Chapter Twenty Two

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Chapter twenty two, Manny Rolling Fuck was as bright, shiny,
and chaotic as it had been when he left, but
Manny could see a real change among the citizens themselves.
Gone were the lounging crowds of half naked people instead
of the perpetual party. A war camp spread out around
the great superstructure of the city. Hundreds of men and

(00:23):
women were busy dawning armor, applying war paint, and checking
over stacks of weaponry. Manny saw crates of guided mortars,
piles of rocket launchers, boxes of high velocity ammunition, and
enough firearms to equip every citizen a dozen times over.
There was no discernible Rolling Fuck uniform that Manny could see.
Some of the city's warriors wore powered body armor painted

(00:44):
in garish colors and bedecked with various quotations. Fuck your
Day seemed particularly popular. Many of them wore pieces of
pop culture costumery mixed in with their gear. Manny recognized
Darth Vader's helmet, hell Boy's red right hand, and a
surprise using number of people with Mickey Mouse's face spray
painted on their chest armor. An equal number of Fuckians

(01:05):
wore no armor at all. Some of them were dressed
in their normal flowing lounge garments. The weapons they wore
were the only signs that they had plans beyond debauchery.
Others were naked or mostly so. He saw one man
wearing the helmet of a Greek hoplight and carrying two
Viking axes on his back. He saw a woman with
a Dragonov rifle on her back, an old German stallhelm

(01:26):
on her head, an Ottoman mirror armor on her chest.
She waved at them, excited. It took Manny a second
to recognize Topas's face under the helmet. There here, there
she stopped. Tullie had stopped too. She cast her face down.
Many could see the shimmer of tears on her cheeks.
A crowd gathered around them. In a few seconds, they

(01:46):
were encircled by dozens of heavily armed post humans in
a dizzying array of war costumes. Schoofucker Mike pushed his
way to the front and ran up to embrace Tulli.
Manny was surprised when she started to sob. The big
man held her tight. Looked to Rowland what happened. Roland
gave him a look that said, you know, damn well,
what happened? But then he spoke anyway, your friend didn't

(02:09):
make it, Schoofucker. Mike's jaw went tight, his eyes bulged,
and he held on to Tulli a little tighter. Manny
thought back to the night they'd spent in brain Breakers
and the things he'd said about marigold Man. He hadn't
really known the woman at all, but he could tell
Mike had cared deeply for her. He looked around at
the crowd closing in on them, the dozens of half
human god monsters with helpless rage carved onto their faces.

(02:33):
What happened, Mike demanded. Roland opened his mouth to speak,
closed it and ran a hand over his bald head.
He opened his mouth again, managed to squeeze out an
eye before he slumped his shoulders and hung his head.
I wasn't fast enough, he said. Finally, they had better gear,
newer suits than I had expected, Schoofucker. Mike stared at him.

(02:56):
Behind him, Topaz slid down to the ground and buried
her head in her kne ease. Murmurs swept the crowd,
and then Sasha spoke up. Your friends saved my life.
Mike looked over and seemed to notice her for the
first time, and who were you? His voice was not unfriendly,
it wasn't exactly warm either. My name is Sasha, she said,

(03:18):
her voice clearly on the edge of a sob. She
looked from Mike to Tully, to Topaz, to the crowd,
and then back to Manny. He saw a panic in
her eyes, barely held in check by a cage of
steely resolve. I made a mistake. I left my home
for the Kingdom. I thought it was the right thing
to do. I met Marigold while I was there, and
she helped me see how wrong I'd been. She pointed

(03:39):
to Roland. I tried to help him free your people.
We all tried, but they were ready for us. They
shot him. She gestured to Roland. They shot him a lot.
They had us all dead to rights. And then Marigold.
I don't know how, but she got a gun. She
shot two of them, and then they shot her. She died,
saving us. The silence that followed was louder than any

