Nerwin bent down close to the ground. He picked up a pebble and tossed it over the lake. The pebble bounced a couple times before it sunk deep into the water.

The sound of a branch snapping nearby startled him. He turned around and scanned the area. Oh, it was only a goblin.

It approached Nerwin and bowed its head. ‘‘I’m sorry to bother you, Sire. But we have a slight problem in the Southern region.’’

Nerwin brushed the dirt off his hands and said, ‘‘Oh dear. I hope it’s not the mermaids and beavers.’’

The goblin burst out laughing and shook his head. ‘‘I’m not quite sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they were arguing again.’’

Nerwin looked into the sky and whisteld. In a flash, two winged creatures appeared and whinnied.

The goblin mounted on one and Nerwin patted the creature’s head first before mounting it. It was pleased to see him.

They flew into the air toward the South. Nerwin clicked his tongue, and the creatures moved closer to the ground.

The goblin saw the beavers by their dam. They swam away from it and made their way to Nerwin.

One beaver cried, ‘‘You’re finally here. You won’t be believe what the mermaids did this time.’’

Another bellowed, ‘‘They claim that this part of the water is theirs, and we can’t build our dam here. We have been living here for many generations. They have no rights to treat us this way.’’

Nerwin sighed. ‘‘I hear you. I’m sure they meant no harm.’’

A mermaid popped its head out of the water and scoffed. ‘‘They need to build their dam somewhere else. Maybe over by the other lake.’’

The goblin watched as more mermaids appeared and the beavers started yelling at them. Nerwin then whistled to get their attention.

‘‘Hmm. You all need to take a deep breath. You have boundary issues that you need to work on. I’m sure that we can find a way to work together to sort them out.’’

Nerwin grabbed a stick from the ground and threw it to one of the mermaids. The mermaid stared at it. ‘‘What’s this for?’’

‘‘You’re going to help the beavers build a dam.’’

The goblin smiled. What a clever strategy.

Nerwin watched the mermaids form groups to carry out different tasks to build the dam. The beavers gave them instructions on how to build.

After a few hours, their work was done. The mermaids were happy to have helped the beavers build a dam.

Nerwin was glad to see the mermaids and beavers getting along. He hoped that they would also build a strong bond of kindness and respect for each other.

Promise you love me?

Honestly.

Be there for me?

Faithfully.

Through wavering thoughts?

Intuitively.

’Til empty seas?

Endlessly.

Fight for me when...

Tenaciously.

Through thick and thin...

Graciously.

Until the end...

Destiny.

Where love begins...

Infinity.

The end of humanity started out innocently enough: as a weight loss tool.

Jackie Meeks and Lisa Day were the power duo behind “Fast,” the latest quick-fix weight management program that took the nation by storm. Sales skyrocketed in the first month producing millions in profits by the first fiscal year. Lisa, the stick-thin, gorgeous interventional geneticist, and Jackie, the fit and muscular no-nonsense corporate attorney. Best friends throughout graduate school and their professional careers, the duo shortly became the femme fatales of the seemingly everlasting weight loss industry.

The bones of the program itself was nothing new, just more of the “less carbs, more weights” variety. Well, except for the secret method. That little thing. It’s what separated “Fast” from all the rest — unlike its counterparts, it actually worked. With a few caveats, of course.

True to form, Lisa was the first success story of “Fast.” When she first discovered the method, she was about fifty pounds overweight. By the end of the first week, she was a cool twelve pounds lighter, by the first month, twenty-five. Jackie had been ripe with worry when she saw her friend at the two month mark, with Lisa weighing a full sixty pounds lighter. “I don’t like this, Lis. I just don’t understand how this is possible, much less healthy.” Jackie had protested, alarmed for good reason. Lisa had reassured her stating that if she didn’t believe the method was safe, she wouldn’t have tried it on herself.

