Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, this is Robert Evans, and starting in two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen, I wrote a novel UM, and you're
Speaker 1: going to hear the first chapter of it today. We'll
Speaker 1: be releasing the rest of it as a separate podcast
Speaker 1: series and it will be out online for free. UM.
Speaker 1: But given the events of January six I decided I
Speaker 1: might as well put out chapter one right now, give
Speaker 1: people something else to focus on. And you know, I think,
Speaker 1: as you'll understand, it seems a little bit more relevant now.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, After the Revolution, a novel by
Speaker 1: Robert Evans Richardson Republic of Texas, Chapter one. Manny Manny
Speaker 1: smiled at the way the British journalists face blanched as
Speaker 1: the old Toyota hit the pothole. Reggie wasn't used to
Speaker 1: bad roads, cars driven by actual humans, or the way
Speaker 1: the heavy metal of the gun mountain the truck bed made,
Speaker 1: the aluminum frame grown. That was all familiar to Manny.
Speaker 1: He'd grown up in Sioda Demut, back before the Lakewood Blast,
Speaker 1: back when people had still called it Dallas. The truck's
Speaker 1: driver veered around the bloated corpse of a large dog
Speaker 1: lying in the middle of the road. Reggie gripped the
Speaker 1: truck bed with white knuckles and eyed the swaying AMMO
Speaker 1: belt of the twenty millimeter cannon like it was a
Speaker 1: coiled snake. The gunner, Manny's cousin, Alejandro, grinned down at
Speaker 1: the journalist the suspensions a little fucked yeah. The Britain
Speaker 1: nodded and turned greener when the technical hit another pothole.
Speaker 1: Many supposed he should offer a comforting word to the man.
Speaker 1: That would be good business, but a louder part of
Speaker 1: him looked at Reggie's brand new boots and thought he
Speaker 1: can stand a little less comfort. The journalist would brag
Speaker 1: about this ride for months once he got home. Escorting
Speaker 1: reporters from the safety of Austin to the sundry hotspots
Speaker 1: of the old Metroplex was not Manny's ideal career. Two
Speaker 1: years ago, he'd been working on a bachelor's in business
Speaker 1: administration from the University of Austin. The plan had been
Speaker 1: to get a job with ages biocist, then charm his
Speaker 1: way into a working visa and a gig in the
Speaker 1: California Republic. But the fighting had started up again and
Speaker 1: ruined all that. The culprit this time was the Heavenly Kingdom,
Speaker 1: a loose assortment of Christian extremist militias. They boiled out
Speaker 1: from the suburbs of the old Metroplex and all but
Speaker 1: broken the Republic of Texas. The autonomous city of Austin
Speaker 1: had stabilized the situation with the help of an alliance
Speaker 1: of leftist Texan militias the Secular Defense Forces. Beating them
Speaker 1: back had cost a lot in blood and time and
Speaker 1: forced Manny to change every plan he'd ever made for
Speaker 1: his life. So he'd embraced the situation and started his
Speaker 1: own business, hiring on some friends as employees. Together they
Speaker 1: built the best network of stringers in North Texas. His
Speaker 1: boys fed him video contacts and news updates, and he
Speaker 1: sold what he could to the big FOURIGN media conglomerates.
Speaker 1: In a couple more months, he'd have enough saved up
Speaker 1: that he could fuck off, fly to Europe and apply
Speaker 1: for a refugee visa. My odds are pretty good as
Speaker 1: long as the war doesn't end too soon. The technical
Speaker 1: role to a creaky stop in front of a checkpoint
Speaker 1: that had clearly been erected within the last few days.
Speaker 1: It was just a collapsible electronic gate and two sandbag
Speaker 1: emplacements on either side of the battered highway. A street
Speaker 1: sign nearby announced that they were on the edge of Richardson,
Speaker 1: formerly a suburb of Dallas and currently a forward position
Speaker 1: of the People's Protection Army, a local anarchist militia. Manny
Speaker 1: could see the p PA's red black triangle emblem stitched
Speaker 1: onto the jackets of the soldiers guarding the checkpoint. One
Speaker 1: of the p p A men walked up to the
Speaker 1: driver's side window and started chatting with Philip, the driver.
