Doctor Who_ Hope - Mark Clapham [46]
The attack came in 3006. The invasion began with a full scale landing in Detroit, which gave the invaders a beachhead in North America. Washington fell shortly after and most of the major missile bases went down soon after that. Within hours what was once the United States of America was overrun, and the rest of the world did not even know who these attackers were.
Only hours after the first strike Maria was rushed into an underground bunker beneath the base at which she and her son had lived for the last couple of years. She was the mother of Silver, one of the militarys finest and most respected, and even in a time of crisis she was treated with the utmost reverence. A corporal showed her to a quiet waiting room, a beigepainted place with leather seats and a drinks machine. She sat with a plastic cup of bitter coffee, letting it go cold between her hands. The sound of sirens echoed in the distance, occasionally footsteps clattered past at hectic speeds. It was the end of the world, she was sure of it. Two facts came to her with startling clarity: firstly, that as Silvers mother and a resident of this base she was one of the safest people on Earth; and secondly, that this would not make the slightest bit of difference and she would be dead within hours.
The door burst open and her son walked in, striding towards her. It was all she could do not to flinch. She loved Silver, and she was terribly proud of him. But all that strength, all that intelligence... she could not help but be slightly in awe of him, even though he was her own son.
Mother, said Silver, dropping to one knee before her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently and with mathematically precise affection. The human side of his face was a mask of distress. I am being sent away, he said simply.
Away? Maria echoed.
Yes, said Silver. The war is lost on Earth already, and the High Command are sending us out in search of ways of liberating our world. They have an experimental time device, mother. We are being sent out into history, into the future, across all of time and space, to obtain reinforcements or technologies to save humankind. Grey has already been sent into the past, and I am being sent into the future to bring tomorrows technology back with me. I will return, Mother I promise.
And then, in spite of Silvers ability to manipulate human emotions as if they were simple raw data, Maria knew without a doubt that he was lying. Whether he knew himself she did not know, but either way the promises he was making were lies. He would not return from this trip, as he had no reason to. Humanity had not been his race when he had been locked in his sickbed as a child, and although his few years as a young officer had brought him close to the human race, the operations that saved his life and made him Silver had cast him out once more. He was a man apart as he had been a child apart, and as something other than a human being he would have no reason to return to this doomed Earth. He would go out and find his own place in the universe. She hoped he might perhaps breed a race of people like himself while he was out there. She didnt like to think of him being all alone, forever. Behind that faceplate she still saw a little boy cut off from his peers, isolated from those around him, happier with the company of machines.
She touched his metal cheek. To her surprise she realised it wasnt cold, but had a warmth beneath it, like an overworked engine.
Good luck, she told him. I hope you find what you need.
Silver looked up at her then, and a pretence