Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two, Manny Rolling Fuck was as bright, shiny,
Speaker 1: and chaotic as it had been when he left, but
Speaker 1: Manny could see a real change among the citizens themselves.
Speaker 1: Gone were the lounging crowds of half naked people instead
Speaker 1: of the perpetual party. A war camp spread out around
Speaker 1: the great superstructure of the city. Hundreds of men and
Speaker 1: women were busy dawning armor, applying war paint, and checking
Speaker 1: over stacks of weaponry. Manny saw crates of guided mortars,
Speaker 1: piles of rocket launchers, boxes of high velocity ammunition, and
Speaker 1: enough firearms to equip every citizen a dozen times over.
Speaker 1: There was no discernible Rolling Fuck uniform that Manny could see.
Speaker 1: Some of the city's warriors wore powered body armor painted
Speaker 1: in garish colors and bedecked with various quotations. Fuck your
Speaker 1: Day seemed particularly popular. Many of them wore pieces of
Speaker 1: pop culture costumery mixed in with their gear. Manny recognized
Speaker 1: Darth Vader's helmet, hell Boy's red right hand, and a
Speaker 1: surprise using number of people with Mickey Mouse's face spray
Speaker 1: painted on their chest armor. An equal number of Fuckians
Speaker 1: wore no armor at all. Some of them were dressed
Speaker 1: in their normal flowing lounge garments. The weapons they wore
Speaker 1: were the only signs that they had plans beyond debauchery.
Speaker 1: Others were naked or mostly so. He saw one man
Speaker 1: wearing the helmet of a Greek hoplight and carrying two
Speaker 1: Viking axes on his back. He saw a woman with
Speaker 1: a Dragonov rifle on her back, an old German stallhelm
Speaker 1: on her head, an Ottoman mirror armor on her chest.
Speaker 1: She waved at them, excited. It took Manny a second
Speaker 1: to recognize Topas's face under the helmet. There here, there
Speaker 1: she stopped. Tullie had stopped too. She cast her face down.
Speaker 1: Many could see the shimmer of tears on her cheeks.
Speaker 1: A crowd gathered around them. In a few seconds, they
Speaker 1: were encircled by dozens of heavily armed post humans in
Speaker 1: a dizzying array of war costumes. Schoofucker Mike pushed his
Speaker 1: way to the front and ran up to embrace Tulli.
Speaker 1: Manny was surprised when she started to sob. The big
Speaker 1: man held her tight. Looked to Rowland what happened. Roland
Speaker 1: gave him a look that said, you know, damn well,
Speaker 1: what happened? But then he spoke anyway, your friend didn't
Speaker 1: make it, Schoofucker. Mike's jaw went tight, his eyes bulged,
Speaker 1: and he held on to Tulli a little tighter. Manny
Speaker 1: thought back to the night they'd spent in brain Breakers
Speaker 1: and the things he'd said about marigold Man. He hadn't
Speaker 1: really known the woman at all, but he could tell
Speaker 1: Mike had cared deeply for her. He looked around at
Speaker 1: the crowd closing in on them, the dozens of half
Speaker 1: human god monsters with helpless rage carved onto their faces.
Speaker 1: What happened, Mike demanded. Roland opened his mouth to speak,
Speaker 1: closed it and ran a hand over his bald head.
Speaker 1: He opened his mouth again, managed to squeeze out an
Speaker 1: eye before he slumped his shoulders and hung his head.
Speaker 1: I wasn't fast enough, he said. Finally, they had better gear,
Speaker 1: newer suits than I had expected, Schoofucker. Mike stared at him.
Speaker 1: Behind him, Topaz slid down to the ground and buried
Speaker 1: her head in her kne ease. Murmurs swept the crowd,
Speaker 1: and then Sasha spoke up. Your friends saved my life.
Speaker 1: Mike looked over and seemed to notice her for the
Speaker 1: first time, and who were you? His voice was not unfriendly,
Speaker 1: it wasn't exactly warm either. My name is Sasha, she said,
Speaker 1: her voice clearly on the edge of a sob. She
Speaker 1: looked from Mike to Tully, to Topaz, to the crowd,
Speaker 1: and then back to Manny. He saw a panic in
Speaker 1: her eyes, barely held in check by a cage of
Speaker 1: steely resolve. I made a mistake. I left my home
Speaker 1: for the Kingdom. I thought it was the right thing
Speaker 1: to do. I met Marigold while I was there, and
Speaker 1: she helped me see how wrong I'd been. She pointed
Speaker 1: to Roland. I tried to help him free your people.
Speaker 1: We all tried, but they were ready for us. They
Speaker 1: shot him. She gestured to Roland. They shot him a lot.
Speaker 1: They had us all dead to rights. And then Marigold.
Speaker 1: I don't know how, but she got a gun. She
Speaker 1: shot two of them, and then they shot her. She died,
Speaker 1: saving us. The silence that followed was louder than any
Speaker 1: artillery barrage Manny had ever sat through. Finally, Skullfucker Mike
Speaker 1: nodded at her. There were tears in his eyes, and
Speaker 1: Manny soon realized tears on every face in the crowd.
