[Mount Cova , South Africa]

Isaac woke up in the bus. The sun was setting on the low horizon, the volcano was chirping and spewing lava behind him. He looked over at his arm, were his tracker was and where bandages now were. The bandages were a dark red, the blood had dried long ago.

Laura was in the back talking to Danny. They were laughing, in a tired way. Their lives were probably just as bad back at home, so the present circumstances didn't constitute a tragedy.

"How long was I out?" Isaac asked.

Laura was the first the turn her head. "Most of the day. You lost a lot of blood. Neither of us were compatible donors. Luckily, one of the others were. But, since she was dead, and bleeding herself, it was tricky getting her blood into you cleanly."

"Why are we still here?"

Danny shrugged. "Not sure. The computer on the bus is off. The drone you were grabbing earlier is powered down. We heard other things flying by; more drones, helicopters, planes. But none of them stopped."

Isaac looked up and out the window. "How'd you know what blood type I was?"

"I've had some medical training," Laura said. "And they had medical files on all of us. This is probably why I was brought along."

Above them, the skies were dark, filled with hot smoky clouds from the volcano.

"So, how did you get out of there?" Danny asked. "One second you were about to be melted, the next you were running for the bus on the other side of the ridge."

"I... I don't know."

“No answer. I told you so.” Danny stood up, his jaw clenched. “You're one of them man, I'm killing you right now."

Isaac laughed a little. "I can see why you think that. I seem to know a lot about them. I teleported. Other than the blood evidence you have, I'm not sure what else I can do to prove my humanity."

"Why don't we worry about how we're going to get home first?" Laura suggested.

"Yeah sure, and if he is one of them, he'll tell the rest of them and kill us along the way."

"For the last time, if they wanted you dead, you’d be dead. They don't care if you die, but they aren't trying to kill you."

"Tell that to the dead people around the bus!" Danny shouted and pointed outside. "The one shot down by that drone you conveniently landed. Jessica, who was melted by lava. Not to mention the billions of people killed since they got here. If they don't want us dead why kill most of humanity?"

Isaac paused for a moment. Not in respect for the dead, they were collateral damage to the events. But at the puzzle. What switched gears in the aliens to make them more hostile? Why kill the explorers? And why not finish the job?

"They can't find us." Isaac blurted out.

"Excuse me?" Danny said.

"They can't find us." Isaac sat up. "Think about it. If they were killing the rest of the crew, then why not us? You say they've been sending all kinds of aerial surveillance, but not another attack. For some reason they can't see us."

"Your tracker is broken." Laura held up her arm. "Ours are working fine."

"And don't drones have heat vision? Can't they see our body heat?" Danny asked.

"Uh, the volcano clouds must be messing with our heat signatures. They can't find us through that. As for the trackers, I think mine is more than broken."

"What do you mean?" Laura asked.

"Don't listen to this," Danny warned. "He's just trying to lower your defenses."

"Shut up Danny," Isaac said. "Just before I hurt my arm, I found the substance they were looking for. Purple, only a little thicker than water. It made my cube go green."

"So?" Danny asked.

"So, when it reacted with the lava rock and my tracker, that's when weird stuff started to happen. I teleported. When I ran in here, I gained control of the drone automatically through the bus' computer. I think this stuff linked me to their network. And by extension, linked me up to computer's around me. Like your trackers."

The other two looked at him, and then each other, unsure they could believe what was happening. Isaac pushed himself off of the booth and stumbled towards the computer up front.

"Look, believe me or don't. I'm not going to talk you into something that I barely understand. But right now I need to get home. Stay in the bus and I'll get you there too."

The computer turned on and the route back home popped onto the screen. He plugged it into reverse, and the bus turned around to take them home. He also pulled up a satellite to look for other incoming air craft. The volcano cloud cover wouldn't protect them forever.

It was soon dark again, and since the bus still knew where it was going, he thought it was prudent to keep the lights off. The less heat they gave off the better. Danny and Laura took shifts sleeping, on the insistence of Danny. Danny was first to stay awake and watch Isaac.

Having slept all day, Isaac didn't feel much like sleeping, but he didn't feel like spending company with Danny either. That and his attention wasn't needed right at the moment. So he popped a pain killer and laid back down.

It felt like seconds later when Laura woke him up.

"You're radar thing is beeping." She said.

He looked at it. Two dots were sweeping in from the south. Isaac activated the previous drone and in seconds it was engaged in a firefight with the new intruders. He made sure to bring it up from the side, in an attempt to hide their path from the aliens.

