The Gods We Seek Read online

  A gentle breeze from the north-west stubbornly refused to clear the brown-and-black haze from the battlefield. VIRCOM was still. The heaviest dust settled, revealing a massive crater.

  “Shit,” General West said. “Shit.”

  The alien remained.

  “Did we even dent the damn thing?” President Billmore asked.

  “No, sir. I don’t believe we did,” the General answered.

  “Or if we did any damage,” Dr. Okoye said, “it’s been repaired. The alien showed an ability to change shape. It might well be able to repair itself using the same mechanism. If a critical part is damaged, morph to replace that part.”

  “How long until that last ferry makes it out of a ten-kilometer radius from the alien?” the President asked.

  General West consulted a digital map. “Three minutes.”

  “Tell them, tell everyone, to take the best cover they can find. The yield on the nuke is set to one hundred kilotons?”

  “Yes, sir,” General West said.

  The President ran a trembling hand over his scalp. “Nuke Elmendorf.”

  #

  “Please confirm,” the F-41 squadron commander said. “We’re weapons clear for a nuclear strike on Anchorage?”

  “Affirmative,” General West said. “Weapons clear.”

  The pilot’s voice was steady, detached. “Target coordinates locked and confirmed. Flight path calculation, complete. Warhead armed and ready. First missile away.” There was a crack of static. “Track looks good. Missile climbing to one hundred meters for maximum concentration of energy. Detonation, T-minus five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One.”

  An impossibly long and thin tether shot forth from the alien. It snared the cruise missile, wrapping around the fuselage a half-dozen times and yanking it to the ground. The weapon snapped like a frail stick and failed to detonate.

  “What the-” General West played back an ultra-high-resolution recording of the attack frame by frame to confirm what she knew just happened. She resumed the live feed and zoomed in on the remains of the missile. Thin probes grew from the alien and tore the weapon apart. It unpeeled the airframe, layer by layer, exposing the warhead. “Mr. President, shall we launch the second missile?”

  “No!” Dr. Okoye said, springing from his seat. “No.”

  The President raised an eyebrow at him.

  “If I’m right, we just fed it. We gave it concentrated uranium and plutonium that would have been time-consuming to gather from the environment. It appears to be ingesting that material as we speak.”

  “Holy hell. What do we do next?” the President asked. “What can we possibly do?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I have no idea.” Dr. Okoye’s expression collapsed.

  General West shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, an unaccustomed look of helplessness on her face.

  “We need to tell the rest of the world what happened here,” Sara said. “We need to share what we did and the results, secrecy be damned. If we’re powerless to destroy the alien, humanity is at risk.”

  The President paced the virtual room. “Ms. Wells, you’re authorized to share all intelligence with the United Kingdom, European Union…” He took a deep breath and pushed it through his lips. “And the Chinese. I’ll contact my counterparts around the world.”

  “Something’s happening,” General West said, her posture stiffening.

  An aperture opened in the top of the dome-shaped alien. A sleek, meter-long object shot out at three times the speed of sound, leaving a condensation trail in its wake. The projectile traveled west over the ocean before disappearing from tracking systems. The alien body divided into three parts in a rapid, slithering motion, like a thousand snakes moving in unified purpose. Each part darted away at freeway speeds. One segment raced west toward the ocean and two southeast on parallel tracks toward Canada and the contiguous forty-eight United States.

  The President’s face was ashen. “General, don’t lose those things. Relocate air power as needed. Keep weapons on them at all times.”

  “Yes, sir,” the General said.

  Dr. Okoye leaned forward on his walking stick. “General, I’m re-tasking ENVSAT-4 to pass over Alaska. It might be able to track the piece that flew away. Something moving that fast will superheat the atmosphere. We might get an IR trace.” He turned his attention to NASA’s command-and-control AI.

  “We have eyes on the two segments traveling east,” General West said. “They’re showing up on infrared sensors. The one heading west splashed right into the Pacific. We lost it.”

