened slightly. "The species that encountered humans and survived exchanged their experiences. Some had good stories." A small shrug. "A few even had excellent ones." Then her eyes narrowed. "But most had traumatic ones."
The wind drifted through the street.
"Word spreads quickly when civilizations share information across star systems." She tapped the tablet. "And eventually a consensus formed."
Dylan folded his arms. "So y'all shut us out."
Ysa stopped tapping the tablet. Slowly her head lifted. Then stared. Actually stared. The kind of stare that made people realize they had probably said something stupid. "Seriously?"
Dylan raised an eyebrow.
Ysa let out a disbelieving scoff. "You're gonna play the victim here?"
Lucas immediately looked away because he could already tell where this was going.
Ysa pointed at Dylan. "Get over yourself."
Dylan frowned. "What?"
Ysa folded her arms. "No one owes humanity access to their civilizations." A beat. "No one owes humanity trust." Another beat. "Frankly, most species want nothing to do with you." She pointed at Dylan. "Except my sister."
That earned a laugh from Lucas.
Dylan groaned. "Oh, here we go."
Ysa nodded. "Yep." Then she smirked. "Humanity's greatest diplomatic achievement in the last few millennia."
Dylan narrowed his eyes, waiting.
Ysa's grin widened. "Getting Yve to tolerate one of you."
Lucas, who had been quietly listening from the side, finally burst out laughing. "Man, it is funny."
Dylan turned toward him, brows furrowed. "The hell's wrong with ya?"
Lucas wiped at the corner of his eye. "Look, it's a little insulting, but it is funny."
Ysa looked entirely too pleased with herself.
Dylan shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Just then, Yve approached them. "Hey guys..." Her gaze moved between them. "What are you laughing about?"
Dylan looked at her. His expression immediately soured.
Yve frowned. "What's wrong?"
Dylan just shook his head.
Ysa answered for him. "Aww." She tilted her head and stuck out her lower lip in an exaggerated pout. "Did I hurt your feelings?" She made a mocking face. "Want me to heal that booboo?"
"Really don't like ya," Dylan said flatly.
"Feeling's mutual."
Yve let out a long sigh, her shoulders dropping. "Stop being mean, Ysa."
Ysa turned toward her sister. "Aww, look at you defending your boy toy."
Yve raised an eyebrow. Then exhaled. "That's not funny."
"Yeah, it is." Ysa pointed toward Lucas. "Lucas is laughing."
Everyone looked at him.
Unfortunately for Lucas, he had stopped laughing the second attention shifted onto him. Now he was just standing there grinning like an idiot.
Yve looked back at Ysa. "Girl, you suck."
Ysa gasped dramatically.
"I'm gonna take Dylan instead."
"Ugh, fine." Ysa waved her hand dismissively. "Go ahead."
Yve immediately grabbed Dylan by the wrist. "Come on, Dylan. Don't mind her. She's just jealous 'cause I get some action and she doesn't."
"Wasn't really hurt," Dylan muttered as she pulled him away.
"Tell that to your eyebrows."
Dylan immediately touched his forehead.
Ysa and Lucas both started laughing again.
"Oh, shut up," Dylan groaned as Yve dragged him away.
~~~
As they continued down the street, Yve reached into her pocket and unfolded a slightly crumpled piece of paper.
Dylan noticed immediately. "What's that?"
"A list." Yve held it up. "Jenkins gave it to me." She stared at the handwriting again. "I have absolutely no idea what most of these are." She looked at him. "Do you?"
Yve handed him the paper.
Dylan took it and scanned down the page. His brow furrowed. Then he shook his head. "Nope."
"None of it?"
"This ain't my expertise."
Yve groaned. "There's like fourteen or fifteen things on there."
"Sounds like Jenkins."
Yve folded her arms. "He said he needs them to properly study whatever is happening to you."
Dylan kept reading. "Flow cytometer... electron microscope..." He squinted. "Half this stuff sounds made up."
Yve sighed.
"Did he tell ya where we're supposed to get these?" Dylan handed the paper back. "What'd he say?"
"Something about government laboratories. University research institutes. Hospitals. The CDC."
Dylan blinked. "Well."
"What?"
"I know where the CDC is."
Yve's eyes lit up immediately. "Great! Is it close?"
A grin spread across Dylan's face. "Nah, it's far."
The smile vanished from Yve's face. "How far?"
"Very far."
"Dylan."
"Very, very far."
Yve stared at him. "Dylan."
He chuckled. "Sorry."
"Well?"
Dylan scratched the side of his jaw. "Depends where exactly we're goin', but if you're talkin' 'bout the CDC?" He whistled softly. "That's a trip."
Yve's expression slowly grew more concerned. "How long?"
"Well..." Dylan thought for a moment. "If civilization still existed? Couple days by plane."
Yve immediately looked hopeful.
Then Dylan continued. "But planes ain't exactly a thing anymore."
Her hope died. "So?"
Dylan shrugged. "If everything goes perfectly? Maybe one or two weeks."
Yve nodded. "That isn't so ba—"
"But."
She groaned. "Oh heavens,"
"Fuel."
Yve sighed.
"Roadblocks."
Another sigh.
"Collapsed highways, shriekers, hostile survivors, scavengin' for supplies, detours."
"Dylan."
"Vehicular failures. All that apocalyptic nonsense."
Yve pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just give me a number."
Dylan looked up toward the sky. "Seven to eight months."
Yve stopped walking. Completely. Her mouth slowly fell open.
Dylan kept walking another few steps before noticing. He glanced back. "Oh."
Yve looked horrified. "Months?"
"That's just me bein' generous."
"Eight months?"
"Yep."
"Seriously?" Yve stared at him in disbelief.
Dylan rubbed the back of his neck. "We'd probably see everybody again in... what... year and a half, maybe?"
Yve looked like she had just received devastating news. "You could be dead by then before we even reach the CDC."
"That's a positive attitude." Dylan said dryly.
Yve let out a frustrated groan. "We can't be gone that long."
Dylan nodded.
"There has to be another way."
Dylan chuckled. "Take a breather."
They resumed walking.
"Let's actually plan this through before we start drivin' across a dead continent."
Yve looked down at the list again. "Jenkins isn't going to like hearing this."
"Nope."
A cold breeze drifted through the street.
Dylan glanced toward the gray sky overhead as something about it felt familiar. "Besides," he said quietly.
Yve looked up. "What?"
Dylan shoved his hands into his pockets. "Got a feelin' it'll start snowin' soon."
Yve followed his gaze toward the clouds gathering in the distance.
Dylan exhaled hard, "Winter'll only make it more difficult…make the trip even longer."
For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Then Yve looked back at the paper.
And sighed.