Down to Earth

by Harry Turtledove

  The Race, he realized, had decided to use the Reich’s attack as an excuse to smash Germany. The Lizards had warned they would do just that, but nobody in authority seemed to have listened to them. They hadn’t been kidding.

  “German upper stage!” The radio crackled to life—in English. “Anybody home in there, German upper stage? Over.”

  “Am I an idiot, that I’m going to answer you?” Drucker asked. He’d maintained radio silence ever since the slugging started. If he started transmitting, the Lizards would get a fix on him and blow him out of the sky. He’d known Americans were naive, but this struck him as excessive.

  “German upper stage! German upper stage! If you’re alive in there, you might as well give up,” the American flier said. “What’s the point to you ending up dead, and maybe more Lizards, too? You aren’t going to win the war all by yourself.” Silence for a few seconds, then, “Over and out.”

  Silence returned. Drucker grimaced. He scratched his chin. He’d grown quite a beard this past month. The American made good sense, in a way—but only in a way. As a soldier, he was supposed to strike at the enemy, wasn’t he?

  Then why haven’t you? He pondered that, as he had so often before. He came up with the same answers he had before, too: “Nobody gave me any orders. And it’s a goddamn stupid war, too.”

  He glanced down toward the Earth. He was approaching Europe, though clouds hid much of the continent. Even if they hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to see much. From 350 kilometers up, even massive devastation was invisible. But he’d seen bombs blazing like suns as they burst at night. And he knew there had been many more he hadn’t seen.

  Every time he passed above the wreckage of the Reich, he wondered if he would get orders at last, though by now he’d almost given up on it. If he did get them, this would be the place—the only place. The Lizards had knocked out all the German relay ships. It had taken them a while: longer than it should have, even if the delay worked to the Reich’s advantage. They never had paid as much attention to the seas as they should have. But they’d finally got round to it.

  Did the Reich have any working radars these days? If not, his superiors wouldn’t even know he was up here. Of course, all his superiors might well be dead. His family all too likely was. He’d cried himself sick about that the day the missiles started flying. He blamed Kaltenbrunner much more than the Lizards. The Race had been content with the status quo. The Führer hadn’t.

  “He should have been, damn him,” Drucker said. He’d cursed himself sick that first day, too.

  A burst of static came from the radio. “Spacecraft of the Greater German Reich! All spacecraft of the Greater German Reich! The fight for justice in Europe continues,” a voice said in clear German. “Punish the Lizard aggressors however and wherever you may. Your sacrifice will not be in vain!”

  When the message finished, it began repeating. As far as Drucker could tell, it was identical the second time around. A recording? He wouldn’t have been surprised. Was anyone alive down there to give orders to the remaining German spacecraft? Could anybody down there be alive at all?

  Millions, tens of millions, of people down there were surely dead. But what about the high command? He had to admit that he wasn’t sure. Party and military leadership had known for a long time that a war with the Race might be coming. They would have done everything they could to make sure they could go on fighting it.

  In the middle of the recorded message’s third repetition, it suddenly broke off. A different voice came on the air, one that sounded both military and tired unto death: “Be it known that all charges against Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Drucker are rescinded and that he is raised in grade to colonel. By order of Walter Dornberger, acting Führer of the Greater German Reich.”

  Drucker stared at the radio receiver. His boss at Peenemünde was running whatever was left of the Reich? How had that happened? When had it happened? Why hadn’t Dornberger started broadcasting sooner?

  And, even more to the point, if Dornberger was running the Reich, why in hell wasn’t he surrendering just as fast as he could? He’d thought the idea of war against the Race utter madness, as Drucker had. It had proved to be utter madness, too. Why wasn’t he giving up, then?

  Did he think he could win? Had the Race refused to accept his surrender? Was he trying to prove he could still hurt the Lizards after they’d done their worst to Western and Central Europe?

  Did any of that matter? Reluctantly, Drucker decided it didn’t. An order that included all German spacecraft certainly included him. And, he had to admit, Dornberger was a Führer he could respect. If he was going to go out, he would go out in a blaze of glory.

