Only Human_The Themis Files

by Sylvain Neuvel

  —I don’t know, Vincent. I don’t think they can.

  —What’s there to stop them?

  —Well, you, for starters. They might want to know more about what happened on Esat Ekt, but they want you to pilot Themis more than anything else. They could coerce you, but that wouldn’t be my first choice if I were about to hand over control of the most powerful weapon in the world to someone.

  —What about you? What do they need you for?

  —I’m not sure they really need me for anything. I think the only reason I’m not strapped to that chair right now is you. If they think there’s a chance they’ll convince you to help, they’re not gonna jeopardize that by roughing me up. Besides, the US has to know Themis is here. I’m an American citizen. Sooner or later, they know they might have to turn us over. That’s easier to do if we’re still in one piece. My point is we can’t just leave. That’s not good enough.

  —You just said they need me for Themis to work. Isn’t it better if I’m gone?

  —The Americans have a working robot and pilots. They obviously don’t need you. If the US can put back together a robot that was disabled, how long do you think it’ll take the Russians to get their way with one that’s perfectly functional? It’s only a matter of time before they start pounding at each other.

  —Good for them. If what you’re saying is true, then the world’s gone mad while we were away. I don’t think there’s anything either of us can do about it.

  —Why did we come back, Vincent?

  —What kind of question is that?

  —I’m serious. Why did we go through all this just to leave Esat Ekt?

  —You know why we did it. We did it for Eva.

  —So she could have a normal life, here. How’s that working so far?

  —Dammit, Rose! What do you want from me? I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired.

  —I know. But we’re not done, Vincent. That deal we made? We’re not done yet. You can see that, can’t you?

  FILE NO. 2113

  INTERVIEW BETWEEN MAJOR KATHERINE LEBEDEV, RUSSIAN MAIN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (GRU), AND EVA REYES

  Location: GRU building, Saint Petersburg, Russia

  —I want to see Ekim.

  —Not now, Eva, you can’t.

  —I WANNA SEE HIM!

  —Calm down. Jeez! I just wanna talk. Chit-chat! I brought beer! Do you drink beer? I bet you don’t—me, I like wine—but this is all I could find in the office fridge. I thought we could have a drink, get to know each other a little. You’re allowed, right? Of course you are. You’re nineteen.

  —Fuck you!

  —Really? Is that about the beer? Because I can get vodka…No? I know you don’t like me, Eva, but I’m trying to help you here.

  —If you really want to help, start by getting me out of this aquarium. Oh, wait, you’re the one who got me locked in here in the first place. Like I said, fuck you!

  —All right…No beer. I’ll be straight with you, Eva. You can choose to believe me or not—that’s entirely up to you—but this wasn’t my idea. I’d like nothing more than to let you out, but I’m not the boss here. I want to help you, but you have to give me something. Maybe you don’t realize it, but you, your dad, and Dr. Franklin leaving, going to the place those robots came from, that’s—

  —You astast yokits…

  —I don’t know what that means.

  —It means there were four of us over there. I know you don’t give a shit about General Govender, but I do. He was my friend.

  —Yes! Him too! All of you going to that planet, that’s a big deal! People wanna know, Eva. Everyone does! And if I can tell my boss that you’re cooperating—

  —Cooperating with what? What is it exactly that you want me to do?

  —I told you the same thing I told your father. In time, I’d like you to pilot Themis for us. But first, I want to know more about the planet you were on.

  —Bullshit. This whole pilot thing is utter and complete bullshit. You’d let me and my dad inside a giant robot that can lay waste to your entire army and disappear in an instant. Yeah, sure. Where do I sign up?

  —So what do you think is going on here, Eva?

  —I think I’m just leverage, so you can get my dad to work for you. He’s probably worth the risk, with the leg thing and all, and you’re betting he won’t do anything stupid as long as you keep a gun to my head. That means you’ll need another pilot for the upper body. You’ve been running every kind of test there is on me since I got here, so I’d say you’re trying to replicate that genetic test the Americans are using to find one. What I don’t get is why you keep wasting your time talking to me. You don’t need my help to keep me hostage, and you have to know I’m not gonna tell you shit.