(03:59):
artillery barrage Manny had ever sat through. Finally, Skullfucker Mike
nodded at her. There were tears in his eyes, and
Manny soon realized tears on every face in the crowd.
Some people fell to their knees, others embraced and held
their friends. One voice, hoarse and heavy with pain, howled
out in anguish. It was met by another voice, and

(04:19):
then another, and then another as Fucci and after Fucian
tilted their head back and roared their grief out to
the empty blue of the Texas sky. Rolling Fuck preferred
to mourn through activity. The wailing and gnashing of teeth
over Marigold didn't stop the city's medics from taking Rick
and Tully to whatever building served as their equivalent of
a clinic. Topaz stayed behind with a gathering crowd of

(04:41):
mourners while skullfucker Mike gathered up Manny, Sasha and Roland.
There'll be time to process later, He'd said, as much
to himself as to them. There's a war council soon
and they'll be wanting to debrief you. Fine, Roland said,
but I'm stopping at the bar first. I need some
opium and some godam tequila. Manny expected skullfucker Mike to

(05:02):
be angered by that, given the circumstances, but the other
chrombed man just nodded and said, I could use a
drinker nine myself. They headed for the lift underneath the
main roller. Manny started to prepare himself for the meeting
with this war council, whatever that term meant. In a
place like this, whatever happens, it's bound to be weird.
They reached the lift, skullfucker Mike opened the door and

(05:24):
gestured for every one to enter, and so. Less than
an hour after arriving back in the City of Wheels, Mannye, Sasha,
and Rowland found themselves seated around the same red wood
table where they had first met Nana Yazi and Donald Ferris.
The room was more crowded this time around, with two
new people he didn't recognize. One was a shirtless man
with writhing snake tattoos across his chest and a pair

(05:46):
of chaps that did nothing at all to cover up
his junk. It didn't help that the man's legs were
spread as wide as possible. He seemed to be deliberately
showing off. Manny looked away and found himself staring at
a very tall, very muscular, young seeming woman with a
mohawk made from thick chrome spikes. She had light brown skin.
Her cheeks were covered in several long, thin diagonal scars.

(06:09):
The woman's eyes had no pupils. They looked gray at first,
until Manny realized they were actually just filled with static.
When Manny finally pulled his gaze away from her, he
was met with the biggest surprise of the day. Deshaun
Clark was seated two chairs down from Nana Yazzi Major Clark, Manny.
The Major's lips cracked open into a wide mouthed grin,

(06:30):
the left side of his face was still covered in
hemostatic gauze, and the edges of the skin around the
gauze looked black and burnt. His right hand was a smooth,
angry pink color, a sure sign that had been severed
and regrown in the recent past. Major Clark was bloody
but unbowed. It's damn good to see you, Manny. I
can tell you how proud I was to hear you'd
volunteered for this mission, Mr Pirrone, Manny started to say,

(06:53):
But Major Clark put up his hand, I know, he said.
Donald Ferris ahemmed, which Manny took as a gentle reminder
that now was not the time for personal business. The
old brit gestured first to the man with the writhing
snake tattoos. This is Jim Shannon, he said. He heads
up a small mercenary outfit. And the guy who roped

(07:14):
Roland into helping, Jim said with a wink, and this
cheery lass Donald pointed to the woman with a chromehawk
is Kashore. She's been the city's elected warlly to for
the past three years. And who might this young lady be,
Nana Yazzi asked, nodding at Sasha. The old woman stood
and stepped forward to greet Sasha with a hub. Sasha

(07:34):
tensed up. She looked scared to return the embrace, so
Nana Yazzi backed off and favored the girl with a
warm smile. I'm sorry, child, I didn't mean to pressure you.
I'm just happy you'll hear with us. Sasha relaxed at that,
but she still didn't step forward. Her name, Sasha said, Rowland.
She used to be with the Kingdom, now she's not.