  For the first time in quite a while, he looked out through the canopy with a view to sizing up targets. The points of light that moved against the stars were in Earth orbit, as he was. Some of them, the bright ones, shone more brilliant than Venus. Those would be the starships of the conquest and colonization fleets, the ships the Lizards couldn’t afford to lose.

  He chose one by eye. They’d always orbited higher than upper stages usually did, and had moved higher still after the war with the Reich broke out. He could have fired up his radar to see exactly how far they’d moved, but he would have been shouting Here I am! if he did. Instead, he eyeballed a starship out ahead of him. If he could get close before turning on the radar and launching his missiles . . .

  His calculations were automatic, instinctive, like a fighter pilot’s. If it was at that altitude, it was moving about so fast, which meant he’d need a burn of about so long to take himself out of his present orbit and put him into firing position. If the Lizards were alert and blasted him into wreckage before he could launch, they’d win. If they weren’t . . . He sighed. If they weren’t, they’d blow him into wreckage after he launched.

  Soldiers, unfortunately, found themselves in such positions now and again. His finger poked the button that started his engine. The acceleration wasn’t enormous, but he hadn’t felt any acceleration at all for most of a month. Any at all made him seem to weigh five hundred kilos.

  He used his fuel lavishly. It wasn’t as if he’d be coming back. The starship he’d chosen as a target grew brighter and brighter, then started showing a visible disk. Drucker knew he’d be visible, too, on every Lizard radar screen in the neighborhood. That starship couldn’t run away, not as massive as it was. They would need to interpose, or to come at him from some other direction, before he got close enough to do what he’d set out to do.

  Now he did light up his radar. It showed the starship dead ahead, with just about the range and velocity he’d guessed. “I have good eyeballs,” he said with a chuckle. If he was going to go out, he’d go out laughing—and as a colonel, no less.

  And he thought he would take the starship with him. The Lizards never had been good at reacting to the unexpected. None of their missiles headed his way. None of their spacecraft designed to fight in orbit—nastier creatures than Hans-Ulrich Bus—showed up on his screen. Somewhere on their starships, they were probably yelling back and forth at one another, trying to figure out what the devil to do. He didn’t need to figure. He was already doing.

  No, here came one of their spacecraft, under what looked like pretty good acceleration. But it was late, late. He used the attitude jets to align the nose of Hans-Ulrich Bus on the starship. And then his thumb and forefinger found the red switch he’d never thought he would use. He pulled it out and activated it, then flipped it first to the left, then to the right.

  His upper stage shuddered as the missiles left their tubes with puffs of compressed gas. When they were far enough from Hans-Ulrich Bus, their motors came on. The radars they carried guided them straight toward the Lizards’ starship, less than fifty kilometers away.

  Drucker cursed horribly a moment later, for the Lizards aboard the starship weren’t asleep after all. Countermissiles leaped away no more than a heartbeat after he launched his. One of his blew up almost at once. The other, though—
the other bored in on its target. “Come on,” Drucker whispered. “Come on!” The missiles, had proximity fuses set to detonate them a hundred meters from a ship’s skin. Would that one get through? All the countermissiles had missed it. If the Lizards didn’t do something nasty . .

  They did. Something sparkled along the starship’s centerline: a close-in weapon system, nothing more dramatic than a computerized heavy machine-gun battery—and the missile exploded in a fireball made up not of bursting atoms but of bursting fuel tanks. Over. It was all over. Drucker swung Hans-Ulrich’s Bus by the attitude jets so he could face the oncoming Lizard spacecraft. Without hope and without fear, he readied himself for his last fight.

  “Deutsch upper stage!” That was a Lizard, speaking the language of the Race. “Surrender, Deutsch upper stage. You have no more missiles. You can do no more significant harm. Your not-empire is in ruins. What can you gain by further senseless sacrifice?”

