WEBVTT - Chapters Three, Four, & Five 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:07.720 Chapter three, Sasha the drone gun rotated on its axis 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.520 and brought a new, slightly different chunk of city scape 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.840 into view. The world was a dull gray green color 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.000 through the lens of the weapon's camera. Once again, there 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.799 were no humans in sight. That was the norm, but 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.200 Sasha still logged in for her scheduled gun time every day. 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.920 Her parents would have been mortified if they'd known how 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:28.800 she was spending her few hours of free time, but 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.440 she had a good VPN, or at least it was 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.760 good enough to hide her activity from her non tech 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:37.520 savvy elders. She doubted they'd ever suspect her of something 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.520 like this. Sasha was a good student. Her grades guaranteed 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.400 her admission to the American University in d C. At 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:46.240 one point, she'd had a shot at being her high 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:50.559 school's valedictorian and maybe of gaining admission to Stanford, But 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.240 then she discovered the True Gospel and given herself to Christ. 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.760 Her grades were still good, but probably not good enough 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.040 to earn her an educational visa to the californ in 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.400 your Republic. The extra time the old heir had dedicated 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.920 to school was now spent glued to a gun camp 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.440 browsing live feeds from various Christian militias and reading everything 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.040 she could from the few pastors brave enough to preach 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.560 the word the New Herd. Didn't want to go to 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.720 school near San Francisco, capital of what Pastor Mike had 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.640 called the world's most sinful nation. Sasha didn't even really 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.200 want to go to college in d C. What was 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.000 the point, Sash her dad called from the kitchen, dinners 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.640 on cheese Enchilada's. There was still nothing in her line 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:33.959 of sight. For the eleventh month in a row. She 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.160 was spending sixty five am fed dollars for the privilege 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.280 of staring through a camera at nothing for a half 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.039 hour a day. Sasha had been warned about this when 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.119 she'd signed up to support the Woodlands Martyrs Brigade. Their 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.960 drone guns didn't see much action. The front had been 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.760 stable for the last year. Rumors said the number of 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.320 backers had even gotten to fire during their turn was 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.600 under a dozen. Sasha had hoped she'd be a special case. 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.960 Something moved. Just as she thought about killing the app 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.480 and going downstairs, something moved across her drones field of vision. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:06.800 It happened again, and Sasha realized that the somethings were 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.440 armored soldiers sprinting past her weapon. She locked the drone 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.120 on one and for the first time ever, selected the 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:17.200 fire approval button. A second went by, then another, and 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:21.080 then a red box replaced her firing redicule. Target declined. 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.400 Friendly fire, Sasha, her mother called up in that grating 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.160 voice that miant. She was almost frustrated enough to start 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.840 yelling get down here. She stared at the box for 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.720 another long moment. Friendly fire. That made sense as she 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.840 belatedly realized the men had been rushing out of territory 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.000 occupied by the martyrs. Good thing they check up on 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.840 us before we pulled the trigger. Her heart pounded a 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.560 little at the thought of killing the wrong soldier, But 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.639 at the same time she noticed something odd. The men 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.600 were still coming. They rushed past the drone camera in 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.720 waves ten ft apart, ducking low and hefting heavy weapons. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.760 She must have watched at least a hundred of them 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.760 ass before she realized what this meant. A new offensive. 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.000 Oh God, dial Alexander, she told her deck. A calm 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.680 window popped up about six inches in front of her hand, 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.240 to the left of the large drone control screen. That 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.000 hovered above her. Anyone without a deck would have just 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.639 seen a seventeen year old girl lying on her bed 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.600 and poking at the air. But Sasha saw the space 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.280 in front of her as a giant screen curved around 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.240 her body. She opened another window and flung it up 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.040 on her right side. It was populated with links to 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.560 the camera feeds of all the personality she followed. Most 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.200 of them were located somewhere in the Republic of Texas, 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.880 and more than half of the feeds were dark. It 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.640 was hard to tell just what was happening on the others. 