Dr. Gordy

Salva Gordy once taught mathematics and physics in Pasadena; now he scratches a living from a plot of mutated soil, sharing his table with a ragged stranger who turns out to be an old student. He carries the quiet guilt of a man who helped build the weapons that ended things, and he meets the new world with a scientist's curiosity rather than despair—examining soft-bodied ants, noting failed crops, wondering aloud whether humanity has had its chance. His wary hospitality and his willingness to speculate about what comes next make him the story's moral center, the last man still taking notes.