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Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, Sasha. The man on the gurney was the

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Speaker 1: most comprehensively broken human Sasha had ever seen. His jaw

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Speaker 1: had been ripped completely out of its socket and shattered

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Speaker 1: in four places. His eyes had been gouged into horrible, smashed,

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Speaker 1: grape looking things. His hands and fingers were all broken,

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Speaker 1: as were his feet and shins. His ears appeared to

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Speaker 1: have been bitten off. His tongue had been severed, and

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Speaker 1: the wound cauterized with something that had charred the flesh black.

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Speaker 1: Sasha hadn't known a person could take such punishment and survive.

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Speaker 1: The chart at the end of the bed identified him

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Speaker 1: as Sergeant Lufkin, a two year veteran martyr whod been

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Speaker 1: guarding a checkpoint outside of Dallas. He was conscious. Every

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Speaker 1: now and then he'd thrash about and let out a

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Speaker 1: burbling moan, but the man didn't appear capable of any

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Speaker 1: sort of intelligible communication. Well these aren't combat injuries, doctor

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Speaker 1: Brand said. These men look almost like they've been in

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Speaker 1: a car wreck, only the damage is too precise and

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Speaker 1: too liberately targeted. I've never seen anything like it. It

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Speaker 1: was Sasha's duty to administer the men's pain killers just

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Speaker 1: a tiny drop of morphine each. It wasn't enough by

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Speaker 1: any proper hospital standards. The soldiers were all in clear agony,

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Speaker 1: but the Heavenly Kingdom was short on pain killers, and

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Speaker 1: this was the most they could afford to spare for invalids,

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Speaker 1: as doctor Brandt had called them. This frustrated Sasha. Her

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Speaker 1: mother's hospital could have restored all four men to full

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Speaker 1: health and vigor with perhaps a month of treatment and

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Speaker 1: physical therapy, but the Heavenly Kingdom forbade that grown organs

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Speaker 1: and limbs cloning contravened the Lord's will. Sasha agreed with

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Speaker 1: that in theory. She'd fled to the Heavenly Kingdom partly

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Speaker 1: because she believed juven treatments had robbed the ampt of

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Speaker 1: its humanity. But still it seemed so wrong that these

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Speaker 1: men would go the rest of their lives as twitching

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Speaker 1: and sinceate lumps of flesh. The number of things that

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Speaker 1: felt wrong about this place grew every day. The executions

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Speaker 1: had been the first big shock to her system, but

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Speaker 1: she'd accepted Helen's justification. The Bible was filled with decent

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Speaker 1: men doing awful things in times of war. The gallows

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Speaker 1: weren't pretty, but they were hardly without biblical precedent. She'd

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Speaker 1: been unable to justify Alexander's actions in the same way. Oh, yes,

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Speaker 1: she knew polygamy was condoned by the Word of God.

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Speaker 1: She'd read about Lammick and Abraham, and Solomon and David,

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Speaker 1: and of course Jacob, the patriarch of the Twelve Tribes

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Speaker 1: of Israel and a parent namesake for Alexander's order. She

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Speaker 1: still hated what he'd done to her. Sasha couldn't bring

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Speaker 1: herself to believe that a man as truly good as

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Speaker 1: Pastor Mike would condone their actions. Polygamy is a biblically

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Speaker 1: sound strategy for a people on the edge of destruction,

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Speaker 1: He'd written in one of his Revelator columns. But it

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Speaker 1: is not the human ideal and our Lord's eyes, the

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Speaker 1: most perfect union is one man, one woman, and as

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Speaker 1: many children as they can bear. Had he decided since

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Speaker 1: that the Heavenly Kingdom was a people on the edge

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Speaker 1: of destruction. After the disastrous meet with Alexander, Sasha had

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Speaker 1: made her way back to the House of Miriam. Helen

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Speaker 1: was seated at her desk when Sasha barged in the

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Speaker 1: older woman looked tired, resigned, and almost depressed. It seemed

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Speaker 1: as if she'd been waiting for Sasha. Hello, dear, she said,

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Speaker 1: with a sad smile. I assume you just met Alexander. Yes,

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Speaker 1: Sasha couldn't help but shout. What they're doing is vile, Helen.

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Speaker 1: He wanted me as his third wife. He lied to

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Speaker 1: convince me to come down here. He says. There's a

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Speaker 1: whole group of martyrs. They call themselves Jacobeans, and they're

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Speaker 1: just catfishing girls down here. We have to tell someone.

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Speaker 1: This isn't okay, this is so wrong. I just I can't.

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Speaker 1: Sasha started to sob. She'd been too angry to cry

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Speaker 1: in front of Alexander. But the House of Miriam was

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Speaker 1: a safe place. Helen was a safe person. Sasha's grief

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Speaker 1: caught up with her anger, and she found herself doubled

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Speaker 1: over on the floor, racked by sobs. She lost herself

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Speaker 1: in sorrow for a few long heartbeats, and then Helen

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Speaker 1: was there beside her. She felt the older woman's strong

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Speaker 1: arms around her, felt a hand running through her hair.

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Speaker 1: There there, child, it's all right, it's going to be okay.

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Speaker 1: We have to do something Sasha choked out, Pastor Mike

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Speaker 1: needs to know what's being done in his name. She

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Speaker 1: looked up into Helen's eyes. She saw pain and anger there, Sasha.

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Speaker 1: Helen said, this will be hard for you to understand,

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Speaker 1: but the pastor is well aware of what those men

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Speaker 1: are doing. I've spoken to him about it myself. Sasha stiffened.

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Speaker 1: She pulled away from Helen, and Helen let her go.

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Speaker 1: They sat next to each other on the floor in

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Speaker 1: silence until Sasha spoke again. Authenticity is the strongest arrow

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Speaker 1: in our quiver. She quoted, When did that stop being true?

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Speaker 1: When did it become ok to lie in the name

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Speaker 1: of the Lord? Helen sighed and shook her head. It's

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Speaker 1: not OK, But so much about this world we live

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Speaker 1: in is not OK. They still murder forty thousand babies

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Speaker 1: per year in the American Federation, hundred thousand in the

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Speaker 1: California Republic. Sodomi and cloning are rampant across the world.

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Speaker 1: We the faithful are surrounded on all sides. Sasha recognized

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Speaker 1: that last line. It was the opening sentence of Pastor

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Speaker 1: Mike's infamous Sinful Continent in the Hands of an Angry

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Speaker 1: God column Sasha couldn't deny the truth of those words.

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Speaker 1: Everything Helen said was accurate. But but how are we

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Speaker 1: any better than them if we stooped to dishonesty to

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Speaker 1: fill the heavenly kingdom. Helen stiffened and straightened her back.

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Speaker 1: We are better than them, dear, because our goals are godly.

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Speaker 1: There was a hint of pride in her voice. We

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Speaker 1: are fighting for the one singular truth. You must never

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Speaker 1: forget that the men and women fighting for that truth

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Speaker 1: are flawed. We are all falluable, we will all fall

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Speaker 1: short of God's standards. But we are also the only

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Speaker 1: ones trying to meet God's standards. And that makes what

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Speaker 1: Alexander did okay. Helen shook her head. Sasha saw tears

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Speaker 1: in the corner of the older woman's eyes. No, child,

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Speaker 1: nothing makes it okay. You were wronged. That boy played

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Speaker 1: with your heart. He lied to you about his love,

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Speaker 1: and that's an un a givable thing. But you're here now,

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Speaker 1: aren't you, And that's what matters most. Helen held her

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Speaker 1: and talked with her for the next few hours. By

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Speaker 1: the time the other girls came back, she felt better.

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Speaker 1: Not good exactly, but better, stable enough to not burst

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Speaker 1: into tears during dinner. She kept quiet at meal time

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Speaker 1: and was glad that the others seemed too exhausted from

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Speaker 1: their day of labor to say much either. After dinner,

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Speaker 1: they had another hour of personal time. Anne and Susannah

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Speaker 1: zeroed in on her with military precision. Sasha's vaunted poker

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Speaker 1: face hadn't been enough to hide her sorrow. Her new

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Speaker 1: friends had guided her to a corner of the room

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Speaker 1: where they'd have relative privacy. What's wrong, Anne asked in

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Speaker 1: a low voice. She and Susannah both laid their hands

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Speaker 1: on Sasha's shoulders. Sasha reached up to grasp both their hands.

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Speaker 1: It happened automatically, as if by reflex, but it brought

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Speaker 1: her great comfort. She closed her eyes and stood quiet

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Speaker 1: for a moment as her mind and heart calmed down.

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Speaker 1: I met Alexander today, she said. Anne looked confused. Susannah frowned,

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Speaker 1: then laughed and asked, what did have? Bad breath? Where

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Speaker 1: his eyes all? She blew out her cheeks and crossed

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Speaker 1: her eyes. Anne laughed, but Sasha stayed quiet. Susannah smile faded. Sash,

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Speaker 1: She said, in a quiet voice, what happened? Sasha looked

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Speaker 1: from Susannah to Anne, she felt a surge of gratitude

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Speaker 1: and her new friends for being there at all. She

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Speaker 1: took a deep breath in and then told them what

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Speaker 1: had happened. She went quickly in the hope that her

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Speaker 1: clipped recitation of events would make it all seem less devastating. Oh, Sasha,

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Speaker 1: Anne said, I am so sorry. This has to be

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Speaker 1: some sort of mistake. Helen didn't seem to think so,

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Speaker 1: Sasha said, I don't think Alexander lied about the sons

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Speaker 1: of Jacob being powerful here. It's chaos right now, Sash.

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Speaker 1: Susannah assured her. Maybe a few guys can get away

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Speaker 1: with acting like this now during the war, but once

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Speaker 1: it's over, Pastor Mike won't let them treat us like this.

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Speaker 1: Anne nodded. Kyle gets rotated back from the front tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: she said, I'll ask him about the sons of Jacob.

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Speaker 1: Maybe he'll know something we can to. Sasha knew from

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Speaker 1: the look she'd seen in Helen's eyes that further protest

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Speaker 1: against the Jacobeans would be useless, and besides, she thought

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Speaker 1: the most painful thing was Alexander's dishonesty. He's already hurt

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Speaker 1: me as much as he can. She tried to convince

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Speaker 1: herself of that, just as she tried to enjoy the

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Speaker 1: company of her friends without dwelling on the face of

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Speaker 1: the boy who betrayed her. She was less than successful.

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Speaker 1: Bedtime came, the girls washed up, said their good nights,

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Speaker 1: and snuggled up in their beds. As usual, Sasha's mind

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Speaker 1: stayed awake and active. She wasn't having second thoughts exactly,

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Speaker 1: of course, not never, but so much about today felt wrong.

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Speaker 1: Alexander and the sons of Jacob, of course, but also

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Speaker 1: that the brave men she'd worked on that afternoon would

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Speaker 1: never walk or see your talk again. This is war,

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Speaker 1: she reminded herself. A great deal of it is going

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Speaker 1: to seem wrong. The next morning and afternoon went by

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Speaker 1: in a haze of industrious activity, breakfast and bandages and

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Speaker 1: preparing medications for doctors and nurses. Sasha lost herself in

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Speaker 1: the work and for a few hours was happy or sad.

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Speaker 1: Her shift at the hospital ended at five, She took

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Speaker 1: her nightly jeep ride back to the House of Miriam,

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Speaker 1: but rather than going right inside, she decided to take

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Speaker 1: a walk around the downtown strip. She had a few

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Speaker 1: ration scripts in her pocket enough that she could have

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Speaker 1: bought coffee or even a meal in the one functioning

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Speaker 1: restaurant still in town. But she wasn't hungry. She just

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Speaker 1: wanted to walk. This part of the Heavenly Kingdom looked

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Speaker 1: less like a war zone and more like a functional polus.

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Speaker 1: With every passing day. Most of the piles of rubble

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Speaker 1: and spent shell casings were gone. Now there was still

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Speaker 1: quite a lot of damage to all the buildings and

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Speaker 1: very few intact windows to be found, but that strange

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Speaker 1: spoiled milk smell was gone. Some shops were open again,

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Speaker 1: along with a small farmer's market about ten minutes down

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Speaker 1: from the House of Miriam. There were people out too,

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Speaker 1: Not many families yet, but she saw a lot of sweaty,

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Speaker 1: tired looking soldiers. They wandered in small groups and clustered

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Speaker 1: around the strips only functional cafe. There were refugees too,

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Speaker 1: and new immigrants to the Kingdom. Greeters in blue and

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Speaker 1: white uniforms the foot soul ers of the Kingdom's Immigration Department,

186
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Speaker 1: led columns of them down the main Dragon into old

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Speaker 1: government buildings that had been repurposed into housing collectives. Sasha

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Speaker 1: felt herself filled with a strange pride at odds with

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Speaker 1: all the doubt that still roiled in her gut. From

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Speaker 1: right here, the Heavenly Kingdom looked exactly like what had

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Speaker 1: been promised to her. It was still rough, raw and unfinished,

192
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Speaker 1: but it overflowed with the good intentions of godly men

193
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Speaker 1: and women. Helen had been right. Sasha could see that now,

194
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Speaker 1: as ugly as Alexander's lies were, as detestable as she

195
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Speaker 1: found the whole idea of the Jacobeans, the Heavenly Kingdom

196
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Speaker 1: was still a thing of beauty. It was still worth

197
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Speaker 1: fighting for. She just had to accept that it would

198
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Speaker 1: never be perfect. And hello, Sasha, she stopped. The hair

199
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Speaker 1: prickled up on the back of her neck. Sasha turned

200
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Speaker 1: around to face Alexander. Sasha had been lost in thoughts,

201
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Speaker 1: so it was hard to say for how long they've

202
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Speaker 1: been following her. Three other men were with him. They

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Speaker 1: all wore clean, pressed, new uniforms and side arms at

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Speaker 1: their waists. She didn't recognize the rank and sickney as

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Speaker 1: on their shoulders, but she did notice that each of

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Speaker 1: them wore a large gold badge in the shape of

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Speaker 1: a lion's head on their lapel. She'd seen a lot

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Speaker 1: of uniformed martyrs during her short time with the Heavenly Kingdom.

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Speaker 1: She'd never seen a badge like that before. Hello, Alexander.

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Speaker 1: She tried to keep her voice cool but respectful. Hello, brothers,

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Speaker 1: Peace be with you and also with you. The other

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Speaker 1: young men mumbled, by habit, are you walking alone right now?

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Speaker 1: My dea, Alexander asked, his lips curled up into an

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Speaker 1: unctuous smile. That worries me. These streets still on as

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Speaker 1: safe as they should be. Let us walk with you

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Speaker 1: a while. Sasha stiffened. There was something dark in Alexander's eyes.

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Speaker 1: She wondered if it had always been there and she

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Speaker 1: just ignored it before her heart began to race. Sweat

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Speaker 1: beat it on the back of her neck. There were

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Speaker 1: a lot of people around still, but she was away

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Speaker 1: from the most crowded part of the main drag. It

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be hard for three strong young men to move

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Speaker 1: her somewhere less visible. I'd prefer to walk alone, she

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Speaker 1: tried to keep her tone. Even Sasha felt like they

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Speaker 1: must still have heard the trembling in her voice. That's nonsense, Sasha,

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Speaker 1: Alexander said. No woman wants to be alone when they

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Speaker 1: can enjoy the company of their protect us. He stepped

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Speaker 1: towards her, reached a hand out and brushed the hair

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Speaker 1: away from her eyes. Alexander stroked her cheek. His hand

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Speaker 1: drifted down to her shoulder, where he applied firm pressure.

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Speaker 1: Sasha wanted to pull away, but Alexander was much stronger

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Speaker 1: than she was. He had a gun, and two friends

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Speaker 1: with guns, and apparently the personal support of Pastor Mike,

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Speaker 1: so she stood still and tried to stop her heart

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Speaker 1: from beating quite so fast. Sasha, he said, in the gentle,

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Speaker 1: sweet voice that had helped to carry her here. You

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Speaker 1: deserve to be cared for. I know the full truth

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Speaker 1: was a shock to you, and I'm not angry at

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Speaker 1: your reaction, really, but you still hold it on to

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Speaker 1: fragments of the secular world. You need to drop that

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Speaker 1: veil from your eyes and accept that God wants this.

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Speaker 1: He wants men like us, Alexander gestured to his friends,

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Speaker 1: men with superior attacks, to breed and fill the world

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Speaker 1: with more holy warriors. Sasha closed her eyes. She took

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Speaker 1: a deep breath in and out, and then another. Just

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Speaker 1: go with it, a part of her said, he won't

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Speaker 1: hurt you if you just tell him what he wants

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Speaker 1: to hear. She knew that wasn't right, though she hadn't

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Speaker 1: risked her life to cross into the heavenly kingdom just

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Speaker 1: to compromise her morals. Now I am doing good and

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Speaker 1: valuable work here, she replied, in the calmest voice she

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Speaker 1: could muster. I don't want to be your third wife.

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Speaker 1: I know God has another purpose for me, and I

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Speaker 1: intend to seek it. At his hand clinched tight on

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Speaker 1: her shoulder, Sasha's eyes widened in fear. There was something dull, black,

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Speaker 1: and hungry in his eyes. The two men behind him

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Speaker 1: straightened their backs and started glancing around, scoping out the area. Sasha,

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Speaker 1: Alexander said, I brought you here. You are my responsibility.

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Speaker 1: I don't believe you're thinking clearly. We should take a

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Speaker 1: walk and find somewhere private to talk about all this.

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Speaker 1: I've comm indeed a home near by. Come on, walk

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Speaker 1: with me. He pushed at her. The whole time he spoke,

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Speaker 1: and grew angrier with each passing word, so that by

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Speaker 1: the time he said walk with me, his voice had

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Speaker 1: grown tight and cold. Sasha steadied her heart met his

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Speaker 1: eyes with as steady a gaze as she could manage,

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Speaker 1: and said, I don't want to walk with you. Her

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Speaker 1: heart was pounding so loud she was sure Alexander and

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Speaker 1: his friends could hear it. But Sasha didn't move. She

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Speaker 1: was sure at any minute now he would grab her

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Speaker 1: full on and force her forward. But before he had

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Speaker 1: the chance, a familiar voice called out to her, Sasha,

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Speaker 1: is that you? It was doctor Brandt, and all her

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Speaker 1: focus on Alexander and his posse, she hadn't even noticed

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Speaker 1: the electric hum of the doctor's jeep as it pulled

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Speaker 1: up behind them on the main street. Yes, sir, she cried,

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Speaker 1: her voice a bit higher and more frantic than she'd

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Speaker 1: meant it to sound. What do you need getting the

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Speaker 1: back girl? You can flirt with soldiers later. The Heavenly

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00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,320
Speaker 1: Kingdom needs your skills. We've got a bit of an issue.

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Speaker 1: Alexander's face went purple. The two men behind him seemed confused.

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Speaker 1: One put a hand on his gun, but Alexander waved

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Speaker 1: him back. He shot Sasha a vicious look and then

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Speaker 1: turned to doctor Brandt. Suddenly composed any idea how long

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Speaker 1: you'll need her? What are you a lieutenant? Doctor Brandt scoffed,

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Speaker 1: she'll be gone as long as the Kingdom needs her.

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Speaker 1: I don't see a ring on either of your fingers,

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Speaker 1: so I'm fairly certain it's not your place to care

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Speaker 1: how long this takes Sasha. He beckoned to her with

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Speaker 1: his index finger. Come on now, girl, gladly, she said,

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Speaker 1: with a genuine smile. Sasha darted past Alexander and his

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Speaker 1: men and hopped up into the back seat of the jeep.

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Speaker 1: She tried to keep her head and eyes down while

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Speaker 1: the doctor's driver gunned the engine and sped off down

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Speaker 1: the main street. Once they were under way, Doctor Brandt

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Speaker 1: turned back to her. Sasha. He asked, was anything going

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Speaker 1: on with those young men? Anything untoward? I ask because

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Speaker 1: you seem positively elated. I've picked you up to deal

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Speaker 1: with a problem. Do I tell him the truth? Sasha wondered,

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Speaker 1: Do I admit I was lured to the kingdom by

301
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,440
Speaker 1: a catfisher? He'll never take me seriously. Then, this job

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00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,200
Speaker 1: was her favorite part of serving the Kingdom. Sasha didn't

303
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,480
Speaker 1: want to do or say anything that might disrupt it.

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00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,160
Speaker 1: And besides, Doctor Brandt was a busy man. Lives were

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00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,120
Speaker 1: in his hands every day. I can't distract him with this. No, No,

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00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,440
Speaker 1: everything's fine. I'm fine. Doctor Brandt gave her a stern look.

307
00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,760
Speaker 1: Sasha smiled a tense smile in response. He shrugged and

308
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,800
Speaker 1: turned his head back to the road. All right, he said,

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00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,080
Speaker 1: And then there was a problem with one of your

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00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,800
Speaker 1: patient's blood tests. Oh, Sasha frowned. I'm so sorry. What

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00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,920
Speaker 1: did I do wrong? Nothing at all, doctor Branda shared her.

312
00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:37,240
Speaker 1: But that vile woman, Marigold, she's pregnant. Pregnant, Sasha was shocked.

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Speaker 1: Most adult women in the American Federation had afrodity rings installed.

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Speaker 1: Sasha had refused hers, but the government offered them for free.

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00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,320
Speaker 1: They provided complete control over reproduction and allowed women to

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Speaker 1: select whether or not they wanted to be fertile. She'd

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00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,280
Speaker 1: assumed anyone with as many bio modifications as Marigold would

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Speaker 1: have a ring as well. Maybe she just wants a

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Speaker 1: baby for some reason. Sasha hadn't initially considered that possibility.

