The VTOL touched down on the rain-slicked runway, its skids hitting the pavement with a solidity that felt like the closing of a door on a tomb. Bedlam had broken out in the world outside. The roar of the crowd was a physical presence, battering at the hull of the aircraft. Police lights strobed the scene in crazy arcs of blue and red as they struggled to hold back a human tide driven by fear, fascination, and anger.
Kael looked from the unconscious, glowing form of Selene to the world beyond. The Architects, in their endless, alien intelligence, had brought them the truth and left them to its consequences. They had cured the body of humankind and infected its mind.
"We can't go out there," Thorne said, voice shaking. "They'll kill us. They'll kill her."
"We don't have a choice," Kael r
