09:18:57 [HAMAL 11] Roger Anderson House. We’re having some…technical problems with the drop hatch.

09:19:09 [AIRCOM] Chris Parker, I understand. No one here is thrilled either but we have a job to do. Change heading to two seven zero for another pass.

…

That’s an order, Chris Parker, not a suggestion.

…

Chris Parker, respond.

09:19:31 [HAMAL 11] Roger, Anderson House. Heading two seven zero now.

09:19:35 [AIRCOM] Roger that. Stay on course.

…

Chris Parker, bedtime is in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now. Now. Now.

09:20:10 [HAMAL 11] Anderson House, this is Chris Parker. The kids are asleep.

Holy sh…

09:20:22 [AIRCOM] Chris Parker, this is Anderson House, say that again.

Chris Parker, what’s your status?

We lost you on radar, Chris Parker, please respond.

Chris Parker, please respond.

…

FILE NO. 1587

INTERVIEW WITH DR. ROSE FRANKLIN, HEAD OF SCIENCE DIVISION, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS

Location: EDC Headquarters, New York, NY

—The aliens just destroyed Madrid.

—They did not, Dr. Franklin. They did not.

—Look! There’s nothing left. Absolutely nothing.

—I am well aware that Madrid has been removed from the face of the Earth. I was merely stating that the aliens are not to blame. We did this to ourselves.

—What do you mean? Did we bomb Madrid?

—We did more than bomb it. Approximately twenty minutes ago, an American B-2 Spirit dropped a B83 thermonuclear gravity bomb with a yield of 1.2 megatons on the capital of Spain. There was no visible explosion, no mushroom cloud. Only an electromagnetic pulse that knocked down nearly every electronic device in Spain, and a bright white light, approximately thirty-two miles across, that covered the entire city for about three seconds. When the light disappeared, there was nothing left. Only a large robotic figure standing at the bottom of the largest hole anyone has ever seen.

—I don’t believe it…On the news, they said the alien robot attacked, just like in London.

—What did you expect them to say? That the democratically elected government of Spain asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to drop a nuclear warhead on a city of six million people?

—How many people were they able to evacuate before they dropped the bomb?

—There was no evacuation, no advance warning. They wanted to be absolutely certain that they would hit their target. They did.

—Did you do this?

—I had nothing to do with it. I tried to stop them, but I have to come to terms with the fact that the scope of this crisis dwarfs any influence I might have had in the past. I have felt my…grip on the world loosen these past few years, but it is possible that I have finally outlived my usefulness completely.

—That’s not true. These are just…unusual circumstances.

—I fear there may not be many usual circumstances left in our future.

—Maybe not.

—Dr. Franklin, I feel it is my responsibility to keep everyone around me focused on their task, no matter the outside circumstances, and the last thing I want is to be a burden on anyone, or for my personal feelings to ever get in the way of our moving forward, but at this very moment…Why are you laughing?

—You want a pep talk from me?

—I would ask Alyssa if she were here—

—You made a joke! Where is she, by the way?

—I sent her to London to examine more of the survivors.

—What happened to the ones that were here?

—On the plane with Alyssa. I saw no need to keep them here any further.

—All of them?

—All but one. Mr. Lawson, unfortunately, did not make it.

—The journalist? What happened to him?

—He had a heart attack.

—When? How?

—He had a heart condition I was not aware of. He collapsed during his interrogation and we could not reanimate him.

—His interro…You had him tortured?

—It is, as most things are, a matter of…Yes. I had him tortured.

—Why?

—I thought he might know something. He did not.

—And he died.

—That he did.

—I don’t know how to respond. Do you want me to say it wasn’t your fault?

—No. I bear complete responsibility for his death. I should have obtained his medical records before debriefing him. I was careless.

—What bothers you is not that you tortured a man but that you forgot to ask for his medical records?

—Do not judge me too harshly, Dr. Franklin. Goodwilled, intelligent people just dropped a nuclear bomb on their own people. The United States Government gunned down over six hundred people at the Mexican border less than twelve hours ago. Those were unarmed men, women, and children, families seeking refuge.

—Is that what we’ve become?

—I have asked myself that question many times. The person who offered to meet you—the one who may be of alien descent—mentioned once that if we did not seem responsible enough, the people who built Themis might choose to send us back to the Stone Age and let us mature for a few millennia. I believe those were his exact words. I sometimes wonder if that might be exactly what we need.

—A fresh start.

—A fresh start.

—I should be appalled that you tortured a man. I’m not. I think I’m becoming as cynical as you are.

—I am not cynical, but we are indeed very different creatures.

—We’re not so different.

—Oh, but we are. No matter how much you believe you have changed, we are still very different animals, you and I.

—I think you’re wrong.

—Let me ask you this: Do you believe the American government lied to the people about weapons of mass destruction before invading Iraq?

—What’s this got to do with anything?

—Just answer the question.

—Yes. I do.

—Do you believe that was wrong?

—What do you mean? Of course that was wrong!

—Why?