London had been silent for just over a day. Twenty-six hours since one of the largest cities on the planet, home to millions, had become as quiet as the darkest corner of the Arctic.

Many of the hosts had been assembled on the mainland, in Paris. Those that hadn’t were aggressively patrolling the planet and the upper atmosphere for Omega. A state of emergency had been declared across Great Britain, and anybody near London had fled as far as they could as quickly as possible. This had caused more problems, especially given that much of the railway and bus lines that went through London, (which was to say, almost all of them) weren’t functioning. At best, public transportation was operating at a severely reduced capacity, leaving many to rely on individual transport which jammed roads and left countless motorists stranded and in panic at being trapped so near an alien attack.

Nobody had actually confirmed an alien attack yet, however, at least, not publicly. The world news was still assuming it was one, and no world leaders had stepped forward to correct them.

Anya sat with Gary, Samaira, Pan, Ramierez, MacDougal, General Johnson, and President Hanover. It was one of the three times she’d ever been near the President, and had to admit, while he had a reputation for being a bit bland on camera, it was nowhere near as bland as he was in-person. She had a chair behind him, and it was like sitting near a box saltine crackers, or a jug of tap water. He didn’t move or speak unless one of his handlers, speech writers, or somebody like MacDougal or Johnson said something to him. Otherwise he just sat there, stared straight ahead, and very rarely managed to blink.

All of them were seated on one side of the Senate Chamber in Luxembourg Palace. The chamber was a high-ceilinged, opulent space, with hundreds of seats set in a half circle, all facing a central wooden dais with several more seats atop it. Behind the dais were a number of imposing white statues that loomed over the chamber, and all of it was lit by a half-circle skylight that bathed the chamber in a white glow.

It would have been serene, were it not for the hundreds of strained voices filling the place with a panicked cacophony of questions, theories, and demands for immediate action. General Huang and Li Qiu from China were present along with a number of government officials including the Chinese President. Admiral Jeffries, Cooper, and Brody were on the other side of the room along with Australia’s prime minister. Jiro, General Sato, and the Japanese Prime Minister and members of the Diet sat next to them, as well as the Prime Minister of Canada, Harrison, and Francis.

Anya recognized Kemuel and Alejandro (who had grown a new leg) from the fights in Hawaii and the Bahamas. She couldn’t remember their names, but there were several other Caribbean hosts and government representatives with them. Amahle stood with her fellow South African host, Bernard, and the small menagerie of animals he always had with him. He waved at Anya and smiled as she caught his eye, while amahle just nodded her head once.

The hosts Anya had been most curious to see, Renn and Mona, weren’t present. Yai, the old lady from Thailand, had been in the main chamber, but was summoned away by an aide. Neither the President of France nor the Prime Minister of the UK were present, though Anya had been told they were here somewhere.

Immonen was still in Gary’s containment facility, under heavy guard. He had woken up just a day after the event thanks to both Yai and Samaira’s healing abilities, but said he was weak, had a terrible headache, and needed rest. He’d used his own abilities on himself, but had said that Omega had thoroughly drained him and he’d still need a while to be back to normal. Anya had visited him a few times, but he’d only been awake for short periods. She sighed and then glanced up as Gary grumbled.

“Just like a bureaucrat,” Gary said. “Hurry up and wait. They call us all out here like the world’s gonna burn and then keep us sitting on our asses while they do their own thing.”

“Nobody forced you to come,” MacDougal said.

“No, but it’d be stupid not to,” Gary said. “Just because I didn’t join your club doesn’t mean I don’t care about what’s happening. It just means I don’t wanna do PR stunts for you.”

“Are we in trouble again?” Pan asked.

“No, it’s okay Pan,” Samaira said and stroked his back. Chandrali, in her house cat form, sat on the long table in front of Samaira and flicked her tail at Pan. “They want our help. It’s another alien attack. Or we think it is.”

“Like Hawaii?”

“Not the same,” Anya said, “but yeah, a big attack on a big city. The attack is bigger and so is the city. Maybe worse than Hawaii.”

“Can you you just hit the alien with another volcano?” Pan asked.

“Volcanoes have shown to have low approval scores with voters along the west coast,” President Hanover said in the same tone of voice as an ad for laundry detergent.

“Uh, yes, Mr. President,” MacDougal said. “And no, Pan, no hitting things with volcanoes unless you’re in the middle of nowhere. I know the last time wasn’t your idea but…well, moot point. Not really a problem in this part of the world.”

“I thought it was pretty cool little buddy,” Ramierez whispered and Pan smiled. MacDougal shot him an icy glare and he cleared his throat and turned his attention to the floor.

