—Why would he? We’ve been telling them Themis is invincible for ten years.
—Well, we can’t wipe out a city in ten seconds like it did. Here. Snug, not tight.
—Thank you. Now why aren’t you strapped in already?
—Ha. Ha.
—EDC Command. We’re almost ready to go. Vincent, you’re ready? He nods in approval, so I’m … pushing … up with my arms, knees forward Vincent. And … we’re up! They told us to follow the highway—what’s it called?
—A13, for a while.
—That one—right up until we hit the dirt field the alien made. We might have to step on that highway in a few places. Our apologies to British road workers. EDC, can you tell us how far we are from target?
[About thirty miles.]
Is this Rose?
[Yes, Kara. You should be there in a half hour.]
Hi, Rose! I just hope Vincent can keep up the pace.
—We’ll be there in twenty minutes.
—Nothing more predictable than a man’s ego. We’re moving. Rose, do we have a death toll yet?
[We don’t know. A lot.]
Probably better we don’t know, anyway … So, does anyone still think there’s a chance that robot’ll calm down when he sees us? No one here is raising their hands.
[I won’t lie to you and say anyone here is overly confident. But perhaps seeing something familiar … ]
Rose! You thought sending us was stupid before the Army stepped in. I don’t think our odds have gotten any better now that it destroyed half of London.
[Sending tanks was a bad idea. No one denies that.]
I don’t really care if they deny it or not. What I’d like is for those suits to come up here and take our place. But there’s no point talking about it now. We’ll be walking for a while. I don’t think we have anything to say that’ll last thirty minutes, so we should have some music for you in a sec. Vincent, what do we have for our road trip?
—Kim Mitchell.
—Who the hell is Kim Mitchell?
—You don’t know “Patio Lanterns”? My mom really liked Kim Mitchell. Used to be my date music when I had someone over for dinner. A long, long time ago.
—Oh God. You mean girls. So Rose, we leave you with some bad eighties music, courtesy of a pubescent Quebecois. Ewww. I can just picture you at fifteen. You had a mustache, didn’t you?
—Thank you, Kara …
FILE NO. 1443 (CONTINUED)
MISSION LOG—CAPTAIN KARA RESNIK AND VINCENT COUTURE, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS
Location: London, England
—SHIT! I can’t see anything. Vincent, are you all right?
—I’m OK. Just … disoriented. What about you?
—I think I dislocated my shoulder. What the hell was that?
—I don’t know, he must have seen us through the buildings.
[Vincent, what happened?]
He shot at us, Rose. That’s what happened. And I can tell you that wasn’t a push. Whatever he shot us with knocked us on our ass about a hundred feet from where it hit us. In case there was any doubt left, he is not happy to see us. I don’t think we’re gonna shake hands.
[Where are you?]
I don’t know. We’re on our back. Lots of tall buildings. I see one that looks like a pickle. We’re not that far from where the damage stops. Must be two or three miles from where he’s at.
[GPS has you in the financial district. That building must be the Gherkin. Did you see what he hit you with?]
I didn’t see anything. Not the robot, especially not the shot. All I saw was a sea of dirt ahead of us. I’m telling you, that robot is pissed. It’s still shooting at us! I can see flashes of light above our head every three seconds or so.
—Vincent, what do you say we get out of here?
—And go where? I’m happy where we are now.
—We’re lying down in the middle of Downtown London.
—Exactly. How often do we get to do that?
—Vincent!
—All right! I’ll turn on the shield if you can you move your arm.
—I can hold it up. Getting us up will be harder. Ready?
—Say the word.
—AAAARRRRGGGHHH! I’m pushing! We’re up! Turn! Turn! Turn! Gimme the shield, now!
—Shield to maximum.
—SON OF A BITCH! AARGH!
[Kara, what’s happening? The helicopters turned away when the robot started shooting. We lost visual. You’ll have to talk us through while we switch to satellite.]
We’re getting pounded here! I see him, about a mile away. He must have gotten closer while we were down.
[Have you tried firing at it?]
Not yet. We’ve been busy getting our ass kicked. Vincent, give me the sword, midsize … DAMN! Ready … FIRE! … Did we hit him?
—Yeah. You got him right in the—
—Where?
—You got him right in the legs. He didn’t even budge. Rose, we can’t fight this guy.
[Can you—]
Kara, what are you doing?
[What’s going on?]
Kara’s … engaging in diplomacy.
[She’s what?]
She’s giving him the finger. Very mature, Kara.
[This is—]
—Run, Vincent! My shoulder can’t take much more of this.
—One at a time, please. What did you say, Kara?
—I said run!
—I’m not turning my back to this guy. He’ll have us down in one shot.
—I mean run at him.
—Why would I do that?
[I don’t think that’s a good idea.]
—AARGH! Damn, that hurts! Because fuck him, that’s why!
—Kara, the sword won’t go through his shield.
—I don’t care about the sword!
—Kara—
—Trust me, Vincent. Run!