Speaker 1: Phil and Manny's cousin Alejandro were both with the Citizens Front,
Speaker 1: a more or less a political militia from the suburbs
Speaker 1: of Austin. Both militias coexisted under the broad umbrella of
Speaker 1: the Secular Defense Forces. The SDF had been organized by
Speaker 1: the Canadian government to lump all of North Texas's palatable
Speaker 1: militant groups into a single package that could be conveniently armed.
Speaker 1: While the first guard talked with Philip, his partner did
Speaker 1: a circuit around the back of the truck. The man
Speaker 1: was big, Ulgian, with muscles so sculpted and prominent they
Speaker 1: had to be vat grown and He moved with the
Speaker 1: twitchy ungrace of a man who had replaced his nervous
Speaker 1: system with circuitry. His weapon was a very old, very
Speaker 1: battered a R fifteen with an M two four three
Speaker 1: grenade launcher below the barrel. The latter was old U
Speaker 1: S military gear. The former had been someone's toy before
Speaker 1: the Revolution gave America's half billion civilian guns a new
Speaker 1: raison debt. The man moved back to the barricades when
Speaker 1: he had finished his lap. Reggie looked up at Manny
Speaker 1: and asked, was he a Was he chromed? Manny smiled.
Speaker 1: That was always one of the first questions. As soon
Speaker 1: as any foreign journal saw a trooper with a large
Speaker 1: enough billed skin with an off shade, or one who
Speaker 1: just moved a little too fast to seem completely right.
Speaker 1: Anything beyond basic aesthetic and medical biomodifications were banned in
Speaker 1: civilized countries like the UK. The real chrome, the implants
Speaker 1: that would let a man lift a tank or take
Speaker 1: a rocket to the belly that ship was locked up tight.
Speaker 1: A few national militaries even used the stuff these days,
Speaker 1: not after the revolution. He's got some of that grown muscles,
Speaker 1: Manny said in an offhanded way that suggested such things
Speaker 1: were common aftermarket nerves too. Probably his stuff is low grade,
Speaker 1: that's why it's so visible. Reggie nodded, His eyes stayed
Speaker 1: locked on the big man. He was quiet for a
Speaker 1: while before he spoke again. You just you live right
Speaker 1: alongside them, don't you. Manny shrugged. Everybody's got something out here,
Speaker 1: and the wet wears what lets us hold back? The martyrs?
Speaker 1: They own the whole city if it weren't for half
Speaker 1: fats like him. The journalists nodded, and his gaze stayed
Speaker 1: fixed upon the militiaman until a troubled look crossed his face.
Speaker 1: He glanced back to Manny. Are you a chromed Reggie asked.
Speaker 1: Manny smiled. I don't expect either of us as stock, Sabiana,
Speaker 1: but I doubt I've got anything you don't. Reggie seemed
Speaker 1: somewhat comforted by this. Most of what I've read about
Speaker 1: the really heavy mods says they cause a lot of
Speaker 1: well unstable behavior. That's why that's why this city such
Speaker 1: a ship hole, Manny asked. The journalist had the grace
Speaker 1: to blush many looked away for a moment. His eyes
Speaker 1: landed on the bones of three large public housing buildings.
Speaker 1: A barrel bomb had detonated in the center of the courtyard.
Speaker 1: All three shared. It had peeled away the walls, some
Speaker 1: of the floors, and the resulting firestorm had burned up
Speaker 1: everything that wasn't concrete, steel, or rebar For just a moment,
Speaker 1: many felt bad about hoping the war hung on another
Speaker 1: six months. The old government blamed a lot on roided
Speaker 1: up veterans with military grade mods. He told Reggie, most
Speaker 1: was just propaganda, fearmongering. People were pissed after twenty years
Speaker 1: of plague, disaster and poverty. Many shrugged. It's true, though
Speaker 1: a lot of chromed up vets turned on the government.
Speaker 1: He can't make men into gods and expect them to
Speaker 1: keep fighting from men, Reggie pointed back to the bulging militiaman.
Speaker 1: I take it muscles there is pretty far from a god.
Speaker 1: Nah Manny laughed. He's just a man with too much
Speaker 1: meat money. Gods don't man checkpoints. The brit was excited. Now.
Speaker 1: These were the questions he'd wanted to ask since they'd
Speaker 1: met yesterday. Do you know what some of those people are?