The other drones couldn’t see his drone, or at least didn’t react to it, and they were brought down in three passes. Isaac set the drone to patrol the area, looking for other targets.

"Seriously, how are you doing this?" Laura asked.

"I'm not sure." Isaac scrolled through more options on the van’s computer. "But however I'm doing it, this is the chance to run. If I can just get home to my dad, we can go wherever we want. Out of the reach of the robots. Out of the reach of anyone."

"So that's it?" Laura asked. "You just run away?"

"What else am I supposed to do? I can't fight them." Isaac gazed into the darkness. "Did you know that there are probably only five of them on Earth?"

"Five?" Laura asked. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. One of them could have done it. All of our computer automation gift wrapped the planet for them. Point is, five of them took out Earth. One of me sure as hell isn't taking them out."

Laura sat back in her seat. "So where do we run?"

"I don't know. There's a lot of rural areas in Africa. Maybe we can settle down with a nice native tribe somewhere."

Somewhere in the distance, another drone was shot down.

"They're getting the sense that we're on the move." Isaac tapped on the screen to get a read out of how fast enemy drones were coming in.

"Don't they have satellites too?" Laura asked. "They could be looking at us right now."

"They could. I've been looking at the satellite feeds though. We have another twenty minutes before one is in range to see us."

"What do we do then?"

"We hide the bus and the drone, and then wait for the next gap in satellite coverage. There are a lot of satellites up there, but only so many that actually have a camera capable of spotting us."

They rode on for ten minutes, and Isaac turned on the head lights. The map didn't mark convenient hiding places, and they were running out of time. They were on a paved road now, halfway to their destination.

"Too urban to find a cave."

"How about a parking garage?" Laura suggested.

"Do you think there will be one close by?"

"We'll have to pull off the next exit and try."

Isaac took manual control of the bus and pulled off at the next exit, the map told him they were in Gaborone, a city at the border of Botswana. The satellite would be in range in minutes.

The problem though, was he had to drive really slowly in the city center.

"Come on! I thought you said the satellite would spot us any minute!"

"Yeah, but traffic camera's will spot us in a second if I don't disable them first." Isaac tapped out a few more commands on the screen.

"Oh." The color drained from Laura's face. "There's no escaping them."

"Hush." Isaac put a finger to her lips.

Every traffic light had four visible cameras. And many more were hidden. Isaac could sense them. Like he was hearing their vibrations. What to do about them? He couldn't disable them, that would trigger an alert. But he could put them in loop mode. Playing the previous hours in random order. He also switched them to picture mode instead of video mode. Less chance of the bus sneaking up on the reel.

Slowly, they made their way to the tallest looking building in the city. Next to it, was a parking garage. They pulled in, at this time of night, the parking meters were not active. He decided to go down deeper into the garage, not wanting to take any chances. Once he was parked, he programmed the drone out of autopilot, and took control of that.

"Where are you going to park the drone?" Laura asked.

Danny woke up in the back. "Are we stopping?"

"Shut up." Isaac said curtly.

He took control of the craft, and used the same strategy. Look for a city center and park the thing in a parking garage. But he would have to do it at another garage just in case they found it. Somewhere in the opposite direction. He flew it up to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. It was more or less the same travel time, plus the scanners had no way of knowing when they left.

The drone flew strait there, and the clock clicked down the seconds until the satellite would be able to see it. Through the camera, he saw Bulawayo, and made his descent. This one would be harder as he couldn't deactivate the security in that city. But there was no time to worry about that. They would certainly find it if it continued to circle the sky.

He spotted a parking garage that looked to have enough clearance. The drone was big, but compact enough to get into tight spaces. Rather than rely on his landing skills, he gave the instructions to the drone to land on the second level and wait for the next objective.

"What the hell are you doing?" Danny asked, moving closer to them.

"Saving you," Isaac pointed outside the bus. "Now be a good boy and plug the battery into the charger."

"What did you-"

"Danny, do as he says." Laura cautioned.

Silence reined in the bus for a moment while Isaac watched the monitors. The drone touched down in the garage perfectly. But there were cameras in that garage. And driver-less cars that needed to be shut down. Isaac tried, but nothing was connecting.

"Well, there goes our drone," Isaac sat back in his seat. "At least they'll be diverted up to Bulawayo. Danny, why are you still in the bus?"

"Who put you in charge?" Danny asked.

"A majority vote. Massive competence. Go plug in the battery so we can get out of here. We only have a short window, no drone, and not enough charge to get back home in time. If you want to get home alive, then plug the battery in now."

