In a fraction of a second, ElilE darted forward, so quickly her eyelids had just reached their peak in surprise as his finger touched her forehead. She blinked; it was night, quiet, the birds chirping softly, the sound of insects in the bushes, a black sky overhead crowded with a billion stars, so bright it lit the world around her—and color, she had never known there was so much color in the universe. ElilE sat across from her still, as though he had never even moved. He stared and his eyes reflected the sky—black, so black, with a billion points of light.

“You are a skeptic,” he said, and his voice was different now, not the tenor of a man, but a rustling many-voice of wind in trees and rippling ponds and clicking insects and even a few human sounds laughing on the sidelines.

“You do not believe in us. You think us human—and we are, but only so. Your world and our world are alike but not perfectly. We built this world ages ago, back when we were different from what we are now. We accept your presence here though it was unplanned. We recognize your existence and we are grateful for the shelter you provide, flawed as your doings are.”

He pointed up to the sky and her gaze followed, transfixed.

“Know that as many stars as are in this universe, there are universes within a higher plane of existence, which itself is as common as the universes within it. These universes are not static beings—they live and move and touch and consume one another. Your universe and our universe touch for we have made it so, and we can exist in your universe in the margin of similarity. We live as we can as thoughts within your kind and through thought we drive action and with action we bring your world closer to our own.

“There is another force that has touched your universe, a force which you would understand as evil but we understand as the impetus of hunger. It is a universe vaster than our own collective and far vaster than your own, and it seeks no such union, no shared knowledge, no balance, no compromise, no existence other than its own. It has consumed many other universes and grown in power with each consumption, eventually to stand alone and form the basis of a new universal plane, to ascend in existence and birth smaller existences based upon its own. We do not understand its ultimate motive—if it can be understood—but we know in its motion it will destroy and consume all other universes.

“You have seen this force and named it even; it is the dark place in your shared consciousness, the place you call the UausuaU. It besets your universe as it besets ours, and no action we have seen will stay its course. It grows in power as it turns the margin of similarity towards its own. We grow here, slowly, and as our powers increase we have seen other universes appear, sensing the kill, carving off what they can to strengthen themselves. Far beyond this planet are other organisms, other wars, other visitors to your universe.

“We see a girl. A girl with blue eyes and a dog that is not a dog. We know this creature—have seen it. It is strong and it fights, fighting the UausuaU across the universal plane. We see opportunity in this creature, yet it waits. We believe it waits for you, for mankind, to see if you will fight, if this corner of this universe is worth the battle.”

It was day, the sun shone, the birds were back to their annoying chirping and the chair was just as hard as ever. ElilE sat staring at her as he had been. When he spoke his voice was the normal tenor:

“This girl is very important. She is the foothold upon which this creature relies. The fraction of similarity that allows it to exist in your universe. The feasters serve the UausuaU though they may not know it. If they find this girl they will kill her and destroy the margin.”

“Well that’s fucking great,” Saru said. She took out her jacket flask (damn her hands were shaking, had it really just been night? Had they drugged her or hacked her implants?) and found it was empty. She got the hip flask and downed it. “What will you do if she dies?”

“We will do as we have always done.”

“And let the world be destroyed? Assuming I believe your hocus pocus.”

“Not destroyed—consumed. But yes, it is likely that all mass on Earth, at least, will disassociate from this universe and become part of the UausuaU.”

“Jesus Christ. And this is your plan? To hire one detective to track down this girl? Why not put out an APB, get the cops on it, the army, or at least get me a big fat load of mercenaries to come along.”

“There is…danger in that route. It would be a great loss if the girl were to die…but it would be…safer.”

“What do you mean, ‘safer’?”

“The creature that lives in her is powerful. Our understanding of it is…incomplete. We know it battles the UausuaU but its actions are at times unclear. It does not understand humanity well, does not communicate. It could interpret such pursuit as a threat and…overreact.”

“Like, what, kill somebody?” She was fairly certain that however this ended it was going to involve a few body bags.

“It would likely kill many…the city perhaps. We do not know its power or constraint.”

Saru began to laugh, a real laugh, not some bitter chuckle. This was funny. Oh man, Eugene was right, no wonder people loved working for these guys. A mission to rescue an alien that sure didn’t need her help, with a bonus of potentially destroying Philadelphia? Sign me up! She imagined the parking authority going up in flames, the rat-infested slum housing, the banking district with its swarms of self-righteous yuppies. She was perfect for the job—this was a pretty low-pressure consequence as far as she was concerned. And her qualifications—

“So basically you want me because I’m too clumsy to be seen as a threat, and simple-minded enough to be understood by the dumbest of aliens.”

“You are not subtle. You think and act directly. Yes, this could be easier for the being to understand. And the girl has had a difficult childhood; given your own difficult childhood, we think you two can relate.”

Ooh, bringing up her childhood. That was a foul. She thought about giving him a light tickle with the prod—nothing too subtle—and then did it. He caught the prod lazily and locked eyes with her, unblinking. She dialed up the power and returned his stare. His forearm shook, the blue arcs of electricity danced up and down his arm, little flames poked up from his hand and the scent of steak filled the air. He yanked the prod from her grip and dropped it on the ground between them. His hand was black and red, burned, destroyed. She felt suddenly guilty, sympathetic almost; she hadn’t meant to hurt him, had she even hurt him? There was that strange urge to cry again.

“Sorry,” she said, softly. “That was stupid.” Then a thought occurred: “Wait, won’t this creature interpret any feasters as a threat and ‘overreact’?”

“It may,” he said. He picked up a clump of dirt from around the boulder and massaged it into his wound. “When you find the girl you must gain her trust, convince her to follow you of her own free will. We will provide transportation to take her far from the city, far from the reach of the feasters, where she will be safe and we can observe the being. Do you understand?”

Away from Philadelphia, a place where she was safe. Jeeze, take me with you.

“Surprisingly, I do,” she said. “So now the real question: what does all this pay? Keep in mind the imminent destruction of the universe and my uniquely moronic qualifications—I don’t know if you’ve seen the feeds lately, but I’m a celebrity too.”

“We are prepared to offer you the same contract we offered Dr. Friar. Ten million American dollars upon successful closure. Five hundred thousand to be paid up front for necessary expenses.”

“Holy shit!” Saru yelled. “Why didn’t you just spit that out at the beginning instead of all this mumbo jumbo bullshit? Holy shit!”

She jumped up and half jogged to the glass box of the elevator, then jogged back to grab her prod and then jogged back again. Holy shit, holy shit, ten million dollars! She had to find this bitch. ElilE was jogging after her; he was saying things and yadda yadda yadda. Holy shit! Ten million dollars!