Waking Gods Read online

—You were asking about my personal life?

  —God, I missed you! Why has it been this long, though? I know you talked to Dr. Franklin a bunch of times.

  —You and Mr. Couture appeared to be doing well. I did not see the need.

  —You could have said “Hi”!

  —Chitchat requires some form of reciprocity, which I cannot offer. But, as I said, I requested some amenities when the UN acquired your vessel.

  —You mean you thought of me … once. Some years ago.

  —Exactly. What was it you called me in Puerto Rico? All mush inside? How is Dr. Franklin doing?

  —Well, you know, you spoke to her. She’s a little darker than she used to be. I thought it would go away after a while, but it’s been nearly a decade, so I think that’s the new her. We still get along great, me and her, though. She likes Vincent too. Everyone else, not so much.

  —She has been through trauma. That is to be expected.

  —You mean she died. I know; I was there. I killed her. Then she came back four years younger. She never told me how she came back. Does she know?

  —She does not.

  —Do you?

  —I do not.

  —You wouldn’t tell me if you did.

  —Probably not, but I really do not know. And to be accurate, she is only missing three years of her life. She was dead for the fourth one.

  —Remind me never to come to you for reassurance. No wonder she’s not coping well. I’m not the one who died and came back and I’m freaked-out. I mean, me and Vincent spent hours with her every day before she died. Who did we spend all that time with?

  —Dr. Rose Franklin.

  —Well, that Dr. Franklin died. The Rose Franklin we spend time with now doesn’t remember any of it.

  —I realize how confusing this is. I am as bewildered by the situation as you are. I will provide answers when I have them. May I inquire as to the status of your relationship with Mr. Couture?

  —Have you been watching us these past few years?

  —As far as I know, neither you nor Mr. Couture are under surveillance.

  —How nice. I meant on TV. Do you even know what we’ve been doing? You weren’t kidding when you said it would mostly be parades and photo ops. We spend a couple hours a day in the lab trying to learn more about Themis. That’s ten, fifteen hours a week tops, and that’s when we’re in New York. When we’re on tour, then there’s no research whatsoever. The rest of the time is what you said it would be. There aren’t many parades—the logistics are just insane, she destroys everything she steps on, even roads. There aren’t many cities willing to deal with the expense and the security—but we sure take a lot of pictures. Human interest, mostly. We visit schools, hospitals; children’s hospitals are the best. Vincent’s great with kids. He does the knee thing, that helps, but he’s really good with them. We’re a circus act.

  —You must hate every minute of it.

  —You think I would, right? But I don’t. It’s a nice routine. We eat well, hotel rooms are great. Jenny takes good care of us.

  —Who is Jenny?

  —The tour manager. She handles our bookings, special requests. Like I said, we’re an act. I thought I would quit after a month when we started, but I’m sort of enjoying it. I’m horrible at it, though. They have to record my interviews in advance or have someone ready to bleep half of what I say. Vincent does most of the talking now. I’m not very good with kids either. They have no sense of irony whatsoever. I made a sick kid cry once. She had leukemia, I think, and I made her cry.

  —I fail to see what you find enjoyable.

  —The P.R. part is bad. If it were just that, I … It’s what comes with it. We work a few hours a day. Jenny thinks she’s overworking us, but she doesn’t know we used to pull sixteen-hour shifts in Denver. How do I put this? We travel together. We have lots of time to ourselves. We haven’t tried to kill each other yet. I don’t know. It feels …

  —Normal?

  —Yeah. That.

  —Did you manage to keep Mr. Couture from proposing all this time?

  —I guess I did. To be honest, I haven’t really been trying the past couple years.

  —What made you change your mind?

  —Oh. I haven’t changed my mind. I just didn’t feel the need anymore. I think he’s given up on me.

  —Does it bother you?

  —Maybe a little. I guess part of me was hoping I would change my mind. I know how much it matters to him. He should be with someone who wants kids as much as he does. I think he finally realized that’s not me. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now.