Admittedly, Lisa looked great, and Jackie felt the slightest twinge of jealousy. Lisa had always been a powerful force in interventional genetics, a niche highly competitive field, with a focus on developing genetically tailored cancer treatments. And now her next project was this, a Nobel Prize-smelling solution to the obesity epidemic. Despite her reservations, Jackie saw the great potential in Lisa’s discovery, and with a few strings pulled and several phone calls to friends in high places, “Fast” was soon on a fast track of clinical trials, exclusive patent rights, and FDA approval.

It was easy enough to make the program look healthy. Just ostensibly emphasize the evils of carbohydrates here, add some weight training there, and voila! A million dollar weight loss business is born. So what if they had to add a patented injection here and there? So what if the injection had a few, shall we say, side effects?

At first, the clinical trials were a ridiculous success. The subjects were losing weight, cholesterol levels were improving, liver and kidney function tests were holding steady. Most importantly, all of trial’s fifty-five subjects were thrilled by the results. Jackie could hardly believe it. There didn’t seem to be any adverse effects whatsoever.

Six months into the trial, Jackie began to notice changes in Lisa. It wasn’t something she could pinpoint at first, just little things. Lisa would seem distant, almost dream-like, and she would sometimes say odd things in the middle of conversation. She was still the girl Jackie knew in many ways: high-powered, slightly obsessive, secretly introverted with an infectious laugh. But her laugh sounded a bit different now, louder in volume, but more hollow. Lisa’s appetite had also been increasingly pathologically voracious. Jackie estimated she must eat upwards twenty to thirty thousand calories a day. Jackie gathered all this even though she saw her friend rarely, with Lisa spending most of her days sequestered working in the lab.

As the months went by, Jackie became increasingly convinced that there was something beyond what they were monitoring in the clinical trials, and Lisa, naturally the lead scientist of the project, was being sinister about it.

Finally, the long-awaited confrontation occurred and Jackie found out the true cost of the method.

Lisa spoke to her carefully. “Jackie… I know this must sound troubling. But you must have known I couldn’t genetically edit metabolism that much without causing a change somewhere else…”

“Lis, this doesn’t feel right, I don’t know if I could be part of this knowing what it truly does.”

“I know... That’s why I was waiting for the right time to tell you.” Lisa said gently. Suddenly, she took her friend’s hand and smiled, a gorgeous million dollar smile. “Jackie, look at me. I’m happy, I look great. Do you know how differently everyone had been treating me since I lost the weight? Doors are literally being opened for me left and right. I feel more confident, I feel like I’m riding a high all the time. I wake up, open my closet, and it’s an absolute joy to pick out clothes to wear for the day. I have never felt that way before, Jackie. Even with what we know now, it’s worth it, without a shadow of a doubt. If I had to do it again, I would, a million times over.”

“But the ethical implications…” Jackie shook her hand free as she felt a chill creep up from her friend’s hand. “Lis, this will never be approved. And the test subjects! There is no way they fully understood what they signed up for…”

Lisa’s expression became unreadable. “They understood.” She said simply.

“You told them? Everything?”

“Of course.”

“The advisory board?”

“They know.”

“If we could find a way to reverse it, would you do it?” Jackie pleaded, feeling defeated. “Please, Lis, you may think it’s worth it right now, but later, later…” Tears stung Jackie’s eyes. She was beyond the point of surprise and anger, she was now grieving for Lisa, her best friend, the girl in front of her who she could now barely recognize. “I promise you Lisa, you will not want this later.”

Lisa shook her head, almost sadly. But then she smiled, her million dollar instagram model smile. “I really don’t think so, Jacks.”

—

At the end of it all, perhaps because she could not bring herself to let go, Jackie decided to stand by her best friend. She supported Lisa through the clinical trials and bringing the program to market. Jackie handled the legal aspects and drafting the non-disclosure agreements while Lisa continued to work in the lab. Potential clients were first thoroughly screened before they were brought in for official entry into the program, after which they signed the iron-clad NDA, wrote a check, and finally told the true nature of the method. A handful of clients walked out at this point, but more stayed. Thus, in short order, “Fast” became the most exclusive, profitable, and invariably successful weight loss program with an unheard of 100% weight loss retention rate.

