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“
No.”

“
Have you seen what he could possibly be writing these words with?”

“
No. I guess it could be blood or something.”

“
Find out. Did you declare war on him?”

“
Well…”

“
Jesus to fuck, Dressing. I gave you one simple thing to do and you couldn’t even do it. Did you get him to attack you?”

“
Not exactly.”

“
You were supposed to get him to attack you and then declare war on him.”

“
I don’t know what the point of that would be. We can’t just declare war on people because we don’t understand what they do.”

“
That, my friend, is pinko commie bullshit. Exactly the type of thing I would expect to come out of your mouth. Do you want a court martial for disobeying orders? Is that what you want? Do you want to spend the last years of your life in a military prison?”

“
Not exactly. Unless it has a library. I guess it would be all right if it had a library.”

“
It does not have a library. I can’t believe you would be willing to give up your dignity to protect this freak.”

“
I wouldn’t necessarily call him a freak. In many ways, I find what he’s doing admirable.”

“
Admirable! Wasteful is more like it.”

“
How so?”

“
Look at all the land he’s wasting. That’s land that could be used. That land could be put to use to feed the world.”

“
It’s a desert.”

“
It could be rich in natural resources.”

“
You mean oil.”

“
No one hardly even uses oil anymore, dipshit.”

“
Then I’m afraid I just don’t understand.”

“
Understand this: Tomorrow, you will get him to give up Grisnos, allow us to assist him in nation building, or you get him to attack you and we declare war on him. Understood?”

I didn’t want to understand. I wished I was mentally deficient or something.

“
Understood?!”

“
Yes.”

“
And find out what he’s using to write those stupid words.”

“
Whatever.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. I didn’t want to say ‘bye’ and Fetch never signed off anyway. I stood up and began walking back to the house in the bright fullness of the moon.

Twenty-four

When I got back to the house, Bob was standing at the imaginary sink and going through the motions of washing dishes. Or maybe he was drying them. I wasn’t really sure. He looked different. As I drew closer to him, I saw that he was a bright, vibrant green.

He spotted me staring at him and turned his head. “You made it back okay.”

“
Yep. You look different.”

He finished at the sink and turned around to face me. “How so?”

“
You look greener. Healthier.”

“
Must have been the dinner. Maybe we’re just happy to have company. Are you enjoying your stay?”

“
Very much. You know, Bob, how would you like a whole lot of company?”

He looked confused. “I would love a lot of company. We have plenty of room.”

“
Because I know some people who would like to come here and work.”

“
Work? I couldn’t possibly let company work.”

“
Actually, I’m working right now.”

“
It certainly doesn’t look like you’re working. I haven’t made you do anything.”

“
It’s like when a traveling salesman has to stay in a hotel in a distant city. While he’s not working working, he is still, technically, at work.”

“
I’m not sure I understand.”

“
I was sent here by my government to propose something to you.”

He began shaking his head. “What you’re talking about isn’t company. What you’re talking about is people coming in and tearing up the ground and using it. Putting me to work for them and stealing everything I have.”

“
I’m sure you would be compensated generously.”

“
I don’t need compensation. I have everything I need. This land. This is all I need. This is all my people need. What you’re talking about is theft.”

I wanted to tell him there
were
no people but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He seemed to really believe he had a family. He seemed to believe there were other people and families living in Grisnos.

I stood there staring at him. How could I tell him he was wrong? How did I know he was wrong? I wasn’t sure what I felt at that moment. It wasn’t pity. Maybe it was envy. He had belief, conviction. I lacked both of those. Maybe I should just tell him what would happen. Then he would think I was threatening him.

I lowered my head. I felt ashamed. “Bob, I respect you immensely, but I think I should tell you what will happen if you refuse.”

“
I know what will happen.”

Did he? I wondered. It seemed impossible that he could know what would happen. Someone who lived so simply, so impossibly, could hardly fathom the horror that our modern military was capable of.

“
I’m not sure you do, Bob. Think about your family. Your neighbors.”

“
We have had wars before.”

“
I don’t think you’ve had any wars like this.”

“
Are we having a war?”

“
Not until I declare it.”

“
What’s stopping you, exactly?”

“
I’m supposed to try and get you to attack me.”

In my ear, the crackling coughing voice of Fetch, in a hissing whisper: “Dressing, you’re coming very close to conspiring with the enemy. Treason is a crime.”

“
And then you will declare war on me?”

“
Not me, Bob. Not me.”

“
But you’re part of it.”

“
Not by choice.”

He scoffed. “Not by choice. You could tell them no.”

“
Then they’ll just find someone else. I really think you should agree to their terms.”

An indiscernible look crossed his eyes. We were standing very close together at this point, something like manufactured animosity between us.

“
Let me sleep on it tonight,” he said. “I’m tired of talking about it. I need to read the children’s bedtime stories. I’ll have an answer for you in the morning.”

“
Bob? What is it you use to write all these words everywhere?”

He looked through me. Blinked. Took a deep breath and said, “I don’t see any words anywhere except in the book I gave you and the books in my library.”

“
Good enough. Promise me you really will think about what I asked.”

“
The Grisnosians do not lie. I will think about it.”

“
Good night, Bob.”

“
Good night, Mr. Dressing.”

