Free The End of All Things: The Fourth Instalment by John Scalzi

the classics.”
    The waiter had finished cleaning up the spilled drink and broken glass and ducked away. Danielle looked at me. “Well? Are you going to sit down or are we going to keep standing here awkwardly?”
    “I’m waiting for an invitation,” I said. “When we left off, I was told to keep walking.”
    Danielle grinned. “Harry Wilson, will you have brunch with me?”
    “I would be delighted,” I said, and stepped over the railing. When I did Danielle came over to me and gave me a fierce hug, and a peck on the cheek.
    “Jesus, it’s good to see you,” she said.
    “Thank you,” I said. We both took our seats.
    “Now tell me why you’re here,” she said, after we sat down.
    “You don’t think it’s just to see you?” I asked.
    “As much as I would like to, no,” she said. “It’s not like you live down the road.” She frowned for a moment. “How did you get here, anyway?”
    “It’s classified.”
    “I’m close enough to stab you with a fork.”
    “I used a very small, experimental craft.”
    “A flying saucer.”
    “More like a space dune buggy.”
    “A ‘space dune buggy’ doesn’t sound very safe.”
    “It’s perfectly safe, ninety-eight percent of the time.”
    “Where did you park it?”
    “I didn’t. It burned up in the upper atmosphere and I did a jump the rest of the way down.”
    “You and your jumps, Harry. There are easier ways to visit the planet Earth.”
    “At the moment there’s really not,” I said. “At least not for me.”
    The waiter returned with a new Bloody Mary for Danielle, and she ordered for the both of us. “I hope that’s all right,” she said, of the ordering.
    “You know this place better than I do.”
    “So you dropped in. Tell me why.”
    “I need you to get me in to speak to the U.S. secretary of state.”
    “You need to speak to my dad.”
    “Well, what I really need to do is speak to the entire United Nations,” I said. “But for the very short term I will settle for your father, yes.”
    “You couldn’t send a note?”
    “This isn’t really something I could have put into a note.”
    “Try it now.”
    “All right,” I said. “‘Dear Danielle Lowen: How are you? I am fine. The group that destroyed Earth Station and made it look like the Colonial Union did it is now planning to nuke the surface of your planet until it glows, and frame the Conclave for it. Hope you are well. Looking forward to rescuing you in space again soon. Your friend, Harry Wilson.’”
    Danielle was quiet for a moment. “All right, you have a point,” she said, finally.
    “Thank you.”
    “That’s accurate?” she asked. “The part about Equilibrium planning to use nuclear weapons against the Earth.”
    “Yes,” I said. “I have all the documents and data with me.” I tapped my temple to indicate my BrainPal. “The information is not yet one hundred percent confirmed but it comes from sources we can verify.”
    “Why does Equilibrium want to do that?”
    “You’re going to hate the reason, I assure you.”
    “Of course I’m going to hate it. There’s no good reason to nuke an entire planet.”
    “It’s not really about Earth,” I said. “Equilibrium is pitting the Colonial Union and the Conclave against each other in the hope they’ll destroy each other.”
    “I thought they had a different plan for that. One that didn’t involve the Earth.”
    “They did, but then we found out about it. So they changed their plans to include you.”
    “They’ll kill billions here just to make the two of you fight up there.”
    “That’s about right.”
    Danielle glowered. “This is a fucked-up universe we live in, Harry.”
    “I’ve been telling you that for as long as I’ve known you.”
    “Yes, but before this I could still believe you might be wrong about it.”
    “Sorry.”
    “It’s not your fault,” Danielle said. “It might be the Colonial Union’s fault. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is, if you go back far