Alien Game (The Thousand Worlds)

by Rod Walker

  “Sorry, sir,” I said. “I spoke out of turn.”

  “No, go on,” said General Culver. He was calm, but there was a dangerous glint in his eye as he looked at Gregor. “You were saying something about a computer, Corporal?”

  “That’s what the Dark is, sir,” I said. “If Gregor is right. It’s like they’re part of a botnet. The hacker was shut down long ago, but his bot is still running, and it won’t stop until it’s shut down.”

  “A good metaphor,” said Gregor. “Some of the younger scientists tended to think of it in those terms as well.”

  The General didn’t say anything for a while, his fingers drumming against the table.

  “You disagree?” said Gregor.

  “You knew about this,” said the General, “before Invasion Day, didn’t you? You didn’t find it out in the two years since. That kind of research takes advanced equipment and trained scientist, and there have been shortages of both since the invasion started.”

  “Of course,” said Gregor.

  “And you had founded what became the Committee before Invasion Day,” said the General. “All that infrastructure didn’t spring into place overnight.”

  A cold, humorless smile spread across Gregor’s face. “Once again, yes.”

  Something happened then that I had never seen before.

  General Culver got angry.

  He didn’t shout, he didn’t scream or rave or hit the table, but his nostrils flared and a deep red flush spread from his neck and across his face, almost like a piece of metal starting to glow in the fire. His officers stared at him in astonishment. Gregor only smiled.

  “I always suspected,” said the General. “I always suspected they would do something like this. The experiment got out of hand, is that what you said?” He leveled a finger at Gregor. “You opened the first gate for the Dark, didn’t you? You and your group.”

  “Yes,” said Gregor.

  Utter shocked silence hung over the conference room. I stared at Gregor, incredulous, and a tidal wave of rage then erupted through me. I thought of my father, of Maggie sobbing at his grave, of the burning cities and the thousands of corpses I had seen since Invasion Day, of Nguyen Tran Tong’s sisters crying when we told them the news, of Bull lying dead in the streets of Spokane. I thought of Rigger and his story about the man from prison.

  I looked over at Rigger and saw that his face had gone blank, that he was starting to ease his pistol from his belt.

  “Corporal Rigger,” said the General, “you will put your weapon away. Now!” He hadn’t even looked to the side.

  Rigger blinked and slipped his pistol back into its holster.

  “However,” said the General, still staring at Gregor, “you, Mr. Gregor, are going to explain to me why I should not order Corporal Rigger to shoot you between the eyes right here and now.”

  Gregor’s mirthless smile had never wavered. I don’t think I had ever hated anyone as much as I hated Mikhail Gregor in that terrible moment. “I started this war, yes, that is true. That being said, I’m the only one who knows how to end it.”

  “Explain,” said the General.

  “You know why I had to do it,” said Gregor. “Without a global government to keep its destructive tendencies in check, humanity is doomed. Some like-minded individuals of power and influence have been working with me towards that end. Over the decades we’ve tried many tactics to move mankind closer to a unified global government—currency manipulation, engineered terrorism and wars, shadow governments, propagandizing via social media, deep states, coups, and so on. However, I am embarrassed to admit that none of them really worked and several of them proved counterproductive.”

  He leaned forward, his green eyes glittering in that withered face.

  “The only thing,” said Gregor, “the only thing that has ever convinced mankind to unite has been a common foe. And what better common foe than the Dark? We had already drawn them here by accident. Apparently, some of the radiation from a fission explosion resembles the profile of one of their long-dead enemies. They opened a scout gate or two to investigate, but they otherwise ignored us, since we didn’t fit their targeting profiles. That’s why the Dark never mounted a full-scale incursion. But my scientists learned how it would be possible to draw a major gate here, and my associates and I settled upon a plan. We would draw a gate here, and permit the Dark to destroy a few cities. It would cost humanity a few hundred million dead or so, a trivial quantity when viewed from the grand historical perspective. Mankind would unite against the alien threat, and a global government would naturally be established to address the danger. Peace on Earth, good will to men, world without end, amen.”

  “Except the experiment got out of hand,” I said, throwing his earlier words back at him.

  “Yes,” said Gregor, drawing the word out. “It rather did. We didn’t anticipate the scale of the Dark’s response. I found myself unexpectedly stranded in Los Angeles… and here we are.”

  “I don’t care about your rationalizations,” said the General. “I know why you did it. I want to know why you think you can end the war.”

  Gregor smiled. “With that.”

  He pointed at the major transductor crystal.

  “And just how are you going to use that?” said the General.

  “Don’t you understand? A major transductor crystal is a living, thinking creation,” said Gregor. “It is alive and sapient. It’s not life or intelligence as we understand it, but it is alive and intelligent nonetheless. The transductor crystals are alive, and what’s more, they’re networked together. One can communicate instantly with another, and I know how to talk to the crystals. I know how to tell them to shut down the gates. Permanently.”

  “If you know how to do this,” said the General, “why haven’t you done it already?”

