The Wandering Earth: Classic Science Fiction Collection by Liu Cixin

by Cixin Liu

  Dadurmy: “Right, right; compared with the danger posed by the ants and the risks of nuclear war, 'Luna' and 'Leviathan' are obviously the greater threat to Earth. We should first talk about the issue at hand: Putting the blame on the Luna is hardly fair; the Leviathan started its anti-timer first –”

  “Stop, stop, stop,” Kachica said, waving her feelers. “Professor, I have no idea what I just heard.”

  Joyah paused the recording and turned to the High Archoness. “This recording raises two very important questions: What are the Luna and the Leviathan they mentioned? And what is the anti-timer?”

  “Professor, the conversations of the dinosaur leadership is often laden with the most outlandish codes. Why ever are you so excited about this conversation?” Kachica asked unperturbed.

  Joyah was only too happy to answer. “We can clearly hear that these two things are highly dangerous, capable constituting a threat to the entire world.”

  Kachica shook a feeler. “That does not make any logical sense. Professor, anything that could constitute a threat to the Earth would by necessity have to be housed in a very large facility, and if such a facility existed, the Ant Coalition would certainly know about it.”

  Joyah nodded. “High Archoness, I absolutely agree: No large facility on Earth could escape the ants' attention, but facilities of a more modest scope, relatively small in size, could. All that would be required is that such a facility to not require ant maintenance for its regular operation. For example, an autonomous ICBM could remain on standby, ready to launch for a very long time indeed without any ant involvement. It could be that Luna and Leviathan are those kinds of devices.”

  Kachica remained unconvinced. “If they are, there is no cause for worry. Such small-scale facilities could never constitute a threat to Earth. Like I just said, consider that they would need thousands upon thousands of even the most powerful nuclear weapons to destroy the Earth.”

  For a few seconds Joyah remained silent, and then she leaned in, crossing her feelers with Kachica's. With their eyes almost touching, she said, “That is the crux, High Archoness. Are nuclear weapons really the most powerful weapons?”

  Kachica was confused. “Professor, that's just common sense!”

  Joyah withdrew her head. “Of course, it is common sense,” she said, nodding her feelers. “And that precisely is the fatal flaw in ant thinking. Our thoughts are limited to common sense, even as the dinosaurs stare into the unknown.”

  Kachica shook her head. “And that unknown is nothing but pure scientific speculation, completely detached from reality.”

  “Then let me please remind you of something that is connected to reality: Do you remember the new sun that suddenly appeared in the night sky three years ago?” Joyah asked.

  Of course Kachica and Rulley remembered. That unbelievable event had left a deep impression on all of them. That cold winter night, a new sun had suddenly appeared in the sky over the Southern Hemisphere. In a flash, night on Earth had become bright as day. The light of that sun had been incredibly intense, blinding all that looked straight into it. After about 20 seconds that sun had suddenly disappeared. Even so, its heat had turned a bitterly cold northern winter night into a sweltering hot summer day and the flash thaw of the winter snows had flooded many cities. At the time, the event had shocked ant society right through the carapace, but when they had asked the dinosaurs what had happened, their scientists had failed to give them any conclusive explanation. The ants' lack of curiosity meant that the matter was soon forgotten.

  “At the time, the only definite observation our monitoring stations were able to make was this: That new sun appeared in our solar system about one astronomical unit away from Earth,” Joyah reminded them.

  Kachica was not to be convinced. “Professor, this is still completely disconnected from reality; even if we presume that that kind of energy does exist, you still have no proof whatsoever that the dinosaurs have brought it to Earth. And, the reality is that it most likely never existed in the first place.”

  “I used to feel the same way, but,” Joyah paused, “I ask you to please continue listening to the recording,” she said as she restarted the recorder.

  Baltzara: “We are playing a very dangerous game, more dangerous, in fact, than can be tolerated. Laurasia should immediately stop the Luna's anti-timer or, at the very least, change it over to a regular timer. Should you do so, then Gondwana will do the same.”