  —Well, you must be right. I just come here, every day, because I enjoy your company so much. You know, maybe I got this whole thing wrong. Maybe I should get you to pilot Themis for us and use your dad as leverage.

  —Try me.

  —Maybe not, then. But you see where that leaves us, right? I mean you. You see where that leaves you. I…Well, I’m not the one who spends my days inside a pickle jar…That was fun! As always. You let me know if you change your mind. Toodeloo!

  —Why can’t you just let me leave? I won’t do anything.

  —Oh, come on, Eva! You’re better than that. You know why! I can’t let you go back to the US, not with the way things are.

  —Wait, you think that’s where I wanna go? To the old US of A? Do I look like a patriot to you? From what you tell me, the place has gone to hell like the rest of this world. I don’t care what you tell yourself to justify all the crazy shit you’re doing. I don’t care if you do it for the motherland, or because you think you’re the only one with freedom. I don’t give a shit about any of that. I don’t give a shit about you or them. You say I don’t like you. You’re right. I don’t. I think you’re a conniving psycho bitch. Maybe I’m wrong. That’s true, I mean that. I don’t know you. But I don’t wanna know you. I just wanna take Ekim and get the yokits out of here.

  —And go where!

  —Home! I just wanna go home!

  FILE NO. 2116

  INTERVIEW BETWEEN MAJOR KATHERINE LEBEDEV, RUSSIAN MAIN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (GRU), AND VINCENT COUTURE

  Location: GRU building, Saint Petersburg, Russia

  —I’ve been nice to you, Vincent, haven’t I?

  —What’s that supposed to mean?

  —It means it’s time for you to be nice to me. I’m trying really hard to keep things civil here, but there’s a lot happening. Like, a lot.

  —Like what?

  —Oh, I don’t wanna bore you with my day. It’s just your usual brink-of-war political nonsense. I’ll tell you this, though. I’m a major. Information goes through a lot of hands before it gets to me, and at every step, people lose a bit of their manners. Ambassadors meet, they have some food, a bit of wine, maybe some caviar if they really wanna threaten each other. Generals meet over coffee and croissants. Colonels will skip the croissants. By the time information gets to me, it doesn’t come with anything to eat or drink. They also lose all the remotely positive things along the way. I just get a manila folder filled with negativity. Well, today, that folder is the size of a phone book. Remember the Twinkie in Ghostbusters? Well, like that, but in a manila folder, so now would be a really good time to start talking.

  —What will you do to me if I don’t?

  —I’m not gonna do anything to you, Vincent. It makes me queasy when I break a nail. I’m afraid of spiders…I am! I hate those little legs. The worst are the ones with long, long legs and nothing but a little beige ball in the middle. Ahhh! Anyway, can you picture me with pliers and a blowtorch? I hope you can’t. But I don’t run this place, Vincent. Soon enough, if I don’t give my boss what he wants, it’ll be someone else asking you questio
ns. Trust me, you don’t want to talk to that someone else. I don’t want you to either because that’ll mean I failed, and that doesn’t go well in this place. Nooooo. Not well at all. So what do you say? Do you wanna help me? I have cookies!

  —What do you want to know?

  —Everything! Jesus, Vincent! I wanna know everything! I wanna know how to beat the Americans. I wanna know how Themis can disable their robot. I wanna know if the aliens are coming back! I wanna know if we should be preparing for a war and against whom. People are afraid, Vincent. You show up out of nowhere after nine years, they don’t know what it means. I don’t know.

  —The Ekt are not coming back.

  —How can you be sure?

  —I suppose I can’t. I’m telling you that they don’t mean us any harm, and that based on what I know, they’re not coming back to Earth. But you’re right, I can’t be sure. They could change their mind. If they did—and I know this is not what you wanna hear—there is absolutely nothing you could do about it. Nothing.

