Only Human

by Sylvain Neuvel

  —I thought…It doesn’t feel like we’re pursuing knowledge anymore. It’s all about beating the other guy.

  —Are you hoping to work here instead, because we—

  —For the military? No, I don’t want your job either, Alyssa. I think this, all of this, is wrong.

  —It is far from perfect, I’ll give you that. The army has a very nnn…narrow perspective on things. But it’s what we have. Some research is better than no research.

  —That’s not good enough. At least it shouldn’t be.

  —I would be lying if I said I respect your decision.

  —That’s OK, Alyssa. I didn’t expect you to.

  —Then may I ask why you’re here if it’s not for a job?

  —I…You and I haven’t always seen eye to eye.

  —You th…think I’m a psychopath.

  —Alyssa, I—

  —Tell the truth, Dr. Franklin.

  —All right. This isn’t exactly how I imagined this conversation going, but here it is. I think you lack empathy, completely. You’re egocentric, unable to question your motives, to feel, or at least show remorse. I think you’re cold, calculating, that you conceive of right and wrong in almost mathematical terms. I think you’re dangerous.

  —Thank you for being honest, Dr. Franklin. Now if I may do the same. I think you’re naïve beyond belief. I think your empathy—and you have a lot of it—is a weakness. It blinds you to the g…greater picture. You let emotions get in the way of rational judgment, and that is the worst thing a scientist can do. You might be a better human being than I am by anyone’s standard, but it is people like you who will bring our world to its end. I think you’re dangerous.

  —I wasn’t finished. I don’t think you’re a psychopath. A sociopath, maybe, but you do have a conscience. However uncaring it may be, I think you are guided by a sense of right and wrong. You are egocentric, but I know you wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice yourself if you thought it served your definition of a greater good. You’re not a psychopath. You’re…a utilitarian, in your own heartless way.

  —That almost felt like a c…compliment.

  —It wasn’t. I don’t want to be your friend, Alyssa. I want you to help me get Mr. Burns out of here.

  —What? Why would I do that?

  —Because he wants to get out of here. Also, because it’s the right thing to do, even for you.

  —Is it? You called me cold and calculating, so let’s ca…calculate. Your friend is an inv…invaluable asset. He knows more about alien t…technology than any of us. We wouldn’t have a functional robot without him.

  —That’s all true.

  —He is only helping us because he has no choice.

  —Are you sure about that?

  —They—I mean US Intelligence—haven’t exactly been ge…ge…gentle with him. They had to exert some pppressure to make him talk.

  —How much pressure? I’m willing to bet it didn’t take much.

  —Some people can handle more pain than others.

  —Alyssa, trust me when I say that if he helped you make that robot functional, it’s because he wanted you to have a functional robot. With Themis gone, he probably thought that was a good idea. Has he done anything for you since then?

  —No.

  —And I assume they’ve kept “exerting pressure”?

  —Yes.

  —Can I ask you a personal question? Do you like what’s happening in the world? Do you like things here in the United States?

  —You want me to say I’m against people being imprisoned for no reason, is that it? I am. Nothing good can come of it. It’s stupid, baseless. It is not my fault if people are stupid. The real thr…threat is not down here, it’s up there.

  —You might want to rethink that, Alyssa. Now that the Russians have their own robot, they’re going to make some bold moves of their own. You know how this could end.

  —Yes. But there is nothing I can do to change that. All I can do is continue my work here.

  —There’s nothing you can do to prevent anything. I was there, Alyssa. If the Ekt come here wanting to hurt us, they will. You can’t help. I can’t either. I wouldn’t have been able to help the last time without Mr. Burns. I can’t promise you they’ll never be a threat, but the Ekt are not coming here anytime soon. They’re not the problem. Thermonuclear war, on the other hand…We need to fix things down here, Alyssa. This world, the way things are now. Is it even worth protecting?

  —Do you have any reason to believe this Mr. Burns can do that? Can he stop a war?

  —I have no idea, Alyssa. None. I know I can’t. I don’t think you can either. He knows a lot of people. He has friends. Somehow, he’s been able to communicate with them, but I’m sure he can do more out there than he can do in here. I just don’t see any upside to keeping him. I don’t think you do either.

  —And if he can’t do anything?

  —Then we’re no worse off than we are now. There’s nothing to lose. Just trust him. Trust me. Can you do that, Alyssa? Trust someone?

  —…

  —Will you help me?

  —Hello, get me Security—

  —What are you doing?

  —This is Dr. Alyssa Papantoniou. I need Dr. Franklin escorted out. I want her access to this ff…facility revoked, immediately.

  —Alyssa!

  —Goodbye, Dr. Franklin.

  FILE NO. EE380—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT

  Interview between Dr. Rose Franklin and Vincent Couture

  Location: Assigned residence, Etyakt region

  —Vincent, what are you doing here?

  —I’m looking for Eva. She didn’t come home last night.