  Dadurmy: “Only if Gondwana is willing to stop the Leviathan's anti-timer first. If you do so, Laurasia will follow suit.”

  Baltzara: “It was Laurasia that first activated the Luna's anti-timer!”

  Dadurmy: “It does not matter, Your Highness; before that, on that December fourth, three years prior, had the Gondwanan spaceships not done what they did, then there never would have been a Luna or a Leviathan. That terrible demon would have long-followed its comet-path out of the solar system. Earth would never have come to be involved in any of it.”

  Baltzara: “That was solely to meet the requirements of scientific research …”

  Dadurmy: “Enough! Now you are just repeating shameless lies! It is the Gondwanan Empire that has pushed the Earth to the brink of the abyss. You crooks have no right to make any demands of the Laurasians!”

  Baltzara: “So it appears that the Laurasian Republic has no intentions of taking the first step?”

  Dadurmy: “And what about the Gondwanan Empire?”

  Baltzara: “Well, it appears that neither of us cares about the destruction of Earth.”

  Dadurmy: “If you do not care, we do not care.”

  Baltzara: “Ha, ha, ha, very good, very good. We dinosaurs have always been a species that does not care.”

  Joyah stopped the playback and turned to Kachica and Rulley. “I think you two will have noticed the date mentioned in that meeting.”

  “December fourth, three years ago,” Rulley recalled. “That is the very day the new sun appeared.”

  “It is. All of this is connected to it. I do not know how you feel about what you have heard, but my pincers and abdomen are shaking.”

  “We have absolutely no objection to you doing all you can to clarify the matter,” Kachica replied.

  Joyah could only sigh. “Easier said than done. The best way to clarify this mystery would be to pry into the dinosaurs' military network, but our ant computers are completely incompatible with the ones used in that system. So, even though we can easily infiltrate the hardware of the dinosaurs' computers, to date we have yet to manage hacking into their software. That leaves us with our current clumsy means of eavesdropping to gather information. I wish it were otherwise, especially since, at our current rate, I do not believe that the short time we have will be sufficient to uncover the mystery.”

  Kachica considered this before responding. “Very well, Professor; we will provide you with the necessary means to conduct an investigation. However, this matter will have no impact on our present total war against the dinosaurs. Right now, the only thing that shakes my carapace is the thought of allowing the Dinosaur Empire to continue its existence. I believe that you are living an illusion, an illusion that will in the end be detrimental to our Coalition's grand designs.”

  Having nothing left to say, Joyah turned about-face.

  A day later she disappeared.

  CHAPTER

  6

  The Destruction of the Dinosaur World

  Two soldier ants stealthily crept under the crack of the palace gate and out of the Imperial Palace of Gondwana. They were the last of the 3,000 ants that had been charged with deploying the thunder grains in the palace's computers and in the skulls of its dinosaurs. After scampering under the crack, they began their climb down the flight of massive stairs. Just as they came upon the precipitous cliff of the first step that plunged straight down, they caught the glimpse of an ant silhouette climbing up.

  “Whoa, isn't that Professor Joyah?” the first soldier ant exclaimed in surprise.


  “The Coalition's Chief Scientist?” the other asked in return, no less surprised. “You're right! It’s her!”

  “How did she get here? Doesn't this look odd?” the first soldier ant asked as Joyah crawled under the crack of the palace gate.

  “This is not right. Do you have your communicator?” The other soldier was visibly uneasy. “Quickly report this to the commander!”

  Emperor Baltzara was just in the process of presiding over a meeting of his chief advisors when a secretary entered to report. “The Chief Scientist of the Ant Coalition Joyah is urgently requesting an audience with His Majesty.”

  “Let her wait. I will look into it after we have finished the meeting,” Baltzara said with a dismissive wave of his claw.

  The secretary left, but returned not long afterward. “She says it’s about an extremely important matter. She insists she must see you immediately and she requests that the Minister of State, the Science Minister, and the commander of the Empire's armed forces all be present.”

