Supersymmetry (39 page)

“He is a little weird.”

“That's not what I meant! I think he's sweet.”

“And weird.”

They sat down on stools in the kitchen, for all the world like they were teenagers again, growing up in that house. “He's so easygoing,” she said. “I feel comfortable with him, even though we really just met today.” Her eyes were lively, despite the late hour. Alex was glad for her. She hoped this Angel would be good to her and not hurt her. It surprised her how fiercely protective she suddenly felt toward her sister. And how comfortable she felt sitting here chatting with her. She grinned suddenly, and Sandra saw it.

“What?” she asked.

Alex shook her head. “I'm glad you're you,” she said. “Whoever Alessandra would have been, she's not either of us now. You're different from me, and I'm glad for who you are.”

“We were both Alessandra for a moment there,” Sandra said. They hadn't talked about that part of the Other Future yet, not directly. “And it was okay. We did well.”

“We did,” Alex said. “We saved the world, in fact.”

Sandra smiled. “And if we ever have to do that again . . . you know, to save the world again or something?”

“We could do it,” Alex said.

“We could. We will, if we have to. And if we do . . .”

“. . . it won't be the end.”

“No,” she said. “It won't.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

M
uch thanks to Rene, Jill, Lisa, Peter, Sheila, Liz, and all the rest at Pyr/Prometheus for their enthusiasm and ingenuity in bringing
Supersymmetry
to the world! It's been a true pleasure to work with you. Thanks once again to David Cantine, Mike Shultz, and Chad and Jill Wilson for reading early drafts and helping me make them better. And thanks to all of you who read
Superposition
and liked it enough to read this as well. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D
avid Walton is the father of seven children, none of whom sprang into being via quantum superposition. He lives a double life as a Lockheed Martin engineer with a top secret government security clearance, which means he's not allowed to tell you about the Higgs projector he's developing. (Don't worry, he's very careful.) He's also the author of
Superposition
, the Quintessence trilogy, and the award-winning
Terminal Mind
. He would love to hear from you at
[email protected].

Photo by Chuck Zovko