“I didn’t. It burned up in the upper atmosphere and I did a jump the rest of the way down.”
“You and your jumps, Harry. There are easier ways to visit the planet Earth.”
“At the moment there’s really not,” I said. “At least not for me.”
The waiter returned with a new Bloody Mary for Danielle, and she ordered for the both of us. “I hope that’s all right,” she said, of the ordering.
“You know this place better than I do.”
“So you dropped in. Tell me why.”
“I need you to get me in to speak to the U.S. secretary of state.”
“You need to speak to my dad.”
“Well, what I really need to do is speak to the entire United Nations,” I said. “But for the very short term I will settle for your father, yes.”
“You couldn’t send a note?”
“This isn’t really something I could have put into a note.”
“Try it now.”
“All right,” I said. “‘Dear Danielle Lowen: How are you? I am fine. The group that destroyed Earth Station and made it look like the Colonial Union did it is now planning to nuke the surface of your planet until it glows, and frame the Conclave for it. Hope you are well. Looking forward to rescuing you in space again soon. Your friend, Harry Wilson.’”
Danielle was quiet for a moment. “All right, you have a point,” she said, finally.
“Thank you.”
“That’s accurate?” she asked. “The part about Equilibrium planning to use nuclear weapons against the Earth.”
“Yes,” I said. “I have all the documents and data with me.” I tapped my temple to indicate my BrainPal. “The information is not yet one hundred percent confirmed but it comes from sources we can verify.”
“Why does Equilibrium want to do that?”
“You’re going to hate the reason, I assure you.”
“Of course I’m going to hate it. There’s no good reason to nuke an entire planet.”
“It’s not really about Earth,” I said. “Equilibrium is pitting the Colonial Union and the Conclave against each other in the hope they’ll destroy each other.”
“I thought they had a different plan for that. One that didn’t involve the Earth.”
“They did, but then we found out about it. So they changed their plans to include you.”
“They’ll kill billions here just to make the two of you fight up there.”
“That’s about right.”
Danielle glowered. “This is a fucked-up universe we live in, Harry.”
“I’ve been telling you that for as long as I’ve known you.”
“Yes, but before this I could still believe you might be wrong about it.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Danielle said. “It might be the Colonial Union’s fault. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is, if you go back far enough.”
“You’re not entirely wrong.”
“No, I’m not. The Colonial Union—”
I held up a hand. Danielle paused. “You know you lecture me about the Colonial Union every time I see you,” I said. “And every time I see you I tell you that you and I don’t really disagree. If it’s okay with you, I’d be fine with just having this bit of our interaction tabled as read, so we can move on to other things.”
Danielle looked at me sourly. “I like ranting about the Colonial Union.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “By all means please continue.”
“It’s too late for that,” she said. “The moment’s gone.”
Our food arrived.
“Now I’m not hungry,” Danielle said.
“It’s difficult to keep an appetite in the face of global nuclear extinction,” I said. I carved into a waffle.
“You don’t seem to be having a problem,” Danielle observed, dryly. “But then it’s not your planet.”
“It certainly is my planet,” I said. “I’m from Indiana.”
“But not recently.”
“Recently enough, I assure you,” I said. I took a bite of waffle, chewed it, and swallowed it. “The reason I can eat is because I have a plan.”
“You have a plan.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“And you thought up this plan on your own, did you.”
“No, Ambassador Abumwe thought it up,” I said. “Most of it. I helped in the margins.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way—”
“This is gonna be good,” I said, and took a drink of my orange juice.
“—but the fact it’s Abumwe who thought up this plan is more reassuring than if you thought it up.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “She’s a grown-up.”
“Yes,” Danielle said. “Whereas you look like my kid brother.”
“Despite the fact I’m older than you and Abumwe combined.”
“Scratch that. You look like my kid brother’s distractingly hot college roommate. And please stop telling me you’re old enough to be my grandfather. The cognitive dissonance really ruins it for me.”
I grinned. “You seem to be processing the end of days pretty well,” I said.
“Do I?” Danielle said. “Yes, well. Rest assured that the moment the flirty banter stops I’m going to be well and truly losing my shit, Harry.”