  —I haven’t seen her. I’m sorry.

  —It’s not your fault if you haven’t seen her, Rose. Sorry I woke you up. Go back to bed.

  —I’m sure she’s fine.

  —She was pretty upset when she left. I’m just…

  —What happened?

  —Same thing that always happens. She…There’s a big protest scheduled for today. She wanted to go. I said no.

  —I heard about it. It’s supposed to be peaceful. Esok is going.

  —It’s always peaceful until it’s not. There are riots every day now. And I know about Esok, she’s one of the organizers. She asked me to come.

  —And you said you were busy, I’m sure, but Eva’s not like that. Her friends will be there. She just wants to fit in.

  —That’s just it. I don’t want us to fit in. I don’t. I know it sounds stupid after seven years, but I still hope the Council lets us leave. I’m not holding my breath, but we have to face the fact that it might be the only way we’ll ever see Earth again. Every time we get closer to someone, every time we get involved, in anything, we make it that much easier for the Council to say we belong here. I don’t want anyone to think we fit right in. And I sure as hell don’t want Eva to feel like she belongs any more than she already does. She’s already spent too much of her life here. She doesn’t remember half the things she did back on Earth, what a flock of birds looks like, what it smells like just before it rains. This is normal for her now, blue people, tapioca. She actually likes that shit. We made a deal to get her home, Rose, and I’ll do whatever it takes, but she won’t want to come. You know that, right? We’ll have to drag her out of here.

  —I know, and I understand where you’re coming from, but you can’t ask Eva to live like that. She can’t keep everyone at a distance, not have any friends. That’s not a life. It’s our job to get her home. Hers is to be a young woman right now, and this is the only place she has to do it.

  —I have a feeling something bad is going to happen, Rose. I thought the bombs, the riots, I thought it would scare ordinary folks away, but these protests are only getting bigger.

  —In a way, it’s
beautiful to watch. People taking their future into their own hands, demanding change.

  —Listen to you! Not that long ago, you were all about the great Ekt society.

  —I still think what they’ve built here is amazing in a lot of ways, but you and Eva were right. These people live here, they should have the same rights as everyone else.

  —Yeah…It’s not gonna end well. What they’re asking for, it goes against the very principles this world is built on. You take that away, and it could all fall apart…I’m not sure they’re going to let that happen.

  —What do you think they’ll do? The Ekt aren’t perfect, but they won’t exterminate half the population. It won’t get that far, you know that.

  —It won’t. But at some point, they’ll consider it. Things will get bad enough they’ll actually consider genocide as an option. They’ll reject the idea right away because they’re not insane, but it’ll change everything. Every other bad option will look a whole lot better after that. I don’t like it, Rose. People blame us for what’s happening, or they blame the Council for what they did to us. Either way, we’re right in the middle of it. We need a way out before things get worse.

  —We have to talk to the empress.

  —We tried that. We can’t just walk up to her palace and knock on the door.

  —We need to try again. Maybe someone else on her staff. She must have a secretary, something.

  —Even if someone agreed to meet us, the empress can’t do anything without the Council’s say so. She won’t break the law just to help the three of us go home.

  —Maybe she won’t.

  —Then what’s the point?

  —Well, the point is we can’t go home without her. We need a ship or a robot to get home. A robot seems easier. We can get Ekim to pilot if we know the coordinates.

  —You think he’ll do it?

  —Whatever it takes, Vincent, remember? But the robots, and I assume the ships, won’t go anywhere. They’re locked. We need to get Themis moving again, and the empress is the only one that can do that. I don’t think we can get it by force, so we need her help.

  —Why would she help us?

  —Well, for starters, I think a lot of people would be really happy to see us gone. That might be enough.

  —And if it’s not?

  —I’m not sure. I think this…uprising, whatever you want to call it, it’s an opportunity for her. She has to be aware of it.

  —I’m not following you, Rose. An opportunity for what? What can the empress do?

  —That’s exactly my point. She has no power to do anything. There’s no global government here anymore.

  —There’s the Council.

  —No. The Council doesn’t have the authority to plant a tree. They can only do something if it affects other worlds, and they exist precisely to make sure that doesn’t happen. The Council is designed not to do anything. They tried doing something on Earth, see where that got them. It’s different with the empress.

  —Different how? You just said she has no power.

  —That’s right. She’s an empress, and she has no power. She has no purpose.

  —I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Rose, but the Ekt don’t strike me as the power-hungry type. They gave up an entire empire just to feel a bit safer.

  —They did. Her empire. Think about it, Vincent. Her ancestors ruled this world. They ruled over thousands of planets. Thousands! A good chunk of the known universe is hers by birthright.

  —That was generations ago. I’m not sure that’s really on her mind.

