Next History: The Girl Who Hacked Tomorrow (46 page)

Another ten minutes of discussion are required, during which the Archbishop himself speaks to Tharcia, as does another priest, an older, kindly man with crinkly eyes. At long last, Tilton holds his phone to the microphone. He leans in.

“Lucifer, please listen. Tharcia wishes to speak with you.”

The
body bends down, huge toothed face looming two hundred feet above the pavement.

“Tharcia?”

The priests fall back in uneven lines but do not bolt.

“Lian it’s me.” Tharcia’s voice
amplified from Tilton’s phone echoes from the Pentagon’s cold façade. “Listen. You have been telling me for a week that people need to learn cooperation. You are the teacher. It’s time you set an example.”

“Tharcia, don’t put words in my mouth.”

“I’m not. You said gratitude. You said empathy and you said the truth. Tell Father Tilton what you told me, about the ego. About inventing it. About making it grow like cancer. Teach us how to control it. Teach these men how to pay it forward. For Lylit.”

The red-
rimmed eyes glare down, malevolent. Lian’s knees straighten, the massive body rises to full height and from the throat an anguished roar like the swift fury of fighter jets. When the echoes of the primal yell reverberate away, the voice sounds again.

“Do not bring Lylit into this!
”

“Lian, tell them we
’re evolving. What the whales know. Admit that humans can speak to the Creator directly.”

“I have nothing further to say to you.”

“You are evolving too! You have already given up your first deception.”

“Talk sense!”

“You first deceived by convincing us you do not exist yet here you are.”

“
Amateur philosophers attempt many arguments.”

“
Grow up Lian! You are in a pointless stalemate with God!”

“I love the Creator. We are closer than anyone can imagine.”

“Then you are in a stalemate with your own ego.”

“I am here through my own free will.”

“You have given up free will. Your fate is...”

“Hush. Free will is yours for the taking. And never will you find that more a blessing and more a curse than during the long night ahead. I do not deceive you. I exist. Sweep your own doorstep first, humanity.”

“Lian! Tell them you’re not…”

Tharcia’s voice
cuts off in the loudspeakers, Tilton’s phone has gone dead. As have most of the cell phones across the Northeast corner of the United States. Lian stands motionless, silent and resolute, as aircraft prowl high above, bearing mighty bombs.

T
housands of miles away, Tharcia hears the call drop.

“…Satan,” she finishes, looking glumly at her phone.

Although the priests resume their chanting, Lian speaks not another word. They keep it up until evening, until the clock rolls past six PM. Voices faltering, they begin to stagger. Those who stand now sit, those who sit, lie down. Some make it to the comfort of the buses. Most soon fall asleep, scattered over the parking lot in robes and caps. A few are wakeful, curious, soon run off into winter twilight, sniffing the feral wind, in search of profit, fun and games.

Solberg’s meeting is conducted with eleven people in the room, thirteen hundred twenty-eight on remote video, most of whom have already taken station among a number of hardened and secret shelter facilities across the United States. Remote attendees include the Secretary of Defense, seventy-one United states Congressmen and women, Senior uniformed officers of the Joint Chiefs, Military Service Chiefs from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and from all branches of the military, the President of the United States and White House staff, ranking officers from the Office of the Inspector General, the Combatant Commands, a depth of senior officers from the Departments of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Air National Guard Bureau.

In the heavily-guarded conference room, Solberg begins the meeting on the video link. “Good morning. I have everyone on mute for the moment while I provide some introductory remarks. It is 1106 hours EST
, 5 November. At approximately 0638 hours this morning, the Pentagon intruder grew to a height estimated at over six hundred feet. At present we have no workable theories as to how this was accomplished, or why it may have been necessary. There is no known biological explanation for a living organism to grow in that fashion.

“However,
that event provides a further clue to our understanding of this phenomenon. Please note the satellite photograph on your screens now. That large shadow has been present since the first appearance of our intruder. The shadow now fits the being who stands in the center of the pentagram. I mean to say, the Pentagon. That shadow has been present at the same size since the intruder arrived. This suggests to many of us that its earlier manifestations are illusory, the current size is the reality.”

Solberg clears his throat and moves on.
Fatigue is evident in the bags beneath his eyes. “Prior to the growth event this morning there was a visit to the courtyard of the female subject who has been present at the Pentagon during the last week. As you know, she and the intruder, plus one other unidentified female, have held lengthy conversations there, in an unknown language. The female subject, when questioned by the FBI, stated that the language is ancient Sumerian, as also suggested by one of our security consultants. With that piece of information, our linguists are achieving successful computer-assisted translation. The language has not been spoken on Earth in nearly five thousand years. In a preliminary way, these discussions appear to concern the fate of life on Earth.

“It has escaped none of you, I am sure, that every web page on the Internet has been replaced with a single page, showing a photograph of the intruder at full height
, holding a sign inviting visitors to click. On your screens now is that very page.

“When Internet viewers click on the image, they see other content, expressed in suitable local languages and times of day. We will review the meaning of that message later in this meeting.

“Our best people have discarded all hoax and hacker theories. No hacking group is adequately funded to accomplish this. It is not a virus, not an illusion, it is not a hoax. The entire Internet has been replaced with this single page of information.