Speaker 1: Reggie couldnt keep the excitement out of his voice. Could
Speaker 1: we talk to them. Manny didn't have any of those contacts,
Speaker 1: nor did he know any other fixers who did. He
Speaker 1: tried to let the brick down easy. Most of those
Speaker 1: folks live on the road in between the civilized parts
Speaker 1: of Texas and the Federal Republic of California. Oh Reggie
Speaker 1: looked disappointed. The truck rolled past the wreckage of an
Speaker 1: old Catholic school. It bore signs of being fortified, destroyed, refortified,
Speaker 1: and redestroyed several times. The brit was inches away from
Speaker 1: asking another question when the gateman waved them on, and
Speaker 1: the battered Toyota farted its way into drive, belching and
Speaker 1: complaining past a network of potholes until it hit a
Speaker 1: relatively straight chunk of asphalt. Only a few minutes now.
Speaker 1: Hef a. Manny said, the p PA's forward position is
Speaker 1: about five minutes out. You'll be in the ship then,
Speaker 1: or at least shiit adjacent. The journalist's face washed over
Speaker 1: in an even mix of anxiety and pride. One of
Speaker 1: the first lessons Manny had learned at this job was
Speaker 1: that phrases like the ship made rich gringo writers unreasonably excited.
Speaker 1: An excited journey lists always called Manny the next time
Speaker 1: they were in country, giving white kids and keffee as
Speaker 1: a lifetime of bragging rights for surviving a couple of
Speaker 1: days in his home killed manny soul just a little,
Speaker 1: but he pushed down the anger and told himself that
Speaker 1: a chip on the shoulder was a lot less useful
Speaker 1: than money in the bank. The Technical rolled off the
Speaker 1: old highway. Manny could see twenty three in Spring Valley
Speaker 1: Road and blazoned on a weather beaten bullets guard sign.
Speaker 1: The Technical pulled to the right, the guns swayed in
Speaker 1: its mount Many couldn't help smiling as the brit instinctively
Speaker 1: pulled away from it. They rolled up to what had
Speaker 1: once been a strip mall and was now a forward
Speaker 1: operating base for the People's Protection Army. An old laundromat,
Speaker 1: a bookstore, and a half dozen restaurants now had their
Speaker 1: roofs ringed with barbed wire and machine gun emplacements. Many
Speaker 1: could see a line of bullet holes stitched across three
Speaker 1: of the shops. None of the windows were intact, but
Speaker 1: otherwise the buildings had weathered the war rather well. Three
Speaker 1: M one nine eight howitzers were parked next to a
Speaker 1: taco shop that had once served the local college kids
Speaker 1: beer and cheap grub. There was a flagpole out in
Speaker 1: front of the shop, and that hung the blue and
Speaker 1: white starburst flag of the STF and the flag of
Speaker 1: the p p A. Three men in uniforms stood waiting
Speaker 1: as the old toyota rolled to a stop and Manny
Speaker 1: and Reggie disembarked. Two of the men were officers in
Speaker 1: the p p A, Colonel Jacob Milgram and Major Deshaun Clark.
Speaker 1: Milgram was a boring, tight lipped nerdy type, but Deshaun
Speaker 1: was one of Manny's favorite sources. He was an old
Speaker 1: infantry guy, a consummate brawler with a face full of
Speaker 1: scars and three published books of poetry to his name.
Speaker 1: He actually had a base of international fans, mostly in Spain.
Speaker 1: The third man was Hamid Mohammed, an adviser from Syrian Kurdistan.
Speaker 1: The Curds had been giving aid to the Sundry militias
Speaker 1: of the Secular Defense Forces for years now. Manny considered
Speaker 1: Himid almost a local. He shook hands with Jacob, since
Speaker 1: Manny knew Deshaun better. He met the man with a
Speaker 1: full embrace and used it as an opportunity to palm
Speaker 1: the major a packet of his favorite cigarettes. Deshaun gave
Speaker 1: him a wink and a smile. Many shook Hamed's hand next,
Speaker 1: and then kissed him on the cheek. Hamid returned the kiss,
Speaker 1: clapped him on the shoulder, and said, Emmanuel, my friend,
Speaker 1: you really would get out of this business. One of
Speaker 1: these days you'll come up here and it won't be safe.
Speaker 1: Manny frowned a little at the use of his birth name,
Speaker 1: but he didn't make an issue out of the matter.
Speaker 1: There's still a war on, right, he smiled at Hamid.
Speaker 1: You'll get that ship under control, and maybe I'll work
Speaker 1: a straight job again. Not too soon, though, he thought.
