Fate's Chances

Keira Allen has a decision to make. Convinced she is about to be diagnosed with a debilitating disease, she is out for her first and probably last one night stand. At a popular club she picks out the lucky man and goes to him. As she chats with him, another man sits at their table. She tries ignoring him at first, but begins to find him intriguing. Which man should she choose, if either?

On the face of it, a meaningless decision. In this case, however, if she doesn't get together with the right man, neither she nor he will live to see middle age. And a noteworthy side effect: neither will well over a billion other people on the planet.

Bret Larsen is a virologist and he, too, has a decision to make on which research project to pursue. If he chooses poorly, then a killer pandemic will spread across the world unchecked. And he will choose poorly unless Keira can push him in the right direction. Only if she makes the right choice tonight can that happen.

She, of course, has no idea of this. Fate doesn't alert us to its upcoming cruelty until it's too late. But with so much on the line, fate has decided to temper its ruthlessness a tad. Keira will have three chances to get it right.