Speaker 1: Some people fell to their knees, others embraced and held
Speaker 1: their friends. One voice, hoarse and heavy with pain, howled
Speaker 1: out in anguish. It was met by another voice, and
Speaker 1: then another, and then another as Fucci and after Fucian
Speaker 1: tilted their head back and roared their grief out to
Speaker 1: the empty blue of the Texas sky. Rolling Fuck preferred
Speaker 1: to mourn through activity. The wailing and gnashing of teeth
Speaker 1: over Marigold didn't stop the city's medics from taking Rick
Speaker 1: and Tully to whatever building served as their equivalent of
Speaker 1: a clinic. Topaz stayed behind with a gathering crowd of
Speaker 1: mourners while skullfucker Mike gathered up Manny, Sasha and Roland.
Speaker 1: There'll be time to process later, He'd said, as much
Speaker 1: to himself as to them. There's a war council soon
Speaker 1: and they'll be wanting to debrief you. Fine, Roland said,
Speaker 1: but I'm stopping at the bar first. I need some
Speaker 1: opium and some godam tequila. Manny expected skullfucker Mike to
Speaker 1: be angered by that, given the circumstances, but the other
Speaker 1: chrombed man just nodded and said, I could use a
Speaker 1: drinker nine myself. They headed for the lift underneath the
Speaker 1: main roller. Manny started to prepare himself for the meeting
Speaker 1: with this war council, whatever that term meant. In a
Speaker 1: place like this, whatever happens, it's bound to be weird.
Speaker 1: They reached the lift, skullfucker Mike opened the door and
Speaker 1: gestured for every one to enter, and so. Less than
Speaker 1: an hour after arriving back in the City of Wheels, Mannye, Sasha,
Speaker 1: and Rowland found themselves seated around the same red wood
Speaker 1: table where they had first met Nana Yazi and Donald Ferris.
Speaker 1: The room was more crowded this time around, with two
Speaker 1: new people he didn't recognize. One was a shirtless man
Speaker 1: with writhing snake tattoos across his chest and a pair
Speaker 1: of chaps that did nothing at all to cover up
Speaker 1: his junk. It didn't help that the man's legs were
Speaker 1: spread as wide as possible. He seemed to be deliberately
Speaker 1: showing off. Manny looked away and found himself staring at
Speaker 1: a very tall, very muscular, young seeming woman with a
Speaker 1: mohawk made from thick chrome spikes. She had light brown skin.
Speaker 1: Her cheeks were covered in several long, thin diagonal scars.
Speaker 1: The woman's eyes had no pupils. They looked gray at first,
Speaker 1: until Manny realized they were actually just filled with static.
Speaker 1: When Manny finally pulled his gaze away from her, he
Speaker 1: was met with the biggest surprise of the day. Deshaun
Speaker 1: Clark was seated two chairs down from Nana Yazzi Major Clark, Manny.
Speaker 1: The Major's lips cracked open into a wide mouthed grin,
Speaker 1: the left side of his face was still covered in
Speaker 1: hemostatic gauze, and the edges of the skin around the
Speaker 1: gauze looked black and burnt. His right hand was a smooth,
Speaker 1: angry pink color, a sure sign that had been severed
Speaker 1: and regrown in the recent past. Major Clark was bloody
Speaker 1: but unbowed. It's damn good to see you, Manny. I
Speaker 1: can tell you how proud I was to hear you'd
Speaker 1: volunteered for this mission, Mr Pirrone, Manny started to say,
Speaker 1: But Major Clark put up his hand, I know, he said.
Speaker 1: Donald Ferris ahemmed, which Manny took as a gentle reminder
Speaker 1: that now was not the time for personal business. The
Speaker 1: old brit gestured first to the man with the writhing
Speaker 1: snake tattoos. This is Jim Shannon, he said. He heads
Speaker 1: up a small mercenary outfit. And the guy who roped
Speaker 1: Roland into helping, Jim said with a wink, and this
Speaker 1: cheery lass Donald pointed to the woman with a chromehawk
Speaker 1: is Kashore. She's been the city's elected warlly to for
Speaker 1: the past three years. And who might this young lady be,
Speaker 1: Nana Yazzi asked, nodding at Sasha. The old woman stood
Speaker 1: and stepped forward to greet Sasha with a hub. Sasha
Speaker 1: tensed up. She looked scared to return the embrace, so
Speaker 1: Nana Yazzi backed off and favored the girl with a
Speaker 1: warm smile. I'm sorry, child, I didn't mean to pressure you.
Speaker 1: I'm just happy you'll hear with us. Sasha relaxed at that,
Speaker 1: but she still didn't step forward. Her name, Sasha said, Rowland.
Speaker 1: She used to be with the Kingdom, now she's not.