(07:55):
He paused a second, considered his words, and added, she
beat one of them to death with a helmet. Oh my,
oh dear. Nana Yazzi tisked and shook her head. I'm
so sorry, Sasha, that must have been a terrible experience
for you. She enjoyed it, Jim said, with a harsh
bark of a laugh. I'm sure Rowland smells it too,
Isn't that Radhun? You loved killing whoever the fuck you killed,

(08:18):
and you feel shitty about that. Will let messuit stop
right now, or you'll leave this room. Nana Yazzi's voice
was firm, but devoid of any anger or heat. To
Nanny's shock, Jim stopped the posthuman, nodded and said, I apologized, Sasha,
that was a dick move, and then he lowered his
eyes just a little in contrition. Nana Yazzi offered Sasha

(08:39):
a seat and then busied herself in the corner, making
Sasha a cup of tea. Once that was done and
they were all settled in, Nana sat back down and
looked at Nanny. What happened, is all, she asked. Nanny
started talking. He told her, and by extension, the whole table,
everything that had happened since he and Rowland left rolling fuck.
He told them about their trouble with the checkpoints on

(09:00):
the way into town. He walked them through the intake process,
his and Roland's few days as martyrs, in training and
what he'd seen in the few sections of Plano he'd
been allowed to haunt during his time there. The woman
with the Chrome Hawk was particularly interested in what he
and Rowland had to say about the Kingdom's preferred assault tactics.
They're not going to be kicking indoors and fighting house
to house, Roland explained, No, just start shelling at the

(09:23):
first sign of resistance. They don't care about civilian casualties.
When Manny explained what the Kingdom had been doing at
the old Tesla factory, almost everyone looked horrified. Donald Ferris
spat at the ground. Most of the others cursed or
at least shook their heads. Nanni Yazi teared up. Jim, though,
seemed almost enthusiastic about the revelation. Fascinating, he muttered, just

(09:45):
loud enough for Manny to hear. Once everyone was caught
up the table, fired off a few questions at him
and more towards Rowland. They seemed mostly curious as to
what they'd been able to glean about the number of
recruits in the Heavenly Kingdom. Manny didn't have much you
full there, so he shut up, leaned back, and let
Rowland to give the answers. An awkward silence descended on

(10:05):
the table. After a few minutes, well Donald Ferris said, finally,
I suppose we were fools to hope for much more
than what you've got. As it stands, we're left grappling
to try an account for the sheer number of men
the Kingdom has deployed to assault Austin twenty thousand Mardas
Jim spoke up and give a take a grand Manny's

(10:27):
blood went cold. The SDF at its height hadn't been
more than six thousand fighters, and those were spread out
across the serried battle grounds of North Texas. The whole
free city of Austin didn't have more than five thousand
people in its full time defense corps. Twenty thousand men
was impossible, he said, That's just fucking impossible. I'd be
inclined to agree with you, kid, said Jim, if my

(10:50):
own men hadn't double checked the count for us. The
Kingdom's already marshaled half of that force on the outskirts
of d f W near Lancaster. They'll be in Wakeo tomorrow,
no one stops him. Hell, they could be pound in
Austin with artillery. Bad Doc Donald Ferris nodded. Mr Shennon Here,
he gestured to Jim as agreed to lend a hand,

(11:11):
along with several dozen of his mercenaries. Add that to
the warriors of Rolling Funck, and we've got seven hundred
ish post humans. It's a large enough force to hold
Waco and badly bloody their nose. But Kushori spoke for
the first time. She had a deep, gravelly voice that
sounded like she'd been eating cigarettes for the last ten years.
Rolling Funck is not in the business of volunteering for

(11:33):
our own Vietnams. My people aren't signing up for a war.
I can guarantee our presence on the battlefield for up
to forty eight hours, enough time for vengeance, she continued.
After that, you're hurting cats? Is that a problem? Manny asked,
I mean I saw Roland lay waste to half a city,
six hundred of him. There's only one of him, Kishori said.

