A muscle in Stella's cheek twitched. A tear formed in her eye and spilled onto her cheek, dampening it.
"It's all right, Larry," she whispered. "It's all right—Rover...."
The bright blue ship, the flagship Rover, dipped down, screaming into the atmosphere of Earth. It screamed over land masses and oceans, and land masses again.
People in fields of wheat and corn and barley looked up and saw it pass, and in their eyes was fear. People in streets and parks looked up and saw it pass, and in their eyes was fear.
Rover stood before the viewscreen, his two lens eyes bright, and saw the fields of grain, the streets, the parks, as they passed below.
He saw the little dots that were upraised heads. In the secret heart of his mind he could see them. No matter what they did with him, he would love them. Always.
They were his gods.
And Stella and Larry were his mistress and master. That was all he asked for, all he wanted.
Not power. Not the Earth. His soul.