Chapter 6227: Pact of the Stars (7)

By the warm fireplace, Shiller, for once, wasn’t dozing off, listening to Dr. Henry and Professor Dale discussing the war in Asia. The two of them had some disagreements about the matter.

Professor Dale felt that a small country in Asia invading its neighbor might just be trying to squeeze out some benefits, and that it wouldn’t escalate. But Dr. Henry was deeply worried; he believed this was an ominous sign, that world wars all begin as local conflicts.

It had to be admitted that Dr. Henry’s vision was razor‑sharp, because it was this very insignificant Asian country that would, ten years later, spread the war to America. Yet Professor Dale’s view was understandable too—at that time, Asia was far too distant from them, and a few gunshots at the other end of the world looked no more than faint ripples on a tranquil lake’s surface, perhaps vanishing without a trace once the gust passed.

“We must do something, William,” Dr. Henry said. “And we must do something immediately.”

Professor Dale frowned, obviously straining to figure out what could make Dr. Henry so anxious. But after a long moment, he chose to trust Dr. Henry’s judgment. “What do you want to do?” he asked.

“First send the Ancient Ones home,” Dr. Henry said, “then let them, in the proper and legitimate capacity of Aliens, communicate with Earthlings.”

“If things are really as you say, that a bunch of Military State‑drunk fanatics intend to overturn this world, then I’m afraid even Aliens won’t be able to make them stop,” Professor Dale said. But he said this not to dissuade Dr. Henry, rather while pondering a workable approach. “Unless the Aliens aren’t all that friendly,” he added.

“Then let them be less friendly,” Dr. Henry said through clenched teeth. “Please trust me, William, I’ve read a great many of their newspapers. This will not be a disaster limited to one region, nor even to one country, but to the entire world. Don’t forget, Europe is also slipping into an uncontrollable economic crisis…”

They went on to discuss the situation in Europe, and then Professor Dale said, “I’ve never been much good at this sort of thing, but I trust your judgment. I’ll go talk to them. I believe they’ll be willing to do us this small favor.”

After Professor Dale left, Dr. Henry sat alone in the armchair by the fireplace, his expression grave. Shiller leapt onto him, and only when his hand touched the soft, warm fur did Dr. Henry’s tightly knitted brow slowly relax.

“The Human race really is complicated, isn’t it?” Dr. Henry said as he stroked the cat. He seemed to have a great many analyses he wanted to lay out, yet felt that saying them all to a cat was too foolish. Even if this cat was out of the ordinary, even if they could understand him, how was he supposed to get them to meow about international affairs?

Professor Dale took the airship again and left, but Shiller did not go. If earlier Dr. Henry’s only enemy had been Nya, there were now plenty more demons and ghosts. Tibbers was at the South Pole at the moment, leaving Dr. Henry’s side poorly defended; he had to protect him. Because, barring any surprises, Dr. Henry would move at once.

Sure enough, the next morning the newspaper carried an article by Dr. Henry. He expressed extreme opposition to acts of war, but his perspective was more novel than anyone else’s.

Dr. Henry pointed out that this was precisely the window period for the Human race’s geographic great discoveries; scientific expeditions were forging ahead triumphantly, adding bricks and tiles to Human civilization, and that launching a war now would be interfering with the developmental course of the entire Human civilization. The cosmos is vast; it cannot possibly contain only the Human race. If, because of war, Humanity’s steps were hampered and they fell behind other civilizations in the cosmos, that would make them sinners against their entire civilization.

This statement could even be called heretical, bordering on alarmism. Yet considering that the author of the article was the vice president of Miskatonic University, people couldn’t help but start speculating whether something had been discovered on this South Pole journey.

This was not a baseless association, because earlier the publicity surrounding Miskatonic University’s South Pole scientific expedition had been in full swing. Not only had the Federal Government joined in, but the entire Western World had been singing the scholars’ praises, casting them as the light of Human civilization, eager for everyone to know there was now a new age of geographic discovery.

This was, in fact, also a way for various countries to divert internal conflicts. The 1930s were hardly peaceful; on the eve of the Second World War, many nations’ domestic tensions had already escalated to irreconcilable levels. At such a time, shifting attention to a grand narrative like Human civilization could somewhat redirect the focus, and the Federal Government was riding this east wind to boost its international prestige. The matter had drawn the attention of hundreds of millions worldwide.

So at this moment, when the vice president of Miskatonic University stepped forward to call for an end to acts of war, even hinting at the need for a united front against external threats, all those ordinary people who had bought into notions like a “community of Human civilization” naturally felt that the propaganda around the South Pole expedition was a smokescreen, and that discovering Aliens was probably the real story. All that prior buildup had just been giving everyone a shot in advance; for all they knew, they were really about to fight a war against Aliens.

The fact that technology of that era was not too advanced was actually a blessing, because the gap in information channels between the upper echelons and scientists on the one hand, and ordinary people on the other, was not yet so great. In other words, even the Federal Government’s high‑level officials and the Aerospace Bureau couldn’t be completely certain there were no Aliens; they lacked the absolute confidence to flatly deny what Dr. Henry had said. On the contrary, after the article was published, they began to sound Dr. Henry out indirectly, asking whether he had really discovered something.

Dr. Henry, of course, deftly shifted their attention, speaking ambiguously while dropping hints, even directing suspicion toward the NDP Foundation and nudging the Federal Government to investigate.

