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"Tazlet F-3," Megan said, smiling.
"Now that's really illegal."
"Oh my. They'll just have to cut our bodies down and hang us again."
"That's not funny." Obvious strain in the man's voice.
"I think he knows about the side effects," Megan said. "They last a long time.
Great for weight loss."
She stepped toward him and he shrank back.
"All right. I'll talk."
"He'll lie," I said.
"Maybe," Marty said. "But we'll find out the next time we jack. You said we
were the most dangerous people in the world. Going to make the human race
extinct. Would you care to amplify that statement?''
"That's if you succeed, which I don't think is likely. You'll convert a large
fraction of us, from the top down, and then the Ngumi, or whoever, will step
in and take over. End of experiment."
"We'll be converting the Ngumi, too."
"Not many and not fast enough. Their leadership is too fragmented. If you
converted all the South
American goomies, the African ones would step in and eat them up."
Kind of a racist image, I thought, but kept it to my cannibal self.
"But if we do succeed," Mendez said, "you think that would be even worse?"
"Of course! Lose a war, you can rise up and fight again. Lose the ability to
fight..."
"But there would be no one to fight," Megan said.
"Nonsense. This thing can't work on everybody. You have one tenth of one
percent unaffected, they'll arm themselves and take over. And you'll just give
them the key to the city and do whatever they say."
"It's not that simplistic," Mendez said. "We can defend ourselves without
killing."
"What, the way you've defended yourself against me? Gas everybody and tie them
up?"
"I'm sure we'll work out strategies well ahead of time. After all, we'll have
plenty of minds like yours at
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"You're actually a soldier," he said to me, "and you go along with this
foolishness?"
"I didn't ask to be a soldier. And I can't imagine a peace as foolish as this
war we're in."
He shook his head. "Well, they've gotten to you. Your opinion doesn't count."
"In fact," Marty said, "he's on our side naturally. He hasn't gone through the
process. Neither have I."
"Then the more fools you both are. Get rid of competition and you're just not
human anymore."
"There's competition here," Mendez said. "Even physical. Ellie and Megan play
vicious handball. Most of us are slowed down by age, but we compete mentally
in ways you couldn't even comprehend."
"I'm jacked. I've done that lightning chess and three-dimensional go. Even you
must know it's not the same."
"No, it's not the same. You've been jacked, but not long enough to even
understand the rules we play by."
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"I'm talking about stakes, not rules! War is terrible and cruel, but so is
life. Other games are just games.
War is for real."
"You're a throwback, Ingram," I said. "You want to smear yourself with woad
and go bash people's brains out."
"What I am is a man. I don't know what the hell you are, other than a coward
and a traitor."
I can't pretend he didn't get to me. One part of me sincerely wanted to get
him alone and beat him to a pulp. Which is exactly what he wanted; I'm sure he
could have stuffed my foot up my ass and pulled it out through my throat.
"Excuse me," Marty said, and tapped his right earring to pick up a message.
After a few moments, he shook his head. "His orders come from too high. I
can't find out when they expect him back."
"If I'm not back in two "
"Oh, shut up." He gestured to Megan. "Knock him out. The sooner we get him
jacked, the better."
"You don't have to knock me out."
"We have to go to the other side of the building. I'd rather carry you than
trust you."
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Megan clicked the gun to another setting and popped him. He stared defiantly
for a few seconds and then slumped. Marty reached to untie him. "Wait a half
minute," Megan said. "He might be bluffing."
"That's not the same stuff as this?" I said, holding up the pistol.
"No, he's had plenty of that in one day. This doesn't work as fast, but it
doesn't take as much out of you."
She reached over and pinched his earlobe, hard. He didn't react. "Okay."
Marty untied the left arm and it jerked halfway to his throat and fell back
limp. The lips twitched, eyes still shut. "Tough guy." He hesitated, then
untied the other bonds.
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