Chapter Four – How to Stall the End of the World

Chapter Four – How to Stall the End of the World

“Words like ‘Caucasian’ or ‘African American’ became far too loaded and controversial, not to mention inaccurate as time progressed. So, in order to alleviate some of the issues that came from the use of these words, a system was created that properly categorised a person based on ethnicity, origin, and appearance.

This was widely viewed as a terrible idea and was quickly discontinued.”

–Professor Adams, lecture on the Sociological Impact of Titles in the Information Age, 2029

***

Major Hunt pointed to a seat near the middle of the table. There was a little hovering placard in front of it that had my name on it. Well, it said ‘Stray Cat’ which was sort of my name, at least in present company. “That’s your seat,” she said.

“I guess so. Where are you sitting?” I asked.

“Backroom. There’s a feed of this meeting room. It’s where all the less-important people are sitting and listening in,” she said.

“A Major doesn’t rank high enough to participate?” I asked.

“Not here, no,” she said. She smacked me on the shoulder before moving past. “Good luck, samurai. And remember, the first priority is making those xeno burn.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. I watched her go for a bit, then moved over to my designated seat. It happened to not be too far from Gomorrah’s, so I was able to see her mask and nod as I sat. We were just far enough that conversation aloud would be awkward though.

Gomorrah nodded back, then turned to Franny. “Want to go hang out in the back? I’m sure they’ll make room for you.”

“Better back there than up here,” Franny said. She patted Gomorrah on the shoulder. “I’ll see if they have anything worth eating around here. I’m feeling peckish.”

Gomorrah whispered something back, but I chose not to listen in, that was until she turned back towards me. “Did you handle everything that needed handling?”

“Not even half of it,” I said. “You get your own stuff in order?”

Gomorrah took a deep breath, then let it out as a long suffering sigh. “No. Not everyone took the news as well as I would have liked. Then again, I could hardly expect them to. The nuns are already run ragged taking care of the people we saved from the sewers. We’re going to end up with a lot more people that need saving in the next few weeks.”

“They do a lot of post-incursion stuff, right?”

Gomorrah nodded. “They’re still sending some sisters out to deliver blankets and supplies to people from the last incursion. The timing here is kind of terrible.”

“Huh, yeah, I guess. Anything I can do to help?”

“Kill the aliens fast?”

I chuckled, and a moment later, Gomorrah joined in. “Should have seen that answer coming,” I said. “Hey, change of topic. You know any of the other samurai here?”

Gomorrah gestured to the end of the table. Cause Player was there. His armour had changed. It was still green, though a darker chase, and it looked a lot more streamlined and angular than last time. A bit more scuffed too. The number 117 was stenciled onto his right breastplate, and he seemed to be talking to a bluish hologram hovering over his hand.

“Right,” I said. “Haven’t seen him since Black Bear.”

“It’ll be nice to have him around,” Gomorrah said. “He’s versatile, and I think we might need that.”

I nodded along. There were a few others in the room. One in the corner, lurking in the shadows. He, or at least I figured it was a he from the shoulders and stance, had form-fitting black armour on, with lots of belts and straps across his torso. He had a long polearm hanging over his shoulder too, some high-tech thing that I couldn’t guess the function of.

“I don’t know him,” Gomorrah said as she followed my gaze. “The woman on the ceiling is Grasshopper.”

“Ceiling?” I looked up, and blinked.

There was indeed someone squatting upside down on the ceiling. She wore light brown and beige armour, covered in little spikes. Her helmet had two large black spheres on the front. They looked like comically oversized eyes from below. She turned her head, almost mechanically, and faced me.