Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)(4)

—Fine. I’ll start with that, then I’ll say “I know many of you are afraid. I know you want answers.”

—No, you have to say something profound first, something inspiring.

—Something inspiring? There’s a giant goddamn robot in the middle of London. What people want is for me to get rid of it. There’s nothing profound about that.

—Then say something completely unrelated but profound. The last address I heard in person was from a US President. He said something like: “We come together at a crossroads between war and peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope.”

—Very well then. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, members of the General Assembly, ladies and gentlemen. Those of you who know me know I am a man of few words. Those who know me well also know how much I loathe speeches. So with your permission, I will steal my opening remarks from a former president of the United States. He said: “We come together at a crossroads between war and peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope.”

—That is—

—I was joking. I have a quote from another fellow who had a better way with words, I can just move it up. After that, you’ll have to settle for some words of my own. His name is Thomas Henry Huxley. He was a scientist in the early days of modern biology. He said: “The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land.” Almost a decade ago, when Themis was revealed to the world, we realized that ocean was a lot bigger than we thought, and what transpired this morning in London has made our islet of certainty feel so small that we may wonder if we even have enough room to stand on.

Now can I say it?

—I know many of you are afraid.

—Don’t make fun of me.

I know many of you are afraid. I know you want answers. Let me be blunt, I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. Not today. I also have a confession to make. I … am also afraid. I’m afraid because I don’t know what that thing is, or what it wants. I don’t know if there are more coming and I really don’t know if we could do anything about it if there were. There is a lot we don’t know. A little bit of fear is only healthy if you ask me.

—How reassuring. I feel better already.

—We can’t let fear stop us from doing what we must do. We also can’t let fear dictate our actions. We must exercise patience. What we’ve got here—

—What are you trying to say?

—That everyone should wait before doing something really stupid.

—Such as?

—You know that there are those in England who want a show of force. I also know that NATO is considering military action of its own. I want everyone in that room to use their influence. I want them to use every means at their disposal to make sure that doesn’t happen.

—Why?

—You know why! This second robot is probably even more powerful than Themis. It’s doubtful that British ground forces could put a scratch on it. And this is London. In an urban environment, there is simply no way to concentrate enough firepower with a ground assault. An all-out air strike has more potential, but we’d need a joint operation between our biggest air forces. We’d also level the city of London. If that doesn’t bring the robot down, a high-yield nuclear bomb would be our best, and last, option, though it would mean relocating most of England’s population after the fact. Is that clear enough for you?

—If that is what you want people to leave with, then you should say it like that, in those words. Make them understand there is no “best-case scenario” if they attack, that they cannot “bluff” their way out of this.

—You don’t think it’s a little rough? You asked for profound and inspiring.

—You open with profound and inspiring so that, twenty years from now, people can feel clever quoting you around the dinner table. If there is something you want people to understand today, say it like you are addressing your grandchildren. Half the people in that room will hear you through an interpreter, and most have the attention span of a five-year-old. When they leave the room, these people will call home. They will probably talk to their defense ministers, their top generals, their chiefs of staff, people with an army at their disposal who are itching to use it. You are asking them to trust a group of scientists before their own military advisors. Make sure the reason for that is not lost in translation.

—I had another paragraph that made me sound reasonably intelligent.

—Let me hear it.

—What we’ve got here is not a London problem. It is not a British or a European problem. It’s certainly not a NATO problem. What we’ve got here is an Earth problem. It’s a problem for all of us, for every nation represented in this room, and we must find a solution to it, together. This institution was founded in the wake of the most devastating war in human history, to promote peace by allowing nations to resolve their disputes here, in this room, and not on the battlefield. It was also created so that we could pool our knowledge and resources and achieve great things none of us could dream of achieving on our own. Today we have a chance to do both: prevent war of a level we’ve never imagined and bring humanity to a whole new frontier. If there has ever been a time for the United Nations, it is now. If there has ever been a reason for the EDC, this is it.