  “General, please feed your tracking data to the NSA,” Sara said. “We’ll try to figure out where it’s going.”

  Dr. Okoye returned his attention to VIRCOM. “The satellite’s already in a useful position. I was able to point its camera toward Alaska and picked up a heat trail. The flying alien is headed toward China. We’ll get better tracking in a few minutes, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s headed for Beijing.”

  China

  “Are you watching this, Colonel Long?” Chinese President Li Peng asked. He stood from his massive zitan desk and walked the room, pausing to regard a Ming Dynasty, white-and-cobalt-blue vase perched on a marble pillar. The Colonel’s projected head rotated to follow his movement.

  “Yes, Uncle,” Colonel Long Jianyu answered. “That thing in Alaska must be alien technology. There’s no other reasonable explanation.”

  President Li grunted agreement. “Why don’t you sit with me while we monitor the news? I prefer that to virtual communication technology.”

  Minutes later, the Colonel entered the President’s office, the scent of vanilla and fine tobacco meeting his arrival. He tugged the edge of his Air Force uniform to remove the possibility of a wrinkle, strode to the desk and bowed. “Uncle,” he said.

  President Li waived to a visitor chair, crafted of modern material in traditional Chinese style. “Thank you for coming.”

  The President’s assistant, a small, attractive woman in her early forties, entered with a tray of fragrant jasmine tea.

  “Thank you, Zhang Mi Shu,” the President said.

  She served both men and retreated.

  Colonel Long watched her leave, a scowl etched across his face.

  President Li observed the Colonel’s reaction and shook his head imperceptibly before returning his attention to the news feed. “What do you think it is? The owners of the Jupiter technology come to take it back?”

  “Perhaps. Or perhaps another alien that knows the Americans have something valuable they can’t defend,” Colonel Long said.

  “Other alien?”

  “If there's one alien race, there could be many. It’s unlikely there would be exactly one other species out there.”

  The President nodded in thoughtful agreement. “By definition, any alien race that can reach Earth is far more advanced than us.” He raised a teacup to his lips then set it down without drinking. “Are we to be the next Hmong, to be labeled barbarian and conquered by a superior culture?”

  “The Hmong had something their Manchu overlords wanted. Land and slave workers. Why would a race that can cross the stars care for our land in particular? Why would they need human slaves? Surely they can build far better machines.”

  The President sipped his tea and nodded. “If they needed minerals, those are abundant and easy for a space-faring race to harvest in the asteroid belt. We know there are numerous Earth-like planets in our galactic neighborhood with no telltale signs of life. No radio emissions or unexplained heat signatures. Why us?”

  “Yet, they are here,” the Colonel said. “They are aggressive. We must prepare, such as we can.”

  “Are they aggressive?” the President asked. “What if they feel threatened or afraid? What if they have motivations we don’t understand, or can’t possibly understand?”

  Colonel Long stiffened. “We can hope their violence ends in Alaska, but we cannot assume it will.”

  The President refilled the Col
onel’s teacup, then his own. “We must prepare. How, or for what, I don’t know.”

  #

  Sara linked her aiDe to Elena. Her AI co-worker, who in some ways was more a friend than the humans in her life, materialized in Sara’s augmented reality. “I'm calling China about the events in Alaska. Who’s likely to handle the incident on the Chinese side?” Sara asked.

  “According to their protocol, it would be the director of the Ministry of State Security, Yang Kai.”

  Sara nodded. “I know the protocol. Will they assign him?”

  “Because of the nature of the threat,” Elena added, “I give three-to-one that President Li assigns his nephew, Colonel Long Jianyu, to coordinate the Chinese response.”

  Sara nodded again and sighed. “I was afraid of that. Director Yang can be reasonable. The Colonel holds a grudge because of his nephew and because we brought the Quadriga back from Jupiter right under his nose.”

  “More than a grudge,” Elena said. “Hatred.”

  “That’s a strong assessment. Do you think he hates all Americans or some of us in particular?”

