Footfall

“When they first approached Earth we all wondered what they wanted. We know now. They intend to live on the Earth. They intend that all humans submit. They have come to stay. They mean to be the dominant but not the only intelligent species on Earth. They have assured me-and I believe them-that they will take the surrender of all humans, and they will incorporate them into their herd.

“Those of their race who surrender become the property of the herd. Eventually they or their descendants may find status therein. For biological reasons humans will never be able to integrate as fithp have traditionally done, but our descendants will be their partners. The human herd will be allowed to live under man-made rules. They will study us to know what those rules shall be.

“We will be allowed to choose our own rules so long as they do not conflict with fithp dominance, but they insist that we must live by the rules we choose. They do not tolerate rogues. We will achieve mankind’s oldest dream, to be one people, with one philosophy, one set of rules for all of us. They do nothing alone. A individual’s acts are taken to be the responsibility of his grout In particular, the fithp mating practices are entirely instinctual going by mating seasons, and they mate for life.”

Good-bye to individualism. Reynolds shuddered. A moment later, Hello, monogamy. Interesting.

Dawson went on. “They intend to do what they must to rule the Earth. They regret the great loss of life from the Foot, but this will not stop them from sending another, and another, until humans understand the great power of the fithp.

“Until you do understand, they have no wish to kill noncombatants. There is a symbol—”

Dawson was describing a fithp on its back, Oh? We use a red cross—

“—urge you not to misuse the symbol. They will be watching. Using the ‘harmless’ symbol for military equipment or installation will result in bombardment of all the places so marked. They se more than you believe they can see. Their radars and lasers are efficient and powerful

They would be.

“Do understand,” Dawson’s recorded voice said. “The Chtap tisk Fithp mean what they say. They have crossed light-years a space to come here. They will not go home. They will be here for centauries.

“They are a collective people who live by strict rules in herds Evolution has eliminated all the rogues from the fithp. They will give humans good treatment by their standards. They would prefer to take the Earth in good condition, but take it they must. Their large spacecraft is their world until they do.”

“Very good,” Wade Curtis said. His voice was loud in the quiet.

Fuck him, he’s staring at the walls. “Centauries. Alpha Centauries.”

Joe Ransom said, “They let him get away with a lot. You caught that, at the end? There’s no backup. What they’ve got, we’ve seen. And they can’t go home, I was right there—”

“-Uses his tone of voice like a fine working tool. ‘By their standards.” Sherry mused, “I wonder if they’ll want us to follow their mating seasons? And of course the fithp won’t catch any of that.”

The President and the Navy men watched in evident surprise. The Dreamer Fithp were all over that speech like dogs on a stag.

“Monogamy, anyway, Sherry. He made quite a point of it. I wonder if they saw some X-rated movie.”

“Whatever,” Curtis said. “Dawson is one smart son of a bitch. Can we hear that again?”

The air-duct pipes narrowed. Alice felt trapped, and for a moment she thought of turning back. Then she set her jaw, hard, and went on.

She rounded a turn. He was there.

Wes Dawson was curled into a small ball. Fetal position. The really sick ones do that. In the movies they always go violent. The therapists would love it if they could get that much action on the closed wards.

Dawson didn’t move as she came closer to him.

He didn’t answer.

“Wes, it’s Alice—”

“I ate shit for the sake of that Don’t-Bomb-Me symbol.”

She said nothing. Didn’t I used to do that? Try to blow the therapist’s mind by using dirty words? And Mrs. Fitzpatrick caught me at it.

“Well, I’m going to be famous.”

“You were wonderful! You told them all about the horrors— God, the way you used your voice! And the snouts didn’t even suspect—”

He started to uncoil. Alice moved away slightly.

“But you already know what I was trying to do,” Wes said. Half uncoiled, he still wouldn’t look at her. “They won’t. Wes Dawson. Now they can forget Quisling.”

“We all agreed,” Alice said. “We all thought you should do it.”

“Yeah. Just like fithp. Everybody does everything together. Look, it’s all right, Alice, I’ll be all right.” He faced her at last “Thanks for finding me. I’ll be okay.” He smiled, and damn, I looked real, but she’d seen so many phony smiles. “See? I’m fine.”

Maybe he is. He didn’t look helpless now. Alice took a deep breath. I am not a freemartin! She moved closer to Dawson.

Abruptly he launched himself at her. She couldn’t move fast enough to get away, and he wrapped his arms around her and drove her against him. She felt panic. If I fight him now, he’ll never get over this. She felt him draw her closer still. She felt smothered and wanted to flee. She tucked her head down, nose below his armpit, to breathe. She didn’t struggle.

He curled against her and was still, except for his jerky breathing. He held her, but he wasn’t moving. Slowly she relaxed the tension in her muscles as she’d been taught, begi

His tears soaked through her hair and wet her scalp. Almost without volition her arms went around him, and she held him, “It’s all right,” she said. “It’s all right.”

“I needed a hug. My God, I needed to be hugged. Alice. thanks.”

“It’s all right.”

32. MUD BATH

We shall not fail or flag. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans… we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Nat was measuring ingredients into a blender. He moved briskly. Lime juice, sugar, rum, scoop out half a Crenshaw melon, add ice. Low setting. The blades tended to break on the ice at higher settings. In defense against the godawful noise he moved up alongside Harpanet’s head and raised his voice.

“You’re used to long wars.”

“There are records from the homeworld. The Shape Wars lasted five generations. There were others.” Harpanet paused for thought, then: “I ca

“Was the taste to your liking?” Nat hit the button that ended the howl of the blender.

Digits swiped at thin air: How can I know? “I fell from the sky, I lost my fithp, I tried to surrender. No human knew how to take my surrender. You have warriors from Kansas, isn’t it? Ask them.”

“They’re not sane.” Curtis joined the group. “Left alone too long, maybe.”

Harpanet let his digits and lower eyelids droop in the gesture they’d learned to interpret as sadness.

Ransom held his glass out for Reynolds to fill. “I sure feel sorry for Dawson.”

Curtis nodded. “Yeah. Poor bastard risks his arse to give u some information, and a lot of nerds think he’s turned traitor What worries me are the ones who think he meant it and want to take his advice.”

“Maybe we should,” Sherry said. “But it wouldn’t work. There are too many like you and Ransom.”