“Now we need to talk about what will happen next.”
General Collin stepped out from the desk, straightening his uniform as he did. “First I need you to understand that you are very dangerous and will be treated as such.” He indicated to the soldiers in uniform surrounding them.
“Some of the guards here are also reclaimers, but I am not confident that they could stop you should you wish to cause damage. We have learned that lesson the hard way. You will not be allowed to roam freely around the city.”
“That’s not to say you can’t see the city.” Teddy cut in quickly, trying to smooth over his military counterpart. “We understand that you will want to and have nothing to hide. We just have to insist on an escort. For safety.” He finished slightly lamely.
Heinz eyed the four soldiers on the balconies above and the guns they carried. The two men's words were always going to ring hollow with that as a backdrop.
General Collin lifted a piece of paper up. It was one of the letters they’d brought. “You wish to deliver more of these messages, yes? Today you will be.. escorted to the other towns we have linked up with. They will be interested in hearing your story. We will hold a further debrief this evening.”
Heinz couldn’t help but feel suspicious. It was what they wanted, but for some reason when the general spoke it sounded like a consolation prize or busy work. A glance to the side told him Louise was also suspicious. She stepped forward.
“We had hoped to meet with anyone from Kinmore, Courtmacsherry and Innishannon who was stranded here.”
Both Heinz and Louise didn’t look back at Shane, but they could feeling him stirring all the same.
General Collin and Teddy shared a look.
“I can see about getting a copy of our census for you later, however meeting them will have to hold off for today,” Teddy said after a few seconds deliberating. “We won’t be announcing your arrival until tomorrow.”
Metal scraped as someone from their group stood up. The soldiers on the upper balconies shifted slightly, tracking the new movement but they didn’t raise their weapons.
Who was Heinz kidding? It wasn't someone, it was Shane. He clenched his right fist and hoped that Shane would keep his temper in check. A room full of soldiers and guns was not the place to get angry.
“We can meet them tomorrow then?” Louise pressed, likewise feeling the build up behind them.
Teddy looked at General Collin who gave a short nod.
“Yes. We can arrange something. I can’t guarantee everyone will show up, people are scattered across the city, but we will try to contact them.”
There was some more shuffling behind them as Tara and Phil got up, but Shane moved no closer.
“It is decided then,” General Collin said. He looked at one of the soldiers to his right and nodded at her. “Private Murray, bring them to the Barry meeting room.” He turned back to Heinz and Louise. “You will wait there for your escort.”
Private Murray snapped a salute off. She then walked through the line of soldiers between Heinz’s group and the two city leaders, and passed Heinz and Louise to the door. Heavy steps trailed behind her as Shane led the way.
Heinz shrugged at Louise and turned to follow.
Louise was the last through the door and she closed it behind her. They all relaxed as they were left alone for the first time since arriving in the city.
Heinz groaned and started to stretch as he walked further into the room. The Barry room was a fairly generic meeting room. One long wooden table surrounded by swivel chairs. There was even some spare stationary set out in the centre. Glass windows along one wall illuminated the pictures and plaques on the opposite. The largest picture was a black and white photo of some man, Barry presumably, sitting on an armchair in front of a bookshelf. The normality didn't put him at ease. The guns, the diplomacy, the environment. It was everything he disliked and his body was reacting to that.
“So? What do you think?” Tara asked, stopping in front of the windows. “Even I could figure that they aren’t telling us everything.”
“I don’t know,” Louise said. She walked over to Tara and gave her a quick inspection while Tara was busy looking out the window. “I don’t know how to handle the military.”
“You don’t handle the military,” Phil hissed. He’d taken a seat on one of the swivel chairs and rested his head on the table, but he lifted it at Louise’s statement. “We’ll deliver the messages today and find out about the other towns for the council. That’s it. Tomorrow we’ll find Shan-” Phil cut off as Shane fixed him with a look. “-the others from Kinmore and then we’ll head back home.”
“Ehm.” Heinz stopped stretching and looked at Shane. Aside from the glare directed at Phil, the fisherman seemed content to do nothing but stand looming near the door. Heinz was sympathetic. Shane was probably still figuring out what to do about the niece he’d never met, never mind the army that was between them at the moment.
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“Can we? Just leave-” Heinz paused. “-them here. Everyone from home that is?”
“What else can we do here? The army seems dead set on keeping us away from everything. None of us expected guns when we-” Phil flinched, realising where he’d been going and deciding to quit before he went too far.
Heinz looked at Shane, expecting an outburst. Shane and Phil worked well together until they didn’t and it was always discussion like this from safety about getting into danger. To his surprise, Shane didn’t even look up. A quirk in his mouth was the only sign he’d heard Phil’s retreat at all.
“We can’t sit around waiting for the way to clear up,” Louise began, turning away from the window. “Kinmore also needs to know we found people, but it might be faster to help the clearing from this side.”
Phil blanched. The idea of working with the military a step too far for him it seemed.
“Why do they have guns?” Tara asked suddenly.