Twenty-five

I awoke unable to breathe. It was dark. Even with my eyes open I couldn’t really see anything.

I tried to suck in a breath but couldn’t.

In the dim light of the moon and the stars I saw Bob astride my chest, his hands clasped around my throat. I tried to speak but I couldn’t. I tried to buck him off but he was a lot stronger than he looked. Behind him, the canopy of stars spread itself over the sky, flickering and cold. I kicked my legs but the exertion made me want to breathe even more. The stars began spinning. I clasped Bob’s forearms but my grip was very weak. The stars spun faster and faster. Spun and began fading like they were going down some sort of drain, headed into some kind of black hole. The only sound I could force from my throat was a dying squawk. Panicked, I thought about my headset. Surely Fetch would hear what was going on and send someone to help. I didn’t need to declare war. Bob had declared war on my throat. I tried to make eye contact. Plead with him with my eyes. They felt bulgy. His eyes were closed, either because he was deep in the throes of insanity or because he couldn’t look at what he was doing. The stars were finally sucked away completely and then there was only blackness and unconsciousness.

Twenty-six

I came to to a deafening rumble and deep reverberating shock. I covered my head and tried to stand up only to fall back down. I was lying in water. I stood up and looked around, trying to find the source of all the noise.

Muffled war sounds.

But where was I? I looked like I was underground. A narrow space. A muddy puddle drifting away into some kind of spring before disappearing into a crack in the wall. From above came the whistling of a bomb and then the impact when it hit the ground, jarring my vision. Dirt rained down from the ceiling and walls of the underground space.

I was thirsty.

I got down on my knees and scooped some of the water into my hands. It was cool. I slurped it up. It tasted a little earthy, but not bad. It tasted like spring water. Something that is strange at first but I eventually convinced myself it was probably the cleanest water I had had. City water, while mostly tasteless and odorless, is really just recycled sewage. I drank the water until my stomach began to ache and then I sat down with my back against the constantly vibrating wall.

The sounds of whistling and the impact of the bombs were constant. I also heard a continuous barrage of machine gun fire, shouts and screams. I didn’t see my gun anywhere. Bob probably took it. Then I remembered the headset. I clasped my hands to my head. If war had broken out above, why wasn’t Fetch shrieking into the headphones.

They were gone.

A feeling of freedom surged through me. The feeling quickly dissipated when I realized I was in what amounted to a dirt hole. Well, not really a hole. More like a cave, since it was covered.

I heard the roar of a low flying airplane, the whistling of a bomb and then my world turned orange and brown. Intense pain scoured my body. I was on fire. I was back on the surface. Or, rather, the surface had been brought to me.

I dropped to the ground and began rolling. I rolled until I was no longer on fire. I stood up but my muscles didn’t want to work. I looked down at myself. My clothes were either burned off or melted to my skin. Large sections of my skin were missing. I could see something I guessed was charred muscle beneath it. The ground immediately around me had been blasted into blackened ditches and craters. I couldn’t see any further because of the white smoke that swirled around. I could see black shapes in the smoke. I stood still. The shapes were not moving. I walked toward the nearest one.

It was a charred black stalk. The remains of a human. I could see more of them in the vicinity. All sticking up out of the ground as though they had been blasted and frozen in place. They were all unrecognizable. Were these soldiers? That seemed to be the only real explanation. Were they Everything soldiers or were they from a different country? They couldn’t be Grisnosian soldiers could they? Could they be Grisnosian civilians? Could one of them be Bob? This last question was the only one I could even fathom an answer for. I supposed one of them had to be Bob, but there weren’t any other residents in Grisnos which meant the rest almost had to be soldiers. And, since I figured we were at war from the moment Bob strangled me, then I was guessing they had to be Everything soldiers.

It seemed stupid. It seemed beyond stupid. It seemed like the most retarded thing in the world. Just within the scope of my vision, there had to be a hundred dead people. What here was worth that? What here was worth
one
dead person? If there
was
anything here, what could possibly be more valuable than one human life?

Then I wondered: How the fuck was
I
still alive? I had been strangled and dropped into some kind of ditch or cave or well. A bomb had dropped nearly on top of me. Only moments ago, my entire body had been burning. I could use the excuse of adrenaline to explain away my lack of pain but it seemed certain that I should be dead.

I was startled by voices in the distance.

I wondered what I should do.

I had asked myself a lot of questions. If these were soldiers or members of the opposing force which had, up to this point, remained invisible, then they would undoubtedly have a lot of questions for me. I couldn’t answer my own questions and knew I would not be able to answer any of theirs.

So I did what I do best.

I cowered.

I found one of the charred stalk people and dropped down next to it, bending my legs and splaying my arms into a pose that made me look dead.

There were two of them. I could hear their voices crackling over what sounded like radios. Why were they using radios if they were so close together?

“
I can’t believe this fucking shit.” Was one of the voices Sergeant Samuel Fetch? It seemed unmistakable. “We need to find that piece of shit Dressing so he can tell us what the fuck went on here.”

“
I can tell you what went on here,” the other voice said. I didn’t recognize this one. “A whole lot of fucking bad shit went on. Are you sure your reports from Dressing were accurate?”

“
How the fuck should I know? I didn’t think it would matter. There wasn’t supposed to be
anyone
here. We just put him out here to see what he was made of. It was Baxter’s idea.”