  —What do you mean?

  —I don’t know. We’re going over there to face that alien robot. We’re … back. I’m back. That’s how it feels anyway. Am I a horrible person for feeling that way?

  —You are likely on your way to a quick death at the hands of a superior enemy, and this somehow makes you happy. Horrible is not the first word that comes to mind.

  —Maybe not happy, more … alive. I feel more like myself than I have for a while is what I’m trying to say. Maybe normal isn’t for me. Maybe I was trying to be something I’m not.

  —I do not wish to impede your journey towards self-discovery, but I am reasonably certain that there are ways of being yourself that do not require a global crisis. Did you consider the possibility that you might simply be scared at the prospect of a family?

  —Hmmm. Let me think … No. I haven’t considered that. But enough about me. Let’s talk about you … Good! Now, can you tell me anything new about that big alien fellow? Dr. Franklin told us he’s bigger than our girl, but that’s about all we know.

  —I just left an EDC briefing. Dr. Franklin and her team are still gathering data. There is nothing new to report.

  —Has it moved?

  —It has not. Its light output is also stable. It does not appear to be receiving or emitting any signal.

  —So what are we supposed to do? Just walk up to him and shake his big alien hand?

  —It might be as simple as that. For now, you will land at the London Gateway Port and assemble in the clearing behind it. There you will await instructions. Hopefully, we will know more by then. I do not wish to appear pessimistic, but I would like to know more about your combat-readiness in the event a conflict should arise. Dr. Franklin tells me you have discovered how to trigger an energy discharge and focus it?

  —Yes, we knew we could trigger the discharge. That’s how we destroyed the lab in Denver. We just had to figure out what buttons Vincent fell on. The rest we found by accident. Turns out if you release the burst with the sword on, it comes out of it. The bigger the sword, the more focused the beam is. In New York, we train on the shores near New Rochelle and shoot at the water. The blast makes a hole about the size of a city block, then it fills up again. It’s pretty cool to watch. We also tried on something solid, made a fairly large rock disappear. I can’t tell you if our weapon would work against that robot, but it’ll wipe anything of this world off it.

  You know Dr. Franklin thinks going to London is a bad idea.

  —I do.

  —Well … What she said made more sense to me than anything else I’ve heard. We assume we were supposed to find Themis, but say it wasn’t the case. Say they came here to get it back, destroy it, whatever. More to the point, there’s nothing you can put in front of that robot that would pose any serious threat to it, except maybe us. Do we really want to make first contact with an alien species by sending the only thing we have—which isn’t even ours—that it could see as a menace? I’m just asking. I’m a soldier, so if they tell me to walk up behind it and kick it in the butt, I will. But if we can avoid the whole me and Vincent dying thing, you know … that’d be good.

  —I sympathize. What you must understand is that the powers that be will not let that alien robot sit in the middle of th
e most populous city in the UK much longer without doing anything. At some point, human nature will take over and they will send something. If that something is not Themis—who, by the way, is also the only thing that might seem familiar to this new robot—it will be His Majesty’s Armed Forces. If I have to choose between the two, I would rather send you.

  —Isn’t there anything we can send that doesn’t have weapons attached to it? Something cute, and fuzzy. Send Barney, or a bunch of kittens. Did you see Close Encounters of the Third Kind? We can play keyboards to it, do a light show, teach these guys some sign language.

  —The British Government is ahead of you on this one though your ideas are remarkably similar. They have initiated what they call first-contact protocol.

  —Do I wanna know?

  —They have installed screens around the park and are showing pictures of monuments, animal species, cities, some clips from old movies. They are playing music from the fifties and sixties on a speaker system.

  —Why the old stuff? What’s wrong with new music?

  —I believe the rationale behind it is that any signals that made it far enough for an alien species to pick up would have left Earth a long time ago.

