Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(63)

—Let me get this straight. Your solution to all of Earth’s problems is that you don’t have a solution, and you want someone else to fix it for you.

—I know how it sounds. I wish I could think of another way. I desperately want to believe there is another way, that the human spirit will conquer, that science will save the day. But the problem is us. I don’t think we have what it takes to do this on our own. If there were— —No, no. Stop. I agree with you. It takes a lot of courage to admit your own limits. I admire that.

—You admire the fact that I find myself useless, or that I think our entire species is incapable of taking care of itself?

—A little bit of both. And you are not useless, you just came up with a solution. I personally think it’s a good one.

—It’s not. They won’t come. For starters, we don’t even have a way to contact them.

—Of course you do! The Ekt left a device for you to find. It was buried in the chamber you fell in when you were a kid before my ancestor replaced it with a big hand. You should know, we used it to bring you back to life! The Ekt left it here so you could talk to them when the time came.

—It doesn’t matter. They still won’t come. When we left, things weren’t much better there than they are here. They have their own problems to deal with. What happened here on Earth is how their problems started in the first place. I’m fairly certain all they want is to put that entire episode behind them and never look back.

—Then you’ll have to give them something they want more.





PART FOUR


   CROSS THE RUBICON





FILE NO. 2195


MISSION LOG—VINCENT COUTURE AND SERGEANT ALEXANDER VASILIEV

Location: Aboard Themis. North of Dandong, Liaoning Province, China —All right, Katherine, we’re two or three miles from Dandong. We’re going to unstrap and have lunch.

[Lunch? It’s almost six where you are in China!]

Well, it’s one o’clock for us. And it’s a sandwich. A sandwich isn’t dinner.

[Sure. You can eat. Where are the Chinese?]

They’re everywhere. We’re in China.

[Ha. Ha.]

They’re about a mile behind us, but they’re slow as hell. Why didn’t we just meet them at the border? We walked four miles with them, and it took us half a day. Do you know how mind-numbing this is? Our legs are forty times longer than theirs. We almost fell a couple times we have to walk so slow.

[Poor baby. A million men walking in mud, and you have to walk slowly.]

They’re on a highway. It’s in pretty good shape. We’re the ones walking in mud on the side of the road.

[They wanted to make a grand entrance.]

They’re going to be disappointed.

[Why? No! I don’t want to have to call them again! I keep calling with bad news. They hate me.]

It’s getting dark. We can barely see where we step. And there’s a residential area up ahead. There won’t be enough room for us to walk through.

[You can walk on the road.]

We can. But they won’t be able to after we destroy it. I don’t think they want us to walk on houses either. It doesn’t really matter anyway. There’s a city after that neighborhood. A big one.

[Your point being?]

Themis doesn’t do cities well.

[What do you propose?]

If they really want to cross here, we’re just gonna have to beam over and wait for them in the river.

[You’ll be there for hours, alone. So much for that great entrance…]

We can wait here for hours and beam over when they’re ready to cross into North Korea. I don’t care.

[Fine. I guess I’ll have to talk to them after all. Have lunch, I’ll get back to you.]

Good. Just give me a sec, Alex. I’ll help you get out of your straightjacket, and we can eat.

—Thank you. I’m starving.

—All right, I’m coming. I suppose now would be a good time to tell you. If the North Koreans start firing before the Chinese march in, I’m bailing us out.

—What?

—Let me take your gloves off. They have to funnel a million men through a bridge. They’ll be slaughtered.

—I’m pretty sure that’s why we’re here.

—Even if we help, Alex. They’re fish in a barrel. They’ll push through. Maybe half of them will make it. I’m not going to be responsible for half a million dead. If we bail, they won’t dare cross that bridge.

—The major will kill us.

—Yeah, Katherine’ll be pissed.

—I mean she’ll literally kill us. I’m not supposed to tell you, but these little canisters they installed on the ceiling, they’re VX gas.

—I knew they weren’t something good.

—She can release it remotely.

—She won’t. I mean she’ll do it if she has to—I don’t think she’ll even hesitate—but she won’t do it for this. Not for the Chinese, not if North Korea fights back. The prize here is South Korea. If it all goes to hell before we even cross the border, it’s just not worth it to kill us.

—I’m not sure I want to take that bet.

—Hey, if Katherine’s right, the North Koreans will roll out the red carpet for us, and this whole conversation is moot.