—I’m at the top. I can’t reach the hatch.

—It’s a couple feet away. You have to hold on with one hand.

—I can’t!

—Sure you can! Hold on with your left hand and stretch your right arm.

—I can’t reach it.

—You have to look, Vincent. Hurry! There! Just a bit to the right. You got it. Now climb down one step and grab the ledge.

—I’m scared!

—You got this! Let go of your left hand and push with your legs. Hard! Yes! You got it! Climb in and I’ll give you Eva!…Eva, I want you to lean against the shaft. Put your legs on that bar here and let me climb between you and the ladder. See, I got you. Vincent, we’re running out of time, I’m gonna hold her with my right arm and give her to you. You have to grab her.

—Hurry, the smoke’s right below you.

—I know! Are you ready? Ready Eva? Go! Grab her! Grab her! Do you have her?

—Yes! Come on Eva! Get inside.

—There’s no time, Vincent. Close the hatch behind her.

—Kara, don’t be stupid! Come on Eva, pull yourself in. I have to get past you to get Kara. Hold on, Kara! I’m coming.

—There’s no time.

—Yes there is! Just one sec!

—You’re a father now. Take care of her.

—No DON’T!

—I love you.

—Don’t close the hatch! KARA! NO!

[Stop.]

KARAAA! Eva, move out of the way!

[No. Don’t.]

I said MOVE!

[We’ll die if you open that door.]

That’s your mother out there!

[I know. But she’s gone now.]

PART FOUR

NEXT OF KIN

FILE NO. 1591

PERSONAL JOURNAL ENTRY—VINCENT COUTURE, CONSULTANT, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS

Don’t be stupid.

That’s the last thing I told Kara, the last thing I said to my wife. I didn’t say I love you, I told her she was an idiot. It doesn’t make sense…That’s not how it was supposed to go. She’s not supposed to be dead. I…All I had to do was to get inside Themis a second sooner, climb a little faster. That’s not how it was supposed to happen…I swore I would never let anyone down because I wasn’t strong enough. But I was afraid, and I wasn’t fast enough, and now she’s dead. She knew. She knew before we started climbing. That’s why she went last.

I shouldn’t have been there to begin with. I should have been with her. I was the one who…I told her a million times how much I wanted children. She thought I couldn’t go, so she went after our child. What did I do? Nothing. I found out and I stayed behind. I didn’t go help my wife. I didn’t go find my daughter. They said they were sending someone, and I said…OK! I’m a coward. I’m a fraud.

Certainly not a dad. What a joke! I’m nothing. Parents are supposed to protect their children. I can’t do that. I couldn’t protect my wife. I never could. She was the one protecting me. That kid ran out of parents the moment Kara closed that hatch. Crazy thing is, I would have opened it again. I would have opened that hatch without hesitation, and we’d all be dead. I would have killed my wife and my daughter on the same day. But Eva stopped me. She’s ten and she saved me.

I don’t know how I convinced myself I could do this. In my mind, it was so…

It was about me. I’d hold my baby girl and be filled with pride seeing how safe she felt in my arms. I would show her the things I knew about the world, and she’d listen, wide-eyed and smiling. I’d be there for her when she needed me, and it would feel good to be there for her. And I’d never yell, and I’d listen, and I’d feel great about seeing how happy she was. I’d be a great dad. We’d be a great family, like the Tremblays across the street when I was eight years old. Their kid was my age, and he played baseball, and he was good at it. His parents never fought—or so I thought—and they were always smiling. We weren’t friends, but I went over for a few hours one summer. He had a pool. We ate KFC in the middle of the afternoon. I wanted to be him. I wanted his family. Maybe that’s what I’ve been chasing the whole time.

Kara knew what it would be like. She knew what it would take, and she knew I wasn’t ready. She’d have been better off with Ryan. I hate that asshole more than anyone in the world, but maybe that’s why. He wouldn’t have climbed slow and he wouldn’t have climbed first. He’d have carried them both if he had to.

Now the world is ending and somehow I’ve managed to make that about me too. Millions of people are dead, so my grief isn’t that special. But I’ve killed the one person who was needed to save the world. Themis can’t fight anymore. She’s a paperweight now. I do my best to avoid going outside. I can’t stand to look at her. I can’t bear the thought of walking into that sphere and seeing Kara’s gear hanging from the ceiling. I always had my back to her in there but I could feel her presence behind me. I would follow her voice, her breathing. There’s no Themis without Kara.

I’m useless here now. I can’t help Rose. I can’t help Eva. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

FILE NO. 1593

DISCOURSE TO THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY—BRIGADIER GENERAL EUGENE GOVENDER, COMMANDER, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS

Location: UN Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, members of the General Assembly, ladies and gentlemen. I am here today…I am here today to tell you…Ah, to hell with my notes!

I was asked to provide a summary of our current situation, but you already know we’re in deep shit. We’re up to our eyeballs in it. There are thirteen alien robots on Earth. All of them have the ability to transport themselves anywhere on the planet in a nanosecond. They can also release a gaseous substance that kills, almost instantly, 99.95 percent of the human population in a twenty-mile radius, all in a matter of minutes. I should point out it only kills humans; cats, birds, bugs, they’re all fine. Each robot has done so twice in the last five days, except for the one in Madrid, which didn’t get a chance. As of now, London, Tokyo, Jakarta, Delhi, Cairo, Calcutta, Paris, Mexico City, São Paulo, Johannesburg—I need to catch my breath—Beijing, Seoul, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Karachi, Bangalore, Shenzhen, Santiago, Kinshasa, Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, and New York are all ghost towns. Moscow is in ruins, with a population of zero. Madrid is now a crater.