Endless Summer...Or Is It?

Nearing dizziness, he burst his seed into her delectable confinement.

When breath permitted, he croaked, "I'm impressed. And now, I must go back indoors."

***

Meredith had another flask of water ready for him. Skylar gulped half of it, fast enough to cause a brain freeze. He poured the rest on his head, not caring what the runoff did to Meredith's furnishings.

"And?" Meredith prompted him.

Skylar looked at Solange, who flicked away water drops, amused. "Solange, you have an important breakthrough here. Tropical zones that were unfriendly to most humans, even before the recent heatup, would become more liveable." He paused, and in so doing, conveyed to Solange something that banished her amusement.

He resumed, "For humans. Perhaps humans only."

Skylar stepped to where he could see the others and, when he chose, make eye contact. "The ethical high ground might be to adjust people to the planet, instead of adjusting the planet to people. But we aren't the only species at risk. How high is the ground that allows widespread extinctions?"

Skylar had no specialized knowledge. Yet the doubts, and worries, and guilt, that he had confined for years to the silence of his mind, gave him words now. "So many geoengineering schemes have at their core wild guesses, including on whether there could arise consequences as yet unimagined. Sulfur blasting could be one such scheme.

"But Meredith is right, something must be done. Solange is also right, I'm hiding from the world, and my money isn't changing that. Virtual reality excursions can only distract me for so long. So I will use my money to change something."

"George," said Skylar to the already-smiling engineer, "I will pay for you to shoot sulfur into the sky."

Meredith said, "You might choose to do that now, here, while my home security ensures Solange's good behavior."

"No," Skylar told her. "I will spend the next two days studying what both of you have given me. But unless I find something totally unforeseen, which completely changes my mind, my choice will stand."

Solange frowned at Meredith. "I'm not a psychopath."

"But your hope for the world has come crashing down," said Meredith.

"Yes. I'm trying to save humanity," said Solange bitterly. Looking at Skylar, she said, "If I can't save other endangered species, it may be no worse than if there are mishaps with sulfur. The nanobots carry no planetary risk, and the greatest hope for widespread survival. But without your help, they will remain baubles for the idle super-rich. Which you will no longer be."

For an instant, Skylar felt loss. He would never couple with Solange as an equal superhuman, never experience what would have been possible if he had the kind of body control her bots gave her.

Yet he also felt relief. For good or ill, he was doing something to address the helplessness that had vexed him, through his adult life, and made him flee to VR diversions.

"In that case," Skylar said with a smirk, "I should keep all of my money, use a little of it to buy your bots for myself only, and continue as part of the problem." He turned to face George, and said, "Just kidding."

Solange said, "If this is how it must be, I hope for the best. I know George is a genius. What I don't know is if he should gamble with a whole world's biosphere."

"Enough of that!" said Meredith, buoyant. "No more weighty pronouncements from my naked sex guests." She stepped up to Skylar and cradled his face in her hands. "What will become of you, my soon-to-be-Uncool friend? You'll no longer be able to pay to replenish your nanobots as they wear out. Your aircon cost will go far beyond your reach. Will you be left to wander the Upper Peninsula, begging for ice cubes, seeking work as a Lake Superior dunk tank clown?"

"Perhaps," Skylar muttered, not amused.

"I can't let that happen," said Meredith. "I invite you to move in with me, Skylar, as a probably-not-equal partner."

He stared at her, puzzled. "But...what value could I have--"

"Well, you planked me very nicely a while ago, and I could enjoy having that on demand. But I think you could be trainable for other tasks. Unlike you, Skylar, I've had to work to stay a Cool. Even now I search the world for dumb money that fairly begs to be extracted legally. I got rich years ago, flipping non-fungible tokens, before people woke up. That accustomed me to a style that I had to maintain, by finding the next ridiculously big thing, and the next after that.

"I'm willing to take a chance on you becoming as crafty as I am. And if you aren't...well, you're nice to look at. And, oh yes, thanks to you, we might soon live in a world that's hospitable for everyone. We'll no longer refer to Cools and Uncools. We'll go back to Haves and Have-Nots."

Listening to her rattle that off made Skylar realize how much he enjoyed Meredith's company, and that it actually seemed better than his solitary existence. "I accept paying my rent," he said, smiling, "by becoming your rent boy."

"Now that's the proper attitude! Pour me some more wine, Skylar. George, Solange, you're welcome to stay for dinner. You know where everything is in the kitchen. I want it ready within an hour. Feel free to delegate the worst of the scutwork to Skylar."