  —So they won’t be disappointed if they came here for Elvis?

  —Creating familiarity is indeed the intent. It does feel a little improvised, but you have to understand that scientists believed that finding alien life would mean microbes, or an overly regular radio signal, nothing like what we are faced with today. I realize how futile this all may seem, but at the very least, it does not hinder our efforts and it makes it appear as if the government is doing something.

  —So what’s the best-case scenario here? They like the British light show, they exit the robot, and they stay for dinner?

  —I believe that, secretly or not, everyone is hoping they will simply leave. If they do not, then we hope that they will be the ones to initiate a dialogue and dictate the terms of our mutual discovery. Given their obvious technological superiority, it would seem like the most logical and safest course of action.

  —Why would they travel all this way only to leave after a couple days?

  —Interestingly enough, it is probably what we would do. At least, it is what we would have done half a century ago. It might be an urban legend, but I was told that in the fifties, the US military started thinking about what it would do if we encountered sentient alien life. They came up with a seven-step procedure, starting with remote surveillance. We would then secretly visit the alien world, and if we felt our weaponry and technology to be more advanced than the aliens, we would begin a series of brief landings during which we would gather samples of plant and animal life, perhaps abducting an alien or two in the process. After that, we would make our existence known to as many aliens as possible, and if we were satisfied with their reaction, we would make contact.

  —And if we felt the aliens were superior? What was the plan?

  —Pray that they do not see us as food.

  FILE NO. 1422

  PERSONAL JOURNAL ENTRY—DR. ROSE FRANKLIN, HEAD OF SCIENCE DIVISION, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS

  This is what I was afraid of. This is why I wish we … I … had never found Themis. They’re here. Her family’s here, now. Maybe they came to take her home. I wish they would. I wish they’d take me with them. Leave the world as it should be. Even if I stay behind, I do hope they simply leave because whatever they choose to do, there isn’t anything we can do to stop them.

  That robot—we named him Kronos—could be six thousand years more advanced than Themis. Assuming that our societies followed a similar evolutionary path, their technological capabilities would have increased exponentially as well. We invented more things in the last one hundred years than we did in the previous one thousand, and we’re likely to invent more than that in the next ten years. Technology might plateau at some point and evolve more slowly, but I can’t even begin to imagine what six thousand years of technological progress might mean for people this advanced. I mean that literally: I can’t imagine it. To say that Themis might be antiquated is such an understatement. She might be the equivalent of a wooden toy for the robot in London. I’d like to keep her as far from there as I can for as long as I can. Unfortunately, that may not be very long. I suggested evacuating the area and waiting six months before we attempt anything. If these aliens want to make contact, let them do it. More importantly, don’t force them to if that’s not what they’re here for. Eugene—he would kill me if he heard me call him by his first name—made it very clear to me that the British Government doesn’t have that kind of patience. I like Eugene. He’s a self-righteous sixty-year-old general with all the open-mindedness you’d expect from a self-righteous sixty-year-old general. But Eugene hates war. He’s seen enough death for a dozen lifetimes, and I trust him to do the right thing.

  The right thing might indeed be to send Themis if the alternative is the army. They may not speak any of our languages, but I’m sure they know the meaning of ten thousand men with guns. If there is one aspect of our report that should have been clear, it’s the section on defensive capabilities. I can’t fathom why they would even consider sending troops when the only thing we can say with some degree of certainty is that our weapons would have little or no effect on the robot. And since this robot is bound to be at least as powerful as Themis, it could obliterate any army in a few seconds. Why would anyone want to face that robot? They would at best simply be ignored, and at worst die a completely meaningless death before they ever realize what’s happening.

