The Day of the Nefilim (21 page)

“Except…” prompted the Secretary-General.

“Yes, yes. Except the strangers’ ship. It got away. Chasing it cost us dearly. After the two Nefilim were killed, we had no hope at all of finding it. They were the only ones who could see it.”

“Goddamn freaks. From now on, always have a couple of them with you when you go out. And in separate vehicles, so they don’t both get iced at the same time.”

“Yes, Secretary-General.”
I might have thought of that myself anyway, asshole
.

“Secretary-General,” Vice-Secretary Theo interrupted. “We’ve all of us been mighty busy keeping law and order and showin’ the freaks who’s boss, and we’re just a touch behind the play. What’s happening with those Nefilims?”

“Well,” chuckled the Secretary-General, the thought improving his mood, “whatever their plans were, we gave them a few surprises. They were expecting us to be backward, or at any rate a pushover. We had a few tricks that they weren’t expecting. We seem to have caused something of a rift in their ranks.”

“Well, ain’t that a sha…”

“Quiet, boy, I’m talking. There seems to be a faction among the bonies that want to go the full distance and fight us for control. They want everything to be how they planned, with them on top and we humans as their slaves. But they’re no problem; we’ve got the troublemakers put away. We had to kill a few, but the rest are safely locked up. And of course there have been the more sensible ones, who’ve decided to throw in their lot with us. Some of their leaders have come over to us, and brought their followers with them. A much better option than joining their friends in the deep freeze, they seem to think. They’re a screwed up lot, these Nefilim, if you ask me. They’re just as bad as us, with their factions and their lack of unity. Why, did you know that there’s actually some of them down there with the mutants? They’ve been there all along. Rebel Nefilim, if you please! Jesus! President Veal... what’s the matter, are you not feeling well?”

“Oh… a little dizzy, that’s all…” The European President wasn’t looking at all well. He was sweating, and fumbling with the buttons on his jacket.

“Well now, you shouldn’t work so hard, Veal.” The Secretary-General smiled, then continued. “So, the new order is not exactly what our friends had envisioned. They’ve supplied us with their technology, including their energy grid and their vehicles and weapons, and we, of course, are in control of the situation. When the darkness lifts, the population of the world’s major cities will look up into the sky and see the Nefilim craft that are being put into place right now. They will be told that they belong to visitors from space, who have come out of the kindness of their hearts to share their technology and knowledge with we Earthlings. The official line will be that they’ve come to help us get over the terrible effects and chaos wrought by the darkness and the collapse of the power supply. Of course, the general confusion will demand that we impose strict martial law, especially in the cities and around the bases and grid points. Naturally, we’ll get as much mileage as we can out of our new allies. Law and order will be the responsibility of the two Vice-Secretaries, of course.”

The Gores beamed. It was good to be appreciated.

“I’ll introduce you to your Nefilim counterparts later. There’s a lot to be done. There are potential troublemakers to round up, and the transfer to the new energy system must not be held up by any civil unrest.”

The Secretary-General turned to the General. “Don’t worry, General. I’m not forgetting you. We have need of your services in another area. Even though your recent action underground did a lot of damage to the mutants, they’re still causing trouble. It appears that they’re trying to set up some sort of energy source in competition to our own. Of course, we can’t allow this.”

“Once the immediate problem of this grid-making fantasy of theirs has been dealt with, I’m going to put you in charge of solving the mutant problem once and for all. We’ll get the public on our side by telling them that the mutants are another race of aliens, bent on our destruction. A few public executions should get the message across. Hangings, maybe. Crowds have always liked a good hanging. We’ll use the mobs to track them down. Some blood sport will provide some diversion and be good for public morale. But that’s later, General. Something for you to look forward to. First, we have to deal with this system of theirs. We don’t know how complete it is, but we know that they’re working on it. We captured one of them, not far from the Antarctic. He was carrying one their accursed crystals, but we couldn’t get his destination out of him. He’s dead now, which is unfortunate. I’m sure we could have cracked him eventually.”

