“If, however”-Nakamura now raised his voice—”this convicted traitor and his alien accomplice surrendered to our victorious troops as part of some treacherous plot to undermine our collective will to punish the aliens for their aggressive attacks against us, then we will use these two as examples to send an unambiguous message to our enemy. We want the alien leaders to know that the citizens of New Eden stand steadfast against their expansionist aims.”
Up until this moment Nakamura had been addressing the entire audience. Now he turned to face the two prisoners isolated in the middle of the ballroom floor. “Mr. Wakefield,” he said, “does the alien beside you have the authority to speak for his species?”
Richard stood up. “To the best of my knowledge, yes,” he answered.
“And is the alien then prepared to ratify the document of unconditional surrender that you have been shown?”
“We only received the document a few hours ago and I have not yet had time to talk about all its contents. I have explained the most important parts to Archie, but I don’t yet know.”
“They are stalling,” Nakamura thundered, addressing the audience and waving a piece of paper in the air. “This single sheet contains all the terms of the surrender.” He turned again to face Richard and Archie. “The question requires only a simple answer,” Nakamura said. “Is it yes or no?”
Color bands rolled around Archie’s head and there was a murmur in the audience. Richard watched Archie, whispered a question to his octospider colleague, and then interpreted Archie’s response. He looked at Nakamura. “The octospider wants to know,” Richard said, “exactly what happens if the document is ratified. What are the events that take place then, and in what order? None of this is spelled out in the agreement.”
Nakamura paused briefly. “First, all the alien soldiers must come forward with their weapons and surrender to our troops now in the south. Second, the alien government, or whatever is its equivalent, must turn over to us a complete inventory of everything that exists in their domain. Third, they must announce to all members of their species that we are going to occupy their colony and that all aliens are to cooperate in every way with our soldiers and citizens.”
Richard and Archie had another brief conversation. “What will happen to all the octospiders and the other animals who support this society?” Richard asked.
“They will be permitted to resume their normal lives, s’ with some constraints, of course. Our laws and our citizens will be put in place as the acting government of the occupied lands.”
“And will you, then,” Richard said, “write an amendment or an appendix to this surrender document, guaranteeing the lives and safety of the octospiders, as well as the other animals, providing they do not violate any of the laws promulgated in the occupied territory?”
Nakamura’s eyes narrowed. “Except for those individual aliens who are found to have been responsible for the aggressive war that has been launched against us, I will personally guarantee the safety of those octospiders who obey the laws of occupation. But these are details. They do not need to be written in the surrender document.”
This time Richard and Archie engaged in a long discussion. From the side of the room, Katie watched her father’s face closely. She thought in the beginning mat he was disagreeing with the octospider, but later in the conversation Richard seemed subdued, almost resigned. It looked as if her father were memorizing something.
The long pause in the proceedings was irritating Naka-mura. The special guests were starting to whisper among themselves. Finally Nakamura spoke again. “All right,” he said. “That’s enough time. What is your answer?”
Colors were still streaking around Archie’s head. At length, the patterns stopped and Richard took a step forward toward Nakamura. Richard hesitated a moment before speaking.
“The octospiders want peace,” he said slowly, “and would like to find a way to end this conflict. If they were not a moral species, they might agree to ratify this surrender document just to buy some time. But the octospiders are not like that. My alien friend, whose name is Archie, would not make an agreement for his species unless he was certain both that the treaty was proper for his colony and that his fellow octospiders would honor it.”
Richard paused. “We do not need a speech,” Nakamura said impatiently, “just answer the question.”
“The octospiders,” Richard said in a louder voice, “sent Archie and me to negotiate an honorable peace, not to surrender unconditionally. If New Eden is not willing to negotiate and to make an agreement that respects the integrity of the octospider domain, then they have no choice. Please,” Richard now shouted, looking back and forth at the guests on both sides of the room, “understand that you cannot win if the octospiders really fight. So far they have put up no resistance at all. You must convince your leaders to enter into balanced discussions—”
“Seize the prisoners,” Nakamura ordered.
“-or you will all perish. The octospiders are much more advanced than we are. Believe me. I know. I have been living with them for more than—”
One of the policemen struck Richard on the back of the head and he fell to the floor, bleeding. Katie jumped up, but Franz restrained her with both arms. Richard was holding the side of his head as Archie and he were ushered out of the room.
Richard and Archie were in a small jail cell at the police station in Hakone, not far from Nakamura’s palace. “Is your head all right?” Archie asked in color.
“I think so,” Richard answered, “although it is still swelling.”
“They’ll kill us now, won’t they?” Archie asked.
“Probably,” Richard said grimly.
“Thanks for trying,” Archie said after a short silence.
Richard shrugged. “I didn’t do much good. Anyway, it’s you who should be thanked. If you hadn’t volunteered, you would still be safe and sound in the Emerald City.”
Richard walked over to the washbasin in the corner to clean the cloth he was holding against his head wound. “Didn’t you tell me that most humans believe in life after death?” Archie asked after Richard had rejoined him in the front of the cell.