Speaker 1: The least this war can do is last long enough
Speaker 1: to get me out of Texas. Hamid smiled back, and
Speaker 1: Manny introduced Reggie to the officers. The journalist was clearly
Speaker 1: awkward in that special way Manny had come to expect
Speaker 1: from new war correspondence. It was the norm for young
Speaker 1: writers to be intimidated by grizzled military men. Some of
Speaker 1: them got over that Manny had worked with the middle
Speaker 1: aged der Schpiegel reporter last week could probably taken as
Speaker 1: much incoming fire. As Major Clark Colonel Milgram led them
Speaker 1: to the militarized taco shop, a brief blast of nostalgias
Speaker 1: squeezed Manny's lungs. The place had obviously been closed since
Speaker 1: the revolution. The drink specials and meal prices printed on
Speaker 1: the wall were given in US dollars, a currency as
Speaker 1: dead as the last American president. Manny recognized ads for
Speaker 1: bands and movies. He remembered it from his childhood. The
Speaker 1: glass facade had shattered years ago. The kitchen had been
Speaker 1: gutted and replaced by wall length mirrors displaying maps of
Speaker 1: the city. At least a dozen uniformed men and women
Speaker 1: milled around the space in small groups. He and Reggie
Speaker 1: sat down at a long picnic table with Hamid and
Speaker 1: the two officers. Reggie set his camera up on the table.
Speaker 1: It was just a small silver sphere, but Manny knew
Speaker 1: it could record everything happening around it at a higher
Speaker 1: resolution in the human eye, and orderly brought in three
Speaker 1: beers shiner box from Austin, and one dark brown tea
Speaker 1: in a glass cup for Hamid. The brit raised his
Speaker 1: glass in a friendly salute, thank you for meeting with me,
Speaker 1: and then he started to ask questions. Many leaned back
Speaker 1: in his chair enjoyed a long gulp of cold beer.
Speaker 1: If he wasn't needed to translate, he generally checked out
Speaker 1: during interviews. He used the free time to activate his
Speaker 1: deck and check in on the two stringers he had
Speaker 1: working right now. Devin Martinez was up in Addison today,
Speaker 1: taking a Californian documentary crew on a tour of an
Speaker 1: STF training facility. He'd messaged Manny to let him know
Speaker 1: they'd gotten through the check It's without any issue. Oscar Allenby,
Speaker 1: his other stringer, didn't have any journalists with him. He
Speaker 1: was embedded with a Republic of Texas police unit, getting
Speaker 1: footage from inside a neighborhood that had recently been liberated
Speaker 1: from the Heavenly Kingdom. There were no new messages from Oscar.
Speaker 1: His last check in had been the night before. It
Speaker 1: was probably nothing, but it concerned Manny nonetheless, when if
Speaker 1: Oscar got a better offer for his footage. He'd always
Speaker 1: been loyal before, but if that funk from the Guardian
Speaker 1: had gotten to him. I'm interested in the Abrams road bombing,
Speaker 1: Reggie told the colonel, and Manny's attention swung back to
Speaker 1: his reporter. That's an odd thing to ask about. The
Speaker 1: bombing had occurred two weeks back. It had been big
Speaker 1: news for a couple of hours. Manny had paid one
Speaker 1: of his contacts in Raza front another local militia for
Speaker 1: a video of a walk through of the wreckage. It
Speaker 1: had brought in about three grand profit. The Abrams Road
Speaker 1: bombing was not a martyrdom operation. Colonel Milgram sounded almost angry,
Speaker 1: terribly sorry. Reggie said, you're right, of course, there was
Speaker 1: no driver, so no martyr right right, Deshaun Clark said.
