"Samurai dies. The most dramatic moment must be chosen."
—The late Silver Hound’s last words before the detonation of a low-yield nuclear bomb at the center of a Level 4 invasion of Syria in 2034
***
"We need your help setting up the air defense system," Simmons said.
I raised an eyebrow at him, but the man didn't even blink. Finally, I broke eye contact and looked over to where some of his security guards were rebuilding the barricade I'd just passed.
"Can your IT guys restore the air defense system?" I asked.
"I did. We sent two up. They died."
I felt my nose wrinkle in disgust. "Are there more aliens upstairs?" I asked.
"There are more aliens. The models are already starting to swarm us. If we leave now, we won't just be dealing with a few larger flyers, but a swarm of those little things," he said. "If we can get AA to work, it'll at least be a distraction." He put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me aside as a few survivors walked by, their wheels looking like they came from It was torn off the chassis of an air-cushion car.
The older man reached into a pocket of his vest and pulled out a small cell phone, a fancy phone with a holographic projector on it. He fiddled with it for a while, then projected a 3D map of New Montreal.
He pointed to a building, a little shorter than the surrounding buildings, but still quite tall. "That's us," he said. Then he pointed to a spot ten blocks away where the buildings were starting to lose some height. "I sent some boys up with rangefinders. This is more or less where the front line is. If we move straight south, we'll be about fifteen blocks past the army. Not too far, a kilometer, maybe a kilometer Half."
"How big is the invasion?" I asked.
Based on the time since start, the landing points of the main antagonists, and the positions of the armed forces on the map, my simulation suggested a five kilometer wide circle.
I touched my ears with my hands. "So, five kilometers in diameter, that's, uh, thirty square kilometers?"
...I'm not good at vanguard math. This is a rather shameful thing. The surface area of a circle can be calculated by taking pi times the square of the radius.
“I don’t need to know how to do math,” I said. "I need answers."
AI sighed in my mind.
It covers an area of about twenty square kilometers. Since you don't seem to care about math, I guess you have to use large integers. Would you accept multiples of five, or should I insist on multiples of ten for you?
I rolled my eyes. "Well, it's pretty big, but not that big, and we're not in the center yet." I rubbed my neck. "We fired up the anti-aircraft guns, distracted the local beasts, and started running, hoping we could get a few kilometers without turning into a Chow Chow."
“The terrain complicates things a little bit,” Simmons said. "We can't make a straight line to the nearest military position. But we can probably get there in a two-minute or even three-minute flight. There's very little traffic."
So far, the plan is going well. There's just one very big, very obvious problem. “So when I turn on AA, they stay on forever, right?”
"that's right."
"That meant we had to leave on the spot."
Simmons nodded.
"How the hell do I get out?" I asked.
The man shifted, not looking me in the eyes this time. "You're a smart girl, I'm sure you'll understand."
"Are you sending me to die?" I asked.
"I'm sending you to save all these people," he said, pointing to the parking lot. At first glance, children were loaded onto buses, adults threw items from hovercars to save weight, and some handed out makeshift weapons such as sticks and metal rods.
My eyes fell on Lucy's familiar figure in the distance behind. She smiles, proudly, while making wild gestures in the air around her, always ending with her hands slamming down to make sure her crutches don't fall. Cute and impulsive sister, ha.
Mary was in front of her, listening intently but blushing. Lucy definitely pushes the boundaries of what is considered acceptable for girls.
"Are you just going to send me alone?" I asked.
"Can you handle it alone?" he asked. "The last three guys I sent, as a group, they made it to the top floor but not to the platform before one of them said something about birds. They disappeared after that."
I stared at nothing. "I'm going to say goodbye to the kittens," I said.
I had a brush with Simmons and he caught me off the stumps. "Are you going to do it?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'll do it. Touch me one more time and I'll... I don't know, shoot you somewhere, ha."
He let go. "Thank you. Please contact me when it's time to go and I'll make sure everyone is ready to go."
"Yes," I said. As I walked toward Lucy and the others, my steps felt a little strange.
There is no need to worry so much. The plans you make have a better-than-average chance of success. And you are my pioneer. I'll make sure you're ready for battle in the wild. I'm sure you'll survive.
“I’m inspired by your confidence,” I told Mialis.
I did try.
I found Lucy and accidentally interrupted the story she was telling, I think that was one of the times we got caught doing something we weren't supposed to do. "Cat?" she asked. "I like your jacket-"
I hugged her with one arm and buried my head in the crook of her neck. "Please give me a minute," I said.
Lucy, being Lucy, hugged back.
