WEBVTT - Chapter Eleven 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:07.560 Chapter eleven, Rowland Roland loved fighting men in powered armor. 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.080 The increased firepower and durability gave them an outside chance, 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.680 which made it fun, and the sheer expense of modern 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.000 suits made it feel a little like wailing on rich 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.760 kids with fancy toys. But Roland did not like fighting 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.800 normal humans. He'd hoped the infantry coming up behind the 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:25.680 armored troopers would run like hell once he popped their vanguard, 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.080 but instead they'd insisted on a fight and started shooting 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.400 at him with very large guns. One explosive munition had 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:34.520 hit nine yards ahead of his position, and the other 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.320 had impacted close enough to pepper Roland's torso and face 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:42.000 with shrapnel, so regretfully he charged the enemy. The martyr 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:44.240 shot back. They hit him a few times, but Roland 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.120 paid their bullets as much mind as he would a 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.200 mild rein. He drew close enough for visual contact. These 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.280 martyrs were a motley sight. Several of them fought shirtless, 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.640 with white crosses daubed across their chests. Most of them 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.760 wore body armor, very little of it. Modern. Roland saw 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.560 a lot of old pre war plate carriers and surplus 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.160 police vests that crap wouldn't stop military grade rifle rounds, 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.480 although since the only weapon in Roland's hand was a 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.480 big gas wrench, how these men were armored hardly mattered. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.800 They were mostly armed with old enforce and a smattering 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.280 of newer assault rifles, probably pilfered from the Republic of Texas. 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.120 Fifty men, six technicals, two drone carriers. Roland hit their 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.120 skirmishing line before the teams on the recoilist rifles. His 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.800 first target could reload. Roland's wrench broke jaws and orbital bones. 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.520 It cracked pelvises and shattered thighs. He dispatched the rifle 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:36.760 teams and then danced through the on rushing mob of 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.600 militia like some sort of compound fracture dispensing ballerina. And 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.640 as he fought, Roland felt the familiar sunlight warmth of 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.959 serotonin flowed his synapses. He remembered a little of how 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.480 the army had explained the battle. Drugs now flowing through 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.040 his brain a guarantee of sustained aggression. The longer he fought, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.840 the harder would be for him to stop fighting and 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.320 to avoid killing. Rowland felt his self control will begin 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.960 to fade. As he knocked out his dozenth martyr, he 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:07.360 started swinging harder, his blows increasingly connected with clavicles instead 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:11.920 of coxyxes, and jaws instead of elbows. His hindbrain warned him. 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.519 As the kill likelihoods jumped from ford to six percent 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:19.200 up to twenty thirty, he felt his conscience fade beneath 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:23.480 the uphoric red haze of narcotic splendor. Before he knew it, 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:25.880 the whole platoon of martyrs was either on the ground 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.240 or fleeing for the relative safety of their technicals. Roland 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:31.880 laughed a madman's laughed. Tickled that they thought a bunch 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.280 of old Toyota trucks with machine guns in the beds 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.840 might slow him down. He put a fist through the 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:38.919 engine block of one and made a burst of fifty 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.720 caliber fire from the other. As he pivoted and launched 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.959 his wrench through the driver's side window. The improvised missile 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.360 connected with the face of the driver, who spun his 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.240 wheel hard to the left. The truck flipped forward onto 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.280 its cabin. Something about the wet crunch had maid sounded 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.799 so familiar. Oh God, oh dear sweet Jesus, Please, sir, 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.440 The National guardsman was nineteen years old. Randall Pallas was 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.280 his name. Roland knew that because his hindbrain had sucked 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.799 in every piece of publicly available data on the boy 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.000 once it had scanned his face. It had done that 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.080 with all the occupants of the humvey and the four 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.120 seconds before Rowland had blown it on its side. Wallace 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.240 was just the only member of the crew unlucky enough 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.600 to survive. Please, Sir, Roland stepped towards the broken, bloody boy. 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.040 He came back to himself, a bit disoriented, but none 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.920 the worse for wear. His hindbrain and a lifetime of 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.000 combat memories had kept his body fighting in his mind's absence. 