Speaker 1: He pulled a folded piece of white paper out of
Speaker 1: his pocket, opened it up, and smoothed it out on
Speaker 1: the table. It was a map of the df W area,
Speaker 1: color coded to show the positions of the various militias
Speaker 1: in the region. We operate nine checkpoints on that part
Speaker 1: of the Richardson line, Deshon said, as he pointed to
Speaker 1: each one. Five of them border Republic controlled territory. The
Speaker 1: traffic from there is mostly autonomous, and those vehicles slave
Speaker 1: themselves to our traffic management system before they can enter
Speaker 1: our territory. The other three checkpoints border territory controlled by
Speaker 1: the martyrs. They don't see much traffic, and they're all
Speaker 1: heavily armed. Reggie was quiet for a few seconds while
Speaker 1: he figured out the most polite way to phrase his
Speaker 1: next question. Many can almost hear the gears turning in
Speaker 1: the journalist's head before he finally spoke. Would it be
Speaker 1: fair to say the autonomous checkpoints are less secure than
Speaker 1: Deshaun smiled a thin, quiet smile amid grimace. Colonel Milgram
Speaker 1: responded in a terse voice. The autonomous checkpoints have fewer defenders,
Speaker 1: but they border Republic territory. The martyrs haven't pulled off
Speaker 1: an attack on one in quite some time. Was Abrams
Speaker 1: Road not one such attack? Reggie looked eager now, like
Speaker 1: a hound, following assent. We don't know who bombed Abram's road,
Speaker 1: Colonel Milgram said, No one's taken credit, but we doubt
Speaker 1: it was the martyrs. Why the journalist asked. Many leaned
Speaker 1: in a little interested, in spite of himself, at where
Speaker 1: this was all going to lead. Perhaps, Hamad said, you
Speaker 1: should read a bit more about this heavenly kingdom. They
Speaker 1: reject all autonomous technology. They even use remote human pilots
Speaker 1: for their drones, like it's two thousand and fucking three.
Speaker 1: That's why our skies are always clear. We jammed them.
Speaker 1: Reggie asked, is it possible they found some way to
Speaker 1: hack your defense system? Amid laughed, We bought this system
Speaker 1: from the Israelis. If you're telling me one of the
Speaker 1: Martyr's brigades as a hacker that can crack that, then
Speaker 1: I'm the King of Albuquerque. But something still went wrong,
Speaker 1: Reggie insisted, hamid smile turned cold. This is war, Mr McGhee,
Speaker 1: it's mostly things going wrong. That's where the line of
Speaker 1: questions petered out. Reggie asked them for access to the
Speaker 1: security footage from the destroyed checkpoint, and Colonel Milgram agreed
Speaker 1: to send it over. We'd like to speak to their
Speaker 1: survivors as well, if possible, Manny interjected, not waiting to
Speaker 1: see if the journalist would ask. He knew those men
Speaker 1: were all stationed behind the line now, which would make
Speaker 1: for a safer, easier rest of the day than heading
Speaker 1: up to the wire, of course, Colonel Miilgram said, with
Speaker 1: a smile to Manny. They gave their good byes, and
Speaker 1: then Major Clark walked them out to their waiting Toyota.
Speaker 1: The Texas heat hit like an oven as they exited,
Speaker 1: and Manny was glad they'd be spending most of the
Speaker 1: rest of their day and doors. Dehaun clapped a hand
Speaker 1: on Manny's shoulder as he lit one of his new cigarettes.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you again, Emmanuel, he said, and
Speaker 1: then he smiled at Reggie, and it's nice to meet you,
Speaker 1: my British friend. I'm sorry you've come to the front
Speaker 1: at a boring time. Why, Reggie asked, Because this Deshaun
Speaker 1: gestured at the gun emplacements and loitering militiamen at the
Speaker 1: command post. This is not war, not really. Your job
Speaker 1: is to help your people, children of peace and plenty,
Speaker 1: understand what's going on here. You must teach them the
Speaker 1: language of war. And to paraphrase a dead poet, the
Speaker 1: language of war is a language made of blood. To
Speaker 1: be spoken, it must be earned. There was an awkward pause,
Speaker 1: a little bit of the blood drained from the journalist's face.
Speaker 1: Nutty old fuck, Manny thought, with more amusement than fear.
Speaker 1: Classic to Shaun, he said, and laughed to ease the tension.
Speaker 1: The major bid them both a good day, hugged Manny,
Speaker 1: and sauntered off back to the command post. Smoke from
Speaker 1: his cigarette curled up into the air behind him as
Speaker 1: he walked. Manny's eyes lingered on it for a second
Speaker 1: before he turned back to Reggie. Ready to go, he
Speaker 1: asked Chipper as he could manage. Three hours, a handful
Speaker 1: of interviews, and one short drive later, Manny and Reggie
Speaker 1: arrived at their home for the night. The Richardson Autonomous Project,
Speaker 1: once a walmart, now a twenty two year old experiment
Speaker 1: and sustainable urban living. The project was the furthest island
Speaker 1: of civilization on the sd F side of the Front.
