Matthew S. Williams's Blog, page 187

Yuva in 3D!

The credit goes to Mr. A.G. Claymore and his skills with 3D art. Thanks to him, we have the first glimpses of Gliese 581 g, aka. Yuva, in 3D. Using both the rough mock-up that I made months back using Microsoft Paint and some stock footage from NASA, this is what he produced.In this shot, you get a view of the “Light Side” of the tidally-locked planet, with the continent of Vogt looking up at ya! This is the largest landmass on the planet and the place where the capitol of Zarmina is located.

Below is the flip side of the planet, what would typically be known as the “Dark Side” (until an orbital mirror was put in orbit to reflect sunlight). Here, the principle continent being viewed is Udry, home to the Eastern Bloc and the capitol city of Shangdu.

Much of the geography and settlements are still being developed, and more details are being added with each new story. I tell ya, there’s something inherently satisfying about seeing a world take shape. And that goes for both the literary and visual aspects of creation. Even the creators themselves don’t know what the end result will look like. But thanks to these images, we all have a slightly better idea

Alien Chestbuster T-Shirts Now Available!

In recent years, augmented reality has become all the rage. Simply aim your handheld device or glasses at any AR compatible object or location, and prepare to get a visual treat! Such is the reasoning behind this new Alien-themed AR shirt. Simply have a friend put on the shirt, aim your device at it, and watch the superimposed image of an Alien Chesbuster punch a hole through their chest!

The shirt can be bought online, and the app and marker image downloaded for free, available for both Android and iOS. Follow the link to the original story for more details…

T-shirt available at Fingerfunk. App for Android and iOS

Via Super Punch

 

The Future…

A recent article from The Futurist concerning trends in the coming decade got me thinking… If we can expect major shifts in the technological and economic landscape, but at the same time be experiencing worries about climate change and resource shortages, what will the future look like? Two competing forces are warring for possession of our future; which one will win?

To hear Singularitarians and Futurists tell it, in the not-too-distant future we will be capable of downloading our consciousness and merging our brains with machine technology. At about the same time, we’re likely to perfect nanobots that will be capable of altering matter at the atomic level. We will be living in a post-mortal, post-scarcity future where just about anything is possible and we will be able to colonize the Solar System and beyond.

But to hear environmentalists and crisis planners tell it, we will be looking at a worldwide shortage of basic commodities and food due to climate change. The world’s breadbaskets, like the American Midwest, Canada’s Prairiers, and the Russian Steppe, will suffer from repeated droughts, putting a strain on food production and food prices. Places that are already hard pressed to feed their growing populations, like China and India, will be even harder pressed. Many countries in the mid-latitudes that are already suffering from instability due to lack of irrigation and hunger – Pakistan, North Africa, the Middle East, Saharan Africa – will become even more unstable.

Polar ice regions will continue to melt, wreaking havoc with the Gulf Stream and forcing Europe to experience freezing winters and their own crop failures. And to top if off, tropical regions will suffer from increased tropical storm activity and flooding. This will be create a massive refugee crisis, where up to 25% of the world’s population will try to shift north and south to occupy the cooler climes and more developed parts of the world. And this, of course, will lead to all kinds of political upheaval and incidents as armed forces are called out to keep them away.

Makes you wonder…

To hear the future characterized in such dystopian and utopian terms is nothing new. But at this juncture, it now seems like both of these visions are closer to coming true than ever before. With the unprecedented growth in computing, information technology, and biology, we could very well be making DNA based computers and AI’s in a few decades. But the climate crisis is already happening, with record heat, terrible wildfires, tropical storms and food shortages already gripping the world. Two tidal waves are rising and heading on a collision course, both threatening to sweep humanity up in their wake. Which will prove successful, or will one come first, rendering the other completely ineffective?

Hard to say, in the meantime, check out the article. It proves to be an interesting read!

The Futurist – Seven Themes For the Coming Decade

The Future is Here: Hoverbike for Sale!

