Майк Резник - SNAFU - Future Warfare

The sergeant entered the room, taking everything in a heartbeat. In a couple of steps him reached Barns. Him slammed his flat hand upwards, into Barn's rifle arm sending a shot high and into the roof, causing birds to go screeching, pinioning into the sky.

Tantas filled with anger. “You would've shot me, Barns?”

“I wouldn't have shot you.”

“Didn't look like it.”

“Barns always speak true,” said Joy. “You were safe enough.”

“And him?” asked Tantas, pointing to the boy.

“Him, not so much,” admitted Joy.

“Hush,” said Sergeant. “Let me think. What's him doing alone? Them never alone.”

“Can't you hear him crying?” said Tantas. “He's not a hiver.”

“Him look like one,” said Barns. “Maybe it's a trap.”

Sergeant said, “Keep me covered, Wordsworth.” Him smiled at the boy. “Look. I'm not going to harm you.” Him crouched alongside the boy. (But leaving a clear shot for Tantas.)

The boy stayed still as salt. Sergeant turned the boy's head. “Look. The hiver interface has been ripped away.” Wires protruded. “What happened to you?”

“Him probably brain dead,” said Map

“But how him get the helmet off?” asked Sergeant looking at the boy in wonder.

“I did it,” whispered the boy. “I ripped them out of my head.”

That surprised them. Them all started talking at once, until Sergeant held up his hand for quiet. “What's your name, son?”

“Alistair Rein.”

“Well, Alistair Rein, I want to talk to you, serious. But it can wait awhile. Why don't you go with Joy? Her medic. Her sort you out.” Sergeant beckoned to Joy. Her took the boy to the bathroom.

“I didn't know it was possible,” said Sergeant shaking his head. “Let's sit down and eat. Time enough to find out more, when Joy's finished.”

Them took their rations. Tantas was surprised to see his hand trembling. Him forced it to stop.

When Joy bought Alistair over, him had stopped crying.

“How long you been on your own?” asked Barns.

“Dunno. What day is it?”

“June three.”

“Then it's been three weeks. Them took us in the first wave at Troy.” Him sighed. “Who'd have thought the hivers would go rogue?”

Them shook their heads at that. Nobody could have thought it. Otherwise they'd have shut down the recreational hives, the educational hives, all them.

“I was with the Queen,” said Alistair.

“The Queen?” asked Joy, her eyes a-shining. “What her like?”

“Her direct everybody,” said Alistair. “And her sensed I was different. I had the smallest bit of free will left. Her didn't like that.”

“Is the Queen still at Troy?” asked Joy.

“I suppose so.”

“So what happened with you?” asked Sergeant. “How you manage to escape?”

“I had just the smallest bit of personality left, about nothing. But just enough to keep me trying every night. Eventually I gathered enough will to rip the helmet off my head.”

“What make you special?” asked Barns.

“I was always special,” said Alistair with a bitter laugh.

“How come?”

“I'm ADHD. I had meds for it, but I was always ... special.”

“Different brain chemistry, must have kept them out,” said Sergeant.

Alistair nodded. “I'm resistant. Them captured me, and them couldn't understand why I didn't fully assimilate. Them took me to the Queen.” His voice grew quiet. “Her liked me. Her found me fascinating .”

“I don't understand why them didn't kill you,” said Barns. “That's what I'd have done.”

“Maybe them wanted to study me. Or maybe the Queen wanted me as a pet.”

“Makes sense in over a million people there'd be one or two who had some kind of natural immunity,” said Sergeant.

“Tell us about the Queen,” said Joy.

Alistair shuddered. “Her helmet is mutated more than most. Wires grown in and out of her face. Nothing human left inside.”

“Kill the Queen, cut off the head,” said Joy.

“Maybe,” said Alistair. “Though some of the generals, their heads nearly as bad.”

“What do you think, Sergeant?” asked Tantas. Alistair was in the back-room with Joy checking him over again.

“We need get Alistair off this world and to Primateur. Seems like him could be a weapon against the hivers.”

“There are flyers in Troy,” said Joy.

Map whistled. “You're right. There's a private flyer school. I've flown there. That could be a way off planet.”

“That's what I figured,” said Sergeant. “Most important thing is to get Alistair to Primateur.”

“I don't see why,” said Barns.

“That's because you don't think much,” said Joy. “Well don't you worry, we do the thinking for you.”

“Him a valuable resource,” said Sergeant.

“He's a kid,” said Tantas. “And a brave one.”

“Yeh, yeh. That too,” said Sergeant. “But the fact is that him ripped off the hiver helmet. You all know what that means, don't you?”

“No,” said Barns sullenly.

“It means hope,” said Sergeant. “It means there's a way for us to reach inside the men and women trapped in that hive concurrence.”

“So we go to Troy? To the Queen's nest? You must be crazy,” said Barns. “What about our orders to go to Alice Town?”

“That's the difference between hivers and us,” said Sergeant “We can make our own decisions. I reckon this could be a turning point, it really could. We need to get the boy to Primateur.”

“Agreed,” said Joy.

Map and Tantas nodded their heads.

“Barns?” asked Sergeant.

“This no democracy,” her said. “I do what I'm ordered.”

“Good enough,” said Sergeant. Him went to fetch Alistair, explaining what them had decided.

“So, what's the plan?” asked Barns. “We just walk in to the lions’ nest?”

“More like a wasps' nest,” said Alistair. “Something about me confuses their hive mind. Once we in, them might let us pass.”

Sergeant nodded. “We rest here. Five hours, we move on.”

Them all bedded down. But after an hour or so, Tantas heard Alistair tossing and turning. Him crept over, shook the boy awake. “Bad dreams?” him asked.

Alistair nodded.

“Take a sip of 'shine,” said Tantas passing over Joy's flask. Alistair gulped it down gratefully. “What was it like?” asked Tantas. “To be part of the hive mind?”

“Well, I wasn't fully integrated, but it was good.”

“Good?”

“Yes, it was very good. You ever linked?”

“Nah. I never fancied it. I never liked the idea of losing control.”

“It's good to lose yourself, you know?” said Alistair. “Complete unity, nothing to worry about, and the wave of pleasures – like the best sex ever.”

Tantas hid a smile. Alistair looked too young to know much about sex.

“I hate them,” said Alistair.

“Don't hate them. Pity them. They've got no free will, and it wasn't as if they were given a choice,” said Tantas. “What we got to do is cut them down. Don't let hate enter into it.”

It took them two days travel to reach Troy. Them travelled by night to avoid the heat, and for stealth. Troy town like many of the towns on Lyceum was a hill town. A town of colony-bubbles homes, toughened glass, perched unnaturally amongst the towering rock.

“Easy,” said Sergeant. “An army couldn't infiltrate, but a few could.”

Them all agreed.

Alistair told them that the Queen had her headquarters in the Flight School. “Her was an instructor,” him explained.