—Tabarnak … EDC Control, we’re about to do something really stupid. It was nice knowing you all.
—Faster Vincent! Come on! Faster! Run his ass down!
—I’m trying!
—Almost there! Turn our shield off. UUUGH! You felt that one, didn’t you?
—All right, so we tackle him. Now what?
—Now he’s not shooting at us, that’s what. Get ready to discharge Themis.
—It’s not working.
—What do you mean it’s not working?
—How the hell should I know? I’m pressing the button and it’s not working! Might be his energy shield. How long can you hold him? Kara?
—Not long.
—We’re feeding off that shield of his. Themis will discharge all on her own if you hold on long enough.
—He’s too strong! I can’t hold on! Gimme the sword, midsize.
—There!
—Fire!
—Kara, you’re pointing at the ground!
—Shut up and fire the damn thing!
—There! You just made a big hole under our feet! We’re knee deep into a giant crater now!
—Make the sword a little longer. Fire! Vincent! I said fire!
—I am! But what are you doing? You’re just making the hole deeper. This is bedrock. We won’t be able to move!
—Again!
—Ok, that’s it! We’re in up to our neck! We’re stuck! I can’t even move my legs!
—Well, he’s stuck in that hole with us. Betcha he can’t move either.
—That’s … kinda cool.
—Better than being shot at, isn’t it? Now let’s see if I can just … twist … my left arm. Damn, this is tight. There we go. Gimme the shield! Now!
—Wha—
—Shield!
—What size?
—Doesn’t matter!
Maximum size!
—All right, it’s on … I don’t think it’s working. There’s no room!
—It’s doing something. I can see the energy field around him.
—You’re right. It’s getting brighter … It’s flickering! Ohhh, I love you, Kara Resnik.
—You love me because I thought of a way to save your ass.
—Hey! It might not work. I’ll love you even if it doesn’t. That’s like 50 percent selfless.
—You’re so romantic.
—Kara! Listen!
—What?
—Hear that sound? That’s metal grinding on metal. His energy field is down. Is our shield still on?
—It’s on all right. I can feel it pushing against my arm.
—Do you think it’ll cut through the metal?
—Look!
—YEAHHHHH!
—Booyah! You messed with the wrong girl, asshole. Oh, you like me now Vincent, don’t you?
[What’s happening? Are you OK? We can’t see anything on satellite.]
—Hi, Rose! Yeah, we’re good. We’re just looking at the sky above us. Kara’s crazy, we’re stuck in a giant hole, but we’re OK. A little banged up, but you should see the other guy.
[We can’t see anything. Are you sure he’s disabled?]
I think so. We cut him in half. Don’t wanna sound overly optimistic, but I’m pretty sure we won this one.
[How?]
He couldn’t move anymore. Neither could we. We just let Themis’s shield grind against his energy field until it gave out. Then the shield just kept on going.
[Congratulations! Military folks here are really impressed. No one here would have thought of that.]
Didn’t think of it either. You can thank the psychopath who told me to run at the robot and tackle him.
[You said yes.]
Have you tried saying no to Kara? I’d rather face the bad guy.
—Can you stop talking about me like I’m not here? Vincent, what do you say we get out of this hole?
—Sure. Wanna tell me how?
—We could let Themis discharge, like we did in Denver.
[No Kara! Don’t!]
Why?
—They want the other robot.
—You said we couldn’t vaporize it.
—Probably not, but we sliced it open, and the pilots might get wiped out.
[Vincent’s right. It wouldn’t hurt if we could talk to them.]
—OK, fine. So how do we get out?
—Can you move your right arm? We can shoot around with the sword, make a bigger hole.
—Nope. That arm’s stuck pointing down. Any other bright ideas?
—I …
—Yes?
—I—
—He has no clue. Rose, can you send someone to dig us out?
[There’s a team on the way. It might take them awhile to dig deep enough.]
I figured as much.
—Kara—
—Don’t talk to me! I’m pissed. I wanna get out of here, but you don’t wanna hurt the guys that were shooting at us a minute ago. Now I’m stuck in a hole for God knows how long.
—You’re smiling.
—Maybe. But I’m pissed.
—You’re happy.
—I … I guess I am.
—Kara?
—What? Why are you grinning?
—Kara Resnik, you have made me—
—Oh no! You’re gonna propose now?
—I—
—Stop. Stop. We don’t want the same things. I’m not ready for the whole family thing.
—I know.
—No kids.
—I know.
—Do you really wanna grow old with just grumpy old me?
—No offense, Kara, but I don’t think either of us will get to grow old, especially if we’re together. The only question is: Do I wanna die young with anyone else?
PART TWO
ALL IN THE FAMILY
FILE NO. 1521
INTERVIEW WITH BRIGADIER GENERAL EUGENE GOVENDER, COMMANDER, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS
Location: New Dynasty Chinese Restaurant, Dupont Circle, Washington, DC
—Sit down, Eugene.