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Speaker 1: It was hard to imagine someone has fallen as Marigold

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Speaker 1: choosing to raise children. Yes, Sasha, doctor Brandt said, or

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00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,760
Speaker 1: at least that first test indicated so false positives do

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00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 1: still happen. That's why we're headed back. We need you

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00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:17,320
Speaker 1: to administer another test so we can be certain. Well, shit,

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00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,520
Speaker 1: Marigold grunted. I didn't expect to see you back this soon.

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00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 1: You need a friend, Darlin. The heathen woman looked the

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00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,200
Speaker 1: same as she had on their last interaction. Her hair

328
00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,200
Speaker 1: was less greasy, so they must have let her wash,

329
00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,200
Speaker 1: but she wore the same slip dress and sat in

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Speaker 1: the same corner of the same cell. Sorry, no, Sasha said,

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Speaker 1: I'm here to administer a pregnancy test. Mirrigold's eyes widened

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Speaker 1: for a few seconds. The woman was speechless. Her mouth

333
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,200
Speaker 1: opened and closed. She nodded and clutched her left knee

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Speaker 1: with her left hand. Okay, the captive said, right, where

335
00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:50,920
Speaker 1: do you want me to do it? Do? Sasha looked

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00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:52,720
Speaker 1: down at the stick in her hand and then realized

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00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,760
Speaker 1: how these things worked. I'm sure Dr Brandt doesn't expect

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Speaker 1: me to watch her. Pa, you can go over to

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00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,879
Speaker 1: your normal space. I'll just I'll turn around. She handed

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00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,119
Speaker 1: Marigold the test and spun around on her heels so

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00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,560
Speaker 1: the other woman wouldn't see how much she'd already started

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00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,639
Speaker 1: to blush. Damn, girl, are you that squicked out by

343
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,360
Speaker 1: the human body? What Sasha asked without turning around. Your

344
00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:17,800
Speaker 1: face is as red as a damn beat. I'm sorry why,

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00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,600
Speaker 1: I don't know, Marigold laughed. You can turn around now,

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00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,960
Speaker 1: I'm decent and done. Sasha turned around. Marigold smirked at her.

347
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,200
Speaker 1: You know, she said, that instinct to apologize might actually

348
00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:32,240
Speaker 1: come in handy around here. I'm sure the sort of

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00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,639
Speaker 1: men who jump in on this bullshit will appreciate it.

350
00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,840
Speaker 1: Sasha recovered her senses and felt a bit of anger

351
00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,480
Speaker 1: at Marigold's words. I don't appreciate you saying those things.

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00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,440
Speaker 1: She said. The men here are good and brave and uh.

353
00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,119
Speaker 1: Sasha's voice caught it broke just a little. Marigold saw

354
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:50,919
Speaker 1: and heard her doubt. The other woman didn't laugh like

355
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,160
Speaker 1: Sasha expected. In fact, her smile fell away. Marigold looked

356
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,240
Speaker 1: at her with something like pity. I know you don't

357
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,920
Speaker 1: believe that, she said. Sasha closed her eyes and took

358
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:05,480
Speaker 1: a deep breath in. Then she replied, no men are perfect,

359
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:07,800
Speaker 1: just as no women are perfect. But every one here

360
00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,080
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom tries every day to abide by the

361
00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:14,239
Speaker 1: Lord's will. That's what elevates us above. Marigold interrupted, does

362
00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: your Lord say women don't get last names. We don't

363
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:20,280
Speaker 1: use last names in the Kingdom because they distract us.

364
00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,440
Speaker 1: We can't afford connect. The men keep their surnames, don't they.

365
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,399
Speaker 1: That was true. Sasha hadn't thought about it much, what

366
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,800
Speaker 1: with everything else that was going on. But doctor Brandt

367
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,399
Speaker 1: went by his last name, didn't he? And Alexander had

368
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,000
Speaker 1: a surname too. She's trying to weaken your faith in

369
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,199
Speaker 1: the kingdom. Don't give into the doubts of the serpent.

370
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,120
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter, Sasha said, and immediately regretted it. Any

371
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,560
Speaker 1: response would surely just egg Marigold on and sure enough,

372
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,200
Speaker 1: Oh it doesn't. Then why is that the rule? Well,

373
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Speaker 1: it's obviously because we need some way to tell families

374
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,960
Speaker 1: apart from one another. Marigold smirked. Now, and the only

375
00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,960
Speaker 1: lineage that matters is the man's, isn't it. Women are

376
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,480
Speaker 1: just appendages in your belief system. I am not an appendage,

377
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,639
Speaker 1: Sasha shouted, surprised at her own anger. She heard shuffling feet,

378
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,480
Speaker 1: and a second later the guard had one hand on

379
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,720
Speaker 1: the door and another on his rifle. Ever then, all right, miss,

380
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 1: he asked, Yes, Sasha called back to him over her shoulder.

381
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,879
Speaker 1: I'm fine, sorry, she's just Sasha fixed Marigold with a

382
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:20,880
Speaker 1: withering gaze. She's very frustrating. Marigold smirked at that, then

383
00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,480
Speaker 1: she held out the test. Sasha hesitated for just a

384
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,440
Speaker 1: second before taking the strip from the other woman. Marigold

385
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:34,199
Speaker 1: smiled at that too. You're pregnant, Sasha said, yep. Marigold nodded, congratulations.

386
00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:38,320
Speaker 1: Sasha tried to sound genuine. Marigold's eye roll didn't help that, cause,

387
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,200
Speaker 1: oh yeah, the other woman said, this is a real

388
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,320
Speaker 1: joyous moment for me. I hope your people let me

389
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,120
Speaker 1: live long enough to know whether or not my kid

390
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,480
Speaker 1: will deserve a last name. You know, Sasha said, in

391
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,120
Speaker 1: growing anger. This place isn't perfect, but if you got

392
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,720
Speaker 1: to know the people here, you'd understand they are the

393
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:55,960
Speaker 1: best people I've ever met. I wish you could have

394
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,000
Speaker 1: seen the welcome I received. I've never felt so loved.

395
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,400
Speaker 1: Marigold asked, like, all you needed to do was show

396
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:07,960
Speaker 1: up to earn their acceptance. Yes, Sasha admitted, suspicious. Did

397
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,200
Speaker 1: they sort of swarm you but in a nice way,

398
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,840
Speaker 1: everyone hugging you and holding you and offering you, say,

399
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,520
Speaker 1: physical affection? Yes? Marigold nodded as if she'd just gotten

400
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,240
Speaker 1: the answer to a longstanding question. They love bombed you what.

401
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,159
Speaker 1: It's a tactic colts use, Marigold explained, you sort of

402
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: overwhelmed someone with love and acceptance and camaraderie and all that.

403
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,920
Speaker 1: It nurtures loyalty and dependence. She shrugged. It's a smart

404
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,560
Speaker 1: way to manipulate young people in your position. You've just

405
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,400
Speaker 1: fled your home and family for a strange and dangerous land.

406
00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,679
Speaker 1: You're scared and alone and isolated, and then, like magic,

407
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,520
Speaker 1: you've got a family in a support network. You are

408
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,439
Speaker 1: so cynical. Sasha had the fight back, the urge to

409
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,960
Speaker 1: say damned cynical. This woman was making her forget herself.

410
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,639
Speaker 1: She opened her mouth as if to deliver a tongue lashing,

411
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,439
Speaker 1: but the words wouldn't come. Instead, she just narrowed her

412
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,400
Speaker 1: eyes at Marigold and stared for a few seconds. I'm

413
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,960
Speaker 1: leaving now, she said, I'm going to go enjoy the

414
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,920
Speaker 1: companionship of my new family. You enjoy this cell. Then

415
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,240
Speaker 1: Sasha turned on her heels and walked out. She returned

416
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: late to the house of Miriam. The other girls had

417
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,639
Speaker 1: already finished dinner. Helen had left out Sasha's plate a

418
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 1: ham sandwich, carrot sticks and apple and a small block

419
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,360
Speaker 1: of cheese, and she took it into the common room,

420
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,639
Speaker 1: where the other girls were talking and winding down from

421
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,480
Speaker 1: their day. Look who finally showed up? May sneered when

422
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:27,680
Speaker 1: she walked in. I guess you're too important to eat

423
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,760
Speaker 1: with the rest of us now, I Sasha started to reply.

424
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,400
Speaker 1: Then she saw Anne and Susannah huddled in the same

425
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 1: corner where they'd all sat last night. There were tears

426
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 1: in Anne's face, and her eyes looked swollen in red.

427
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: She made no noise, but her back and shoulders shook

428
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,600
Speaker 1: as she sat there, half shielded from view in Susanna's embrace.

429
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: Sasha gave maya withering glare, but turned and moved past

430
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,479
Speaker 1: her towards her friends. She heard the other girl scoff

431
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,439
Speaker 1: and say something to her coterie of friends. Sasha couldn't

432
00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 1: hear what, though, and she didn't much care. She squatted

433
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:58,720
Speaker 1: down next to Anne and put a hand on the

434
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: back of her neck. Hey, she said, not sure of

435
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 1: what else to say. Susannah met Sasha's eyes and offered

436
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,119
Speaker 1: up a sad smile. Anne continued to sob for a

437
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,400
Speaker 1: few minutes, they just held her. Sasha burned with morbid

438
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 1: curiosity over what exactly had happened. She knew it must

439
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,160
Speaker 1: have something to do with Kyle, and had been set

440
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:19,679
Speaker 1: to meet with him today. Had he revealed himself to

441
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,360
Speaker 1: be a son of Jacob too. He's dead, Anne whispered

442
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 1: in a cracked, broken voice. I went to meet him

443
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: at the Cafe Clement, and there were two martyrs there

444
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 1: waiting for me. They both she stifled a sob. They

445
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 1: both smiled when they told me he'd been killed. They

446
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,439
Speaker 1: said I should thank God for the blessing of a

447
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:41,000
Speaker 1: death and battle. I'm so sorry Anne, Sasha said, Susannah

448
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 1: and I are here, though, we'll take care of you.

449
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,439
Speaker 1: She hoped that might comfort Anna a little, but the

450
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 1: other girl lost herself in another fit of tears. Sasha's

451
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 1: heart broke for her. The pain over her own comparatively

452
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 1: minor tragedy flowed into the empathy she felt for Anne,

453
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,239
Speaker 1: and soon Sasha was crying too. She was sure some

454
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 1: of the other girls were whispering about them. Egged on

455
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,399
Speaker 1: by May, she didn't care. After a few more minutes

456
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: of tears, Anne managed to clear her throat and speak again.

457
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,880
Speaker 1: The man the martyrs I met told me the same thing.

458
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,679
Speaker 1: She said. They told me I'd be taken care of,

459
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 1: that they'd find God's choice for me among the martyrs.

460
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 1: I tried to tell them, I don't want anyone else,

461
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: not now I need to mourn, But they said, they said.

462
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: Anne's voice caught in her throat, and she fought to

463
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: throttle another sob before she continued. He said, the heavenly

464
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 1: Kingdom might not be able to wait for my grief

465
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:34,200
Speaker 1: to pass. What's that supposed to mean, Susannah asked. Sasha

466
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,879
Speaker 1: didn't say anything, because the only answer that occurred to

467
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 1: her was surely unhelpful. She had a strong suspicion that

468
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,919
Speaker 1: the sons of Jacob had turned their eyes on Anne.

469
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: Sasha stared into Marigold's vagina. She'd seen it before, of course,

470
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,159
Speaker 1: the first time they'd met, but it hadn't been her

471
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,840
Speaker 1: focus then, and she'd tried very hard not to look

472
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: at it too much. Now, though the point was to look.

473
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt had picked her up halfway through her shift

474
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,400
Speaker 1: at the hospital to conduct a apsmere on the captured woman.

475
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 1: She'd only had about an hour to practice. It's a

476
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,479
Speaker 1: procedure I've done myself a hundred times, doctor brand had

477
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 1: told her, But that was back in the am Fed.

478
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 1: It's a simvil thing for a man to touch a

479
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 1: woman other than his wife. That's why the Israelites used midwives.

480
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: That's why we used midwives. And I think this kind

481
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 1: of work might be why God drew you here. His

482
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: words made her proud. She liked doctor Brandt for all

483
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 1: his prickliness. She also liked to learn it and feeling

484
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 1: like she had a useful skill that made her special.

485
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 1: So she'd paid close attention as doctor Brandt had walked

486
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 1: her through the procedure. It had been fun, and the

487
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 1: act of learning had distracted her from her worries about

488
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 1: Anne and her own grief over Alexander. Marigold shuddered as

489
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,240
Speaker 1: Sasha slid the speculum in past her labia. You could

490
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,239
Speaker 1: stand to be a little gentler, and would it kill

491
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: you to, I don't know, warm it up first or something.

492
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt didn't say to do that. Sasha kept her

493
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 1: voice firm, This is for the baby's good. I'm sorry

494
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 1: if it's uncomfortable. This is my first time. The woman snorted, Oh, well,

495
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 1: in that case, you're doing a great jow, maybe a

496
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 1: little less hard and mine slopes down. You're going against

497
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: the grain, the grain. Marigold rolled her eyes in disdain,

498
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,239
Speaker 1: but didn't dignify Sasha with a response, you're pushing the

499
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,959
Speaker 1: wrong way. Sasha readjusted, and Marigold gave a sigh of relief.

500
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,919
Speaker 1: That sucks less at least, thanks. Sasha busied herself with

501
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,200
Speaker 1: the swabbing and rubbing that came next. She worked slow, methodical,

502
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 1: with as much care and gentleness as the instruction she'd

503
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 1: received from Dr Brandt would allow. She did her best

504
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,560
Speaker 1: to focus, but the other woman kept talking. You don't

505
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,000
Speaker 1: look old enough to have graduated high school. I'm gonna

506
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: guess they don't train teenagers to do pap smears in

507
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,919
Speaker 1: the am fed Marigold added, do they? With surprising earnestness, no,

508
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 1: Sasha grunted, I'm gonna guest doctor what's his name taught

509
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,640
Speaker 1: you then? Because why he's too scared of my demon

510
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 1: snatch to come in here and do with the jab himself.

511
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,479
Speaker 1: Sasha's face reddened. She did not like the words snatch

512
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 1: or Marigold's casual mention of demons, but she kept her

513
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,440
Speaker 1: eyes straight and stared into the other woman's vagina. I

514
00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,560
Speaker 1: have one too. It's not that big a deal, she

515
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,879
Speaker 1: told herself. It's impressive you were able to learn that.

516
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,680
Speaker 1: I'm serious. Real props, lady, you're the only woman I've

517
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 1: seen do a damn thing around here. How do you

518
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: trick them into treating you sort of like a person?

519
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: Sasha's ire Rose and Rose Lord, Calm my heart, she prayed.

520
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: I know she's just trying to set me off. It's

521
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 1: just desperation, she told herself. How long do you think

522
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 1: they'll let you keep playing like you've got a real life.

523
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess it won't be too long before somebody

524
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:26,159
Speaker 1: puts a baby in you. You know that'll be the

525
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 1: end of all this, right, like your life, using your

526
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 1: brain all that, you're going to be a broodmare before

527
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 1: to stop. Sasha didn't yell, but she used her firmest voice,

528
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,679
Speaker 1: and she was quite loud about it, despite herself. She

529
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: looked up from her work and at Marigold's face. The

530
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: other woman didn't look surprised or chagrinned. One edge of

531
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 1: her lips curled up into a wry grin, her eyes twinkled.

532
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,919
Speaker 1: Sasha had never actually seen someone's eyes twinkled before there

533
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 1: we go. I wondered where the edge was the edge

534
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 1: of what Sasha asked, without thinking, idiot, this is exactly

535
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 1: what she wants you to do. The edge of your patients,

536
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,159
Speaker 1: the point where meekness ends. I was worried they've beating

537
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,280
Speaker 1: it out of you. No one beat me, Sasha insisted,

538
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 1: And there's nothing wrong with being meek. The Lord asks

539
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 1: us to put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,

540
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,479
Speaker 1: and patience. Maybe you wouldn't be in a cell if

541
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,719
Speaker 1: you'd accepted that for yourself. I'm in a cell because

542
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: I came here to trade. We weren't waging any kind

543
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: of war. We weren't harming anyone. We wanted freaking cheetohs

544
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,920
Speaker 1: in exchange for our latest coffee crop. Your people killed

545
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: the old government and captured us. Sasha closed her eyes,

546
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,399
Speaker 1: breathed in and out, and tried to calm herself. For

547
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: some reason, Marigold's words made her feel anxious and angry.

548
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: She wanted to say the anger was towards the other woman,

549
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 1: but that wasn't quite right. Marigold had been sarcastic and caddy,

550
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: but she had also been complimentary, thoughtful, and far from cruel.

551
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: I'm sure you'll be sent back to your people soon.

552
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: The heavenly Kingdom doesn't want any kind of fight with

553
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 1: with your city yet. Sasha finished her work. She withdrew

554
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 1: the speculum and started gathering up her kit. I do

555
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 1: hope you're not laboring under the impression that this war

556
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: will ever end, Marigold said, because it won't, not while

557
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: your kingdom exists. You're wrong. Will take Austin soon and

558
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: then there will be peace. And what about San Antonio?

559
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 1: Sasha shrugged, heathen nation, But they haven't launched any strikes

560
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 1: against us. If they'll let us be, will let them

561
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: be remain and expand, Marigold quoted one of the slogans

562
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: Pastor Mike had coined during the early days of the Kingdom.

563
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: The other woman had a surprisingly deep understanding of their movement.

564
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: Marigold continued, The Kingdom of God will remain and expand

565
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: until it reunites this broken land from sea to shining sea.

566
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,240
Speaker 1: That's your profit, right, you're mighty, Pastor sure sounds like

567
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,479
Speaker 1: a recipe for eternal war. Mexico, the Navajo, the California Republic,

568
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 1: and the king of God, Damn Albuquerque don't seem likely

569
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: to sign up for a theocracy, and those are just

570
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: the big powers in the Southwest. Pastor Mike would have

571
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 1: had an answer to that, of course. He'd said that

572
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: as the Heavenly Kingdom grew, it would draw in millions

573
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,120
Speaker 1: from around the world and become a shining beacon to

574
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 1: the fallen people of the world. Fighting would be replaced

575
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 1: by peaceful annexation. She'd believed that once before she'd left

576
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 1: the American Federation. It had seemed sensible. With Alexander's romantic

577
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 1: words in her ear and the fiery prose from Revelator

578
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: in her mind, how could she not believe? But now

579
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,719
Speaker 1: she'd spent time in the reality of the Heavenly Kingdom.

580
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,520
Speaker 1: She'd met beautiful people and seeing wondrous things, But she

581
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,320
Speaker 1: had also helped treat a seemingly endless train of broken

582
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: men whose bodies had been shattered by war. She'd watched

583
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 1: a dozen people be executed by hanging. Sasha was anxious,

584
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: and Marigold must have picked up on it. The other

585
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: woman's eyes changed. There was something almost predatory in them.

586
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: She leaned forward. I know I'm hitting nerves. Sasha that's

587
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: because you were too smart for this shit. You got

588
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: suckered into a fucking nightmare. It's time to wake up.

589
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: Sasha kept Marigold's words in her mind. She headed back

590
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 1: to the hospital. A fresh wave of wounded men had

591
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: been sent over from the Lake Houston Front, and she

592
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 1: wound up working three hours later than normal just to

593
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: help handle the load. It was a whirlwind of bloody bandages,

594
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,239
Speaker 1: screaming martyrs, and i rate exhausted doctors trying to do

595
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 1: too much with far too little. By the time she

596
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 1: got off shift, it was dark outside and downtown was

597
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: almost deserted. Her driver dropped her off in a weird

598
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 1: spot at the other end of Main Street. It was

599
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: a good two blocks away from the normal location, but

600
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 1: she chalked that up to the fact that this wasn't

601
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 1: her normal driver. She didn't really mind the extra walk.

602
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: In fact, after a long day under the hospital's fluorescent lights,

603
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 1: a dark walk and some fresh air seemed relaxing. So

604
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 1: she strolled, and she tried to forget the faces of

605
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,719
Speaker 1: the men she'd seen that day. For a few blissful minutes,

606
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: Marigold's words fled from her head, and she lost herself

607
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 1: and the peace that came at the end of a

608
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 1: good day's labor. The streets of the heavenly Kingdom felt safe.

609
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 1: She'd done meaningful work. The Lord must be hey, hey, no, please,

610
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: I really don't want to. Sasha heard a familiar female

611
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 1: voice cry out in distress. A man yelled something, but

612
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 1: she couldn't tell what. The woman let out a brief

613
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: scream that was muffled by something. Her voice sounded familiar,

614
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 1: very familiar. Was an Sasha rounded a corner and saw them.

615
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 1: It was Anne, all right. The girl had a bag

616
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: over her head, but Sasha clearly recognized her friend. Two

617
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 1: men in black uniforms held her by either arm and

618
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,360
Speaker 1: forced her to walk forward with them. Two other men

619
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 1: walked beside them. They all wore red berets. The man

620
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 1: who seemed to be their leader locked eyes with her.

621
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 1: It was Alexander, Sasha. He said, in a clipped tone,

622
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:28,840
Speaker 1: you're out late. She stopped, stared, and continued to thrash

623
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 1: between the men. Her cries were muffled by the bag,

624
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 1: but far from an audible She seemed terrified. You you

625
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,440
Speaker 1: all need to let her go, Sasha insisted, she belongs

626
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: at the House of Miriam, Alexander laughed, where do you

627
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,800
Speaker 1: think we gotta from, silly girl. Two of the other

628
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 1: men laughed at that. They seemed nervous, though she could

629
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 1: see both hunger and a strange sort of anxiety in

630
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 1: their eyes. Alexander was all hunger. Alexander, please, please, what

631
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: he asked, with a wry smirk. Deny this girl the

632
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,280
Speaker 1: bliss of servant God? Why would you want that for her?