Speaker 1: Its militias steadfastly refused to involve themselves in the region's
Speaker 1: greater conflicts. They'd been targeted a few times by the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom, though the s d F, by contrast, left
Speaker 1: them alone. So when a fixer like Manny found himself
Speaker 1: on the wrong side of the lb J Freeway after dark,
Speaker 1: he could usually trust the project to provide food, booze,
Speaker 1: and shelter for a price. Of course, sleeping arrangements in
Speaker 1: the project were broadly communal. The bulk of the old
Speaker 1: walmart had been converted into an indoor meadow with grow
Speaker 1: lights hanging from the rafters, and a wide, lush field
Speaker 1: of native grass sprawling across most of the inhabited space.
Speaker 1: Fruit trees, bushes full of berries, cannabis, plants, and copses
Speaker 1: of bamboo lined the edges of the space. The center
Speaker 1: of the field was dominated by a large circular kitchen
Speaker 1: surrounded by a handsome oaken bar. Table tables, gazebos, and
Speaker 1: sundry personal structures dotted the field, along with a pair
Speaker 1: of dance floors. Reggie's face lit up when he saw
Speaker 1: the bar. By the time Manny had dropped off their
Speaker 1: bags and paid Charlie and the driver for the night,
Speaker 1: the journalist was already three beers in the brit wasn't
Speaker 1: precisely drunk or sober, but at that productive twilight in between,
Speaker 1: he'd unrolled a portable screen and had a holographic display up,
Speaker 1: looping four separate sections of the security footage Colonel Milgram
Speaker 1: had sent over. The journalist alternated between typing furiously scrawling
Speaker 1: notes in his journal and taking huge gulps from something
Speaker 1: brown and foamy. He stopped working when he saw Manny
Speaker 1: approach and waved him into the adjacent seat. Hey brother,
Speaker 1: check this out, Manny, pulled up a seat, and the
Speaker 1: journalist directed his attention to a six second loop of
Speaker 1: footage from immediately after the bombing. It showed two man
Speaker 1: size silhouettes standing on top of an old garage. Many
Speaker 1: remembered the building. It stood maybe two hundred meters from
Speaker 1: the Abrams Road checkpoint. One of the silhouettes had a rifle.
Speaker 1: The other held a short squat tube that Manny recognized
Speaker 1: as a camera lens. Notice anything, spotters, Manny said, probably
Speaker 1: trying to get a kill. Count. No, man, look at
Speaker 1: where he's pointed. That Count's not looking at any post.
Speaker 1: He's looking straight back deeper into the old town. And
Speaker 1: I'll bet you he's high enough up to be staring
Speaker 1: right at Colonel Milgram's command post. Manny looked again. He
Speaker 1: thought about the angle. Okay, so what, he asked, You
Speaker 1: think this was a probing attack for some big action.
Speaker 1: The journalist shrugged. Maybe it's something new, is what interests me.
Speaker 1: Two years of Modydom operations that all look more or
Speaker 1: less the same, and now this weird one, an autonomous
Speaker 1: vehicle bomb from a group of fanatics who think autonomous
Speaker 1: vehicles of the devil. Yeah, Manny agreed that does seem weird.
Speaker 1: The bartender walked up and offered Manny his pick of
Speaker 1: the finest liquor in this particular war zone. Many ordered
Speaker 1: a Shiner. It was the one beer a drinker could
Speaker 1: find across both the Republic of Texas and the Austin
Speaker 1: Autonomous Region. He looked back at the looping footage. They
Speaker 1: both watched it twice more. Then Reggie spoke up again.
Speaker 1: What have you heard about Pasta Mike, he asked. Manny
Speaker 1: stiffened a little bit at the name. He'd heard it,
Speaker 1: of course, vague stories of rioting in Kansas, a fundamentalist
Speaker 1: uprising inside the southernmost territory of the United Christian States.
Speaker 1: He hadn't thought much about it at first, but two
Speaker 1: years ago Pastor Mike had moved to Texas, shortly before
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom had declared itself. It was hard to
Speaker 1: say exactly what role the preacher played within the organization,
Speaker 1: but he was certainly its most visible face. I know
Speaker 1: who he is, Manny said. I know the Republic led
Speaker 1: him in because they thought as followers might provide a
Speaker 1: buffer against Austin's influence. I know that blew the funk
Speaker 1: up in their faces. Manny took a long drink and continued,
Speaker 1: that's an old story around here, the Republic using those
Speaker 1: god fondling Nutfoxx to push back against the leftists. The
Speaker 1: journalist raised an eyebrow, and Manny instantly regretted his crude response.