“What?” Heinz asked. Surely she didn’t mean the obvious..
Tara nodded at the window. “There’s a patrol outside, they both have a rifle, but the two soldiers at the wall only had one.”
She was right. Heinz had only seen one gun during the stand-off. The injured soldier didn’t have one of his own, and none of the civilians - four reclaimers included - had firearms of their own.
“The injured soldier might have lost his when he was injured?” Heinz guessed. “He was probably the fifth member of that group.”
Louise frowned and turned back to the window, getting pulled into the distraction as well. “A gun would be pretty valuable. A lot more so than packets of crisps or wine. They wouldn’t have left that behind if at all possible. But if he didn’t have a gun, why are they giving more guns to the soldiers in the city?”
Heinz remembered the fearful looks as they drove into the city. It wasn’t a good sign.
A knock at the door stopped any further discussion. It swung open and a soldier stepped in. Tall with short cropped black hair, he gave them a big wave and a smile. A gap in his two front teeth made the athletic man strangely approachable.
“Hi, I’m Archie. I was told you needed a driver?”
“-restaurant there has figured out how to make a stew with the nutrition blocks. Tis a bit awkward with the credits, but they give you all the bits you need and you cook it up yourself - like korean bbq. They accept barter as well if you’d prefer to keep the credits.”
Heinz was still a bit suspicious of their friendly driver, but he’d taken the word 'tour' and run with it. No one seemed to mind being treated as tourists as Archie offered up a lot of information about the city.
They were in the middle of a three truck convoy, slowly cruising through the empty streets. This part of town was busier than their path to the city hall, but people still shied away from the military convoy as it passed. Something that Archie ignored in favour of little tidbits about all the changes. Tidbits that didn’t include anything negative.
“Do you have a system tax in place?” Louise asked. She was in the second front passenger seat with Heinz. The large olive-green military SUV was more comfortable inside than Heinz had expected, but it was quite barebones. The reduced clutter did make it easier to fit everyone inside and have a conversation between them all. Archie was the only soldier in the car with them, but the trucks in front and behind them were full.
“We do,” Archie confirmed. “The delegates manage the funds with the Major and General.”
Louise aahed as if it was a passing question but Heinz could see the wheels turning in her mind.
“What have they bought with the Credits?” Heinz asked.
He was still curious about the Delegate's system. For all the information they’d learned from Innishannon, Maggie had stayed silent about anything to do with what the System showed her. All he had was vague promises of her being able to tell him soon.
“I’m not really sure,” Archie said. He paused to take the next turn through a narrow street. The SUV was big and seemed unwieldy but Archie had no issue controlling it. “I know there’s something about organisation but not much else.”
“Right.” Heinz guessed it would be a bit much to expect a random soldier to know all about it. “Do you mind if I ask what you do?”
Archie grinned. He seemed fond of doing so, which Heinz wasn’t against given how chilling the straight faces in the city hall had been, but was strange with the uniform. “S & T. 1st Supply and Transport Group.” He turned back to look at Phil, Shane and Tara. With his other hand he changed gear. “I drive trucks.”
With a chuckle he turned back to the road, just in time for the convoy to pass two soldiers questioning a group of three men at the side of the street. Tara took the opportunity the soldiers presented.
“What’s with all the guns? Do you expect the Swarm to attack here?”
For the first time, Archie’s smile fell and tightened into a grimace. Louise shot Tara a pointed glare. Tara was not deterred.
“And how do the soldiers fight the swarm with guns? I’m guessing it's a lot different from how we’ve been going about it?”
“Well..” Archie flailed with Tara’s honest question, considering how to respond with what he could and couldn’t say. Judging by his constipated face it wasn’t as clear cut as he might wish. “They’re less effective than you hope. From the start, hitting a small cash with a bullet wasn’t practical. Especially given how many they were and how hard it was to spot them. Small rounds don’t bother the bigger Swarm much either.”
Heinz blinked in surprise. Maybe Archie wasn’t considering what he could say as much as how to let them down gently. He wasn’t surprised that guns weren’t the ‘silver bullet’ for the Swarm. After fighting them for weeks it was clear that their anatomy wasn't anything earth-like, but he could see how most people would think that immediately.
“Cash?” Phil asked, curiosity finally dragging him into the conversation.
Archie blinked and rubbed the back of his head, blushing faintly. “Oh. That's the slang for those little Spore things. The first kind. There's the whole Credit thing and they look like shi-discharge. When you’re discharged from the army we call it cashing out.”
Tara pressed on, not willing to be distracted. “Then why carry rifles everywhere?”
Archie’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Things- Things were pretty bad in those first few days. Guns might not work too well against the Swarm but they are a comfort anyway. It makes people feel like they’re protected.”
A quick glance at Louise told him that she felt the same way about that response as he did. It was a simple process of elimination. If the guns weren’t for the swarm, then there was only one other thing they could be here for. People. Added to the Inspect checkpoints, the answer was obvious to them.
The city had a Malignant problem.