633
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 1: Do you even believe anymore? Sasha, his lips, the lips

634
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: she dreamed about for months, the lips she'd watched say

635
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: such lovely things to her. Curled up in disgusted. Look

636
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 1: at you. You're wearing surgical scrubs. You look like a man.

637
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: You've lost your proper place in the world. It disgusts

638
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,440
Speaker 1: me that they let you do that work. Have you

639
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 1: forgotten what God himself calls on you to be Titus

640
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: two five, Sasha, our Lord wants you to be discreet, chaste,

641
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 1: homemaker's good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word

642
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 1: of God may not be blasphemed. Remember that, Sasha, none

643
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 1: of you are her husband. Alexander laughed, That's not true

644
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 1: at all. He put a hand on the shoulder of

645
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 1: one of the men restraining and Tamasia married her today.

646
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 1: We're just helping the happy couple to their marital bed.

647
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: Then why is there a bag over her head? Why

648
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 1: is she fighting? Because it was a rather abrupt marriage,

649
00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 1: Alexander frowned, and her mind is still polluted with ungodly

650
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 1: ideas about how a marriage should look. Thomas chose her.

651
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: The spirit of the Lord spoke to him when he

652
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,279
Speaker 1: saw her from afar. It is right and good that

653
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 1: they should be wed. And he moves up to the

654
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 1: front tomorrow Tonight will be his first and maybe a

655
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 1: last chance to help the kingdom remain and expand. He

656
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 1: held out a seal, a golden badge in the shape

657
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: of a shield with a heavenly cross and blazoned on

658
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 1: the front. This comes from the pasta I have the

659
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:31,080
Speaker 1: authority to grant marriages to any worthy men who wished them,

660
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 1: He smiled again. Sasha's heart fluttered. She felt Nauja rise

661
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: up inside her. So back away, let us pass, and

662
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,799
Speaker 1: I'd suggest you'd dedicate some more time to thinking about

663
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 1: why God brought you here when your time comes. I

664
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,200
Speaker 1: think you'd prefer doing this without the bag. But I'm

665
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 1: fine either way. Really, it was past dinner and passed

666
00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 1: bedtime when she entered the house of Miriam. Helen was

667
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 1: seated at her desk. She looked up as Sasha entered,

668
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 1: and in an instant Sasha knew there was no use

669
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,239
Speaker 1: in reporting what had happened to Anne. Helen's eyes were

670
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: bloodshot and puffy with tears. She knew. Sasha the older woman, said,

671
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,879
Speaker 1: I have some bad news. I saw them, Sasha said,

672
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:14,759
Speaker 1: is that what's going to happen to all of us?

673
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:17,359
Speaker 1: Is this place just a bulbing area until we get

674
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,840
Speaker 1: married off? This place is your home, Helen said, in

675
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 1: a voice that was almost pleading. It's here, and I'm

676
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,320
Speaker 1: here to shepherd you to the next phase of your life.

677
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 1: Don't you believe I want the best for you? I do,

678
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 1: Sasha said, her voice softened. But Anne didn't want this,

679
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:36,280
Speaker 1: she told me so. Didn't she deserve time to grieve?

680
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 1: She did, Helen said, But the Lord demands sacrifices from

681
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: all of us, sometimes more sacrifices than seem fair. Anne

682
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,719
Speaker 1: is in a dark place now, but the Lord will

683
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 1: send his light to guide her. Helen seemed to straighten

684
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 1: up as she spoke Sasha saw resolve settle into the

685
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,280
Speaker 1: older woman's flint gray eyes. So may it be, she said,

686
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:01,320
Speaker 1: May the peace of the Lord be with you. Sasha

687
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: started to walk off. She didn't trust herself to stay

688
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,560
Speaker 1: and talk. She was sure more of her anger would

689
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,120
Speaker 1: bleed out into the conversation, and she wasn't sure what

690
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,440
Speaker 1: Helen would do if she got the impression that Sasha's

691
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 1: loyalty had started to waver. Sasha dear, she said, and

692
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 1: Sasha looked back. You forgot your dinner. It's in a

693
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,920
Speaker 1: bag on the table. Sasha took it in aiden's silence

694
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 1: as fast as decorum would allow. Then she cleaned up

695
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: for bed and headed back into the dormitories. As soon

696
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 1: as she saw the light glinting off of Susanna's open eyes,

697
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,799
Speaker 1: she knew the other girl was awake. Sasha knelt down

698
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:35,919
Speaker 1: at her bed and the two shared a long look.

699
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,040
Speaker 1: Susanna held out her hand and Sasha took it. What happened,

700
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 1: she asked. They let us out early and drop us

701
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:47,520
Speaker 1: off down town. Susanna's eyes were wet with tears. Anna

702
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,760
Speaker 1: and I had a coffee and we visited the market.

703
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 1: It was nice, normal, almost we headed for the house

704
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,320
Speaker 1: of Miriam. Once it started to get dark, and she gulped.

705
00:36:56,719 --> 00:37:01,240
Speaker 1: They were just there waiting with Miss Helen. Susannah swallowed

706
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 1: loudly and her eyes grew watery, but she didn't cry.

707
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:08,200
Speaker 1: Sasha was proud of her friend. That was them, wasn't it.

708
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 1: Susannah asked, those men were the sons of Jacob. Sasha

709
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:26,840
Speaker 1: just nodded. How long until they take me too? Chapter sixteen, Manny.

710
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,680
Speaker 1: The Barracks had been a high school, once built to

711
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,800
Speaker 1: serve several thousand of the Plaino area's wealthy as students.

712
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,520
Speaker 1: The dozen huge gray buildings were centered around an enormous

713
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 1: courtyard that included a practice football field, several tennis courts,

714
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,239
Speaker 1: and a running track. The compound was boxed in by

715
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 1: a high concrete wall topped in razor wire. What had

716
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: been built to defend the scions of wealth and privilege

717
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,759
Speaker 1: from their jealous peers also made the former school an

718
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 1: ideal training ground for the Kingdom's soldiers. Manny could see

719
00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 1: hundreds of young men just within the courtyard. They ran

720
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: laps are charged through a makeshift obstacle course that had

721
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,240
Speaker 1: been assembled over the old football field. Manny's head throbbed

722
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,839
Speaker 1: just watching them. I hope we don't have to do

723
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,240
Speaker 1: too much of that ship, he thought, as he scratched

724
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,400
Speaker 1: the bandage over his severed deck, At least not today.

725
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 1: Dozens of men sat in small groups around the courtyard,

726
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 1: reading together from books or cooling down from workouts, and

727
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: sweat drenched underclothes. Many could hear the sharp crack of

728
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 1: rifle fire from a shooting range nearby. The whole place

729
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,920
Speaker 1: buzzed with a sort of busy, nervous energy that might

730
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: have been contagious if not for the ugly stairs Manny attracted.

731
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,360
Speaker 1: You took the wrong skin to wear, Roland muttered at

732
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,560
Speaker 1: him as a troop of pale, young infantrymen clumped past them.

733
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:41,879
Speaker 1: Many couldn't help but notice that he seemed to be

734
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 1: the only person on the training field who wasn't lily white.

735
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,600
Speaker 1: This might be a problem, he said. Roland nodded in response.

736
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: He spat at the ground and muttered, should I ask

737
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 1: skullfucker Mike to sew you into some new skin before

738
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,719
Speaker 1: we left? Many frowned. I'm almost certain that's not how martyrs,

739
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 1: A rough voice cried out from behind them. Turn round, boys,

740
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: let me see a rise, Manny stopped on instinct. He

741
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 1: stiff at his back and turned around. Roland did the

742
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,359
Speaker 1: same thing, but with a heavy sigh and a roll

743
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,840
Speaker 1: of his eyes. The shout had come from a tall,

744
00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: square jawed man with hair that had gone a majestic

745
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 1: shade of silver gray. He wore a black uniform shirt

746
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,840
Speaker 1: with brass cross pins and the epaulets, black cargo pants,

747
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:26,759
Speaker 1: and a big black handgun slung low on his left hip.

748
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 1: His name tag identified him as Ditmar. Mannie didn't know

749
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,160
Speaker 1: enough about the martyr's brigades to tell the man's rank.

750
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 1: Roland turned as Ditmar closed the distance between them. He

751
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 1: stopped about a foot in from them, looked Roland up

752
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,160
Speaker 1: and down, and then turned to Mannie. The fixer forced

753
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:46,200
Speaker 1: himself to meet the grizzled martyr's gaze. Mannie wasn't sure

754
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 1: how to look like a fanatical Christian soldier. There was

755
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 1: no way to fake the manic glint of true commitment,

756
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,760
Speaker 1: so he chose a different tack. He thought about Major Clark,

757
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 1: the defiant set of his jaw and the promise of

758
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:00,760
Speaker 1: violence frozen into the ice of his blue eyes. Deshaun

759
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,640
Speaker 1: Clark was not a fanatic but he was a warrior.

760
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 1: Many knew he might be able to fake that, so

761
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: he screwed up his face into his best imitation and

762
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,319
Speaker 1: hoped it would pass muster well. The silver haired old

763
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 1: soldier growled and narrowed his eyes, but then his face

764
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,040
Speaker 1: broke out into a grin. His tone lifted up an octave.

765
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: By God, he said, it's good to have you boys here.

766
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,480
Speaker 1: He clapped a hand on both Manny and Roland's shoulders

767
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:27,440
Speaker 1: and pulled them into an embrace. Your souls are safe now,

768
00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 1: my boys. Thank God for your warrior hearts. Now. He

769
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 1: pulled back and straightened up. I'm Martyr Ditmar. Where are

770
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,400
Speaker 1: you bound for intake? Manny said, with more confidence than

771
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,359
Speaker 1: he felt. We just arrived to day. He glanced down

772
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 1: at his papers for a moment and then said, this

773
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: says we're infantry reserved a vision. Martyr Ditmar seemed surprised, really,

774
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,680
Speaker 1: He asked, I'd have expected them to put you at

775
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:55,040
Speaker 1: least he nodded at Manny and the storming battalion. The

776
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: storming battalion, Yes, the elder martyr nodded, you've got the

777
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:04,320
Speaker 1: right complexion for it. That's got to be a bad sign.

778
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,560
Speaker 1: Manny thought, don't press the question too much now you

779
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,359
Speaker 1: may not want the answer. Instead, he put a hand

780
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:13,720
Speaker 1: on Roland's shoulder. Wherever we go, I gotta stay with Aaron.

781
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,640
Speaker 1: He's strong, but he took a few hits to the

782
00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,720
Speaker 1: head too many. I help him get around. The martyr

783
00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 1: gave a smile that seemed genuine. Well, then he said,

784
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:24,239
Speaker 1: you'll want to get your butts down to Cadet Processing.

785
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,799
Speaker 1: It's a hundred meters down that away. He clapped them

786
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:28,839
Speaker 1: both on the shoulders. It's good to see you here.

787
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:32,640
Speaker 1: Smile boys, your heroes now warriors in Christ. Go forth.

788
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 1: God bless you, Martyr Manny said. Roland followed up with

789
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 1: his best attempt at honest enthusiasm. Yea God, he said,

790
00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:43,360
Speaker 1: in a two wide smile. We should go, Manny said quickly.

791
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:46,439
Speaker 1: I don't want to terry on the Lord's time. That's

792
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 1: the spirit. Martyr Dittmar replied, I'll see you both on

793
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 1: the training field. They stomped off towards the Cadet Processing building,

794
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,600
Speaker 1: which until recently had been the high school's administrative building.

795
00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,800
Speaker 1: There were posters for school dances and after school clubs

796
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,400
Speaker 1: on walls. It looked like a student body election had

797
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,960
Speaker 1: been under way when the Heavenly Kingdom captured this place.

798
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,759
Speaker 1: Manny and Rowland queued up behind a half dozen other

799
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 1: confused looking young men and waited for their turn at

800
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,040
Speaker 1: the processing desk. The intake process lasted around an hour.

801
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,640
Speaker 1: They took his name as date of birth and his measurements,

802
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,279
Speaker 1: and then Manny helped Aaron answer the same questions. It

803
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: would have been triflingly easy for anyone with a deck

804
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,240
Speaker 1: and a good connection to find evidence of Manny's career

805
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,080
Speaker 1: as a war zone fixer, but the martyr handling their

806
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,759
Speaker 1: information wrote things down on actual paper. Manny got the

807
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 1: distinct impression that many of the martyrs had disabled their decks.

808
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:37,920
Speaker 1: He also knew from experience that data speeds tended to

809
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,920
Speaker 1: be pretty ship this close to the fighting. Someone will

810
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 1: check eventually, he warned himself, You'd better be fast about

811
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,759
Speaker 1: this whole business. Roland stayed on his best behavior through

812
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: the whole process, although he grew twitch eer and twitch

813
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,719
Speaker 1: eer as the minutes wore on. Manny wasn't sure if

814
00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: the chromed man was allergic to bureaucracy or just frustrated

815
00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 1: at having sobered up. Once they were done with the

816
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:00,120
Speaker 1: first stage of the intake process. They were rush it

817
00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:02,720
Speaker 1: over to another room filled with folded stacks of clothing

818
00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 1: and dince with the scent of moth balls. They were

819
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 1: shot uniforms and then bundled off to a locker room

820
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:11,440
Speaker 1: to change. Manny was somewhat nervous about stripping down and

821
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,040
Speaker 1: changing in front of Roland, a dude he barely knew.

822
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,760
Speaker 1: If the post human felt the same nervousness, he didn't

823
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,320
Speaker 1: show it. Roland pulled off his clothes in a couple

824
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:21,760
Speaker 1: of seconds, revealing a body that was tight with wiry

825
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,319
Speaker 1: muscle and covered in thick surgical scars. Roland started to

826
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:27,800
Speaker 1: pull on his beady you pants and noticed Manny hadn't

827
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 1: yet started to strip. What's up, Roland asked, you smell nervous?

828
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,279
Speaker 1: Manny shrugged. I guess I'm a little prude. Still must

829
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 1: be the Catholic in me. Don't let them hear that.

830
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 1: Roland knifed those fucker's all hang you with your rosary beads.

831
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 1: He pulled the pants up and buttoned them. Then he

832
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 1: paused again and looked back at Manny. You are you

833
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 1: still Catholic? He asked. Manny shook his head. No, I

834
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 1: don't believe, but my family does. Ah. Roland nodded, you

835
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,160
Speaker 1: fake belief. Well, that's a talent. It's not a talent,

836
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:02,160
Speaker 1: Manny said, it's a survival skill. Grow up in Texas

837
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 1: and you either learned to fake what you need to

838
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 1: fake where you learned to fight. Someone knocked on the door.

839
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: You ready yet, a voice called out to them. Almost,

840
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,320
Speaker 1: Manny responded, and then he started to strip his clothing off.

841
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:16,640
Speaker 1: A few minutes and a change of clothes later, they

842
00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 1: arrived on the field where their training unit, twenty four

843
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,040
Speaker 1: sweat drenched young men were doing push ups. Manny was

844
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,840
Speaker 1: surprised to see that these martyrs, at least weren't all white.

845
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:26,799
Speaker 1: There was one black man right in the middle of

846
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:29,279
Speaker 1: the group. It took Manny a second to recognize that

847
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:31,839
Speaker 1: the instructor drilling them was Detmar, the man they'd met

848
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:33,840
Speaker 1: on their way to the base. He broke into a

849
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 1: broad smile when he saw them. God's will is truly magnificent,

850
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:39,960
Speaker 1: is it not? And then he nodded down to the ground,

851
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,359
Speaker 1: fallt and join us, lads. Let's see what you've got.

852
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:45,319
Speaker 1: Manny and Roland dropped down and joined the unit. In

853
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:47,760
Speaker 1: another set of push ups. If Roland had any trouble

854
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:49,799
Speaker 1: at all with the workout regimen, he didn't show it.

855
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 1: The chrombed man barely sweated, and Manny had a feeling

856
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:54,920
Speaker 1: that his sweat was more for show than the result

857
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: of an actual biological process. Even with the show, it

858
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:00,439
Speaker 1: was obvious to every one that Roland was not having

859
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:03,440
Speaker 1: any trouble with the exercises. God's blessed us with a

860
00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:06,439
Speaker 1: new sampson, Ditmar said. A hundred or so push ups

861
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:09,720
Speaker 1: in the rest of the men, Manny included had collapsed

862
00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:12,800
Speaker 1: from the exertion, but Roland just kept going for a while.

863
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:15,640
Speaker 1: They all sat there, huffing and exhausted and watching him go.

864
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,400
Speaker 1: Ditmar smiled and shook his head, a little awed at

865
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,960
Speaker 1: the sight. Finally, he waved for Roland to stop. You've

866
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: made your point, son, and we're all blessed to have

867
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,960
Speaker 1: you here with us. Now get up, all of you

868
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 1: and sit around me. Manny stood, shook the sore news

869
00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:31,719
Speaker 1: from his arms, and moved to take a seat in

870
00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:35,320
Speaker 1: the semicircle of young martyrs. Once they were all properly positioned,

871
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:37,920
Speaker 1: Ditmar squatted down and cast his eyes around the group.

872
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 1: Settling on each of them in turn. I don't know

873
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:43,600
Speaker 1: how you all got here, he said, in a quiet,

874
00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:46,919
Speaker 1: somber voice, but I know what brought each of you here,

875
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:50,759
Speaker 1: the spirit of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He

876
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: cleared his throat. Now, he said, very soon, you'll all

877
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 1: be going into battle, sooner than i'd prefer. We don't

878
00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:59,840
Speaker 1: have time for the kind of training you boys deserve.

879
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:03,520
Speaker 1: You'll be fighting against men with more experience, better weaponry.

880
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,600
Speaker 1: It's a scary thought, but I'll tell you all right now,

881
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:08,920
Speaker 1: if you go into that battle with the same blind

882
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 1: faith that brought you here, you'll do just fine. God

883
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:15,560
Speaker 1: won't let any other end come to pass. It was

884
00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:17,719
Speaker 1: dark by the time ditmar led them all into the

885
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:20,719
Speaker 1: dining facility. The sight of the high school cafeteria set

886
00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:23,640
Speaker 1: off a surprising pang of nostalgia in Manny's heart. He

887
00:46:23,719 --> 00:46:27,120
Speaker 1: hadn't enjoyed school, but something about the gray, fabric colored walls,

888
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:29,920
Speaker 1: the colorful posters, and the dozens of identical faux wood

889
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:33,360
Speaker 1: tables made him long for a simpler time. For a second,

890
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:35,680
Speaker 1: he was almost able to forget where he was, what

891
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:38,399
Speaker 1: he was doing, and pretend this was just another day

892
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,680
Speaker 1: in school. That allusion was broken when he looked at

893
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:45,400
Speaker 1: his fellow martyrs. Hundreds of them had filed into the cafeteria,

894
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:48,279
Speaker 1: dressed in a motley assortment of battle dress uniforms from

895
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:50,640
Speaker 1: the old U. S Army, the Republic of Texas, and

896
00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:53,480
Speaker 1: even the Mexican Army. Most of them were young, not

897
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:56,000
Speaker 1: even into their twenties. Around a quarter of them, though,

898
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:59,359
Speaker 1: were old for soldiers in their forties or fifties. There

899
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:01,960
Speaker 1: was no mill a tarry discipline in their appearance. Many

900
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,239
Speaker 1: of the men had beards or long, unruly hair. These

901
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,799
Speaker 1: fox aren't soldiers, Roland whispered to him as they took

902
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:09,680
Speaker 1: their seats at one of the fake wooden tables on

903
00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:11,960
Speaker 1: the left side of the room. This is what canned

904
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,600
Speaker 1: father looks like. Kid. The heavenly Kingdom just expects these

905
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:18,040
Speaker 1: people to die. Man. He felt a surge of anxiety.

906
00:47:18,239 --> 00:47:20,480
Speaker 1: He was sure someone else must have heard Rowland, but

907
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:22,600
Speaker 1: when he glanced around, he saw their table mates were

908
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,480
Speaker 1: all deep in conversation with each other. Most of them,

909
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:28,560
Speaker 1: at least Jonathan, the only other non white person in

910
00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: their training unit, seemed to have been excluded. The other

911
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,080
Speaker 1: soldiers leaned away from him, the focus of the table

912
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:36,360
Speaker 1: seemed to be a tall, square jawed young man with

913
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:40,400
Speaker 1: a Georgian twang to his accent Martyrs. A loud voice

914
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:42,719
Speaker 1: cried from a podium at the center of the cafeteria.

915
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:45,240
Speaker 1: The sound of hundreds of bodies on hundreds of chairs

916
00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,040
Speaker 1: turning to face the noise filled the room. The speaker

917
00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:50,520
Speaker 1: was a tall, painfully thin man, clad in a long

918
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: black robe. An enormous wooden cross hung from his neck.

919
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,799
Speaker 1: His hair was greasy, unruly, and shock white. He had

920
00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:59,600
Speaker 1: a patchy beard and the overall look of an unkimpt madman.

921
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:03,120
Speaker 1: But then he spoke, My brother said, is a blessed

922
00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:05,640
Speaker 1: thing to have you all here to day. He began

923
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:07,640
Speaker 1: in a voice that was little more than a whisper.

924
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 1: There was a raw rasp to his voice. He sounded

925
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 1: almost hoarse. Something about that quality drew Manny's attention. In

926
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 1: the coming days, your instructors will prepare you for the

927
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:19,920
Speaker 1: great battles that lie ahead. You will be given the

928
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,359
Speaker 1: best arms and armorah Kingdom can provide. But just by

929
00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:26,200
Speaker 1: being here, each of you has shown you already have

930
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:28,920
Speaker 1: a weapon more powerful than any tool in our armory.

