A Learning Experience

Chapter Forty

New York, USA

“Dear God,” Steve said. “What a fucking mess.”

New York was gone. The alien warhead might have left little or no radioactivity behind, but it had utterly flattened Manhattan. Piles of rubble that had once been mighty skyscrapers lay everywhere, while — in the distance — he could see damaged towers that had been struck by the dissipating blast. Millions of people had died in the first few seconds, caught in the open by the fireball, while others had died as the shockwave toppled buildings and crushed them below the rubble.

The President nodded in agreement. “But it could easily have been worse,” he said. “Your people served well.”

Steve shrugged. He would always wonder, he knew, if he’d made the right decision. If they’d intercepted the missiles instead… but there would never be any way to know the truth. All that mattered was that Earth was safe again, for the moment. And that, with the destruction or capture of an entire Horde, the remainder wouldn’t be inclined to attack Earth in future.

“And the population has gone mad with rage,” the President added. “You’ll have all the support you could possibly wish.”

“I know,” Steve said. “But will it be enough?”

It was victory, of a sort, but it tasted like ashes on his mouth. The world’s population had been shocked, horrified and outraged by the slaughter. There would be no quibbling about the lunar colony now, or the desperate need to establish human colonies on countless other worlds. Humanity had been given a sharp lesson in the true danger of ignoring the universe.

Now, there would be no objections to placing weapons in space. But, compared to what the Galactics could produce, Earth’s weapons were almost laughable. And yet, used properly, they’d given the Horde a very hard time.

He sighed. The first batch of soldiers were on their way to Ying, accompanied by Kevin, who had orders to purchase as many additional starships as he could. In the meantime, the Horde homeships were being converted for human use; they’d take a large human population out of the Sol System and somewhere well beyond the reach of the Galactics. Given time — and the information they’d obtained from Friend — they’d be able to set up a whole new civilisation. The human race would survive.

But at one hell of a cost.

“Let us hope so,” the President said. He paused. “What do you intend to do with the captured Hordesmen?”

“They’ll live on Mars, for the moment,” Steve said. The sociologists might swear that the captured Hordesmen and women posed no real threat, but Steve wasn’t inclined to take chances. Besides, if they were placed on Earth or Heinlein Colony there was a very strong possibility of revenge attacks. “And, if they grow into something we can respect, we can welcome them into our new union.”

“We shall see,” the President said. “Alien citizens of Earth?”

Steve smiled, humourlessly. “A century or two ago, the idea that the black man or the Native American could be an equal citizen would have sounded dangerously absurd,” he pointed out, dryly. “It wasn’t that long ago that Japanese-Americans like my partner were regarded as potential spies or people who would commit acts of sabotage. Why not aliens joining the United States as citizens?”

He paused. “Or the Solar Union,” he added. “We will accept aliens, if they wish to join.”

“Good luck,” the President said. “After the battle, it may be a long time before humanity is prepared to accept aliens as equals.”

“That might be a bad idea,” Steve said. “There are races out there far more powerful and dangerous than the Hordes.”

It was a bitter thought. The Hordesmen had been dangerously incompetent and prone to acting like single warriors rather than fighting as part of a team, but they’d bombarded Earth and come alarmingly close to outright victory. If Steve hadn’t cheated and manipulated the aliens, the battle would have ended very differently. A smarter alien race, one that had actually developed its own technology or successfully copied technology from another race, would be a very different problem. Steve had no illusions. A battle squadron from any of the major Galactic powers could overwhelm Earth within hours, if that.

“We will need allies,” he added. “And friends. And we must never forget where we came from when we get our hands on more Galactic technology.”

“True,” the President agreed. He held out a hand. “It’s time to bury the dead.”

Steve nodded. The ceremony was private, even though there were hundreds of thousands of people who had wanted to attend. Only the President, a handful of selected guests and Steve himself. New York had been sealed off, after the troops had searched the wreckage for survivors, in the hopes of preventing looting. The complete absence of people lent a surreal atmosphere to the remains of one of humanity’s greatest cities.

He caught sight of Gunter Dawlish and winced, inwardly. The Mainstream Media had promptly blasted Steve and his men for failing to defend New York, triggering off a series of flame wars online as bloggers took sides, some agreeing with the MSM and others pointing out that Steve had had no choice. Steve found it hard to argue; cold logic told him he’d done the right thing, emotion told him he’d fucked up badly. The cynical side of his mind asked, nastily, if he would have been so upset if New York had been spared. No other missiles had fallen in North America.

At least Gunter thought before passing judgement, Steve thought, sardonically. Some of the bloggers forgot to engage their brains before putting mouths in gear.

The sense of being among ghosts suddenly grew stronger. Steve staggered, wondering absurdly if the dead of New York wanted revenge. Or if they wanted to tell him to stop feeling sorry for himself and get back to work. There was no way to tell. It was quite possible, he knew, that he was imagining it. And yet the devastated island seemed full of ghosts.

“I’m sorry,” he found himself whispering. He’d sworn an oath to defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. By any standards, he’d failed. The vast power he’d acuminated only made it worse. “I’m sorry I failed to protect you. But it won’t happen again.”

Kevin lay in his bed on Captain Perry, staring up at the ceiling and listening to Carolyn’s deep breathing as she slept beside him. The sudden change in their relationship had come as a shock; he’d gone to her, intending to share dinner as usual, and she’d practically dragged him into bed. But quite a few new relationships had sprung up in the wake of the battle, he’d heard, either through people wanting to celebrate being alive or merely waking up to the fact that they might well end up dead, soon enough.

He was worried, more worried than he cared to admit, about the future. One attack on Earth had been barely staved off, another might be far more successful. And there were powers that wouldn’t want humans to enter the galactic mainstream. And then there was Steve…

Kevin shook his head, tiredly. He worried about his brother too. Part of him had just… folded in the wake of New York’s destruction, even though it was a victorious battle and humanity had survived. No man should acquire so much power so quickly without restraints, Kevin considered, even if Steve had had good advisors in Mongo and Kevin himself. And Mariko, Kevin added. In the wake of the battle, Steve had finally proposed. Kevin just hoped they’d get back to Earth in time for the wedding.

He sighed, then closed his eyes. Steve could leave, if he wanted, and become an interstellar trader. It would solve a great many problems if he did. And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t left a legacy behind. Given five years of uninterrupted development, the Solar Union would become more than just a name. There would be the start of a human-built space fleet, a growing network of defences around Earth, and both mercenaries and traders out in space, learning more about the universe.

And there would always be Stuarts, ready to defend their homeworld; Steve and Mongo had already had children, while there was plenty of time for Kevin to have children of his own. If he had them with Carolyn, he considered, they would definitely be smart. And the family had a long history of defending their rights and their homes. Earth would be in good hands.

The future would take care of itself. It always did.