Speaker 1: He paused a second, considered his words, and added, she
Speaker 1: beat one of them to death with a helmet. Oh my,
Speaker 1: oh dear. Nana Yazzi tisked and shook her head. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry, Sasha, that must have been a terrible experience
Speaker 1: for you. She enjoyed it, Jim said, with a harsh
Speaker 1: bark of a laugh. I'm sure Rowland smells it too,
Speaker 1: Isn't that Radhun? You loved killing whoever the fuck you killed,
Speaker 1: and you feel shitty about that. Will let messuit stop
Speaker 1: right now, or you'll leave this room. Nana Yazzi's voice
Speaker 1: was firm, but devoid of any anger or heat. To
Speaker 1: Nanny's shock, Jim stopped the posthuman, nodded and said, I apologized, Sasha,
Speaker 1: that was a dick move, and then he lowered his
Speaker 1: eyes just a little in contrition. Nana Yazzi offered Sasha
Speaker 1: a seat and then busied herself in the corner, making
Speaker 1: Sasha a cup of tea. Once that was done and
Speaker 1: they were all settled in, Nana sat back down and
Speaker 1: looked at Nanny. What happened, is all, she asked. Nanny
Speaker 1: started talking. He told her, and by extension, the whole table,
Speaker 1: everything that had happened since he and Rowland left rolling fuck.
Speaker 1: He told them about their trouble with the checkpoints on
Speaker 1: the way into town. He walked them through the intake process,
Speaker 1: his and Roland's few days as martyrs, in training and
Speaker 1: what he'd seen in the few sections of Plano he'd
Speaker 1: been allowed to haunt during his time there. The woman
Speaker 1: with the Chrome Hawk was particularly interested in what he
Speaker 1: and Rowland had to say about the Kingdom's preferred assault tactics.
Speaker 1: They're not going to be kicking indoors and fighting house
Speaker 1: to house, Roland explained, No, just start shelling at the
Speaker 1: first sign of resistance. They don't care about civilian casualties.
Speaker 1: When Manny explained what the Kingdom had been doing at
Speaker 1: the old Tesla factory, almost everyone looked horrified. Donald Ferris
Speaker 1: spat at the ground. Most of the others cursed or
Speaker 1: at least shook their heads. Nanni Yazi teared up. Jim, though,
Speaker 1: seemed almost enthusiastic about the revelation. Fascinating, he muttered, just
Speaker 1: loud enough for Manny to hear. Once everyone was caught
Speaker 1: up the table, fired off a few questions at him
Speaker 1: and more towards Rowland. They seemed mostly curious as to
Speaker 1: what they'd been able to glean about the number of
Speaker 1: recruits in the Heavenly Kingdom. Manny didn't have much you
Speaker 1: full there, so he shut up, leaned back, and let
Speaker 1: Rowland to give the answers. An awkward silence descended on
Speaker 1: the table. After a few minutes, well Donald Ferris said, finally,
Speaker 1: I suppose we were fools to hope for much more
Speaker 1: than what you've got. As it stands, we're left grappling
Speaker 1: to try an account for the sheer number of men
Speaker 1: the Kingdom has deployed to assault Austin twenty thousand Mardas
Speaker 1: Jim spoke up and give a take a grand Manny's
Speaker 1: blood went cold. The SDF at its height hadn't been
Speaker 1: more than six thousand fighters, and those were spread out
Speaker 1: across the serried battle grounds of North Texas. The whole
Speaker 1: free city of Austin didn't have more than five thousand
Speaker 1: people in its full time defense corps. Twenty thousand men
Speaker 1: was impossible, he said, That's just fucking impossible. I'd be
Speaker 1: inclined to agree with you, kid, said Jim, if my
Speaker 1: own men hadn't double checked the count for us. The
Speaker 1: Kingdom's already marshaled half of that force on the outskirts
Speaker 1: of d f W near Lancaster. They'll be in Wakeo tomorrow,
Speaker 1: no one stops him. Hell, they could be pound in
Speaker 1: Austin with artillery. Bad Doc Donald Ferris nodded. Mr Shennon Here,
Speaker 1: he gestured to Jim as agreed to lend a hand,
Speaker 1: along with several dozen of his mercenaries. Add that to
Speaker 1: the warriors of Rolling Funck, and we've got seven hundred
Speaker 1: ish post humans. It's a large enough force to hold
Speaker 1: Waco and badly bloody their nose. But Kushori spoke for
Speaker 1: the first time. She had a deep, gravelly voice that
Speaker 1: sounded like she'd been eating cigarettes for the last ten years.
Speaker 1: Rolling Funck is not in the business of volunteering for
Speaker 1: our own Vietnams. My people aren't signing up for a war.
Speaker 1: I can guarantee our presence on the battlefield for up
Speaker 1: to forty eight hours, enough time for vengeance, she continued.
Speaker 1: After that, you're hurting cats? Is that a problem? Manny asked,
Speaker 1: I mean I saw Roland lay waste to half a city,
Speaker 1: six hundred of him. There's only one of him, Kishori said.
Speaker 1: Jim nodded an agreement and fixed Manny with his uncomfortable
Speaker 1: gray eye ice and see here, he said me. Any
Speaker 1: one a rolland Fox warrior is as good for a
Speaker 1: few dozen normal troops in a straight fight. More off.
Speaker 1: We're talking half trained partizans, but nobody is like Roland.
