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80.
Linsey called Jack from the blimp, which was heading west toward the Harbor area. "Honey, I'm en route. That blimp you see will be us. Get the kids up on the roof so we can snatch and grab you."
"Okay," he said. " Jimmy and Maribel figured out the Defensor thing all on their own."
"They'll be mycologists before long," Nolan said proudly.
"Can't wait to see you," Jack said. The radio crackled.
"I can't wait. Love you to smithereens. Soon!"
Nolan studied the pictures Jim Robertson had given Linsey. He did the same tapping thing that Linsey had done. "That red stuff along the edge of the crater. That's the Defensor fungus."
"Look closely and you'll see some Native Americans too. Their faces and hands look red, and they are carrying weapons."
"Defenders," Nolan muttered thoughtfully while studying the image. "Defensor, defenders. Hmmm. We'll get this neutralized and totally confined to down there, and maybe figure out a way to wipe it out but keep small samples for research and pharmaceuticals."
"Here we are, approaching target," the pilot interrupted.
Linsey pressed her palms and face to the glass and looked for Jack. She saw him on the rooftop of the Hyatt, holding the Jimmy and Maribel by the hand. He looked exactly right that way, she thought, and waved to him. She smiled, thinking it was time to get her own gills in gear with Jack's help.
On the earth below, thousands of police and military personnel prepared to hunt gill men to the last specimen. There would be exemplars of their race kept pickled in large jars for scholars to gaze at. The Indians of the Peruvian rain forest would continue their age-old service of the mushroom gods and keep the world in balance by protecting the crazy place where men went and died and then came back as walking spores. The soil in the ages-ago abandoned city contained many visitors, including the two 1944 Japanese pilots who had sunk dying into the fungus-rich soil, only to be reborn as mushroom men—whom the Indians had stopped in a hail of arrows before they could go forth and wreak the damage Collwood's operatives had. Collwood's men had killed several of the Indians, who only had bows and arrows. In the future, the Indians would be better prepared. Louise Trost's task force would send them the latest in laser-guided shoulder-fired missiles to stop any terrorist who tried to seize the fungi for evil purposes.
The blimp puttered in for a touchdown, turning masterfully so that her golden side caught the late sunlight full-on and radiated a sense that all would be well again. As she nosed down over the hotel's roof, Jack ran forth with a child at each hand. Crew members helped Jack and the two squealing, happy children on board. Linsey and Jack fell into a tight hug and kissed, while the engines roared all around them, and the blimp ascended from the hotel. The airship rose up and turned majestically to inland to deposit passengers, and then to bring Dr. Nolan to his lab up the coast at the University of California, San Diego. He rubbed his hands together and told the children with glowing eyes: "We have a lot of work to do!"
The water below ran like liquid gold. The wind was fresh and crisp, offering yet another chance at killing the Offensor spores and bringing some normalcy back to the world. With Cleve and so many other good people gone, it wouldn't be the same world again, but this planet that had endured billions of years. The show would go on—with or without people.
A colorful sunset was shaping up on the western Pacific horizon. A row of clouds portended a sea storm that would cleanse the air. Playing with the controls on the pilot's lap, Jimmy Mendez crowed: "It was a close call—!"
To which Maribel, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, finished the heroic outcry: "—But Earth is saved once again!"
Jack held Linsey tightly and silently, rocking her gently from side to side as they stood by a rear window. Jack whispered to her: "I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I think I'm the happiest guy on earth right now."
Linsey closed her eyes and gripped Jack tightly. She laid her cheek on his shoulder and whispered back: "I'll let you write that big story—soon—but first, just one more little bit of very personal and important business, as soon as we're home alone."
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