  That was a good question. The longer Drucker thought about it, the better it looked. He swung his thumb from the machine-gun trigger to the radio switch. “Male of the Race, I have no good answer for you,” he said wearily. “You have me. I do not know what you will do with me. At the moment, I do not much care what you will do with me. Whatever it is, you have me. I surrender.”

  “What can I do for you today, Shiplord?” Straha’s driver asked.

  “I cannot think of anything,” Straha answered. “If I need anything, you may be certain that I shall not be shy in letting you know.”

  His driver bent into the posture of respect. It was half true subordination, half mockery. The Tosevite had at least as much power in their relationship as did Straha himself. “I have no doubt that you will. In the meantime, if it suits you, I will do some work on your motorcar.”

  “Go ahead,” Straha told him. “You could just as easily take it to someone specializing in repairs, you know. Funds would appear to be adequate for any necessary expenditures.” Considering that the government of the not-empire of the United States paid for everything connected with Straha’s upkeep, funds were bound to be adequate.

  But the driver said, “I enjoy working on machinery. I would rather do it myself. That way, I am sure it is done right.”

  “Whatever pleases you,” Straha replied. Now that he thought about it, he shouldn’t even have tried to discourage the Big Ugly. With him out on the street tinkering with balky Tosevite machinery, Straha could come closer to living a normal, or at least an unspied-upon, life.

  When Straha looked out the kitchen window a little later, he saw his driver bent over the engine compartment of the motorcar, happily repairing something or other. The ex-shiplord shrugged. He’d also known males and females of the Race who enjoyed messing about with machines. He had never understood the excitement himself—but then, most Big Uglies saw his gardening as a waste of time.

  Straha hurried to his study and turned on the computer that connected him to the Race’s computer network. Since his connection was highly unofficial—even more so than Sam Yeager’s—he didn’t get very many electronic messages, but a synthesized voice announced that he had one today. It was, he noted without surprise, from Yeager, under his pseudonym of Maargyees.

  I greet you, Shiplord, the Tosevite had written. I wonder if we could possibly meet without your driver ‘s knowing about it.

  Perhaps, Straha replied. It may not be easy. Are you sure it is necessary? He wondered what the Tosevite had in mind. Something to do with one of the places into which Yeager had pushed his unwelcome snout, unless Straha missed his guess.

  He also wondered if he would get an answer right away. The Tosevite had sent the message much earlier in the morning. But he stayed by the computer for a little while, on the off chance that Yeager was sitting in front of his, as he sometimes did.

  And, sure enough, a reply came back quite quickly. Yes, I am sure it is necessary, Yeager wrote, and appended the conventional symbol for an emphatic cough. I must trust someone. In that particular mess, I would sooner trust you than any of my Tosevite acquaintances.

  I am honored, Straha wrote back. But are you sure you would not be better served by one of your fellow Big Uglies?

  I am sure of nothing, Yeager responded. I have done a great deal of thinking, but my way is not plain any more. I do not think my way will ever be plain again.

  As you know, my driver clings to me as if he were a parasite under my scales, Straha wrote. I do not know if I can arrange to have him disappear. I also do not know if l should.

  Well, you will do as you see fit, Yeager wrote back. If you decide to make the arrangement, let me know. In all fairness, I should tell you that seeing me about this business may be risky for you.

  Are you yourself in danger now? Straha asked.

  I have been in danger for some time, the Tosevite answered. Had I not been careful—and lucky—I would be dead. That is why I want to see you: if I die suddenly and mysteriously, I want you to avenge me.

  That was stark enough. Many ancient classics from the Race’s literature and videos revolved around such themes. Straha hadn’t thought he would find himself caught in the middle of one, though. Something else occurred to him. He wrote, This may involve me in no small amount of danger, then. Is that not a truth?

  Yes, Shiplord, Jam afraid that is a truth, and I am sorry for it, Yeager answered. He was honest; Straha had seen as much many times. If you do not wish to do it, I will understand, and I will look for someone else.

