The latest datastream that Felix interpreted gave very little insight into what the aliens were planning. It had taken nearly a full day to cobble it together into something the AI could understand, and the other AIs had similar delays in decoding the alien information.

When it was finally done, it showed the aliens’ positions over the last several weeks worth of inactivity. Following the catastrophic attack on New Delhi, Big Al and its horde of high-level alien buddies had retreated to the Indian Ocean.

The other packs of aliens had followed suit: one big attack and then retreat to the nearest large body of water, which was always an ocean or sea. If the fan alien and the others who had attacked Manhattan had succeeded, they would have likely just disappeared into the Atlantic and vanished. The aliens had mostly stayed in the water, only briefly razing a coastline if a host came near, and then retreating to the waters again.

Anya could tell the exact second Gary had begun distributing the scrambler bands. The host signals originally encompassed a circle of only a few miles, but once the scrambler bands were in use, those circles widened to hundreds and hundreds of miles. Gary had distributed the bands to every host he could, and everyone who had one survived.

The hosts who were still on their own were less fortunate. Another couple hundred hosts down, most of those at the hands of Big Al and its group, or the lone wolf, Alien Omega. But many lone hosts still survived, mostly by remaining in constant motion, and a few more whose signals widened until they vanished, indicating they had left Earth entirely.

Alien Omega continued to move down through Mexico and Central America, striking quickly and then retreating. It got to the bottom of Chile, then began working its way back up along the eastern side of the continent. By the time the feed ended Alien Omega was in Brazil.

“It’s killed 187 hosts,” Felix said. “Most of those by itself. Currently there are only 135 hosts left alive on Earth.”

“Jesus,” Anya sighed. The data was enlarged and floating in the center of Gary’s Ready Room. The room was full of hosts and government officials from around the world. Anya, Gary, Samaira, Immonen, Pan, and Chell had all gathered together. Renn, Mona, Kan, Harrison, and Yai were assembled nearby. Anya had been a little surprised to see the grandmotherly old Thai woman with the likes of Renn and company. Jiro, the huge Japanese man in black body armor and a hi-tech helmet also sat with them, huge arms folded across an equally large chest.

The other hosts were scattered around the rest of the room. There was Brody the shark and his friend Cooper from Australia, Amahle and Bernard from South Africa (the latter surrounded by small, cute creatures Anya now knew were elementals, much like Reggie), Zoya the explosion-happy Russian, Galtero the mecha-pilot from Brazil, and Li Qiu the sniper from China. There were other hosts too, but those were the only ones Anya recognized.

Plenty of normal humans mingled with the hosts. General Johnson, Senator Norris, Agent Riley, and Director MacDougal all sat near Anya and the other American hosts. A dour-faced Chinese man in a military uniform sat next to Li Qiu, and General Johnson had pointed him out to Anya as General Huang: the one who had tried to ambush the hosts in Beijing with his dime-store killer robots. Military representatives from several countries were present, as well as other high-ranking officials, but no heads of state.

Felix, among all the AIs, had been selected to give the presentation because he liked doing it the most. The other AIs had all shared their data streams over the past week since the successful strike in northern Canada.

“And since our first counter-attack?” General Johnson asked. “How has Omega reacted?”

“It’s hid in the ocean,” Felix said and the glowing red dots on the map that represented the alien invaders moved as time sped up to show the past week. “The last alien data stream we have access to was from the most recent kill which was by Brody, Cooper, the Australian Royal Navy, and some hosts from Indonesia who could not be present. Good job guys!”

“Adjustments were made for our strike,” General Huang said. “For example, we split the decoys onto an appropriately numbered group of robots, and used holographic projectors to make them appear as lifelike as possible, and resemble the actual hosts they were imitating. We also placed them close to an inhabited area to make it seem less obvious. The aliens did not attack in a single group as they did in Canada, but we still managed to defeat them. Host Li Qiu’s Mori Cannon was quite effective.”

Li Qiu inclined her head. Anya had heard about the “Mori Cannon,” from Gary after the Chinese made their ambush. Gary favored anti-matter for his bombs. He’d been secretly observing the Chinese during their operation, and said the Mori Cannon was similar. It unmade things, tore their atoms to pieces, rather than simply bursting like a conventional bomb and relying on heat and kinetic force to do everything.