931
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:34,160
Speaker 1: Faith in God Almighty, his voice raised in pitch. Now

932
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: it was still raspi and horse, but it picked up

933
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: a sharp, booming quality. He spoke faster, his cheeks grew red.

934
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,319
Speaker 1: Put on the armor of God, he cried, And you

935
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:46,000
Speaker 1: will stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Be

936
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,440
Speaker 1: strong and courageous. Do not panic before the enemy, for

937
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:52,320
Speaker 1: in every battle, the Lord your God will go ahead

938
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,279
Speaker 1: of you. He will never fail you nor abandon you.

939
00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:58,720
Speaker 1: At this, several of the men around the room pounded

940
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 1: their fists on the tables. One man in the back

941
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:04,080
Speaker 1: let out a whoop. These outbursts inspired other men to

942
00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:07,880
Speaker 1: cry out praise God. Manny glanced around, trying to gauge

943
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:09,799
Speaker 1: if more or less than half of the room was

944
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:12,360
Speaker 1: joining in. He didn't want to stay quiet, if that

945
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:15,200
Speaker 1: was going to look weird. But then the pastor went quiet.

946
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 1: A sense of anticipation filled the room. There were about

947
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:21,200
Speaker 1: four hundred cadets all dining together in this shift, and

948
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:23,960
Speaker 1: of course the officer in charge, a tall, gangly red

949
00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:26,880
Speaker 1: head with no chin but a strangely beautiful baritone voice,

950
00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:30,120
Speaker 1: led them in prayer before the meal. Manny repeated the

951
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:32,399
Speaker 1: words after him, but he didn't hear them. He did

952
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:34,759
Speaker 1: have to elbow Rowland once when he saw the big post.

953
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 1: Human wasn't chanting along with the other soldiers. Just then,

954
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:39,920
Speaker 1: a pair of big doors to the left of the

955
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:43,360
Speaker 1: stage swung open. Ditmar walked out with a hefty brown

956
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:45,799
Speaker 1: canvas bag over his shoulder. He was followed by an

957
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 1: armed guard and then two men in shackles. The captives

958
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:51,719
Speaker 1: wore striped white prison pajamas, and they both looked the

959
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: worse for wear. One of them, a middle aged black man,

960
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 1: looked familiar. Many thought he must be a captured sd

961
00:49:57,719 --> 00:49:59,840
Speaker 1: F fighter. His lip looked as if it had re

962
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,560
Speaker 1: simply been split, and there was a nasty gash on

963
00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:05,520
Speaker 1: his forehead. He kept his head down and his shoulders slumped.

964
00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:08,919
Speaker 1: His posture was one of complete resignation. The other man

965
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:13,759
Speaker 1: was Manny's heart skipped a beat oscar. He'd been beaten too,

966
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:16,400
Speaker 1: although not as badly as the soldier. He looked not

967
00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: so much frightened as bewildered, starving, and probably reeling from

968
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:23,520
Speaker 1: one or more head injuries. Dude Roland nudged Manny's rib

969
00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 1: cage and whispered to him the fuck. Many realized his

970
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:29,759
Speaker 1: masket slipped. He let himself stare in horror rather than

971
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 1: the excitement evident in everyone else's face. No one else

972
00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:35,440
Speaker 1: seemed to have noticed yet, they were all focused on

973
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:38,400
Speaker 1: the prisoners. But many forced a grim smile onto his

974
00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:40,520
Speaker 1: face and tried to look at least like he was

975
00:50:40,560 --> 00:50:44,680
Speaker 1: deeply satisfied. An armed martyr prodded Oscar and the stf

976
00:50:44,719 --> 00:50:46,799
Speaker 1: man in their backs with his rifle and ushered them

977
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:50,279
Speaker 1: up onto the stage. Dead silence reigned over the cafeteria.

978
00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:52,880
Speaker 1: No one spoke. It took Manny a few seconds to

979
00:50:52,920 --> 00:50:56,080
Speaker 1: realize he was actually holding his breath. Once the captives

980
00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:58,359
Speaker 1: were up on stage, the armed martyrs pulled them down

981
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 1: to their knees. Did Mars at his bag down and

982
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:03,520
Speaker 1: zipped it and pulled out a wooden rod about two

983
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:06,440
Speaker 1: feet in length and as thick around as Manny's forearm.

984
00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:09,880
Speaker 1: Warriors of God, the priest in toned in a low whisper.

985
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 1: Manny felt himself lean into the man's words, even as

986
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,360
Speaker 1: dread pickled the pit of his stomach. These men appointed

987
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:19,120
Speaker 1: themselves enemies of our heavenly kingdom, foes of God. He

988
00:51:19,239 --> 00:51:21,640
Speaker 1: raised a hand up to Ditmar. His hand shook, but

989
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:25,319
Speaker 1: not out of fear. He positively vibrated with excitement. Who

990
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:27,879
Speaker 1: among you will take up the rod and punish these men?

991
00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:31,400
Speaker 1: The chair scraping floor, sound of someone standing up very

992
00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:34,560
Speaker 1: quickly rose behind him. Many glanced back and saw that

993
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:36,200
Speaker 1: one of the men from his cadet group had been

994
00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:38,799
Speaker 1: the first to stand. He was tall, with broad, thick

995
00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:41,120
Speaker 1: shoulders and chest muscles that spoke of a youth spent

996
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 1: laboring in the field. He had thin, dirty blonde hair,

997
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:46,759
Speaker 1: a thick jaw, and blue eyes that shone with excitement.

998
00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:51,200
Speaker 1: What's your name, Martyr, the priest asked Eric Friedman, Sir?

999
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:55,160
Speaker 1: The young man cried back, Martyr Freedman, Ditmark cried out,

1000
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,239
Speaker 1: as he held the rod up. Come forward and do

1001
00:51:57,320 --> 00:52:00,839
Speaker 1: the Lord's work. The young man walked forward, stepped up

1002
00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:03,279
Speaker 1: onto the stage, and took the rod from Ditmar's hand.

1003
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 1: He glanced down at the captives. His eyes passed over

1004
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:09,319
Speaker 1: Oscar and lingered on the battered black soldier. Strike a

1005
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 1: blow for the lord. The priest whispered, and Martyr Freedman obliged.

1006
00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:16,000
Speaker 1: His first swing was weak and sure and poorly aimed.

1007
00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:19,120
Speaker 1: It struck the soldier on his shoulder. He didn't cry out,

1008
00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:22,640
Speaker 1: Martyr Freedman's second strike was harder, suer. He hit the

1009
00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 1: soldier right in the gash on his forehead, and the

1010
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:27,600
Speaker 1: man dropped with a muffled cry. Eric hit him again

1011
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,840
Speaker 1: and again and again. Ditmar grabbed another rod from the

1012
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:33,720
Speaker 1: bag and held it out. Stand up, men of God.

1013
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:36,319
Speaker 1: The priest's voice rose again to a pitch so high

1014
00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:38,480
Speaker 1: it was almost a shriek. Step up and be the

1015
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:43,040
Speaker 1: hands of justice. Just for a moment Oscar saw him. Surprise,

1016
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:46,200
Speaker 1: then confusion, and then anger passed over the stringer's face

1017
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:48,920
Speaker 1: in the space of about a second. Manny didn't want

1018
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:51,840
Speaker 1: to think about what Oscar saw in his face, and

1019
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,759
Speaker 1: then men rushed the stage, and Oscar disappeared in the

1020
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:57,480
Speaker 1: swarm of martyrs to be rushing to share in the beatings.

1021
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,520
Speaker 1: Roland took the opportunity provided by the else to lean

1022
00:53:00,560 --> 00:53:03,680
Speaker 1: back and whisper a question to Manny. It's going on, guy,

1023
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:06,120
Speaker 1: I know that guy, the one on the left. Manny

1024
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:08,719
Speaker 1: whispered back, he's one of my stringers. He works for me.

1025
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,319
Speaker 1: He's my friend. Roland nodded and then stood up and

1026
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,319
Speaker 1: rushed up to the stage. By the time he reached it,

1027
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:17,640
Speaker 1: a dozen other martyrs had joined Eric and beating the

1028
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:20,000
Speaker 1: two captives. There was blood on the floor, blood on

1029
00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:23,400
Speaker 1: the sticks, and blood splattering the martyr's new uniforms. Oscar

1030
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:25,799
Speaker 1: cried out from each blow. It sounded like his mouth

1031
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:28,359
Speaker 1: was full of blood. And then Roland took a rod

1032
00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:30,720
Speaker 1: from Ditmar's hand and in the space of a second,

1033
00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:33,920
Speaker 1: brought it down on both men's skulls with dull, meaty thuds.

1034
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:37,560
Speaker 1: The soldiers went still, The screaming stopped, and every eye

1035
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:40,399
Speaker 1: in the room turned to Roland. The chromed man looked

1036
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:43,280
Speaker 1: out at the crowd. There was an agonizing moment of silence,

1037
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,720
Speaker 1: and then Manny knew what he had to do. Praise God,

1038
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:49,800
Speaker 1: he screamed out. The room joined in, and soon a

1039
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:54,120
Speaker 1: chorus of cheers filled the cafeteria. After that, Roland was

1040
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 1: everyone's favorite martyr. Once the men's bodies were dragged off

1041
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,239
Speaker 1: the stage and dinner began, the martyrs could barely tain

1042
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:03,880
Speaker 1: their admiration for his strength. That was incredible. Eric said,

1043
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:06,279
Speaker 1: I can't wait to go into battle with you. What

1044
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:08,520
Speaker 1: did you do before, A young man with a thick

1045
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:11,520
Speaker 1: Oklahoma twang asked, from the way you cracked those skulls

1046
00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:14,320
Speaker 1: out of guess you've been doing that for years. Roland

1047
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:18,319
Speaker 1: gave short, noncommittal responses. His taciturn attitude didn't stop the

1048
00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:21,680
Speaker 1: other martyrs from talking about him with supreme glee. Their

1049
00:54:21,719 --> 00:54:24,480
Speaker 1: words sickened Manny, but their focus on Roland gave him

1050
00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:26,879
Speaker 1: a chance to breathe and mourn and avoid looking over

1051
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:30,440
Speaker 1: at the stage while Ditmar's men dragged Oscar's body away.

1052
00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:33,319
Speaker 1: By the time the excitement had subsided and dinner had ended,

1053
00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:35,600
Speaker 1: Manny felt like he could just barely make it to

1054
00:54:35,719 --> 00:54:38,840
Speaker 1: his bunk without breaking down. He lacked behind Roland and

1055
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:41,720
Speaker 1: the others as they all filed into the barracks. Manny

1056
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,759
Speaker 1: was grateful for Roland's ability to draw attention, until during

1057
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:47,439
Speaker 1: the walk that young black martyr sidled up to Manny

1058
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:51,640
Speaker 1: and introduced himself. I'm Jonathan, he said, and I'm honored

1059
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:55,239
Speaker 1: to meet you. Why, Manny asked, I think you and

1060
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:59,480
Speaker 1: I were the only ones who weren't cheering during that ah,

1061
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:01,839
Speaker 1: Manny said with a nod. He took a careful look

1062
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:04,920
Speaker 1: at Jonathan's face. The other man's chubby cheeks and soft

1063
00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:08,920
Speaker 1: smile seemed almost calculated to make him look guileless. Whatever

1064
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:12,800
Speaker 1: he says he's one of them. Be careful. I understand

1065
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:15,440
Speaker 1: why it was necessary, Manny said, but I don't have

1066
00:55:15,560 --> 00:55:18,799
Speaker 1: to like it. Neither do I. Jonathan said, we have

1067
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:21,359
Speaker 1: to fight them. We're fighting for God here, after all,

1068
00:55:21,600 --> 00:55:25,000
Speaker 1: but we don't have to become monsters. Manny nodded, he

1069
00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:28,239
Speaker 1: didn't say anything. Jonathan took that as an invitation to

1070
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:31,000
Speaker 1: say more. I think we're going to have a harder

1071
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:33,400
Speaker 1: time here than the others, he said, and gestured to

1072
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: the very Caucasian crowd ahead of them. We've got a

1073
00:55:36,239 --> 00:55:38,720
Speaker 1: lot to overcome here, but I think that just means

1074
00:55:38,760 --> 00:55:41,240
Speaker 1: God will shower more glory on us for the effort.

1075
00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:45,200
Speaker 1: Manny was proud that, in his sorrowful and half panicked state,

1076
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:49,680
Speaker 1: he managed to avoid shouting what the fuck at Jonathan. Instead,

1077
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:53,480
Speaker 1: he matched the martyr smile and just said praise God.

1078
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,880
Speaker 1: Their next morning started with an hour of calisthenics. The

1079
00:55:57,920 --> 00:56:01,080
Speaker 1: workout was strenuous, but Manny actually joined it. The speed

1080
00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:03,520
Speaker 1: with which they were dragged outside and forced into motion

1081
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:06,480
Speaker 1: kept him from picturing Oscar's face for a while. After

1082
00:56:06,520 --> 00:56:08,799
Speaker 1: the workout, they dove into the real meat of the day,

1083
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:11,839
Speaker 1: a trip to the gun range. It had been set

1084
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:14,320
Speaker 1: up on what had once been a marching band's practice field.

1085
00:56:14,760 --> 00:56:17,239
Speaker 1: Dozens of vaguely human shaped targets had been cut out

1086
00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:19,520
Speaker 1: of sheet metal and set up at varying intervals behind

1087
00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:22,640
Speaker 1: a crude sandbag line. Their group of about two dozen

1088
00:56:22,640 --> 00:56:26,080
Speaker 1: new recruits were each issued weapons of varying quality. Manny

1089
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:29,640
Speaker 1: received a jankie old kalashnikov that rattled like a Morocca

1090
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:32,760
Speaker 1: Rowland was given an almost knew G thirty six assault rifle.

1091
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:36,000
Speaker 1: The range instructor was a one legged old martyr with

1092
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:39,160
Speaker 1: a prodigious belly and an equally overgrown white beard. He

1093
00:56:39,239 --> 00:56:41,120
Speaker 1: walked them through the basics of how to operate a

1094
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:44,080
Speaker 1: variety of different assault rifles you can't know what weapon

1095
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:46,680
Speaker 1: you'll end up needing to use, and then set them

1096
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:49,240
Speaker 1: up on the sandbag line and told them to start firing.

1097
00:56:49,880 --> 00:56:52,000
Speaker 1: Manny took aim at a target around a hundred feet

1098
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:53,480
Speaker 1: in front of him. It was hard to tell if

1099
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:55,319
Speaker 1: he hit it or not. Several other men had aimed

1100
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:58,040
Speaker 1: at the same target. Again, Manny got the feeling that

1101
00:56:58,080 --> 00:57:00,520
Speaker 1: the purpose of this training was not to make them marksman.

1102
00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:05,320
Speaker 1: Basic familiarity was all the Heavenly Kingdom had time to provide. Roland,

1103
00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:08,680
Speaker 1: of course, proved a fabulous shot. He stitched a smiley

1104
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,160
Speaker 1: face and bullet holes across four of the metal targets,

1105
00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:15,120
Speaker 1: and earned genuine praise from the instructor. My godson, you've

1106
00:57:15,120 --> 00:57:19,040
Speaker 1: got a gift. This only increased Roland's social cachet with

1107
00:57:19,080 --> 00:57:21,640
Speaker 1: the martyrs. They crowded around him during the walk to

1108
00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:24,280
Speaker 1: the next activity of the day, lunch in a lecture

1109
00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:27,880
Speaker 1: on assault tactics. This was held in a little concrete amphitheater,

1110
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:31,120
Speaker 1: something that had presumably once served the school's drama department.

1111
00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:34,040
Speaker 1: Manny tried to sit down next to Rowland, but Eric

1112
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:36,760
Speaker 1: and a gaggle of his friends settled around the post human. First,

1113
00:57:37,240 --> 00:57:40,160
Speaker 1: they babbled excitedly to him. Manny wasn't sure what they

1114
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:42,800
Speaker 1: were saying, but every time he glanced back, Roland looked

1115
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:46,640
Speaker 1: absolutely miserable. Manny wound up in the back, seated next

1116
00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:50,080
Speaker 1: to Jonathan. The young martyr, patted his leg. Don't worry, brother,

1117
00:57:50,160 --> 00:57:52,000
Speaker 1: he said. It's gonna be tough for us to earn

1118
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:54,360
Speaker 1: their respect, but once we're all out in the field together,

1119
00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:58,280
Speaker 1: they'll stop caring about your skin. You are sure about that, Manny,

1120
00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:00,840
Speaker 1: asked happy he was never going to up in the

1121
00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:03,560
Speaker 1: field with any of these people. Of course, I am,

1122
00:58:03,840 --> 00:58:06,400
Speaker 1: Jonathan said, I grew up in Atlanta. You know, I

1123
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:08,120
Speaker 1: knew it was going to be rough coming out here.

1124
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:10,880
Speaker 1: But that's the sacrifice we make for God. I know

1125
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:13,280
Speaker 1: he's going to bring this nation back together. Tell you

1126
00:58:13,320 --> 00:58:15,240
Speaker 1: the truth. I'm honored to be a part of that.

1127
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:19,320
Speaker 1: Jonathan's eyes shone when he spoke he's a true believer.

1128
00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:22,200
Speaker 1: Manny realized there's not a doubt in his mind that

1129
00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:25,600
Speaker 1: he's doing the right thing. That was scary, and things

1130
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:29,040
Speaker 1: got scarier still when their next instructor stepped into the amphitheater.

1131
00:58:29,720 --> 00:58:32,160
Speaker 1: The man was old and grizzled too. He had both

1132
00:58:32,200 --> 00:58:34,680
Speaker 1: his legs, but his right arm was missing below the elbow,

1133
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:37,080
Speaker 1: and a jagged scar ran up the left side of

1134
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:39,680
Speaker 1: his face. The skin on most of his forehead was

1135
00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:43,800
Speaker 1: bald and modeled as if he'd been badly burned. Afternoon, boys,

1136
00:58:43,840 --> 00:58:46,920
Speaker 1: and God bless you. I'm Monicauda's Today you're going to

1137
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:50,160
Speaker 1: learn how to assault a fortified position. Most of the

1138
00:58:50,160 --> 00:58:52,600
Speaker 1: strategies who walked them through began and ended with the

1139
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:56,760
Speaker 1: application of shoulder fired rockets. And incendiary grenades. Manny couldn't

1140
00:58:56,760 --> 00:58:58,919
Speaker 1: help but notice that no time was spent talking about

1141
00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:02,160
Speaker 1: how to avoid civil and casualties. He wasn't even sure

1142
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:06,080
Speaker 1: specialist carruthers knew how to pronounce the word civilian. Remember

1143
00:59:06,080 --> 00:59:08,360
Speaker 1: what it says in the Book of Samuel Boys, the

1144
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:11,120
Speaker 1: older man drawled. Now go and strike and devote to

1145
00:59:11,160 --> 00:59:14,120
Speaker 1: destruction all that you have. Do not spare them, but

1146
00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:17,320
Speaker 1: kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep,

1147
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:20,120
Speaker 1: camel and donkey. He laughed, which made a few of

1148
00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:23,479
Speaker 1: the young martyrs comfortable enough to laugh too. I don't

1149
00:59:23,480 --> 00:59:26,240
Speaker 1: expect you'll run into any camels or donkeys out in Austin,

1150
00:59:26,600 --> 00:59:29,200
Speaker 1: but there will be men, women, children, and infants. If

1151
00:59:29,200 --> 00:59:31,800
Speaker 1: they stand in your way, they all equally deserve to

1152
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:35,400
Speaker 1: be purged. Manny didn't like the eagerness he saw in

1153
00:59:35,440 --> 00:59:37,760
Speaker 1: the faces of his fellow students. The pit in his

1154
00:59:37,800 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 1: stomach grew throughout the day. While martyr carruthers explained how

1155
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:43,080
Speaker 1: to use the various heavy munitions they might be called

1156
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:46,000
Speaker 1: upon to deploy. There weren't enough rockets or mortars for

1157
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:48,880
Speaker 1: them to actually train on any of those things. Manny

1158
00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:51,400
Speaker 1: wasn't sure how good a gist anyone really got. He

1159
00:59:51,440 --> 00:59:53,640
Speaker 1: wondered how much that would matter when these men took

1160
00:59:53,680 --> 00:59:57,600
Speaker 1: to the field. He ate ravenously at dinner. Thankfully there

1161
00:59:57,600 --> 01:00:00,520
Speaker 1: were no executions that day, but Martyr did mar did

1162
01:00:00,520 --> 01:00:02,800
Speaker 1: take the stage again and announced that the busses were

1163
01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:05,360
Speaker 1: ready to take any interested recruits down to the main

1164
01:00:05,440 --> 01:00:07,400
Speaker 1: drag for a couple of hours of what passed for

1165
01:00:07,560 --> 01:00:10,400
Speaker 1: R and R. One of the older martyrs handed everyone

1166
01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:12,720
Speaker 1: ration cards and explained they were good for either a

1167
01:00:12,760 --> 01:00:14,920
Speaker 1: cup of coffee or tea, or a small amount of

1168
01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:16,960
Speaker 1: food from one of the few stores that had opened

1169
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:20,840
Speaker 1: back up. Fucking tea, Roland grumbled into Manny's ear as

1170
01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:23,280
Speaker 1: they headed out for the buses. That's what these jumped

1171
01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:27,680
Speaker 1: up Puritans consider a recreational beverage this fucking country. Manny

1172
01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:30,760
Speaker 1: had noticed the post human growing increasingly jittery in irritable

1173
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:33,960
Speaker 1: throughout the day. He'd seen Roland cautiously cough up another

1174
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:36,880
Speaker 1: small bag of pills right before lunch That had sated

1175
01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:40,000
Speaker 1: him for a while, but considering his post human metabolism,

1176
01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:42,240
Speaker 1: many thought he had to be pretty close to sober.