  I am curious, however, as to how that robot made it to London. Witnesses said it didn’t even make a sound. Just appeared out of thin air. For years now, we’ve been looking for a propulsion system, in part because Alyssa thought there might be one, mostly because it would be really convenient. We always assumed it would be just that, a propulsion system, some sort of jet pack that Themis could use to fly. We didn’t find anything, so we looked for commands that would resemble throttle, pitch, yaw, hoping some flames would come out of her feet. But what if it’s not propulsion? If Themis can indeed travel long distances, she might do it in much the same way that robot made it to London. If she can just “beam” herself wherever she wants to go, the commands would look completely different. It might be as simple as entering a set of coordinates and punching go. Of course, I have no idea how such a coordinate system might work, but I’m sure Vincent will be excited to try to figure it out if he gets the chance.

  I don’t think Kara and Vincent would last very long against that machine, and if Themis is destroyed, it will surely be the beginning of the end for all of us.

  I sincerely hope I’m wrong. I hope a hatch opens on that robot and lets out happy, oddly legged aliens who just want to hug everybody. Everyone at the EDC is so excited about making first contact, I try my best to hide my pessimism. They already think I’m on the verge of depression; they’ll start medicating me if I tell them how I truly feel.

  But I can’t shake the feeling that something horrible is about to happen.

  Who knows? I might be in desperate need of medication. Believing you’re the only person with their head on straight is usually not a sign of good mental health. Signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s what they said I should be looking for. I wish. That can be treated. I’m afraid there’s only one cure for what I have.

  FILE NO. 1427

  HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATES, PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

  Wednesday 6 December

  The House met at half past eleven o’clock

  PRAYERS

  [Mr. Speaker in the Chair]

  Points of Order

  6 Dec: Column 1325

  Daniel Stewart (Rutland and Melton) (LD): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. On Monday, in questions to the Prime Minister about municipal response to the alien occupation of Regent’s Park, I described a certain London official i
n very unfavourable terms and made accusatory remarks that went well beyond my meaning. That city official and my right hon. friend the Member for Ealing, Southall (Sir Charles Duncan), in whose constituency the gentleman resides, have made fervent requests for a retraction. In my attempt to convey just how anxious and concerned I was, I clearly used language that was inappropriate and unfit. I wish to offer an apology and publicly withdraw those remarks.

  Mr. Speaker: I thank the right hon. Member for this display of civility. The House is satisfied.

  Sir Charles Duncan (Ealing, Southall) (Lab): Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker, I am also grateful the right hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Daniel Stewart) for his fulsome retraction.

  Mr. Speaker: Honour is served.

  6 Dec: Column 1326

  Sir Robert Johnson (North East Hertfordshire) (Con): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, I seek your guidance. Yesterday, at column 654 in Hansard, I intervened on the Secretary of State for Defence (Alex Dunne) to ask him to confirm NATO’s position on our London predicament. He assured us that NATO was supportive of our nonintervention policy. Yet, in Paris that same afternoon, his French counterpart, Minister Poupart, said:

  “Si Londres ne tient pas tête à cet envahisseur, la France, l’OTAN, ou le monde devra s’en charger.”

  Loosely translated: “If London does nothing to confront this invader, France, NATO, or the world will.” Would the Defence Secretary like to amend his previous answer to put the record straight?

  Mr. Speaker: I am grateful to the hon. and learned Gentleman for his translation, and equally impressed with his mastery of la langue de Molière. I am sure that the hon. and learned Gentleman has the best interests of this nation at heart, but I am asked whether the Defence Secretary would like to amend his answer based on the French Minister’s comments. While it would be presumptuous of me to speak on behalf of the Secretary, I can say, with some certitude, that Minister Poupart does not speak for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and, with even more confidence, that he does not serve in any official capacity as representative of the world. As for France, the Premier ministre—loosely translated: the Prime Minister—said this morning that Minister Poupart’s statement was a figure of speech meant to convey the Minister’s disquietude, and that the French Government deferred to the sovereignty of the United Kingdom on the matter. The Defence Secretary should thus feel no need to amend his answer, as the record appears to be perfectly straight. Let us move on to the business at hand.