Devourer by Liu Cixin Page A

that had gripped him. Slightly shaken, he said, “All right then, my friends, we will go together, back to the Devourer Empire.” Seeing the expression on the humans' face, he raised a claw and continued. “You will, of course, not be food there. You are great warriors and you will be made citizens of the Empire. And there is still work that needs your attention: Build a museum of the human civilization.”
    The eyes of every single Earth soldier turned to the Marshal. He stood deep in thought, then slowly nodded.
    One after the other, the Earth's soldiers boarded Fangs' spaceship. Because its ladder was intended for Dinosaurs, they had to pull their entire body up each rung to climb inside. The Marshal was the last human to board the ship. Holding to the lowest rung of the ship's ladder, he pulled his body off the ground. Just at that moment something in the ground beneath his feet caught his eye. He stopped in mid-pull, looking down. For a long time he hung there, motionless.
    He had seen … an ant.
    The ant had climbed out of that box of soil. Never losing sight of the tiny insect, the Marshal let go of the ladder and squatted down. Lowering his hand, he let the ant clamber onto his glove. Raising it to his face, he carefully studied the small creature. Its obsidian body glinted in the sunlight. Holding it, the Marshal walked over to the box. There he cautiously returned the ant to the tiny blades of grass. As he lowered his hand he noticed more ants climbing about the soil beneath the grass.
    Raising himself, he turned to Fangs who was standing right by his side. “When we leave, this grass and these ants will be the dominant species on Earth.”
    Fangs was at a loss for words.
    “Earth's civilized life seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Dinosaurs, humans and now probably, ants,” the Marshal said, returning to his squat. He looked on, his eyes deep with love and admiration as he watched these small beings live their lives in the grass. “It is their turn.”
    As he spoke, the Earth's soldiers reemerged from the spaceship. Climbing down to Earth, they returned to the box of living soil. Standing around it they, too, were filled with deep love.
    Fangs shook his head. “The grass cannot survive. It might even rain, here at the seaside, but it won't do for the ants.”
    “Is the atmosphere too thin? They seem to being doing just fine at the moment,” someone noted.
    “No, the air is not the problem. They are not like humans and can live well in this atmosphere. The real crux of the matter is that they will have nothing to eat,” Fangs replied.
    “Can't they eat the grass?” another voice joined in.
    “And then? How will they live on? In this thin air the grass will grow very slowly. Once the ants have eaten all the blades, they will starve. In many ways their situation mirrors the destiny of the Devourer civilization,” Fangs mused.
    “Can you leave behind some food from your spaceship for them?” another soldier asked, almost pleaded.
    Fangs again shook his massive head. “There is nothing in my spaceship besides water and the hibernation system. On that note, we will hibernate until we catch up with the Devourer. But what about your spaceship, do you have any food onboard?”
    Now it was the Marshal's turn to shake his head. “Nothing but a few injections of nourishment solution; useless.”
    Pointing to the spaceship, Fangs interrupted the discussion. “We must hurry. The Empire is accelerating quickly. If we tarry, we will not catch up.”
    Silence.
    “Marshal, we will stay behind.” It was the young lieutenant who broke the silence.
    The Marshal forcefully nodded.
    “Stay behind? What are you up to?” Fangs asked in astonishment, turning from one to the other. “The hibernation equipment on your spaceship is almost completely depleted and you have no food. Do you plan to stay and wait for death?”
    “Staying will be the first step,” the Marshal calmly answered.
    “What?” the ever