Boy, I’m behind the times here! But that’s what you get when you go away for two weeks and don’t keep up with the latest in trade and tech news. According to Next Big Future, a prototype hoverbike is now available for purchase. Apparently, inventor Chris Malloy, who built the prototype last June, is now offering to custom build one for anyone willing to cough up $84,500 US (or $80,000 Australian).

Powered by ducted fans, mounted at the front and rear, the bike is like something out of Star Wars, except that the science is perfectly sound . So far, Malloy has conducted tests with the bike tethered to the ground, which demonstrates that it is capable of hovering just fine. However, he is still working out the kinks when it comes to riding freely.

This is especially true when it comes to turning and rolling, which any biker will tell you is when stability counts for everything. Initially, Malloy was hoping to let the driver turn the vehicle simply by leaning this way and that. However, he soon abandoned that idea in favor of a computerized control system that would ensure stability. This, he has yet to finish, but he’s hopeful that with the right investment capital, he can make it work.

According to his own website, he is eliciting donations to fund the development of his project through to completion. His requested total is 1.1 million dollars to bring the project to fruition and begin commercial production. When he reaches that goal, he will be giving the prototype away for free. Pretty cool of him huh? I recommend people get their names in now and pledge a few dollars. That prototype is not going to be around for long!

In the meantime, check out this video posted by Malloy himself, where he tests the scale model of the bike to show how the fans work.

Idiocracy

I’ve said it before, and it feels like I’ve said it a lot lately. The stupid are breeding faster than the rest of us! Intelligent people of the world, those who are well-read, well-traveled, well-educated and don’t believe in a faked Moon Landing, get on it! You don’t want to end up like this!

Yes, this movie is worth check out. Made by , the same man who brought you King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead (kind of ironic, I know), Idiocracy explores a future where the gradual dumbing down of American civilization results in a world where the dumb rule and the intelligent are seen as limp-wristed little pussies.

Part comedy, part cautionary tale, it’s actually quite funny and makes something of a point, especially with its little mock “case study” at the beginning. Check it out, have a laugh, then feel terrified for the future of humanity. And to those of you whom I know personally, with significantly high IQ’s, a sense of wonder about the world, sensitive spirits and open minds, and who have chosen to pass these traits onto others, BLESS YOU A THOUSAND TIMES OVER!

*Sidenote: This video clip is not as long as I wanted. After this, they show how the idiot family’s oldest son becomes a quaterback who tells all the cheerleaders he’s “going to be f*cking them all tonight!”, which results in the family tree growing even bigger and more complex. His idiot father announces proudly to the crowd, “that’s my boy!”

Meanwhile, the smart lady says her husband died of a heart attack while trying to produce a semen sample in the fertility clinic. Luckily, she has some frozen eggs so… fingers crossed! And of course, the stupid son is nailing even more girls in the back of his car, so that family tree just keeps on multiplying! Hilarious and scary, all at once!

The Vacay Is Over!

Yes folks, tomorrow I got home and resume a normal life, which will consist of getting ready to go back to work at the local school and driving my sweetheart to work every morning. I have to say, and my wife agreed with me on this, we need a vacation after this vacation. Somehow, romping through the bush and thinking you might die of dehydration, followed by a week of house sitting a 92 year old woman and nine cats, just doesn’t seem conducive to relaxation.

On the plus side, I didn’t accomplish half of what I hoped to when it came to my reading and writing goals either. So at least there’s symmetry. If I recall correctly, my list looked something like this:

Finish editing Data Miners already!
Finish my contribution to the Yuva Anthology (Winston Agonistes)
Get more chapters done for Whiskey Delta
Write up a new chapter for Crashland (still need people to vote on that one!)
Proofread new submissions for Yuva (Amber, that’d be your story)
Get some TKD training in with the Comox Valley people
Sit around the deck drinking GandTs and using the Hot Tub

Well, item one was a total bust. Didn’t get one page of DM editing and ready for print. I fared slightly better one item two, finishing Winston Agonistes for the Yuva Anthology. In fact, a few thousand more words, and it should be complete. Man, I totally busted my self-imposed word limit of 5000 (it was 11, 161 last I checked)!