  —She lives in the past, Vincent. She lives in the palace. That entire building is a symbol of the mighty Ekt empire. Every single thing in there must have a story attached to it. Every tapestry—if they have such a thing—every piece of furniture. She can’t go to the bathroom without being reminded that her ancestors had all the power and she has none of it. The Ekt are more advanced in many ways, but, fundamentally, they’re not that different from us. Believe me, it’s on her mind.

  —OK. Say it is. What do you want to do, Rose? Stage a coup d’état?

  —You mean you and I? Well, no. We can barely make breakfast, we can’t stage a coup. The empress won’t either, it wouldn’t work. But I don’t think she has to, not if things keep going the way they are. The regions aren’t equipped to deal with this, mass protests, terrorist acts on a daily basis. Back home, we’d have called in the army, the National Guard, a long time ago. If this keeps escalating, they’ll want to give the empress more power. They’ll want the Imperial Guard on the streets. They’ll beg her for it.

  —I don’t see how that helps us. Even if everything you’re saying is true, she doesn’t need us.

  —Maybe she doesn’t. Maybe she does. I won’t pretend to understand everything there is to know about these people, but the empress does. We have no status here, no power whatsoever. Our one card is that we somehow inspire these people to rebel. That might be useful somehow. I don’t know.

  —…

  —Vincent, it doesn’t matter if any of this is true. We need the empress. She controls our fate. We’ll die here if she doesn’t help us.

  —I’ll talk to Enatast again. Maybe he can set it up. But first, I have to find Eva.

  —You won’t find her now, not if she doesn’t want to be found.

  —So, what? I just wait for her to come home?

  —Well, you know where she’ll be this afternoon.

  —Right, the protest. Damn, she’s stubborn.

  —The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

  —I’ll tell Esok I changed my mind. Eva and I are going to have a long talk when I get my hands on her. Is it considered bad parenting to ground your child for life?

  —Good luck with that.

  FILE NO. EE426—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT

  Interview between Vincent Couture and Ipet Estoteks, representative of the empress

  Location: Imperial Palace, Osk region

  Translated by Vincent Couture

  Note: I make her sound very formal in her translation even though she didn’t speak any differently than Enatast does. But, man, did she sound entitled! The tone. The posture. The demeanor. It felt as if she’d been waiting her whole life to look down on someone. I took a shower when I came back home.

  * * *

  —

  —Greetings. I’m Vincent.

  —Greetings, Vincent.

  —How should I address you?

  —You may not address me. I represent the empress Iksidits, daughter of Yotekot, sovereign of the Ekt. My words are hers.

  —Thank you—thank the empress?—for granting this meeting.

  —Speak now, Vincent Couture.

  —OK. I…I am here to request assistance in ge—

  —You wish to go back to Terra.

  —Yes. I do.

  —The empress cannot assist you. Only the Council can.

  —So I’ve been told.

  —Then why are you here?

  —What? I just told you why I’m here. I’m here to—

  —Why are you asking the empress for help if you have been told that she cannot help? It seems…insane.

  —I…I’m asking the empress for help because the Council is not helping.

  —You should know that the Council will never help you. There are many on Esat Ekt who feel the Council created this problem by visiting your world and needlessly killing so many of your people. There are many on Esat Ekt who feel the Council should be abolished. I can tell you that its members will not compound their mistake by admitting they have committed genocide on an alien species.

  —This is insane! This. Your people, the Council, they send giants to our world and kill millions of us, then they punish us when it has consequences here. We didn’t do anything. Y
ou did this.

  —Neither I nor the empress approved of the decision, but you are correct.

  —What can the empress do to help us?

  —The empress, as always, only wishes to help her people. But the law prevents her from doing what she so strongly desires.

  —What does that mean?

  —The empress does not wish for you to suffer for something you had no part in only to serve the interests of the Council.

  —Then send us home.

  —Again, our laws, as they stand, prevent the empress from following her heart.

  —But…

  —But what?

  —Well, I’m hoping you didn’t ask me to come all this way just to tell me that we’re going to die here and that there’s nothing you can do about it.

  —That is precisely why the empress asked you to come here.

  —…No.

  —I do not understand.

  —No. You don’t meet someone only to tell them that things are utterly hopeless.

  —Why not?

  —I don’t know, you just don’t! It’s…rude.

  —It was not our intent to offend you. Perhaps you are still unaccustomed to our ways.

  —Sure. I may be a little off when it comes to Ekt customs, but there has to be more. There’s something you’re not telling me because…

  —There is nothing more I can say as a representative of the empress.

  —Ha! There we go. How about not as a representative of the empress?

  —Speaking for myself, I would say that your only hope to leave Esat Ekt is to take command of a vehicle yourself.

  —We’re well aware of that part.

  —A giant like the one that brought you here would be your best choice, perhaps the very one that brought you here. But, as you know, the giants are controlled by the empress. Even if you managed to find a pilot capable of taking you home and found your way aboard, the giant would not respond to your commands. One would have to allow you to leave before you could do so.

  —Again, not helpful. How would we go about making sure someone does allow it?