Page 16 (1/1)

"I shoot rays out of s to stone, apparently," Daniela says warily She tosses her head, her braids bouncing "Would’ve changed onna stick et it," Nine says, pointing at her "Because Medusa"

"Yeah, duot it"

"I like her," I say to Sah no one forced us to choose seats at opposite ends of the table, there’s a very clear line between us and the military personnel that outnued at the far end where Lawson sits at the head The closest one to our part of the table is Walker, a human buffer zone, seats empty on either side of her She stares down at the notes in front of her, none of the other govern any effort to chat with her

The twins take seats a little behind and on either side of Lawson They look like bodyguards Hell, it occurs to me that most of the people in this roouy like Lawson before us Besides the official types sitting at the table, there’s a bunch of straight-up soldiers hanging around against the walls, their rifles pointed down but still very much loaded and ready I’uns and all, but that doesn’tin close quarters with all this firepower

On the wall behind Lawson there’s a huge touch-screen display with a hted with oeles, London and about twenty more Those must be where Setrákus Ra’s warships are posted Then, in the United States only, there are a bunch of green dots, much smaller than the warships but numerous As I look closer, I realize that those dots all foradorian hot spots These anized and ready to strike back

When I look down fro iveshis attention to the rest of the rooet started," Lawson announces, his voice casual but carrying, with a soft Southern accent All the side conversations ilance around Mark and Ada, but Lawson’s speech is already under way

"For those of you who don’t already know eneral clearly intends this for our group, since there’s no doubt in overnranted to me by the president to coordinate the country’s response to the Mogadorian invasion"

Lawson pauses and waits for a response None of us say anything Personally, I’lance down the table and see John staring straight at the general, waiting for him to continue

Lawson crosses his arms and clears his throat "You let me know if I move too fast for you," he says with a dry smile "I’m not a man astes his words, and I don’t often find ers, be they extraterrestrials or otherwise"

"You won’t go too fast for us," John says, his gaze unwavering

Lawson nods once, then looks at the nonpowered humans in the roo people have likely killed more hostile aliens than all the branches of our armed service combined Respect that and respect their presence"

I don’t knohat toyoung and the next he’s singing our praises at the expense of his people Maybe he’s just one of those dudes who tries to keep everyone on their toes through constant negativity

Lawson picks up a tablet device and hits a button A countdown clock appears on the screen behind hiative

"We are approximately ten hours beyond Setrákus Ra’s deadline for unconditional surrender, which included a deade’ Garde as well as LANEs To our knowledge, only Moscow has coan arresting dozens of youths last night Our agents report that acies and are likely antigovernitators who the adet rid of while si the hostiles"