Speaker 1: Many looked over to Roland. The big man seemed distinctly
Speaker 1: uncomfortable with all the attention. He stared down at his hands,
Speaker 1: which seemed to be occupied with tearing up a paper
Speaker 1: drink coaster. The Matas have a lot of half trained partizans,
Speaker 1: but they've also got tanks, artillery, suits, the resources of
Speaker 1: a nation state, or close enough, rolland fuck can hold
Speaker 1: that off for a while. But without rolland the best
Speaker 1: they can do is delay the inevitable. Now with Roland,
Speaker 1: Jim continued, this is a two hour fight, tops. We
Speaker 1: set up our troops in some little chunk of the
Speaker 1: city and start dropping mortars and rockets on the van guard.
Speaker 1: They pull up and circle us and start deploying their
Speaker 1: artillery to bombas to kingdom. Come. Then, when they are
Speaker 1: good and packed together, we dropped Roland on the asses Kashure.
Speaker 1: He nodded, yes, She said, he'll hit them and disrupt
Speaker 1: their whole order of battle while our cavalry rolls around
Speaker 1: their flanks and charges. That should be enough to make
Speaker 1: them panic. Then we'd chase them down until they lose cohesion.
Speaker 1: Roland's heads stayed down. He didn't speak. Manny looked from
Speaker 1: him to Jim, to Nanna Yazzi and Donald Ferris. So
Speaker 1: what's the problem, Manny asked. If Roland and Rolling Funk
Speaker 1: are all in, there should be a walk in the park. Rowland,
Speaker 1: Nanny Yazzi said, prefers not to fight. But I just
Speaker 1: saw him. You just saw me break a long streak
Speaker 1: of not killing people. Roland's voice sounded odd, hollow and dry,
Speaker 1: and utterly without any of the mirth or mischief Manny
Speaker 1: had come to expect from the chromed man. I did
Speaker 1: that to get my memories back, Manny, he shrugged. And
Speaker 1: I did it for you because you're my buddy. But
Speaker 1: I got no stake in Austin. But you know what
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom will do if they take the city,
Speaker 1: Manny protested. You've seen what they did to Plaino. They'll
Speaker 1: do that to millions of decent people if they can.
Speaker 1: You have the power to stop that. You're telling me
Speaker 1: you won't. Roland at his eyes and just said, yes, Hugh,
Speaker 1: son of a bitch. Manny felt the anger well up
Speaker 1: inside him. It merged with his grief over major Perrone's death,
Speaker 1: Oscar's death, and his rage at the Heavenly Kingdom, the martyrs,
Speaker 1: and every other group of assholes who had helped turn
Speaker 1: his young life into a parade of nightmares. Hugh Absolute,
Speaker 1: son of a bitch, You fucking coward. Manny didn't think,
Speaker 1: couldn't think. He pulled back his fist and swung as
Speaker 1: hard as he could for Roland's face. The chrombed man
Speaker 1: didn't move, didn't even blink. Manny hit him right in
Speaker 1: the nose. He was softer than Manny would have guessed,
Speaker 1: didn't feel any different from punching a normal human. Manny
Speaker 1: swung again and again until he felt something crack in
Speaker 1: his knuckles. He cried out from the pain and pulled
Speaker 1: back to nurse his wounded hand. For a few seconds,
Speaker 1: Manny forgot about the rest of the room. He closed
Speaker 1: his eyes and let his thoughts dissolve into an ocean
Speaker 1: of physical pain. The agony of his broken hand was
Speaker 1: almost soothing. It was better than thinking about mister Perrone.
Speaker 1: It was better than thinking about Alejandro or Oscar. It
Speaker 1: was better than thinking about his soon to be shattered home.
Speaker 1: Manny felt a hand on his shoulder. The sensation pulled
Speaker 1: him out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up and
Speaker 1: saw nanny Azzi. She smiled her sad smile and said, Manny,
Speaker 1: every one here understands your pain. Not me, said Jim,
Speaker 1: I've never been a big fan Austin. Two damn rolland
Speaker 1: threw his empty pint glass at the other post human's face.
Speaker 1: It shattered on impact, embedding shards deep into Jim's cheeks
Speaker 1: and forehead. His head snapped back and he blinked in
Speaker 1: shock A few times. Sorry, he said, I deserve that,
Speaker 1: and I deserved that. Roland said to Manny, no hard
Speaker 1: feelings I get while you're pissed, But kid, you gotta
Speaker 1: understand something. Austin's home to you. To me, it's just
Speaker 1: another city held by just another side. Half my remaining
Speaker 1: memories are of one cause or another asking me to
Speaker 1: go murder in their name. I'm fucking done with it.
Speaker 1: Minnie looked to Major Clark. The STF officer's eyes were
Speaker 1: lit by a familiar cold fire. He spoke in a
Speaker 1: tone of barely controlled anger. That is, you're right, of course,
Speaker 1: you can choose to leave, just as I will choose
Speaker 1: to fight and die. I wonder what Manny will choose.
Speaker 1: Mannie hadn't really settled on that himself. Before he could
Speaker 1: stumble through his response, Sasha spoke, I'll fight, She said.