“We figure, General, that since we’ve got their crystal, they’ll be sending another in its place. And just in case they decide to send that weird ship of theirs to do the job, I want you to be there to welcome them. You’ll be leaving for the Antarctic immediately. I want that ship. I want to know how it works, and I want those people. I want to know where they’re from, and how they got here.”

“Will we be traveling in the new fliers, Secretary-General?” The General was looking forward to a chance to redeem himself.

“Of course, unless you’d rather walk. Nothing else is working. Three of them have been set aside for you, complete with their Nefilim crew and the human pilots they’re training.”

“Excellent. I’ve wondered what those things are like on the inside.”

The Secretary-General poured everyone more to drink. “I saw inside one yesterday, actually. They’re quite something. Far in advance of anything of ours, of course. But that’s irrelevant. We have them now. I wonder how things would have turned out if we’d known that the Nefilim had stored hundreds of them underground for all that time. Just sitting there, waiting for their owners to come out of hibernation. We probably would have ripped the place apart looking for them,” he laughed. “We’re still finding out what they’re capable of. Accept nothing less than total co-operation from your Nefilim crew, General. If you have any trouble at all with them, let headquarters know at once.”

The General nodded.

President Veal lurched forward in his seat. “I’m sorry, I’m going to be…” Sick, probably, but he never finished his sentence. He clutched the back of his head and tried to stand up. He failed, and collapsed in a twitching heap on the floor. A few seconds later, he stopped moving altogether.

“Oh dear,” said the Secretary-General, without moving. “A dead President! What are we going to do?”

No one moved or spoke.

“Well, it solves a problem, I suppose. I must admit, I had no idea how Veal and his bureaucratic cronies were going to make themselves useful in the future. He shouldn’t have been smoking, perhaps. Not these, anyway.” The Secretary-General laughed to himself and picked up the box of cigarettes from the table.

“You mean…?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I do, Alexis my dear,” said the Secretary-General. “One of the responsibilities of power, as you know, is having to make the hard decisions. Such is the price of greatness.”

“Hot damn. Very neat, if you don’t mind me saying, Secretary-General.”

“Not at all. Neat, yes. The chemists tell me that there will be no trace of anything in his bloodstream or his lungs. A purely academic point, of course, since there will be no autopsy. But it’s a nice testament to good work on their part.”

His eyes flicked down at the dead President.

“Poor old thing. He looks so peaceful. Oh well, I suppose we’ll just have to make Europe a special UN protectorate. No time for elections now. Such is life.” A gurgling sound escaped from the corpse’s lungs.

“Now, where was I… ah yes, General, find that ship, that’s right. Take the boy with you.” The Secretary-General flicked a casual finger towards the end of the couch where Thead had been sitting quietly, watching and listening. What a terrible and efficient branch of humanity this was. In all the variants of the race that were scattered among the stars, he had never before encountered anything like this. No one had ever gotten the better of the Nefilim before, but these people had done it.

At that moment Thead knew, deep in his soul, that he was on the right side.

“An absolute pleasure, Secretary-General,” he purred. “If the ship and my former crew mates are anywhere near this Antarctica place you talk about, I will make it my first priority to deliver them to you, by any means possible.”

“That’s a good boy. But make it your first priority
regardless
of where the ship is. And feel free to use all means, including the impossible.” The Secretary-General got up and went to his desk. He pressed a button on the intercom and asked for someone to come and take the President away, then spoke to the room again.

“I think that’s all we need to cover for now. Thank you all for your attendance. Your co-operation is very much appreciated, of course,” he smiled, then added, “Don’t trip over the President as you leave. Oh, Thead. Stay a while. I’d like to talk.”

As the others left, they passed two soldiers coming into the room with a stretcher. The Secretary-General put a finger to his lips, silencing Thead while the soldiers bundled the President’s body into a bag and zipped it up.

“A tragic loss,” intoned the Secretary-General as the soldiers departed.

“What did you want to see me for, Secretary-General?” Thead asked after they had gone.

“First, Thead, I want to share a wonderful sight with you. It’s almost time.”

