“Assets,” Dropper said.
Zero smiled. “Exactly. You figure the United States is getting ready to take over Russia or one of those other countries, the last thing they’d do is cripple themselves. Right?”
“Right,” Bones answered.
Joey wasn’t so sure. He was still leaning toward the accidental use of a superweapon himself. Some kind of new weapon of mass destruction that no one had ever heard of. He didn’t know what, but that theory beat the alien thing all to pieces. Weapons were part of his everyday life at Fort Benning, but he’d never seen a single extraterrestrial.
“That leaves aliens,” Zero said. He held up a hand. “Now I know you want to ask: Hey, Zero, if it’s aliens that did this, why haven’t those aliens come forward and made their demands?”
That, Joey thought, was only one hole in Zero’s theory.
“It’s because they don’t know how to talk to us,” Zero said. “All these video games we play? In those games the aliens already know our language.” He made his voice deep. “‘Die, Earthling.’ ‘I’m going to disintegrate your world.’ Like Marvin the Martian or something. But that ain’t how it would be in the real world.”
A real world of aliens, Joey couldn’t help thinking. But he saw the avid fire in Zero’s black eyes and knew the youth was consumed by his idea. Maybe it was the liquor, or maybe it was something else. Over the last three days, Joey had seen Zero taking pills as well as drinking. He couldn’t remember seeing Zero sleep this whole time.
“I mean,” Zero said, “when the Spanish went over and conquered the Mexicans, they didn’t know their language either. Right?”
The Spaniards hadn’t conquered Mexicans, Joey knew. They’d conquered the Aztecs and Incas.
“What they did,” Zero continued, “is demolish the Mexicans, then teach them their language. So they could talk. Tell them what they wanted and stuff.”
“That’s right,” Bones said. “They came over and wiped out the Incas and—and—the Mexicans.”
“Right,” Zero said, warming to the subject. “They taught them their language and made them their slaves. That’s what’s going on now.”
Joey seriously doubted that, but he didn’t dare voice an objection. This was something scarier—something worse—than that.
“What would have to happen for the aliens to take over,” Zero said, “is that the aliens would have to make a statement. A show of force. Prove to the world leaders what they can do.” He waved a hand. “All this stuff that’s happened, you think there aren’t believers in aliens out there now?”
Everyone waited.
“There are believers,” Zero said. “And I bet the president and some of the others are just waiting for first contact. Only the aliens are going to do some recon first. Same way we do when we team-play Maelstrom Force. Get the lay of the land, so to speak, before you risk a lot.” He smiled. “But you know what else they’re going to do?”
“What?” Bones was totally into his supportive mode now.
“They’re going to want to make contact with earthlings that they can deal with,” Zero answered. “Guys who can give them information about stuff, and who can talk to the rest of the world for them.”
“Negotiators.” Bones’s voice held a note of awe, and he smiled broadly.
“Right.” Excitement rattled through Zero. He pushed himself to his feet with an effortless flexing of muscle. The rumor was that he had been some kind of big-deal martial arts student before he dropped out of the dojo. “But it’s going to be more than just negotiators. Those people who talk for the aliens? They’re going to be ambassadors in a whole new world.”
Uneasiness wormed through Joey as he watched Zero. The kid had totally wigged out. Whatever grasp of the situation, of reality, he’d had until this point was gone.
“So you know what we’re going to do starting tonight?” Zero asked.
Dropper cracked his knuckles.
No one said anything. Joey figured they were all scared to voice any opinion on the matter.
Zero hissed in exasperation. “We’re going to look for the aliens. C’mon. This isn’t brain surgery here.”
“Okay,” Bones said nervously. “Say we find these aliens. Before anybody else finds them. Including the military. What then?”
“Then,” Zero said, pacing the floor, “we offer our services. In exchange for being made ambassadors.” He grinned. “That’s the angle, guys. You always gotta try to cut a piece of the action for yourself. Otherwise you’re always the guy getting beat up.”
Nobody looked excited about the prospect. Joey felt even sicker at his stomach.
“The whole find-the-alien thing,” RayRay said. “You know, maybe that won’t work out like we’re thinking it will. I mean, maybe these alien dudes won’t exactly be friendly. They could be figuring that they can do the whole thing themselves.”
“Yeah,” Bones added. “If we find ’em, they might try to make us part of the examples they leave behind.”
“Right,” RayRay said. “Like that alien psycho dude in Tormentor of Thraxtor did to all his victims. You know, when he chopped off the heads of those guys, put them on pikes, and used them to line the walls of his fortress to warn everybody else away.”
The Tormentor of Thraxtor was a video game that had enjoyed several weeks of fame at Cosmic Quest. Bloody and vicious, it had attracted the attentions of most of the teenage boys in the metro area. It had also received a special note of condemnation from one of the local papers. Of course, the condemnation only served to increase the game-playing public’s awareness of and interest in the game.
Zero’s eyes turned cold. “That would be their mistake then.” He turned and lifted his shirt from the floor.
Joey spotted a gleam of an oily metallic surface only an instant before Zero unlimbered a large handgun from his shirt. Zero leveled the pistol at the television set where