  “The wretch! Does that little bug have no manners? Let her wait or tell her to get lost!” the Emperor growled.

  “But she,” the secretary began, his gaze darting from minister to minister before he finally leaned close to the emperor's ear and whispered, “she says that she has defected from the Ant Coalition.”

  The Minister of State interrupted. “Joyah is one of the most important representatives of the Ant Coalition's leadership. I have had the impression that her way of thinking is very different from that of other ants. If she comes to us like this, then it is quite possible that the matter really is of critical importance.”

  “All right, let her come here then,” Baltzara said, pointing to the large surface of the conference table.

  “I come to save Earth,” Joyah stated moments later once she’d taken her stand on the vast, smooth plain of the table. The dinosaurs she addressed looked like towering mountains.

  The Emperor and his ministers did not immediately hear her dramatic introduction; a translating system first needed to transform her pheromone words into dinosaur language and send them to a hidden loudspeaker.

  “Hm, what high-sounding sentiments. The Earth is doing just fine,” Baltzara coldly replied after hearing her words through the speaker.

  “You will very soon realize that it is not so,” Joyah retorted. “But first I would like to ask you to answer one question: What are Luna and Leviathan?”

  At once the dinosaurs began to exchange glances in obvious alarm. The towering mountains surrounding Joyah fell into silence. One moment passed, then another. Finally Baltzara spoke, “Why ever should we tell you that?”

  “Your Majesty, if they are really what I suspect them to be, I will be able to reveal to you a great secret that will determine the life or death of the dinosaur world. I wager you’ll see how this is a fair trade,” she replied confidently.

  “And if they are not what you suspect them to be, what then?” Baltzara asked glumly.

  “Then I will not reveal my great secret to you. You can then kill me or keep me imprisoned here for the rest of my life to keep your secret. No matter how it goes, neither you nor I have very little to lose,” Joyah pointed out.

  For a few seconds Baltzara pondered the offer in silence. Then he turned with a nod to his Science Minister. “Tell her.”

  In the High Command of the Ant Coalition, Marshal Rulley had just put down the telephone. Grim-faced, she turned to High Archoness Kachica and levelly stated, “I have just been informed of Joyah's whereabouts. It appears that our suspicions were well-founded; that louse has betrayed us.”

  “What is the status of the breaker operations?” Kachica asked, her pheromones steady even as they reverberated with a sense of intense urgency.

  “Operation Linebreaker has been completed to ninety-two percent; Operation Mindbreaker stands at ninety percent,” Rulley immediately answered.

  Kachica turned to a large screen displaying a world map. In silence she looked at the twinkle of the brightly-colored continents before finally issuing her grave command: “Let us turn the pages of history. Set the detonation for ten minutes.”

  The dinosaur ministers had finished their account and Joyah's head was whirling with shock. For a long moment she felt like falling over, struck speechless.

  “So, Professor, what will it be? Will you keep your promise and reveal your great secret to us?” Baltzara asked with a fanged smile.

  “This is absolutely,” Joyah said, feeling as if she’d just awoke from a nightmare, “utterly atrocious! You are monsters, true monsters!” Her voice lost its edge. “But we ants are no better.” She shook her head, focusing again on the magnitude of the issue. “Quick! Immediately contact the High Archoness of the Ant Coalition!”

  “You have not answered my question,” Baltzara said.

  “Your Majesty, there is no time to explain! They already know that I am here and they can act at any moment. The fate of the dinosaur world hangs in the balance and the end of Earth will follow in the wake of its destruction! Believe me, you need to contact them! Quick!” Joyah insisted.

  “Very well.” The dinosaur emperor picked up the telephone.

  With anxiety burning like fire, Joyah watched the giant creature punch button after button with its huge, awkward claws. Then she finally heard the muffled ring-tone echoing from the massive handset in Baltzara's claws. A few seconds passed before the ring-tone suddenly ended. Joyah knew that Kachica had picked up her grain-sized handset on the other end of the line.