“Well somebody needs to do something,” An ya said. “Sitting on our asses out here isn’t going to help the people of London. Assuming they haven’t all been marched into the Thames already like everywhere else.”

“You can’t just go rushing in all the time,” MacDougal said and Anya wanted to throttle the older woman. She caught Chell looking at her with wide, frightened eyes and forced herself to calm down.

“I’m not gonna do anything unless I get the go ahead,” Anya said, both to MacDougal and Chell. MacDougal grunted while Chell let out a relieved sigh.

There was a sudden buzz of activity from one corner of the chamber as several people entered in a group: Yai, Mona, Renn, the President of France, and the Prime Minister of the UK, Stark. The voices within the chamber rose exponentially as all of them took to the wooden dais. The French president, Alex Bisset, took the speaking podium and tapped the microphone several times, and the gentle thumping echoed through the chamber. President Bisset was thin, tall, and bald. Both his face and his immaculate, ocean-blue pinstripe suit had sharp edges and angular corners.

“Attention, a moment please,” Bisset said in heavily accented English. “We have several announcements to make.”

The chamber quieted with almost eerie speed, going from a chorus of activity to tomb-like silence in just a few heartbeats.

“Thank you. I have spoken with Prime Minister Stark about what he would like to do regarding this situation. I have also spoken to our premier host, Mssr. Renn. We have confirmed the attack on London matches the others carried out on villages and coastal towns over the past two weeks. Obviously none have been on a scale as grand as London, but it has been confirmed. Renn, as many of you will know, is in possession of psychic abilities that match those of the attack on London. However——”

President Bisset raised a hand as several people within the Senate Chamber stood and shouted variations of the obvious question, “Did he do it?”

“However…” Bisset continued and lowered his hand, “Renn was on joint patrol with French and Russian pilots over the Arctic circle and Russia’s primary host, Zoya, at the time London went silent. All pilots have confirmed that Renn never left, and while Renn does have the ability to duplicate himself, it is limited to several miles, which his AI has confirmed directly.”

“What does that mean? It’s his AI,” Ramierez said.

“They can’t lie,” Anya said. “They can say stupid shit, but they can’t tell a direct lie about anything, including the menu system. If it said Renn’s duplication skill only has an effective range of a few miles, then that’s true. Besides…I don’t know why he’d just attack London.”

“I could always ask him, or be near him when somebody else asks,” Chell said. “See if he’s lying or using a half-truth or something.”

“Not necessary for now, but good to know,” MacDougal said. “Now hush.”

“As many of you also know, Host Immonen of Finland came under direct attack and control by a psychic alien power mere days ago, which has resulted in the loss of the primary factory in America,” Bisset continued. Gary harrumphed. “We believe this was done in advance of the attack on London, to limit our ability to respond with maximum effectiveness. However, we have discussed some contingency plans on how to proceed, which I will now let PM Stark share.”

Prime Minister Stark took Bisset’s place at the microphone. He was a man of medium height but above average width. It wasn’t fat, but bone and muscle that gave Stark his imposing broadness. He had a head of thick gray hair and jowls like a bloodhound. His expression gave Anya the impression of being both exhausted and supernaturally pissed off.

“Right. We’ve had the Chinese drones and the dragonfly things from Host Hendricks soaring over the city and taking pictures and video. There are people down there, but it’s all foot traffic, and very minimal. Some people have just stayed still as statues for the hours we’ve been watching them. Same with traffic: cars have all come to a stop, but dunno if people are still in there.

“Not sure if we want to send in any ground mechanicals yet. So, we’d like to send in Renn, and the American host Rachel Park as scouts. Both have strong resistance to psychic attack. Renn has already agreed, and we’ll be discussing this plan with President Hanover once we have a break, but we wanted to hurry this along.”

Something halfway between a scream and a squeak burst out of Chell’s mouth as Stark mentioned her full name. Dozens of heads turned to face her and she buried her face in her hands.

“Keep it together, Ms. Park,” MacDougal muttered.

“If their initial survey pans out all right, we send more hosts in to scour the city, but all of them within range of either Renn or Ms. Park, who will be providing psychic defense. Renn has stated he can provide optimal cover for up to four hosts for several hours while Chell could cover a few more. We believe that alien Omega may not be in London, but that it may have left a sort of psychic trail behind it there if it’s having to maintain this attack on my city,” Stark said.

“We’ve prepared a list of the four hosts Renn has suggested join him for this mission. From China, Li Qiu; from England, Mona; from Trinidad, Kemuel; and from America, Rachel and Anya. Hosts, please confer with your heads of state or military command, then we will proceed. We’ll take a thirty-minute recess.”

“Well,” Anya said and looked at Chell, “what do you think?”

The young woman looked at Anya with huge eyes, bright with terror, and gulped.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Anya said.