Waking Gods (Themis Files, #2)

by Sylvain Neuvel

Melissa made fun of me at school today. She’s all about boys now. Enzo and his friends started calling me La Evita Loca again and she joined in. She said: “Look! Crazy Eva’s gonna cry!” I hate her.

First paragraph

I may believe in God, but I’m at war with Him. I’m a scientist, I try to answer questions, one at a time, so there’s a little less room for Him as the answer. I plant my flag, and inch by inch, I take away His kingdom. It’s odd, but none of this has ever occurred to me before. I never even saw a real contradiction between science and religion. I see it now, I see it clear as day. I’ve crossed that line we’re not supposed to cross. I died. And I’m still here. I cheated death. I took away God’s power. I killed God and I feel empty inside.

“The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land.” Almost

Scientists are like children: They always want to know everything, they all ask too many questions, and they never follow orders to the letter.

—Too late. I’m curious now. How do you know so much about squirrels? —Work. Squirrels do not simply hide nuts and dig them out when they get hungry, they will check on their cache sites to make sure they have not been pillaged, and will often…reorganize their stock, rebury nuts in different locations. When a squirrel surveying its hiding sites encounters another squirrel looking for food, it will use various techniques—visiting empty sites, pretending to bury something—to deceive the predator and avoid revealing valuable nut-location information. I briefly monitored a research project hoping to mimic squirrel deceptive behavior in robots and automated drones. A robot designed to guard military supplies could, for example, alter its patrol route to lead an approaching enemy away from what it is trying to protect.

—I am the squirrel? —Yes, you’re Little Larry. You see, I could tell you many things, fill your head with all sorts of information to help you come up with that “best course of action” you’re looking for. Unfortunately, it’s not you they came to see. They’re curious about mankind right now, not you. If I told you anything, you’d try real hard to control the situation, but you can’t. Inevitably, you’d fail, because you’re not the only squirrel in the park. You might be able to stall NATO or London for a few days, but that won’t last forever. People do what people do, and you’ll be miserable in the end because you’ll blame yourself for something you really have no power over. I like you. I don’t want you to be miserable.

You, my friend, are a very complex, awe-inspiring configuration of matter. What you’re made of isn’t really important. Everything in the universe is made of the same thing. You’re a configuration. Your essence, as you call it, is information. It doesn’t matter where the material comes from. Do you think it matters when it comes from?

—No offense, Kara, but I don’t think either of us will get to grow old, especially if we’re together. The only question is: Do I wanna die young with anyone else?

The bad news is I think I’m gonna die here before I can tell anyone.

—If Mr. Couture were here, he would find an appropriate quote from a fictional character. As I do not share his enthusiasm for science fiction, I will simply tell you that “trying” suggests you lack confidence in your ability to succeed. Find Themis.

Luck is believing you’re lucky. Go get ’em.

It’s…It’s magnificent…They’re just looking at me, all of them. It’s like…Times Square, the first time you see it. It’s like an army of gods, each with its own color.