  Then she heard the Archoness’ voice in through the headset. “Hello, who is this?”

  Baltzara spoke into the telephone. “Is this High Archoness Kachica? This is Baltzara, right now ...”

  At that very moment, Joyah heard a chain of subtle clicking pops ring out all around the Emperor. It was eerily reminiscent of a clockwork's manic whirl. She knew it was the sound of thunder grains exploding in the dinosaurs' skulls; and indeed, all the dinosaurs around the emperor suddenly stiffened, their bodies going rigged almost as one.

  The unspeakable reality of the events seemed to freeze the moment in time.

  The telephone tumbled from Baltzara's limp claw, heavily falling to the table below with a deafening bang. Then all the dinosaurs came crashing down around the single ant. For many long moments the plain that was the table's surface shook under Joyah's claws. The towering dinosaur mountains had sunk. The horizon now lying clearly before her, Joyah climbed onto the handset's earpiece. In it she could hear Kachica's voice.

  “Hello? I am Kachica; is something the matter? Hello?”

  The earpiece's diaphragm vibrated with her voice, sending pins and needles up Joyah's legs and through her body. Finding her balance on the diaphragm, she shouted, “High Archoness! It is me, Joyah!” as loud as she could.

  But now, unlike before, there was nothing to convert her pheromones to a voice. The imperial palace's translating system had been knocked out by the thunder grains and so there was no way for Kachica to hear her voice on the other end of the line. Joyah said no more. She knew that she had come too late.

  All the main hall's lights flickered and died. Outside dusk had fallen. Everything descended into darkness. As Joyah made her way toward the nearest window, the drone of traffic from the distant city vanished with the lights. All that remained was the deathly, black silence outside. Inside, in darkness, laid the rigid forms of the toppled dinosaurs in perfect respite.

  As Joyah climbed over the edge of the table, she began to hear a cacophony of voices and noise drift into the conference room. It was the first far off sounds of dinosaur screams and the distant thunder of their panicked movement. Joyah knew that these noises almost certainly emanated from outside the palace. No dinosaur inside would have remained, all slain as the thunder grains exploded inside their skulls.

  Now she could hear the muted screams of the city's sirens, howling intermittently before falling silent. Then, as she had made it halfway across the floor moving toward
the window, she heard the faint boom of faraway explosions. She finally reached the window. Looking outside, she could see Boulder City stretch out before her. The metropolis was completely covered in murky twilight. In the distance she could see thin pillars of smoke rise against the last faint evening light. Soon these pillars were joined by many more with a new fire burning at the base of every emerging plume. The silhouettes of the cityscape flickered with the blaze of a growing inferno as the high ceiling above began to pulsate with the crimson glow of the raging flames.

  CHAPTER

  7

  The Ultimate Deterrent

  “Success!” Marshal Rulley was intently watching the world map flashing in red light. “The dinosaur world has been fully paralyzed. Their information systems have been completely disrupted. All their cities have lost power, all roads are blocked by vehicles disabled with thunder grains, and fires have started everywhere and are rapidly spreading. Operation Mindbreaker has eliminated more than four million dinosaurs in critical positions of leadership. The ruling bodies of the Gondwanan Empire and the Laurasian Republic have ceased to exist. Their brains removed, those two great dinosaur nations have descended into a vegetative coma. Their societies have fallen to total chaos,” she continued, measured excitement in her pheromones.

  “This is just the beginning,” Kachica said. “All dinosaur cities will have lost their water supply and their food reverses will quickly be consumed by the ravenous hunger of their population. That is when the dinosaur world will truly face its final moments. Large hordes of dinosaurs will abandon their cities, but they will find themselves without means of conveyances, and even if they find working vehicles, they will face blocked roads. It will be impossible for them to disperse in time. Their immense appetite will result in at least half of all dinosaurs dying of starvation. The remaining dinosaurs, with their cities abandoned, will face a total technological and societal collapse. The dinosaur world will be forced back to its primitive, agricultural roots.”