‘What do you think, Mr. President?’ Phillips asks, clearly unable to bear the silence.
‘I think humans are living for no reason and so they can die for no reason just as easily.’
Phillips lets out a long, bellowing laugh and slaps Larry on the back. ‘Oh, come on, Mr. President. Think about all that we achieved in the last thousand years: it’s clearly incredible, but the saddest fact of all is that it hasn’t been enough. We just took too long to find the clues, spent too long fighting with each other and not enough time preparing to find their hiding place or getting enough of our people off this planet and onto another one.’
Larry nods, sort of agreeing with him, especially in the absence of any better theory. ‘If we had just been given another ten years then the Mars missions would have at least got a few people off, perhaps given us a small chance.’
Phillips leans forward, close to his ear. ‘You’re the president now, so I’ll let you into a little secret. There were two spacecraft launches that the general public was never aware of. The first one only had robots onboard and we managed to get another one off the ground last week with human astronauts as well. The whole public recruitment drive for the Mars 2025 mission was just to keep the press off our backs, so that we could pretend to launch test craft and the like.’
‘You mean people made it off our planet?’ he says and pulls away. ‘But how many?’
‘Well, only five humans plus the two robots. The chances of them surviving the journey are pretty slim but at least it’s another possible option for the human race.’
‘And if they don’t survive?’
‘We have left clues everywhere, hoping that our distant descendants will find them and realise sooner than we did that the inhabitants of this planet have a bigger purpose than simply existing. We want them to know that we don’t have all the time in the world, and the lurkers are the most brutal of timekeepers, waiting to strike whenever we grow. Hopefully the next batch of humans can save our race from destruction again, in another few millennia.’
‘I’m assuming our distant ancestors left clues, otherwise how would we know all this?’
Right on cue, Lopez, who has a habit of creeping up on people, appears next to them. ‘Look at how much the human race has moved forward in the past hundred years. Before 1900 we bumbled through a few new advances, invented the wheel and agriculture, discovered electricity and learnt to use it for ourselves, but imagine what we have achieved in the last fifty, twenty and even the last ten years. Do you really think that it’s possible for so many technologies to just be invented in such a short space of time?’
Phillips is nodding away now, smiling at everything Lopez says. ‘We found out properly about the creatures a hundred years ago and ever since then we have done all we can to prepare. Think about the space missions, nuclear fusion, miniaturisation, the internet and many more – all these came from our ancestors. The day we found out about them was the same day we found all the knowledge that has shaped the last century, and the last two decades have seen the most significant advances. Why do you think we have been such a hurry to get to the moon, or create weapons of mass destruction without this knowledge?’
‘The lurkers seem to hibernate until something awakens them. We are lucky they didn’t attack dead on the turn of the millennium, because we would never have been prepared.’
Larry sits back down in his chair. ‘We aren’t really prepared now, are we? Perhaps if we had told the population of the entire world and got everyone working together on this purpose we could have done much more.’
She stands next to him and then gently rubs behind his ear. ‘You are a nice man, too nice for this task that has fallen upon you. You fail to understand that the human race can never work together and will always rely on the few to do the work of the many. And while humanity has kept itself busy putting dogs on leads and plants in pots, there have been a few who have looked ahead, who have prepared us for the next millennium and the wars that haven’t even been written yet.’
Larry looks up to her, wanting to argue, but not knowing where to start.
‘Humans are wired to be individuals, thinking their own life is the centre of their world and therefore that the universe revolves around them. Before the turn of this millennium we consciously leaked the many predictions of our doom to the many inhabitants of the so-called developed world, believing that this would be the dawn of the attack. It never came and that’s a good thing, but look at how few even took heed of the warning. Telling people of the specifics would have made no difference but it might have forced an attack earlier, and we needed time to prepare.’
‘And what did the extra 15 years give us?’
‘It gave us the time we needed to prepare for what we believe to be the tenth destruction of the human race. We have left our clues, passing down the knowledge from our ancestors, having made our own additions.’ She looks down at his chair, her gaze finding the red button that sits next to him. ‘They didn’t have this on the dawn of the last attack. It was only an idea, formed shortly before the fall of what we call the Roman Empire. It’s something we have taken and shaped into a devastating weapon, sacrificing many of our own kind to ensure that it is as deadly as it can be.’
General Phillips is still with them, seeming mesmerised by all that Lopez has said, and when she mentions the nuclear weapons he nods and looks down at the button like it is the juiciest snack imaginable, like an oasis in the desert of despair. ‘Our time has come to destroy more of them than we ever did before. When they go back into hibernation our numbers will start increasing again, so that in another thousand years we will be ready for a fight that they cannot win. Perhaps they will not even turn up for it and maybe we will have left for the stars by then.’
Larry shakes his head, doubtful that this could ever be possible. ‘What if they don’t go back and hibernate? What if we anger them so much that they hunt us down to the last human and wipe us off the planet for good?’
Both of them shake their heads in unison; after the months and years of preparation they refuse to believe this could even be possible. ‘You don’t understand. You haven’t seen all the evidence.’
‘Then show me,’ Larry says. ‘Help me to understand that pressing this button is the correct thing to do, because right now it sounds like I will be killing more humans than lurkers.’
Lopez turns to Phillips. ‘I knew he wouldn’t have the backbone to do this. Why appoint another President when we have everyone we need down here?’
‘You know why,’ the General says.
She shakes her head, looking at Larry. ‘Judgement is upon us and you must do what is right for the future, not what is right for you or for the present. Do not look to the past and do not think of love, friends or any other selfish notions. We have no time for them down here.’
He wonders how anyone could not think of love at a time like this. As Lopez starts shouting commands and General Phillips moves towards the bunker doors Larry shouts out to anyone who will listen. ‘I need to call David.’
Larry sits in his big chair, looking down at that red button. It haunts him more than the evil outside that is threatening to get into this place and tear the remains of the American government to pieces. People rush around him, shouting things to each other about which countries are now in range, and which allies are synced and able to fire in unison, all this planning leading to the ultimate firework display that will signal the final performance for planet earth. Lopez is standing in front of several screens, emotionlessly shouting orders.