(11:56):
Jim nodded an agreement and fixed Manny with his uncomfortable
gray eye ice and see here, he said me. Any
one a rolland Fox warrior is as good for a
few dozen normal troops in a straight fight. More off.
We're talking half trained partizans, but nobody is like Roland.
Many looked over to Roland. The big man seemed distinctly

(12:16):
uncomfortable with all the attention. He stared down at his hands,
which seemed to be occupied with tearing up a paper
drink coaster. The Matas have a lot of half trained partizans,
but they've also got tanks, artillery, suits, the resources of
a nation state, or close enough, rolland fuck can hold
that off for a while. But without rolland the best
they can do is delay the inevitable. Now with Roland,

(12:40):
Jim continued, this is a two hour fight, tops. We
set up our troops in some little chunk of the
city and start dropping mortars and rockets on the van guard.
They pull up and circle us and start deploying their
artillery to bombas to kingdom. Come. Then, when they are
good and packed together, we dropped Roland on the asses Kashure.
He nodded, yes, She said, he'll hit them and disrupt

(13:02):
their whole order of battle while our cavalry rolls around
their flanks and charges. That should be enough to make
them panic. Then we'd chase them down until they lose cohesion.
Roland's heads stayed down. He didn't speak. Manny looked from
him to Jim, to Nanna Yazzi and Donald Ferris. So
what's the problem, Manny asked. If Roland and Rolling Funk
are all in, there should be a walk in the park. Rowland,

(13:25):
Nanny Yazzi said, prefers not to fight. But I just
saw him. You just saw me break a long streak
of not killing people. Roland's voice sounded odd, hollow and dry,
and utterly without any of the mirth or mischief Manny
had come to expect from the chromed man. I did
that to get my memories back, Manny, he shrugged. And
I did it for you because you're my buddy. But

(13:46):
I got no stake in Austin. But you know what
the Heavenly Kingdom will do if they take the city,
Manny protested. You've seen what they did to Plaino. They'll
do that to millions of decent people if they can.
You have the power to stop that. You're telling me
you won't. Roland at his eyes and just said, yes, Hugh,
son of a bitch. Manny felt the anger well up
inside him. It merged with his grief over major Perrone's death,

(14:09):
Oscar's death, and his rage at the Heavenly Kingdom, the martyrs,
and every other group of assholes who had helped turn
his young life into a parade of nightmares. Hugh Absolute,
son of a bitch, You fucking coward. Manny didn't think,
couldn't think. He pulled back his fist and swung as
hard as he could for Roland's face. The chrombed man
didn't move, didn't even blink. Manny hit him right in

(14:31):
the nose. He was softer than Manny would have guessed,
didn't feel any different from punching a normal human. Manny
swung again and again until he felt something crack in
his knuckles. He cried out from the pain and pulled
back to nurse his wounded hand. For a few seconds,
Manny forgot about the rest of the room. He closed
his eyes and let his thoughts dissolve into an ocean
of physical pain. The agony of his broken hand was

(14:53):
almost soothing. It was better than thinking about mister Perrone.
It was better than thinking about Alejandro or Oscar. It
was better than thinking about his soon to be shattered home.
Manny felt a hand on his shoulder. The sensation pulled
him out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up and
saw nanny Azzi. She smiled her sad smile and said, Manny,

(15:13):
every one here understands your pain. Not me, said Jim,
I've never been a big fan Austin. Two damn rolland
threw his empty pint glass at the other post human's face.
It shattered on impact, embedding shards deep into Jim's cheeks
and forehead. His head snapped back and he blinked in
shock A few times. Sorry, he said, I deserve that,

(15:35):
and I deserved that. Roland said to Manny, no hard
feelings I get while you're pissed, But kid, you gotta
understand something. Austin's home to you. To me, it's just
another city held by just another side. Half my remaining
memories are of one cause or another asking me to
go murder in their name. I'm fucking done with it.
Minnie looked to Major Clark. The STF officer's eyes were

(15:58):
lit by a familiar cold fire. He spoke in a
tone of barely controlled anger. That is, you're right, of course,
you can choose to leave, just as I will choose
to fight and die. I wonder what Manny will choose.
Mannie hadn't really settled on that himself. Before he could
stumble through his response, Sasha spoke, I'll fight, She said.