The Secretary-General pressed a button, and the lights in the room dimmed. Another button, and the curtains that covered the window slid back to reveal the darkness outside. Apart from the hundreds of fires burning out of control in the city below, everything was black.

“Looks like hell, doesn’t it? I’m told we’ve lost a few suburbs. Normally I could offer you an excellent view of the city. It stretches as far as the eye can see. But even though we’re blinded, as it were, there’s something I want you to see. Wait.”

They stood in silence, Thead not sure where to look or what to look for.

“Come on, come on… ah, there it is! Up there, boy! High in the sky! Look at that!”

Thead looked up and saw the same points of light that Bark and Reina were watching from another part of the city. They watched in silence as the lights flared then broke up, falling towards the Earth in thousands of burning fragments.

In a few minutes it was over, and the sky was as dark as it had been before.

“What was that?”

“That, boy, was the last you’ll ever see of the invasion fleet from the Nefilim home planet. They just blew themselves to hell on HAARP! We’ve had it installed for years. As soon as they touched the layer of harmonic scalars, well… they disintegrated. Their craft just fell apart. Alien stir-fry, God knows how many of them!”

The Secretary-General laughed loudly. For now, he was a truly happy man. “If the Nefilim down here were planning on getting any help from home, they’re going to be mighty disappointed! It’s looking good, Thead. It’s looking damn good! We’re on top of things!”

He paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his tone had changed. “Can you understand our power, Thead? There is nothing that can stand in our way. With the alien technology, and their help – regardless of whether or not they want to give it – the stars themselves will soon be ours! You’ve been there, you’ve traveled through the universe; I don’t doubt you for a moment, boy. Your experience will be most valuable. Get me that ship of yours, Thead, and you’ll find that my gratitude can be plentiful. I remember those who help me.”

“Tomorrow is a bright place, my boy, and it is adorned with the banners and flags of a humanity that has claimed its rightful place in the galaxy. I intend to be remembered by future generations as the leader who pulled Earth back from the brink of disaster and led humanity in its conquest of the stars!”

Thead thought about the universe. Not the whole universe, of course, because that would have taken more time than he had right now, but he did have time to briefly contemplate the state of at least part of the universe as he knew it. Because it was so easy for anyone to go anywhere, there was no fuss made about territory. Borders had long ago ceased to mean much. The galaxy was a fluid, messy place; the many races that shared it tended to co-operate, and for the most part in peace.

The reason the Nefilim were so infamous was that they were, in all the known history of the universe, the only race that had resorted to violent conquest and enslavement. In the face of their fleets of warships, their weapons and their brutality, the scant resistance that the more peaceful races had put up had meant nothing. When the Nefilim horde had come sweeping in from the distant edge of the galaxy (this edge of the galaxy, Thead realized now), they had swept the soft civilizations of the inner star systems ahead of them like dust before a wind.

And when their progress through the galaxy had stopped for no apparent reason, and they had retreated, disappearing as quickly as they had come, they had left behind nothing but an abiding fear of them. Who they were and where they had come from had been lost, if it was ever known, under layer upon layer of myth and legend.
What a terrible, beautiful thing their history was,
thought Thead.

But now the Nefilim had met their match in these humans. Pragmatic, cunning, treacherous, deceitful – no puerile abstract-ions of compassion or peace for this race. If the Earthmen wanted to take the stars, there was nothing out there to stand in their way. Tomorrow belonged to them, just as the Secretary-General was saying.

“But I didn’t just want to show you the fate of our enemies, Thead, as inspiring as it is. After all, you’ve already seen that at close quarters, and you performed well yourself, I’m told. No, there’s something else. A little task I want you to perform during your trip to the ice.”

The Secretary-General drew the curtains and turned the lights back on.

“Sit down, Thead.”

* * *

72 HOURS AFTER IT ARRIVED, the darkness passed. The sky shuddered and convulsed as though a cover was being dragged away, and in an instant the darkness was replaced by a radiant, uniform light unlike anything anyone had seen before.