Third item, writing more chapters of Whiskey Delta, I totally did! In fact, I published chapters nine, ten and eleven of my zombie tale while here. As for Crashland, which only I wanted to do one chapter for? Not so much… Item five, I actually did twice, meaning two submissions were sent by the erstwhile Amber and I managed to read them both and offer some comments. Item six I managed to take care of this morning, and item seven I did like gangbusters!

As for my reading list… that went even less well. If I’m mistaken, I planned to finish Mona Lisa Overdrive, finish Second Foundation, get into We, and finish Martian Chronicles and A Feast For Crows if there was time. My progress? Almost finished Mona Lisa, made a little progress on Crows, and nix on the rest! Damn, I guess I’ll be carrying a heavy reading burden back with me to Victoria. And I hoped to do some reviews on these since I’ve been promising them for awhile now.

Ah well, as they say “The Best Laid Plans…” etc, etc. At least we had an adventure, not to mention the fact that we’ll be home, in our own beds, and not have to look forward to cats coming and going into our room all night long, demanding food, to be let out, or trying to use the damn litter box. I’m seriously reconsidering my love of cats, I tell ya! And I do have a surprise or two to look forward to when I get home so I’ll be pleased to push off tomorrow. It was also real nice to spend some time with my grandma, and she tells me she had fun too. So it’s sure to be a bittersweet goodbye

Hope everyone’s had a great summer and catch you real soon! I know, it goes so fast, but at least we can make some memories that we’ll be able to hold on to. And just think, the fall will be bringing many new and wonderful things. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer, ripe apples, our favorite tv shows, new movies, new friends, and new opportunities to witness new and exciting things. I look forward to it all…

Neil Armstrong and the Moon Landing, the Conspiracy Continues…

Earlier this week, the world came together to mourn the loss of one of the greatest figures of the 20th century. Neil Armstrong, the first man to land on the Moon, died at the age of 82 and left a brilliant legacy. For the majority of people who don’t believe the government is microwaving their testicles and hiding little green men with anal probes in some facility in the Nevada desert, this was a time to remember Apollo 11, the Space Race, and all that men like Neil Armstrong had accomplished.

But for other individuals, it was a time to reassert their theories with even greater dedication. For these people – the same people who believe the Moon Landing was faked as a distraction of propaganda exercise – now claim a number of new conspiracies are at work. And I’m sure you’ll agree, they are pretty freaking interesting*.

Some say that Neil Armstrong was part of a Masonic plot, that he was a “lying piece of Mason shit” as it were. Others claim that it was an Illuminati plot, or (I’m guessing) that the Knights Templar were somehow behind it. Yet others seem to think their is a connection between his death and Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace. But the one I like best is the “rumor” that Neil was murdered because he was about to blow the whistle on the whole Moon Landing conspiracy.

Ever since he set foot on the Moon, Armstrong had chosen to weigh in on the conspiracy theories, taking them in stride and never once denouncing the people who spoke them. In fact, during an interview earlier this year with an Australian TV station, he said “”People love conspiracy theories, they’re very attractive. But they were never a concern to me.” Yep, sounds like he’s hiding something to me!

After considering all this, I find I can do little except shake my head and wonder if eugenics is such a bad idea after all. Sure, it got a terrible wrap in the hands of the Nazis and other fascist morons, but what if we refocused it to ensure that people who believe in these kinds of conspiracies are kept from making babies Would that be evil, or to the benefit of the human race? Yeah, doesn’t seem very just, but it’s nice to pretend, isn’t it?

But just in case you’re interested what some of the conspiracy theorists are saying, here is a link to the Godlike Productions website where many of said people seem to be hanging out. It seems the only prerequisite to participating in this board is a child-like imagination and the belief that they really are out to get you.

In the meantime, remember: just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t all out to get you. Just because you don’t know who they are doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence! Good night and, given the proliferation of stupid theories and the people who believe in them, good luck!

*Note: by interesting, I mean the kind of brain-dead, bat-shit crazy garbage that can only come out of the worst recesses of a mouth-breathers stunted and paranoid imagination!