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.280 Now wrinchless, Roland used his bare hands to tear open 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.680 doors and break faces. The gunners on the remaining technicals 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.440 tried to fire back, but their maneuverability was limited by 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.760 the rubble choked streets and their own fleeing infantry. One 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.960 minute after first contact, the martyr contingent had been reduced 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.600 to a dozen shell shocked soldiers, piled hastily on to 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.440 the tops of the retreating drone carriers. Roland hopped onto 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.080 the last of the technicals. He disabled it by pulling 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.640 the driver out through the front windshield and using the 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:00.320 man's body to beat the gunner into unconsciousness. Roland tore 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.240 the vehicle's twenty millimeter cannon free from its swivel mount 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.480 and sided in on the fleeing troops. His synapses promised 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.320 him more chemical rewards if only he'd pulled the trigger, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.200 but something in Roland's forebrains stopped him. Under the joyous 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.880 miasma of the battle drugs, his conscience reasserted itself. He 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.560 lowered his weapon and watched as his enemies beat hell 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.680 for leather in the opposite direction. His hands shook, and 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.039 he felt the first symptoms of withdrawal. As his heart 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.600 rate dropped and the adrenaline drips stopped its flow, Roland 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.919 closed his eyes. He breathed in and out, and centered himself. 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.320 The crash came. Now that the fighting was done, Roland 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.680 had time to process the since data he'd pulled from 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.280 his enemies. He knew what the driver he'd ripped out 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.880 of the windshield had eaten for breakfast. He knew which 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.320 of the militia he'd crippled were fathers. He knew which 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.920 had wives or at least girl friends. He could smell 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.640 traces of football leather on some of their hands. One 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:55.360 man he'd wrenched had smelled of rosin a violinist. Roland 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.920 couldn't fight a man without learning much more about him 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.960 than any killer should know about their victims. That knowledge 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.200 crashed down on him in a hail storm of guilt. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.640 Roland dropped the cannon into the truck's bed. He hopped down, 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.720 pulled Sardar's wrench free from the wreck of the Second Technical, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.359 and headed back towards Biggsby and his squad with a 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.880 heavy heart. Madine and Asimee both looked pretty seriously wounded. 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.279 Biggsby was helping to carry them both back to the 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.440 APC while Will handled over watch with his grenade launcher. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.719 Roland caught up with them and fell into step. Biggsby 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.800 looked over at him and grunted, Are you gonna try 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.080 to take my nipple now? Roland shrugged. He wasn't in 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.640 the mood. His brain was in the dark, ugly place 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.000 it always went after a bloody fight, when the raw 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.599 data about all the men he'd killed or battered lingered 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.320 in his brain like a fart in the back of 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.440 a hum v They reached the APC. Sardar gasped when 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.080 he saw them, Pedro vomited. Roland was confused until he 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.440 realized Biggsby and Will had also started to stare. Roland 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.480 looked down at himself and saw that he looked like 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.000 a literal dead man walking. He'd been shot forty seven 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.880 times by his hindbrain's best count, and peppered with shrapnel. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.080 Top of that, he had ribbs showing through holes blasted 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.279 in his biceps, in his belly, and the bone on 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.120 his left thigh was completely exposed. It looks worse than 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.320 it is, Roland said, it looks like you should be 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:16.279 dead about five times over, Sardar replied. Roland looked Sardar 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.800 up and down. His hind brain did the math eleven times. 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.119 If I were you, Jesus, he handed Sarda the wrench, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.240 now dented and bloodstained. A large clump of hair and 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:29.200 scalp was still stuck to the heel jaw. The mechanic 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.840 took his tool with one hesitant hand. He stared at 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.119 the gore on it until Biggsby started to yell again, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.240 Oi fucos. In case you've forgotten, there's an army breathing 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.680 up our asses. Sar, you get to drive man, Sardar 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:42.919 NodD at his head. Then let's get the wounded in 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.320 the cab and power the funk out of here. Will 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.320 stay on watch. Will grunted and jerked his head at Roland. 