Years go by and Lisa continued to change. Slowly, the program did too. It became less about weight loss and more about Lisa’s covert gene editing. On the outside all seemed well: everyone lost the weight and gained the model good-looks as promised. But Jackie knew that they were all different now, no longer the people they were before. There was no way the method would give and give, and not take something back in return.

From the limited information Lisa gave her, Jackie knew of at least one thing the method took from its subjects: time. The method’s edited gene appeared to have one main adverse effect, it shortened telomeres, shortening the subjects’ natural lifespans.

As the program grew Lisa also became more and more distant. Before Jackie knew what was happening, she was seeing her friend less and less.

Jackie went on with her life, eventually married another attorney, and much to Jackie’s own surprise, had two children. The joy of being a mother had amazed her. All of sudden her entire world spun around her children, the love she felt for them deep, instinctive, visceral. She wept with the understanding of just how deep a mother’s love goes, and felt a sudden surge of gratefulness toward her own mother who she knew must have felt towards her what she feels now towards her children. Savoring motherhood as much as she could, she returned to work only part-time after her youngest started grade school.

On the ten year anniversary of the program, Jackie decided to take Lisa out to lunch for old times sake. She chose a vintage overly-priced coffee shop in the middle of downtown, figuring it would appeal to her old friend. Jackie arrived first, as usual, and when Lisa appeared, Jackie almost dropped her mug in awe. “Lis..”

“Hi Jacks.” Lisa was positively luminous. Ten years did not touch her good looks. However, Lisa’s ethereal demeanor had increased tenfold. She sat down delicately, gingerly, almost floating into the chair, as if she was no longer made of physical matter. “What a lovely place. Thank you.”

Jackie was momentarily speechless.

“I hear you’re a wife and mother now, a part-time small town attorney… who would have thought?” Lisa’s voice pierced through the silence. She waved over the waiter with a menu. “A latte please, and a croissant.” She turned back to Jackie. “I guess we have a lot to catch up on.”

“Lis… what is going on, how are you feeling?” Jackie finally asked, concerned, she was never very good with small talk.

Lisa laughed, a touch cruelly, and suddenly she appeared more solid. “God, I can’t take it with you Jackie. You just can’t admit that maybe everything is going swimmingly for me for once. Look at you, you are just waiting for something to go wrong. You are hoping for something to go wrong. It’s not enough that I shared the profits with you, you have to be able to tell me ‘I told you so!’ You can’t take that I invented something world-changing, while you… you —-” Lisa stopped, as if realizing a mistake. She flashed a tight smile. “I’m sorry Jackie. I get outbursts like that sometimes. It’s…. one of the things.”

The accusations stung, but Jackie shook them off. Lisa was not well, she has not been for quite some time. Not where it counts. “Tell me about the things.” Jackie said softly, kindly.

Lisa’s smile faltered and then she let out a sigh, as if acquiescing. “It’s hard to explain… physically and mentally, I’m as healthy as a horse.” Lisa chuckled mirthlessly. “But there’s something… fading. Most days I feel like I’m not really here…”

Jackie decided to skip the pleasantries. “How many years, Lis? Do you have left?”

Lisa’s reply came slow. “My telomere length suggests ten, maybe five.”

A gasp involuntarily came out of Jackie. “That’s way too fast! Ten years ago you said you had at least thirty!”

“I continued with the injections even after I found the telomeres shortening. I figured a few more years here and there wouldn’t make a difference. There came a point when I didn’t really care any more.. It just felt like something I needed to do.” Lisa gestured to herself with detached coldness. “I couldn’t stop. My theory is that with gene editing I was changing something fundamentally human within me, and the more I edit myself, the less… human I became.”

