Waking Gods (Themis Files, #2)

by Sylvain Neuvel

—My understanding of space travel is very limited, but if traveling from their home world to our planet takes several years, or decades, they might not be aware of what has transpired recently, or that we have discovered the robot they buried. This may sound stupid to you— —No! Not at all. You’re a little off. It takes about ten days to get from there to here. But you’re absolutely right in that they’re probably completely unaware of what happened during that time. If you did anything really bad last week, you might just get away with it. —Making fun of my ignorance will not stop me from asking. I am trying to prevent a war. There must be something you can tell me that will increase the likelihood of a peaceful resolution. —Do you like squirrels? —I ask for your help in preventing a conflict of apocalyptic proportions and your answer is: “Do you like squirrels?” —Yes. I have a good squirrel story. —Of course. By all means. —Squirrels can hide thousands of nuts every year. They— —What species? —Does it matter? —There are several species. Some bury nuts individually in multiple locations, others will stockpile them aboveground. —I don’t know. The grey ones with the bushy tail. The ones in the parks. They bury thousands of nuts every fall and they look for them during winter when they get hungry. Squirrels have tiny brains, though. They can’t remember where they hid them all, so— —Studies suggest they recover about one-quarter of the nuts they bury, but— —That’s what I said. ...