1177
01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:45,840
Speaker 1: I am so fucking lucid. I can't stand it, Roland muttered,

1178
01:00:46,520 --> 01:00:48,440
Speaker 1: what is it with you people and being high all

1179
01:00:48,440 --> 01:00:51,640
Speaker 1: the time? Manny whispered back, can you stand being sober

1180
01:00:51,680 --> 01:00:53,920
Speaker 1: for a few days? Not? Am I gonna help it?

1181
01:00:54,280 --> 01:00:56,800
Speaker 1: Roland said. He pointed to his head. There's just too

1182
01:00:56,920 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 1: much going on in there, man, too much input. It's

1183
01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:02,440
Speaker 1: like my whole body it. But I can't scratch ah,

1184
01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:05,200
Speaker 1: Manny said, since he wasn't sure what else to say.

1185
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:08,280
Speaker 1: The bus hit downtown Plano after twenty minutes or so.

1186
01:01:08,560 --> 01:01:11,439
Speaker 1: It wasn't an impressive site. There were maybe a dozen

1187
01:01:11,480 --> 01:01:14,280
Speaker 1: little shops in one cafe open, plus a pretty sad

1188
01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:17,040
Speaker 1: looking farmer's market. He could see no signs of any bars,

1189
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:21,160
Speaker 1: any clubs, anything that even vaguely resembled nightlife. The main

1190
01:01:21,280 --> 01:01:23,920
Speaker 1: drag was crowded with people, throngs of soldiers and young

1191
01:01:23,960 --> 01:01:27,480
Speaker 1: women in long dresses and new immigrants into the heavenly Kingdom.

1192
01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:29,880
Speaker 1: Where should we go first, Manny asked. As soon as

1193
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:33,080
Speaker 1: they'd filed off the bus, well, Roland grunted, unless you're

1194
01:01:33,120 --> 01:01:35,320
Speaker 1: in the mood for shake off for your some rude vegetables,

1195
01:01:35,720 --> 01:01:39,040
Speaker 1: I'd say we check out that gallows. Manny had avoided

1196
01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:41,560
Speaker 1: looking too long at the gallows. It was empty now,

1197
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:43,760
Speaker 1: but just staring at it made him feel sick. There

1198
01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:46,840
Speaker 1: was something sinister and unsettling about the ground beneath it.

1199
01:01:46,840 --> 01:01:49,520
Speaker 1: It was as if he could feel the death radiating outwards.

1200
01:01:50,320 --> 01:01:53,360
Speaker 1: What could we possibly learn there, the Big Man shrugged.

1201
01:01:53,840 --> 01:01:56,479
Speaker 1: Not much. But if they wind up hanging anyone tonight,

1202
01:01:56,560 --> 01:01:58,080
Speaker 1: I might be able to sniff out where they're keeping

1203
01:01:58,080 --> 01:02:01,360
Speaker 1: the prisoners. That'd be useful data. Well, I'm gonna be

1204
01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:04,320
Speaker 1: useless for that, Manny said, What should I do? Oh?

1205
01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:08,320
Speaker 1: Man grabbed some coffee? What Roland locked eyes with him.

1206
01:02:08,360 --> 01:02:10,800
Speaker 1: He didn't do that often. His gaze was normally as

1207
01:02:10,800 --> 01:02:13,600
Speaker 1: shifty and juddery as the rest of him. Look, kid,

1208
01:02:13,600 --> 01:02:15,720
Speaker 1: you've done a great job above and beyond the collie

1209
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:17,959
Speaker 1: and a duty or whatever, and you're good company too.

1210
01:02:18,000 --> 01:02:20,240
Speaker 1: But I got half a dozen satellites worth a sensory

1211
01:02:20,240 --> 01:02:23,120
Speaker 1: equipment in my brain and hundreds of wee bitty microscopic

1212
01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:26,439
Speaker 1: robots floating around the air feeding me news. There's really

1213
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:28,600
Speaker 1: not much for you to do here. Chill out, find

1214
01:02:28,680 --> 01:02:31,360
Speaker 1: whatever passes for relaxation here and do it. I'll get

1215
01:02:31,400 --> 01:02:34,920
Speaker 1: you when it's time to go. Manny started to protest,

1216
01:02:35,040 --> 01:02:37,840
Speaker 1: but then he thought, oh the hell, he's right, I'm useless.

1217
01:02:37,880 --> 01:02:40,960
Speaker 1: I've earned a cup of flavorless gringo coffee. So we

1218
01:02:41,080 --> 01:02:43,120
Speaker 1: thanked Roland and headed off in the direction of the

1219
01:02:43,120 --> 01:02:46,480
Speaker 1: strip's functioning coffee house, the Cafe Clement. It looked like

1220
01:02:46,520 --> 01:02:48,960
Speaker 1: it was less crowded than the others. As he reached

1221
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:51,560
Speaker 1: for the door, some one slammed into him. She was

1222
01:02:51,600 --> 01:02:54,040
Speaker 1: a young blonde, younger than Manny at any rate. She

1223
01:02:54,120 --> 01:02:57,320
Speaker 1: wore baggy surgical scrubs. Her jaw was tight and clenched.

1224
01:02:57,480 --> 01:02:59,520
Speaker 1: Her brown eyes were wide with fear, and there were

1225
01:02:59,600 --> 01:03:03,000
Speaker 1: deep eggs under them. Oh oh my, she said, I'm

1226
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:05,680
Speaker 1: so sorry, sir. Please let me. It's okay. Manny said,

1227
01:03:05,760 --> 01:03:08,920
Speaker 1: no damage done. Are you all right? You look terrified.

1228
01:03:09,640 --> 01:03:12,840
Speaker 1: I'm just just trying to avoid someone. It's nothing serious.

1229
01:03:13,560 --> 01:03:15,919
Speaker 1: Manny wasn't sure why, but he pulled the ration cards

1230
01:03:15,920 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 1: he'd been given out of his pocket and offered one

1231
01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:20,280
Speaker 1: to the stranger. Here, if you want, we can grab

1232
01:03:20,280 --> 01:03:22,080
Speaker 1: a table together and I'll sit with my back to

1233
01:03:22,080 --> 01:03:25,120
Speaker 1: the door. You're not big, I can block you. She

1234
01:03:25,200 --> 01:03:28,040
Speaker 1: looked surprised and a little hesitant, but after a few

1235
01:03:28,040 --> 01:03:31,400
Speaker 1: blinks she nodded and said, I actually appreciate that a lot.

1236
01:03:31,640 --> 01:03:36,240
Speaker 1: Thank God for you, sir. Oh yeah, Manny agreed, praise him.

1237
01:03:36,400 --> 01:03:39,160
Speaker 1: They sat and ordered coffee. The young woman kept craning

1238
01:03:39,160 --> 01:03:42,680
Speaker 1: her neck around Manny to peek at the door behind them. Look,

1239
01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:44,400
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask what's up with you? But

1240
01:03:44,480 --> 01:03:46,160
Speaker 1: can I get your name? At least that might make

1241
01:03:46,200 --> 01:03:51,120
Speaker 1: this less awkward. I'm man U Emmanuel Manny for short, Sasha,

1242
01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:54,000
Speaker 1: she said, I just got here a few days ago.

1243
01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:58,440
Speaker 1: You this is my second day. She looked surprised. I

1244
01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:02,240
Speaker 1: wouldn't have guessed what with the form, he laughed. It

1245
01:04:02,320 --> 01:04:04,320
Speaker 1: a turns out they just hand these to anyone whole

1246
01:04:04,360 --> 01:04:07,200
Speaker 1: hold a gun. I didn't even really have a choice. Well,

1247
01:04:07,280 --> 01:04:09,320
Speaker 1: if that's where you wound up, I'm sure it's where

1248
01:04:09,360 --> 01:04:12,360
Speaker 1: the Lord wants you. Praise God for that. She didn't

1249
01:04:12,360 --> 01:04:14,640
Speaker 1: seem like she was joking, but there was something about

1250
01:04:14,640 --> 01:04:16,640
Speaker 1: her tone and the way her jaw and never unclenched

1251
01:04:16,680 --> 01:04:18,640
Speaker 1: that made Manny suspect she was a little less than

1252
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:21,400
Speaker 1: convinced about her own words. For the next few minutes,

1253
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:24,840
Speaker 1: they talked in between SIPs of mediocre coffee. He learned

1254
01:04:24,840 --> 01:04:27,040
Speaker 1: she was from the American Federation and enough of a

1255
01:04:27,080 --> 01:04:30,520
Speaker 1: true believer that she'd smuggled herself into the Heavenly Kingdom.

1256
01:04:30,560 --> 01:04:33,200
Speaker 1: She didn't seem like a zella though. More than anything,

1257
01:04:33,400 --> 01:04:36,680
Speaker 1: she seemed scared. How do you like it here? He

1258
01:04:36,760 --> 01:04:40,360
Speaker 1: finally asked, Is it what you'd expected? She didn't respond

1259
01:04:40,400 --> 01:04:43,080
Speaker 1: for quite a while. Instead, she stared into his eyes.

1260
01:04:43,520 --> 01:04:46,520
Speaker 1: Manny stared back. It was a strange feeling. She must

1261
01:04:46,520 --> 01:04:48,840
Speaker 1: have been trying to search out whether he was trustworthy

1262
01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:51,720
Speaker 1: or trying to trick her into revealing her disloyalty. He

1263
01:04:51,840 --> 01:04:54,200
Speaker 1: maintained eye contact and tried not to seem like a

1264
01:04:54,200 --> 01:04:57,120
Speaker 1: member of whatever the Heavenly Kingdom called their secret police.

1265
01:04:57,560 --> 01:05:00,960
Speaker 1: Apparently it worked. Of course, I'm happy here in God's Kingdom,

1266
01:05:01,200 --> 01:05:03,840
Speaker 1: she smiled, an empty smile. I've been blessed to meet

1267
01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:07,040
Speaker 1: so many dedicated people, but um, I've also met some

1268
01:05:07,040 --> 01:05:10,880
Speaker 1: people who am I am well, she coughed. Not everyone

1269
01:05:10,960 --> 01:05:13,919
Speaker 1: here seems to have the Lord in their heart. Manny

1270
01:05:14,000 --> 01:05:16,640
Speaker 1: almost laughed at the irony and her admitting that to him,

1271
01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:19,640
Speaker 1: but he kept his mouth shut and just nodded. Sasha

1272
01:05:19,680 --> 01:05:21,680
Speaker 1: took a long sip of her coffee. He felt a

1273
01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:24,680
Speaker 1: little bad for staring. She was very pretty, but she

1274
01:05:24,840 --> 01:05:27,560
Speaker 1: was also pretty young, and of course she'd volunteered to

1275
01:05:27,600 --> 01:05:30,800
Speaker 1: join a theocratic murder state. That was probably another reason

1276
01:05:30,840 --> 01:05:35,400
Speaker 1: he shouldn't get too attached. So anyway, Sasha explained, I've

1277
01:05:35,480 --> 01:05:37,480
Speaker 1: run into some men I don't like very much, and

1278
01:05:37,480 --> 01:05:39,120
Speaker 1: they keep finding me when I get off from my

1279
01:05:39,160 --> 01:05:41,800
Speaker 1: shift at the hospital. I'm sure they're waiting outside the

1280
01:05:41,840 --> 01:05:44,680
Speaker 1: house of where I'm staying right now. I just don't

1281
01:05:44,680 --> 01:05:47,920
Speaker 1: want to deal with that again. Well, Manny smiled his

1282
01:05:47,960 --> 01:05:50,760
Speaker 1: most charming smile. I'm happy to help you wait them out.

1283
01:05:50,880 --> 01:05:53,120
Speaker 1: I've got another hour at least before the buses take

1284
01:05:53,200 --> 01:05:56,440
Speaker 1: us back to the barracks. And so for a while

1285
01:05:56,560 --> 01:05:58,720
Speaker 1: they just talked. She told him about her work in

1286
01:05:58,760 --> 01:06:00,920
Speaker 1: the hospital, and he tried to say as little as

1287
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:04,120
Speaker 1: possible about his two shitty days as a martyr. Sasha

1288
01:06:04,160 --> 01:06:06,160
Speaker 1: didn't seem to mind that he didn't have much to

1289
01:06:06,200 --> 01:06:08,920
Speaker 1: say about himself. Manny got the feelings she was just

1290
01:06:08,960 --> 01:06:11,440
Speaker 1: happy to have someone to talk with. Most of her

1291
01:06:11,480 --> 01:06:14,600
Speaker 1: words passed over him until she mentioned something about a prisoner.

1292
01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:17,160
Speaker 1: She's from one of the road, people from some moving

1293
01:06:17,200 --> 01:06:20,080
Speaker 1: city with an obscene name, and she's pregnant. So I'll

1294
01:06:20,080 --> 01:06:22,160
Speaker 1: be seeing her again tomorrow, probably to do a more

1295
01:06:22,200 --> 01:06:26,040
Speaker 1: thorough examination. I feel weird about it. She was so strange,

1296
01:06:26,120 --> 01:06:28,479
Speaker 1: so different from anyone I've met, but I really don't

1297
01:06:28,520 --> 01:06:32,320
Speaker 1: like Wait, a prisoner is this at the hospital? Sasha

1298
01:06:32,360 --> 01:06:34,920
Speaker 1: seemed confused by that question, and Manny worried he might

1299
01:06:34,920 --> 01:06:38,120
Speaker 1: have overplayed his hand. Why do you The rest of

1300
01:06:38,120 --> 01:06:40,000
Speaker 1: her question was cut off by the sound of a

1301
01:06:40,000 --> 01:06:43,400
Speaker 1: bullhorn outside. Manny couldn't make out most of what was

1302
01:06:43,440 --> 01:06:46,880
Speaker 1: being said until he heard prisoners and SDF in an

1303
01:06:46,880 --> 01:06:51,840
Speaker 1: electronically distorted Southern drawl. Oh no, Sasha moaned, what what

1304
01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:56,440
Speaker 1: are they talking about? It's another execution. Manny stood up

1305
01:06:56,440 --> 01:06:58,880
Speaker 1: and stepped towards the door. He had to see who

1306
01:06:58,880 --> 01:07:01,800
Speaker 1: it was. Even wore he got there, a terrible feeling

1307
01:07:01,800 --> 01:07:03,840
Speaker 1: had started to boil up in the pit of his gut.

1308
01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:06,920
Speaker 1: He pushed the door open, jogged towards the gallows, and

1309
01:07:06,960 --> 01:07:09,400
Speaker 1: pushed his way back through the crowd. He could see

1310
01:07:09,480 --> 01:07:11,640
Speaker 1: Roland standing twenty feet off to the left from the

1311
01:07:11,640 --> 01:07:14,720
Speaker 1: wooden platform, but Manny's eyes were focused on the four

1312
01:07:14,760 --> 01:07:16,640
Speaker 1: men and two women in shackles at the foot of

1313
01:07:16,680 --> 01:07:20,920
Speaker 1: the gallows. Five of them were strangers. The sixth was Mr.

1314
01:07:21,000 --> 01:07:36,240
Speaker 1: Coron Chapter seventeen Roland. Roland smelled the execution before it started.

1315
01:07:36,640 --> 01:07:38,920
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of strong smells in downtown Plano

1316
01:07:38,960 --> 01:07:42,640
Speaker 1: when he arrived. Gunpowder and sour, fierceweat, the acrid stink

1317
01:07:42,680 --> 01:07:45,960
Speaker 1: of anxiety, and the warm, wet odors of grief and confusion.

1318
01:07:46,400 --> 01:07:49,320
Speaker 1: He'd smelled the stale reek of military rations, the sharp

1319
01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:52,640
Speaker 1: pang of anemia, and the boiling hot testosterone that wafted

1320
01:07:52,640 --> 01:07:55,560
Speaker 1: off the martyrs like a jet stream. But a half

1321
01:07:55,560 --> 01:07:58,320
Speaker 1: hour into his time downtown, something else had drifted over

1322
01:07:58,360 --> 01:08:01,760
Speaker 1: the packed masses of refugees in pilgrims and militiamen. It

1323
01:08:01,840 --> 01:08:04,040
Speaker 1: was hard to define a bit of tension, a bit

1324
01:08:04,040 --> 01:08:08,200
Speaker 1: of anticipation. The odor was faint enough to suggest something unconscious,

1325
01:08:08,320 --> 01:08:11,240
Speaker 1: a collective emotion, the aggregate scent of a crowd of

1326
01:08:11,240 --> 01:08:14,360
Speaker 1: people who weren't consciously aware of how they felt. There

1327
01:08:14,440 --> 01:08:18,000
Speaker 1: was no neurotransmitter, no pheromone he could identify. In particular.

1328
01:08:18,520 --> 01:08:21,160
Speaker 1: This scent was more elusive. He was only able to

1329
01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:24,439
Speaker 1: lock it down through the memory fragments that triggered col

1330
01:08:24,479 --> 01:08:26,880
Speaker 1: gray sky, a biting chill in the air. Hundreds of

1331
01:08:26,880 --> 01:08:30,599
Speaker 1: men and women bundled up, clustered around barrel fires, everyone talking,

1332
01:08:30,680 --> 01:08:33,600
Speaker 1: excitement in their voices. Anxiety on the air mingled with

1333
01:08:33,600 --> 01:08:37,080
Speaker 1: the gun oil, and anticipation something was about to happen.

1334
01:08:37,920 --> 01:08:41,080
Speaker 1: A few seconds later, the scent of anxious anticipation started

1335
01:08:41,120 --> 01:08:44,160
Speaker 1: to rise. Roland heard the deep bouncing thrumb of heavy

1336
01:08:44,200 --> 01:08:47,200
Speaker 1: rubber wheels on pavement. His hind brain tied the sound

1337
01:08:47,200 --> 01:08:51,080
Speaker 1: to a particular species of obsolete armored personnel carrier originally

1338
01:08:51,120 --> 01:08:55,280
Speaker 1: manufactured in Bulgaria. After following its route for several seconds,

1339
01:08:55,320 --> 01:08:57,600
Speaker 1: his hind brain guessed the a PC was bound for

1340
01:08:57,680 --> 01:09:00,599
Speaker 1: the main square. Roland spent the net a few minutes,

1341
01:09:00,680 --> 01:09:03,439
Speaker 1: jockeying for a good position close to the gallows. He

1342
01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:06,280
Speaker 1: wasn't sure that's where the convoy was headed. It seemed

1343
01:09:06,280 --> 01:09:08,639
Speaker 1: like a good guest, though, and he was quickly proven

1344
01:09:08,720 --> 01:09:10,600
Speaker 1: right when the APC pulled up to a stop just

1345
01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:13,640
Speaker 1: a hundred feet away. The crowd stopped and gawked as

1346
01:09:13,640 --> 01:09:16,599
Speaker 1: the heavy doors slid open. Soldiers in full body armor

1347
01:09:16,640 --> 01:09:19,240
Speaker 1: stepped out, dragging six men and women and honest to God,

1348
01:09:19,320 --> 01:09:23,120
Speaker 1: manacles and chains out into the dying light. The captives

1349
01:09:23,160 --> 01:09:25,599
Speaker 1: were all l stf. Roland didn't even have to make

1350
01:09:25,640 --> 01:09:28,559
Speaker 1: an educated guess on that one. The heavenly Kingdom had

1351
01:09:28,600 --> 01:09:31,480
Speaker 1: made sure to address them. In their tattered and bloodstained uniforms.

1352
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:35,360
Speaker 1: They were all of them emaciated and broken looking. The

1353
01:09:35,439 --> 01:09:38,519
Speaker 1: evidence of torture was so clear that Roland's enhanced eyes

1354
01:09:38,560 --> 01:09:42,519
Speaker 1: weren't even necessary. The captives had broken, bleeding finger nails,

1355
01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:45,160
Speaker 1: black eyes, painful limps, and feet that looked like they

1356
01:09:45,200 --> 01:09:48,479
Speaker 1: could barely stand to touch the ground. One of the martyrs,

1357
01:09:48,600 --> 01:09:50,640
Speaker 1: a tall man wearing a red beret instead of a

1358
01:09:50,680 --> 01:09:53,360
Speaker 1: combat helmet, strode ahead of the group. He had a

1359
01:09:53,439 --> 01:09:55,640
Speaker 1: voice hamp in one hand. He raised the other up

1360
01:09:55,640 --> 01:09:57,920
Speaker 1: in the air in a prayerful gesture that was matched

1361
01:09:57,920 --> 01:10:00,720
Speaker 1: by most of the crowd. Brothers are the sistas, the

1362
01:10:00,800 --> 01:10:03,960
Speaker 1: martyr's voice boomed. Today the Lord and his loyal soldiers

1363
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:07,120
Speaker 1: have delivered unto you a blessing it The crowd tightened

1364
01:10:07,160 --> 01:10:10,280
Speaker 1: around Rowland. He could see here feel as people rushed

1365
01:10:10,280 --> 01:10:13,040
Speaker 1: out from the cafes and shops to watch. The fear

1366
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:15,160
Speaker 1: and excitement was so thick in the air. Roland was

1367
01:10:15,200 --> 01:10:18,439
Speaker 1: sure even unmodified humans could have sensed it. Here we

1368
01:10:18,520 --> 01:10:22,000
Speaker 1: have six prisoners from the s DF the martyr began.

1369
01:10:22,479 --> 01:10:25,000
Speaker 1: These men and women were all captured in the last week.