Source: Gawker

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emma Stone’s Blade Runner Photo Shoot

I’m not sure, but I think Emma Stone just became my favorite actress! During a recent photo shoot with Interview Magazine, the star of such films as Superbad, Zombieland, Easy A, Crazy Stupid Love, and the relaunch of The Amazing Spider Man, Emma Stone paid an unexpected homage to the cult-hit Blade Runner.

Photographer Mikael Jansson, a man who is renowned for capturing weird and stunning images, was the apparent mastermind of the shoot. In the course of the shoot, he had Emma posing in a series of Matrix-style outfits, flanked by men who looked right at home in an 80′s cyberpunk movie or something written by William Gibson. Think lots or black leather, glasses, neon and slicked-back hair.

Naturally, the interview took a different turn. There she discussed her inspirations, experience doing comedies, romances and working with different A-list celebrities. That’s all fine and good, but I’d like to know her stance on digital sentience and synthetic humans, please! I mean, you can’t do a shoot like and not answer some specifically cyberpunk-themed questions man!

What I wanna know is, does she dream of becoming a Replicant? Or is she more the beat-cop, retire those Nexus 6′s type of girl? Does she think we’ll all be able to download our minds into boxes or digital constructs someday soon? Are things like Clinical Immortality, biochips, nanotechnology, quantum computers, and nanotechnology a morally justified way to improve and prolong life, or dangerous technological nihilism?

Don’t know, didn’t come up! Man, those magazine people can be so myopic! Oh well, check out the spread, and if you care about that kind of thing, read the interview too.

Emma Stone – Interview Magazine

Source: I09

Evil Clown Commercial!

Ever wonder where Stephen King got the idea for the evil clown from IT? I’m betting it was watching commercials like this as a child. Perhaps his mother made the mistaken decision to hire one for his eight birthday… Who knows? Point is, I’m glad we don’t make our kids suffer through this kind of creepy crap anymore.

Clowns… shudder!

Via Anarchist Coloring Book

Whiskey Delta – Chapter 11

Spectre by fxevo-d387t6x at deviantArt

“A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.”

- Douglas MacArthur

The daylight hit them like a sudden onrush of painkiller. Hard, fast, blinding and blissful. They were outside in the cool air and sun, their evacuees in tow. The second the doors swung shut behind the last of their party, Fourth Squad was moving up to intercept. Dezba guessed they must have had some blood and guts on them, because the Company medic was coming with them.

Dezba could barely hear them. His ears seemed to be blocking just about everything that didn’t seem dirty or life threatening anymore. He could see only their mouths, moving in slow motion as they set upon his squad and the civilians they were hustling out. He slowed his gate towards their vehicle and even let the doc pass him over when it was his turn.

The bright pen light in his eyes seemed to snap him out of whatever state he was in. The words seemed to slowly take form and acquire sound…

“Can you hear me? Did you get bit?”

“What?” Dezba heard himself yell.

“Did you get bit? Did any of them bite you?”

“No I’m clean!” he said incredulously. The Doc was unconvinced and began looking over him, making sure there were no tears or teeth marks on his uniform or person. Satisfied, he eventually left him alone and moved on to the next.

Dezba turned to look at the evacuees. They were running forward and grabbing just about anyone they could. It was all the doc could do to inspect them all in time. They even grabbed a hold of him when he got close, anyone in a uniform would do.

“Sergeant?”

Dezba turned around and caught sight of the LT approaching him. On instinct, he lowered his rifle to his side and stood slightly taller, coming to attention as Braun got within spitting distance. State or no state, he still knew how to behave like a soldier, especially when a better one approached.

“Sergeant, you alright?”

“Me, sir? Fine,” he said unequivocally. The LT didn’t seem to believe him, he nodded anyway.

“We, uh, are going to need to talk at some point about what went on in their, Sergeant. I’m still not totally clear on what went on in their before my squad linked up with yours.”

Dezba frowned. At the moment, he couldn’t quite appreciate the LT’s confusion. It seemed like it had been pretty obvious what went on. Since he was being asked, He did his best to encapsulate it for the man.

“What happened, sir, was we were ambushed. Those civies were up top waiting for extraction, and those bastards were lying in wait rather than trying to get them for themselves.”

