“Your best resulted in less-than-perfect destruction, according to the news.”
He grimaced. “We had no idea the chunks that hit Earth would have viable aliens. Soon as we found out, we took care of them.”
“Wiping them out was the first right thing you did. Who knew Earth had a natural remedy for those pests?”
No point in asking how Ishtar knew about the toxic water they’d flooded the sewers with. She obviously had ways of finding out things. “Well, those four-armed freaks might be gone, but turns out they were only the beginning of our problem. Seems they had a master.”
She straightened in her chair. “You’re sure?”
Ooh. That got her attention. No longer did she appear mocking or irritated. Okay, maybe less irritated.
“My boss, Aries, met the guy, or at least the male body it was wearing a few nights ago. This thing claims it’s going to contact its friends, meaning more asteroids winging our way, and that their plan is to enslave or eat humans and conquer the world.”
“Because that’s what they do,” she muttered. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “It’s unfortunate it survived.”
“What do you know about them?”
“That Earth is, for lack of a polite term, fucked.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that everyone should live their best life now before the world ends.”
“Seems kind of pessimistic. We haven’t even started to fight back.”
“Fight back?” She snorted suddenly, leaning forward in her chair. “There is no fighting something that can’t die. Kill one body, and it will just assume another.”
“Which presents a problem, I get that, and we’ll have to work on finding its particular kryptonite since the poison water had no effect. For the moment, though, we’re concerned about its ability to produce more nanobots. Eradicating its minions won’t matter if it simply starts mass producing those little machines and having them take over people in key positions of power, not to mention contacting more of its kind.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “You don’t need to worry about it building any bots.”
“Why not?”
“Because Earth lacks a crucial ingredient needed for them to function.”
“Says the woman who repaired one using stuff from our planet.”
“Who said all the components came from here?”
“What?” he exclaimed. “Where else would it come from?”
“Somewhere else,” her low muttered reply.
On a hunch, he said, “Mars?”
The way she stiffened told him he’d guessed right.
But she tried to cover by scoffing. “You do realize we’ve yet to create anything capable of reaching that planet and returning.”
“That we know of.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that if Zodiacs, like me, can travel impossible distances using less-than-conventional methods, then maybe there is a way to get to Mars.”
“Why would you even bother? It’s a dead planet.” A flat reply that left her expressionless.
“Is it?”