“This doesn’t bother you?”

Lisa held her gaze, her cornflower blue eyes flat. “No.”

“Are you happy?” Was it worth it? Jackie really wanted to ask.

Lisa sighed, like an exhausted teacher explaining to a child. “Jacks, that’s really beside the point, isn’t it? I’ve come beyond that. I’m evolving, changing, into something better. We all are.”

Jackie wasn’t sure about that. “So what is the next step, what will you become, after all this?”

“I become… whatever we are all supposed to be.” Lisa said in all seriousness. “Perfect, beautiful.”

“With shorter lifespans? How is that worth it?” Jackie challenged.

“So what? Shorter lifespans with an amazing quality of life. We all live too long. Like a cancer on this planet. We live longer but we live poorly.” Lisa spoke seriously. “Think about it Jackie. Think of every human being as a cell in a larger organism which is humanity as a whole. There are those of us who live too long, devouring resources, polluting the planet, overcrowding it… like a tumor. A malignancy growing out of control, metastasizing, slowly killing the larger organism of which it is part.”

Jackie stared at her friend incredulously. “Are you serious? You’re really… treating human beings like you treat your cancer cells?”

“Yes.” Lisa answered flatly. “With my calculations, if things keep going the way they are, there would be enough subscribers to the program to reduce the carbon stress on the planet in twenty years. There would be less chronic disease, less stress on the health system, less people getting older but not better.”

“Well, I for one would like to be old enough to see my children graduate, get married, have kids of their own.” Jackie said defiantly. “And how about you? You’re willing die early? Don’t you want to stay and…” she stopped, realizing that her friend did not have any family or any real human connections tethering her to this world. “…finish your research?”

“Well, really, I’m done with what I have to do.” Lisa answered slowly. “My utility could be over.”

“Lis…” Jackie was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness for her friend, finally accepting that the friend she knew has long been gone, lost years ago.

“Jacks, don’t feel sorry for me.” Lisa suddenly said, her gaze steady, piercing, as if reading Jackie’s mind. “My life has been extraordinary. I’ve discovered something world changing. People can choose, Jacks, to live beautiful and die young, or live long and take their chances. All I’ve done is offer that choice.”

Lisa then flashed her a gorgeous smile, showing perfectly straight white teeth. The smile felt strangely out of place, beautiful but also somehow menacing, like that of a predator beguiling its prey. Suddenly Jackie remembered Lisa’s exact words when asked about her mortality. She had answered her utility could be over. Emphasis on could.

“Besides,” Lisa continued in a hauntingly lilting voice. “What do you think I’ve been doing in the lab for the last ten years? I’m an expert at targeted cancer therapy, love. I can choose which cancers to treat. I never said I would let myself die… I’ve found a way maintain cell stability despite the length of my telomeres years ago, that was the point of all my subsequent treatments, among other things.” An evil glint appeared in Lisa’s perfect blue eyes. “And no, the rest of the the program subscribers will die at the end of their clocks as scheduled. But for a select few… the ones I’ve selected, the ones brave enough to part with the wasteful parts of their humanity… well, we can decide for ourselves when our utility is over.”

Like a switch, Lisa’s smile suddenly disappeared and her face became cold, expressionless, alien. With no wasted movements and inhuman grace, she then stood and left Jackie speechless at the table.

End

—

“Am I married this time?” I asked the Chief.

“Yes, you and Dylan will be posing as a newly wed couple.”

“Cool.”

Dylan, while having one of the lamest names in the history of humanity, somehow lucked out at the end of academy training and became my partner.

Partner. I love that word because it both describes what we are and what we pretend to be.

What we are is a couple of buds who work together. What we pretend to be is a married couple. Even though marriage is the furthest thing from my mind and the closest thing to his. However, that doesn’t matter because we’re partners, not partners.