“We had to make some adjustments too,” a thick-bodied man with a very red nose said. He was wearing a crisp, white military uniform, and sat with Cooper and Brody. Anya had heard General Johnson refer to him as Admiral Jeffries, of the Australian Royal Navy. “We placed several traps, and the aliens attacked from range. We had to deactivate the decoys to fake host death, while the original host was entirely hidden by a big version of the scramblers. Got ‘em all with those vortex traps, but it took a few, and Brody and Cooper and the Navy had to mop up a few survivors.”

“Bastards tasted terrible,” Brody said.

“Are they really still falling for these decoy things?” Cooper asked.

“To some degree, yes,” Felix said. “Gary, Director Macdougal, General Huang, and others have worked with different world governments to vary the nature and set-up of the ambushes to keep the aliens from catching on too quickly. In the past week, ten surprise attacks have been carried out, all completely successful, though the aliens have been changing their tactics too.

“They’ve begun to favor ranged attacks, avoidance techniques, alpha-strike protection, and employing more waves of lesser aliens to act as scouts or cannon fodder. But still, all for nothing! No host casualties, no collateral damage, and 100% alien termination! Of the nearly 1,000 original invading aliens, only eighty-six remain, most of which are with Big Al. You’ve all been super great at killing them!”

There were relieved sighs, applause, and a few scattered cheers at this. Anya could hardly believe it herself. Only eighty-six aliens remained. Big Al traveled with a pack of thirty-five aliens, the weakest of which was stronger than any other alien on the planet save for Alien Omega. The other fifty aliens were assembled in groups of fifteen, ten, and two groups of twelve. Alien Omega remained alone.

“I never had the impression that these things were truly sapient, but they’ve always possessed a certain level of animal cunning,” Renn said. “Given their ability to stream data like this between themselves, surely they must be catching on?”

“They have adjusted their tactics, but they are still drawn to the decoys,” Felix said. “They actually appear to be rushing toward the signals with greater urgency. There was over an hour delay between activating the decoy and the aliens’ arrival during the first counter-attack. But it was only about fifteen minutes with you, wasn’t it Brody?”

“Too right. We had the data stream from the previous day’s attacks though so we were already almost in their asses when we flicked it on,” Brody replied.

“Hmm,” Renn said and whispered something to Mona, who nodded.

“What’s the strength been of the ones we’ve killed so far?” Mona asked.

“All of the aliens killed with the decoy strategy have been weak. The first group in Canada was fairly evenly mixed, but since then, you can see some movement between alien groups. They’ve sorted themselves into groups organized by relative strength. The second ambush by General Huang was against the weakest group of aliens. The next attack was against the second weakest, and so on. The strongest thus far was the alien taken out in the first ambush. It had killed twenty-seven hosts, making it above-average in terms of power compared to the remaining aliens,” Felix said. “But most of the aliens killed in ambushes since then have only had ten-to-fifteen host kills, making them quite weak compared to those with Big Al, and naturally Alien Omega.”

“Using their weakest to probe our strategy,” Renn asked. “Smart. Ruthless to send them to their deaths that way, but effective given how they share intelligence.”

“We still have not been able to capture one alive,” Immonen said. “I must stress, based on my brief contact with the aliens, I feel we would greatly benefit from having one to study. We could gain insight into weaknesses, their exact locations, even the way they think.”

“I agree, but not if doing so puts us or our people at undue risk,” General Johnson said.

“I would not have expected such reservation from an American Marine,” General Huang replied.

“I don’t see my people, or the citizens they protect, as disposable,” Johnson replied. “One of the reasons we performed our ambushes away from populated areas.”

Anya smirked. Johnson had been less-than-thrilled when he had first met Anya and the others, but as the weeks had carried on, she’d warmed to the gruff old man. Every meeting she’d had with him present had been brief and to-the-point, just how she liked them. And he’d expressed a level of concern for the people under him that Anya wouldn’t have expected from somebody so high up the chain-of-command.

“And I do not waste opportunities. I realize that the doctor is correct: we need a living specimen,” Huang said.

“Just wipe them out and be done with it,” a minister from India said and slammed his fist on the table. Anya couldn’t blame the man. New Delhi was still in ruins, and they were still trying to organize what remained of the government and infrastructure while they continued to tally the dead and missing. “There are eighty-six of these creatures left. Kill them and end it!”

