The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale (short story): Difference between revisions
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=== Story === | === Story === | ||
A young Homeworlder who fancied styling himself "The Conquistador" was getting yelled at in a drill formation by the [[Littlejohn|Sergeant-Instructor]]. | A young Homeworlder who fancied styling himself "The Conquistador" was getting yelled at in a drill formation by the [[Littlejohn|Sergeant-Instructor]]. One of the cadets calls the Sergeant short. The instructor sneers, and explains that every place that can lead to life will inherently lead to a certain life form, the life form of the enemy - it was even tied to the existence of the [[Great Houses]]. This explains why it was impossible to remove the homeworld of the enemy, as they had no one homeworld but lived everywhere. Indeed, once alive, they're near indestructible, can live without nutrients for decades, in radiation, in extreme temperatures. And while a Homeworlder can do this to, it can do all these things at once. They have collective psyche, and when they congregate in spacetime history changes to be more of them than of the Homeworld. Worse, it's not even clear that they're conscious, that this is intentional, or that their worldview has a place for things like the Great Houses. The Sergeant-Instructor tells them that this life form is a tardigrade - that it could be the Enemy proper or a tool of the Enemy, before insisting that the recruits think about this before calling others short in the future. | ||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||
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== References == | == References == | ||
* [[Milkin]], [[Vonsolador]], [[the Buckaroo]], [[Reaver (The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale)|Reaver]], [[Razorette]], and [[the Void (The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale)|the Void]] are all soldiers of the [[Fourth Wave]]. | * [[Milkin]], [[Vonsolador]], [[the Buckaroo]], [[Reaver (The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale)|Reaver]], [[Razorette]], and [[the Void (The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale)|the Void]] are all soldiers of the [[Fourth Wave]]. | ||
* Other options are floated for the identity of the enemy, giant mutated ant-things, scorpion men, and giant (CENSORED). The last is stated to be censored for the [[Subject (Subjective Interlock)|Subject]] undergoing [[Subjective Interlock (short story)|rebuild]] for their safety. Given other references in the anthology, as well as the other identities floated, it's likely referring to a spider. | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
Revision as of 04:39, 23 June 2023
The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale was the fifth story in The Book of the Enemy. It was written by the anthology's editor, Simon Bucher-Jones.
Summary
Pre-Narrative Briefing
Story
A young Homeworlder who fancied styling himself "The Conquistador" was getting yelled at in a drill formation by the Sergeant-Instructor. One of the cadets calls the Sergeant short. The instructor sneers, and explains that every place that can lead to life will inherently lead to a certain life form, the life form of the enemy - it was even tied to the existence of the Great Houses. This explains why it was impossible to remove the homeworld of the enemy, as they had no one homeworld but lived everywhere. Indeed, once alive, they're near indestructible, can live without nutrients for decades, in radiation, in extreme temperatures. And while a Homeworlder can do this to, it can do all these things at once. They have collective psyche, and when they congregate in spacetime history changes to be more of them than of the Homeworld. Worse, it's not even clear that they're conscious, that this is intentional, or that their worldview has a place for things like the Great Houses. The Sergeant-Instructor tells them that this life form is a tardigrade - that it could be the Enemy proper or a tool of the Enemy, before insisting that the recruits think about this before calling others short in the future.
Characters
References
- Milkin, Vonsolador, the Buckaroo, Reaver, Razorette, and the Void are all soldiers of the Fourth Wave.
- Other options are floated for the identity of the enemy, giant mutated ant-things, scorpion men, and giant (CENSORED). The last is stated to be censored for the Subject undergoing rebuild for their safety. Given other references in the anthology, as well as the other identities floated, it's likely referring to a spider.
Notes
To be added
Continuity
- "The Conquistador" thinks of Robert Scarratt as one of the great soldiers of the Fourth Wave. (PROSE: The Book of the War, The Brakespeare Voyage)
- The sergeant-instructor mentions Leviathans. (PROSE: The Book of the War, et al)
- The sergeant-instructor is named Littlejohn in PROSE: Subjective Interlock.
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