Larry Niven - Footfall

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

“There’s another reason for Mrs. Dawson to be here,” Speaker Dayton said. “She’s brought in our first by God captive Invader!”

And that got a reaction! Jenny almost laughed, but she managed to control her face. What if I’d brought Harry Redd to this Cabinet meeting!

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker,” Jim Frantz said. “To return to the agenda. Our first item of business. The Secretary of Defense.”

Admiral Carrell didn’t stand. “There’s little to say. Early this morning we launched a non-nuclear attack employing three Regular Army armored divisions, supported by a number of National Guard units and all the military aircraft we could muster. As you all know, they were utterly defeated.”

There were murmurs, but no one said anything.

“The enemy used a variety of advanced weapons,” Carrell continued. “The most important were lasers, ground-based and orbital, and space-based kinetic energy weapons. Flying spears, if you prefer to think of them that way. They seek out and destroy armored vehicles.

“The lasers intercept our missiles. They also backtrack and home in on missile launch sites and artillery. The ground-based laser weapons are radar directed and sufficiently powerful to punch their way through cloud cover. The result was not merely the defeat of our forces but their near annihilation. Major Crichton has recently visited the headquarters of Third Army. Major, how would you describe what you saw?”

“Sir, it was a disaster area,” Jenny said. “1 found only one General officer. The rest were killed or missing. The MASH was overfilled, and the only vehicles were commandeered civilian machines, or the very few that hadn’t been committed to the attack.”

“Thank you,” Carrell said evenly. “Was it your opinion that the attacking forces gave it their best?”

“God, yes, Admiral. We could give out a hundred posthumous Silver Stars without even trying.”

“You agree, General Toland?” Carrell asked.

“Yes, sir. We took our best shot.”

“That concludes my report, Mr. President.”

There was stunned silence.

“Jesus,” the Speaker said. “Admiral, General Toland, what did we do to the enemy?”

“Mr. Speaker, I don’t know,” Admiral Carrell said. “To the best of my knowledge, very little.”

“They whupped us,” Dayton said in his careful drawl.

“Yes, sir. They whupped us.”

“So what do we do now?” the Speaker demanded.

“Use nukes,” General Toland said.

“That’s what we’re here to decide,” the President said.

“You can’t mike Kansas !” Senator Can was adamant. “No way!”

“We don’t have any choice,” General Toland said.

“Choice be damned!” Can shouted.

“Gentlemen,” Jim Frantz said.

“Senator, I agree it’s an extreme measure,” the President said. “But what else can we do? The aliens must be driven off this planet!”

“At the expense of my people—”

“Senator, we aren’t saving the people of Kansas by doing nothing. The invaders are slaughtering them. Major Crichton, you were there. Describe what you saw.”

“Yes, sir. Sergeant—”

Sergeant Malley turned on the slide projector. Photographs of a pile of bodies, at least fifty, covered one wall of the room. There were gasps.

“We took these pictures in Lauren , Kansas . Much of the slaughter was witnessed by Mr. Nat Reynolds, a member of our special advisory staff. Mr. Reynolds will answer questions later.

“Mr. President, our attacking forces found a number of such scenes during the brief period of their advance. Refugees report that wholesale slaughter of hostages is their general response to any act of resistance. Next slide, Sergeant.”

She showed another dozen pictures before mercifully turning the lights back on. Senator Carr looks sick. Well he might. I don’t feel very good myself.

“Mr. Reynolds,” the Speaker said. “You saw this happen?”

Nat Reynolds stood. “Yes, sir. More or less—”

“Why did they do that?” the President demanded.

Reynolds explained the attack.

“As soon as the one tank was destroyed, the other started shooting, and they called in the lasers. After they’d shot up enough buildings, they went hunting individual people, and when they found anyone, they killed him and added him to the pile.”

“Jesus.” Senator Can crossed himself.

“They thought they were killing traitors,” Reynolds said.

“What does that mean?” the President asked.

“They’re herd beasts. I doubt they do very much on their own initiative. As far as they were concerned, the whole town had surrendered, and when they were attacked, the whole town was in rebellion. It’s the way their minds work.”

“Major Crichton,” the President said. “You’ve been interrogating the captured alien?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you agree with their assessment?”

“We haven’t learned much from the prisoner except his name, sir.”

“Name, rank, and serial number, eh?”

“No, sir. He seems totally cooperative. It’s just that he’s confused.”

“He’s insane,” Curtis muttered. “Or certainly will be.”

“Why do you say that, Dr. Curtis?” Admiral Carrell asked.

“Herd beast,” Curtis said. “What Nat said-they don’t do things on their own initiative. Like elephants. Like zebras. Isolate one of them, and what happens?” He shrugged. “So we’re trying to bring this one into our herd. It might work, too.”

President Coffey looked interested. “How do you do that?”

“Never leave him alone,” Curtis said.

“Talk to him,” Reynolds said. “Surround him with people—”

“Until he believes he’s human,” Curtis finished.

“Have you learned anything useful?” the President demanded.

“No, sir,” Jenny said.

“We know they took prisoners from Kosmograd,” Carlotta Dawson said.

“Ah. That’s good news,” President Coffey said. Then he frowned. “I suppose it’s good news. At all events, we must decide what to do now.”

During the fifty years since its first construction, the underground complex east of Moscow had been decorated, air conditioned, carpeted, and enlarged. There were swimming pools, barbershops, and fine restaurants; the reinforced concrete walls were covered by tapestries and paintings; and everything had been done to disguise the fact that it was, at bottom, a bomb shelter.

Party First Secretary Narovchatov strode on parquet wooden floors to the Chairman’s office, and remembered another time long ago, when Stalin had reviewed a Guards division during the Great Patriotic War against Hitler. The Germans were so close that the Guards had marched across Red Square and walked directly to the front to take part in an attack.

From review to engagement with the enemy, he thought. That will not happen now. The enemy is not so close, but there are enough enemies.

Tartars, Hungarians, Poles, Latvians, Czechs, were in open revolt, and many others, even the Ukrainians, were restless. Narovchatov strode past the Chairman’s secretary.

“Halt, Comrade Narovchatov.”

Narovchatov looked up in surprise. A Guards Division colonel stood with three armed soldiers.

“I regret, Comrade Narovchatov, that we must search you—”

There was a roar of laughter from inside the office. Chairman Petrovskiy appeared in the doorway. He chuckled again. “It is well that you are alert, Comrade Colonel.” Petrovskiy said. “But I think you need not be so diligent with the First Secretary, who is, after all, my oldest friend. Come in, Nikolai Nikolayevich. My thanks. Comrade Colonel. Return to your duties.”

Nikolai Nbrovchatov closed the massive door behind him and stood against it. He had not had time to react. Now he thought of the situation outside and frowned.