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