(16:19):
I don't know much about guns, but I'll do my best.
Roland slumped back in his chair and tossed his arms
up in a dramatic show of frustration. At too, Jesus, girl,
I'll fight, Manny said to Major Clark, doing his best
to talk over Rowland. I'll choose to fight too. This
isn't gonna work, you know, Roland said, I'm not going
to be shamed into fighting again. It's just not going

(16:41):
to fucking happen. Jim leaned in. He fixed Roland with
a look that seemed almost hungry. I think it will happen.
I think the peculiar arc of your moral compass won't
let you leave these kids to die. He seemed surprised
by the revelation. Huh, fascinating enough of that. Donald Ferris
sounded angry. I won't stand to see this man badget

(17:03):
and press it into fighting against his will. We might
as well dissolve the council for now and reconvene without Rowland.
Good Roland stood up and stomped over to the exit.
That's all you people need for me. I'm and I
go get good and pissed and start my walk back
to Arizona. He flipped his middle finger out at the
room and slammed the door behind him. As he left,
all eyes turned to Mannie. I should probably go talk

(17:27):
to him. Don't do anything you're not comfortable doing. Emmanuel
Donald said, fuck there. Jim said the best it's on
the ropes. Shame him, shame him good. As he headed
for the exit, Mannie looked to Major Clark. The old
soldier's one good eye was narrow and focussed Mannie. He said,
if he didn't want to talk, he wouldn't a gone

(17:47):
up to the bar. He'd have just left. There's no
honor lost. In another conversation, another try, Roland was three
beers in by the time Manny reached him, and knowing
rolling fuck that could mean he'd already ingested enough acid

(18:08):
to kill a large octopus. Hey, mann he said, heybody,
Roland replied in a voice that was just super stoned.
Sorry about getting angry. Back there, the post human spun
his empty pint glass around on the bar table. It
was a strange sight to see. Manny had gotten so
used to seeing Roland is something akin to a Greek god.

(18:30):
He certainly wasn't omniscient or omnipotent, but he was unspeakably
powerful and just as irresponsible to leave out around humans.
And yet here he was fiddling with an empty pint
glass like a nervous college freshman standing at the back
wall of some house party. Many felt a surge of sympathy.
It's okay, man, I think I actually get it, he said,

(18:50):
like I've had plenty of chances to join either the
SDF or the Austin Defense Forces. I never did. Maybe
some of that's because I'm scared help. Up until like
a few days ago, my plan was to get the
funk off this continent as soon as I could afford it.
Minnie paused and bit his lip. It was an instinctive gesture,
his gut's reaction to a sudden burst of self awareness.

(19:10):
Mannie hadn't thought about any of this before. I don't know,
he said. This ship's been going on basically my whole life.
I can't remember a time when I wasn't scared of
something like this happening. I didn't understand any of it.
As a kid. But I can remember being seven or
eight years old and just being so angry at the soldiers,
even our soldiers. I thought, if all you assholes would

(19:30):
just refuse to be led into battle, none of this
could happen. You know that's not how it works, ran
Roland asked, as he turned away from Mannie and waved
at the bartender. We loved this war ship, at least
some one us due those of us who were Oh
the bartender arrived, Roland ordered my time mixed with the
margharita and one of those what you got him column?
Oh yeah, a fucking mohito, Roland. Mannie's voice was gentle

(19:54):
but firm. How many beers did you drink before I
got here? No beers, Roland said in a casual voice.
Mushroom room sweet but not bad. He licked his lips
as he watched the bartender work through the herculean task
of crafting his requested beverage. Roland Manny said, and the
chromed man turned back to him. Ah, sorry, it's just

(20:15):
been too long a stretch of sober for me. I
got excited. What the funk was I saying? That war
is fun? Oh? Yeah, as long as you don't think
you will die. That's why all throughout history he had
so many generals and politicians kicking off conflicts because they
felt safe. And when you're pretty sure you'll live, war
is an absolute hoot. That's the problem with me and
fighting the problem as you like it too much. Roland

