Maria couldn’t keep her palms dry. She kept wiping them on the white dress, which, mercifully, didn’t show the stains.
She sat on a folding chair on the stage in the power plant’s turbine hall. It was half filled. At least two hundred people were here, mostly staff for the event: waiters, security, the orchestra members, and the assistants to the VIPs.
At the back of the room, Ty, Kato, and Nora stood by the double doors, watching her. She had to admit, having the three of them here gave her some comfort. They were like an anchor for her in these violent seas.
One of the waves that could sink them stood nearby—Kato’s counterpart. It was so strange seeing him in the Reich Europa military uniform. When his gaze hit Maria, it felt as though she had mistakenly opened a meat locker, the frigid air making her shiver.
Helen Klein stepped to the lectern and cleared her throat.
“For those of you who are visitors, welcome to Peenemünde. For the staff here, thank you for your work to date. It has been exemplary. I know you’ve put a lot of effort into this event in a short amount of time. Rest assured, your suffering will end tomorrow night.”
Forced laughter rippled across the room.
“Tonight is a simple rehearsal. I’ll give my remarks, and then our special guest, Maria Santos, will perform a song written especially for this momentous occasion.”
Helen looked back and smiled at Maria. She forced a smile that she knew looked awkward, but Helen didn’t seem to notice. She refocused on the crowd.
“Before we begin, a word on security. I want to thank the Peenemünde site security, as well as the SD—who have graciously agreed to increase the counterintelligence measures here at the base to ensure that this event is not
disrupted. As some of you know, we’ve already had one attempted incursion on this facility by Pax operatives. We don’t know how much they know about what we’re about to do here, but we know they’re trying to stop us. As I speak these words, they may be trying again to stop us. This is a pivotal moment in Covenant history—and human history. But it can all be derailed if we aren’t careful. I’m asking each of you to remain vigilant, especially for the next twenty-four hours. If something looks off, report it. If you see something, say something. No observation is too small. No question invalid.”
Maria watched as Kato’s counterpart scanned the room. His gaze settled on Kato a moment before staring back at Helen Klein, who was unfolding a sheaf of papers and placing them on the lectern.
“With that, I’ll begin my speech. Which, mercifully, is short.” Muted laughter again echoed in the hall.
Helen’s voice was louder, more formal as she began her speech.
“How do you end a war? That is the question that was put to my organization—the Darwin Program. We are scientists. Rational people. For us, negotiation and compromise seem the obvious solution. But we all know that won’t work. For decades, our approach to the Pax was simple: if we use non-lethal force to limit their ability to develop offensive weapons, they will eventually come to the table and talk terms—they will come to their senses. They have not. They fight on, even when we don’t. We’ve built a seawall to keep them out. Yet they have gone to great lengths to get around it. In submarines and planes and hidden boat compartments, they have tried to land teams of counterinsurgents in our homeland, to try to gain some advantage in the war. Why? They must know it’s hopeless. In the years that separate our civilizations, have we drifted so far apart that we no longer understand each other? Are we even the same type of humans anymore?”
Helen paused, letting the crowd consider her words.
“The military has offered the obvious solution to ending the war: overwhelming force, occupation, and eventual assimilation. Their solution, in a word, is messy. It is also impractical. It would cost the lives of Covenant soldiers. It would drain resources—money and time that could be spent building schools and hospitals and high-speed rail lines that enable families across the Reich to spend the holidays together, safely. And the question that must be asked, if we were to conclude this war in a conventional way, is to what end? What does the Pax have that helps the
Covenant? Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—the answer is nothing. We don’t need their citizens. They have no technology. We are rich in natural resources. What we want, simply, is to be left alone. But they won’t. Even in the face of a hopeless, unwinnable war, they fight on. And they force our hand.”
Helen shuffled to the next page.
“So, I return to the original question. How do you end a war with an enemy that fights on when there’s no chance of winning? They fight just to fight. Well, frankly, there’s only one way to win that war: you have to change their minds. You have to make them not want to fight. Tonight, that is what we will do. How, you might ask? Science. In a way, we return to the science that ended the last war.”
Helen flipped to the next page.
“In 1940, the Reich launched a series of A4 missiles at Great Britain. Those rockets and the payloads they carried ended the brief European conflict that preceded the unification of Reich Europa. We used science— not boots on the ground—to end that conflict. Tonight, we once again turn to science to give us peace and an end to a terrible war. In particular, we once again rely on the rockets developed here at Peenemünde. This time, we won’t be destroying military bases or burning cities to the ground. We have come a long way since then. Our intention is that there won’t be a single life lost in tonight’s solution. We are going to launch the final salvo in the Pax war. It will end the war in the only way possible—it will change their minds. Peace will follow. With that, I welcome you to The World After, and I’d like to ask our very special guest, Maria Santos, to perform the anthem of this new era.”
Helen turned to Maria and smiled and held out a hand.
Maria stood and swallowed and walked to the microphone stand to the left of the lectern. Behind her, the orchestra struck up, and she sang the first verse of “A Hymn for The World After.”
In the dark forest of our world I heard the drumbeats of war Beating in the night
Counting down to the end of all things