Danny clenched his jaw and left the bus. Isaac checked the monitor, where several big cars were parked around the drone. He gave the drone instructions to spin in circles, blasting the cars.

Sparks and glass flew everywhere. More cars drove in, trying to block off any escape. On one of the rotations, Isaac saw the fleeting glimpse of a missile, and then the feed buzzed out.

"Now what?" Laura asked.

Isaac was about to respond when his arm tingled and data flowed into his mind. Scores of ones and zeroes raced across his eyes and the screen, and then he was filled with information.

"They think we're in Bulawayo," Isaac said. "Or in that area at least."

"How do you know?"

"Because I think I just intercepted a major transmission from them." Isaac got on the computer and made some calculations. "They will be zooming in all satellites along those routes and cities. Drones will adjust their passages. They were growing frustrated with the fruitless search in this area, and now they're sure we're over there. All the activity is there. Once the battery is charged, if we floor it back, we can reach Johannesburg before they broaden their search again."

"If the plan is to run, why are we going back?" Laura asked.

"Don't you have any family or loved ones?" Isaac thought a little of his father, but mostly of Neicia. "We should get them first and then run."

"I... I don't."

"Oh, well, stick with me then."

"What about Danny?"

"Eh, whatever he wants to do. Once we leave for good though, he'll have to abide by the rules if he wants to continue tagging along."

After thirty minutes, Danny came back in. "Ok, battery is charged. What's the plan now?"

"Buckle up. We got a clear shot for home and we're taking it."

"How do you know we have a clear shot?"

"All of the variables are taken care of." Isaac said as the bus started back up. "Get some more sleep if you want to. We should be home an hour after dawn."

The bus pulled back out of the garage and headed for the freeway. Soon he would keep his promise to Neicia.

*****

[Sparks Nevada 2027]

Signs of automation had already begun in even this desert town. Big rig trucks flew down the freeways and highways without a driver. People walked the streets with virtual reality headsets displaying an augmented reality over their terrain. Just taking a stroll, some of them were conducting important meetings with people in Hong Kong, losing a fortune in online casinos or developing new applications for their devices in the hopes of making a fortune. Some may have been doing all three.

Pavarti rented an all terrain vehicle and headed for Interstate 80. An interstate that would stretch nearly across America. He drove east for a few hours before turning north off the main roads and into the unpaved desert. It was still mostly tame, but it was completely left alone. America, Nevada in particular had many sections were people just didn't live. Meanwhile there were cities packed full of people complaining of over population.

At last he came to small area he designed to look like an abandoned mine. Here is where it all unhinged for him as a boy. Here he suffered loss, made hard choices, and discovered Earth's main source of the Pavarti matter.

This base too, was already occupied by the Phantom queen's people. This time three scribes and two soul jumpers.

The soul jumpers had a small military outfit with them, scanning the environment for any kind of way in. Taking out his creations would still be easy, but the military presence would prove a challenge. He didn't have anything to stop bullets. But at the same time, his transport crew would be arriving in a few hours and he needed the place to be cleaned up.

One military man spotted him and his truck on approach. A few warning shots were fired and Pavarti stopped the vehicle and got out. Several small drones armed with machine guns hovered maliciously. He put on his long jacket, which was very hot in the sun. He applied the pack of the Pavarti matter, not concerned with how little was left because he had a lifetime supply of it nearby.

Two soldiers took aim, and Pavarti teleported out of their sites and into the underground storage facility.

By that, he meant cave. It was his dream of actually turning this place into a high tech storage place, but it would mess too much with his young time line. All of his bases were close to where he lived, but out of areas he actually visited as a boy. There was just too much to mess up if he actually tried to alter his timeline directly.

Outside, the soldiers were shouting, confused at his sudden disappearance. Pavarti filled the suit's reserves to the brim and teleported behind a soldier near the vehicle. He stabbed him in the back, pulled the pin from a grenade in his belt and pushed him under the car.

He teleported back into the cave just as the explosion rumbled the cave tops above. From here, his wrist easily hacked into the remaining drones and he took out the rest of the soldier's in quick order. All that was left were his creations. He waited a while before he attacked them.

He wanted the soul jumpers scared. He wanted them desperate and scattered. So he let the soul jumpers try and communicate with the rest of the group around the world. They were hooked up to a network and word would travel fast. Once he was sure the message was sent, Pavarti shot them down with the drones and looked at his vast resources. All he had to do now was clean up his mess and wait for the delivery boys to show up.