Jiro slammed both his fists on the table in front of him in agreement. Anya had still never heard the Japanese host speak, but he managed to convey enough. He popped his knuckles and made a strangling motion at the rotating globe and the red dots clustered together.

“We will,” Gary said. “And I think most of us are strong enough now to do it. There’s only a few survivors below level 50. I hit level 77 after our ambush in Canada, and I think Yai is close to 80.”

Yai said something in Thai, laughed, and then the glowing silver orb atop her gnarled wooden staff translated for her. “I am level 82. You are too lazy. Ha ha ha.”

“We will be killing these things, no doubt,” Johnson said. “I think everybody agrees total extermination is the ultimate goal here?”

The room was filled with shouts in the affirmative.

“But any intel we can get on these bastards would help. As I said, it’d be nice, but not if it puts us or our people at undue risk. We’ll do our best, Dr. Immonen, but due respect: if it comes down to getting a kill or letting one get away, I’m taking the kill.”

“Of course,” Immonen said.

“So how do we handle the rest? Continue as is?” Renn asked. “I noticed some movement from all of the packs of aliens whenever a decoy was activated, with two exceptions.”

“Alpha and Omega,” Anya said and Felix highlighted them on the map. Neither Big Al and his huge pack, nor Omega moved an inch whenever a decoy was activated. The other packs of aliens, even if they were very far away, surged toward the signal for a few miles before slowing down or retreating when an appropriately weak pack moved in and was killed.

“Take out the weak ones first, keep them from getting any stronger, then go after Big Al and its group as one united front,” General Huang said. “We already outnumber them. With Mr. Hendricks’s factory working alongside our own, we can supply enough robotic troops to take the brunt of any attack and then the hosts can clean them out.”

“Going after the weak ones first would let our hosts get stronger too,” Johnson said. “And deny back-up to Big Al and Omega during any fights with them.”

“It will also give them more opportunities to probe our own strengths and plans. They have had ample opportunity to study our recent strategy,” Renn said. “I’d suggest we not push our luck any further and strike each of the four remaining smaller groups at once.”

Director MacDougal nodded and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not confirming any strategy without the President and other members of the international task force, but the idea had crossed my mind.”

“I doubt we’ll be able to capture either Alpha or Omega alive, or any of the aliens traveling with Alpha,” Immonen said. “If we want to grab one alive, this may be our last chance to do so.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Johnson said.

“I suggest a two-hour recess for lunch and to review the new intel with our respective governmental agencies,” MacDougal said. Mutters of assent filled the room and people began to break off into smaller groups with their respective hosts and country’s representatives. Dozens of conversations buzzed around the Ready Room as people milled around or shuffled out towards the hangar.

Riley turned in his seat to face Anya and asked, “Whaddya think? You believe we’re coming up on the tail end of this?”

“It looks that way,” Anya said and nodded at the holographic globe. “Only eighty-six of the freaks left. If those other small groups go as easy as the other ones have, we might have a shot. The small groups aren’t what worry me though. Even if Gary’s decoys suddenly stopped working, we’re strong enough now to take them out the old fashioned way if we had roughly equal numbers.”

“You talking about Big Al?” Riley asked. Gary, Chell, and Pan had scooted over to listen, Pan seated contentedly in Chell’s lap, with her holding him like an armored teddy bear. Samaira had been with them but General Johnson and MacDougal had waved her over to discuss something else.

“Big Al is strong, but every report of it is mostly about the size of the pack of aliens with it. It’s just raw force, from the sound of it. Omega is something else. The first thing the aliens did was start grouping up, even Omega did for awhile. As the attacks went on, the packs got bigger and bigger, except for Omega. It’s the only alien doing its own thing. And as much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Renn. The fact that the aliens still don’t seem to give a damn about charging our decoys, even if they are changing their strategy, is disturbing.”

“Maybe they’re stupid?” Pan asked. “I remember when a lion kept trying to eat me in Africa. It kept doing the same thing even though it never worked! Chew, bite, scratch, over and over and over. Never got through my scales though!”

“Maybe,” Anya said and frowned.

“What if they’re just desperate?” Chell asked.

“Whaddya mean?” Riley replied.

“Well when they landed they killed a huge number of hosts in a short time period. It was like ninety-percent of us on the first full day, right?”