  Not necessary, Straha wrote at once. Come here at midday tomorrow If you see the motorcar in front of the house, I will not have succeeded in getting my driver to go elsewhere. If it is gone, you are welcome. Actually, you will be welcome in any case, but you might well make the driver suspicious.

  I understand. I thank you. It shall be done. Goodbye.

  Goodbye, Straha wrote, but Yeager would probably get that message later. The ex-shiplord paused a while in thought. At last, he found an idea that satisfied him. In fact, he quite liked it. Had he been a Big Ugly, he would have used the curious grimace the Tosevites called smiling.

  After a while, his driver came inside, greasy to the elbows and with a smile of his own on his face. He was indeed one of those individuals who enjoyed tinkering for the sake of tinkering. Straha asked, “Is everything now operating as it should?”

  “Couldn’t be better,” the driver answered in English as he started cleaning himself off. His mind was plainly elsewhere, or he would have stuck to the language of the Race.

  “Excellent.” Straha did stay with his own tongue. “I would like you to drive down to the Race’s consulate in the center of the city tomorrow for me, and to bring back a selection of new books and videos. The ones I have are growing stale.”

  As he’d expected, that made the driver’s smile disappear. “Oh, very well,” the Big Ugly said at last. “I do not suppose you can go to the consulate yourself, not when you would be seized and spirited away if you tried. But I must tell you that I will also use the visit as an opportunity to brief my own superiors, who are based not far away.”

  “If you must.” Straha sounded sulky. The driver was punishing him. His report would take some time, which meant he would be later bringing back the things Straha wanted. But Straha also wanted other things, things the driver didn’t know about. And to keep the Big Ugly from wondering if they might be there, the ex-shiplord had to act as if they weren’t.

  Rubbing in the punishment, his driver went on, “I will not want to start until late morning, to escape the worst of the traffic.”

  “Yes, think of your convenience first, and then of mine,” Straha complained, though he was laughing inside.

  In fact, the Big Ugly waited so long to leave the next day that Straha feared he would still be there when Sam Yeager arrived. Straha couldn’t hurry him too much, either, not without rousing his suspicions. But he drove off not long before Yeager pulled up.

  “I greet you,” Straha said, opening the door for his friend.

>   “And I greet you, Shiplord,” the Tosevite replied. “I also thank you from the bottom of my heart.” That was an English idiom translated literally into the language of the Race. “You are a true friend.”

  “I feel the same about you,” Straha said truthfully. “Now, tell me of this trouble, and of how I can help you with it.” He led Yeager to the front room and got him comfortable on the sofa where his driver usually sat. “Can I bring you some alcohol? Some of that nasty bourbon you favor, perhaps?”

  “That would be very good,” Yeager said. “But can we talk in your garden out back?”

  He didn’t say why, but Straha had no trouble figuring out the answer: he feared things said inside the house might be recorded. Straha didn’t know if they were or not, but recognized they might be. He said, “Of course. Go on out. I will follow with your drink, and with one for me.”

  His own drink was vodka without ice; like most members of the Race, he found whiskey of any sort vile. He carried the two glasses out to the backyard. For him, the weather was cool but not cold. Yeager, he judged, would find it ideal.

  They sipped their glasses of alcohol, one flavored, one not. A hummingbird buzzed among the flowers, then flew off with startling speed. “Do you care to begin?” Straha asked.

  “I wish I did not have to begin,” the Big Ugly answered. Straha realized, slower than he should have, that Yeager wasn’t wearing his usual uniform, but the wrappings a civilian would have chosen. What made the ex-shiplord notice was the Tosevite’s pulling a sealed envelope from the inside pocket of his upper outer wrapping—a jacket, that was the English word. He handed Straha the envelope, saying, “Keep this for me. Hide it. You will know when to open it.”

  That Straha would; the envelope had TO BE OPENED IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH written on it, in both English and the language of the Race. The ex-shiplord kept one eye turret on it and turned the other toward Sam Yeager. “And what do I do with this if I should have to open it?”