The Great Destroyer Read Online Free
Author: Jack Thorlin
ship?”
“The ship is slowing down, First Representative.”
* * *
Lian Flower surveyed the room. All the senior members of her Advisory Council were present. Peter Redfeather, the Minister of Public Safety, looked eager and attentive, befitting a young member of the Council.
Entertainment Minister Fabrizio looked guarded, no doubt thinking the meeting was about the dog parks.
Gerard Fontainebleau, the aging, paunchy-but-stylish Minister of Economic Stability, lent the room a dignified air.
Equality Minister Tanya Eldridge was the only one who looked confident. Bad news for Flower was good news for Eldridge, who would be the favorite to replace Flower if she were voted out of office.
The experts from the Space Administration mostly looked nervous to be in the Peoplehood House, home of the First Representative. Well, Flower thought, all of them looked nervous except for an Asian woman, who merely looked... intense.
The other members of the Council fiddled with their phones, doubtless texting annoyed amorfriends to say they’d be home late because the First Representative had called a meeting.
Flower had called the meeting immediately after her conversation with Director Korzov. It had taken hours to assemble the various ministers, as well as the experts from the Space Administration, but a crisis of this magnitude demanded the best advice available, and Flower wasn’t quite sure who would be able to give meaningful counsel under the circumstances.
“I call this meeting to order,” Lian said in a somewhat raspy voice. “You are all here because we are facing an issue unprecedented in our world’s history. Administrator Korzov?”
The Space Administration apparatchik took over the presentation, recounting the facts the First Representative had heard for the first time five hours earlier. Flower, having already heard the presentation, focused on the new people in the room.
She fixated on the Asian woman among the experts, whose eyes betrayed... what? Resolve? Consulting a briefing paper in front of her, she found the only possible name for that woman. Emma Takagawa, Robotics Expert. What was she doing here?
Administrator Korzov had immediately flown to Toronto to brief the Advisory Council, bringing with him a coterie of aides, including Emma Takagawa. She had apparently insisted on coming, and no one seemed to quite have the authority to deny her vehemently enough to deter her.
Flower instinctively disliked Takagawa. The Japanese woman was skinny and possessed of an odd sort of attractiveness. But Flower’s interest in claiming Emma as an amorfriend was weakened by Takagawa’s demeanor. She wasn’t at all deferential or nervous to be in the presence of the First Representative of the Terran Alliance, interrupting Korzov’s presentation several times to add details.
Korzov finally said, “Through repeated optical imaging, we have established that the alien ship is moving at a speed approximately two tenths of a percent of the speed of light.”
Minister of Entertainment Fabrizio asked, “Why so slow?”
Takagawa said derisively, “That ship is moving 1.8 million miles per hour. That’s pretty goddamn fast. It will cover more than two and a half billion miles in the next two to three months before it gets here.”
Flower, a trained politician who excelled at controlling her facial expressions, couldn’t suppress her surprise. “It’s coming here?”
Korzov glared at Takagawa. “We are not sure as of yet. Preliminary review of our trajectory analysis indicates—”
Emma interrupted. “It will be here in about 85 days, give or take a month. We don’t know how quickly the aliens plan on decelerating the ship. They’ve already begun slowing down. That means their destination is somewhere in the Solar System.”
Korzov quickly said, “But we
“The ship is slowing down, First Representative.”
* * *
Lian Flower surveyed the room. All the senior members of her Advisory Council were present. Peter Redfeather, the Minister of Public Safety, looked eager and attentive, befitting a young member of the Council.
Entertainment Minister Fabrizio looked guarded, no doubt thinking the meeting was about the dog parks.
Gerard Fontainebleau, the aging, paunchy-but-stylish Minister of Economic Stability, lent the room a dignified air.
Equality Minister Tanya Eldridge was the only one who looked confident. Bad news for Flower was good news for Eldridge, who would be the favorite to replace Flower if she were voted out of office.
The experts from the Space Administration mostly looked nervous to be in the Peoplehood House, home of the First Representative. Well, Flower thought, all of them looked nervous except for an Asian woman, who merely looked... intense.
The other members of the Council fiddled with their phones, doubtless texting annoyed amorfriends to say they’d be home late because the First Representative had called a meeting.
Flower had called the meeting immediately after her conversation with Director Korzov. It had taken hours to assemble the various ministers, as well as the experts from the Space Administration, but a crisis of this magnitude demanded the best advice available, and Flower wasn’t quite sure who would be able to give meaningful counsel under the circumstances.
“I call this meeting to order,” Lian said in a somewhat raspy voice. “You are all here because we are facing an issue unprecedented in our world’s history. Administrator Korzov?”
The Space Administration apparatchik took over the presentation, recounting the facts the First Representative had heard for the first time five hours earlier. Flower, having already heard the presentation, focused on the new people in the room.
She fixated on the Asian woman among the experts, whose eyes betrayed... what? Resolve? Consulting a briefing paper in front of her, she found the only possible name for that woman. Emma Takagawa, Robotics Expert. What was she doing here?
Administrator Korzov had immediately flown to Toronto to brief the Advisory Council, bringing with him a coterie of aides, including Emma Takagawa. She had apparently insisted on coming, and no one seemed to quite have the authority to deny her vehemently enough to deter her.
Flower instinctively disliked Takagawa. The Japanese woman was skinny and possessed of an odd sort of attractiveness. But Flower’s interest in claiming Emma as an amorfriend was weakened by Takagawa’s demeanor. She wasn’t at all deferential or nervous to be in the presence of the First Representative of the Terran Alliance, interrupting Korzov’s presentation several times to add details.
Korzov finally said, “Through repeated optical imaging, we have established that the alien ship is moving at a speed approximately two tenths of a percent of the speed of light.”
Minister of Entertainment Fabrizio asked, “Why so slow?”
Takagawa said derisively, “That ship is moving 1.8 million miles per hour. That’s pretty goddamn fast. It will cover more than two and a half billion miles in the next two to three months before it gets here.”
Flower, a trained politician who excelled at controlling her facial expressions, couldn’t suppress her surprise. “It’s coming here?”
Korzov glared at Takagawa. “We are not sure as of yet. Preliminary review of our trajectory analysis indicates—”
Emma interrupted. “It will be here in about 85 days, give or take a month. We don’t know how quickly the aliens plan on decelerating the ship. They’ve already begun slowing down. That means their destination is somewhere in the Solar System.”
Korzov quickly said, “But we
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