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:51.680 This funk erota cover us. He just took out half 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.360 a company on his lonesome. You trust him to watch 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.320 your six Biggsby, asked Roland. Only half heard them. He 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.200 stared off into the distance. We're his jaw and clenched 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.880 his left fist so hard his finger nails drew blood. 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.560 He was lost in his head, scanning scent memories and 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.760 analyzing the men he'd just beaten. He was drawn again 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.120 and again to the memory of one man in particular. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.800 He'd worn a tattered U. S Army issue vest and 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:16.840 an M sixteen that posed as much of a threat 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.320 to Rowland as a drunken hornet. He'd had the scent 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.320 of a woman on him. He wasn't alone in that, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:23.920 but the rich wave of oxytocin that had poured off 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.720 him was intense and real. In his memory. The man's 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.920 face kept twisting and morphing into the face of Randall Wallace, 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:35.000 Roland started to cry. Bigsby and Sardar loaded Ryan, Nadine, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:38.040 and Asime into the transport. Will just stared at him, 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.520 his gaze locked on Roland's tears, as if each one 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.080 were the lockneest monster. Roland didn't care. His hind brain 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.280 kept up its glitchy feet of data, a mix of 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.440 information on the men he'd just killed and the men 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.520 he'd killed years ago. Once the wounded were loaded up, 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:55.040 everyone filed into the Maddis APC. Will popped the top 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.400 hatch and sat Gunner with his grenade launcher. Inside the APC, 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.120 Bigsby and Pedro did their best version of first aid 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.240 on their wounded companions. There wasn't much for them to do, 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.520 though everyone in the squad had fairly advanced healing suites. 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.480 Roland trudged into the a PC and took his seat. 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.320 No one made eye contact with him. Sardark kicked it 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:23.600 into gear, and off they went. Waco had always been 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.240 one of the worst cities in Texas. In the late 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.720 eighteen hundreds, that had been a refuge for former Confederate loyalists. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.440 In the nineteen hundreds, that had developed a reputation as 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.000 a haven for coups and religious extremists. Caught between the 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.840 economic powerhouse of Dallas and the relative cultural mecca of Austin. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.080 Waco was a second rate college town at best, and 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.880 at worst, a meth filled rest stop between Texas's good cities. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.080 The revolution had changed that. After the lake would blast, 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.680 Dallas had bled sixty percent of its population. Most of 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.600 those people had fled to Austin since constant flooding had 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.840 rendered much of Houston uninhabitable, but half a million of 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.400 them ish had swelled Waco into something resembling a worthwhile 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.439 place to exist. The city had thrived in the post 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.000 revolutionary years. It was nominally controlled by the Austin regional government, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.000 and so it had been spared the worst of the 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.600 Republic of Texas's corruption. But now it looked like Waco 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.359 would be the next city eaten by the expanding Heavenly Kingdom. 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.640 Roland could smell the stink of fear in the air 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.920 when they were still a half dozen miles out from 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.839 the city limits. Once they hit the city proper, their 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:33.400 convoy halted at a military checkpoint. Power armored Austin Republican 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.920 guardsmen opened the side hatch of the Maddis a PC 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.720 and inspected the squad bigsby spoke for them, beamed over 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.439 some credentials from the SDF, and they were waved in. 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.360 They stopped at a fueling depot with the rest of 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:47.679 the SDF column, and Roland hopped out of the a 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.840 PC to stretch his legs and roll another blunt. He 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.240 picked a cherry apple rap he dipped in a vat 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.960 of extra strength hydrocodone syrup earlier that morning. As he 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.280 rolled it tight and sealed the scene with his saliva, 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.480 he watched the stf unload hundreds of wounded warriors from 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.480 half tracks and a PC's in the beds of flatbed trucks. 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.640 Many of the walking men and women looked wounded too. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.600 Most of the vehicles were damaged. Roland lit the blunt 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.400 and stared off towards Dallas. It was still early in 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.959 the morning, and the sky was streaked with red and orange. 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.079 On the horizon, black smoke rose to meet the sunrise. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.200 Rowland was struck with a powerful sense of dejah vou. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.120 This wasn't the first time he'd watched a great city 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.800 burn in the light of the rising sun. According to 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.720 his hind brain, it was around the thirtieth time. He 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.600 recalled a few of those cities Denver, Baltimore, d C. Richmond, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.920 but the particulars of each calamity were lost to his memory. 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.240 He wondered, not for the first time, if his broken 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.240 brain might be a blessing boy it was, Sardar. He 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.000 approached from the rear and stepped up to Roland's right side. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.560 Rowland offered the mechanic his blunt, now half smoked, and 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.800 Sardar accepted it. He drew in a deep lungful of 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.960 medicated smoke, held it in his lungs for three long seconds, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:02.679 and then exhaled with only a small fit of coughing. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.000 It tastes like fucking cough, Sarah man. Yep. Roland agreed, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.480 there's enough opiates on that to kill a small cat. 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:15.079 That's a weird thing to say. Yep, Roland agreed. Sardar 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.160 took a second hit and then passed the blunt back 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.520 to Roland. They stood in companionable silence for a minute 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.120 and watched the distant smoke mingle with the morning light. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.280 Sardar spoke first, Jim's on his way out here. He's 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.840 flying in with three more squads. Austin's approved emergency funding 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.680 to stabilize the front. Apparently a chunk of that's coming 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.920 our way. Grats, said Roland. Then he asked, what's the 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:43.160 money mean, do you? Sardar shrugged, Cascadia. Probably been saving 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.000 for a couple of years. Now, fifty grand buy residency. 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.400 Another hundred grand or so to set me up for 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.480 the first year while I find work. Roland finished another 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.720 deep poll on the blunt and offered it to Sardar. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.600 The other man declined with a polite wave of his hand. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.679 Now thanks. Roland puffed again and asked, so, what's the 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.920 Pacific Northwest got that you want the future? Sardar said, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.560 I mean, that's what it always meant my head. I 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:09.720 grew up in al Passo, got trained up by that 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.160 army blooded in their first little civil war, the a 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.920 Albuquerque Secession. Right, Sardar nodded. Didn't see much action then, 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.439 but I got Jim's attention. He made me an offer 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.640 when my term of service expired. The idea was I'd 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:25.840 be with him for five years and retire with enough 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.520 money to make a new start out west. I always 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.280 dreamed of a life in Portland. It seems nice there, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.120 it is. Roland agreed, or at least I got nice memories. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.520 I met a girl out there when I was younger. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.640 I remember watching the fog rolland with her he ran 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:42.880 a hand over the stubble on his head. It was 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:44.959 weird to him that he'd been given so much control 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.600 over his bodily functions, and yet he still found himself 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.880 making nervous gestures. For some reason, talking about her made 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.560 him want to cover his face. The impulse was wired 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.559 into him deeper than the carbon fiber that laced his bones. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.320 That er sounds tough, Sardar said. He managed to look 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.920 concerned without showing pity. I can't imagine having all these 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.040 memories floating around with no through line to connect them together. 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:13.000 It must hurt, Roland shrugged. What hurts most is knowing 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.560 that it should hurt more. I don't remember enough to 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.600 give the pain its proper due. They were quiet for 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.160 a bit. Roland finished the blunt and put it out 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.160 on his right and next finger, Sardar pulled a bronze 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.920 flask out from his jacket pocket, took a belt, and 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.320 then offered it to Roland. It was Lafroy whiskey. Even 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.600 if he hadn't been chromeed to the gills, Rowland would 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.440 have recognized that smell from three feet away. He took 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.120 a gulp from the flask and passed it back. Sardar 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:43.720 broke the silence again. Look, maybe I'm reading things wrong, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.839 but we've got some tents set up near the a PC. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.480 You up for a fuck? Roland looked the man up 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.920 and down again. Sardar was a good looking guy, short, 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.760 broad and muscular, with a neat trimmed beard and curly 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:02.000 black hair. Yeah, all right, it was pretty good sex. 