After missing the first few minutes of our briefing, Dylan finally jogged over from the omelet bar. “Whaf mis lit?” He muffled through a mouthful of food.

Used to his childish behavior, I was fluent in the kind of nonsense that leaves his lips. “We got our new assignment.”

He gulped the eggs down. “Coolio. What’s the happening?”

“That’s not correct grammar, but nonetheless we’re posing as newly wed couple to get close to President James.”

“Oh, is Jamie is trouble this time?”

“Please don’t call the president that.”

“What? I told you, I got the a-okay. We’re friends.”

I crossed my arms. “I refuse to believe that.”

He shrugged. “Believe whatever you want, baby doll. The truth will always be the truth.”

The Chief coughed to distract us from our arguing. “Yes, President James is in trouble this time…”

No matter how psychopathic it may have seemed, I smiled at those words. Man, it’s been so long since I’ve been on a real mission. I miss the chase.

“His wife worries that he’s eating too many sweets and may get diabetes.” The Chief continued.

My smile dropped into a frown. “Are you serious right now? Come on, Chief, give me a real mission. I can handle it!”

The Chief shook his head. “Sorry, it’s out of my hands. The higher ups just refuse to give you two those types of cases anymore. Not since the Giller Case.”

I glared at Dylan. He had just stuffed in another forkful of eggs into his mouth. “That wasn’t my fault.”

My eyes burned a hole into his forehead. “It was maybe a little my fault.” Dylan confessed.

I placed my hands on my hips. “Alright!” He added. “I may have made a mistake. It was a calculated risk, but man was I bad at math.”

“Stop quoting memes!”

“Never!”

I threw my hands up in the air. “It’s stuff like that that convinces the archduke we weren’t from Austria!”

“No, that was caused by your Hello Kitty socks.”

“They were on sale!”

Breaking away from our quarrel, the Chief clapped his hands. “Like that! Argue like that! Like some old married couple fighting over the remote and everyone will believe your a married couple.”

I sighed. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

Friday night. I could have spent it drinking away the painfully dullness that my job had succumbed to. Instead, I was sparing no drop of a forty-year-old scotch at a presidential Christmas party while watching the president eye up mini cupcakes. The only good thing about that night was Dylan as he continued to try and convince me he was personal friends with the president. Unfortunately for him, none of the secret security knew who he was and would let him near President James. Fortunately for me, none of the secret security knew who he was and would let him near President James. It made his efforts twice as hilarious.

Dylan slid over to the Secretary of State. “Hey, Sadie.” He greeted. “It’s nice to see you again.”

She eyed him up and down. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

Dylan smirked, glanced over at me, winked, then said. “You know, Dylan McLanster?”

I nearly spit out my scotch as she sighed and walked away, hiding behind a barrier of security guards. “Nice try.” I congratulated as I strolled over to him. “You really sold that. You should become a salesman! You know, since this whole ‘secret agent’ thing isn’t working out.”

“What are you talking about? Life has never been better. You’re my wife! We’re at a presidential Christmas party! And, I’m rocking besties with the president!”

I snorted. “We’re not actually married, you know.”

He winked again and I rolled my eyes with a simper on my lips. “Not yet.”

“Besides,” I added. “We’re only here to stop him from eating too much sugar, nothing important.”

Dylan glanced over my shoulder. “Well, apparently we can’t even do that.” He gestured tk the president stuffing three cupcakes down his throat at once—and a piece of fudge.

“Damn. That is impressive.” I took a sip of my scotch. “Shame I gotten stop him.”

As he held out his hand to stop me, Dylan said. “Hang on, babe. I got this.” He cleared his throat. “Aye! Yo, Jamie!”

I stifled a laugh as he dashed across the room. “Is that your husband?” A man asked behind me.

Pivoting around I came face to face with the vice president. “Oh, yeah.” I replied.

He smirked. “Good. You snatched a nice one. You two remind me and my husband and me. Never let him go.”

