—How can I be sure of that?
—I do not wish to appear insensitive, but I do not believe certainty is a luxury you can afford at the moment.
—Fair enough. Quick question, though. What will you do with these people after I give you their names?
—When the time comes, they will be arrested and executed.
—You want to kill them?! But they haven’t done anything!
—Everyone has done something. What matters is that the empress will be able to restore peace and tranquility on her world.
— …
—You may leave, now, Vincent Couture.
FILE NO. 2193
INTERVIEW BETWEEN MAJOR KATHERINE LEBEDEV, RUSSIAN MAIN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (GRU), AND VINCENT COUTURE
Location: GRU building, Saint Petersburg, Russia
—Time to go, Vincent!
—Go where?
—We’re sending you out.
—I’m not conquering the world for you, Katherine. I told you that already. I’ll defend you, but I won’t bring another government to its knees.
—No need. The Chinese are doing that part for you. They’re walking a million men—for real, a million!—into Korea, and they asked for our help. You’ll be an escort.
—North Korea?
—Oh. They just said Korea. Does it matter? I can check if you want.
—The US won’t let you— —You mean they won’t let China.
—They won’t let you take South Korea. You know that.
—Me? I don’t know anything. I suppose we’ll find out sooner or later. Probably later. It’ll take a while. Like, forever. When they said they were walking a million men, I thought it was just military talk. But nope. They’re on foot. One million of them. Walking. You can see them on satellite, it’s impressive, like— —I’m not doing this.
—Oh, come on! You just said you’ll defend us. They’re friends, that’s kind of like us, don’t you think? Let me put it this way. Would you rather a million Chinese get killed?
—I’d rather no one gets killed, but I’m not the one invading another country. The Koreans have the right to defend themselves.
—You’re no fun, you know that? Yeah, they do have the right to defend themselves. Technically. And they probably will! But they’ll lose. Right now, North Korea thinks they just want to walk across their land—actually, they’re tickled pink at the idea of marching into Seoul with the Chinese—but they’ll know something’s up when Beijing launches an airstrike against them.
—I thought those two were friends.
—Oh, they haven’t been friends for a while. China tolerated them just to piss off the US, but there’s just no reason to anymore. They’ll try to blow up every missile site, but they’ll miss a few they didn’t know about. North Korea will launch whatever they have left. The Chinese will retaliate. We’re talking … a quarter million dead, at least. That’s before they walk in. Then it gets ugly, but the Chinese win in the end. There’s a million of them. If that’s not enough, they can send a million more. Did you know they have more purebloods than anyone else? I didn’t. I learn something every day. Anyway, this is how it goes. Lots and lots of people die needlessly. Or, you walk in with them, and the Koreans stand down all on their own. You’ve been there before. They know they can’t hurt Themis. You’d be saving … countless lives, without firing a single shot. You’d be a hero! Well, you’d be my hero anyway.
—What happens then? They won’t stay in North Korea. Things will go bad. Will I still be your hero if I start World War III, and this whole place turns into a radioactive wasteland?
—I won’t hold it against you, Vincent. I promise.
FILE NO. EE427—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT
Interview between Dr. Rose Franklin and Vincent Couture
Location: Assigned residence, Etyakt region
—She said what?
—She wants us to give her names.
—Whose names?
—Everyone. The people organizing all of this, the marches, the protests.
—You mean Eva’s friends?
—I mean everyone. Yes, Eva’s friends.
—Vincent, we know these people. Ityets, and Itit and—
—And Esok.
—And she’s going to have them killed?
—She’s not going to have anyone killed because we’re not giving her any names.
—Of course we’re not, but this makes no sense at all. What does Esok have to do with any of this? She’s not blowing up buildings in Osk.
—That’s the thing. She mentioned this superorganized group who, apparently, is responsible for all the terrorist acts. Esok and Ityets are many things, but organized isn’t one of them.
—They’re also not violent. Ityets would be a Buddhist if we were back on Earth.
—I’m telling you, Rose. She mentioned him by name. I don’t understand what the empress has to gain by arresting local organizers.
—My guess …
—Yes?
—Say she gets what she wants, and the regions give her more power. It would likely be temporary, right?
—Probably.
—Well, my guess is she doesn’t want it to be temporary. She’ll want to hit them hard. Arrest as many people as she can. Make sure no one dares to even put up a sign after that.
—Wouldn’t that just encourage the people blowing up things to blow up more things?
—Well, she’d have to get them too. All of them.
—On the planet? You can’t defeat terrorism on a whole planet, it’s not an army you can crush. That’s why it’s called terrorism. There’d always be one person left somewhere to blow up more things.
—I know what you’re saying, Vincent, but imagine for a moment that she can. If she can do that, stop all the violence, all the protests, the Ekt everywhere will love her for it. They’d never go back to the way things were.
—Yeah, but she’d anger the people of alien descent even more, wouldn’t she?
—I don’t know, Vincent. Not if she gives them something they want. No limits on how many children they can have, something like that. Don’t forget, everyone they arrest will be labeled a terrorist, and most people here don’t condone what they’ve seen on the big screens. I think she’d be a hero. She might even have enough clout to get rid of that noninterference policy and start dealing with other worlds again. She could get her empire back if this works. The irony is that would probably be a good thing for everyone. For the people here, for those on other worlds. Esok’s planet could be saved.
—Great. And all we have to do is get everyone we know murdered for no reason.
FILE NO. 2194
INTERVIEW BETWEEN DR. ROSE FRANKLIN AND MR. BURNS
Location: Medici on 57th, Chicago, Illinois
—Ah! Dr. Franklin! Come! Sit!
—Mr. Burns! I got your note, but I wasn’t sure it was you.
—Do many people leave you notes pretending to be me?
—No, it’s just … What are you doing here? How did you get out?
—Your friend Alyssa got me out.
—My—Alyssa’s not my friend. Are you sure she’s the one?
—Yes! I’m sure. I was there! I had to be there. That’s an important part of being let out. She walked me out the front door of the building, in the middle of the day! She should have been more surreptitious. They arrested her five minutes after I left. Anyway, it would seem she’s more of a friend than you thought.
—I’m having a hard time believing she would do anything out of kindness.
—Well, here I am. But you’re right, she is not a bundle of joy. Lots of negativity. She didn’t laugh at my jokes once, and there were some good ones!
—She had me thrown out of the building when I asked for her help.
—With getting me out?
—Yes.
—That makes sense. She’s smart. No fun, but smart.
—How is that smart?
—Everyone would know you were involved if you were anywhere near me when it happened. Do I need to remind you how I ended up in there in the first place?
—They’ll still suspect me.
—Probably. That’s why we’re meeting here.
—Your note said: “Don’t change anything. See you soon. Mr. Burns.” How did you know I’d be here, and this early?
—It’s Saturday! Coffee and cinnamon rolls at Medici, on your way to the Compton lectures.