  —We’ve been making more bacteria, the kind Dr. Franklin used against Lapetus.

  —Good for you. Here’s a thought. Why not use that against the Americans? What do you need me for?

  —That bacteria is useless against it now. The one thing the EDC managed to do before they were shut down is to develop a chemical shield they could put on Themis so she’d be protected if the aliens ever came back. It kills those bacteria on contact. They have it. We have it. We sprayed Themis the minute you got here. You see! I do need you! With Themis, with the other robot, we—

  —You don’t get it, do you. They didn’t send a dozen robots here because that’s all they had. They thought it was enough to wipe out a few people scattered across the globe. They have thousands of these robots, Katherine. Thousands! More than that. They could carpet this place so that every single person on Earth would be able to see at least one of them. They wouldn’t need to, though. They have ships, and weapons…If you wanna do something useful, find a way to stop all this nonsense with the US, and the camps. Just…make the world like it was, before all that.

  —I’m not sure anyone can do that, Vincent.

  —Why not? You broke it. You fix it.

  —Did I? Break it? You dug up pieces of a giant robot all over the world, then the aliens came, and they killed…They killed a lot of people…I’m sorry, I just…No crying, Katherine! My point is if anyone “broke it,” Vincent, it’s you. You, and your wife, and Dr. Franklin.

  —…Whom did you lose?

  —Whom did I lose? Does it matter? A lot of people lost a lot of people. I’m not…special.

  —Who?

  —My husband. My…daughter. She was eight months old.

  —I’m sorry.

  —No, Vincent. I’m sorry. You, and the Americans, you started all this. You don’t get to be sorry. You get to live with it, that’s all.

  —…

  —And the camps? You’re surprised about that? You’re the ones who told us we’re all kind of related to them, some of us more than others. You told us they only came for a few of their kind. You’re still saying it. Dr. Franklin said it on television the same day you disappeared. I know you think it’s supposed to make everyone feel better, knowing that these Ekt, or whatever, didn’t really want to kill all of us. But it doesn’t Vincent. It just doesn’t. My baby’s dead. She’s not coming back. And they’re still here. The people they came for, some of them are still here. Millions of us died, and they’re still here, walking the streets, like nothing happened.

  —I’m sure they feel responsible.

  —Yeah, I’m sure they do. But they shouldn’t. They shouldn’t be feeling anything at all. They should be dead. We’ll never be safe until they’re all dead.

  —Are you saying they’re killing people in these camps?

  —Only the A5s, for now.

  —Eva…

  —Well, I told you—

  —You told me she’d have a hard time getting a job. You—

  —We keep her in a glass jar, Vincent. What would you have us do? The aliens came for those people. As long as they’re here, there’s no reason the Ekt shouldn’t come again. You just told me we can’t stop them.

  —Eva’s not one of them. She…She’s my daughter. I’m human. I’m like you.

  —No, Vincent, you’re not like me. Don’t look at me that way. It’s not my opinion, it’s a measurable fact. You’re an A4. You’re less human than I am. I’m less human than Dr. Franklin.

  —But those people you’re talking about, the ones they came for, they’re…different. They’re…

  —What are they, Vincent?…See. You didn’t get it before, but you’re getting it now, aren’t you? They came for a handful of their kind, but they realized their blood had mixed with ours along the way. So who would they come back for? The ones that have more alien DNA? How much more?

  —I don’t—

  —I know you don’t. No one knows. No one knows where they’d stop. No one knows what would make them say: “OK. We’ll leave now. We’ll stop killing everyone.” So we’re guessing. Start from the top. Work your way down. Right now, we’re rounding up A3s and up, but we’re stopping the purge at A5. Not everyone is, by the way. I wouldn’t go to France if I were you.

  —That’s insane. This has to stop.

  —Then help me stop it. Tell me what happened.

  —I don’t know what you wanna hear.