1370
01:10:25,320 --> 01:10:27,960
Speaker 1: Rather than accept their defeat, they chose to fight as

1371
01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:32,320
Speaker 1: insurgents against the heavenly kingdom. God and his martyrs are merciful,

1372
01:10:32,439 --> 01:10:35,240
Speaker 1: but these sinners have spat on that mercy. Now it

1373
01:10:35,360 --> 01:10:38,160
Speaker 1: is our privilege to execute upon them the judgment written

1374
01:10:38,439 --> 01:10:42,080
Speaker 1: this honor. Have all his saints praise ye the Lord.

1375
01:10:42,960 --> 01:10:45,600
Speaker 1: A ragged cheer went up from the crowd. Many of

1376
01:10:45,640 --> 01:10:49,200
Speaker 1: the assembled sounded less than enthusiastic, at least to Roland's ears,

1377
01:10:49,280 --> 01:10:51,479
Speaker 1: but there were still dozens and dozens of voices full

1378
01:10:51,479 --> 01:10:54,759
Speaker 1: of reckless hate. The prisoners marched forward with their escort,

1379
01:10:54,880 --> 01:10:57,760
Speaker 1: every nearer to the gallows. Roland's ear tingled, and he

1380
01:10:57,840 --> 01:11:00,639
Speaker 1: sensed Manny's presence out in the street. Now the kid

1381
01:11:00,680 --> 01:11:04,679
Speaker 1: smelled afraid, with a faint, fading tinge of permonal arousal humh.

1382
01:11:05,200 --> 01:11:07,719
Speaker 1: Roland backed away and escaped the main press of the crowd.

1383
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:09,960
Speaker 1: In a few seconds he was behind Manny, and he

1384
01:11:09,960 --> 01:11:12,280
Speaker 1: put a hand on the fixer's back. The young man

1385
01:11:12,400 --> 01:11:15,880
Speaker 1: jumped and then shot rolland a furious look hell Manny

1386
01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:18,120
Speaker 1: caught himself and instead pointed up to the line of

1387
01:11:18,160 --> 01:11:21,519
Speaker 1: doomed men and women. Roland, I know that. Hey, a

1388
01:11:21,600 --> 01:11:24,120
Speaker 1: girl ran up to them. She smelled scared too, but

1389
01:11:24,160 --> 01:11:26,920
Speaker 1: the scent was much deeper on her, sunken into her skin.

1390
01:11:27,439 --> 01:11:29,880
Speaker 1: She'd been scared for quite some time. She seemed to

1391
01:11:29,880 --> 01:11:33,800
Speaker 1: know Manny, and he definitely knew her Sasha, Manny said,

1392
01:11:33,840 --> 01:11:36,720
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I just needed to. He paused, shook his head,

1393
01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:39,559
Speaker 1: and then put a hand on Roland's shoulder. This is

1394
01:11:39,680 --> 01:11:43,120
Speaker 1: my comrade, Martyr Erin. We fled here together once the

1395
01:11:43,240 --> 01:11:47,639
Speaker 1: SDF retreated from Farmer's branch. Aaron, This is Sasha. It's

1396
01:11:47,680 --> 01:11:50,160
Speaker 1: good to meet you, Martyr Aaron, she said, and flashed

1397
01:11:50,200 --> 01:11:53,320
Speaker 1: him an anxious smile. I'm so glad God's grace has

1398
01:11:53,360 --> 01:11:56,600
Speaker 1: brought us all together. Oh yeah, Roland said, in his

1399
01:11:56,640 --> 01:11:59,439
Speaker 1: most convincing voice. God soa so good. I'm really just

1400
01:12:00,520 --> 01:12:04,320
Speaker 1: he gestured toward the gallows. I'm a psych to see this. Oh,

1401
01:12:04,320 --> 01:12:07,960
Speaker 1: look crossed over her face, disgust mixed with building anxiety.

1402
01:12:08,320 --> 01:12:10,040
Speaker 1: She was dressed to play the part of the good

1403
01:12:10,120 --> 01:12:12,599
Speaker 1: Christian woman, her hair done up in a tasteful bun,

1404
01:12:12,640 --> 01:12:15,120
Speaker 1: her face unadorned by make up, her sleeves long and

1405
01:12:15,120 --> 01:12:18,360
Speaker 1: her clothing baggy, but her scent didn't lie. It suggested

1406
01:12:18,400 --> 01:12:20,759
Speaker 1: she was pretty far from all in on this whole

1407
01:12:20,880 --> 01:12:25,320
Speaker 1: heavenly Kingdom thing. You're ah not excited to see God's justice,

1408
01:12:25,560 --> 01:12:28,760
Speaker 1: Rollin asked the young woman frowned and shook her head.

1409
01:12:29,479 --> 01:12:33,040
Speaker 1: I understand the necessity of such brute of such extreme measures,

1410
01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:35,640
Speaker 1: but I don't have to like it, Manny, do you?

1411
01:12:36,040 --> 01:12:38,320
Speaker 1: She started to ask Manny something, but the young man

1412
01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:41,000
Speaker 1: broke off from their little group and darted forward towards

1413
01:12:41,080 --> 01:12:45,880
Speaker 1: the gallows. Oh, Sasha finished in surprise. I'll h I'll

1414
01:12:45,880 --> 01:12:48,760
Speaker 1: go check on him. Roland said, it's a probably best

1415
01:12:48,800 --> 01:12:52,120
Speaker 1: if you wait here. Huh. She looked confused, but she nodded.

1416
01:12:52,439 --> 01:12:54,760
Speaker 1: Roland followed behind Manny and caught up to him. About

1417
01:12:54,760 --> 01:12:57,360
Speaker 1: four people deep into the growing crowd around the scaffold.

1418
01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,479
Speaker 1: The fixer's eyes were locked on one of the stf prisoners,

1419
01:13:00,560 --> 01:13:02,880
Speaker 1: a middle aged man with a prominent black mustache and

1420
01:13:02,920 --> 01:13:06,040
Speaker 1: a look of courageous resignation in his brown eyes. He

1421
01:13:06,120 --> 01:13:08,120
Speaker 1: stood in the middle of the gallows, calm as a

1422
01:13:08,160 --> 01:13:10,080
Speaker 1: stone in the ocean, while one of the martyrs fitted

1423
01:13:10,120 --> 01:13:14,559
Speaker 1: a noose around his neck, Manny, Roland said, that's Mr Barrowne.

1424
01:13:14,800 --> 01:13:18,799
Speaker 1: Manny said, someone you know. Then Manny swallowed and nodded

1425
01:13:18,880 --> 01:13:21,679
Speaker 1: his head. Tears threatened at the corners of his watery eyes.

1426
01:13:22,240 --> 01:13:24,400
Speaker 1: Roland felt like it would probably be a good idea

1427
01:13:24,439 --> 01:13:26,400
Speaker 1: to get the kid away from the gallows before he

1428
01:13:26,439 --> 01:13:29,720
Speaker 1: did something stupid. Roland's hind brain helpfully informed him that

1429
01:13:29,760 --> 01:13:32,400
Speaker 1: there were only around sixty armed men in the whole square,

1430
01:13:32,800 --> 01:13:34,760
Speaker 1: but he also knew there were one hundred and eighty

1431
01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:37,120
Speaker 1: three armed men within a mile of their current position.

1432
01:13:37,479 --> 01:13:39,920
Speaker 1: If ship started now, it wouldn't end for a while.

1433
01:13:40,439 --> 01:13:43,280
Speaker 1: Roland put a hand on Manny's shoulder. We have to

1434
01:13:43,320 --> 01:13:46,400
Speaker 1: do something, Manny said, What do you want me to do?

1435
01:13:46,760 --> 01:13:49,400
Speaker 1: Roland asked, Rush up there, beat that red barred fun

1436
01:13:49,520 --> 01:13:51,040
Speaker 1: I get with an own side arm, and then cock

1437
01:13:51,080 --> 01:13:54,280
Speaker 1: punched the rest of him into submission. You can beat them,

1438
01:13:54,439 --> 01:13:58,280
Speaker 1: Manny said, yeah. Roland nodded. But if I do, that's

1439
01:13:58,280 --> 01:14:00,280
Speaker 1: the end of the mission and probably the end of

1440
01:14:00,320 --> 01:14:03,160
Speaker 1: those hostages. I can't save your buddy, and you probably

1441
01:14:03,200 --> 01:14:05,240
Speaker 1: even that girl if she wants to come. But the

1442
01:14:05,360 --> 01:14:08,240
Speaker 1: Kingdom's going to assume some monster man from rolling fucked

1443
01:14:08,320 --> 01:14:11,320
Speaker 1: just terrorism them. They'll bury those captives too deep for

1444
01:14:11,400 --> 01:14:13,640
Speaker 1: us to find. And then Austin's as fucked as a

1445
01:14:13,680 --> 01:14:16,599
Speaker 1: blind pussy in a dick forest. A man the crowd

1446
01:14:16,640 --> 01:14:20,920
Speaker 1: turned and stared at Roland volume. Man volume. Roland guessed

1447
01:14:20,920 --> 01:14:23,040
Speaker 1: he'd heard just the tail end of his last sentence.

1448
01:14:23,400 --> 01:14:26,200
Speaker 1: The word pussy had probably piqued his ears. Before the

1449
01:14:26,200 --> 01:14:28,760
Speaker 1: man could say anything, Roland pointed towards the gallows and

1450
01:14:28,840 --> 01:14:32,719
Speaker 1: let out aloud whoop, followed by a Praise God, Praise God.

1451
01:14:33,439 --> 01:14:36,400
Speaker 1: The inadvertent eavesdropper started cheering along with him and turned

1452
01:14:36,439 --> 01:14:39,840
Speaker 1: back to the impending execution. Roland turned back to Manny.

1453
01:14:40,080 --> 01:14:42,759
Speaker 1: The boy was quiet, his face controlled, but fat tears

1454
01:14:42,840 --> 01:14:45,759
Speaker 1: ran down his cheeks and his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

1455
01:14:46,160 --> 01:14:48,799
Speaker 1: Roland directed him back away from the worst of the crowd.

1456
01:14:49,560 --> 01:14:52,799
Speaker 1: Mr Pirrone baked the cake for my twelfth birthday. Manny whispered.

1457
01:14:52,880 --> 01:14:55,240
Speaker 1: He showed us Monty Python, he dropped us off at

1458
01:14:55,280 --> 01:14:58,960
Speaker 1: soccer practice. Manny had started to babble. He smelled on

1459
01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:01,639
Speaker 1: the edge of an outright pa nick attack. Roland's hind

1460
01:15:01,640 --> 01:15:05,320
Speaker 1: brains started to identify potential improvised weaponry options among the crowd.

1461
01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:08,240
Speaker 1: He settled on a small, thick set man He's got

1462
01:15:08,240 --> 01:15:11,679
Speaker 1: a real denscranium, good weight distribution. He'll make a great club.

1463
01:15:12,520 --> 01:15:14,559
Speaker 1: Roland shook himself out of it. Then he tried to

1464
01:15:14,560 --> 01:15:17,320
Speaker 1: shake Manny out of it by literally shaking him by

1465
01:15:17,360 --> 01:15:20,800
Speaker 1: the shoulders. Hey, listen, you're friend up there. It's gonna

1466
01:15:20,840 --> 01:15:22,760
Speaker 1: die or a lot of other people are going to die.

1467
01:15:23,080 --> 01:15:25,559
Speaker 1: Those are the two options. I know it sucks, I

1468
01:15:25,600 --> 01:15:28,200
Speaker 1: know it's ship, but we cannot fix this. If you

1469
01:15:28,240 --> 01:15:30,800
Speaker 1: stay calm, though, we can fix something worse. Do you

1470
01:15:30,840 --> 01:15:35,679
Speaker 1: understand me. Manny's eyes came unglazed, The flow of tears slowed,

1471
01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:39,040
Speaker 1: then stopped. It was an impressive feed of willpower. Most

1472
01:15:39,040 --> 01:15:41,600
Speaker 1: people didn't have that kind of control over their emotions.

1473
01:15:42,000 --> 01:15:44,200
Speaker 1: Roland had to guess Manny's work as a fixer had

1474
01:15:44,240 --> 01:15:46,160
Speaker 1: at least prepared him to function in the middle of

1475
01:15:46,200 --> 01:15:49,920
Speaker 1: a waking nightmare. Okay, the kid said, but I have

1476
01:15:50,080 --> 01:15:53,160
Speaker 1: to watch. Roland wanted to argue, but one look at

1477
01:15:53,200 --> 01:15:56,240
Speaker 1: Manny's eyes made it clear that arguing wouldn't do any good,

1478
01:15:56,800 --> 01:15:59,280
Speaker 1: So instead he stood there next to Manny and kept

1479
01:15:59,280 --> 01:16:01,400
Speaker 1: his hand on the boy a shoulder until the terrible

1480
01:16:01,400 --> 01:16:03,960
Speaker 1: thing was done. It was as ghastly as these things

1481
01:16:04,040 --> 01:16:07,280
Speaker 1: always were. Most of the crowd cheered every snapneck, every

1482
01:16:07,360 --> 01:16:10,840
Speaker 1: jerk of a dying soldier's legs. Shock Waves of memory

1483
01:16:10,920 --> 01:16:13,759
Speaker 1: racked Roland's mind at the sight. He felt warm spring

1484
01:16:13,760 --> 01:16:16,240
Speaker 1: hair blow across his cold chest. He saw a small

1485
01:16:16,280 --> 01:16:18,720
Speaker 1: sea of familiar strangers, men and women he'd known once

1486
01:16:18,800 --> 01:16:21,360
Speaker 1: upon a bloodier day. He felt a big gun kick

1487
01:16:21,400 --> 01:16:23,599
Speaker 1: in his hands. He felt a warm splash of blood

1488
01:16:23,640 --> 01:16:26,200
Speaker 1: across his chest and face. He heard the heavy final

1489
01:16:26,240 --> 01:16:29,400
Speaker 1: thump of a tiny body heading the ground. He saw Topaz,

1490
01:16:29,520 --> 01:16:32,080
Speaker 1: She looked ill. He saw skullfucker Mike with a hand

1491
01:16:32,120 --> 01:16:35,320
Speaker 1: on her shoulder. He heard Jim's voice, make sure the

1492
01:16:35,400 --> 01:16:39,000
Speaker 1: camera's catch this next one. Jim cried, We've got an

1493
01:16:39,000 --> 01:16:42,519
Speaker 1: honest to god Shaney with us today. Back in the present,

1494
01:16:42,680 --> 01:16:46,559
Speaker 1: Roland watched as Manny's friends turn came around. Manny swallowed,

1495
01:16:46,720 --> 01:16:49,320
Speaker 1: his face went pale. Tears streamed down the boy's face,

1496
01:16:49,360 --> 01:16:51,800
Speaker 1: and Roland felt a sudden, peculiar urge to bury him

1497
01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:54,439
Speaker 1: in a hug. He did not do that, though. Roland

1498
01:16:54,479 --> 01:16:56,759
Speaker 1: just stood still with a firm hand on Manny's shoulder

1499
01:16:56,800 --> 01:16:59,320
Speaker 1: while they tightened the noose around mister Perrone's neck and

1500
01:16:59,400 --> 01:17:01,559
Speaker 1: dropped him down own to hang until he was dead,

1501
01:17:01,680 --> 01:17:05,360
Speaker 1: dead dead. Roland was proud of how straight Manny stood,

1502
01:17:05,400 --> 01:17:07,519
Speaker 1: how the boy held back from sobbing, and how once

1503
01:17:07,560 --> 01:17:10,280
Speaker 1: the sad spectacle was over, Manny turned back around and

1504
01:17:10,320 --> 01:17:13,720
Speaker 1: headed towards the Christian girl, Sasha. She still stood where

1505
01:17:13,720 --> 01:17:16,320
Speaker 1: they had left her. Roland could tell she'd been crying too,

1506
01:17:16,439 --> 01:17:19,160
Speaker 1: although she'd taken some pains to describe it. She was

1507
01:17:19,160 --> 01:17:21,000
Speaker 1: hard to get a read on that one. She struck

1508
01:17:21,080 --> 01:17:22,920
Speaker 1: him as one of the faithful, but she didn't strike

1509
01:17:23,000 --> 01:17:25,599
Speaker 1: him as a nut. Maybe she just gotten suckered into

1510
01:17:25,600 --> 01:17:28,840
Speaker 1: this awful place. Roland could surely understand that. He was

1511
01:17:28,920 --> 01:17:33,240
Speaker 1: pretty sure he'd been suckered into dumber things. Praise God,

1512
01:17:33,520 --> 01:17:38,400
Speaker 1: she said, with hesitation. Praise God, Manny responded. Roland didn't

1513
01:17:38,439 --> 01:17:40,680
Speaker 1: say much. She gave him a look, but not an

1514
01:17:40,680 --> 01:17:44,679
Speaker 1: angry one. That was she locked eyes with Manny. Roland

1515
01:17:44,760 --> 01:17:46,880
Speaker 1: was pretty sure she'd blocked the rest of the world out.

1516
01:17:47,200 --> 01:17:49,280
Speaker 1: She must have seen the signs of his tears too.

1517
01:17:49,560 --> 01:17:52,439
Speaker 1: She coughed a little and continued, that was awful. I

1518
01:17:52,479 --> 01:17:56,479
Speaker 1: know it's necessary, but I'll never stop hating that. It's

1519
01:17:56,479 --> 01:17:59,679
Speaker 1: a good thing to hate, Manny said. And then, look,

1520
01:17:59,800 --> 01:18:02,599
Speaker 1: we you have to get back to base. Curfuse coming

1521
01:18:02,640 --> 01:18:04,599
Speaker 1: up soon. But if you want to hide from those

1522
01:18:04,720 --> 01:18:10,400
Speaker 1: undesirables tomorrow, I'll be waiting outside the cafe. They kept talking,

1523
01:18:10,439 --> 01:18:12,960
Speaker 1: but what they said was beyond Roland's interest. He was

1524
01:18:13,000 --> 01:18:15,880
Speaker 1: busy listening as the prison convoy drove off. Now that

1525
01:18:15,920 --> 01:18:18,160
Speaker 1: he knew the sound of the prisoner transport a PC

1526
01:18:18,640 --> 01:18:21,960
Speaker 1: urally tracing it back to its origin point was child's play.

1527
01:18:22,320 --> 01:18:25,480
Speaker 1: Aaron Manny's voice jerked his attention back to the conversation

1528
01:18:25,520 --> 01:18:28,759
Speaker 1: happening in front of him. We should probably go, Manny said.

1529
01:18:29,120 --> 01:18:34,400
Speaker 1: The busses will leave soon. Oh ship, surely, surely right, right,

1530
01:18:34,479 --> 01:18:37,840
Speaker 1: surely right, we should go. Roland smiled at Sasha. It

1531
01:18:38,000 --> 01:18:40,880
Speaker 1: was lovely to meet you. Good evening. He put a

1532
01:18:40,920 --> 01:18:43,200
Speaker 1: hand on Manny's shoulder, and together they headed off to

1533
01:18:43,240 --> 01:18:48,160
Speaker 1: the buses. Manny only stopped twice to cry. Manny didn't

1534
01:18:48,200 --> 01:18:50,479
Speaker 1: say much the rest of the night. Roland was proud

1535
01:18:50,479 --> 01:18:52,760
Speaker 1: of him for holding back his tears during the bus ride,

1536
01:18:52,760 --> 01:18:55,040
Speaker 1: and they walked to the barracks, the kid broke down

1537
01:18:55,080 --> 01:18:56,760
Speaker 1: as soon as he got into bed, of course, but

1538
01:18:56,800 --> 01:18:59,200
Speaker 1: he kept his sobs silent, and Roland was pretty sure

1539
01:18:59,240 --> 01:19:01,760
Speaker 1: none of the other roots noticed. It helped that they

1540
01:19:01,760 --> 01:19:04,519
Speaker 1: were all exhausted. At the end of the day, Roland

1541
01:19:04,560 --> 01:19:07,360
Speaker 1: puked up, then popped a handful of ambient and percocets

1542
01:19:07,360 --> 01:19:09,200
Speaker 1: and washed them down with a tall glass of the

1543
01:19:09,240 --> 01:19:12,080
Speaker 1: beer he'd brewed in his own guts. He offered Manny some,

1544
01:19:12,200 --> 01:19:14,719
Speaker 1: but the boy declined, so Roland had a second glass,

1545
01:19:14,880 --> 01:19:17,280
Speaker 1: and then a third. It wasn't enough to get him wasted,

1546
01:19:17,280 --> 01:19:19,559
Speaker 1: but the cocktail of drugs did a tolerable job of

1547
01:19:19,640 --> 01:19:22,720
Speaker 1: leading him into unconsciousness. He drifted off to sleep an

1548
01:19:22,720 --> 01:19:24,439
Speaker 1: hour or so after the rest of the men in

1549
01:19:24,479 --> 01:19:28,960
Speaker 1: the barracks. The next day was more army style bullshit

1550
01:19:29,240 --> 01:19:31,759
Speaker 1: push ups and wind sprints in a big dumb obstacle course.

