Free Three Days in April by Edward Ashton Page B
Authors: Edward Ashton
the windows.
Right. That.
F orty-Âfive minutes later, and weâre all three back in the living room again, watching replays of the bombs going offâÂit turns out they actually used three of them, synchronized for simultaneous detonationâÂfrom a half dozen different vantages. After a while, they switch over to orbital perspectives post-Âdetonation. I kind of expected everything to be on fire, but itâs not. The whole town is just a big, black, lumpy splotch on the ground. Apparently, thatâs one of the beauties of a fuel-Âair explosive. It sucks up all of the oxygen over a wide area, so that (a) you donât need to worry about survivors anywhere within the blast radius, as long as theyâre not wearing space suits, and (b) thereâs not a whole lot of secondary burn, which means your advancing forces can move into the area very quickly after a bombardment.
Of course, in this case we donât have any advancing forces. Just a bunch of bots poking around, looking for any evidence that would help clear up exactly what happened there.
Terry and Anders havenât said a word since the detonation. Theyâre just sitting together on the sofa, staring at the screen. I get why Terryâs upset, with her sister just getting vaporized and all, but I have no idea whatâs gotten up Andersâ ass. The entire vibe in the room is making me very uncomfortable, though. Itâs almost like they think I did something wrong. On top of that, itâs damn near eight oâclock, and I havenât had anything to eat since noon. Iâm just about to ask if anybody has dinner plans when my ocular pings. I blink to a chat window.
Fenrir:
What NatSec Doesnât Want You to Know About Hagerstown
Earlier today, something truly horrifying happened in Hagerstown, Maryland. A terrible virus struck with lightning speed, killing the entire population, down to the last man, woman and child, in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, NatSec units were already positioned in the Hagerstown area, and they were able to secure the hot zone in less than an hour. A thorough search for survivors was conducted by drone and crawler, and when none were found, NatSec Acting Director Dey reluctantly made the hard decision to sterilize the area, thus saving the rest of us from the threat of contamination.
Thatâs what our good friends at NatSec would have us believe, in any case. Here are the facts:
1. Within seconds of the outbreak in Hagerstown, every civilian drone, crawler, fixed camera, and orbital asset was taken offline, and all existing feeds were redacted to a point approximately ten seconds before the first casualty. If every citizen of Hagerstown died within minutes of the outbreak, what were they afraid to let us see?
2. Throughout the crisis, the only data feeds coming from Hagerstown were those passed to the official media through NatSec channels. What were they afraid to let us see?
3. The military cordon around Hagerstown was actually secured within twenty minutes of the initial outbreak. How did they move so quickly, if they were not aware beforehand of what was going to occur?
4. The fuel-Âair explosives that were just used to destroy Hagerstown were far more powerful than would have been necessary to eliminate a biological pathogen. What were they really trying to destroy?
I donât claim to know the answers to all these questions, but I do know one thing as certainly as I know the sun will rise in the east: NatSecâs story does not hold water!
Demand the Truth!
Argyle Dragon:
Fenrir:
Drew P. Wiener:
Fenrir:
Drew P. Wiener:
Right. That.
F orty-Âfive minutes later, and weâre all three back in the living room again, watching replays of the bombs going offâÂit turns out they actually used three of them, synchronized for simultaneous detonationâÂfrom a half dozen different vantages. After a while, they switch over to orbital perspectives post-Âdetonation. I kind of expected everything to be on fire, but itâs not. The whole town is just a big, black, lumpy splotch on the ground. Apparently, thatâs one of the beauties of a fuel-Âair explosive. It sucks up all of the oxygen over a wide area, so that (a) you donât need to worry about survivors anywhere within the blast radius, as long as theyâre not wearing space suits, and (b) thereâs not a whole lot of secondary burn, which means your advancing forces can move into the area very quickly after a bombardment.
Of course, in this case we donât have any advancing forces. Just a bunch of bots poking around, looking for any evidence that would help clear up exactly what happened there.
Terry and Anders havenât said a word since the detonation. Theyâre just sitting together on the sofa, staring at the screen. I get why Terryâs upset, with her sister just getting vaporized and all, but I have no idea whatâs gotten up Andersâ ass. The entire vibe in the room is making me very uncomfortable, though. Itâs almost like they think I did something wrong. On top of that, itâs damn near eight oâclock, and I havenât had anything to eat since noon. Iâm just about to ask if anybody has dinner plans when my ocular pings. I blink to a chat window.
Fenrir:
What NatSec Doesnât Want You to Know About Hagerstown
Earlier today, something truly horrifying happened in Hagerstown, Maryland. A terrible virus struck with lightning speed, killing the entire population, down to the last man, woman and child, in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, NatSec units were already positioned in the Hagerstown area, and they were able to secure the hot zone in less than an hour. A thorough search for survivors was conducted by drone and crawler, and when none were found, NatSec Acting Director Dey reluctantly made the hard decision to sterilize the area, thus saving the rest of us from the threat of contamination.
Thatâs what our good friends at NatSec would have us believe, in any case. Here are the facts:
1. Within seconds of the outbreak in Hagerstown, every civilian drone, crawler, fixed camera, and orbital asset was taken offline, and all existing feeds were redacted to a point approximately ten seconds before the first casualty. If every citizen of Hagerstown died within minutes of the outbreak, what were they afraid to let us see?
2. Throughout the crisis, the only data feeds coming from Hagerstown were those passed to the official media through NatSec channels. What were they afraid to let us see?
3. The military cordon around Hagerstown was actually secured within twenty minutes of the initial outbreak. How did they move so quickly, if they were not aware beforehand of what was going to occur?
4. The fuel-Âair explosives that were just used to destroy Hagerstown were far more powerful than would have been necessary to eliminate a biological pathogen. What were they really trying to destroy?
I donât claim to know the answers to all these questions, but I do know one thing as certainly as I know the sun will rise in the east: NatSecâs story does not hold water!
Demand the Truth!
Argyle Dragon:
Fenrir:
Drew P. Wiener:
Fenrir:
Drew P. Wiener:
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