(20:38):
grabbed his hand. The chromed man moved so fast Manny
didn't even see the motion blur. Roland's hand was just
wrapped around his wrist, immovable. He squeezed hard enough that
it hurt. Roland's eyes bulged out and stared into Manny
with a manic intensity that was frightening. Oh, I fucking
love it. It's like sex on heroin and bungee jumping
and getting rammed in the ass and that first shut

(20:59):
a lick or synake when you're fourteen, all at once,
and mixed with the best actual battle drugs, the most
bloated military budget and history can buy. He loosened his
grip and turned half away from Manny. That's why I
shouldn't do it, because I'll get carried away like I
got carried away in Dallas. Maybe this time I won't
be able to stop when it's time to stop. Manny

(21:19):
kept his eyes on Rowland's. The big man turned a
little further to the left, but he didn't look away.
How do you know that your intervention won't make things better,
Manny asked. Maybe if we can kill enough in the martyrs,
their power will be broken forever. Maybe your intervention will
be the first step towards making this a more livable
part of the globe. Roland laughed. It started as a
low chuckle that then cascaded into a series of rolling,

(21:42):
rib cracking howls. Manny didn't get the joke, and he
couldn't find any humor in his words, so he sat
tight until Roland's mirth subsided and the chromed man had
recovered enough to explain himself. All right, sorry, he said,
between chuckles. It's just a ship. Kid, you're too young
to know how funny that is. Roland straightened up and

(22:02):
wiped a tear from his eye. So you're talking about
me the exact same way people talked about the U. S.
Military back when I was a kid. The bartender came
by and sat down Roland's drink, an enormous jug filled
with a multi hued mix of alcoholic beverages. The post
human took a deep poll from his my Tai Garito.
Manny took the chance to ask a question. I thought

(22:22):
you didn't remember anything further back than a few years ago.
I don't remember anything clearly, Roland said, But I do
remember bits and pieces, and I remember being a young
man and watching the news break in an off base bar.
Some election had gone bad in Bolivia. The president announced
he was sending in soldiers to keep the peace. Did
it work, Manny asked, I don't, no kid, would your

(22:43):
school teach you about Bolivia? That there was a genocide
at oh, Manny said, as Roland's points sunk in right yep.
Roland grunted and took another deeper pull from his ridiculous beverage.
They were quiet for a while. Manny took the opportunity
to take a long look at Rowland. His face held
only a few lines around his eyes and lips, and

(23:04):
yet he still looked old, positively ancient. There appeared to
be a tremendous weight to the man's eyes, accentuated by
the deep wrinkles underneath them. It looked as if the
chromed man's face was sagging underneath the weight of what
he had seen Roland, Manny asked, do you have any
idea of where you came from? I think I was
born around Mississippi. But no, Manny interrupted, not like where

(23:27):
you were born, but how you became what you are today.
You said, you've been disconnected from the internet for the
last ten years. I've got a guess your implants or
even older than that. But the way everyone here talks
about you, you're still king shit. Oh, Roland said, yeah that.
I got no real idea what happened there. I know
I was in the army. I'm pretty sure that's when
the tankering started, sure, Manny said, but didn't A lot

(23:49):
of the road people start as ex special forces who
went rogue? Why are you special? You had no clear
answer to that, buddy, He smiled, as if he just
remembered something good. I guess I've got that surgery coming up.
Once I get my memories back, I'll let you know
what I find out. Manny laughed too, but his was
cold and bitter. Sure, I'll probably be in a refugee
camp at that point, or dead, damn kid. Roland said, yeah, Mann,

(24:15):
he said, I'm really not trying to manipulate you here.
It's just now I get it, I get and Roland
waved him off. It's fair, you get every right to
be piste. I just can't. He trailed off. Manny put
a hand on Roland's shoulder. He didn't understand how the
post human felt. How could he. Manny couldn't even conceive
of having that kind of power, But he could see
why it was a difficult choice. There was a part

(24:37):
of Manny, a dark, manipulative chunk of his soul, that
knew he was on his way to changing Roland's mind.
This was essentially the same strategy he used on the job.
You built empathy with people through a combination of shared
experiences in regular engagement. That empathy paid dividends when you
needed some lieutenant's approval to cross the check point. It
would pay dividends here if he was careful and consistent.