Most of the lies Nya told were well‑rounded, and this foundation was not something that would fall apart under scrutiny. But Dr. Henry’s maneuver still made Nya hesitate. The crux lay in the fact that the clone managing the NDP Foundation and the main body had not yet exchanged information. In theory they should have, but hadn’t the house collapsed? Nya, who should have gone back to report in the near future, had not left, and thus had not learned from the main body that the Great White Space had already been taken away.

He was worried that Dr. Henry and his people had already gotten hold of the Ancient One’s remains and were planning to use them to jack up the price, so the NDP Foundation started sending people over to probe and pry, trying to figure out how far the South Pole expedition had gotten.

The agent the Federal Government sent to keep an eye on Dr. Henry took one look and felt the Foundation really might have some Ghosts in it, because they were coming way too often, like they were about to silence someone. So the Federal Government started investigating the Foundation, and then discovered that the supplies the Foundation had promised to send to the South Pole had already been delayed for several days. Well well well, could it be that Aliens have already infiltrated the Human race?

In the twenty‑first century this kind of talk would be dismissed as anti‑intellectual nonsense, but in the 1930s it was all the rage. Who knows how many people claimed they’d been abducted by Aliens, and the media was delighted to report this kind of thing, which led to the facts being wildly exaggerated, and in turn made the top levels of government believe it too.

Nya wasn’t about to just sit there and take it either, and he didn’t want anyone watching him, so the Federal Government and the Foundation started butting heads, which clearly drew the attention of other governments around the world as well.

The war that broke out in Asia actually wasn’t confined to Asia; the Western World poured plenty into that war, and didn’t even bother pretending otherwise. As long as the flames hadn’t reached their own heads, they were all busy cashing in on the war.

The public opinion stirred up by Dr. Henry’s remarks made them rein themselves in a little. They weren’t too keen on carrying the label of “criminals responsible for the development of Human civilization,” so they turned their high‑profile funding into sneaky under‑the‑table support. On the surface it looked like nothing much had changed, but the mere act of paying lip service to public opinion established an invisible moral bottom line.

Looking at the current global situation, that bottom line wasn’t going to last long. They were just about to rip their masks off, and now the masks would stay on a little while longer—but they’d have to come off sooner or later. It was precisely this tiny bit of delay that gave Professor Dale room to maneuver.

About a week later, Professor Dale came back again. Shiller learned about this because Dr. Henry once more crawled out of bed in the middle of the night and went out into the wind and rain. Two or three hours passed, dawn was almost breaking, and he and Professor Dale came back up to the tower.

“The newly hatched brood can fly now.” Professor Dale brought back a piece of colossal good news. “From a Human perspective, that’s not flying, it’s more like Teleportation. But the Ancient Ones say this is exactly how they fly.”

“Two of them, with the help of the scientists, completed gene compilation. They still can’t Teleport the way the brood can, they can only get off the ground—but they can go up to low Earth orbit and send signals. That way, maybe some Ancient Ones out in the cosmos will come and take them home.”

Shiller knew this was being said for his benefit. Sure enough, Professor Dale went on: “That green cat wants to go with them, and asked me to come back and get your opinion. I’m not sure a cat can handle the environment out in space, after all…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but Shiller understood. If a Human body already deserves to be called fragile, then a cat is fragility squared; no matter how smart its brain is, its body might not be able to take it. Professor Dale needed Shiller’s clear approval before he’d be willing to let the cat go; otherwise, he simply would not let the Ancient Ones take the cat away, no matter what.

Shiller, however, wasn’t worried at all, because Brainiac, as a cat, wasn’t actually going anywhere. He’d long since stored a clone of himself in the data stream and could completely let the Ancient Ones leave with a piece of electronic equipment. What puzzled Shiller was why Brainiac hadn’t told Professor Dale.

“The cat took out a hard drive, apparently wanting the Ancient One to take that instead, but the Ancient One just wants the cat.” Professor Dale looked a bit troubled. “They seem to just genuinely like cats.”

Shiller flopped down on the bed. The Ancient Ones’ enthusiasm for cats had already been a little over the top; every time, dozens of tentacles took turns petting it, to the point the fur on its head was about to be rubbed bald. He hadn’t expected that, with home almost in sight, they’d still be thinking about the cat. It was hard to imagine how they managed to use those buzzing voices to say things like “I think this cat wants to go home with me,” or more likely just flat out “Give me the cat.”

Shiller meowed, drawing out the sound, and Professor Dale and Dr. Henry both understood. It was roughly equivalent to “Let him go.”

“Will their own kind really come pick them up?” Dr. Henry was still a bit curious. “How are the Ancient Ones out in the cosmos doing?”

“Probably not too badly,” Professor Dale said. “Don’t forget, Nyarlathotep doesn’t only operate on Earth. If the Ancient Ones out in the cosmos were easy to mess with, he wouldn’t keep staring at these ones on Earth and refusing to let go.”

Dr. Henry suddenly saw the light. Actually, he’d had his doubts before. Since the Ancient Ones are cosmic travelers, they ought to be everywhere. This Race can use the Great White Space; it’s not like the ones on Earth are the only ones who can. Wouldn’t it be just as good to go bother the ones on other planets?

Now it seemed that the non‑degenerated Ancient Ones really did have some skills, and even Nya didn’t dare go at them head‑on, preferring to pick on the degenerated ones stuck on Earth. Which, frankly, made sense—Devils always bully the weak and fear the strong, don’t they?