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.Madmar coughed as Ezra punched him over and over.Silverstein rushed over and tried to take Ezra by the wrist, getting thrown to the ground for his troubles.“Ezra, stop! Stop!” Silverstein pleaded.Madmar cackled through broken teeth and bloodied lips as Ezra backed off.“He deserves to die for what he’s done,” Ezra hissed, pointing at Madmar.“He was waiting for us,” Silverstein shouted.Ezra’s rage quickly cooled as he looked around the server core.“Why would he wait for us like this if there even a chance of us stopping him? What are you really up to, Madmar?” Silverstein shouted.“I forget just how paranoid you really are, Uroboros,” he cackled.Silverstein ran back over to where Taylor was standing and looked down at the input panel.Taylor isolated systems within the CGG grid that would preserve power and services in different places.There was something else however, something terrible.“Taylor, step down out of there.Get away from the input panel,” Silverstein said.“Even more people will die if I do,” she replied.“The more you expose your own programing to the grid, the more Madmar will know about you and the Lunar AIs.He may be out to ruin the Earth, but it’s the moon he’s really after.”“If I do, millions more will die.As the lights go off and transports stop running around the world, people will freeze, burn, and starve.I cannot abandon them,” Taylor said, tears running down her cheeks, her hands trembling with fatigue.“I understand.You can’t.But, we can,” Silverstein said nodding to Ezra.Ezra and Silverstein grabbed Taylor and pulled her from the input panel.She struggled feebly as Silverstein pulled her away, his hands wrapped tightly around her waist.Ezra smashed the terminal, raking his claws across the wires and cables that connected it to the server core.Sparks flew as the core quickly overheated, bursting into flames.“NO! I was so close!” Madmar cried out in anger as he stood and dashed down one of the corridors, disappearing into the mist.Ezra turned to give chase but halted as the ice above the central server cracked loudly.“We’ve got to get out of here!” Ezra cried out.Silverstein grabbed up Taylor in his arms and ran like hell, following Ezra as fire quickly spread behind them.The ice that acted as support to so much of the core structure began to break.Up ahead, the rover had already crashed through making a convenient if not treacherous way back to the upper level.Ezra grabbed Silverstein by the hand and helped him up to solid ground.Moments later, as they caught their breath, the entire server complex collapsed under its own weight, forcing smoke and fire upward.Ezra held out his arms, offering to carry Taylor the rest of the way.“No, I got this,” Silverstein said, looking down at Taylor as she lapsed in and out of consciousness.They ran the last length of tunnel on adrenaline alone clearing the cave access and out into the open.Ezra stopped dead in his tracks, his ears straining to hear even the faintest sound.He could hear a transport taking off somewhere nearby, still operational.“He’s getting away,” Ezra said.“Let him, we need to get Taylor out of here,” Silverstein said.“Let’s use the gate,” Ezra said.As they came upon fallen army personnel, Ezra stooped over and picked up their rifles.After checking for ammunition, he slung the still useful firearms over his shoulder and discarded the others.Silverstein followed, stopping to try and revive Taylor along the way.They closed the distance to the front gate and slipped through to the other side.A hundred yards later, they broke into the woods in the pitch black of the night.Snow began to fall as they walked the last mile to where they hid the rover.Ezra pulled the brush aside while Silverstein tried to, again, revive Taylor.She was cold, even more so than the Scandinavian wilderness around them.She’d pushed herself to the brink, accessing several hundred thousand computer systems at once in a not-quite-vain attempt to save as many people as she could.“Ezra, I don’t think she’s okay,” Silverstein said, sitting down in the snow.“She has to be,” Ezra said, kneeling down beside him.“We need to get her back to the cabin.”“The cabin seems to be a place off the grid with a wood stove, food, and a well.Anyone who knows about it, is going to head for it,” Ezra said.“Could be, and we’ll be totally out of power for the rover by the time we get there.What’ll we do?” Silverstein asked, standing up.“World’s a changed place, we’ll have to do our best to protect what’s ours,” Ezra said, loading one of the rifles.“So, we go from saving the world, to merely trying to survive in it?” Silverstein said sadly.Ezra nodded solemnly.“For now.”Silverstein gave a single nod, still numb from everything that had just happened.Laying Taylor in the back he took off his own coat and wrapped her in it.She stirred slightly, making Silverstein hesitate for a moment before climbing into the driver’s seat.They drove slowly with the headlights off.The open-topped vehicle bobbed back and forth over the rough road, its electric motor the only mechanical sound for miles.Even with Helsinki a few miles away, there wasn’t a single transport in the sky and the early morning glow coming off the buildings at the horizon was gone.The cabin was dark when they arrived.Ezra did a walk around before Silverstein parked.Ezra grabbed the guns and the batteries out of the rover while Silverstein carried Taylor.The inside of the cabin was cold, and Ezra was wary of building a fire.“You look tired.I’ll take the first watch,” Ezra said, bringing one of the rifles up to his shoulder.Silverstein nodded, laying down beside Taylor on the floor by the front door.Ezra stepped outside and vanished into the darkness.Taylor stirred as the door closed.“Where are we?” Taylor whispered
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