—It’s where we are. It’s … a little bit like the Council of Akitast.
—Good … I understand that this organization functions according to a set of ruyes, and you may continue to run it as you see fit. We wiy contact you from time to time and ask about your progress. We may send a representative to witness the way you govern. At any time, if we find that a group of Terrans, however smay, is deprived of its rights, is without food or care, is imprisoned without cause, suffers from a disease you can treat or cure, we wiy come back.
Rose Frankyin. We won’t come back. We agreed to come here because of what you promised.
—I know, but you need to say you will.
—I cannot say what is not true.
—Enatast, if you really want to help, you have to pretend.
— …
—Can you say with absolute certainty that the Ekt will never come here again?
—Rose Frankyin! Do you think I am stupid?
—I’m sorry. But I really need you to say this. We all do.
—I must think.
—Continue.
—From this moment on, you wiy function according to the doctrines of equayity and cooperation. We hope you can do so of your own voyition, but we won’t hesitate to impose those principles upon you if we have to.
We do not want to interfere with other races, and it is with great reservation that we agreed to come. However, our presence here many generations ago may have changed more than just your genetics, and we consider your kind reyated to ours, your fate connected with ours. We are, in part, responsibe for what you are, and we must accept responsibiyity for what you become. We won’t abandon you in the chaos that we have created on Terra.
The Counciy cannot agree to this.
—They are responsible. You tell them that. Or you don’t tell them. They don’t have to know. Besides, everything you just read is true, Enatast. Your people did this.
—That is not the Ekt way.
—It could be.
— … We understand that our presence here is causing fear and confusion, and we won’t stay any more than we have to. We have given specific instructions to one of your peope, Drrr-
—Doctor. Dr. means doctor.
—Doctor Rose Frankyin. She wiy be our representative on Terra. Is there more?
—No. This is it. I can take care of the rest.
—I hope I do not make a bad bad mistake.
—You’ll do great. I can have our people set up a microphone if you want to send that message from here.
—I mean that I hope using your words is not a mistake. I can read your message from one of the giants. But I would yike to see Vincent before we go.
—He’s inside Themis. Can you find her?
—I can. Do I bring her here?
—Yes. There is another robot with her. Bring them both here if you can. Eva is in there.
—Rose Frankyin.
—Yes?
—I wiy use your words even if I do not agree with them.
—Thank you.
—I have one request.
—The whole planet just surrendered to you. I’m pretty sure you can get anything you want.
—Vincent said there are things that yive in the sky on Terra.
—Things in the sky … Birds?
—Yes. If you can find one, I would very much want to see a … bird before I go.
—Would a pigeon—Never mind. You don’t know what that is. Yes, there are birds across the street. I’ll take you. You can even feed them if you want.
—Thank you, Rose Frankyin. Do you have what you promised us?
—Yes. I do.
FILE NO. 2200
INTERVIEW BETWEEN DR. ROSE FRANKLIN AND VINCENT COUTURE
Location: United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York
—What the hell just happened, Rose? One minute, I’m with Eva in North Korea, then some giant robot appears right next to us. Next thing I know, Themis and Lapetus are in the parking lot in front of the old EDC hangar. Now Enatast is here? I just heard his speech on TV.
—It’s a long story, Vincent.
—Then you better start talking. Did he say: “Resistance is futile”?
—No, he did not.
—Sure sounded like it. His English is getting good, though.
—I helped with his speech a little.
—You did? Did you do this? Did you get the Ekt to come here?
—I didn’t know what else to do, Vincent.
—What did you do?
—I … called them?
—With what?
—The … I don’t know what it’s called. The thing they used on me, to bring me back after I died. It’s also used for communication. I sent them a message about two weeks ago. I didn’t know if they received it. I guess they did.
—What was the message? Please invade us?
—Not in so many words. I told them we—our people—were hurting, and hurting each other. I told them we had lost sight of our identity and we were … terrified, and lost. That discovering we were related to them robbed us of our past and destroyed our future. That we were killing each other trying to cling to an outdated notion of humanity. I told them it was their fault. All of it. Whether they want to admit it or not, they are responsible. They came here thousands of years ago, and they changed us. They made us into something different. They tried to fix it and killed millions of us instead, scared us into insanity. They did that. I told them they couldn’t simply wash their hands of it.
—Are you …? Rose! Your alien friend, didn’t he tell you—maybe it wasn’t you, our nameless friend, whatever—that the Ekt would just … wipe us out? Isn’t that what he said? They’d send us into oblivion and let us evolve from scratch all over again if they thought …
—He was wrong.
—Oh, well, if he was wrong. Sorry I even mentioned it. There I was thinking we risked total annihilation.
—Think about it, Vincent. They killed a few million of us, and that sent their world into a civil war. Their people—half of them anyway—see us as … I don’t know … cousins. We’re related to them. What do you think would happen if they killed all of us? Anyway, they didn’t.
—You didn’t care.
—I thought it was worth … Look. We needed help. We … It was their mistake. We couldn’t fix this. We don’t have what it takes. We just don’t. They could do it. They could make things right.
—By force?
—I try to convince myself it’s something else. Supervision? We’re children, Vincent. We’re all children. We were thrown into a grown-up world before our time. I thought … I thought we needed some adults to show us right from wrong.
—Yeah, that makes sense, maybe. It sounded a bit like bullshit when you said it, though.
—What do you want me to say, Vincent? That I believe in the human spirit? In our innate ability to face even the most insurmountable odds? I wish that were true, Vincent. I wish.
—We could have done more.
—Who? You and I? Eva? We’re not superheroes, Vincent. We got lucky a few times, but we can’t control the entire world. You thought you could help with Themis. Eva thought the same thing. Where did that get us? We had two of these insanely powerful weapons on Earth, and you and your daughter were each in control of one of them. What did you do? You pounded each other to the brink of death. We’re not … We’re not heroes. No one is. Every movie we watch, every book we read, we see people who can solve every problem, face every danger all on their own. But in real life, Vincent, we just call the cops. That’s what I did.
—I don’t know, Rose, I—
—They were executing people!
—It’s not the first time. Probably not the last.