Some Desperate Glory

by Emily Tesh

You should always keep in mind that in the humans’ opinion they are being perfectly reasonable when they attack you.

Since language and identity are closely intertwined in human culture, a society seeking to eradicate individual cultural identities and histories in favor of a fictitious pan-Terran “cause” must begin by robbing its people of their languages.

“I thought they were virtual realities,” said Kyr. “Pretend.” “Nope,” Avi said. “The agoge’s the real thing. Fourteen billion people die every time someone fails Doomsday.”

What a waste it was, what a terrible waste, to take a person who dreamed cities and gardens and enormous shining skies and teach him that the only answer to an unanswerable suffering was slaughter.