1551
01:19:32,040 --> 01:19:34,400
Speaker 1: Roland had to be real careful to act challenged. As

1552
01:19:34,439 --> 01:19:37,240
Speaker 1: the day went on, he instructed his body to elevate

1553
01:19:37,280 --> 01:19:39,960
Speaker 1: his blood pressure and temperature, to flush his face red

1554
01:19:40,000 --> 01:19:41,880
Speaker 1: with blood, and to send enough sweat from his pores

1555
01:19:41,920 --> 01:19:45,200
Speaker 1: to make a passable imitation of exertion. It was tedious

1556
01:19:45,200 --> 01:19:46,800
Speaker 1: and he hated it, but the first half of the

1557
01:19:46,840 --> 01:19:49,519
Speaker 1: day went by pretty fast. Then it was time for

1558
01:19:49,560 --> 01:19:52,479
Speaker 1: a close quarters firefight drill. The men were given actual

1559
01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:56,120
Speaker 1: rifles sans ammunition, and divided up into assault teams. They

1560
01:19:56,120 --> 01:19:58,960
Speaker 1: spent the next five hours taking turns defending or attacking

1561
01:19:58,960 --> 01:20:01,320
Speaker 1: different rooms in an old apartment complex that had been

1562
01:20:01,320 --> 01:20:03,840
Speaker 1: commandeered by the Heavenly Kingdom. There was a lot of

1563
01:20:03,880 --> 01:20:06,400
Speaker 1: shouting from instructors who sure as ship wanted the recruits

1564
01:20:06,439 --> 01:20:08,920
Speaker 1: to think they knew more about urban warfare than they did.

1565
01:20:09,760 --> 01:20:12,000
Speaker 1: At the end of one particularly long set of door

1566
01:20:12,040 --> 01:20:14,400
Speaker 1: bridging drills, one of the instructors dropped to his knees

1567
01:20:14,400 --> 01:20:17,120
Speaker 1: and started chanting in tongues. He seemed to be celebrating

1568
01:20:17,160 --> 01:20:19,479
Speaker 1: that one of his slowest squads had finally nailed a

1569
01:20:19,560 --> 01:20:22,519
Speaker 1: textbook entry. Roland wasn't sure what the hell to make

1570
01:20:22,560 --> 01:20:24,479
Speaker 1: of it. The man almost smelled like he was having

1571
01:20:24,520 --> 01:20:28,240
Speaker 1: a schizophrenic break. The heavy wash of neurotransmitters wafting off

1572
01:20:28,320 --> 01:20:30,679
Speaker 1: him made it clear this wasn't just some gesture for show.

1573
01:20:31,040 --> 01:20:35,040
Speaker 1: He seemed legitimately overcome with joy. Other soldiers and even

1574
01:20:35,040 --> 01:20:37,800
Speaker 1: a couple of instructors started kneeling around him. They were

1575
01:20:37,800 --> 01:20:41,320
Speaker 1: all chanting in some strange language. The first instructor kept

1576
01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:45,439
Speaker 1: repeating what sounded like hom noshkalashka, hom nosh kalashka. Roland's

1577
01:20:45,479 --> 01:20:47,920
Speaker 1: heidenbrain knew a lot of languages, but this sounded like

1578
01:20:48,040 --> 01:20:50,720
Speaker 1: nonsense to him. He noticed the speech patterns of each

1579
01:20:50,800 --> 01:20:53,960
Speaker 1: chanting man were pretty consistent with American English. The actual

1580
01:20:53,960 --> 01:20:56,439
Speaker 1: words were gibberish, though, and many grabbed him by the

1581
01:20:56,520 --> 01:20:59,600
Speaker 1: shoulder and pushed gently down. Roland took the hint and

1582
01:20:59,600 --> 01:21:02,360
Speaker 1: then took knee. The kids started to chant in a

1583
01:21:02,360 --> 01:21:06,799
Speaker 1: low voice Latish killa, josepha Tinchala. It was more gibberish,

1584
01:21:06,840 --> 01:21:09,559
Speaker 1: but Roland followed suit. He started to spit out nonsense

1585
01:21:09,560 --> 01:21:11,120
Speaker 1: of his own, and a tone low enough that it

1586
01:21:11,120 --> 01:21:14,639
Speaker 1: didn't rise above the din of chanting maniacs. Manny's strategy,

1587
01:21:14,680 --> 01:21:17,679
Speaker 1: he realized, was to make big, exaggerated mouth motions without

1588
01:21:17,680 --> 01:21:20,280
Speaker 1: actually speaking at a high volume. It made him look

1589
01:21:20,360 --> 01:21:23,479
Speaker 1: right without drawing any attention. The whole weird scene went

1590
01:21:23,520 --> 01:21:26,280
Speaker 1: on for a little over two minutes. Eventually, the instructor

1591
01:21:26,320 --> 01:21:28,920
Speaker 1: stopped chanting and lay on his back, sweaty and spent.

1592
01:21:29,400 --> 01:21:31,400
Speaker 1: The other soldiers seemed to have ended their fits in

1593
01:21:31,400 --> 01:21:34,040
Speaker 1: the same way. Roland could tell from their heart rates

1594
01:21:34,040 --> 01:21:35,880
Speaker 1: and body temperature that about half of the men had

1595
01:21:35,920 --> 01:21:38,599
Speaker 1: been faking it, just like he and Manny. The humid

1596
01:21:38,640 --> 01:21:41,240
Speaker 1: stink of guilt was heavy in the air. Roland's heart

1597
01:21:41,280 --> 01:21:43,799
Speaker 1: went out for them. It must be agony to believe

1598
01:21:43,840 --> 01:21:46,679
Speaker 1: so hard and something so dumb that you'd castigate yourself

1599
01:21:46,680 --> 01:21:49,679
Speaker 1: for not buying into it enough. After that they filed

1600
01:21:49,680 --> 01:21:52,320
Speaker 1: into the mess hall. They said their prayers ate their dinners,

1601
01:21:52,320 --> 01:21:55,040
Speaker 1: and then queued up for the buses downtown. The ride

1602
01:21:55,040 --> 01:21:57,240
Speaker 1: was uneventful, and the instant their feet hit the square,

1603
01:21:57,240 --> 01:21:59,960
Speaker 1: Manny went off to find Sasha. Roland shook his head

1604
01:22:00,000 --> 01:22:02,839
Speaker 1: in appreciation for the all consuming power of human desire,

1605
01:22:02,960 --> 01:22:05,320
Speaker 1: and then bounded off to check out the presumed location

1606
01:22:05,360 --> 01:22:07,920
Speaker 1: of the jail. It was about a three mile jog.

1607
01:22:08,120 --> 01:22:10,160
Speaker 1: At full speed, Roland could have cleared the distance in

1608
01:22:10,200 --> 01:22:12,320
Speaker 1: a few minutes, but a low profile was the name

1609
01:22:12,320 --> 01:22:14,439
Speaker 1: of the game. He stuck to a fast walk and

1610
01:22:14,520 --> 01:22:16,479
Speaker 1: kept to the shadows and alleys as best he could.

1611
01:22:16,840 --> 01:22:19,200
Speaker 1: Plano hadn't been a very dense city before the martyrs

1612
01:22:19,200 --> 01:22:20,920
Speaker 1: had taken over, so there were a lot of times

1613
01:22:20,960 --> 01:22:22,960
Speaker 1: where he was basically out in the open. He had

1614
01:22:23,000 --> 01:22:24,920
Speaker 1: to trust that his uniform, in the general state of

1615
01:22:25,000 --> 01:22:28,120
Speaker 1: chaos and the newly founded Kingdom would obscure him. This

1616
01:22:28,200 --> 01:22:30,400
Speaker 1: was the first look he'd gotten of the Kingdom on foot,

1617
01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:33,360
Speaker 1: Roland decided he didn't care much for it. There was

1618
01:22:33,400 --> 01:22:35,519
Speaker 1: a great deal of foot and vehicle traffic, but most

1619
01:22:35,560 --> 01:22:38,000
Speaker 1: of the people seemed to be either soldiers or refugees

1620
01:22:38,040 --> 01:22:41,400
Speaker 1: without anywhere else to go. He passed two checkpoints where

1621
01:22:41,439 --> 01:22:44,439
Speaker 1: twitchy looking martyrs performed data scans on decks and personal

1622
01:22:44,479 --> 01:22:47,679
Speaker 1: hard drives. He even saw one soldier sorting through paperback

1623
01:22:47,680 --> 01:22:50,639
Speaker 1: books in the trunk of some poor fox car. Roland

1624
01:22:50,720 --> 01:22:53,559
Speaker 1: noticed several white vans with black crosses painted on the side.

1625
01:22:53,800 --> 01:22:56,920
Speaker 1: They cruised the streets, clearly on patrol for something. He

1626
01:22:56,960 --> 01:22:59,360
Speaker 1: watched one stop in front of a family of refugees

1627
01:22:59,400 --> 01:23:02,360
Speaker 1: heavy with back packs and carrying intake papers in their hands.

1628
01:23:02,760 --> 01:23:05,639
Speaker 1: Men in white jumpsuits with gold cross badges piled out

1629
01:23:05,680 --> 01:23:09,040
Speaker 1: and surrounded the family. Roland concealed himself behind a dumpster

1630
01:23:09,120 --> 01:23:11,400
Speaker 1: and watched as the patriarch of the family handed them

1631
01:23:11,439 --> 01:23:14,680
Speaker 1: his papers and spoke in a frantic, animated tone. One

1632
01:23:14,720 --> 01:23:16,559
Speaker 1: of the men pointed at his daughter, who wore a

1633
01:23:16,600 --> 01:23:19,080
Speaker 1: stained T shirt and a ragged pair of denim shorts.

1634
01:23:19,360 --> 01:23:21,720
Speaker 1: They were baggy and hardly stylish, but the men in

1635
01:23:21,720 --> 01:23:24,960
Speaker 1: the jumpsuits seemed furious. They pointed and shouted. The man

1636
01:23:25,040 --> 01:23:27,000
Speaker 1: put his hands in the air and tried to say something,

1637
01:23:27,040 --> 01:23:29,200
Speaker 1: but one of the jumpsuited men smashed his head with

1638
01:23:29,200 --> 01:23:33,759
Speaker 1: a cane. Cold rage bubbled up inside Roland. Fuck this place,

1639
01:23:33,800 --> 01:23:37,280
Speaker 1: he simmered to himself, Fuck these jinkiest throwback fundamentalists and

1640
01:23:37,280 --> 01:23:40,519
Speaker 1: their fascist bullshit. He wanted to charge out from behind

1641
01:23:40,560 --> 01:23:43,360
Speaker 1: the dumpster and tear into these low rent his bomb motherfucker's.

1642
01:23:43,640 --> 01:23:45,760
Speaker 1: He wanted to shove those thick wooden rods so far

1643
01:23:45,840 --> 01:23:49,040
Speaker 1: up their asses they'd be shipping splinters for weeks. The mission,

1644
01:23:49,120 --> 01:23:52,840
Speaker 1: he reminded himself, the fucking mission, And so he watched

1645
01:23:52,880 --> 01:23:55,000
Speaker 1: as the men in white beat the old guy. He

1646
01:23:55,080 --> 01:23:57,360
Speaker 1: watched as they pulled the poor bastard's daughter into a

1647
01:23:57,439 --> 01:24:00,519
Speaker 1: van and forced a hideous gray woolen dress over her head.

1648
01:24:00,760 --> 01:24:02,720
Speaker 1: It didn't fit, and it looked liable to give her

1649
01:24:02,760 --> 01:24:05,760
Speaker 1: heat stroke in the late Texas summer. She didn't fight them, though.

1650
01:24:06,479 --> 01:24:09,240
Speaker 1: Roland moved on reluctantly and found what his hind brain

1651
01:24:09,320 --> 01:24:12,160
Speaker 1: suspected was the old jail. The a PCs he'd seen

1652
01:24:12,240 --> 01:24:14,679
Speaker 1: last night were parked out front. The compound was guarded

1653
01:24:14,680 --> 01:24:18,640
Speaker 1: and busy. Roland counted fourteen guards just outside. Mind you,

1654
01:24:18,800 --> 01:24:21,960
Speaker 1: there were human guards, no powered armor, no heavy artillery,

1655
01:24:22,280 --> 01:24:24,759
Speaker 1: nothing at hand that could do much more than tickle him.

1656
01:24:24,800 --> 01:24:27,120
Speaker 1: They wouldn't present a danger, but they would cause a

1657
01:24:27,120 --> 01:24:28,760
Speaker 1: hell of a lot of noise if he attempted a

1658
01:24:28,800 --> 01:24:32,240
Speaker 1: daylight prison break. He scrambled up onto a half collapsed

1659
01:24:32,240 --> 01:24:34,719
Speaker 1: condo building that had been abandoned after a heavy mortar

1660
01:24:34,760 --> 01:24:37,479
Speaker 1: shell gutted the inside. It provided a good view of

1661
01:24:37,479 --> 01:24:40,360
Speaker 1: the jail. For the next hour, Roland just watched. His

1662
01:24:40,400 --> 01:24:43,080
Speaker 1: hindbrain mapped the pattern of the guard rotations and noted

1663
01:24:43,080 --> 01:24:46,240
Speaker 1: the security protocols they followed when each new vehicle arrived.

1664
01:24:46,640 --> 01:24:49,080
Speaker 1: He took a lot of deep breaths and gradually pulled

1665
01:24:49,200 --> 01:24:51,240
Speaker 1: enough sense from inside the jail to have a decent

1666
01:24:51,280 --> 01:24:53,960
Speaker 1: idea of how many people were in there. He'd never

1667
01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:57,439
Speaker 1: smelled Marigold or the other rolling negotiators before, but his

1668
01:24:57,520 --> 01:24:59,800
Speaker 1: nose picked up on three people with a handful of

1669
01:25:00,040 --> 01:25:03,120
Speaker 1: to market modifications. Most of the martyrs he'd met had

1670
01:25:03,160 --> 01:25:06,240
Speaker 1: been limited to civilian grade healing sweets and sensory upgrades.

1671
01:25:06,520 --> 01:25:08,720
Speaker 1: It was a safe bet that these were their targets. Then,

1672
01:25:09,360 --> 01:25:12,479
Speaker 1: and you've got the message. Put down the phone. Roland

1673
01:25:12,520 --> 01:25:15,000
Speaker 1: wasn't sure where or when he'd heard that aphorism, but

1674
01:25:15,040 --> 01:25:17,120
Speaker 1: it came into his head, and a moment later he

1675
01:25:17,200 --> 01:25:20,000
Speaker 1: realized the sun was pretty low in the sky. It'd

1676
01:25:20,000 --> 01:25:22,160
Speaker 1: be bus time soon. He headed back through the high

1677
01:25:22,240 --> 01:25:25,200
Speaker 1: shadows and across the cracked and bullet scarred boulevards until

1678
01:25:25,240 --> 01:25:27,360
Speaker 1: he was able to merge back into the evening crowd

1679
01:25:27,360 --> 01:25:30,120
Speaker 1: at the square. Manny and the Christian girl had moved

1680
01:25:30,160 --> 01:25:32,479
Speaker 1: on from the cafe by that point. He actually ran

1681
01:25:32,520 --> 01:25:34,280
Speaker 1: into them in front of some building with a sign

1682
01:25:34,320 --> 01:25:37,080
Speaker 1: that identified it as the House of Miriam. They were

1683
01:25:37,120 --> 01:25:41,880
Speaker 1: saying weird, chaste, religiously goodbyes, Oh hello Aaron. Sasha smiled

1684
01:25:41,920 --> 01:25:44,519
Speaker 1: when she saw him. Manny turned around and flashed him

1685
01:25:44,520 --> 01:25:47,479
Speaker 1: a weary smile too. Roland could see pain in the

1686
01:25:47,560 --> 01:25:49,280
Speaker 1: kid's eyes, but it was at least cut with a

1687
01:25:49,280 --> 01:25:51,960
Speaker 1: bit of arousal. He decided that was a good thing.

1688
01:25:52,360 --> 01:25:54,880
Speaker 1: Ever since Oscar's death, Manny had been writing the line

1689
01:25:54,880 --> 01:25:58,960
Speaker 1: between function and complete emotional collapse. He decided to encourage

1690
01:25:59,000 --> 01:26:03,080
Speaker 1: the fixer's weird friendship with the Christian girl. Hey, Roland said,

1691
01:26:03,120 --> 01:26:06,000
Speaker 1: how is the guffey? Smelled like it was mostly chickory

1692
01:26:06,000 --> 01:26:08,040
Speaker 1: and food die when I walked by earlier. But maybe

1693
01:26:08,080 --> 01:26:10,479
Speaker 1: they sold you all the good stuff they did not,

1694
01:26:10,920 --> 01:26:14,280
Speaker 1: Manny said, you must be blessed with an exceptional nose.

1695
01:26:14,479 --> 01:26:17,320
Speaker 1: Sasha said, and gave him an odd look. Then she asked,

1696
01:26:17,560 --> 01:26:20,600
Speaker 1: what did you get up to? I checked out the

1697
01:26:20,760 --> 01:26:23,519
Speaker 1: farmer's market. Roland lied, I'll tell you what. Some uh,

1698
01:26:23,800 --> 01:26:26,960
Speaker 1: some good freaking cucumbers up in there. That's where I

1699
01:26:27,080 --> 01:26:31,000
Speaker 1: was cucumbers. Sasha's odd look deepened. Manny brought a hand

1700
01:26:31,040 --> 01:26:32,600
Speaker 1: up to the bridge of his nose and needed his

1701
01:26:32,640 --> 01:26:35,719
Speaker 1: brow and frustration. We should head back to the buses.

1702
01:26:35,880 --> 01:26:39,719
Speaker 1: I'll I'll see tomorrow, Sasha. Yeah, yes, of course, Sasha

1703
01:26:39,720 --> 01:26:43,160
Speaker 1: replied with a genuine smile. If this was a sane world,

1704
01:26:43,280 --> 01:26:44,920
Speaker 1: Roland thought the two of them would have had a

1705
01:26:44,960 --> 01:26:47,639
Speaker 1: real date by now. But this was the Heavenly Kingdom.

1706
01:26:47,840 --> 01:26:50,920
Speaker 1: They were surrounded by extremist militants, and Sasha probably wasn't

1707
01:26:50,960 --> 01:26:53,600
Speaker 1: even allowed to look at condoms. Also, she's one of

1708
01:26:53,640 --> 01:26:57,040
Speaker 1: those militants, Roland reminded himself. He let the kids say

1709
01:26:57,040 --> 01:26:59,439
Speaker 1: their goodbyes and then walked back to the bus with Manny.

1710
01:26:59,800 --> 01:27:02,479
Speaker 1: The had seemed unsettled. I feel like I'm making a

1711
01:27:02,520 --> 01:27:06,559
Speaker 1: real dumb decision, he said, what Roland asked, talking with

1712
01:27:06,600 --> 01:27:09,360
Speaker 1: that girl? Manny shrugged. She's told me all she knows

1713
01:27:09,360 --> 01:27:11,960
Speaker 1: about those prisoners already. But we're supposed to meet at

1714
01:27:11,960 --> 01:27:14,160
Speaker 1: the one shitty cafe in this town tomorrow. I know

1715
01:27:14,200 --> 01:27:16,160
Speaker 1: it's stupid, but I kind of want to make that meeting.

1716
01:27:16,800 --> 01:27:19,360
Speaker 1: Why is it stupid, Rowland asked. They had to drop

1717
01:27:19,400 --> 01:27:21,200
Speaker 1: their voices a little as they drew closer to the

1718
01:27:21,240 --> 01:27:24,439
Speaker 1: line for the buses, because Manny said, we're not going

1719
01:27:24,479 --> 01:27:26,760
Speaker 1: to be here long. Sasha confirmed, our people are in

1720
01:27:26,800 --> 01:27:29,679
Speaker 1: the jail, and you scattered it out today, right yup,

1721
01:27:30,080 --> 01:27:32,479
Speaker 1: So we're confirmed twice over. It's time to do this

1722
01:27:32,560 --> 01:27:34,400
Speaker 1: thing and get out. I don't have time to eat

1723
01:27:34,400 --> 01:27:37,679
Speaker 1: shitty food with a pretty girl. Roland turned and fixed

1724
01:27:37,720 --> 01:27:40,240
Speaker 1: his eyes on Manny's. He leaned in until their noses

1725
01:27:40,240 --> 01:27:42,519
Speaker 1: were almost touching, and then he poked the boy's chest

1726
01:27:42,520 --> 01:27:46,360
Speaker 1: with his index finger for emphasis while he spoke Emmanuel

1727
01:27:46,439 --> 01:27:49,320
Speaker 1: Sanche's listen to me, there is always time to eat

1728
01:27:49,360 --> 01:27:52,000
Speaker 1: shitty food with a pretty girl. Fuck the war, funk,

1729
01:27:52,040 --> 01:27:54,280
Speaker 1: what's a good idea? Go eat some garbage and stare

1730
01:27:54,320 --> 01:27:57,160
Speaker 1: into her eyes. Do something human in this in human place.

1731
01:27:57,439 --> 01:27:59,639
Speaker 1: Late night will be a better time for the rescue anyway.

1732
01:28:00,280 --> 01:28:04,519
Speaker 1: Manny was silent for several long seconds, then he said okay.

1733
01:28:06,200 --> 01:28:09,120
Speaker 1: The next day started with more pete as usual, Then

1734
01:28:09,120 --> 01:28:11,120
Speaker 1: it rolled right into an extra long trip to the

1735
01:28:11,160 --> 01:28:13,799
Speaker 1: firing range. In three more hours of close AsSalt drills,

1736
01:28:14,240 --> 01:28:17,479
Speaker 1: Roland found himself disgusted by the Kingdom's tactics. Their go

1737
01:28:17,600 --> 01:28:20,440
Speaker 1: to was to dump heavy artillery on any embedded resistance.

