By which I meant fascist.

Maybe I was jumping to conclusions but the uniforms just screamed it at me. It was partly that the uniforms were black, and partly that they looked like they’d been designed using cues from every fascist army from Earth history but it was mostly that they were just too well made.

When I was just a kid, watching history documentaries on TV because I was too ill to go to school, I learned a bunch of weird facts about the Nazis. Amongst them was the fact that fashion designer Hugo Boss designed their uniforms. Fascists care how they look, they’re in it for the aesthetic, they think that being cool is important.

My favourite photo from World War 2 is of a German officer and a British Sergeant. The officer looks like a model or something and the Sergeant looks a mess. His uniform is cut badly and wouldn’t fit anyone well, it’s all rucked up under his web gear and his boots look clumsy. The fabric is rough and cheap

The really important thing about this photo is that the German officer is captured and the British Sergeant is guarding him. The officer is giving the Sergeant serious side eye, like he’s thinking, “How is this scruffy fucker in charge of me?”

And that’s the thing. The scruffy fucker won. A soldier doesn’t need to look good in his battle dress. That uniform needs to sort of fit anyone who can join up or be conscripted. It needs to keep the rain and the cold out. The boots need to protect his feet and ankles, even when he’s parachuting out of a plane. The web gear needs to not ride up, even if it makes the jacket rumple.

All that flashed through my mind before I sent that one word message. A message that seemed to have introduced a cat to some pigeons.

AK-ALL WTF. WHO SENT THAT?

From

To

Message

AKIRA

ALL

WHAT THE FUCK? WHO SENT THAT?

AM-ALL PETRA. I HAVE EYES ON. DEF FASH. EVACUATE

From

To

Message

AMRIS

ALL

PETRA. I HAVE EYES ON THE ENEMY. DEFINITELY FASCISTS. EVACUATE

SA-AM BE AWARE. TRUDY INSIDE BUILDING.

From

To

Message

SARAH

AMRIS

BE AWARE. TRUDY IS INSIDE THE BUILDING

AK-AM. HOW CAN YOU TELL BY LOOKING?

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From

To

Message

AKIRA

AMRIS

HOW CAN YOU TELL [THAT THEY’RE FASCISTS] JUST BY LOOKING

AM-AK. THEY HAVE LITTLE SKULLS ON

From

To

Message

AMRIS

AKIRA

THEY HAVE LITTLE SKULLS ON [THEIR UNIFORMS]

AM-SA. COPY

From

To

Message

AMRIS

SARA

COPY [meaning I have heard and understood your message]

Amris had better eyes than me because the soldiers queuing up for their pills did indeed have little skulls on their uniforms and I hadn’t realised until he pointed it out. The longer I looked at them the more skull iconography I spotted.

The soldiers stared back at me as the man in white escorted me to the front door. I noticed a worrying lack of diversity in the queue. They were all human. No Beast-Kin. No sign of Dwarf, Orc or Elven heritage. Not even much variety of skin tone. Also no women.

I was almost out the front door when I heard someone behind us call out, “Who’s this little lady,” and instantly I hated him.

“I found her in one of the labs. Claims to be a Scavenger,” said the man who’d found me.

I wanted to keep right on walking and out the front door but I suspected that was no longer an option. I turned to look at the interloper. My first impression was that I was right to hate him. He was a tall, blonde, blue-eyed, fair-skinned human man and he was clearly some kind of officer. His uniform jacket was similar to the men in the queue but he had some kind of armoured breastplate over it adorned with even more skull iconography. The breastplate must have been at least partially for show because he wore a peaked cap and not a helmet. No-one in a world of self-guiding projectile spells should be armouring their body and not their head.

He also wore jodhpurs, the old fashioned kind with the baggy thighs, and knee high riding boots. I wondered if he actually had a horse, since riding didn’t seem to be common in Arkadia, or if this was just another stylistic choice.

Behind him, on the other side of the curved front desk, in the shadows cast by a roof pillar, I could see Amris watching us. I don’t know how a Librarian managed to have stealth skills but he must have some because no-body else seemed to have noticed him.

“I am a Scavenger,” I said. “The building looks abandoned from the other side and I got curious. You know what Scavengers are like. We can’t help wanting to explore.” If I kept everyone focused on me then hopefully no-one would spot Amris.

“I’m not sure I do know about Scavengers,” said the officer, “But it certainly holds true with everything I know about Beast-Kin. You’re notorious for finding ways to get into places where you’re not wanted.”

I wasn’t paying full attention to his words because I was too busy focusing on what Amris was doing while not allowing my eyes to move away from the officer.

Amris looked back down the corridor as if he’d just heard something and I recognised a look of panic and shock on his face. He put his hand in his waistcoat pocket and I, with my hand still on the tapstone in my jerkin pocket felt his message.

AM-PE TRUDY IS HERE WITH T AND A.

From

To

Message

AMRIS

PETRA

TRUDY IS HERE WITH TOMMY AND ANGELA

It took me a moment to work out what he meant by T and A because the first place my mind went made no sense.

“And what do you have in your pocket that you’re gripping so tightly?” said the officer. “Is it a weapon? Or perhaps something valuable that you’ve stolen from us?”

I pulled out the tapstone and held it up for all to see. A completely nondescript pebble from a river bed. Smooth but not particularly shiny. “It’s my lucky pebble,” I said. “I hold it when I’m nervous. I find it soothing.”

“And what do you have to be nervous about?” The officer moved closer with a body language that I did not like. He looked predatory.

Beyond him I could see Amris retreat from his post by the pillar and head back towards where I presumed Trudy, Tommy and Angela were.

“There’s a lot of people here,” I said. “I’m not fond of big groups of people. That’s why I picked such a solitary career. And since I’m not wanted here I think I should go back out the way I came in. So I don’t disturb anyone else.”

I didn’t wait for anyone to agree or give me permission. I just turned and headed back towards the laboratory that I had come from. Hopefully by the time I’d gone through the chain of three labs Amris would have ushered Trudy and her charges out of the building so it wouldn’t matter if someone followed me.