“Yeah,” Anya nodded. “So?”

“So they all leveled up. Lots of, I dunno what to call it, food? Resources? It was an all-you-can-kill buffet of hosts. It’s how they got stronger. But our number dwindled fast, and now they’ve barely killed any of us in over a month. Maybe they’re starving or something.”

Anya rubbed her chin. She had never seen an alien eat anybody, host or regular human. She’d gone over the reports and videos of other alien fights from other hosts and had likewise never seen any sign of the aliens consuming anything.

“Hey Doc!” Anya said and waved at Immonen. He was speaking with Renn and some representatives from the European Union. He looked up and smiled at Anya as he saw her. Anya’s throat constricted and warmth unrelated to her Sun’s Heart rose in her cheeks but she just cleared her throat. Immonen said something in Finnish to one of the EU reps and they both laughed before he approached Anya, Riley, Chell, and Pan.

“Yes? Something you need?” Immonen asked. Anya told him what Chell had just said and the doctor tugged on his earlobe as he thought.

“Well, they’re alive in a way I don’t understand. I asked Mona to let me scan various undead creatures she summons and she complied. I couldn’t touch the ghost, so that was out. But the skeletons, zombies, and liches were all possible. They were quite dead physically, but still moving. Their bodies were inert and decaying, but the necromancy Mona employed kept them animate. Like a puppet and puppeteer, sort of.

“The aliens aren’t dead or undead. Their bodies function, at least based off my brief contact with them but it is not…ah, how do I say this…it is not natural in a way I can understand. There was energy there, growth, but not in a healthy or rational way. I would know more if I had one to study.”

“So do they need food or anything? Or are we their food? Maybe not our bodies, but our signals, or our skills? Are they starving for us?” Anya asked. Immonen tugged on his earlobe again and shook his head.

“I’m reluctant to say until I have more data. A creature surviving by absorbing non-physical sustenance…well it’s not exactly common, but so is most of what we have encountered as of late. I’ll put the idea in my research and if we get a live specimen, conduct tests.”

“Good idea, Chell,” Anya said.

“Just something I wasn’t sure about,” Chell said and hugged Pan as she smiled awkwardly.

“I should be getting back to the EU representatives. We were going to discuss forming a joint squad with the western Asian teams,” Immonen said and waved as he started to walk away. Anya watched him go then hopped up out of her seat before he could get too far.

“Hey Doc! Garreth,” she said, using Immonen’s first name as she came up behind him. “One sec.”

“Yes?” he asked. Anya froze, and she heard Gary’s voice echoing in her head.

It’s the end of the world, kiddo. Nothing silly about telling somebody you wanna grab dinner, he had said a few days ago.

When had she last asked somebody out? Hell, when had she last been on a date?

A guy had asked her out her first year in New York. They’d been together a few months, long enough for Anya to consider him a boyfriend, but it hadn’t really gone anywhere. It had fizzled. She had probably last asked somebody out in college: a girl in her International Finance class. It had started off well-enough, but gotten too serious too quickly for Anya’s liking. She’d also still been holding out hope for her mother coming around to liking her one day and had figured her daughter playing for both teams would be a bridge too far.

But now…

Now the possible end of the invasion was in sight. She had hope things might turn out okay. And once the teams for the upcoming assault got organized and plans were laid, there wouldn’t be much time for personal things until it was all over.

“You wanna maybe get dinner?” Anya asked and tried to smile despite her nerves. Immonen raised his eyebrow and looked at his watch.

“It’s dinner? Is it dinner or supper or lunch in English?” he asked. “If you want to join me and the other European hosts, I don’t see why it would be a problem.”

Anya took a deep breath and let it out. “No, I mean like…dinner. You and me. Alone. A date.”

Immonen tilted his head to one side, then his eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Oh! Dinner! That kind of dinner.”

“That kind of dinner,” Anya said and smiled. She was screaming to herself in the back of her head. A giant red “ABORT” button flashed in her mind but it was too late for that. She’d had a chance to back out with the language misunderstanding a second ago, but she’d barreled through. Do or die.

“I’m sorry,” Immonen said and Anya felt her shoulders start to droop, “I didn’t understand earlier. I’ve been a bit distracted by, well, everything. Dinner alone on a date sounds very nice.”

“Whoa, no shit?” Anya asked and grinned. Immonen laughed and nodded.

