Return Encounters

Isabelle pushed pawn-to-queen-five, looked up at me and smiled.

The tension in the center was crushing White's position. I was sweating a little, but inwardly I smiled. I was so proud of my daughter, I didn't mind at all. I judged I had one tempo left before Isabelle would start to roll me over with her wing attacks. But one tempo can make all the difference in a chess position, and I thought I just might have a saving move. Yes. When she recaptured my knight, I could advance my queen to a commanding position in the center. It would be a tight race between our simultaneous attacks, but I would be one tempo ahead of her. I moved my knight on king-three away from her attacking queen-pawn and captured her knight, releasing the tension she had built in the center.

Isabelle giggled. "Now that's suicidal!" A quick move, bishop-to-queen-six. "Check!"

I gasped. I had two different ways to capture the undefended bishop, and both of them led White into a mating net in three. But there were no other options... "Uh, I'm busted?"

Isabelle nodded once, and then began quickly to reset the board. She was way too polite to gloat. "One more before bedtime? I'll go right to bed after. My teeth are already brushed. Please?"

"Well..."

"Please? I'll let you be White again."

"Hah!" I thought, "As if that makes a difference!" But how could I resist? And why should I ever want to? I spoke out loud, "Okay, but then right to bed, okay?"

"Deal! Thanks daddy! Your move!"

I smiled and pushed P-Q4. The house was very quiet, and the game slowly evolved into a complex strategic variation of the Queen's Gambit declined. I've noticed in recent months that my occasional draws with Isabelle would occur on our last game of the night. She is too much a purist to throw a game, but I also think she feels a faint pang of guilt when she beats me. If I played my best, our final game would evolve into complex and beautiful positional issues.

And that's what was happening now. We were thirty-some moves into the game, and it was past nine o'clock. There was a wonderfully complex strategic puzzle before me. All the deadly tactical fireworks of Isabelle's earlier play were gone. The house was utterly quiet, and as I stared at the position, the board transformed. The White and Black pieces were no longer simply opposing each other. They were also entwined in a strange and wondrous cooperative dance, seeking to balance their oppositional interests. In a burst of inspiration and clarity, I saw the pure brilliance of Isabelle's mind, saw the elegant solution to the deep mathematical puzzle she had created. I could lock the strategic tension into a harmonious equilibrium. I moved my rook and looked at my daughter.

She is so young, and such a master at the game! Lying prone in her pajamas, elbows and knees on the ground, head held in her hands, her bare feet relaxed in the air behind her. She looked up from the board and gazed at me, and then smiled and nodded.

I smiled back, and saw A'moth pop into existence four meters behind Isabelle. I let out an explosive gasp.

Isabelle saw my shock and stare and whipped around to see A'moth. She gave a soft shriek and was in my lap a second later, staring at A'moth in astonishment. A'moth was in a corner of the room, no doors, no closets, all the windows were closed against the heavy rain shower outside. There was no logical place A'moth could have come from, and Isabelle knew it. "Daddy?!" she whispered hysterically. I could feel her trembling in my arms.

My mind was racing for what to say. "Relax Isabelle. This is A'moth. I know her."

A'moth sat down on the floor with us, about two meters distant. "Gary... Hi Isabelle. Gary, I'm so sorry to come like this, but it's an emergency. There's no time to waste. Is Carlotta here?"

"Huh? No. What's going on?"

"It started over twelve hours ago. I was on a beach, in southern Indonesia... Gary, the biologicals, the ones in the air. They've mutated. I don't even know if that's the right word to use. I think they've fused, combined. My body's been fighting them ever since."

"Huh? Oh! Oh shit... A'moth, I don't understand. Are you ill?"

"No! My immune system can handle just about anything. But my system is screaming at me that these buggers are strong! I felt weird for over twelve hours, while my body was figuring out the right antibodies."

"You're okay now?"

"Yes. But you're not. Isabelle is not. Carlotta is not. Hell, no human is!"

"Daddy?!" whispered Isabelle.

I kissed and hugged my daughter and whispered back to her. "Hush Isabelle. This is a friend. She loves us both. Trust me."

I was never more proud of Isabelle than that moment. She nodded her head in complete trust of what I told her and climbed out of my lap, sitting off to my side to give me some room. The three of us were sitting on the floor in a tight triangle.

"A'moth, why are you here?"