(25:00):
's fucked up, man He thought, you're manipulating your friend
into killing a bunch of people. You know what, Manny said,
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to Roland drain the rest
of his mug, belched and looked over at Manny. He
looked unsteady, half conscious. The chrombed man put his left
hand over Manny's hand, while it rested on his shoulder.
He fixed Manny with his half focused eyes and nodded.

(25:21):
FuG it. Roland said, I'll fug' Helpia and be a
dick off. It didn't, thank you, Manny said, with a nod.
I know, don't say anything else, kid, I don't really
want to think about what I just promised to do.
Manny found Sasha sitting around a fire pit outside the city,

(25:44):
proper deep in conversation with Donald Ferris. She sat on
the ground, legs splayed out wide with her button the grass.
Donald sat in a folding chair. It wasn't cold outside precisely,
but it had cooled off a great deal from the
heat of the day. The air held just the barest
tint of winter. It was shaping up to be one
of those odd September days where Texas seemed on the

(26:05):
verge of an actual seasonal shift. One look at Sasha's
face told him that she was at least as unsettled
as Rowland. He didn't want to crowd her, so he
squatted down on the other side of Donald Emmanuel. The
old man's voice was as smooth and rich as Manny
remembered from the narration of his documentary. It's good to
see you. Sasha's been telling me her story. She actually

(26:26):
just turned to the subject of you. Yeah, Manny asked, yes,
she was telling me how she met you and Marigold
and how you both helped to find her way free
of the Kingdom. Oh, he said, and looked at Sasha.
I never really met Marigold. I didn't realize you knew
her well. Sasha shook her head. I only knew her
a little while. I was just supposed to be administering

(26:47):
tests to her. But I couldn't stop her from talking,
and she made sense. She made more sense than what
was going on out in the Kingdom every day. Sasha
stared down into the fading embers of the fire. I
feel stui, but forever believing in that place. And what
do you believe now, Donald asked, I don't know, she said.
It seems arrogant to decide that God doesn't exist just

(27:09):
because I let myself get taken in by a cult.
M the old man nodded. The good news is you're young.
You've got plenty of time to figure things out. Again,
His cheeks turned up into a smile and his face
blossomed with wrinkles. Now. He looked up at Manny. What
have you been up to, my dear boy? Talking to Roland?
Manny said he agreed to help. By the way, he's

(27:31):
going to fight. Donald Ferris's smile turned into a frown.
Manny hadn't been expecting that. How did you do it,
he asked, in a somber, grave voice. We just talked
for a while, Manny said. He explained why he didn't
want to fight. It sounded very reasonable. Manny paused, and
then made the choice to lie just a little. I

(27:52):
wasn't trying to change his mind. I didn't ask him
to help. That last part was true. At least. I
do feel bad, though, I'm sure he changed his mind
because of me. Is it really on you if he
chooses to fight? Sasha asked, I killed two men. Both
of those deaths are on me. But you didn't order
Roland to do anything. No. Donald Ferris agreed, But I

(28:13):
doubt Roland would have made the decision to intervene if
Manny hadn't pressed. That's probably true, Manny admitted. Donald looked
from Manny to Sasha. There's a war ritual peculiar to
the men and women in whatever's of this community. I
think you'd benefit from seeing it. A ritual, Sasha asked,

(28:33):
not a religious one, I assure you, but yes, they
call it their war ritual. He extended a hand out
to the field around Rolling Fuck. Many looked out at
it for the first time since coming out here and
realized that people seem to be packing up right now.
Donald said, the citizens are packing up their tints and
their arvis and preparing the city for departure. It's moving

