She walked closer and reached up, put her fingers under my chin and lifted as if needing to examine my injuries. Neither of the two newest ones were near where she looked. It was a feeble power play, and the assassin within me seethed with an intense need to deliver revenge.

However, I never killed a person undeserving. I know how that sounds but it you read through the list of the names of those I eliminated you’d understand without additional questions.

Her eyes shimmered and I thought they were about to change color, leading me to think perhaps I was in a land without true humans. However their green color was stable, though something about her was not.

“Where is this place?” I asked hoping to redirect conversation.

She turned and walked away, stopping when in front of a row of windowed French doors. Without looking back she said, “It is important that you are here, I suppose. The methods of those we respond to are unpredictable but the result always with meaning. We need your help.”

“Your answer is meaningless to me. I respond to no one unless the person who expects a response shows the need for it.”

She laughed. A beautiful sound, more like music and then she raised her arms to her sides. The doors before her silently slid open. A distant object slowly grew in size as it approached. Moments later an aircar, a vehicle that in my time was still under development, hovered at the edge of the balcony.

She glanced back. “Come with me and I will show you purpose.”

Moving with grace, she stepped onto the balcony and swung an otherwise invisible gate open. With an inward shrug, I followed her as she entered the aircar. We sat the door swung down and sealed the vehicle. It rose swiftly. I placed the laser rifle within reach.