“Not sure we want to say that to our world, let alone all the others,” Siler said.
“No, we don’t,” I said slowly. “Because they’re not all that wrong. The one certainty we have is that every being that is so advanced from us as to be a god—so advanced that every human would have no issue falling to their knees and professing undying loyalty and worship—have all said the same thing.”
“What’s that, baby?” Jeff asked. “They talk to you far more than the rest of this.”
“They all say that there is a God. God is something so vast that we can’t really comprehend it, but it’s not a man or a woman or a host of gods. Or maybe it is and isn’t all at the same time. Maybe this is how you move as a race from one level of sentience to the next. Not via some process that changes you into a monster version of yourself, but by realizing that everything you’ve believed is wrong, and yet right at the same time. And none of it matters unless you’re doing the best you can, for the most people you can, as frequently as you can.”
“Spoken like the First Lady,” Gower said.
“No way,” Lorraine said. “She’s the Queen Regent.”
“I’d call her the Savior of the World,” Jerry said. “Because I’ve been paying attention.”
“I’m just me, you guys.”
Jeff pulled me to him and kissed me again as my music changed to “An American Girl” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. “That’s what they all said, baby.”
CHAPTER 99
WRUCK, MAURER, and Butler finally returned. “All cleared,” Wruck said. “There were casualties, but not as many as there would have been.”
“Our whole team is still alive and in one piece,” Jeff said. “I count that as a huge success.”
“Are the rest of your people going to stay in space or are they coming into our ship?” I asked Wruck.
He smiled at me. “I’m with my people.” He looked at the screen. “They are going to shepherd the Aicirtap to Earth.” As he said this, the Anciannas all broke formation and headed to Mars. “By the way, Mars is like the world the Aicirtap come from. Very sandy.”
“Will it need terraforming?” Chuckie asked, as Hughes relayed that we were all coming back to Alfred.
“Potentially. I think we need to determine what will happen to them first. As well as all the others. Some have no worlds left because of the Aicirtap and should probably have first choice in terms of relocation.”
“It’s the Z’porrah who should stand trial,” Claudia said. “This was all their fault, not the Aicirtap’s.”
Thought about what Algar might say. “They had free will. They chose of their own accord. They were lied to, or maybe they weren’t. We may never know. But they said yes.”
“You want them on trial?” Jeff asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how you get justice out of a situation like this one.”
“Commanders, we may have a problem,” Jerry said. “The Z’porrah ship is not being allowed to land. And to follow the current conversation through, we now have Z’porrah who are going to look like really perfect fall guys for everyone.”
“I don’t like their chances,” Joe said.
“Yeah, instead of Z’porrah, I’d call them Tomorrow’s Martyrs,” Randy added.
My music went to Mot?rhead’s “One More Fucking Time.” Had that right. Heaved a sigh. “It never ends. Chip, can you put the Z’porrah ship onscreen?”
“Absolutely Your Saviorship.”
“Hilarious.” Turned to Wruck. “You think these are the okay ones?” He nodded. “Great. I’d like Superman and the Martian Manhunter to come with me, please. The rest of the Justice League can stay in the helicarrier, heading home but paying attention in case we need help. In other words, Matt, make sure Alfred and the rest of the world know that Jeff and I are on that ship.”
Looked at the Z’porrah ship onscreen. Then, despite every fiber of my being telling me that nothing but evil was inside of it, hit my Beaming Bling.
Had to give the Bling this—the transfers were amazingly fast and so much better than gates. Figured I should keep this one to myself lest I hurt Jeff’s and every other A-C’s feelings. I was inside Dino-Bird Central, looking at what I and pretty much everyone on Earth considered our greatest enemies, in less than a totally nausea-free second.
The Z’porrah had heads that looked something like a humanoid version of an eagle’s, but with an impressive underbite. Unlike most birds, their eyes were more centered. As per every Z’porrah I’d seen, they were wearing what I thought of as Space Muumuus, with six large, painted talons sticking out from under each muumuu, and feathers sticking out of their long Space Muumuu sleeves. Knew that under the muumuus they looked like miniature Tyrannosaurus Rexes with wings. The likelihood that it was the Z’porrah who’d sent Cliff the Long Armed Rexie seemed very high.
The Z’porrah seemed thrown by my arrival. They all jumped. And then they all backed away, arms raised, feathers in front of their faces. This wasn’t a reaction I was used to from this race.
Wruck and Jeff chose to show up. “She comes in peace,” Wruck said.
“Presumably. Why are they terrified of me?”
“Perhaps it’s the big gun you’re brandishing,” Wruck said with a chuckle.
“Whoops. Sorry, Dino-Birds.”
Several of them put their arms down. “What did you call us?” this ship’s SpokesDino-Bird asked.
“Dino-Birds. Since you look like a dinosaur crossed with a bird. Sorry,” I said to Wruck, “but that really seems obvious. Are these, perhaps, the very slow of wit Z’porrah?”
He laughed. “No. They’re just extremely frightened. Think of them, and the Anciannas with them, as missionaries of different religions who were out in a very remote area, trying to convert the natives. Their home churches haven’t been in regular touch with them, they have more in common with each other, and so they started spending the off hours together. Sharing stories of their successes and failures, talking about home, recreating the friendship our two races had so long ago.”
“Then the Aicirtap attacked the planets we were helping,” the SpokesDino-Bird said. “We didn’t even realize that our people were responsible.” Could tell it was a male now. He shook his head and looked down. Something wet hit his talons, then the floor. Realized he was crying. “We couldn’t save any of them. Two worlds filled with young life and several sentient life-forms that had such promise, all destroyed.” He buried his beak in his feathers and sobbed. There was a lot of that going around.
Couldn’t help it. Handed Jeff my gun, went to the sobbing Z’porrah, and put my arms around him. They were my height, so it was easy. “It’s okay. Well, it’s not, not really, but it’s not your fault. You didn’t cause this.”