—What’s good here?
—You should try the Kung Pao chicken. The Indonesian rice is also very good.
—I’ll have what you’re having. How was the wedding?
—It was a surprisingly large affair. I did not think Ms. Resnik—excuse me, Mrs. Resnik—
—She’ll kill you if you call her that.
—That either of them would want a traditional ceremony, let alone that they would indulge in such a lavish celebration afterwards.
—Oh, weddings aren’t about the bride and groom. You propose, or you say yes, because you love the other person. You start imagining your perfect wedding, a small thing outdoors, intimate, with just the people you’re closest to. It takes about a week after you announce it before you realize that the proposal was really the only part of getting married that was about you. The wedding itself? That’s all about your mother, your aunt who’s dying, how it’ll look like you’re taking sides if this second cousin you never met isn’t invited. Still … Where was it held?
—At a hotel in Detroit. You were greatly missed.
—I doubt they even noticed.
—They watched you on television after the ceremony. That would suggest they were aware of your absence.
—Well, I get that they wanted to get married on the anniversary of their victory, but there was another ceremony in London. Someone had to be there. Who has their wedding in December anyway?
—I thought the London memorial would be on the anniversary of the attack.
—I guess they wanted to focus on the positive. I don’t blame them. One hundred and thirty-six thousand dead.
—At the risk of sounding insensitive, that number is lower than what I anticipated.
—A hundred and thirty-six thousand is a lot of dead husbands and wives, sons and daughters. I would call you an asshole, but I thought the same thing. It could easily have been a million.
—We were lucky.
—This time.
—Do you believe they will come back?
—Don’t you? We don’t even know what they came for. I don’t think it was to pick a fight with the British Army. Do you?
—I do not. They could have attacked at any time. It is a reasonable assumption that the British Government precipitated this conflict.
—Well, they’re dead now. Their robot’s destroyed. Their two pilots were dead when we got there. We don’t know if they died when their robot was sliced in half or if they committed suicide to avoid being captured, but the end result’s the same. They’re dead. At some point, whoever sent them will know something’s up. I don’t think they’re just gonna forget about it. Yeah, I think they’ll come back. So young, too. Such a shame.
—Who?
—The pilots. You saw them. Those boys looked like they were what? Eighteen … twenty tops. Amazing how much they look like us. Sure, they had their legs backwards, but I’ve seen Vincent flip his so many times, it sorta looks normal to me now.
—Have we learned anything new from the autopsy?
—Nothing a dinosaur like me can understand. You’ll have to talk to Rose. I do know these two were just kids doing their jobs, whatever that was. There’ll be some grieving people where they came from. And grieving people make rash decisions. I think they’ll come back. I think there’ll be a whole lot more of them. And this time, I bet you they won’t stare at the scenery for a week before they start blowing shit up.
—That is a very pessimistic view of things. How about the robot? Has it revealed any of its secrets?
—That, I can answer. We’ve learned so ve
ry little about that robot that I actually understand all of it. They pretty much build them like they used to. The basic design’s the same. Same number of parts—it fell to pieces a few minutes after it was disabled. The control room is almost identical to ours. The console has a couple more buttons, but that’s it.
—Can we put it back together?
—You’d like to have another one. Wouldn’t you?
—Well …
—Don’t get your hopes up. That thing’s busted. Nothing works anymore. Themis’s shield cut through the control room. The sphere is broken, all bent up, lost the white stuff it was floating in. Whatever it was, it evaporated almost instantly. The torso’s cut in half. We can’t weld any of it. Duct tape won’t work either. The rest of the robot, well, we don’t understand how it works any more than we understand how Themis can move. You look at the cross section and, aside from the big hole where the control room was, it’s just a big hunk of solid metal. The only good thing I can think of is that the controls are so similar, we might be able to use theirs for spare parts if we break anything. Judging by the way our pilots handle things, I’d say that’s likely. The science team will be happy come Monday.
—Why Monday?
—I’m sending the engineers home. The real nerds can play with it now.
—They could not before?
—They could look at it, but I wouldn’t let them do anything that could damage it any more than it is.
—Why not?
—What do you think? I wanted another one too. But … it’s officially scrap now. They can do with it as they please. Spare parts and happy scientists. That’s what we get for 136,000 dead.
—That is hardly the only positive that came out of the London events. I thought you of all people would find some comfort in the outcome.
—Me of all people?
—I doubt anyone will question the relevance of EDC anymore. Not in our lifetime anyway. Themis has done exactly what we said, and hoped, she could do. The EDC has saved London, perhaps the human race. There is not a government on this planet that will refuse you funding. You will have all the resources you need, for as long as you need. On a more personal level, no one will question your leadership, ever. In the eyes of most, the tragedy that sent all these people to their deaths could have been avoided had the British Government done as you asked. You are perhaps the only person to ever live to enjoy this much credibility on a planetary level. What you say goes, for everyone, everywhere.
Waking Gods Page 7