  “Because I needed a major transductor crystal,” said Gregor, “and the ineptitude of my fellow Committee members prevented us from ever capturing one. The major crystals are…how to put this? They possess greater authority than the minor ones. To use Corporal Kane’s computer metaphor, the major crystals have greater administrative control and access permissions over the gates. A command sent from a lesser crystal can close a single gate. A command sent from a major crystal can close all the gates at once.”

  “You had your own little private army as well,” said Randolph. “Why didn’t you get your own major crystal?”

  Gregor sighed. “Competent help is difficult to find, particularly in the midst of an apocalypse. The Committee managed to keep together the motley gang of criminals, brigands, and fools we had assembled long enough to take Las Vegas and close the gate there, but in the process, one of the idiots destroyed the crystal. Naturally, once Las Vegas fell, the infighting and jockeying for position began, and the Committee began to fracture. I realized that if I was to obtain a major crystal and close the gates, I would require more competent help. Hence, my visit here.”

  “All right,” said the General. “You wanted access to a major crystal. There’s one right over there. Why don’t you go tell it to shut off the gates and end the war?”

  “It would be pleasant if life were that simple, would it not?” said Gregor. “Unfortunately, as you have already guessed, the process will be a little more complex.”

  “Why?” said the General.

  “Because humans are not compatible with the biological technology of the Dark,” said Gregor. “This is not unknown. The Listeners were supposed to have become converted drones under the control of the central core, after all. Only by altering the invading bio-technology, by ‘hacking’ it if you will, were the Listeners created. Controlling a crystal works in much the same way. Humans are not properly compatible with the interface, but some degree of control can be exerted through them nevertheless.”

  “And how does that degree of control need to work?” said the General.

  “First,” said Gregor, “I need to be in physical contact with the major crystal. Second, I need to b
e within ten yards of a lesser crystal. Third, the lesser crystal needs to be actively empowering an open gate.”

  Silence greeted that list of requirements.

  “That is indeed a little more complex,” said the General.

  “We have dozens of lesser crystals here,” said Randolph. “Why can’t you use one of those?”

  “The lesser crystal has to be active,” said Gregor.

  “Are you seriously suggesting that we open a gate within Castle Base?” said Randolph.

  “I would,” said Gregor, “but sadly that it is not a viable possibility. I don’t know how to reactivate a lesser crystal once it has been shut down. I doubt it is even possible for a human to do so. From what my scientists discovered, only an Overseer or a High Overseer would be able to do so. As I have said, even we modified humans are simply not sufficiently compatible.”

  “It might be doable to find an active crystal, sir,” said one of the other officers I didn’t recognize. “There are a number of scout gates in the Cascades. If we took the major crystal to one of them and mounted an incursion, it should be achievable.”

  “Other than the fact, of course, that Mr. Gregor is not trustworthy,” said the General.

  “Of course you do not consider me trustworthy,” said Gregor. “But, then, you will surely agree that I did just admit to participating in what, from your perspective, must appear to be mass genocide. After that, what further use for deception could I possibly have?”

  The General frowned again, tapping his fingers against the table. “And you’re the only one who can do it, is that it?”

  “I am afraid so,” said Gregor. “As you know, I took an experimental version of the Listener treatment before we decided upon the final protocol. I’m afraid it didn’t work for me quite the way it did for the others. Your other Listeners have no doubt reported that they can sense me like an Darksider. This means I have a better ability to connect with the intelligence within the major crystal, and the ability to give it limited commands.”

  “This technique,” said the General. “Why don’t you teach it to one of my Listeners? You’re an old man, Mr. Gregor. Surely you do not want to expose yourself to the rigors of the field.”

  “Indeed I am an old man,” said Gregor, “but I fear it must be me. One, I have a greater connection to the Dark’s control core than any other Listener. Two, it took me a great deal of time to learn to communicate with the transductor crystals on any level at all. I might not live long enough to teach the technique.” His thin smile returned. “And every moment we delay means that more innocent people fall victim to the Dark. Surely you wish to save as many innocent people as possible, General Culver.”

  I heard the note of mockery in his voice. So did the others, who shifted angrily in their seats. I don’t think there was a man there who would have been unwilling to murder the evil old man.

  If he was even still a man. Frankly, I wasn’t sure he ever was.

  The General remain unruffled. “I also have specialists who might be able to force the knowledge of the technique from you.”

  “True, true,” said Gregor. “Granted, I doubt they are the equal of the specialists I once commanded during my time with the KGB. But I have no doubt of their skill, and I have little enjoyment of pain. But as we have established, I am an old man, and my health is not robust. How long do you think I could bear up under such rigors? My heart might give out in the first five minutes. And then during the long decades of war as you struggle to close the gates one by one, perhaps you will curse yourself for missing the one opportunity you shall have for a quick end to this war.”

  “I am certain,” said the General, “that you are lying to me.”

  “Obviously I am keeping secrets from you, just as I have always kept secrets from you and anyone else who knows about the existence of the Dark. But every single word I have told to you during this interview has been the truth. I can use the major crystal. I can shut every gate simultaneously. I can end this war in an hour, if you just get me and the major crystal to a functioning gate. Can you really afford to throw away that opportunity, General?”

  For a moment, no one said anything.