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.719 Nothing to blow Roland's mind, but the release provided a 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.199 quantum of chill to calm the pangs of memory. Afterwards, 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:12.559 Sardar fell asleep, nuzzled into his shoulder. Roland didn't particularly 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.280 feel like cuddling, but he since the other man needed 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:17.920 the human contact, so he laid there with him for 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.680 a couple of hours, rolled and smoked two more blunts, 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:22.840 and tried not to think about the lives he'd ended 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.360 that morning. A little afternoon, Biggsby came by and knocked 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.480 on the tent flap Czar, Roland, elife's here, clean up, ye, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.880 fuck stenk and meet us by the a PC. They 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.920 did five minutes later, the whole squad had assembled around 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.360 the maddis. Ryan looked more or less recovered from his injuries, 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.680 Asimee also seemed good as new. Nadine was still pretty 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.520 bandaged and her eyes were litted and unfocussed from blood 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.560 loss and opiates. Will had brewed up a large French 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.440 press of coffee. He busied himself pouring measures of it 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.720 out into himp foam cups. Roland took one and drained 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.440 it in a single mighty gulp. It was proper post 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:02.080 human strength coffee. The caffeine rush mingled with the opiates 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.280 and THHC already flooding his synapses, and brought him to 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:09.320 a lovely, half lucid state of quasi awareness. Did you 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.280 guys fuck? Pedro finally asked, after about a minute of 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.760 staring at Roland and Tardar and asking the same question 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:19.200 with his eyes. Yes. Biggsby and Nadine both replied. Sardar 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.280 laughed at that, so did Rowland. For one beautiful moment 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:24.640 he felt nice, a kind of nice he was pretty 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.440 sure he hadn't felt in a long time. And then 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:32.800 came a familiar pattern of bootsteps, tickling, Roland's ears. Jim 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.320 Roland turned just as Jim walked into view. His legs 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.120 were covered by a pair of armored red leather chaps. 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.520 His groin was wrapped up in a thick kevlar thong, 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.040 but his penis and ass were otherwise unguarded. He wore 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.440 a double shoulder holster with a pair of bone handled 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.880 wheelguns under his arms. The snake tattoos on Jim's chest 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:55.200 and shoulders danced to a melody Rowland eventually recognized as Lakucaracha. 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:00.200 Your ink looks good today, boss, said, Bigsby asked liquor, said, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.480 Sardar takes one to no one. I don't lick ass, 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.880 Sarda replied haughtily. I eat it like a starving hyena. 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.360 More laughter and another fleeting moment of community that was 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.120 broken when Jim addressed the squad. All right, so several 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.040 bunks have been hummed here. This heavenly Kingdom's got at 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:21.120 least ten thousand effectives in theater with Almah artillery drones 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.240 the works. A new employer, Austin has about three thousand 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.360 fighters here in Waco, plus now the fifteen au Lot 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.640 I flew in with AJAX and flooring. They're prepping their 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:35.680 squads now. Bigsby spat Ajax fights about as well as 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.960 a drunk dog in a burlap sack. Will replied, you 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:40.840 just saying that because he choked you out in the 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.400 blood Dume last year. Biggsby responded with a middle finger. Ahem. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.040 Jim hemmed, plenty of time for Dick, measuring later, time 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.200 enough for the rest of you. At least this city 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.560 doesn't have a ruler long enough for my dick. He 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.080 paused for a laugh. No one obliged. Jim rolled his eyes, 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.960 ass holes. So look, we're in a bad position with 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.480 funk All for reinforcements coming in. Austin might be able 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.960 to scrape up a couple of Italians if they suddenly 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.919 clear out the Houston front, but that don't look likely. 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:14.119 Enemy has another ten thousand men there. Fuck. Startar was 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.320 the only one to actually say it, but everyone else 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.720 in the group mouth the word or some equivalent curse. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.560 How is that even possible? As Amee's voice was still 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.840 a little slurred from the painkillers, but her eyes were 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:29.800 focused now. Jim shrugged hard to say exactly masked affections 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.720 from the Republic at Texas Intel suspects the u c 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.159 S probably sent in some spec ops guys. I don't know, 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.760 some sort of skulduggerous bullshit went down. The how of 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.680 it ain't really our problem today, but now we've got 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.000 to deal with the reality. The snakes on Jim's torso 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.120 stopped writhing. He locked eyes with Roland, and Rowland felt 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.160 compelled to meet his old friend's gaze. Can we count 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.760 on your help? Jim asked, fuck no. Roland said, I've 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.080 killed enough naive young men today. I don't aim to 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:03.159 kill anymore. To his rise, Jim nodded an acceptance, understandable. 