  —Start from the beginning. You end up on another planet. You’re stuck inside Themis for days. You can’t get out. You think you’re all gonna die. Then what? Obviously you didn’t die in there.

  —I made a fire. That set off an alarm. People came.

  —What people?

  —People! I don’t know who they were. We didn’t understand what they were saying. We were weak, scared, confused.

  —And?

  —I don’t know! I woke up inside a small room with no windows. I was there for days, a couple weeks maybe.

  —Alone?

  —Yes.

  —They put each of you in a different room.

  —No, Eva, Rose, and Eugene were together.

  —Why just you?

  —I…

  —I what?

  —I punched one of them, sorta. He…He grabbed Eva, and I tried to punch him. Then they put me in a different room.

  —That’s funny…OK. Maybe it wasn’t funny back then, but it’s funny now. No? What then? Did they hurt you?

  —No. They’re not like that.

  —Not like what? You punch someone in the face, they don’t need to be anything to wanna punch you back. It’s just—

  —Human nature?

  —I see what you did there. OK, so they’re supernice. And you spent a week or two in a dark room, alone.

  —Yes. Well, someone came. He…

  —He what? Brought you flowers? Some tea?

  —He taught me how to speak.

  FILE NO. EE006—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT

  Interview between Opt Enatast and Vincent Couture

  Location unknown

  —Ast eyet Enatast.

  —My friends and I have been separated. I want to see them.

  —Ast eyet Enatast.

  —Where are you keeping my friends? My friends? I just want to know if they’re safe. You have absolutely no idea what I’m saying, do you?

  —Ast…eyet…Enatast.

  —Good for you. I don’t understand. But you already knew that.

  —Ast…ey…et…En…at…ast.

  —So you keep saying. I guess that means there’s no tiny robot coming to inject me with translator microbes. That was a joke. I take it you didn’t watch Farscape. DRDs, little yellow things. Never mind…How about this? Shaka, when the walls fell.

  —Ast…ey
…et…En…at…ast.

  —Dear God. Do you know why they have everyone speak English on television? It’s because learning a language takes fucking forever! Sorry. Bad word. Don’t learn that one. That’s why I did linguistic theory, so I wouldn’t have to do this, ever. Fieldwork sucks. Again, bad word.

  —Ast—

  —I know. I know. Now you’re touching your forehead. Is that a greeting? Let me try. Ass Enatat…

  —…

  —Blank stare. I guess not. Is that your name? My name is Vincent. Vincent…Vincent. This is my head.

  —Eps eyet Yincent!

  —You’re smiling. Eps eyet Vincent!

  —Ast.

  —What? Ah wait. I just said you’re Vincent, didn’t I? Ast eyet Vincent. Eps eyet Ena…

  —Enatast!

  —Yes! I can say my name! I’m a genius. I’m gonna need something to write this down. Your turn. You are Enatast. I am Vincent.

  Oh, don’t look at me that way. I have a feeling I’m not the smart one in this room. An hour from now, you’ll feel like you’re trying to teach a cat to do tricks. I learn yours, you learn mine. That’s the deal. You…are…Enatast…

  —Yout…ay…Yincent.

  —Close enough! Now where are my friends? Friends. Here. Let me mime them for you. Eva, tiny human. Eugene. Big Man. Rose. I can’t mime Rose. My friends!

  —Optept akt.

  —Yes, optept akt! Where are my friends!

  —Eyet onyosk.

  —Don’t eyet onyosk me. You know what I’m saying. Optept akt! I have no idea what it means, but I mimed my friends and you said Optept akt. Ast…see, with my eyes, optept akt!

  FILE NO. EE011—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT

  Interview between Brigadier General Eugene Govender and Dr. Rose Franklin

  Location unknown

  —Wake up and smell the coffee, Rose! We’re goddamn prisoners!

  —They’re just being cautious, General.

  —Cautious! Is that what you call it? The doors lock from the outside. There are armed…teenagers outside the door. This is a jail.