Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)(19)
There is a lot of information coming in, and we will hear a lot more from Dana and Mike in the studio in a few minutes. But for now, we will keep our cameras rolling as we witness these historic events unfold. The first convoy now seems to be stopping and entering formation just short of Chester Road, about five hundred metres from the robotic figure. The other group of combat vehicles has also stopped and Scimitars are now lining up inside the Inner Circle. There has been no reaction thus far on the part of the alien robot. It has not moved.
It is now the King’s Royal Hussars’ turn to enter Regent’s Park from the east. The fifty-some tanks have very little manoeuvring room if they wish to keep their distance from the visitor. As expected, the Challenger 2s are stopping only a few metres from the Outer Circle, just shy of the Boardwalk. The last group of Scimitar vehicles is entering park grounds at the west end. They are moving a lot faster than the other groups, heading southeast towards the Inner Circle and away from the Hub and the …
The robot has turned its head.
This is the first time we have seen it move since it appeared in London a week ago. It is shifting its feet, slowly turning to the right. Its attention seems to be focused on the combat vehicles sprinting through the park from the west. There is some light coming out of the robot’s right hand. White light. It’s getting brighter and brighter. It is raising its arm. There is, what seems like, a disc of light inside the robot’s right hand, which is aimed at the west end of Regent’s Park, where the military vehicles have now stopped their advance.
Our helicopter is moving farther away, but we still have clear view of the entire—Wha—? There is—what I can only describe as a thin wall of light extending from the robot’s hand for … it must be at least one or two kilometres long. The light wall is paper-thin, roughly the same height as the robot, sixty or seventy metres high.
It is crossing one of the Scimitar vehicles at the Park’s edge! I do not know if it is inflicting any damage. We are too far to the east to make out any details. Our cameraman is attempting to zoom in.
There are electrical wires on the ground, on both sides of the beam of light. There are … The robot is moving its arm to the left. It is sweeping Central London very rapidly, turning to its left. It has now stopped after completing a near-perfect half circle …
…
Dear God.
…
Mike, can you call my wife?
…
Mike! MIKE!
[It’s all—]
I know. I need you to call Charlotte. Make sure she’s home. I need to know my family’s safe.
…
I—I need a moment to process what I’m seeing. There … There is nothing left in the path of that wall of light, which has now disappeared. There is only a crescent-shaped dirt field where … where half this city was. I can see Buckingham Palace at the edge of it. There is nothing but dirt between it and the London Zoo. Half a dozen neighbourhoods have been removed from the London map. Lisson Grove, Maida Vale, Paddington are no more. There is no Marylebone, no Mayfair, no Soho. Bloomsburry, Euston, part of Camden Town … All gone.
There is no debris, no fire. Just a perfect half circle of dirt. We cannot—
[Jacob.]
We cannot begin to—
[Jacob! We’re off the air. You’re talking to yourself.]
What?
[The studio. It was right in the middle of it. There is no BBC anymore.]
…
Have you gotten through to my wife?
FILE NO. 1443
MISSION LOG—CAPTAIN KARA RESNIK AND VINCENT COUTURE, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS
Location: London Gateway Port, England
—Vincent Couture. Would you stop fiddling with your flight suit and get on!
—Call me by my last name one more time, Kara. I dare you. I double dare you!
—What are you? Five? Would you just get on this thing, please?
—I’m coming! Why are you in such a hurry? We’re not coming back. You know that, right?
—No I don’t. And neither do you. You don’t want to get on the crane, is that it?
—Of course I don’t want to get on that crane. I hate that thing. It’s flimsy. It moves in the wind.
—So you’re not scared of the alien robot that just destroyed an entire city. It’s your fear of heights that’s getting in the way?
—Oh, I’m scared of him too. I’m scared of just about everything right now. And it’s not so much my fear of heights that bothers me when we’re in that stupid cage, it’s the claustrophobia. Though it wouldn’t hurt to put a piece of plywood on the floor so we can’t see through.
—Vincent, we’re going up fifty feet, and you get all shaky before we even leave the ground. What would you do if they assembled her standing up, instead of flat on her face?
—I’d teach college.
—All right, EDC. Can you hear us?
[We hear you loud and clear, Kara.]
Great. We’re in the nacelle—
—That’s not a nacelle.
—Shut up, Vincent. We’re in the nacelle with … What’s your name?
[Lieutenant Martin Crosby, ma’am.]
We’re in the nacelle with Lieutenant Crosby, from … You’re Army, right?
[Yes, ma’am.]
… From the British Army. All right, Lieutenant, we’re almost there. When we get off on the robot’s back, I’ll open the outer hatch, and I’ll clip this rope ladder to that steel bar here. We’re entering the control room through the ceiling. When we’re both inside and I tell you to, you’re gonna pull the ladder up, and close the outer hatch behind us. Did you get all that?