  “I think he hates President Billmore for refusing to rescue the first Chinese ship. I base that on body language analysis of interviews aired in Chinese media. Commander Lockwood and his crew deeply embarrassed Long. Those feelings are less than hate, but I’m certain he’ll look for opportunities to best NASA and restore lost honor.”

  “What about feelings toward me, personally?” Sara asked.

  “There’s nothing to indicate he sees you as more than a competent adversary.”

  “Thank you for your thoughts.” She reconfigured the aiDe so Elena could passively observe then opened a line to her counterpart in China.

  A virtual assistant answered Sara’s call. Moments later, Director Yang appeared. “Director Wells, I’m pleasantly surprised that America contacted us so quickly.”

  Sara smiled reassurance. “China has shown good faith in discussing your fusion breakthroughs. It’s important to me that the United States demonstrate good faith by sharing our intelligence with you.”

  “And the United States has been more willing to share information about the alien craft, the Quadriga as you call it, than we assumed,” Director Yang said. His mien was inscrutable.

  Is he sincere or is that just polite conversation? Show me some emotion. “May I assume you will be my point of contact?”

  Director Yang’s eyes lowered for a fraction of a second.

  Sara wasn’t sure she saw it, but a non-verbal analysis subroutine in her aiDe highlighted the expression with a picture-in-picture slow-motion replay. Nope, not that lucky. Please, not Colonel Long.

  “I will represent the MSS, but we consider this a potential military matter. Colonel Long will coordinate action on our side.”

  Shit. “Understood. Would you like to link in the Colonel before I begin my update?”

  The corners of Director Yang’s mouth turned imperceptibly upward. Sara’s aiDe tagged the micro-expression. “I am happy to pass your initial report to Colonel Long.”

  Sara’s smile was less subdued. “I’m sending you the FBI and military telemetry from the events via the data channel. It’s unedited.”

  The Director nodded. “I appreciate your candor and-” His image froze for a moment. When it resumed, he said, “Director Wells, President Li just called me for an update. I will link-”

  Colonel Long’s image appeared. “Director Wells. I appreciate that you reached out to China. From this moment forward, I am in charge of our response to the alien attack.”

  “With respect,” Sara said, “we’re not entirely sure its actions were intended as an attack.”

  The Colonel made no effort to conceal the contempt in his chortle. “Not an attack? A military base destroyed, FBI agents skewered. The alien stole a nuclear weapon. If this happened on Chinese soil, we would not hesitate to destroy the aggressor by all necessary means.”

  “With respect,” Sara said, over-emphasizing the words this time, “we don't know how non-humans think or conceive of the universe. It could be a defensive reaction. It may have no concept that it’s causing harm. We’re treating the actions as a threat but are reserving judgment about the intent.”

  “Intent is irrelevant, Director Wells. If this thing appears on Chinese soil, we will destroy it.”

  What an egotistical bastard. But damn, he’s probably right. “America will offer our full cooperation to understand this alien and share all findings that might form the basis of a defense.”

  “Of course-” the Colonel started.

  “We will also share any insights into its motivations, anything that might be useful to communicate with it. I’m sure China will offer the same courtesy. If you’ll excuse me, I must get back to work here. I’ll be in touch.” She ended the call. Not very diplomatic of me. Not at all.

  An icon in her aiDe indicated that Elena wanted to talk. “Sorry, I should have taken you off mute right away.”

  “There’s been a development,” Elena said.

  Expansion

  Elena called up an image of Earth centered over Yakutat Bay where the bulk of Alaska connects to its panhandle nestled between Canada and the Pacific Ocean. At the top-left, a pulsing icon showed the position of the two aliens as they raced over the snowy mountains south-east of Anchorage toward Canada and the lower forty-eight United States. “Analysis programs detected a flurry of Internet searches coming from the fallen Air Force base. We cut the connection, but not before gigabytes of data were retrieved. At first, the searches were random. Jumbles of symbols that made no sense. Then the queries became short English sentences. The focus was on mathematics, physics, and chemistry. The entity making the queries, almost certainly the alien that destroyed the base, appears to be forming a basis for gauging how we view the world.” Elena paused, observing Sara’s reaction. “Here’s the search that has me most worried. ‘Find uranium deposits near me.’”