“So you told me,” Braun said with a nod. “But your actions before that, what happened to make them come out of hiding and attack your men before we could reach you?”

Dezba was about to speak, but stopped short to clear his throat. He had forgotten about that, what with the carnage that followed. He had almost completely phases out during the better part of it in fact. Most of it still seemed like a bad dream, something the mind began to erase the moment one awoke from it.

“I, uh… I smelt them, sir.”

“Smelt them?”

Dezba nodded. The LT stared at him and waited for more. His piercing blue eyes began to seem very cold to Dezba, very cold indeed. Wiping his nose with his sleeve, he tried to fetch some more from his foggy mind.

“I could tell they were at the bottom of the stairwell. They weren’t making much noise, but they were stinking up the joint. I, uh, popped a flashbang and…”

He stopped there and looked back at the LT. His face hadn’t changed. The blue eyes were still cutting into him, driving home the stupidity of his actions, the thoughtlessness of his call. He eventually dropped his gaze to the ground and waited for the reprimand. When the LT did speak, he sounded surprisingly cool and even in his tone.

“At some point, First Squad is going to have to answer to the Colonel, possibly even the Mage himself. It’s important that we emphasize the success of this operation. Not to mention the implications… catch me?”

Dezba looked back up.

“Yes, sir…” He said automatically.

“As for as the Colonel is concerned, we diverted to pull civilians off of a undesignated sight. We stumbled onto an ambush, we engaged it accordingly. He asks you what happened, like why you didn’t wait for Second to back you up, you make sure to tell him that there wasn’t time enough and you evacuated your men to a safe position.”

“Yes, sir,” Dezba repeated. A second or two of silence followed, after which the LT shrugged.

“It’s true enough, isn’t it? Your squad managed to rack up at least two dozen kills, and we got about half that many people out alive as a result. You leave out the bit about you poking the hornets nest, and that looks pretty damn good, doesn’t it?”

Dezba nodded and issued a final agreement. “Yes, sir, Lieutenant.”

“Alright then,” said Braun, and then looked over Dezba’s shoulder to where the convoy was sitting. Dezba turned around to follow his line of sight. Beyond where they’d parked their Humvee’s, a M2 with the Rattlesnakes insignia marked on the side was parked. And where the TOW missile launcher usually sat, a whole whack of antenna were extended.

The CandC vehicle, Dezba thought. No wonder the LT wanted to get his story straight, the Colonel himself was now in their midst. No doubt to discuss who the hell had fucked his beloved timetable up and why.

“Carry on, Sergeant,” he said, and then began walking in the direction of the M2. Dezba heard the hydraulic noise of the back door lowering, and saw the Colonel emerge in his dress fatigues not a moment thereafter. Braun approached him and snapped out a quick salute, uttering something Dezba couldn’t hear.

“Oh God, it was so awful!”

Dezba looked back to his squad, all of whom were now congregated around their vehicle. Save Whitman, who stood back a ways next to the female civy they had extricated from the roof. As the doc looked over her to determine if she had any bites, he stood by and watched attentively. He could just make out what he was saying to her.

“No, no, trust me, I believe you. Yes… really bad. Don’t worry, the doc’s just making sure you’re okay. Yes, I believe you. You’ll be fine.”

Poor girl, Dezba thought. Just as soon as they arranged for some transport for these folk, they’d be hauled back to base for processing and debriefing. After that, they could probably expect to be shipped to Espanola for resettlement. That meant this young girl, whoever she was, could look forward to weeks of unsolicited visits from Whitman and whatever cheap charms he could bring her. Every member of First Squad knew from experience what kind of Whiskey Tango crap the boy considered to be romantic gestures.

Then again, she was alive. How did that factor in on the whole balance sheet of things?

“Poor… lucky, misfortunate girl,” he muttered, shaking his head.

*               *                *

“I say again, Lieutenant, we got armored columns moving up the road without any support on their flanks. I got tank and LAV commanders telling me they got Whiskeys closing in on their sides and they’s got to run them down with their own treads because the gunners got to duck inside for cover! You wanna explain this to me again?”

