“That isn’t what I meant,” Gavin admitted. There was something almost simplistic about the alien’s reply. He had to remind himself sharply that the translation program would be simplifying things as much as possible, perhaps editing out some or all of the meaning in the process. A Star Trek-style universal translator would have been very useful. “Why have your people invaded Earth?”
The alien grunted, several times. Gavin listened carefully, but as far as he could tell it was just grunts. The subtle points were impossible for humans to hear. “This world is in an important location for us,” the laptop said. “We chose to claim it to forestall others from claiming it.”
“Interesting,” Gavin observed. “So you have enemies? Races on the same level as yourselves?”
The alien said nothing.
Gavin looked up at the dark eyes. “We have videos of what your human allies were doing to your prisoners,” he said. “We could attempt to force the information from you.”
“And then the State will extract its revenge,” the alien said, through the laptop. Gavin had to admit that the alien had a point. The aliens were in a position to extract revenge, simply by bombing human population centres. “Your world is ours because we were strong enough to take it from you. We do not understand why you did not climb into space and secure yourself from races like us. And yet there is much about you that can be added to the State. Your race is a wealth of knowledge for your superiors.”
Gavin glanced at the laptop, suspiciously. He’d tried primitive translation programs before in Afghanistan and they’d never really impressed him. If the alien was speaking truthfully — and the translator was working perfectly — the aliens had taken Earth because they could, rather than any desperate need for real estate… unless their mysterious enemies had wanted to take Earth and the Leathernecks had wanted to get there first. It struck him as oddly primitive, but it tied in with other statements the aliens had made since the invasion had begun. They didn’t bother coming up with elaborate justifications for their actions. They just did what they thought needed to be done.
“You’ve been rounding up military personnel and computer specialists,” he said. “What happens to them?”
The alien seemed to rock forward, slightly. “We intend to use your knowledge to enrich ourselves,” he said, finally. “Your computer specialists will assist us in creating the next generation of warship computers, giving us an edge over the…”
Gavin frowned. The laptop had declined to translate the final grunt. If that was the name of their enemy… it did make a certain kind of sense. They had an enemy out among the stars, maybe more than one. And human computers were generally better than alien designs… of course they would want to add human technology to their warships. It would be an unpleasant surprise for their enemies when they restarted the war.
In fact, he could think of several other things the aliens might want. Ever since HG Wells had written a story about invaders from Mars, humans had been writing vast science-fiction epics that explored all kinds of fictional technology. But the aliens didn’t find it fictional — they already had some kind of FTL drive, even if their computers weren’t up to human standards. What if they started to implement ideas humans had devised into their warships, or their tactics, or…? There were thousands of possibilities. Maybe tactics from Star Wars could be used, or Babylon 5, or even Doctor Who.
“So you’re taking the specialists away from Earth,” he said, slowly. There were thousands of reports of people just taken away by the collaborators, leaving friends and families behind. They would never know what had happened to their missing relatives, not unless the aliens deigned to tell them — and it seemed unlikely that they would even understand the human need for closure. “What are you doing with the military personnel?”
The alien said nothing.
“Oh, don’t give me that,” Gavin snapped, angrily. “We know that you have captured thousands of British and American military personnel — and we assume you’ve done the same everywhere you’ve landed. What are you doing with them?”
He stared up at the alien’s dark eyes. “We need to know,” he said, quietly. “Where are our soldiers?”
“They have been taken off-world,” the alien said, finally. His bulk seemed to quiver, just for a second. “They will serve the State on the disputed worlds. As subjects of the State, it is their duty to serve as the State decrees. They will fight for the State or die.”
Gavin blinked in surprise. “You’re expecting them to fight for you?”
“Of course,” the alien said. “Their world is in our claws. We own your planet now and your people exist to serve the State. Your military personnel will be expected to take the disputed world or lose the right to return to their homeworld.”
“I see,” Gavin said. “And most of them will die in service to the State?”
“To die in the service of the State is a great thing,” the alien said. Gavin stared down at the translator, convinced that there had to be an error. How could the aliens have developed such a society — and at the same time, developed FTL drives that had allowed them to spread out into interstellar space? For all he knew, someone had given the aliens FTL technology — or someone had landed on their homeworld and they’d captured their starship.
But then, what would have happened if Hitler had won World War Two? There would have been a fascist state, with children indoctrinated into believing Hitler’s warped racial theories from birth — theories that would have been ‘proven’ by the Nazi victory. How long would it be before someone decided to question the fascist state’s nature? And if they’d all been brought up to believe that genocide was acceptable in the name of the state, who among them would even question?
A few years ago, he’d read a book about the American South — and how slavery had been an integral part of society. They’d known that blacks were inferior to whites, which had played a large part in keeping society ordered, rather than have the poorer whites realise just how badly they were being screwed by their social superiors. And generations of children had been raised to believe that blacks were inferior… it had taken generations and a civil war to start the long task of changing their minds, and the scars were still present when the Leathernecks had invaded Earth. How long would it be before some Leatherneck version of William Wilberforce raised his voice to challenge the ruling party?
“One final question,” he said, finally. “How can we get you off our world?”
The alien seemed almost amused by the question. “You can’t,” he said. “Earth belongs to the State.”
“We have been bouncing questions off him for some hours,” the intelligence officer reported. She was a slight woman, barely strong enough to get through the army’s basic training before being streamlined into intelligence. “I’m afraid that most of what he told you, General, seems to fit in with what else we know about them. They came, they saw and they conquered Earth.”
She tapped her laptop and the display changed. “We now know more about how they’re organised,” she continued. “At the time, there’s a Command Triad; three officers, one from the Land Forces, one from the Space Forces and one from their intelligence service. Below them, there are Land Force Commanders who serve as the principle officers on the ground — we have one assigned to Britain, there are several assigned to the United States and at least three assigned to Europe. Below them” — she tapped the laptop again — “there are a number of units assigned to the various Land Force Commanders. Apparently, we’ve been bleeding them pretty hard and they’ve had to shift units around fairly regularly on fireman drills.”