“Yes,” Richard replied. “Some people believe we’re reincarnated and return to live again, as another human or even as some other animal. Many others believe that if a good life has been lived, there is a reward, an eternal life in a beautiful, stressless place called heaven.”
“And you, Richard,” Archie’s colors interrupted. “What do you personally believe?”
Richard smiled and thought for several seconds before answering. “I’ve always believed that whatever there was in us that was unique and defined our special, individual personality disappeared at the moment of death. Oh, sure, our chemicals may be recycled into other living creatures, but there is no real continuity, not in terms of what some humans call the soul.”
He laughed. “Right now, however, when my logical mind says I could not possibly have much more time to live, a voice inside is begging me to embrace one of those fairy tales about the afterlife. It would be easy, I admit. But such a last-minute conversion would be inconsistent with the way I have lived all these years.”
Richard walked slowly over to the front of their cell. He put his hands on the bars and stared down the corridor for several seconds without saying anything. “And what do octospiders think happens after death?” he asked softly, turning around to face his cellmate.
“The Precursors taught us that each life is a finite interval, with a beginning and an end. Any individual creature, although a miracle, is not that important in the overall scheme of things. What matters, the Precursors said, is continuity and renewal. In their view each of us is immortal, not because anything related to a specific individual lives forever, but because each life becomes a critical link, either culturally or genetically or both, in the never-ending chain of life. When the Precursors engineered us out of our ignorance, they taught us not to fear death, but to go willingly in supp
ort of the renewal that would follow.”
“So you experience no sorrow and no fear as your death approaches?”
“Ideally,” Archie replied. “That is the accepted way in our society to face death. It is far easier, however, if an individual is surrounded, at the time of termination, by friends and others who represent the renewal that his death will enable.”
Richard walked over and put his arm around Archie. “You and I have only each other, my friend,” he said. “Plus the knowledge that we have tried, together, to stop a war that will probably end up killing thousands. There can’t be many causes—”
He stopped when he heard the door to the cellblock open. The local police captain, along with one of his men, stood to the side as four biots-two Garcias and two Lincolns-all wearing gloves, came down the hallway to their cell. None of the biots spoke. One of the Garcias opened the door and all four biots crowded into the cell with Richard and Archie. The captain closed the cellblock door. Moments later the lights went out, there was the sound of a scuffle for several seconds, Richard screamed, and a body fell against the bars of the cell. Then it was quiet.
“Now, Franz,” Katie said as they opened the door to the police station, “don’t be afraid to pull rank. He’s just a local captain. He’s not going to tell you that you can’t see the prisoners.”
They walked inside only a second or two after the cell-block door closed behind the biots. “Captain Miyazawa,” Franz said in his most official tone, “I am Captain Franz Bauer from headquarters. I have come to visit the prisoners.”
“I have strict orders from the highest authority, Captain Bauer,” the policeman replied, “not to allow anyone into that cellblock.”
The room was suddenly plunged into darkness. “What’s going on?” Franz said.
“We must have blown a fuse,” Captain Miyazawa replied. “Westermark, go outside and check the circuit breakers.”
Franz and Katie heard a scream. After what seemed to be an eternity, they heard the cellblock door open and the sound of footsteps. Three biots disappeared out the front door of the station as the lights flickered on again.
Katie ran to the door. “Look, Franz,” she yelled. “Blood-they have blood on their clothes.” She spun around, frantic. “We must see my father.”
Katie outran the three police officers down the corridor. “Oh, God,” she screamed as she neared the cell and saw her father lying on the floor against the bars. There was blood everywhere. “He’s dead, Franz,” Katie wailed. “Daddy’s dead!”
8
Nicole had watched the video twice before. Despite her swollen eyes and utter emotional exhaustion, she asked if she could see it one more time. Beside her Dr. Blue handed her a cup of water. “Are you certain?” the octospider asked.
She nodded. “Please start at the hearing,” Nicole requested. “Normal speed until the biots enter the cellblock. Then slow it down to one-eighth.”
Richard never wanted to be a hero, Nicole was thinking as the video replayed the scene at the hearing. That wasn’t his style. He only went with Archie so that it wouldn’t be necessary for me. She winced when the guard struck Richard and he tumbled to the floor. The plan was hopeless from the beginning, she told herself as the New Eden policemen led Richard and Archie out of Nakamura’s palace. The octospiders all knew it. I knew it. Why didn’t I speak up after my premonition?
Nicole asked Dr. Blue to fast-forward the video to the final minutes. At least they had each other at the end, she thought as Richard and Archie were sharing their final conversation. And Archie tried to protect him. The four biots appeared on the screen and the video slowed. Nicole saw surprise change to fear in Richard’s eyes as the biots entered the cell.
When the lights were extinguished, the picture quality changed. The infrared images taken by the quadroids were more like photo negatives, highlighting the heat levels in each frame. The biots looked eerie. Their eyes bulged out of their heads in the infrared pictures.