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.000 Sasha decided she'd get a faster update on the situation 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.320 through her news aggregator. She reduced the other windows and 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.040 shifted them to her periphery. Then she opened a new 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.800 window and waited a half second for her curated news 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.400 feed to populate. Her deck kept ringing Alexander while she 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.520 scanned the headlines reports of expo oceans across the Dallas Front, 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:07.040 Texas extremist advance into SDF Republic territory. Reports from Dallas 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.720 suggest a new offensive by Heavenly Kingdom. A half dozen 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:15.040 rings later, Alexander picked up Sasha. He asked his voice 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.800 sounded distant. There was noise on the line. After a 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.680 second or so, Sasha heard a boom and then a strange, 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.279 crackling sound that had to be gunfire. It didn't sound 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.200 like it did in the movies, or even in the 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.400 few VR shooters she'd played. Sasha's heart had started to 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.839 pound by the time she responded, Yes, Alexander, I was 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.120 just on my drone and it looks like something's happening. 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.520 The media saying it's another offensive. They're right for once, 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.440 said Alexander, and they're still wrong at the same time. 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.560 This is something new, Sasha. I'm sorry I couldn't tell 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.720 you before, but it'll all be clear soon. Is this 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:52.240 just the Martyr's Brigade? He smiled, and Sasha's face went red. No, Sasha, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.080 something wonderful is Are you near the front? Are you 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.240 part of the fighting? Sasha interrupted, She'd never have done 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.880 that normally, but she could hear what's funded like gunfire 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.960 over his line, and Sasha was scared. I'm with the 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.960 second wave, he said the tracks. I'm moving us into 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:10.680 position now. I'll probably have to Whatever else he'd been 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.320 about to say was cut short as all of Sasha's 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.679 deck apps closed at once. Her digital world was replaced 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.239 by a red box that read parental lockdown. Come to dinner, 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:25.200 Sasha mom. She screamed down the stairs as her eyes 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.680 welled up with tears at the unfairness of it all. Alexander, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.440 the man she was pretty sure she loved, was going 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.280 into battle for the first time. He was fighting right 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.040 now to re establish the rule of God on earth. 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:39.480 I should have read him a poem, or said something 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.000 beautiful and stirring, something about how my love for him 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.159 was as everlasting as God's own love. It should have 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.000 been a powerful moment, but her heretic horror of a 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:53.000 mother had ruined it for Inchillada's Sasha stormed downstairs, ripe 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.960 with fury, but unable to vent it. Her parents couldn't 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.720 know she'd been giving money to a militant group. They 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.000 wouldn't have to drop in on her talking to Alexander 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.760 to know what she had planned. Six kids from her 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.080 high school had already left for the Republic of Texas 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:08.560 to fight in one militia or another. It was a 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:12.440 problem across the American Federation, but here in Virginia, parents 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.080 were particularly wary. The border of the United Christian States 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.440 was just an hour's drive from her front door. Ratlines 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.680 in the UCS brought thousands of young volunteers yearly from 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.679 the heart of corporate America to the various militia groups 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:29.719 that battled across Texas. Sasha Marian, what did we interrupt 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.200 that was so important? You had to yell? I was praying, mother. 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.919 It wasn't really a lie. Pastor Mike had said that 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.520 every deed done in support of the heavenly Kingdom was 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.599 an act of prayer. Gwendolen Marian frowned back at her daughter. 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.880 She was a stern woman with a broad Germanic face 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.640 and dirty blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun. 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.680 Faint crow's feet trickled out from her eyes, but those 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.760 were from choice rather than times formerly inevitable march. Gwendolen 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.120 was the chief of surgery at Annapolis General Hospital, had 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.000 been taking juven treatment since she was twenty. She had 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.479 only decided to let the crows feed through once Sasha 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.560 had turned seventeen. You can pray as much as you want, honey, 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.400 but right now it's dinner time, and this is something 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.680 we do as a family. Sasha thought juven was unnatural 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.800 heretical God had created each human to age a certain way. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.320 Using science to disrupt that natural process was an act 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:28.560 of blasphemy. She yearned to say something cutting hurtful in response, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.440 but she fought it down. You don't have to obey 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.520 your father and mother if they try to keep you 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.800 out of the Kingdom of Heaven, words from one of 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.880 Pastor Mike's weekly casts rang in her ears. But the 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:42.160 Lord God still calls on us to respect our parents, 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.120 He'd added that well behaved kids were the ones who 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.560 caused the least suspicion and had the best chance of 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:51.400 successful escape. Yes, ma'am, was all she said as the 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.720 families settled into their chairs. Her brother, Ian was just 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.800 five and unusually quiet for his age. He smiled at 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.840 her as their father told him out an enchilada sash. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.480 Who's Alexander? He asked, and Sasha felt the blood run 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.040 out of her face. Their father, Tony, smiled wrily at 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.840 the remark as he spooned a proportionately larger serving onto 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.480 his own plate. Alexander, Huh, maybe this means another boyfriend. 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.520 It's been what four years? Tony had opted for fewer 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:22.640 cosmetic juven treatments than his wife. Sasha loved her father's 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.760 receding hairline, his slight jowls, his graying hair. He was 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.680 still a heretic, but at least he wasn't a vain one. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:32.840 He's not my boyfriend, Dad, just a boy I talk 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.960 with sometimes. We pray together. Gwendolen rolled her eyes a little. 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.720 Such an exciting adolescence you're having, she said. Sarcasm swelled 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.960 every word. Sasha didn't rise to the bait. Her self 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.240 control was iron now. She wouldn't give them any cause 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.160 to worry or call the authorities. It was better even 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.800 for them to think Alexander was some boy from school. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.800 If they thought her principles were thawing, they'd be less 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.120 likely to suspect what he had planned. The Mary and 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:04.120 family ate companionably for several minutes. Tony talked about some 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.840 cock eyed nut who'd come into his office at Deutsche 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:11.320 Bank looking for a loan. He wanted three million to 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.640 get this build a blimp to take tourists from the 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.960 am Fed to Louisiana without crossing UCS territory. And I'm like, 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.560 first of all, I can name a hundred boat charters 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.920 to do the same thing, And second Sasha tuned most 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.280 of it out and tried to focus on eating, But 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.160 knowing Alexander was out there facing death for his faith 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.360 killed any appetite she otherwise might have had. She ate 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.199 mechanically without really tasting it until her plate was almost clean. 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.480 Sasha was planning her exit when her mother spoke up 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:43.680 by the way. The school called today and said, you 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.560 still haven't been by to get sized for your graduation robes. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.880 They need at least forty eight hours to print them out. 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.800 You're running out of time. Sorry, mom, she said, I 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:54.560 know that's important. I've just had a lot on my 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.079 mind lately. The f s T s were last week. 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.400 Sasha had gotten very good at telling her parents what 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.479 they needed to hear without actually lying. The Federation Standardized 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.240 Test had been last week, and she'd certainly had a 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.439 lot on her mind lately, but the f s T 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.160 hadn't been keeping her up at night. It was little 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.160 more than a rubber stamp for a student like Sasha. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.560 That's okay, sweetie, Gwendolen said, I know how important your 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.200 school work is to you. I just want you to 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.040 have a fun graduation experience. That's important. There's a war 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.440 going on a few hundred miles from your door, men 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.960 are dying for God's kingdom, and you think school matters 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.880 to me. But Sasha just smiled, told her mom she 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.319 loved her, and went back upstairs to her room. As 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.640 soon as it was politic to do so, she reactivated 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.360 her VPN and popped her deck into stealth mode, which 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.280 displayed a curated selection of websites and chat apps for 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.920 her mom and dad in case they came by. She 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.320 drew a new private window about two feet in front 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.600 of her face and split it in half between a 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.120 face calm with Alexander and a news feed full of 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:57.319 her favorite militia press offices. Her jaw dropped voice of 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:00.560 the Prophet's main headline was Republic of tex His forces 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.960 clashed with martyrs. Judgment day is here, she read in 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.320 a social media post from one of her favorite sources 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.720 in the area, a twenty something mechanic who lived on 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.599 the fringe of the Republic and supported the Heavenly Kingdom. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.520 He'd posted a picture of the Governor's mansion in Plano. 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.040 It was burnt around several of the windows and riddled 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.240 with holes. Gone was the Republic's flag, replaced by a 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.920 white banner with a burning black cross in the center. 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.679 Sasha sent out another call request to Alexander and switched 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.200 over to Al Jazeera's feed to learn more. It galled 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.640 her to use a new source run by Muslims, but 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.040 she had learned from experience that Al Jazeera had the 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.199 best reporters on the ground in the Republic. They negotiated 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.960 coverage deals with several of the militia groups, including Alexander's. 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.240 The first thing she noticed was that their last article 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:46.760 had gone up over an hour ago, but the titles 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.480 of the foremost recent articles painted a vivid picture Republic 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:55.040 capital in Galveston, burning, military coup, Republic media feeds go dark, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.880 SDF under attack. In Dallas. Pastor Mike Donnegan announces new 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.480 offensive for Heavenly Kingdom. How could there possibly be a 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.960 new offensive against the secular forces in Dallas? The Richardson 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.480 line had been locked in a stalemate for the last year. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.960 Alexander had told her often, how outnumbered and outgunned the 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.480 martyrs of the Heavenly Kingdom were we hold in our 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.800 own But only by the grace of God, was his 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.880 usual refrain. The idea of them advancing again on the 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.439 stf seemed impossible. Nothing is impossible with God. She could 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.960 almost hear Alexander's voice echo in her mind's ear. She 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.240 glanced over at his chat screen, but it was still 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:35.320 just showed the standard dialing symbol. Frustrated, Sasha brought up 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.760 her militia news feed. This was one of her most 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.800 cherished possessions. It had taken months for her to sort 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.880 out the most influential Christian militias in the area, find 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.880 their official spokes feeds, and cross index them based on 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.160 which groups agreed with the strict neo Calvinist doctrine. She 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.400 Alexander and Pastor Mike all new to be the one 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.480 true Word of God, and for the first time since 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.920 she had started the feed, each and every militia she 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.920 followed had posted the exact same message, The first Battle 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.120 of Armageddon has begun. Sasha was confused for a minute. 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.480 She'd done her homework. She knew the final battle of 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.880 the en Times was supposed to occur at Mount Meghito 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.080 in Israel, but she thought back to Pastor Mike's sermons. 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.400 He had talked about the battles of Armageddon many times, 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:20.880 the coming end Times and the central place of the 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.280 heavenly Kingdom in the world's last battles were constant refrains 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.320 in his sermons. Sasha had always believed the battles of 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.400 Armageddon would come. She just thought they had more time. 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.640 Sasha was frustrated and a little hurt. Alexander must have 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:36.800 known this was in the offing and kept it from her, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.880 She understood, of course, but she was furious at herself 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:41.880 for being so far away from the action that he 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.240 had been forced to hide this from her. The first 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.319 battle of Armageddon was beginning just a few hours south 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.079 of her bedroom. She could either stay here and rot 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.320 in the American Federation, or prove God with her devotion 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.480 and move there. It didn't even seem like a choice. Really. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.440 If goodmen were fighting and dying to restore the Kingdom 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.840 of God on earth, it fell to her to travel 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.440 there and support those men. She thought of Alexander, his 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.120 liquid green eyes, his scraggly beard, the way his still 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.160 boyish voice broke in excitement when he lost himself in 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.800 the spirit of the Lord. Her beloved was out there 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.880 right now, fighting and maybe bleeding, to bring the truth 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.640 back to the world. The least she could do was 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.720 join him. Weeks ago, Alexander had given her the contact 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.880 information for a man named Brother Andrew. He called the 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.840 other man a deliverer. Sasha knew her parents and the 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.600 AMFID authorities would have described Brother Andrew as a people smuggler. 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.080 She hadn't reached out to Brother Andrew yet. In her fantasy, 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.520 she had always waited to graduate before escaping to the 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.200 Heavenly Kingdom. She was still a few weeks shy of 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.360 her eighteenth birthday and had hoped to at least spin 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.320 that with her parents before setting off. But right now, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.040 as she scrolled through articles about the martyr's breakthrough and 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.320 immersed herself and snap bids of cheering soldiers raising cross 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.800 banners over newly captured neighborhoods, Sasha felt a powerful anxiety 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.280 overtake her. She needed to be there. There was no 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.520 other option. Sasha flicked open a window on the left 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.480 side of her viewspace, typed in the address she'd memorized 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:10.440 for Brother Andrew, and sent him a message, I am 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:23.360 ready to go. Chapter four. Manny Manny woke up needing 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.200 to piss, and also to the sound of explosions. You 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.000 couldn't quite tell which was more to blame for his sudden, 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:33.080 unwelcome consciousness. His lizard brain woke up and shouted, get 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.680 the funk out of their you asshole. A second later, 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.760 Manny got to his feet, grabbed his gear bag, and 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.760 looked around for the journalist. Reggie still seemed asleep, but 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.360 he stirred just as Manny started towards him, and another 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:50.360 thundering boom shook the world. Christ who's that, Reggie asked, 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.160 in a slurred voice heavy with sleep. Mortars, Manny explained, 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:58.120 I think I heard rockets too. Shit, the Britick sailed sharply. 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.920 Is this bad? Many shrugged. Those sound like small mortars, 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.000 very short range, but we're miles behind the line. So 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.520 a deafening explosion shook the world. It was loud enough 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.560 that Manny didn't even properly hear it. He felt it 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.520 hard and hot against his skin. The sheer, impossible noise 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.400 of it pulled the air from his lungs and the 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.080 thoughts from his head. The next instant, he was flat 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.880 on the ground. His eyes darted left and right for cover. 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.400 He spotted something, an artificial cave built into a corner 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:31.120 of the main room, perhaps a hundred feet away. It 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.760 looked like some sort of shrine or temple. Manny could 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.720 see the walls were thick with melted candles, colorful drawings 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.600 in a variety of brass cymbals. He grabbed Reggie by 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.440 the shoulder and shook hard. The other man jerked, locked 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.960 eyes with Manny and mouthed what the fixture pointed towards 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.760 the shrine, pulled himself up and sprinted towards it. The 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.120 journalists followed, and soon both men were huddled in the 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.400 little substructure, staring out at the devastation that had overtaken 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.920 the Richardson Autonomous Project. They could see two holes in 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.640 the roof. The huge circular kitchen bar looked like it 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.080 had taken a direct hit. Beer spurted from shattered taps, 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.639 and many could see what looked like blood staining the 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.000 white oak of the bar. Counter Flames licked somewhere off 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.480 in the distance on the other side of the vast structure. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.520 The air smelled of smoke and burning grass. More blasts 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:18.879 sounded in the distance, including a few that were just 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.840 too loud to be mortar fire. Now that he focused, 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.720 Manny could also hear the chatter of machine guns. It 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.359 was distant, but not nearly as distant as it should 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.439 have been. Many dug into his pocket, found where the 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.600 deck was clipped inside, and thumbed the power button. Static 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.680 flashed at the edge of his vision as his implants 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.960 started up. He nearly always ran in minimalist mode, which 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.639 gave him access to his maps in his communications, sweet 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.680 and nothing else. He selected his address book and sub 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:52.120 vocalized his cousin's name, Alejandro. It dialed and dialed and dialed. Amen. 