Speaker 1: I don't know much about guns, but I'll do my best.
Speaker 1: Roland slumped back in his chair and tossed his arms
Speaker 1: up in a dramatic show of frustration. At too, Jesus, girl,
Speaker 1: I'll fight, Manny said to Major Clark, doing his best
Speaker 1: to talk over Rowland. I'll choose to fight too. This
Speaker 1: isn't gonna work, you know, Roland said, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be shamed into fighting again. It's just not going
Speaker 1: to fucking happen. Jim leaned in. He fixed Roland with
Speaker 1: a look that seemed almost hungry. I think it will happen.
Speaker 1: I think the peculiar arc of your moral compass won't
Speaker 1: let you leave these kids to die. He seemed surprised
Speaker 1: by the revelation. Huh, fascinating enough of that. Donald Ferris
Speaker 1: sounded angry. I won't stand to see this man badget
Speaker 1: and press it into fighting against his will. We might
Speaker 1: as well dissolve the council for now and reconvene without Rowland.
Speaker 1: Good Roland stood up and stomped over to the exit.
Speaker 1: That's all you people need for me. I'm and I
Speaker 1: go get good and pissed and start my walk back
Speaker 1: to Arizona. He flipped his middle finger out at the
Speaker 1: room and slammed the door behind him. As he left,
Speaker 1: all eyes turned to Mannie. I should probably go talk
Speaker 1: to him. Don't do anything you're not comfortable doing. Emmanuel
Speaker 1: Donald said, fuck there. Jim said the best it's on
Speaker 1: the ropes. Shame him, shame him good. As he headed
Speaker 1: for the exit, Mannie looked to Major Clark. The old
Speaker 1: soldier's one good eye was narrow and focussed Mannie. He said,
Speaker 1: if he didn't want to talk, he wouldn't a gone
Speaker 1: up to the bar. He'd have just left. There's no
Speaker 1: honor lost. In another conversation, another try, Roland was three
Speaker 1: beers in by the time Manny reached him, and knowing
Speaker 1: rolling fuck that could mean he'd already ingested enough acid
Speaker 1: to kill a large octopus. Hey, mann he said, heybody,
Speaker 1: Roland replied in a voice that was just super stoned.
Speaker 1: Sorry about getting angry. Back there, the post human spun
Speaker 1: his empty pint glass around on the bar table. It
Speaker 1: was a strange sight to see. Manny had gotten so
Speaker 1: used to seeing Roland is something akin to a Greek god.
Speaker 1: He certainly wasn't omniscient or omnipotent, but he was unspeakably
Speaker 1: powerful and just as irresponsible to leave out around humans.
Speaker 1: And yet here he was fiddling with an empty pint
Speaker 1: glass like a nervous college freshman standing at the back
Speaker 1: wall of some house party. Many felt a surge of sympathy.
Speaker 1: It's okay, man, I think I actually get it, he said,
Speaker 1: like I've had plenty of chances to join either the
Speaker 1: SDF or the Austin Defense Forces. I never did. Maybe
Speaker 1: some of that's because I'm scared help. Up until like
Speaker 1: a few days ago, my plan was to get the
Speaker 1: funk off this continent as soon as I could afford it.
Speaker 1: Minnie paused and bit his lip. It was an instinctive gesture,
Speaker 1: his gut's reaction to a sudden burst of self awareness.
Speaker 1: Mannie hadn't thought about any of this before. I don't know,
Speaker 1: he said. This ship's been going on basically my whole life.
Speaker 1: I can't remember a time when I wasn't scared of
Speaker 1: something like this happening. I didn't understand any of it.
Speaker 1: As a kid. But I can remember being seven or
Speaker 1: eight years old and just being so angry at the soldiers,
Speaker 1: even our soldiers. I thought, if all you assholes would
Speaker 1: just refuse to be led into battle, none of this
Speaker 1: could happen. You know that's not how it works, ran
Speaker 1: Roland asked, as he turned away from Mannie and waved
Speaker 1: at the bartender. We loved this war ship, at least
Speaker 1: some one us due those of us who were Oh
Speaker 1: the bartender arrived, Roland ordered my time mixed with the
Speaker 1: margharita and one of those what you got him column?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, a fucking mohito, Roland. Mannie's voice was gentle
Speaker 1: but firm. How many beers did you drink before I
Speaker 1: got here? No beers, Roland said in a casual voice.