(28:54):
out with their army. They'll drive that thing. He jerked
a thumb in the direction of the city of Wheels,
right up to the damn battlefield. It'll be behind them
the whole time they're fighting. I think they've stole the
idea from the ancient Celts. Anyway, he said. Once the
cities in position, they'll open up these little boxes that
look quite a lot like bee hives, and they'll let

(29:14):
out a swarm of about a thousand little drones. Those
are mostly just facial recognition cameras attached to wings and
a wee engine. They'll record everything and send data on
the faces of every enemy fighter to a central computer
in the city. What did does that do, Manny asked,
It gives us a chance to identify those men or women,

(29:34):
so we can scrape their social media profiles and display
pictures and videos from their lives. Once they die, the
whole city, everyone who isn't fighting, turns out to watch that.
That sounds fucking terrible, Manny said, what do we gain
from watching the home movies of dead men? A memorial?
Manny didn't understand, but he could see that Donald Ferris

(29:57):
was revving himself up for an involved explanation. He let
the old man speak. I was a small child when
my country invaded a Rack, along with the United States
and a few other nations. The war was news, yes,
but that's all it was. Even our own soldiers were
more numbers than real people. I'd hear that two Royal
Marines had died in a roadside bombing, and it meant

(30:18):
less to me than when my neighbor broke his legs
slipping down the stairs. War isn't like that for us,
Manny said, I don't know anyone in Austin who hasn't
lost a friend or family to the fighting. It affects
us all, So it does, my boy, So it does.
And if any of our warriors die to day, you
can bet it'll affect everyone in this social experiment we
call a city. But you didn't let me finish. The

(30:41):
first thing that was truly toxic about my childhood knowledge
of war is that it erased the other side. Our
boys didn't do body counts, so there were seldom reports
on how many civilians we killed, how many enemy fighters died.
That information was out there, but you had to look hard.
Most people never did. Donald Fairish shrugged and then winced

(31:01):
from the motion. It's easy to get people to care
about their own soldiers, but if you want to stop wars,
or at least make them less common, you've got to
get people to give a shit about the soldiers on
the other side. That, my young friend, is where your
people are even worse than my own. You're close enough
to the war to not just feel indifferent about these
martyrs marching off to die. You actively want them to die.

(31:24):
That's understandable, but it's also poisonous. When you dehumanize others,
you become less human yourself. Many nodded, not sure of
what to say. In my youth, Donald Ferris continued, the
country that occupied this continent was the most powerful nation
on earth. They held the keys to the deadliest military
machine ever constructed. It was easy to get Americans to

(31:46):
support involvement in a thousand little conflicts because each only
required a small fraction of the nation's military power and
only risked a few American lives. But millions of people
around the world died, women and children and old men
and dumby young boys, from Yemen to Turkey to Guatemala.
To justify those murders, Americans had to make those people

(32:07):
less than human. And once they've done that, it wasn't
such a great jump to do it to their neighbors.
He stared up at the setting sun, and Manny saw
tears in his eyes. What you're going to see tomorrow
is the best attempt I've seen so far to bridge
the empathy gap between the people and their folds. Hey,

(32:30):
I'm Robert Evans. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I
hope you enjoyed the chapters to come. You can find
the free e pub of every chapter and eventually the
whole book at a t r book dot com, complete
with illustrations. If you want to support me in writing
the sequel, you can crowdfund me at After the Revolution
The Sequel at go fund me just type and go
fund me after the Revolution the Sequel. Um, I'd like

(32:50):
my books to always be free, so I'm just going
to try to crowdfund the next one and see how
that works. So after the Revolution the Sequel on go
fund me. You can all so find the community of
fans of this book online at our slash after the
Revolution on Reddit. So after the Revolution the Sequel and
go fund me and our slash after the Revolution on Reddit.

(33:12):
A t r book dot com for the whole book.
Thanks