Braun cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure how else to put it. He had been dealing with the Colonel long enough to know that unforeseen circumstances didn’t exactly play well in his play book. But there was only so many ways he could say the same thing.

“Sir, as I said, First Squad detected the presence of civilians on top of this structure while we were covering the BCT’s right flank. With the help of our air support, we used a thermal scan to determine that they were not Whiskey Tangos and moved to intercept. I did not anticipate this would take us away from the BCT’s flank for more than a few minutes -”

“YOU-DID-NOT- THINK…?!” the Colonel yelled. A curious case of selective interpretation, but the LT could do nothing but nod.

“Yes, sir. I did not think we would be away from BCT’s flank longer than was necessary -”

“Necessary became a threshold which you passed five minutes ago, Lieutenant! The entire operation has stalled and I got offensive units sitting out there with their dicks in their hands because of it! Civilians are now waiting longer than they have to thanks to this little stunt you pulled!”

“Colonel!” Braun and Haynes looked in the direction of the M2′s open door. His lieutenant’s head was sticking out, the receiver from their comm box in his hand. “Rattlesnake actual on the phone.”

“Fucking hell,” Haynes muttered. He turned his baleful eyes back to Braun. “Let’s see if the Mage can’t unfuck this situation for us, Lieutenant.”

Haynes turned his back and stalked off to the rear of the Bradley. He took the reciever from the supplicating lieutenant the second his boots hit the ramp. Alone, Braun drew a deep breath and tried his best to think positive, not about the possible reaming he might be getting if the Mage was as pissed as Haynes was. Though, he considered, that seemed unlikely. Few people ever got as pissed as Haynes, especially when s0meone went about fucking his shit up.

The only surprising thing was that it didn’t happen more often. He left so much room for shit to go wrong…

He caught the last of it right before Haynes handed the reciever back to the waiting lieutenant.

“Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I’ll relay that, sir.” He turned around and put his helmet back on. Immediately, Braun could see the look in his eyes. Either the Colonel had just had his ass chewed out and was about to send some of that his way, or things had gone differently than anticipated. He returned to Braun, close enough that their helmets were almost touching. His eyes bore down into him.

“Word has just come down…” he began. “An evac bus is coming in to pick up these civies. They arrive in three mikes back at the highway. You and your men are to escort these civies to them… then proceed to back to the BCT’s right flank, clear out any Whiskeys that remain, and protect them for the remainder of this operation. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Braun said without hesitation. He had questions, but knew better than to ask. Like, for example, why he wasn’t being bent over the Colonel’s knee. But he had a pretty good idea on that already. Two dozen dead Whiskeys and a dozen freed civies, not a bad reason for a delay.

“Good. And load up post-haste, Spookys are dusting this place off in five mikes. Dismissed!”

“Yes, sir!” Haynes turned and quickly ducked back in his own M2. The ramp closed and the driver got her moving back towards the connector without delay. Braun felt the need to get moving to. He didn’t want to be anywhere near when the gunships started opening fire. Especially with soft-skinned civies on hand.

He found Dezba waiting on the other side of the convoy and grabbed a hold of him first. “Sergeant, get your men squared and be prepared to move out. We make for the highway in one mike.”

Dezba, who seemed much clear now, looked over at the civilians who were huddled not far away. Just about all them were sucking down water out of disposables and wearing blankets around their shoulders. The obvious question followed.

“What about them, sir?”

“We’ll just have to make room for them in their cabs. First has got a full cab right now, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir,” Dezba nodded. “The addition of the FNG has left just one seat and it aint comfy.”

“Make do, Sergeant. Between the lot of us, we gotta fit twelve people. Our Alpha Charlie one-thirties are dusting this place off in five mikes and we don’t wanna be here when they do.”

Dezba’s eyes widened. “Shit. On it, sir!”

Dezba fetched his squad and started barking at them to get their shit together. He grabbed the nearest civy and stuffed her in the back between Majorca and Jones. Whitman didn’t appear too happy with that. Running to the other vehicles in the convoy, he called out to the other members of Alpha Company to get moving.