“It is the opinion of many psychologists and a number of leading physicists that this message is delivered by a supernatural being. A real being, not a fake, not a
n hallucination. That is currently my opinion. We do not know why it is here, or why it selected the Pentagon. If this represents an adversary, it may be entirely beyond the reach of our military forces. It is also my opinion, though others may differ, that aggression against this force is pointless and dangerous. And completely unnecessary.

“There has been much contentious debate as to whether we should adopt a military
strategy. I for one do not believe that this is an attack upon the United States by a foreign power. Please watch this video with me.”

The
general brings to the screen a video montage, a series of slow dissolves beginning with the image of Lian at the Pentagon, followed by an identical figure towering above the onion domes of the Kremlin, another looking down on Tiananmen Square, and others in familiar scenes throughout China, Asia, the middle east, Africa. There are appearances of the tall winged lizard at the South and North geologic poles, across many islands of Indonesia, beside temples, churches, mosques and cathedrals. Lian is everywhere. They are not duplicates, they are not statues. They move and speak independently. Possibly, Solberg believes, they think independently. They are avatars of Lian.

“These images are courtesy of various world governments and our own
reconnaissance. There are 623 recorded sightings as of thirty minutes ago.”

Solberg
displays the web page with Lian standing tall above the Pentagon, holding the flashing neon
SALVATION
sign. He clicks on the sign and the view switches to the announcement text.

“This message is simple and to the point. It claims that as of 1800 hours EST today, approximately six hours and forty minutes from now, every person on Earth will go to sleep for up to 24 hours. According to this announcement, all sleepers will be safe. It points out that anyone wishing to remain awake may do so, with certain consequences.

“Those who elect to sleep are asked to ponder a simple question, and I quote. ‘Are your immediate wants more important than the destiny of all life on Earth?’ Psychologists and scientists learned in mass psychology and theology have yet to provide a useful explanation. One dream researcher suggests it is a pre-sleep suggestion designed to elicit unconscious choices. How those choices might be used in an outcome is sheer conjecture.

“There is a warning for those who remain awake. It warns of a rise in shared hallucinations,
possibly more severe than those we have so far seen. It suggests that our own inner drives will create physical reality. In short, that a shared waking nightmare will be set loose on the planet.

“So we have two groups, Sleepers, and Wakers. We also have our visitor’s assertion that no weapon will harm it. Although there have been many discussions on the merits of attacking the visitor or its protective field with escalating force, it is well to point out we have been entirely unsuccessful in all such attempts. I believe that the merits of launching a nuclear
or any other weapon at the so-called vortex of the protective shield are nil at best, excessively dangerous at their worst.

“The United States is the most deeply fortified nation on Earth. It is
senior command’s firm agreement that we take advantage of the means at our disposal. In conference with the Joint Chiefs and the heads of all our military, we have directed VIP personnel and forces to take shelter at key locations. Everyone on this call is either in command of or part of an expeditionary group. What we are after is survivability of the United States, her government, and her military.

“My final word of advice is brief. Go to sleep. I believe it is the only reasonable way to pass the following thirty-six hours safely. For the benefit of everyone.”

Solberg takes a sip of water. “I’ll now open the floor for questions. Please raise your hand in the discussion queue and we’ll take those in the order received. Ah, is Doctor Friedman on the call? I would like him available to answer particular questions.”

Doctor Friedman is not in the meeting. Outside the building, densely surrounded by armored military forces and multiple checkpoints, Arnold Friedman pleads desperately with two Pentagon police. His name is not on the attendee list, the Security list, the evac list, it is not on any
white list. His name has appeared on a DHS watch list. If he doesn’t move along immediately, he will be arrested. Reluctantly, still protesting, Friedman does move along, but is detained by two lurking FBI Special Agents and taken away for questioning in a black van. After an hour they let him go. His name shows up on General Solberg’s meeting roster and private calendar twelve times in recent days, he was the one who walked the shadow at the Pentagon, and the FBI has insufficient manpower, evidence, or political will. And, time to the Sleep is getting short. A cracker congressman’s political attack.

Again on the sidewalk in
the shuffling crowd, Friedman tries to call his wife. It’s no good. All of the cell phones in the Northeast went down three hours ago. Gail is waiting. He wants to be home. Friedman takes off running to find his car.

Soon after Lian’s
Salvation
page hits the Internet, sixty thousand people across the country tune in to
Good Morning America
and develop a severe rash during a cooking segment in which the guest chef prepares strawberry flambé. One hundred forty-one are hospitalized. Three have so far died.

Churches are packed
. People wave phones which bear Lian’s instructions, and desperately beg their priests for help. The priests can answer only with religious platitudes. By mid-afternoon however churches receive via email useful information from the Archbishop of Chicago, who posts to the diocese website the following advice:

Let yourself feel safe in the arms of the Lord.

Take seriously the published advice about sleeping.

Visualize and trust a world in which you
do not have to fear.

Understand that you are creating the reality around you and let yourself feel at peace with whatever comes.

You are part of everything, you are cared for, your life is meaningful to God.

O
n wings of rumors from the priestly Conversation With The Devil, the rules spread quickly and ultimately allow many of the faithful to fall into the Sleep knowing that the outcomes will be as good as can be hoped for, given the outrageous circumstances.

The
Tourette explosion propagates through the twittersphere, then abruptly ceases. People’s nervous systems get used to it, learn to filter out the stray brainwaves. Many sufferers, incoherent for years, speak for the first time coherent thoughts. They laugh, they cry, they get it.