Speaker 1: He didn't really care about religion one way or the other,
Speaker 1: but whenever he came out to the front, it was
Speaker 1: hard not to get a little angry, especially after a drink. Sorry,
Speaker 1: he said, it's been a long day. Reggie looked down, coughed,
Speaker 1: and took a sip. He looked back at Manny, took
Speaker 1: another sip and said, you know, that's another subject I'd
Speaker 1: rather like to cover. What Manny asked, anti Christian sentiment
Speaker 1: in North America. Manny grunted and looked down at his drink.
Speaker 1: The brit barreled on, You're not the first North American
Speaker 1: I've heard express anger towards Christians, he said, and California, Cascadia,
Speaker 1: the North American Republic, I've just seen a lot of hate. Look,
Speaker 1: Manny interrupted me. I'm a man of peace. I love everybody,
Speaker 1: but this continent has been weren't apart and bleeding out
Speaker 1: for the last thirty years. A lot of people hate Christians.
Speaker 1: The ones that don't hate Christians hate leftists, and everyone
Speaker 1: outside the American Republic hates capitalists. Hate, hate, hate. Manny
Speaker 1: took a gulp of his beer and set it down
Speaker 1: a little harder than he'd intended. He looked Reggie in
Speaker 1: the eye and finished, There's exactly one thing all the
Speaker 1: broken bits of this continent have in common. Hate. The
Speaker 1: journalist arched an eyebrow at Manny and returned the gaze.
Speaker 1: He had the look of a man peering into the
Speaker 1: enclosure of a particularly exotic zoo animal. Manny wanted to
Speaker 1: resent it, but he'd been doing this job long enough
Speaker 1: to know that this was just how journalists looked at people.
Speaker 1: Reggie downed his drink. He reached a hand up to
Speaker 1: signal the bartender, and then looked back at Manny. Can
Speaker 1: I buy you another round? Many shook his head, no thanks,
Speaker 1: I'm tired and I don't want to drag ass at
Speaker 1: the front tomorrow. He downed the last of his beer,
Speaker 1: bid Reggie a good night, and headed over to the
Speaker 1: spot of turf where he'd set up his sleeping bag
Speaker 1: and gear. He popped off his shoes his pants and
Speaker 1: his shirt and rubbed himself down with a handful of
Speaker 1: wet naps. Then he ebbed a night shirt and sweatpants
Speaker 1: from his bag and slipped them on. Many considered cleaned
Speaker 1: pajamas a necessity. He fired up his deck again once
Speaker 1: he was swaddled in his sleeping bag. There was a
Speaker 1: jetting start, and then the corners of his vision were
Speaker 1: populated by a series of small, partly translucent screens. Each
Speaker 1: one bulged with updates, friends asking about his weekend plans,
Speaker 1: spam from his college, notifications about new video uploads, and
Speaker 1: headlines from the local news. Devon had messaged him twice
Speaker 1: more to let him know that he and his journalists
Speaker 1: were headed back to Austin, and then that they had arrived.
Speaker 1: Oscar still hadn't responded. Manny's initial concern was over his loyalty.
Speaker 1: I got that fucker started as a stringer. If he
Speaker 1: sold that video and cut me out of the deal,
Speaker 1: I'm going to But the longer he thought about Oscar,
Speaker 1: the more Manny worried that something might have happened. Oscar
Speaker 1: had been working in Plano today, near a very stable
Speaker 1: chunk of the front, but this far out almost anything
Speaker 1: could happen. Many closed his eyes, sighed, and tried to
Speaker 1: purge the anxiety from his mind. There was nothing to
Speaker 1: do now other than get to sleep so he could
Speaker 1: wake up tomorrow and make more money. That thought prompted
Speaker 1: Manny to pull open his banking app and check on
Speaker 1: the status of his savings account. The numbers glowed fat
Speaker 1: and happy, and the space right in front of his head.
Speaker 1: Another five months in the field, maybe six, Then I
Speaker 1: buy that plane ticket. He started to think about the
Speaker 1: pictures he'd seen of Dublin and Berlin and Barcelona, all
Speaker 1: the places he thought he might live if this war
Speaker 1: could just hang on a little longer. He soon fell
Speaker 1: asleep and slept pretty well until the first mortar landed.