The Last Human (a novel)

touch it. The body showed massive purple splotches like someone might have in the last stages of A.I.D.S. "I'm standing over a body in the middle of the street," Gordon said into the mike in his suit. "It's covered with massive purple splotches. I can't tell how long it's been dead. I'm heading toward a bomb-damaged building."

A cat ran in front of Gordon and startled him into a loud yelp.

"What was that?" Verney asked.

"Cat jumped in front of me," Gordon told him. "Cat's alive, not affected. Whatever it is, it seems breathable. I'm going to be a guinea pig and take off my head gear."

Gordon removed his head shield and tucked it under his left arm. The mike, however, was attached to his suit. Gordon shoved the ear piece deeper into his ear.

"I took my mask off," he told Verney. "Air is breathable for humans, too. Clearly it's not nerve gas or anything like that."

Gordon, gun ready, headed toward a damaged retail building while looking around cautiously as he walked. There were several bodies lying in the street and on the sidewalk.

Memories of images of booby-trapped bodies in various Middle Eastern conflicts raced through his mind. These could conceivably have motion-sensitive detonators. He slowly and carefully approached one of them.

He stayed a studied cautious distance back from it while he looked it over carefully.

Not far away were two others and they looked the same. It adequately evident that the appearances of all of them were similar and probably had mortality significance.

Everything around him seemed bizarre. The bazaar across the street seemed bizarre.

Then he noticed that the lights were still on in it and he tensed up in defensive caution. He pulled his helmet with the voice-activated mike in it close to his mouth and spoke into it.

"The body in the street has purple splotches on all exposed skin. Some lights are on in the buildings. It may be that the city generator is running on automatic. Or some people are still alive and running utilities. I have no idea."

Gordon got to the front of a blasted-out store window. On a counter is a normal line telephone. He surveyed the inside carefully, then went in.

"There's a telephone," Gordon told Verney. "I'm inside a small clothing store. I'm going to try it to see if telephones are working like the electricity."

With his eyes squinted to detect the slightest movement and his gun ready to use on it, he carefully studied the small store. Then he stepped to the telephone, removed his right-