1738
01:28:20,800 --> 01:28:23,439
Speaker 1: No heed was paid to the civilian cost. They were

1739
01:28:23,600 --> 01:28:27,920
Speaker 1: fine having untrained kids lob mortars in decrowded neighborhoods. The

1740
01:28:28,000 --> 01:28:31,280
Speaker 1: Lord will recognize his own. Martyr Carruthers had said over

1741
01:28:31,320 --> 01:28:34,680
Speaker 1: and over again that evening before the dinner prayer, the

1742
01:28:34,800 --> 01:28:37,800
Speaker 1: raspy voiced priest, the raspy voiced priest came by to

1743
01:28:37,880 --> 01:28:40,479
Speaker 1: speak to all the recruits in the chow hall. Roland

1744
01:28:40,520 --> 01:28:43,080
Speaker 1: missed Martyr Ditmar's introduction of the priest. He was too

1745
01:28:43,120 --> 01:28:46,200
Speaker 1: busy puking up and surreptitiously eating his last bag of drugs,

1746
01:28:46,520 --> 01:28:48,479
Speaker 1: but his ears perked up when the wild haired old

1747
01:28:48,560 --> 01:28:51,880
Speaker 1: nut fuck launched into his speech. The burdens placed upon

1748
01:28:51,920 --> 01:28:54,679
Speaker 1: the warriors of God are great. You men have sworn

1749
01:28:54,760 --> 01:28:57,800
Speaker 1: yourselves to a ponderous duty, but that duty does not

1750
01:28:58,080 --> 01:29:00,519
Speaker 1: end on the battlefield. If the heaven a kingdom is

1751
01:29:00,560 --> 01:29:03,120
Speaker 1: to remain and expand, we will need you to fight

1752
01:29:03,160 --> 01:29:06,520
Speaker 1: in the field and with your other God given attributes.

1753
01:29:07,320 --> 01:29:10,120
Speaker 1: This elicited a dim chorus of chuckles from the audience.

1754
01:29:10,360 --> 01:29:12,960
Speaker 1: It took Roland an embarrassing amount of time to realize

1755
01:29:12,960 --> 01:29:16,320
Speaker 1: what the preacher was talking about. Not jeez, this speech

1756
01:29:16,439 --> 01:29:19,479
Speaker 1: is about fucking. The Lord commands us to be fruitful

1757
01:29:19,479 --> 01:29:22,360
Speaker 1: and multiplied. The priest wheezed, But he also calls us

1758
01:29:22,360 --> 01:29:25,599
Speaker 1: to respect the sacred bonds of holy matrimony in times

1759
01:29:25,640 --> 01:29:27,400
Speaker 1: of war. At the times we all live in now,

1760
01:29:27,680 --> 01:29:30,639
Speaker 1: this might seem to create some difficulty, but that's only

1761
01:29:30,680 --> 01:29:32,799
Speaker 1: because most of us are trained to think of marriage

1762
01:29:32,800 --> 01:29:36,360
Speaker 1: in the secular context. The average married couple in the

1763
01:29:36,400 --> 01:29:41,240
Speaker 1: American Federation dates for eight years before being wet. In California,

1764
01:29:41,400 --> 01:29:44,479
Speaker 1: it's closer to ten. Of course, in both those places,

1765
01:29:44,760 --> 01:29:47,480
Speaker 1: dating is more or less a form of cash less prostitution.

1766
01:29:48,280 --> 01:29:51,120
Speaker 1: Roland had to strain to avoid rolling his eyes. Next

1767
01:29:51,160 --> 01:29:54,440
Speaker 1: to him, many listened dutifully. His face was almost unreadable.

1768
01:29:54,840 --> 01:29:57,479
Speaker 1: Perhaps people who don't trust their creator need years of

1769
01:29:57,560 --> 01:30:00,639
Speaker 1: time to decide if another person is a suitable partner. Happily,

1770
01:30:00,920 --> 01:30:03,439
Speaker 1: we have the will of God to guide us. You

1771
01:30:03,439 --> 01:30:06,519
Speaker 1: young men, are strong and virile and faithful. Your Lord

1772
01:30:06,600 --> 01:30:08,920
Speaker 1: wants you to find love. He wants you to bring

1773
01:30:08,920 --> 01:30:11,600
Speaker 1: more children into this world. This is why, as the

1774
01:30:11,680 --> 01:30:14,960
Speaker 1: hour of action draws closer, we still encourage each of

1775
01:30:15,000 --> 01:30:17,360
Speaker 1: you to spend time every day going out into the

1776
01:30:17,360 --> 01:30:21,400
Speaker 1: city and mingling with the other sheep of our great flock. Aha.

1777
01:30:22,240 --> 01:30:25,120
Speaker 1: Suddenly Roland understood it. It seemed odd to him that

1778
01:30:25,160 --> 01:30:28,360
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom, a state still so unformed and tumultuous,

1779
01:30:28,560 --> 01:30:31,840
Speaker 1: devote time and resources to bussing their military recruits downtown.

1780
01:30:32,439 --> 01:30:34,639
Speaker 1: It made sense now, they wanted all these young men

1781
01:30:34,680 --> 01:30:36,719
Speaker 1: to find women and fill them up with babies before

1782
01:30:36,760 --> 01:30:39,280
Speaker 1: they went off to die. It was grim as hell,

1783
01:30:39,520 --> 01:30:42,040
Speaker 1: but it was also quite logical. The truth of it

1784
01:30:42,120 --> 01:30:45,880
Speaker 1: is the pastor rasped. Marriage is a simple process. When

1785
01:30:45,880 --> 01:30:48,400
Speaker 1: you find the right person, the right arrangements can be

1786
01:30:48,439 --> 01:30:50,679
Speaker 1: made in an hour or two. That is why I'm

1787
01:30:50,720 --> 01:30:54,080
Speaker 1: here along with Pastor Sandor Ellsworth and Biggins. You can

1788
01:30:54,120 --> 01:30:56,400
Speaker 1: find us at any hour of the day or night

1789
01:30:56,640 --> 01:30:59,799
Speaker 1: to bless your unions. Once God shows you to your wives,

1790
01:31:00,120 --> 01:31:02,160
Speaker 1: and there are more pastors at the House of Jacob

1791
01:31:02,240 --> 01:31:04,800
Speaker 1: near the square. I urge you to go out into

1792
01:31:04,800 --> 01:31:07,280
Speaker 1: the kingdom in search of love and make use of us.

1793
01:31:07,479 --> 01:31:10,559
Speaker 1: Our chief job and our chief joy, is to help

1794
01:31:10,560 --> 01:31:13,720
Speaker 1: our noble martyrs find the love and bless God promises

1795
01:31:13,760 --> 01:31:17,759
Speaker 1: every faithful man. Wives are his blessing to us. Children

1796
01:31:17,800 --> 01:31:21,000
Speaker 1: are our duty to him. Now, the man said, with

1797
01:31:21,040 --> 01:31:25,519
Speaker 1: a rakish grin, go forth and multiply the flock. The

1798
01:31:25,600 --> 01:31:28,360
Speaker 1: line for the buses was extra long that day. By

1799
01:31:28,360 --> 01:31:30,559
Speaker 1: the time Rowland and Manny actually made it to the square,

1800
01:31:30,600 --> 01:31:33,360
Speaker 1: there were nearly an hour later than usual. Manny rushed

1801
01:31:33,439 --> 01:31:35,880
Speaker 1: right off to find Sasha. Rowland found his way to

1802
01:31:35,920 --> 01:31:38,479
Speaker 1: an alley and then darted across town and towards the jail.

1803
01:31:38,520 --> 01:31:42,280
Speaker 1: Once again. They'd already confirmed the location of their targets,

1804
01:31:42,360 --> 01:31:44,519
Speaker 1: so Rowland's last job was to mark out a good

1805
01:31:44,560 --> 01:31:47,360
Speaker 1: exit route from the city. He didn't expect it be

1806
01:31:47,400 --> 01:31:50,960
Speaker 1: a quiet prison break that would draw attention and fighters.

1807
01:31:51,320 --> 01:31:53,679
Speaker 1: The good news was that nothing within the Heavenly Kingdom

1808
01:31:53,720 --> 01:31:57,920
Speaker 1: looked particularly well organized. A ton of fighters patrolled the streets,

1809
01:31:58,120 --> 01:32:00,200
Speaker 1: but most of Plano was still pretty war to worn.

1810
01:32:00,479 --> 01:32:03,400
Speaker 1: Their camera grid was far from comprehensive. If they had

1811
01:32:03,400 --> 01:32:05,720
Speaker 1: a sizeable drone force, it was kept nearer to the

1812
01:32:05,760 --> 01:32:08,400
Speaker 1: front than here. The quickest route seemed to be to

1813
01:32:08,439 --> 01:32:10,840
Speaker 1: head straight north from the jail, up k Avenue and

1814
01:32:10,880 --> 01:32:14,200
Speaker 1: pasted an old housing development filled with crumbling mansions. That

1815
01:32:14,280 --> 01:32:17,240
Speaker 1: route would take them past two fortified bases. There'd be

1816
01:32:17,280 --> 01:32:19,400
Speaker 1: a couple hundred infantry to deal with, along with their

1817
01:32:19,400 --> 01:32:22,599
Speaker 1: attendant d PC's and a handful of drones. Roland felt

1818
01:32:22,600 --> 01:32:24,479
Speaker 1: confident he could have punched a hole through all that

1819
01:32:24,600 --> 01:32:26,760
Speaker 1: on his own, but he expected to have four or

1820
01:32:26,760 --> 01:32:29,160
Speaker 1: five civilians in tow The odds of one of them

1821
01:32:29,200 --> 01:32:32,880
Speaker 1: taking a stray round were just too high. Another possible

1822
01:32:32,960 --> 01:32:34,800
Speaker 1: route took him up and to the left towards an

1823
01:32:34,800 --> 01:32:36,519
Speaker 1: old tollway that seemed to mark the end of the

1824
01:32:36,520 --> 01:32:39,479
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom's static defenses. They controlled a lot of the

1825
01:32:39,600 --> 01:32:42,680
Speaker 1: territory beyond, but the patrols there looked random. There were

1826
01:32:42,720 --> 01:32:45,800
Speaker 1: no fortifications or checkpoints. It was a much longer route

1827
01:32:45,800 --> 01:32:48,799
Speaker 1: than the other, but potentially one that required a lotless fighting.

1828
01:32:49,280 --> 01:32:51,599
Speaker 1: The last option was to veer right and take Park

1829
01:32:51,640 --> 01:32:55,080
Speaker 1: Avenue to Richardson. The Heavenly Kingdom had controlled that territory

1830
01:32:55,120 --> 01:32:57,240
Speaker 1: for even less time than they had held Plaino, and

1831
01:32:57,240 --> 01:32:59,680
Speaker 1: the fighting there had been heavier. They'd pass a lot

1832
01:32:59,680 --> 01:33:01,479
Speaker 1: of check points, but not much in the way of

1833
01:33:01,520 --> 01:33:04,120
Speaker 1: troop concentration, as long as they kept south and away

1834
01:33:04,160 --> 01:33:08,439
Speaker 1: from Dallas proper. The scouting work itself was exhilarating. Roland

1835
01:33:08,479 --> 01:33:10,040
Speaker 1: had a lot of ground to cover, so he spent

1836
01:33:10,080 --> 01:33:12,599
Speaker 1: most of his time sprinting and scaling buildings, leaping from

1837
01:33:12,680 --> 01:33:15,679
Speaker 1: roof to roof and in between shattered windows. His senses

1838
01:33:15,720 --> 01:33:18,960
Speaker 1: were in full use. There were always passing convoys of civilians,

1839
01:33:19,000 --> 01:33:21,559
Speaker 1: or patrols of martyrs, or those odd white police fans

1840
01:33:21,560 --> 01:33:24,439
Speaker 1: somewhere nearby. He was close to caught a dozen times,

1841
01:33:24,439 --> 01:33:26,800
Speaker 1: and he loved every minute of the work. By the

1842
01:33:26,840 --> 01:33:28,600
Speaker 1: time he got back to the main square, it was

1843
01:33:28,680 --> 01:33:31,080
Speaker 1: quite late and almost time for the buses to leave.

1844
01:33:31,520 --> 01:33:33,280
Speaker 1: He did a quick loop of the square to see

1845
01:33:33,280 --> 01:33:35,960
Speaker 1: if he could find Manny and Sasha. He caught traces

1846
01:33:36,000 --> 01:33:37,720
Speaker 1: of their sense, but neither of them seemed to be

1847
01:33:37,720 --> 01:33:40,880
Speaker 1: out and about. He eventually tracked Sasha's pheromone trail back

1848
01:33:40,920 --> 01:33:43,479
Speaker 1: to the house of Miriam, but Manny seemed to be gone.

1849
01:33:44,000 --> 01:33:46,519
Speaker 1: That was strange. Roland headed back to the buses and

1850
01:33:46,560 --> 01:33:48,840
Speaker 1: the hope of finding him there. But Manny wasn't in

1851
01:33:48,960 --> 01:33:52,320
Speaker 1: line or on any of the buses. So Roland headed

1852
01:33:52,320 --> 01:33:54,479
Speaker 1: back to the base and tried to ignore the unease

1853
01:33:54,520 --> 01:33:57,519
Speaker 1: as it blossomed in his belly. Maybe he headed back early.

1854
01:33:57,800 --> 01:34:01,400
Speaker 1: Maybe the date went bad. That made sense. Sasha seemed

1855
01:34:01,439 --> 01:34:04,519
Speaker 1: nice for a religious extremists, but you couldn't predict Zellots.

1856
01:34:04,640 --> 01:34:07,040
Speaker 1: It was so damn easy to set them off. Manny

1857
01:34:07,120 --> 01:34:09,160
Speaker 1: might have just said the wrong thing. That decided it'd

1858
01:34:09,200 --> 01:34:11,040
Speaker 1: be safest to head back to base and chill in

1859
01:34:11,120 --> 01:34:14,599
Speaker 1: the barracks. The bus pulled into the school comb training

1860
01:34:14,640 --> 01:34:18,200
Speaker 1: facilities little vehicle depot. Roland noticed at once that Martyr

1861
01:34:18,200 --> 01:34:20,719
Speaker 1: Ditmar and a small bodyguard of armed men were waiting.

1862
01:34:21,160 --> 01:34:24,160
Speaker 1: That was unusual. Roland's hindbrain warned him that this was

1863
01:34:24,240 --> 01:34:27,479
Speaker 1: probably related to Manny's disappearance. He felt a thin drip

1864
01:34:27,479 --> 01:34:29,880
Speaker 1: of adrenaline start tapping on the back of his amygdala.

1865
01:34:30,200 --> 01:34:33,320
Speaker 1: It was the feeling he associated with shit about to happen.

1866
01:34:33,840 --> 01:34:36,120
Speaker 1: Roland tried to enjoy it without letting it push him

1867
01:34:36,120 --> 01:34:38,240
Speaker 1: into action. Before he knew what was really going on,

1868
01:34:39,240 --> 01:34:43,080
Speaker 1: Martyr Aaron Ditmar said as he approached Roland, the instructor's

1869
01:34:43,080 --> 01:34:46,360
Speaker 1: bodyguard stayed close behind. Would you come with me. We've

1870
01:34:46,400 --> 01:34:50,679
Speaker 1: got some news for you. Where's a manual? Roland asked,

1871
01:34:51,240 --> 01:34:55,280
Speaker 1: we'll explain everything. The older martyr said, just come with me.

1872
01:34:56,080 --> 01:34:58,320
Speaker 1: Roland followed him into the maze of buildings and towards

1873
01:34:58,320 --> 01:35:00,640
Speaker 1: a small office occupied by a white haired man and

1874
01:35:00,680 --> 01:35:04,120
Speaker 1: what looked like the Heavenly Kingdom's equivalent of a dress uniform.

1875
01:35:04,160 --> 01:35:06,519
Speaker 1: It was blue, bedecked with metals and had a shining

1876
01:35:06,560 --> 01:35:10,200
Speaker 1: silver cross on each epaulette. The fancy man looked very tired.

1877
01:35:10,439 --> 01:35:14,080
Speaker 1: Roland could smell cheap caffeine wafting from his pores. This

1878
01:35:14,200 --> 01:35:18,000
Speaker 1: is Commandant Dawkins, Martyr Ditmar explained. He's in charge of

1879
01:35:18,000 --> 01:35:21,719
Speaker 1: this facility. We've been telling him about you. Martyr Ditmar

1880
01:35:21,880 --> 01:35:24,599
Speaker 1: is hard to embrass, the commandant said, But to his eyes,

1881
01:35:24,680 --> 01:35:27,920
Speaker 1: you're some sort of latter day Sampson. The strongest man

1882
01:35:28,000 --> 01:35:31,000
Speaker 1: I've ever seen, said Martyr Ditmar. He's a darned fine

1883
01:35:31,080 --> 01:35:35,160
Speaker 1: shot too, something of a marvel. Where's my friend? Roland asked,

1884
01:35:35,320 --> 01:35:39,320
Speaker 1: where's a manual? The commandant gave an indulgent smile. It

1885
01:35:39,360 --> 01:35:42,920
Speaker 1: didn't meet his tired eyes. Listen, Martyr, I know you

1886
01:35:42,960 --> 01:35:46,520
Speaker 1: can appreciate how important unit cohesion is during a situation

1887
01:35:46,560 --> 01:35:49,360
Speaker 1: as stressful as combat. We've had to make some changes

1888
01:35:49,400 --> 01:35:52,360
Speaker 1: in order to ensure unity. Emanual is one of a

1889
01:35:52,439 --> 01:35:56,639
Speaker 1: number of soldiers we've transferred to special duty. Roland could

1890
01:35:56,680 --> 01:35:58,920
Speaker 1: read between the lines. He was sure if he checked

1891
01:35:58,920 --> 01:36:01,360
Speaker 1: in the barracks that Manny Jonathan and the other handful

1892
01:36:01,400 --> 01:36:04,880
Speaker 1: of non white recruits would all be absent. What kind

1893
01:36:04,920 --> 01:36:09,280
Speaker 1: of special duty? Ditmar growled behind him. Now, listen, Son,

1894
01:36:09,520 --> 01:36:12,400
Speaker 1: just because the commandant called you a Samson doesn't mean

1895
01:36:12,439 --> 01:36:16,000
Speaker 1: you're in charge around here. We're prosecuting a war. You

1896
01:36:16,040 --> 01:36:18,599
Speaker 1: won't be privy to every decision made above you. When

1897
01:36:18,600 --> 01:36:20,400
Speaker 1: you're just going to have to get used to that.

1898
01:36:21,240 --> 01:36:23,479
Speaker 1: The commandant was a bit calmer. He put his hands

1899
01:36:23,520 --> 01:36:26,280
Speaker 1: forward in a placating gesture and tried it again. Your

1900
01:36:26,360 --> 01:36:29,479
Speaker 1: friend is fine, he's better than fine. He's going to

1901
01:36:29,520 --> 01:36:31,599
Speaker 1: get a chance to serve his Lord and the heavenly

1902
01:36:31,720 --> 01:36:34,880
Speaker 1: Kingdom and glorious martyrdom. You should be happy for him.

1903
01:36:35,479 --> 01:36:38,240
Speaker 1: Ditmar stepped forward and squatted down next to him. He

1904
01:36:38,320 --> 01:36:40,680
Speaker 1: put a hand on Roland's thigh. A third of a

1905
01:36:40,720 --> 01:36:43,320
Speaker 1: second later, Roland had calculated the best way to rip

1906
01:36:43,360 --> 01:36:45,200
Speaker 1: that arm free of its socket and beat the other

1907
01:36:45,240 --> 01:36:47,120
Speaker 1: men in the room to death with it, but he

1908
01:36:47,120 --> 01:36:50,639
Speaker 1: held still for now. Manny would have been proud. Listen, boy,

1909
01:36:50,960 --> 01:36:53,200
Speaker 1: Ditmar said, I know you got used to having that

1910
01:36:53,280 --> 01:36:55,559
Speaker 1: brown kid help you talk with people, and I'm sure

1911
01:36:55,600 --> 01:36:57,960
Speaker 1: he did a fine job. I get that you're not

1912
01:36:58,080 --> 01:37:01,040
Speaker 1: much for social graces, but we're going to take care

1913
01:37:01,080 --> 01:37:03,720
Speaker 1: of you now, all right, You've got a whole army

1914
01:37:03,760 --> 01:37:06,320
Speaker 1: of brothers here. Just do what you do best and

1915
01:37:06,360 --> 01:37:10,720
Speaker 1: we'll handle the rest, okay, Roland said. He put a

1916
01:37:10,760 --> 01:37:13,639
Speaker 1: hand on Martyr Ditmar's wrist and clinched it hard enough

1917
01:37:13,680 --> 01:37:16,519
Speaker 1: that everyone in the room heard the bone snap. The

1918
01:37:16,600 --> 01:37:19,160
Speaker 1: look of dawning terror on the other man's face was

1919
01:37:19,200 --> 01:37:22,559
Speaker 1: the best high Roland had gotten in days. He savored

1920
01:37:22,600 --> 01:37:26,240
Speaker 1: it for a quarter second before finishing his sentence. I'll

1921
01:37:26,280 --> 01:37:31,719
Speaker 1: do what I do best. Then, Hey, I've written a novel.

1922
01:37:31,760 --> 01:37:33,680
Speaker 1: It's called After the Revolution. You can find it as

1923
01:37:33,680 --> 01:37:36,120
Speaker 1: a podcast under After the Revolution, and you can find

1924
01:37:36,160 --> 01:37:38,000
Speaker 1: it at a t r book dot com as a

1925
01:37:38,120 --> 01:37:41,360
Speaker 1: free e pub if you like it. I am crowdfunding

1926
01:37:41,400 --> 01:37:43,719
Speaker 1: the sequel so that I can keep making my books free.

1927
01:37:44,080 --> 01:37:46,600
Speaker 1: That will be it After the Revolution, The Sequel on

1928
01:37:46,760 --> 01:37:49,519
Speaker 1: go fund me. That's After the Revolution, the Sequel on

1929
01:37:49,680 --> 01:37:50,360
Speaker 1: go fund me.