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.280 This kind of fighting was a violation of our contract. 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.119 I regret that, Rowland. If I'd known this was going 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.119 to be a meat grinder, I wouldn't have interrupted your retirement. 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.119 Roland wasn't sure he believed that, but he kept his 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.439 mouth shut as Jim continued, I'd like to propose a 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.840 renegotiation of our contract in a lot of the changing 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.680 situation on the ground. I'm not blowing anything else up 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.639 for you. That's fine. Jim put his hands out in 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.919 the sort of placating gesture one would use on an 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:34.240 angry dog. I don't need you killing us. I need 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.800 you sneakiness. You can still take faces right. Roland's memories 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:40.560 of his time in the army were as patchy as 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.960 his memories of everything else. He didn't remember much about 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:45.879 how they'd used him, but he knew that some of 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:47.879 the wet where they'd installed in him allowed him to 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.480 modify his skin and bone structure to full facial recognition scanners, 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.720 thumb print readers, and of course human beings. Yes, he said, 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.880 but Jim cut him off. You don't need to kill anyone. 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.439 The face you'll need is already dead. And what do 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.280 you want me to do with this man's face that 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.639 isn't more murder? Jim's lips curled up into a grin. 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.760 The expression sent shivers arching down Roland's spine. He felt 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.040 like he'd seen that grin before. Never proceeding good things. 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:19.520 Rolling Fuck is near by and in the city of 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.199 Wheels a six hundred or so real scary bastards. I 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.520 have it on good authority that they'd be happy to 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.520 throw down on our side. But it turns out some 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.320 of the negotiators were captured back at the start all 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.280 this ship. No one in the city will risk fighting 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:38.439 until they pulled out safely. Roland raised an eyebrow. So 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.560 a rescue mission, then that's right, Jim grinned in a 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:47.000 way Roland didn't quite trust you'll be saving lives. Roland's 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.880 gut twisted into knots. The shades of a thousand Memories 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.280 spoke up and warned him not to trust Jim at 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.200 his word. But those shades also drove him to take 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.000 Jim up on the offer. He wanted his memories back. 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.760 Jim smiled that hackle, Ray and smile again. You don't 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.320 have to agree and come to rolland Funk with me. 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.119 We'll talk things over with the Eldas. You can do 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.560 some of the fancy space drugs, and then you can 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:13.600 make your decision. All right, rolland Side, but only because 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:24.200 you said fancy space drugs. They flew to Rolling Funk 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:27.639 in Jim's hellicraft. It had been military issue originally, but 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.879 the interior had been redone to Jim's tastes. That mostly 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.000 meant a lot of the lure and a full wet bar. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:35.440 There were four beers on tap just to the right 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.359 of a double barreled thirty five millimeter grenade launcher mounted 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:41.240 beside the door. Roland drank for the duration of the 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:46.000 ten minute flight. You know, Jim said, Topez lives there now, 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:50.439 been with the city a while Topaz, Roland asked. Something 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.320 shuddered in his gut. He felt his hippocampus flicker with 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.040 the dim light of recognition. He saw that face again, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:58.119 the woman from so many of his dreams and a 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.080 few of his shattered memories. That was her name, It 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.880 felt right now that he knew it again. Do you 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:08.800 remember her at all, Roland, Jim asked, his voice uncharacteristically tender. 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.800 Roland nodded and swirled the beer in his hands to 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.920 buy some time. I remember snatches of her, he said, 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:19.840 I remember loving her. I remember enough that it hurts sometimes. 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.720 Mostly it hurts that I don't remember enough to be 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.359 as sad as I ought to be. There was a 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.560