“Wheels up, Vipers! We move out in one mike! Grab whatever civies you can and make room for em in your cabs. We drop em off up top and rendezvous with the BCT. MOVE!”

*               *               *

Whitman slowed them down as soon as they hit the ramp. From his spot on the passenger side, he kept noting the way he was looking out the window. He knew the feeling. A dustoff was always a good show.

“Private, watch the road please.”

“Sorry, sir. Just wanna make sure I don’t miss it.”

“You’re gonna be causing some of your own if you slow down any more. A pileup on the highway connector wouldn’t be too good right now.”

“What’s he talking about?” the civy asked from the back. To her side, Jones was only too happy to oblige.

“See, miss, what we got happening is some of our big birds are coming in to level the college with their big guns. It’s a real fireworks display. Better than Fourth of July-like.”

There was a pause before she answered. Dezba wished they had a rear view so he could see her reactions.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” she said.

Whitman tried not to laugh. “What the uh, verbally-challenged Private is trying to tell you miss, is that our air support is about to level your old institution. It’s going to be loud and intrusive and we’re real sorry, ma’am. Truly.”

Dezba would have laughed himself, but when would Whitman get an opportunity like this again? It seemed to be working too, judging from her reaction.

“That’s sweet, but I say good riddance. That place is a fucking nightmare to me now. I hope they bring the whole thing down.”

Whitman changed his tone real quick. “Ah, then you’ll love this!”

They reached the top and he brought them around so their left side was facing below. Hitting the breaks, he turned around in his seat.

“Cheech, man, move the fuck back! She can’t see!”

Majorca rolled his eyes and did his best to lean back a few more inches. The lady leaned over and looked out the window, using his leg as a balance beam.

“Where…?”

“Wait for it,” Whitman said, looking out his own window. Dezba, Jones and Mill were joining them too. Just about everybody in the company was, from the sound of it. Nobody was squaking at them on the box, which meant they approved of Whitman’s parking job. From where they sat, they had a relatively unobscured view of the buildings below. The whine of turboprops also indicated that the Spookys were well overhead now.

“Whatta ya think they’re gonna use?” asked Mill from up top.

“One-oh-five, no doubt about it,” Dezba replied.

Whitman shushed them both. “Any second now…”

A thunderclap signaled from overhead. Everybody in the cab held their breath for it to hit. Everybody but Majorca, who was grunting from the pain in his leg. There was barely a second of intervening time, followed by a loud whiz and an even bigger bang!

The boom shattered the earth-hugging building in a single blow and sent everything inside the cab rocking. Dezba barely caught the initial hit, as he and everyone else instinctively flinched when the blast went up. When he recovered, he saw a flaming ruin hugging the Earth now, and tons of debris floating to the ground. When the flames died down a little, all that was left was some standing walls and a whole lot of wreckage.

“Shit, man…”

“Hang on,” Dezba ordered.

More hits sounded against the earth a second later, several big, hard thumps they could feel in their bones. Smaller plumes of flame went up, throwing concrete from a broken foundation and sending all the walls that were still standing to the ground. The last of the community college fell down into a smoking crater, anything that was still inside now deader than Julius Ceasar!

“Oh my God!” the young woman said. “That was unbelievable!”

“I know right,” Whitman said, staring back at her. For what felt like a creepily long moment, they seemed to hold each others eyes. Dezba felt the same surge of pity creeping back up on him.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, Private. The Evac shuttle?”

Whitman looked at him blankly, then back to the road. “Right sir. Get us there in a giffy.”

Giffy? Dezba thought. Since when did his drive use that word in his vocab? Was the presence of a woman making him act all proper, or was it the fact that she mistakenly thought he was chivalrous? Whichever, he looked forward to dropping her off and ripping on Whitman about it later.

“What’s your name, miss?” he thought to ask. Whitman would need to know when he started stalking her later.

“Sandy,” she said. “Sandy Bloom.”

Hmm, Jewish girl. He was sure Whitman’s Whiskey Tango trailer park mom would love to hear about that.

“Well, Ms. Sandy Bloom,” Whitman interrupted. “Welcome to the Rattlesnakes. We promise to take good care of ya!”