An F-14 Tomcat races toward its target. It's night, and a raging winter storm brews below. The air war is months old, and Iraq lies in ruins. Yet, Scud missiles still launch, and stopping them is the mission.
"Mission commander, Streaker, over."
"Streaker, go ahead."
"Cloud popper spotted, looking to go hot."
"Streaker, this is Enterprise Command. Permission granted. Fire at will."
With a smile, Streaker presses the red button and watches his missile drop into the cloud bank below.
On his radar, he spots a troop transport heading back toward Baghdad. He launches a second missile. One green dot and one red dot appear on his HUD. The red dot disappears immediately. It happens often. Streaker doesn't worry but notes he's out of missiles.
"Tub, out of water. Heading back."
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The ground element will need another solution. But that was what the army was good at. Coming up with solutions.
He radios in an artillery strike and watches his remaining missile hit its target. An orange ball of fire blooms beneath the stormy clouds—one less Scud launcher deployed. Streaker pulls his nose up, flips over, and descends through the clouds for a visual inspection. He snaps a photo of the smoking remains. No guilt; the Iraqis would do the same to him if they could.
"Streaker to Command."
"Command here, Streaker. Go ahead."
"Target destroyed, heading back to the ship."
"Heard, Streaker. Good job. Got a welcome-home steak waiting for you."
Unbeknownst to him, and every living soul on the moldy rock called dirt, the second missile curls back and heads toward American soldiers bivouacked on the border. Streaker doesn't notice. Even if he did, he wouldn't care. Shit happens. But this shit started over 300 billion years ago, triggered by the explosion that unearthed a chunk of rusty red metal. Microscopic bits of her float looking for a new home. Preferably some suggestible creature. And far to the south, The Universe feels herself expand, like unfurling. Little sparks of tryhard. Not truly intelligent, but willing to give it a go.
She has known some of them before. Fleeting grasps of misunderstanding. Many times, in fact. Much devotion has come from those infected with her. But apes are an easily excitable creature, and must be careful with her new toys.