"I can transfer my antibodies to you and Isabelle. I probably have enough for Carlotta too. Where is she?"

"On a flight to Spain. She should be landing in about an hour."

"SHIT! I've been jumping around. Europe is already infected. The North Atlantic is swarming with this stuff. The biological wave is crossing the U.S. now. I think South America is about the only place not hit yet. It's a matter of hours..."

"A'moth, how dangerous is this stuff?"

"I don't know!" A'moth almost shouted. I had never seen her this upset. "But it's strong! I have no idea what it'll do. But it's strong! Gary, can I vaccinate you? You and Isabelle?"

I stared at A'moth in astonishment. I finally realized the sacrifice she was making, risking her exposure to save my family. The decision seemed obvious. "Okay. What do I have to do?"

"Just hand me your wrist. I can inject directly from my lymph nodes." Isabelle's eyes went wide in astonishment. I handed A'moth my arm.

A'moth nodded at me. "This will take about a minute. I'll do Isabelle next." A'moth opened her mouth wide and pressed the inside of my wrist to the roof of her mouth. I felt something strange penetrate me a moment later.

I sat there for a minute, smiling at Isabelle, trying to reassure her, and all the while A'moth looked as if she were eating my wrist. Then I felt her withdraw from my vein and a quick flick from her tongue before she released her bite. She looked up at me and sighed, and then turned to my daughter. "Isabelle, may I? It won't hurt."

Isabelle shook her head. I thought she was saying no, but then she scooted over and offered A'moth her arm. "I won't cry if it does. Are you magic?"

A'moth gave her a big grin. "Yeah. Sort of, yeah."

Isabelle looked mostly at me during her vaccination. I tried to smile back, tried to reassure her. I kept wondering what was going through her mind. Isabelle whispered a thank you when A'moth was finished. A'moth gave her a very maternal smile and petted her head. Black finger nails, black lips, I was amazed Isabelle was taking this so calmly.

"Gary?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't think of how to vaccinate Carlotta. For this stuff to work at all, it'll have to be in your system for several hours before you're exposed to the biologicals, and I'm pretty sure any plane in the North Atlantic is already infected. I can't jump into a moving plane anyway. I gave you and Isabelle all the antibodies I could. My lymph gland is drained."

"Jump? Jump with magic?" asked Isabelle.

A'moth nodded at my daughter and then turned back to me. "Gary, give me her flight number. Where is she landing?"

"Madrid. Oh hell. She's flying Alitalia, a connecting flight from Rome."

"Hell! It's hopeless then. She's already infected. Gary, I'm sorry."

"A'moth, how dangerous is this stuff? What will it do?"

A'moth grimaced and was silent for a moment, finally shrugging her shoulders. "I have no idea. But the whole world is being infected, everyone but you and Isabelle. I think I got here in time. Isabelle?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have to do this. I won't be angry with you if you refuse. But will you tell no one about me, not even your mother?"

Isabelle was silent for a long moment. "You've already asked my daddy to promise that, haven't you?"

"Yes."

Isabelle face was set in intense concentration. She finally whispered, "Then I promise too."

A'moth nodded. "Thank you... Gary, I'm going to jump, try to observe how fast this thing is moving. I'll keep in touch. Goodbye Isabelle."

And then she vanished, jumping right before our eyes. Isabelle gasped and was visibly shaken. I wound up getting out a sleeping bag that night, sacking out by the side of Isabelle's bed in her bedroom so she wouldn't have to be alone. Isabelle handed me some of her favorite stuffed animals to keep me company. We didn't hear from A'moth again, and two days later my daughter and I boarded our flight to Spain.

Chapter 9.

8:10 PM local time, Thursday, December 31, 2009, near the city of Huelva on the southern coast of Spain, close to the Portuguese border...

"Isabelle all tucked in?"

Carlotta nodded. We held hands and began our evening stroll. Our return flights to Chile would start early tomorrow morning, and we had both decided not to attend any New Year's celebrations. We walked along the edge of the ocean, breathing the cold salty air.

"This vacation has been a dream for me..." commented Carlotta.

"It was nice to see your parents again. Hard to believe our wedding was nine months ago. Time has moved so fast."

"It's not just my parents... You and Isabelle... Especially Isabelle... I've never seen her express so much love for me. She's constantly wanting to be with me, wanting to be hugged, wanting to do something for me... It's a little strange..."

