—Really? That’s your problem? You can’t deal with me standing three feet above you? If you were up here, I’d be in front of you. You’re OK with me being in front of you.
—Yeah. I’d be higher.
—You’re the captain.
[Lapetus, Navigation here. Are we ready to move?]
—Affirmative. Just get the grease monkeys off our foot, and we’re good to go.
[They’re leaving now. Get ready for a two-jump trip. Swing around to seventy-nine degrees, one minute.]
Roger that. Wiggle, wiggle.
—You good?
—Yeah, I just …
[Lapetus, what’s taking so long? We’re on a schedule.]
Gimme a sec. I just can’t get the minutes right. I keep jumping from zero to four.
—You’re turning with your feet.
—Want me to use my butt? I’ve done this before, Lieutenant.
—That’s not what I meant. It’s hard to be that precise moving your feet. Once you get the degrees right, keep your feet straight and turn your head a little towards where you wanna go. Then just shift your weight from leg to leg. The big man’ll turn without you knowing it.
—Hot damn! You’re right! Seventy-nine degrees, one minute, two seconds.
[Calculating. Lapetus. Punch in. Unit size: ninety-eight. That’s one, four, two in base-8.]
Roger that. One. Four. Two.
[Distance: three hundred and sixty-six. Base-8: five, five, six.]
Five. Five. Six. Engaging. Aaaand, we’re underwater.
[You’re good, Lapetus. That is the Gulf of Finland. We have you less than ninety miles from Saint Petersburg. Second heading: eighty-nine degrees, seven minutes.]
On it … All set. Eighty-nine degrees, seven minutes, twelve seconds.
[Roger that. Set unit size to thirty-two. That is four, zero. Repeat. Four. Zero. Distance: two-eighty-six. Base-8 is four, three, six.]
Confirm. Four. Zero. Distance: Four. Three. Six.
[Confirmed. That should put you right in the middle of Palace Square.]
Ready, Lieutenant?
—No, but that’s as good as I’ll get.
—Off we go … What the? Central, this is Lapetus. Seems you were a little off on those coordinates. We can see the square, we’re right in front of it, but we crushed part of a castle or something.
[Sorry about that, Lapetus. We have you on satellite. You’re on … You’re standing on the Hermitage.]
—Jesus Christ!
—Calm down, Lieutenant. These things happen.
—No, Bodie. Leveling the Hermitage doesn’t just happen.
—Central. We’re onsite. We’re staring at a big yellow building.
[Roger, Lapetus. The General Staff and Ministries Building. That’s your target. Sit tight. We’re talking to the ambassador now.]
—Look at this place!
—Yeah, it’s cool. Too bad it’ll be a hole in a few minutes.
—They might find a diplomatic way out of this, you know.
—Yeah, sure. I don’t see Themis anywhere.
—They think she’s underground somewhere.
— …
—It was in the briefing notes?
—Lieutenant?
—What?
—Shut the hell up.
—Do you have any idea what’s going on, Bodie? Do you get how bad this is?
—No one can touch us.
—Yes, Bodie. We’re in here. The rest of the world isn’t. They’re fucked if this goes wrong.
—Well, they asked for it. We gave them an ultimatum.
—I don’t mean here, you dumb-ass. I mean everywhere. Home, Bodie! Home! Your mom, your friends.
—Do you always talk this much?
—What? You don’t wanna think about bad shit, so you pretend it doesn’t exist? Reality doesn’t give a crap whether you pay attention to it or not. It’s still there.
—What do you want me to do, Lieutenant? Just tell me. What do you want me to do?
—Someone has to stop this insanity, Bodie. Someone has to.
—Well, it won’t be me. And it sure as hell won’t be you. So what’s the point in talking about it?
[Lapetus, this is Central. It’s 23:58. Stand by to commence firing in two minutes.]
—Are you sure about this, Central? Maybe we should give them more time.
[Negative, Lapetus. Stand by for strike order.]
—All right, Central. Standing by.
—Don’t do it, Bodie.
—What are you saying, Lieutenant? Are you suggesting I disobey a direct order?
—I’m not—
—’Cause that’s what it sounded like.
—I’m saying you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, Bodie.
—Are we gonna have a problem here?
—There’s no problem, Bodie. It’s just that forty-five seconds from now, you’ll be asked to start World War III. We will. Not the whole army. Not fifty thousand men. Just you and me. Now I’m thinking maybe that’s not something you want on your conscience. Remember how many people died when this big guy showed up? We’re about to do it again. You and me. You and me, Bodie. Whoa, don’t you ever point a gun at me. Did you hear what I said? Holster that weapon, Captain.
—Central, we have a bit of a—HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
[Lapetus, this is Central. What did you say?]
It’s Themis! She just appeared right in front of us.
FILE NO. 2128
BROADCAST STATEMENT FROM VINCENT COUTURE
Location: Inside Themis, Saint Petersburg
Hello, everyone. My name is Vincent Couture. I prepared a short statement. If you don’t mind, I’m just gonna read from it. Here it goes.
To the United States government, and to the women or men piloting the alien device in front of me. I am inside Themis. I have recently returned from the alien world where this robot and the one I am staring at were built. I was brought there by the inhabitants of that planet along with General Eugene Govender, Dr. Rose Franklin, and Eva Reyes, my biological daughter.
I have been told that you are requesting our immediate release and are threatening to destroy the government building behind me along with everyone inside if that demand is not met immediately. Before you do anything you can’t take back, let’s all be clear on what that would mean. You would declare war on the Russian Federation. They would retaliate with … everything they have. Now, I know you might be thinking: Russia won’t start a nuclear war over this. They’d be hit just as hard, if not worse. Common sense will prevail. You’d be wrong. Don’t believe me? Imagine a battalion of Russian tanks turning the White House into a pile of rubble. Can you think of a scenario in which you say: Yeah, we’ll let this one slide? They will retaliate. So the real question is how many people are you willing to kill over this? Because it’s not hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands.
Now let’s talk about those demands.
First, you should know that General Govender did not return with us. He died on the alien planet five years ago, so you’re not getting him back. As for my daughter, Eva Reyes, she is no longer here. Neither I, nor the Russian authorities, are aware of her location, but she is most likely on her way to the United States right now.
Second, Dr. Rose Franklin and I were never prisoners. We do not need to be rescued though we appreciate the thought. We are guests of the Russian Federation and have been treated as such since our arrival. However, given the tense nature of this situation, Dr. Franklin has agreed to return to the United States and should already be in US custody.
That leaves me. Let me remind you that I am not an American, so your request for my release is touching but baseless. I have no doubt that you can get the Canadian government to issue a formal request, but let me save you the trouble. I choose to stay. Let me restate that to avoid any misunderstanding. I am here of my own volition, and I choose to remain here. Your help is not required. Any attempt to remove me by force would amount to kidnapping.