Extinction

moment.

“The administration has undergone a change of heart,” Kerr continued. “The takeover was supposed to be quick and quiet. No one was to know the details, but things became messy and drawn out. You managed to do us enough damage and resist long enough for the press to get involved.”

“How did the public take the news?” I asked. “What did they think when they learned you were invading the island and taking apart Star Force?”

“You haven’t seen any broadcasts or web feeds?”

I gave him a wintry smile. “I’ve been busy fighting for my life.”

Kerr nodded. “The public reaction has been-extreme. They see us as the invaders, backstabbers, the killers of heroes. Within twenty-four hours the story had leaked worldwide and public opinion was all in your favor. We’d blundered and created our own Bay of Pigs. America is still something of a democracy, you know, and elections are coming in fall. All congressional support for the action evaporated as soon as they heard you were holding out in your secret base. It was a worst case scenario, your little Alamo. We knew sooner or later some reporterette would make it down here to interview you.”

“So, what’s your new role?”

“I’m-an advisor. A permanent one, stationed here with you.”

“In other words, you are my hostage.”

“A rude, archaic term.”

“But strangely descriptive of the situation,” I said. “Tell me General, what was it that set you off so badly as to try this stunt? I thought we had a good relationship until all this.”

He shrugged. “The administration is feeling their way, Kyle. Like everyone else. Your fleet flew away. We saw the opportunity. We began to get paranoid, thinking that others would also see the opportunity. It started off as a discussion concerning the factories. So much alien tech could not be allowed into the hands of another nation. If you couldn’t keep it secure-then we had to step in, we had to secure it.”

I nodded, for the most part buying his statements. “What about the talk of EMPs and neutron bombs?” I asked.

“That was mostly bullshit,” Kerr said. “Less than a division of fast-responders and a carrier group, that’s all we could get down here quickly. Anything else was going to take weeks to assemble. I feared that if we gave you that long, you would have sealed this island off tightly.”

I stared at him. I realized that I had been bluffed. I’d bought all his talk of nukes and advanced weaponry. I laughed aloud. “You slippery bastard,” I said. “The man who never bluffs. I thought you had the fancy stuff. You snowed me.”

A smile played over Kerr’s lips. “You didn’t do too badly yourself. But I must say, your surprises were far more deadly than mine.”

I thought about it. In real military terms, we’d creamed them. They had sent down troops, and they’d all been taken out almost without loss on our side. I frowned, thinking about our little meeting at the edge of the forest at midnight.

“Why didn’t you have a sniper take me out then? That night amongst the Bradleys?”

“Because you blinded them all the night before, you prick.”

I nodded and frowned. “About the pilots and snipers. Those are good men we’ve seriously injured. We might be able to work something out. They were only following orders.”

“The nanites?” he asked.

I nodded.

“What would your terms be?” Kerr asked.

“No terms. If they want to join Star Force, they can. We’ll shoot them with nanites, no charge. They will be able to see again.”

Kerr snorted. “So, blinding my men was all part of your recruitment efforts, eh? Rude, but I’m sure they will be grateful. The administration will love it too, as it would be good PR all around.” Kerr relit his pipe and puffed it. His calm exterior had reasserted itself.

“I would naturally hope my generosity would be reciprocated.”

“Here it comes,” Kerr said.

“We need raw materials to keep-producing things. To allow us to meet the needs of the Macros. So we can continue to build Earth’s armies and rebuild her fleet.”

Kerr narrowed his eyes. “Would you be willing to give us a single machine? Just to study. We’re very curious about them.”

“So I’ve noticed,” I said. “We can’t do that right now. I need them all to repair the damage done to my organization. After the Macros come and go-if we have a planet left-I’ll consider it then.”

Kerr looked disappointed. “Selfish of you. What are you going to do with all those machines?”

I found his attitude annoying. “We’re going to build hundreds of automated laser turrets. We’ll ring this island with them. No plane or ship will ever be allowed within ten miles of the coast again without express permission.”

Kerr shrugged. “A reasonable precaution.”

“We’ll never fully trust you again,” I told him.

“You should never have fully trusted us in the first place.”

— 20-

I left the General in the care of two angry marines. The sandy ground crunched beneath my boots as I headed back toward the command bunker.

The thing that galled me the most-even more than having been fooled into walking out of a base I could have held onto-was knowing I would have to go along with their charade. I would have to pretend to accept the president’s heartfelt apologies. There wasn’t any choice, really. What good would it do to reveal the truth? How would Earth’s defenses be strengthened by my angry public rebuttals of the administration’s story? Star Force would look weak and foolish. The Pentagon would look dishonorable. The facts would only sow future discord.

Cooperating now was going to be difficult at best, but it had to be done. If we publicly declared we were angry, abused and distrustful, it would only magnify the problem. We would have to be careful, of course. In the future, we would have to follow the old Reagan doctrine: trust, but verify. In other words, we would smile and say we trusted everything they did or said. But once the cameras were off, we would check out everything with paranoid attention to detail.

Eventually, slowly, pretending often turned into actual cooperation. Just look at the treaty ending any war. Years later, nations that were at each other’s throats frequently turned into tight allies. I felt like General George Washington, leading my ragtag army to a surprise victory over the British. I only hoped we could grow to work together in the future. I couldn’t help but be nagged by the reminder that it took the Americans and the British a very long time to become allies. The War of 1812, for example, stuck out in my mind.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was going to be a difficult year. Pulling everything together in time for the return of the Macros was going to be the work of a magician. And my hat was all out of rabbits.

Sandra beat me back to the command bunker. She threw open the door of a Humvee, driven by the hulking shape of Staff Sergeant Kwon. He hadn’t quite stopped rolling, and he slammed on the brakes. She bounced out and intercepted me. The marines guarding the entrance smiled with half their mouths, bemused.

The kiss would have lasted a long time, but I gently pushed her away. Marines all around the camp were glancing and chuckling.

“You lived,” she said.

I squinted, fully expecting her to slap me for something. She didn’t though. She must have felt the fifty pair of eyes that watched us.

“We both did,” I said. I pointed out to the beach. She followed my gaze to the ocean, where one breaker after another rolled in over the cream-white sand. “That’s where I want to take you. I want to spend a week with