"Uh... Nice though, right?"

"Oh yes! But strange... Who ever heard of a seven-year old who devotes her life to pleasing her mother?"

"Well, yeah... I'm sure when we get back home, things will return to normal."

"I hope so... It's just a little strange... And the two dolls I gave her for Christmas..."

"Well, they're huge. And we both know how much Isabelle likes to cuddle with dolls..."

"Still... Gary, she had tears of gratitude in her eyes when she got them. She hugged me and sobbed in gratitude... It's just a little strange... And you, dearest husband. You've been pampering me too. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I'm just not used to being loved so intensely..."

Carlotta and I stopped and kissed. For the longest, sweetest time we stopped and kissed, losing ourselves in our love for each other. It was quite late by the time we got back to her parent's house.

The plane trip back to Chile on Friday was long but uneventful, a bit crowded with the holiday travel crowds. Flying first-class helps take the edge off that. The following evening Carlotta went over to help Emilio and Amata with the art gallery. It was Saturday, January 2, 2010, a few minutes before 8 PM Santiago time. I was reading a book on the couch in the living room when Isabelle walked in and sat down on the couch near me. She was out of her shower and in her pajamas. I had been expecting her just to turn in.

"When's mom coming home?" she asked.

"Soon, before nine o'clock. How about we hold off on chess until tomorrow? Have you in bed when mom comes home..."

Isabelle gave a quick nod. "...Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"It's been twelve days now. Is mom safe?"

"Yeah, I think she might be okay..." I looked at Isabelle and realized she wanted total honesty from me. I sighed. "I'm still worried, like you. But twelve days is a long time to get exposed to something and not get sick. I'm hopeful Isabelle, and the more time that passes, the better our chances are. Let's just take this one day at a time, and each day will be better and better..."

Isabelle smiled and nodded. "Goodnight daddy. I love you, you and mom both."

"I know sweetie. Goodnight to you too. Pleasant dreams."

Carlotta did come home less than an hour later. We took showers and went to bed soon after. I love holding her when I sleep. My dreams were deep and peaceful.

In the dead of night, about three hours before dawn, I gradually woke up realizing Carlotta was petting me. I lazily began to caress her shoulders.

She sighed and rose up a bit, kissing me.

"Hmm," I mumbled. "Can't sleep?"

"There's a fire somewhere, a big one I think."

"Huh?" That woke me up.

"Listen." Through our open bedroom windows a cool summer breeze was blowing, carrying the faint sound of many sirens in the distance. Carlotta sighed again. "It must be a big one. I don't think the fire's close though. I can't smell anything burning."

"Yeah..."

We were both awake. After a minute of playful petting, Carlotta knelt on the bed and began kissing and licking my penis. I relaxed in the sensations, felt myself rising to meet her arousal, felt myself sliding past her lips and teeth to the softness of her mouth and throat. She began running her lips up and down my shaft, her tongue adding moisture to her oral caress. I began to thrust my hips to the rhythm of her suckle.

Carlotta laid herself on her side and backed into me, lifting one leg high in the air. I needed no other encouragement. This was our favorite way to couple while she was pregnant, letting the growing bulge in her womb be undisturbed while I entered from her rear. She accepted me into her body, and everything was softness and moisture and love. We rocked and held each other gently, the sounds of the distant sirens echoing faintly in the room.

We finally orgasmed together, gentle hip thrusts to deposit my seed, Carlotta shivering in her pleasure, sweet and light and infinitely tender. I had been caressing her swollen womb during our coupling, and Carlotta hand came down and pressing my hand into her, to our new child within her womb.

"Hmm. That was so nice..." She wiggled her rump into my groin, my penis still sheathed and sliding within her vagina.

I nuzzled the back of her neck. "I'm so happy to have you Carlotta... to have you as my wife..." I caressed her womb. "My future seems so bright..."

"I know. My future is bright too. I have you, have Isabelle, have the new child within me... My future is bright too..."

I nodded. "And our love Carlotta! Even beyond our futures, beyond our mortal bodies... The love seems so permanent..."

Carlotta took a deep breath. "Yes! I agree! Love lasts forever, forever and... for real!"

I felt a brief burst of tension from her, as if she had to struggle to complete her last thought. And then all the tension left her body, she became limp in my arms. "Carlotta? Carlotta?!"