“No shit, I promise,” he said. “I would have asked myself but everything and everyone has been so busy, and I didn’t want to become a distraction…”

“Me too!” Anya said. “You were always researching and helping and——”

“And you were always in military briefings and ready to risk your life by hunting or going on patrol——”

“——and then this whole thing with the decoys popped up and it’s been non-fucking-stop for days——”

“——Well, I didn’t know if you just considered me as a doctor, or your doctor because——”

“For god’s sake, he said yes already!” Gary said from nearby.

Anya and Immonen both looked up and realized that not a few people had begun to watch them, many with bemused smirks.

“Ah, fuck,” Anya said. Immonen cleared his throat in the sudden quiet.

“Well, I will message you about it later,” Immonen said and then gave Anya’s hand a quick, awkward shake before hurrying away. Anya strode quickly back to her seat and threw herself into her chair.

“Damn, kid. You two might just be made for each other,” Gary said and laughed.

“What’s going on?” Samaira asked as she returned from her aside with Johnson and MacDougal.

“Anya just asked the doctor out on a date,” Chell said and waggled her eyebrows.

“That’s a mating thing right?” Pan asked.

“Jesus! Pan!” Anya said.

“Oh. That’s great!” Samaira said and smiled. Anya smiled but then glanced at Chell. Chell’s attention flickered to Samaira and a look of concern passed over her face. Then she saw Anya looking at her and looked away.. Before Anya could say anything, Gary spoke up.

“Personal business aside, what’d the General and the good Director want with you?” he asked.

“Uh,” Samaira said and blinked as if clearing her head. “Just…had some questions about how much water I could move and if they could run some ocean-centric strategies past me. Since the aliens have been taking to deep water and such.”

“Makes sense,” Gary said and nodded. “Speaking of strategies, we should start figuring out which of the groups we’d be best at targeting. I think the Euro and Asian teams are looking at the ones in the Pacific and Indian oceans.”

“There’s one a few hundred miles out in the Atlantic, East of Florida. At least as of yesterday when Brody, Cooper, and the Aussies took out their targets,” Samaira said.

“Maybe we could team up with Brody?” Pan asked.

“Or the South American teams,” Chell said.

“I’ll go talk to Galtero,” Anya said, referring to the Brazilian mecha pilot.

“I’ll check in with the General again,” Samaira said and walked back to where Johnson was conversing with MacDougal and a few senators. Chell hurried away in the opposite direction and Anya started to ask her if she was all right when Gary patted her shoulder.

“Good job, kid,” he said. “I’ve always regretted the chances I never took. Never the ones I did though,” he said. “If you want any ideas for good spots, there’s a pretty fantastic steak house I took Mary to on our first anniversary. Oysters Rockefeller to die for.”

“Thanks,” Anya said. “I’ll let you know once we find time to actually eat during something that isn’t a strategy meeting.”

“You do that,” Gary said and then let out a long breath as he studied the bustling Ready Room. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“What?” Anya asked.

“Everything. All these bureaucrats, military men, politicians, working together. People who would’ve ripped each other’s throats out for oil, or voters, or some imaginary border-line drawn on a map just two months ago, now shaking hands and having lunch. When I was in Vietnam, nobody knew what the hell was going on. So many dead over the dumbest political bullshit. Economic systems. Military fronts. A goddam hill in the middle of nowhere.

“But now, finally, something to fight for that’s worth a damn. Those senators over there couldn’t have gotten a bill about food regulations passed if they had all year, but now: battle plans to save the entire planet drawn up in an afternoon. Industry, military, people of all nations together doing something for the planet. Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Geez, Gary. You’re gonna make a girl cry,” Anya said and smirked.

“I’m serious, kid. I know people have died and it’s been awful, but if this is the end result, maybe it was worth it. They didn’t die in vain. Not like the kids I knew did.”

“Well, hopefully we can keep the death toll down from here on out. Been doing pretty good so far,” Anya said. “Mostly thanks to you.”

“All of us,” Gary said. “That’s what it’s all about. All of us.”

Anya looked out over the crowd and nodded. General Huang, who had tried to kill her and pretty much all the hosts in this room a few weeks prior, was now laughing with KoreaMan and making lunch plans with Zoya from Russia.

“Yeah,” Anya said. All of us.”