“As a heart attack,” I said, tapping at the menu on my phone. “I just added you to the conference call.”
His eyes widened when he saw the names of the other people on the call.
“But—how did you get in touch with them?”
“You aren’t the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve, Dad,” I said. “I’ll explain later, if we have time.”
My father’s face changed—he looked as if he was trying not to panic now.
“What did you tell them?” he asked. “I mean, how did they react?”
I noticed that Diehl was staring over my shoulder, holding up his laptop so that Cruz could eavesdrop, too.
“Holy shit!” he whispered. “Is that your dad?”
I nodded. I was about to introduce my father to my two best friends when the Armistice Council took us off hold. They all seemed a bit surprised to see that my father had joined us—but not nearly as shocked as he was when he saw who was on the call. “Who is this gentleman, Lieutenant?” Dr. Shostak asked.
“This is my father, General Lightman,” I said. “The officer I was just telling you about.”
My father was still staring into his QComm’s camera, dumbfounded. “Well, first of all,” Dr. Tyson said, “we would like to commend you both for your service, and for being brave enough to bring this information before the Armistice Council.”
“You’re welcome?” I said uncertainly.
“We’ve only had a limited time to consider the evidence,” Dr. Tarter said carefully. “But we believe there’s a strong possibility your theory about the Europans is correct.”
“You do?” my father and I both asked in unison, making the scientist smile.
“This council has access to classified information about the Europans that adds further credence to your theory, gentlemen,” Dr. Shostak said. “The official story is that when NASA’s Envoy probe landed on Europa to investigate the swastika-shaped anomaly on the moon’s surface, it attempted to make contact with the extraterrestrials who created it by burrowing down through the moon’s surface ice with a melt probe to reach the subsurface ocean below. But that cryobot’s mission wasn’t to make contact with the Europans—its mission was to destroy them.”
“I knew it!” my father said. “President Nixon ordered NASA to strap a nuke onto that probe, didn’t he?”
Everyone but Hawking nodded grimly.
Shostak continued, “Nixon didn’t believe the swastika could be anything but a threat. He and a few advisors decided that we had no choice but to take preemptive action.”
“So it was us,” my father said. “We attacked them first. And then they came here to attack us. That’s how it started. And both sides have been slowly escalating the conflict between ever since, for forty-two years—”
“Until a few days ago,” I said. “When we escalated things to the breaking point by launching a doomsday weapon at them.”
Dr. Tarter nodded. “In light of everything you’ve told us, it’s entirely possible that our use of the Icebreaker was what prompted them to finally deploy their armada and invade after waiting so long.”
I shook my head. “This whole time, it’s been us. We’re the ones who’ve upped the stakes every step of the way.”
My father nodded. “And now there’s nowhere else for things to escalate. We’ve reached the endgame—the point of mutually assured destruction. If we attempt to destroy them, they’ll destroy us.”
“And you believe the only way to prevent that is for us to recall the Icebreaker and declare a cease-fire?” Tyson asked. “After these beings have already attacked us and killed millions of innocent people?”
“If we continue to escalate this pointless conflict with them, they’re going to exterminate all of us in a few hours anyway,” he said. “Admiral Vance is wrong. Launching the Icebreaker at Europa won’t stop the second or third wave of their armada from attacking us—quite the opposite. It will seal their decision to destroy us!”
“He’s right,” I said. “We have to take this chance. Humanity has nothing to lose—nothing we’re not going to lose anyway. We can go down fighting, but we’ll still end up extinct.”
Dr. Tyson nodded. “Unfortunately, it may already be too late for us to convince the EDA command to act on this information,” he said. “Admiral Vance still isn’t answering our calls, and the second wave of the attack is only minutes away.”
“The Icebreaker will be within firing range just a few minutes after that,” Shostak added. “Perhaps the Europans timed it that way?”
“Don’t bother contacting Admiral Vance,” my father said. “He won’t listen.”
“You’re damn right, I won’t,” Admiral Vance said as his face appeared in a video window alongside the half dozen others on the call.
I blinked in surprise. Apparently Vance knew a few QComm tricks of his own.
“I’ve listened to about as much of this treasonous talk as I can stomach,” he said, and reached up and tapped his QComm screen several times in rapid succession. One by one, each member of the Armistice Council was disconnected from the conference call. When he was done, only my father and I remained on the line with him. His haggard face grew to fill half my display, scowling at us in crystal-clear high-definition.
“Don’t bother trying to call the council back,” he told us. “I’ve just locked all of their QComms, so don’t hold your breath for them to call you either.”
My father didn’t respond right away. He just glared at his old comrade in silence over the video link for a long moment.
“How long have you known about that weaponized Envoy lander, Archie?” my dad finally asked. “How long have you known that we’re the ones who started this war?”
“I found out when they put me in charge,” he said. “And by then, it no longer mattered. And it most definitely does not matter now.” He paused. “Whether or not they lured us into this war is irrelevant at this point. Can’t you see that, Xavier? We’re fighting for the survival of our species! Informing the world that humanity may have accidentally incited this conflict wouldn’t help the situation.”
“Accidentally?” I said. “Nixon had NASA send a nuke as our first olive branch, Dr. Strangelove!”
“You and your son need to give up on this nonsense, General,” Vance said. “I need you both back on the front lines, right now, before the second wave makes landfall.”
My dad shook his head. “No, Archie,” he said. “We’re done fighting. Both of us.”
Vance frowned. “Funny. I never pegged you for a deserter—or a coward.”
“The Europans know about the Icebreaker, Admiral,” my father said. “They have to. Their technology is slightly more advanced than ours. You noticed that, right?”
Vance snorted. “If they’ve spotted the Icebreaker, why haven’t they destroyed it?”
“Because they’re waiting to see if you’ll actually use it, you obtuse prick!” my father shouted back. “That’s the whole reason they’re attacking us in waves instead of all at once! Don’t you see? They’re testing us!” He lowered his voice. “Archie, listen to me, man. This is how we survive. They’re giving us a chance to reconsider—to think all of this through, instead of blindly retaliating, just like we’ve always done in the past!”
“We’ve had this argument before, X.” Vance shook his head. “Many times. You know I’m not going to risk the survival of the human species on some big fat maybe that you cooked up because you’ve seen too many old movies.” He pointed up. “Those things—whatever they are—have already killed millions of innocent human beings, and I’m not going to recall our last chance to destroy them before they destroy us. I don’t care who else you’ve convinced of your asinine fairy tale. The decision is made.”
“Archie,” my father repeated, struggling to remain calm, “I’m telling you right now, if you launch those nukes at their home, you’re ensuring the destruction of ours!”
Vance studied him for a moment, then tapped his wristwatch.
“I guess we’ll find out who’s right in about twenty-three minutes,” he replied. Before my father could reply, Vance hung up, leaving the two of us alone on the line together. My father’s face enlarged to fill my whole QComm display. He looked utterly defeated for a second. But then he broke into a broad smile.
“Oh well,” he said. “I guess this means we go to Plan B.”
I shook my head. “Remind me what Plan B was again?”
“You and I stop the Icebreaker all by ourselves.”
Before I could reply, a single tone sounded, and three other video windows popped back up on our displays as Lex, Whoadie, and Debbie all joined our call simultaneously, each from a different location.
“Hey, fellas,” Lex said. “Count me in.”
“Me, too!” added Debbie, just before Whoadie shouted, “And me three!”