She was totally non-responsive. After trying and failing to wake her I became frantic, shouting for Isabelle to help and rushing to the phone. I was shocked to get an all-circuits-busy signal when I dialed the emergency medical response number. In a searing blast of recognition, I realized the sirens we had been hearing all night were not fire-engines but ambulances. I began to cry as I bundled Carlotta in a blanket and started to carry her to the car.

As we approached the front door of the house, I felt Carlotta spasm once, and then she stopped breathing. I began CPR as Isabelle tried again and again to get through to EMR. I couldn't get Carlotta to breath again, and a minute later her heart stopped. Through my tears I shouted for Isabelle to get help from the neighbors...

My neighbors and I kept up the CPR for almost an hour, of course without success. The dawn of that day, January 3, 2010, began the Day of Horror around the world, and the beginning of a monstrous era. Santiago was a city of close to five million people, with 50,000 pregnant women in their second or third trimester. Within one week, all 50,000 died, along with all their unborn children.

The horror was worldwide, sparing no human pregnancy beyond the 13'th week. Sixty-eight million women died that first week in January, as humanity's promise and hope for the future turned into unbounded grief.

Over the next few months, researchers began to develop some dim understanding of what was happening. It was incomprehensible, but the human placenta had somehow evolved into an incredible killing machine, killing both the mother and child once the placenta was developed and functional.

By the end of March, 2010, four distinct killing mechanisms had been identified. The primary cause of death is toxic shock, as the placenta suddenly releases massive amounts of neurotoxins into the mother's bloodstream. The pregnant woman becomes unconscious, and then the autonomic nervous system shuts down, suffocating her.

For the few women kept alive in hospitals on ventilators, the cause of death was septic shock, the placenta inducing a massive, violent inflammation of the entire circulatory system, causing the heart and other vital organs to fail from a lack of blood supply.

By January 8, 2010, the only pregnant humans on Earth were all in their first trimester. They and their families became frantic for abortions as those who reached the end of their first trimester continued to die. The women who aborted early enough survived. Some who aborted too late died of strange and mysterious illnesses shortly afterwards, a deadly auto-immune response of the body rejecting its own organs, and a strange metastizing cancer that consumes the body with lightning speed. Medical researchers have some understanding now of this last killing mechanism. As the placenta becomes functional during the 12'th and 13'th week of pregnancy, it begins to flood the body with S.C.I., super carcinogen initiators, one week before the onset of toxic shock. Pregnancy is now an absolute death sentence for any woman, unless the pregnancy is aborted before the 13'th week.

And so the world is facing a frightening and infinitely dark reality. The race is on to understand and cure this monstrous affliction. The word monstrous is a common label, because almost everyone is convinced this plague is man-made, the result of some bio-warfare experiment run amuck. All other animals, even our closest relatives the chimps, are unaffected, at least so far.

The world's economy is in the throes of absolute chaos, as the threat of the extinction of our species vibrates around the globe. The number one industry in the world right now is child trafficking, as countries race to stock up on the remaining and dwindling pool of children. I'm only in my late twenties, and Isabelle just turned eight. We would be welcome as new citizens in almost any country of the world now, even without any money.

My daughter! She was so devoted, so in love with her mother! A week ago in October, right after Isabelle's eighth birthday, a bombshell hit, one so horrible I don't have the guts to tell her. Her biological father is petitioning the courts in Miami for custody. He never signed away his rights to her, and with Carlotta dead and my adoption of Isabelle still incomplete, it's an open issue where she'll wind up. I've talked with several lawyers here in Santiago. They all tell me it's essential for me to be present in Miami at the hearings with Isabelle at the end of November. Otherwise Chile will probably extradite Isabelle back forcefully. God help me, I can't find the courage to tell Isabelle about this. I'm considering going underground with her, rather than risk losing her.

And A'moth! She said before Christmas she was going to check the speed of the plague, said she would be back shortly. Nothing! It's been ten month months now and no word from her at all. Isabelle and I are both convinced something must have happened to her.

It's Monday night, 11 PM, October 25'th, 2010. I'm in my living room now at home. I tucked Isabelle back in bed from a nightmare an hour ago. I think she managed to get to sleep again. I often have the same problem, nightmares robbing me of rest. The future seems so dark and bereft of hope, full of coming deaths and sorrows. Oh Carlotta, my dearest wife, my soul still cries for you. And A'moth! A'moth, where are you?!"