MARS

 

When the President told me about the UFO, I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly. Pluto was some long-forgotten ball of ice at the edge of the galaxy, so it was no wonder I was momentarily lost. When it was demoted from planet to ice chunk four decades ago, most scientists had lost interest in Pluto, even if it was named after the god of the underworld.

No planet that couldn't make the news was on my radar. And not much of anything was on my radar these days besides the Etrallian situation combined with our imminent water shortage.

I can tell you one thing for sure: the god of hell or death or whatever was definitely laughing at us today.

"Mars." President Burgess was still staring at me sternly. I wanted to tell her I was paying attention, but in truth, I was still processing.

"So," I began slowly. "You're telling me the Etrallia weren't lying."

The President steepled her fingers on her desk. "Not everyone believed they were."

"Of course not." I thought of Lena and her righteousness anger. God, she was going to love this. For however long she had left, anyway. "The Vanlith, this alien race the Etrallians threatened us with...you think they're real."

God of death, please don't let them be real.

"Whether they are real or not, something is out there."

On the edge of the solar system. Our solar system.

"But Pluto's billions of miles away. Hell, we've only managed to send a few probes out there."

The President's brow furrowed.

I didn't like it one bit. When the leader of your people looks concerned, the anxiety is downright contagious. It was a good thing I was the only one in her office.

"Our people have done some calculations. Based on the probe's readings, this object is moving far faster than anything we've ever built. There's no chance it could be a wayward probe."

"It could be an asteroid. A comet." I grappled for a logical explanation.

Maria shook her head. "It's not following that sort of trajectory. It seems to be following a linear pathway, unaffected by the gravitational fields of planets."

"Too straight to be space dust, too fast to be a human vessel? Hell, did you check with the Etrallia? Maybe they lost a ship along the way."

The President didn't smile.

It didn't make any sense. First, one race of aliens shows up on our doorstep and now this? As if we didn't have enough to worry about. "You're sure. You're absolutely sure?"

"We're positive."

Right, of course they were. She wouldn't be telling me if this was some hunch, a mere possibility.

"How long?" It was the only question that mattered, wasn't it?

The President's dark eyes found mine. "If it continues on its current trajectory, it'll be within range of Earth in two years."

I drew a breath. Two years. The number relaxed me a little though I knew it shouldn't. Two years was nothing when you considered it had taken a decade for us to get our first research probe all the way to Pluto.

I tapped my fingers nervously on the desk. "Okay." I took another deep breath since it couldn't hurt. "Okay, what do we do?"

The President raised an eyebrow. "Do?"

Surely she had a plan. Surely we had a plan.

"There's nothing to do except prepare," she explained. "If this enemy truly is advanced and if they want what the Etrallia say they want, then we'll have no choice but to mount a defense."

I was dumbstruck for a moment as I thought of our tattered population. Those who weren't dying were busy sorting out the situation with the Etrallia. What sort of defense could we possibly muster, even with two years to prepare?

"Tell me the Etrallia will help us."

President Burgess sighed. "You're coming to the meeting tonight, Mars. I only wanted to brief you like I briefed the others. Believe me, I don't like this news any more than you do, but we'll do what we have to do." She stood and I realized our meeting had come to a close. "It's not about who gets to survive anymore," she told me. "It's about whether any of us will."

I hoped we all might. The peace agreement was tonight and it would decide things, for now at least. Thought I didn't want to think about it, the journey ahead would be the difficult part.

"Forty-eight hours ago, I couldn't have imagined humans and Etrallians working side by side on anything," I admitted.

The President nodded. "Now, we'll have to ask their forgiveness."

Maybe we'd even have to beg them.