  “Vance,” said the General at last. “Kane. Walter. Rigger. Wait outside. We’ll call you back in a minute.”

  I wanted to protest, but I had been in the Division too long to mouth off to the General. I followed the others as we stood up. One of the guards opened the door, and we filed back into the hallway.

  We wound up waiting outside the reinforced steel door that led to the room holding the major transductor crystal. I could feel the thing inside my head, its presence sharp and hard. Yet it was also a familiar presence, in the way that the presence of the minor crystals was not. In fact, I was sure that the crystal recognized me. Gregor had said he could talk to the crystal, though it had taken him years to learn how to do it. Could I do the same thing? If I could communicate with the crystal, maybe I could tell it to shut down the gates, and we wouldn’t need to rely on a dangerous man like Gregor at all.

  I focused on the crystal, trying to do…well, I don’t know what? Talk to it inside my head? To my surprise, the sense of the crystal changed a little. It knew I was there. Could I tell it what to do? I focused a little harder, trying to tell it to shut down the gates.

  For a moment, just a moment, I thought I saw Maggie standing across the hall from me.

  Then the image vanished, and I realized the others were talking. I made myself pay attention.

  “This is a terrible idea,” said Jack. “We should smoke the bastard. We don’t need him.”

  Vance shrugged. “The General knows what he’s doing.” He had produced a cigarette from somewhere. I didn’t think we were allowed to smoke down here, but the guards didn’t seem inclined to stop him.

  “Yeah, but that lunatic just admitted he started this war,” said Jack. He was pacing back and forth. He only did that when he got really angry. It was just as well that General Culver had ordered Rigger not to shoot Gregor, because Jack might have done it first otherwise. “Everything that has happened has been his fault, and all because he and his rich friends had some crackpot idea about how they should rule the world. The General should have let Rigger shoot him.” Rigger nodded his vehement agreement. “Or better, he should have put Gregor on trial. Let everyone know that this was his fault, and then shoot him.”

  “The General was probably recording that conversation,” said Vance.

  I blinked. That hadn’t occurred to me.

  “See, I’ve been with the Division a long time,” said Vance. He snorted. “Probably before some of you children were born. Anyway, the General’s just as clever as Gregor. The Division was almost shut down a couple of times in the last ten years before Invasion Day. Usually Congress had a bee in its bonnet about how the General wouldn’t accept women for frontline combat troops, though I suppose in hindsight Gregor and his friends might have been bribing Congress to shut down the Division.” He shook his head and tapped some ash onto the floor. “The General always outwitted them.”

  “Do you think Gregor is telling the truth, sir?” I said.

  Vance shrugged. “That’s above my pay grade. You’re the Listeners. You’re the ones who can hear the Dark inside your heads. What do you think?”

  “I think I want a drink,” said Rigger, “right after I shoot that old man.”

  “I don’t know,” said Jack. “Roland, what do you think?”

  “The major crystal was trying to talk to me,” I said, thinking back to the strange dream. “When I was recovering after Spokane, I mean. It appeared as my sister, and it kept telling me that the war was over. I thought it was just a fever dream, but if Gregor’s right, if the races that created the Dark wiped each other out…then the crystal was telling the truth. It knows the war that created it is over. Maybe it wants to be shut down.”

  “Yeah, but Gregor isn’t doing this out of the goodness of his heart,” said Jack. “What does he want?”
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br />   Vance grunted. “Maybe he’s had a crisis of conscience. Maybe he’s decided to repent, and wants to make up for some of his crimes before he dies.”

  We all looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.

  “Yeah,” said Rigger, “that ain’t it.”

  “Didn’t think so,” said Vance. He dropped the cigarette and ground it out. “But I suspect we’re about to find out.”

  I turned and saw the conference room doors shut, and General Culver stepped towards us. Reflex took over, and I snapped off a salute, the others following suit.

  “At ease,” said the General. “Men, I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you a dangerous mission.”

  Vance nodded. “We’re going to try Gregor’s plan.”

  “He’s lying, sir,” said Rigger. I had never seen him look so agitated. “I know a liar when I smell one, and he stinks of it, sir. He’s playing us.”

  “I agree,” said the General. “He is a liar, and he is one of the architects of the greatest mass slaughter in human history. But what he told us in there was the truth. He confirmed and indeed proved several of the theories our scientists have held for some time. He was telling the truth, and he’s planning to betray us somehow to his own advantage. So we’re going to play his game.”

  “Why, sir?” I said.

  “Because he is right about one thing,” said the General. “This is our best chance to end the war with a single stroke. Captain Vance, tomorrow at 0500 you and your company will leave Castle Base and head for one of the known scout gates in the western Cascades. Sergeant Walter, Corporal Rigger, and Corporal Kane, you will accompany Captain Vance’s company. Your mission will be to escort Mikhail Gregor and the major transductor crystal to the lesser crystal on the other side of the scout gate, and ensure that he correctly performs the procedure to shut down the gates.”

  Vance sighed. “You don’t give us the easy ones, sir.”

  “I don’t,” said the General. “We have other men who can handle the easy ones. When a mission absolutely has to succeed, Ray, I give it to you and your boys.”