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.280 Reggie said, his voice oddly, calm, I think we might 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:57.840 need to get the funk out of here. Reggie looked 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.119 over at the brit and then towards the flames. They 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.480 were bigger now and closer. He could see a dozen 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.600 or so men and women fighting the fire with hoses 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:08.240 and extinguishers. They didn't seem to be winning. Elsewhere, he 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.960 saw small groups breaking cover to run for the exits. 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:13.920 The sound of alarm bells echoed across the big structure. 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.760 Alejandro hadn't responded, which meant he was fighting or dead. 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.640 Either way, Manny and Reggie would need to find their 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.439 own ride out of this mess. It had been a 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:25.960 while since the last mortar had landed on the complex, 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.200 and the small arms fire still sounded distant. This seemed 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:30.800 as good a time to make a break for it 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.320 as they were likely to get, so they ran until 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.960 they hit the nearest exit doors, shoved them open, and 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:40.800 staggered outside into the balmy Texas night. The asphalt parking 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:44.000 lot outside was filled with newly minted refugees, perhaps two 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.600 hundred of them, most carried at least to go bag. 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.320 A few had managed to drag out more. They were 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.720 ringed by a widening cordon of armed men and women, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.560 fifty at the most. The militia clutched antique weapons, mostly 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.400 small arms, and stuck like glue to the Hescoe barriers 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.240 that ringed the old parking lot. Here and there, Manny 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.359 caught sight of a man with an RPG or a 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.320 light machine gun. It was a force mint for scaring 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.640 off bandits. The rockets still thudding in the distance told 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.720 Mannie these men and women faced considerably more than their match. 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.639 A green blink of light caught his attention. Reggie had 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.240 engaged his lapel camera. The brit fixed him with a 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.919 look that said, dude, what did you expect me to do? 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.440 Most of the survivors were probably recording to their decks too, 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.120 But Reggie's little camera could do considerably more. It scanned 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.080 the world around him in a three hundred and sixty 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.679 degree arc. It also recorded the journalist's own physical data, 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:39.080 his heart rate, his respiration, his adrenal levels. Everything he 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.280 saw and felt was being recorded for later consumption. The 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:44.440 brit was carving out a little slice of the war 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.960 for safer parts of the world to Binge Watch vehicle 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:51.280 started to arrive. The project's motor pool included three tracks 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.000 built to carry large groups of people in semi armored 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.840 semi safety. The commune's rapid reaction force set to work, 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.879 loading children and wounded up first. There was no panic, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:05.639 no hysteria, just an exhausted efficiency that spoke of long practice. 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.639 Manny saw glassy eyes and clenched jaws, but very little 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.440 open rage. They're so very used to it, he realized. 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.200 Scattered throughout the crowd, Manny saw people whose bodies rattled 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.840 with the sort of palsied shock that artillery leaves in 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.879 its wake. Reggie just stared out at them, mouth slack. 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.720 His left knee twitched, the foot below it pumped against 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:29.440 the ground. Many guessed he was caught between the urge 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:31.199 to step out and talk to some of them and 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:33.080 the voice of sanity in the back of his head 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:35.800 that knew how tone deaf that would be. Manny put 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:38.760 a hand on the journalist's shoulder. We need to get 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:41.000 the funk out of here, and our ride is off calms, 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.280 he said. I'm going to suggest we hitch with the 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.280 R A P where their guests. They'll make room for us, 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:48.400 but if you'd rather drag ass I know a safe 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.480 neighborhood about six miles into the city. We could probably 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.040 hire a ride there. It looks like they're a bit 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.800 short of room, as is said the brit Those tracks 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:00.520 can't hold more than twenty or thirty people each, he smiled, 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.320 a little twenty four, but that's just if you're attached 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:07.800 to things like seats. Ten minutes later, Reggie and Manny 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:09.720