The instant the cell was dark, one of the Garcias grabbed Richard by the throat. The other three took off their gloves, exposing sharp, pointed fingers and knife-edged hands. Four of Archie’s powerful tentacles enwrapped the Garcia trying to strangle Richard. As the Garcia’s frame crumbled and the biot collapsed in a heap on the floor of the cell, the other three biots attacked Archie furiously. Richard tried to help in the battle. A Lincoln caught Archie’s neck with a savage blow from its hand and nearly decapitated the octospider. Richard screamed as he was drenched by Archie’s internal body fluid. With Archie out of the fight, the remaining biots devastated Richard, puncturing his body over and over with jabs from their fingers. He fell against the front of the cell and slipped down onto the floor. His blood and Archie’s, which were different colors in the infrared image, ran together and formed a pool on the floor of the cell.
The video continued, but Nicole was no longer seeing anything. Now, for the first time, she understood that her husband, Richard, the only really close friend she had ever had in her adult life, was actually dead. On the screen Franz led the sobbing Katie down the corridor and then the monitor went blank. Nicole did not move. She sat perfectly still, staring forward where the images had been just seconds before. There were no tears in her eyes, her body was not trembling, she seemed completely in control. Yet she could not move.
A low level of light came on in the viewing room. Dr. Blue was still sitting beside her. “I don’t think,” Nicole said slowly, surprised that her voice sounded so far away, “that I realized the first two times… I mean, I must have been in shock… maybe I still am.” She couldn’t continue. Nicole was having trouble breathing.
“You need a drink of water and some rest,” Dr. Blue said.
Richard has been killed. Richard is dead. “Yes, please,” Nicole said faintly. I will never see him again. I will never talk to him again. “Cold water, if you have any.” I saw him die. Once. Twice. Three times. Richard is dead.
There was another octospider in the viewing room. They were talking, but Nicole could not follow their colors. Richard is gone forever. I am alone. Dr. Blue held the water up to Nicole’s lips, but she could not drink. Richard has been killed. There was nothing but blackness.
Someone was holding her hand. It was a warm, pleasant hand, gently caressing hers. She opened her eyes.
“Hello, Mother,” Patrick said softly. “Are you feeling any better?”
Nicole closed her eyes again. Where am I? she thought. Then she remembered. Richard is dead. I must have fainted.
“Ummm,” she said.
“Would you like some water?” Patrick asked.
“Yes, please,” she whispered. Her voice sounded strange.
Nicole tried to sit up and drink the water. She could not make it.
“Take it easy,” Patrick said. “There’s no hurry.”
Her mind began to work. I must tell them that Richard and Archie are dead. The helicopters are coming. We must be very careful and protect the children. “Richard,” she managed to say.
“We know, Mother,” Patrick replied.
How do they know? Nicole thought. I’m the only one left here who can read colors.
“The octospiders went to a lot of trouble to write everything down. It wasn’t perfect English, but we certainly understood what they were telling us. They told us about the war too.”
Good, Nicole thought. They know, I can sleep. From somewhere in her head there was still an echo. Richard is dead.
“From time to time I can hear the bombs, but as far as I can tell none of them yet has hit the dome.” It was Max’s voice. “Maybe they haven’t figured out where the city is.”
“It would be completely dark from the outside,” Patrick said. “They have thickened the canopy and there are no lights on the streets.”
“The bombs must be hitting the Alternate Domain. There would be no way the octos could hide its existence,” Max said.
“What are the octospiders doing?” Patrick asked. “Do we even know
if they’re counterattacking?”
“Not for certain,” Max replied, “but I can’t believe they’re still sitting around doing nothing.”
Nicole heard soft footsteps in the hallway. “The boys are really developing a bad case of cabin fever,” Nai said. “Do you think it would be all right if I let them play outside? The all-clear flares were half an hour ago.”
“I don’t see why not,” Patrick said. “But tell them to come in if they see a flare or hear any bombs.”
“I’ll be out there with them,” Nai said.
“What’s my wife doing?” Max asked.
“Reading with Benjy,” Nai replied. “Marius is asleep.”
“Why don’t you ask her to come over for a few minutes?”
Nicole rolled over on her other side. She thought about trying to sit up, but she felt so tired. She began daydreaming, remembering her childhood. What does it take to be a princess? little Nicole asked her father. Either a king for a father, or a prince for a husband, he answered. He smiled and kissed her. Then I’m already a princess, she told him. For you ‘re a king to me…
“How is Nicole?” Eponine asked.
“She stirred again this morning,” Patrick replied. “Dr. Blue’s note said that she may be able to sit up tonight or tomorrow. It also said they have verified that the attack was not severe, that the heart was not permanently damaged, and that she is responding well to the treatment.”
“Can I see her now?” Benjy asked.
“No, Benjy, not yet,” said Eponine, “she’s still resting.”
“The octospiders have really been great, haven’t they?” Patrick said. “Even in the middle of this war, they have taken time to write us such complete messages.”
“They’ve even made a believer out of me,” Max said. “And I never thought that was possible.”
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