Speaker 1: Mushroom room sweet but not bad. He licked his lips
Speaker 1: as he watched the bartender work through the herculean task
Speaker 1: of crafting his requested beverage. Roland Manny said, and the
Speaker 1: chromed man turned back to him. Ah, sorry, it's just
Speaker 1: been too long a stretch of sober for me. I
Speaker 1: got excited. What the funk was I saying? That war
Speaker 1: is fun? Oh? Yeah, as long as you don't think
Speaker 1: you will die. That's why all throughout history he had
Speaker 1: so many generals and politicians kicking off conflicts because they
Speaker 1: felt safe. And when you're pretty sure you'll live, war
Speaker 1: is an absolute hoot. That's the problem with me and
Speaker 1: fighting the problem as you like it too much. Roland
Speaker 1: grabbed his hand. The chromed man moved so fast Manny
Speaker 1: didn't even see the motion blur. Roland's hand was just
Speaker 1: wrapped around his wrist, immovable. He squeezed hard enough that
Speaker 1: it hurt. Roland's eyes bulged out and stared into Manny
Speaker 1: with a manic intensity that was frightening. Oh, I fucking
Speaker 1: love it. It's like sex on heroin and bungee jumping
Speaker 1: and getting rammed in the ass and that first shut
Speaker 1: a lick or synake when you're fourteen, all at once,
Speaker 1: and mixed with the best actual battle drugs, the most
Speaker 1: bloated military budget and history can buy. He loosened his
Speaker 1: grip and turned half away from Manny. That's why I
Speaker 1: shouldn't do it, because I'll get carried away like I
Speaker 1: got carried away in Dallas. Maybe this time I won't
Speaker 1: be able to stop when it's time to stop. Manny
Speaker 1: kept his eyes on Rowland's. The big man turned a
Speaker 1: little further to the left, but he didn't look away.
Speaker 1: How do you know that your intervention won't make things better,
Speaker 1: Manny asked. Maybe if we can kill enough in the martyrs,
Speaker 1: their power will be broken forever. Maybe your intervention will
Speaker 1: be the first step towards making this a more livable
Speaker 1: part of the globe. Roland laughed. It started as a
Speaker 1: low chuckle that then cascaded into a series of rolling,
Speaker 1: rib cracking howls. Manny didn't get the joke, and he
Speaker 1: couldn't find any humor in his words, so he sat
Speaker 1: tight until Roland's mirth subsided and the chromed man had
Speaker 1: recovered enough to explain himself. All right, sorry, he said,
Speaker 1: between chuckles. It's just a ship. Kid, you're too young
Speaker 1: to know how funny that is. Roland straightened up and
Speaker 1: wiped a tear from his eye. So you're talking about
Speaker 1: me the exact same way people talked about the U. S.
Speaker 1: Military back when I was a kid. The bartender came
Speaker 1: by and sat down Roland's drink, an enormous jug filled
Speaker 1: with a multi hued mix of alcoholic beverages. The post
Speaker 1: human took a deep poll from his my Tai Garito.
Speaker 1: Manny took the chance to ask a question. I thought
Speaker 1: you didn't remember anything further back than a few years ago.
Speaker 1: I don't remember anything clearly, Roland said, But I do
Speaker 1: remember bits and pieces, and I remember being a young
Speaker 1: man and watching the news break in an off base bar.
Speaker 1: Some election had gone bad in Bolivia. The president announced
Speaker 1: he was sending in soldiers to keep the peace. Did
Speaker 1: it work, Manny asked, I don't, no kid, would your
Speaker 1: school teach you about Bolivia? That there was a genocide
Speaker 1: at oh, Manny said, as Roland's points sunk in right yep.
Speaker 1: Roland grunted and took another deeper pull from his ridiculous beverage.
Speaker 1: They were quiet for a while. Manny took the opportunity
Speaker 1: to take a long look at Rowland. His face held
Speaker 1: only a few lines around his eyes and lips, and
Speaker 1: yet he still looked old, positively ancient. There appeared to
Speaker 1: be a tremendous weight to the man's eyes, accentuated by
Speaker 1: the deep wrinkles underneath them. It looked as if the
Speaker 1: chromed man's face was sagging underneath the weight of what
Speaker 1: he had seen Roland, Manny asked, do you have any
Speaker 1: idea of where you came from? I think I was
Speaker 1: born around Mississippi. But no, Manny interrupted, not like where
Speaker 1: you were born, but how you became what you are today.
Speaker 1: You said, you've been disconnected from the internet for the
Speaker 1: last ten years. I've got a guess your implants or
Speaker 1: even older than that. But the way everyone here talks
Speaker 1: about you, you're still king shit. Oh, Roland said, yeah that.
Speaker 1: I got no real idea what happened there. I know
Speaker 1: I was in the army. I'm pretty sure that's when
Speaker 1: the tankering started, sure, Manny said, but didn't A lot
Speaker 1: of the road people start as ex special forces who
Speaker 1: went rogue? Why are you special? You had no clear
Speaker 1: answer to that, buddy, He smiled, as if he just
Speaker 1: remembered something good. I guess I've got that surgery coming up.
Speaker 1: Once I get my memories back, I'll let you know
Speaker 1: what I find out. Manny laughed too, but his was
Speaker 1: cold and bitter. Sure, I'll probably be in a refugee
Speaker 1: camp at that point, or dead, damn kid. Roland said, yeah, Mann,
Speaker 1: he said, I'm really not trying to manipulate you here.
Speaker 1: It's just now I get it, I get and Roland
Speaker 1: waved him off. It's fair, you get every right to
Speaker 1: be piste. I just can't. He trailed off. Manny put
Speaker 1: a hand on Roland's shoulder. He didn't understand how the
Speaker 1: post human felt. How could he. Manny couldn't even conceive
Speaker 1: of having that kind of power, But he could see
Speaker 1: why it was a difficult choice. There was a part
Speaker 1: of Manny, a dark, manipulative chunk of his soul, that
Speaker 1: knew he was on his way to changing Roland's mind.