  “It’s looking for uranium?” Sara’s gaze meandered over the virtual Alaskan terrain a simulated thousand miles below. The thing grew and split after getting uranium from the nuke. They’re building themselves out? Creating more of them? We can use this.

  “What are you thinking, Sara? I know that look,” Elena said.

  “I have a good idea where they’re going. Presume they’re headed toward known uranium deposits the search results mentioned. What are the top mining prospects?”

  “There’s only one solid choice along their current path. The Ross-Adams deposit at Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island.”

  “Assume that’s it. How long until they arrive?”

  “At their current speed, approximately eight hours.”

  Sara nodded. “Get the President on the line.”

  “Shouldn’t we go through the National Security Adviser?” Elena asked.

  Sara folded her arms, the physical action mirrored in the virtual space. “Hell no.”

  Elena’s lips pulled into an amused smile. “I’ll signal Addie that we need President Billmore.”

  Sara lowered her chin and chewed her lip. We have a good notion where the alien’s going. What’s the best strategy? Try to communicate again? The first attempt was a disaster. We have no fresh ideas on that front. Attack? Can we harm those things physically? The military hit them hard and didn’t leave a dent. Even a human adversary would have seen that strike coming. Aliens that can cross the stars were probably laughing as we moved our weapons into place. She pictured a gaggle of cavemen taking a run at Fort Benning armed with stone spears and axes.

  President Billmore joined the call. “Sara, I was in a briefing with Ms. Kido and the Joint Chiefs. Addie said it’s urgent. I can give you two minutes.”

  “I know where the aliens are going next,” Sara said.

  “You have my undivided attention.”

  “They waited at Elmendorf until they could acquire uranium.”

  The President scratched the back of his neck. “Which we gave the
m.”

  “They kept busy while they waited for us. They figured out how to interface with the Internet. Short version, they’re headed for an island in southern Alaska to get more uranium. We have an eight-hour jump on them.”

  “Give me a moment to get back to the situation room,” the President said. “I’ll dial you into our conference from there.” He disconnected.

  “Outstanding work, Elena.” Sara’s digital fingers touched Elena’s virtual elbow. “I’m not sure a human analyst would have been fast enough to give us the edge you just did.”

  “Probably not,” Elena said.

  An icon flashed in Sara’s aiDe. The President’s call. “Thank you,” Sara said. She hung up with Elena and joined the White House situation room conference.

  “Ms. Wells,” the President said, “you think you know where the aliens will be. What do you suggest we do about it?”

  Sara studied the President. He’s terrified, out of options. “We nuke them.”

  “We tried that before,” Ms. Kido said, her tone dismissive and her expression harsh.

  “Yes,” Sara said. “We tried that before. We flew a nuclear missile at subsonic speeds toward a target with a huge technological advantage. Are you surprised the alien took it out? The Chinese could have shot it down. Hell, I’d give the Iranians a fifty-fifty shot at downing that cruise missile.”

  Anger burned in Ms. Kido’s eyes.

  Sara turned to President Billmore. “We have to set a trap.”

  “Let them come to the nuke,” the President said.

  “Exactly. The fastest way for them to extract uranium is to enter the mine we dug to the ore deposits. We can have a shielded nuke waiting.”

  The President paced. “You’re talking about a ground detonation. That means fallout if the explosion isn’t deep enough.”

  “It’s not deep enough,” General West said, looking up from a display showing numbers and charts. “But the wind is projected to be light and there will be drizzle all day. If we go with, say, a hundred fifty kilotons, population centers won’t be affected.”

  President Billmore shook his head and let out a sharp breath. “How is it I’m saying these words? Let’s nuke Alaska. Again.”