I stared into my drink, a slight smile to my lips. “I won’t.” And for the first time since I met Dylan, I was actually considering those words.

“Oh, it looks like they’re bringing out the cake now.”

My eyes widened in fear as they brought out a five tier, white, vanilla cake. Odd choice for Christmas, but okay. “Oh, god. Someone has to save the president.”

“Don’t worry. That’s not for him.” Dylan whispered behind me.

“Then who?”

“You.”

“What?” I turned around to see Dylan, this sappy romantic, down on one knee holding a ring pop. “Amanda, will you be my partner?”

“Dylan, you know my opinion about marriage,” I looked down at him. “But I really want to say yes.”

“Then say yes.”

“Yes.”

Bonus: “Congratulations. Dylan my boy!” President James called out as he popped the cork of a new bottle of champagne.

“Thanks, Jamie!”

I stared at him. “You’re really friends with the president?”

“Would I lie to you, babe?”

"Am I married this time?"

"Um... YES!" Luke decided trimphantly, "married to the greatest and kindest and most powerful-lest king in the whole, wide world." He stretched his arms out wide and little Tracy gasped gently in awe. Her bright eyes turned to her bigger brother.

"And I have a kingdom?"

"You have the biggest kingdom."

"And do I have a horsey?"

"You have a million horseys." Tracey's eyes were beaming with wonder.

"Tell me more! Tell me more!" She began boucing up and down in her bed, and after many requests and much persistence, Luke continued.

"Okay, but you have to promise to go to bed after this." Tracey hesitated for a moment.

"...okay." Her older brother gave her a suspicious look of disbelief. "Okay! I'll go to bed! But tell the story first, pleeeease!"

"Alright then. It all starts with a strong and powerful king," he raised his arms victoriously as he mentioned the king, " and the most cleverest and prettiest lady in all the kingdom, his wife." Tracey clapped her hands with glee.

"That's me! That's me! I'm the Queen!"

"We follow the kingdom's bravest knight through a terrible battle," Luke narrated. As he spoke, Tracey listened. As he moved, she watched. Every different character, every wild event lead them through the tough and testing story of the brave knight who fought for his kingdom. She ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the amazing feats the knight had to undergo. She cried in terror when he entered a glorious fray with a monstrous, fire-breathing dragon, and she laughed hysterically with every silly voice her brother put on. She listened in almost complete silence, only ever interrupting when the Queen gave an order.

"-and then the Queen rose from her throne with such elegance and power that it sent chills down the criminal's spine, and she made an order to her guards-"

Tracey stood up on her bed vigorously and pointed at nothing in particular with such authority that she nearly sent herself toppling down.

"GUARDS! TAKE THIS FOUL VILLIAN TO THE DIRTIEST CELL YOU CAN FIND!!!"

He continued as they travelled vast distances, meeting various characters and, eventually, defeating the enemy. And as the story came to an end, with Luke's voice dwindling down so as to not stir his dozing sister, he raised the covers to her chin, turned off the lamp, and let the story play on in her dreams.

“Am I married this time?” I wonder. I glance down at my hand and see the gold band. Married, okay, that explains the breathing sounds next to me in bed. Just to be sure I take a look at her hand. Good, the rings match, I’ve made that mistake before and the results were not pretty. Quietly as I can I search the room, envelope on the dresser says Elizabeth and Richard. Those are tricky, to many variables. I hate to do this but it’s necessary, I have to know. I dig around until I find a sappy love note tucked away in the drawer. Okay, It’s Liza, and R.J, good thing I checked, never would have come up with those on my own. I check Liza’s alarm and smile, I lucked out it’s not set which means barring unforeseen circumstances I can make it in and out without a problem. Looking around I see no evidence of children or pets so I am triple blessed. For some reason kids and animals they can always tell. I dress quietly as I can then head out the door. I have three hours before R.J repossesses his body and he has to back in bed before that happens. Until then I have my target and three hours to kill.