Speaker 1: This was essentially the same strategy he used on the job.
Speaker 1: You built empathy with people through a combination of shared
Speaker 1: experiences in regular engagement. That empathy paid dividends when you
Speaker 1: needed some lieutenant's approval to cross the check point. It
Speaker 1: would pay dividends here if he was careful and consistent.
Speaker 1: 's fucked up, man He thought, you're manipulating your friend
Speaker 1: into killing a bunch of people. You know what, Manny said,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to Roland drain the rest
Speaker 1: of his mug, belched and looked over at Manny. He
Speaker 1: looked unsteady, half conscious. The chrombed man put his left
Speaker 1: hand over Manny's hand, while it rested on his shoulder.
Speaker 1: He fixed Manny with his half focused eyes and nodded.
Speaker 1: FuG it. Roland said, I'll fug' Helpia and be a
Speaker 1: dick off. It didn't, thank you, Manny said, with a nod.
Speaker 1: I know, don't say anything else, kid, I don't really
Speaker 1: want to think about what I just promised to do.
Speaker 1: Manny found Sasha sitting around a fire pit outside the city,
Speaker 1: proper deep in conversation with Donald Ferris. She sat on
Speaker 1: the ground, legs splayed out wide with her button the grass.
Speaker 1: Donald sat in a folding chair. It wasn't cold outside precisely,
Speaker 1: but it had cooled off a great deal from the
Speaker 1: heat of the day. The air held just the barest
Speaker 1: tint of winter. It was shaping up to be one
Speaker 1: of those odd September days where Texas seemed on the
Speaker 1: verge of an actual seasonal shift. One look at Sasha's
Speaker 1: face told him that she was at least as unsettled
Speaker 1: as Rowland. He didn't want to crowd her, so he
Speaker 1: squatted down on the other side of Donald Emmanuel. The
Speaker 1: old man's voice was as smooth and rich as Manny
Speaker 1: remembered from the narration of his documentary. It's good to
Speaker 1: see you. Sasha's been telling me her story. She actually
Speaker 1: just turned to the subject of you. Yeah, Manny asked, yes,
Speaker 1: she was telling me how she met you and Marigold
Speaker 1: and how you both helped to find her way free
Speaker 1: of the Kingdom. Oh, he said, and looked at Sasha.
Speaker 1: I never really met Marigold. I didn't realize you knew
Speaker 1: her well. Sasha shook her head. I only knew her
Speaker 1: a little while. I was just supposed to be administering
Speaker 1: tests to her. But I couldn't stop her from talking,
Speaker 1: and she made sense. She made more sense than what
Speaker 1: was going on out in the Kingdom every day. Sasha
Speaker 1: stared down into the fading embers of the fire. I
Speaker 1: feel stui, but forever believing in that place. And what
Speaker 1: do you believe now, Donald asked, I don't know, she said.
Speaker 1: It seems arrogant to decide that God doesn't exist just
Speaker 1: because I let myself get taken in by a cult.
Speaker 1: M the old man nodded. The good news is you're young.
Speaker 1: You've got plenty of time to figure things out. Again,
Speaker 1: His cheeks turned up into a smile and his face
Speaker 1: blossomed with wrinkles. Now. He looked up at Manny. What
Speaker 1: have you been up to, my dear boy? Talking to Roland?
Speaker 1: Manny said he agreed to help. By the way, he's
Speaker 1: going to fight. Donald Ferris's smile turned into a frown.
Speaker 1: Manny hadn't been expecting that. How did you do it,
Speaker 1: he asked, in a somber, grave voice. We just talked
Speaker 1: for a while, Manny said. He explained why he didn't
Speaker 1: want to fight. It sounded very reasonable. Manny paused, and
Speaker 1: then made the choice to lie just a little. I
Speaker 1: wasn't trying to change his mind. I didn't ask him
Speaker 1: to help. That last part was true. At least. I
Speaker 1: do feel bad, though, I'm sure he changed his mind
Speaker 1: because of me. Is it really on you if he
Speaker 1: chooses to fight? Sasha asked, I killed two men. Both
Speaker 1: of those deaths are on me. But you didn't order
Speaker 1: Roland to do anything. No. Donald Ferris agreed, But I
Speaker 1: doubt Roland would have made the decision to intervene if
Speaker 1: Manny hadn't pressed. That's probably true, Manny admitted. Donald looked
Speaker 1: from Manny to Sasha. There's a war ritual peculiar to
Speaker 1: the men and women in whatever's of this community. I
Speaker 1: think you'd benefit from seeing it. A ritual, Sasha asked,
Speaker 1: not a religious one, I assure you, but yes, they
Speaker 1: call it their war ritual. He extended a hand out
Speaker 1: to the field around Rolling Fuck. Many looked out at
Speaker 1: it for the first time since coming out here and
Speaker 1: realized that people seem to be packing up right now.
Speaker 1: Donald said, the citizens are packing up their tints and
Speaker 1: their arvis and preparing the city for departure. It's moving
Speaker 1: out with their army. They'll drive that thing. He jerked
Speaker 1: a thumb in the direction of the city of Wheels,
Speaker 1: right up to the damn battlefield. It'll be behind them
Speaker 1: the whole time they're fighting. I think they've stole the
Speaker 1: idea from the ancient Celts. Anyway, he said. Once the
Speaker 1: cities in position, they'll open up these little boxes that
Speaker 1: look quite a lot like bee hives, and they'll let
Speaker 1: out a swarm of about a thousand little drones. Those
Speaker 1: are mostly just facial recognition cameras attached to wings and
Speaker 1: a wee engine. They'll record everything and send data on
Speaker 1: the faces of every enemy fighter to a central computer
Speaker 1: in the city. What did does that do, Manny asked,
Speaker 1: It gives us a chance to identify those men or women,
Speaker 1: so we can scrape their social media profiles and display
Speaker 1: pictures and videos from their lives. Once they die, the
Speaker 1: whole city, everyone who isn't fighting, turns out to watch that.
Speaker 1: That sounds fucking terrible, Manny said, what do we gain
Speaker 1: from watching the home movies of dead men? A memorial?
Speaker 1: Manny didn't understand, but he could see that Donald Ferris
Speaker 1: was revving himself up for an involved explanation. He let
Speaker 1: the old man speak. I was a small child when
Speaker 1: my country invaded a Rack, along with the United States
Speaker 1: and a few other nations. The war was news, yes,
Speaker 1: but that's all it was. Even our own soldiers were
Speaker 1: more numbers than real people. I'd hear that two Royal
Speaker 1: Marines had died in a roadside bombing, and it meant
Speaker 1: less to me than when my neighbor broke his legs
Speaker 1: slipping down the stairs. War isn't like that for us,
Speaker 1: Manny said, I don't know anyone in Austin who hasn't
Speaker 1: lost a friend or family to the fighting. It affects
Speaker 1: us all, So it does, my boy, So it does.
Speaker 1: And if any of our warriors die to day, you
Speaker 1: can bet it'll affect everyone in this social experiment we
Speaker 1: call a city. But you didn't let me finish. The
Speaker 1: first thing that was truly toxic about my childhood knowledge
Speaker 1: of war is that it erased the other side. Our
Speaker 1: boys didn't do body counts, so there were seldom reports
Speaker 1: on how many civilians we killed, how many enemy fighters died.
Speaker 1: That information was out there, but you had to look hard.
Speaker 1: Most people never did. Donald Fairish shrugged and then winced
Speaker 1: from the motion. It's easy to get people to care
Speaker 1: about their own soldiers, but if you want to stop wars,
Speaker 1: or at least make them less common, you've got to
Speaker 1: get people to give a shit about the soldiers on
Speaker 1: the other side. That, my young friend, is where your
Speaker 1: people are even worse than my own. You're close enough
Speaker 1: to the war to not just feel indifferent about these
Speaker 1: martyrs marching off to die. You actively want them to die.
Speaker 1: That's understandable, but it's also poisonous. When you dehumanize others,
Speaker 1: you become less human yourself. Many nodded, not sure of
Speaker 1: what to say. In my youth, Donald Ferris continued, the
Speaker 1: country that occupied this continent was the most powerful nation
Speaker 1: on earth. They held the keys to the deadliest military
Speaker 1: machine ever constructed. It was easy to get Americans to
Speaker 1: support involvement in a thousand little conflicts because each only
Speaker 1: required a small fraction of the nation's military power and
Speaker 1: only risked a few American lives. But millions of people
Speaker 1: around the world died, women and children and old men
Speaker 1: and dumby young boys, from Yemen to Turkey to Guatemala.
Speaker 1: To justify those murders, Americans had to make those people
Speaker 1: less than human. And once they've done that, it wasn't
Speaker 1: such a great jump to do it to their neighbors.
Speaker 1: He stared up at the setting sun, and Manny saw
Speaker 1: tears in his eyes. What you're going to see tomorrow
Speaker 1: is the best attempt I've seen so far to bridge
Speaker 1: the empathy gap between the people and their folds. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm Robert Evans. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the chapters to come. You can find
Speaker 1: the free e pub of every chapter and eventually the
Speaker 1: whole book at a t r book dot com, complete
Speaker 1: with illustrations. If you want to support me in writing
Speaker 1: the sequel, you can crowdfund me at After the Revolution
Speaker 1: The Sequel at go fund me just type and go
Speaker 1: fund me after the Revolution the Sequel. Um, I'd like
Speaker 1: my books to always be free, so I'm just going
Speaker 1: to try to crowdfund the next one and see how
Speaker 1: that works. So after the Revolution the Sequel on go
Speaker 1: fund me. You can all so find the community of
Speaker 1: fans of this book online at our slash after the
Speaker 1: Revolution on Reddit. So after the Revolution the Sequel and
Speaker 1: go fund me and our slash after the Revolution on Reddit.
Speaker 1: A t r book dot com for the whole book.
Speaker 1: Thanks