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He holds up a hand "‘This’?"

"The ca trained to kill the aliens The aliens were training us to kill one another"

He doesn’t say anything at first I alh or sht have soht rethink the whole this-is-an-alien-head-fake thing and conclude I a from paranoia and battle-induced hysteria

Instead he just stares back at ht eyes

"And you wanted no part of their little conspiracy theory?"

I nod A good, strong, confident nod--I hope "They went Dorothy on ririn--I hope "But not before I took care of Flint"

"We recovered his body," Vosch tells e Unlike you, the target was a little higher up in the anatomy"

Are you sure about this, Zombie? Why do you need to shoot him in the head?

They can’t know he’s been zapped Maybe if I do enough daer You know I don’t have the best aim in the world

"I would have wasted the rest of the to do was get ain he doesn’ttime Just stares What are you? I wonder Are you hu else? What the hell are you?

"They’ve vanished, you know," he finally says Then waits for er did Credit where credit is due

"They cut out their trackers"

"Yours too," he points out And waits Over his shoulder, I see orderlies in their green scrubsthe row of beds and hear the squeak of their shoes along the linoleum floor Just another day in the hospital of the da along Waiting for an opening Duer next, afterFlintstone…"

"And then Ringer shot me"

"And then…" Ar ht its supper

"And then I ran Sir"

So I’m able to take Reznik down in the dark in the middle of a snowstorm, but I can’t pop you from two feet away? He won’t buy it, Zombie

I don’t need him to buy it Just rent it for a few hours

He clears his throat Scratches beneath his chin Studies the ceiling tiles for a little while before looking back at me "How fortunate for you, Ben, that youto death"

Oh, you bet, you whatever-you-are Fortunate as hell

A silence slaht mouth Folded ar"

"Sir?"

"You’re leaving so out"

I slowly shake my head The rooive eant Someone in your unit must have searched hi up a silver device identical to Reznik’s "At which point so officer--would wonder what Reznik was doing with ayour lives with a touch of a button"

I’o there, and I’m ready with an answer Whether he buys it or not, that’s the question

"There’s only one explanation that makes any sense, sir It was our first mission, our first real combat We needed to be monitored And you needed a fail-safe in case any of us went Dorothy--turned on the others…"

I trail off, out of breath and glad that I a isn’t crystal clear I’er anticipated this She made me practice this part over and over as aited in the park for the chopper to return, right before she pressed her sidearer

The chair scrapes against the floor, and suddenly Vosch’s lean, hard face fills my vision

"It really is extraordinary, Ben For you to resist the group dynamics of combat, the enormous pressure to follow the herd It’s almost--well, inhuman, for lack of a better word"

"I’ inthrough own

"Are you? Because that’s the crux of it, isn’t it, Ben? That’s the whole ballgame! Who is huans, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? If you prick us, do we not bleed? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"

The hard angle of the jaw The severity of the blue eyes The thin lips pale against the flushed face

"Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice Spoken by a member of a despised and persecuted race Like our race, Ben The human race"

"I don’t think they hate us, sir" Trying to keep e and unexpected turn in theShakespeare with the commandant of one of the most efficient death camps in the history of the world

"They have a strange way of showing their affection"

"They don’t love or hate us We’re just in the way Maybe to them, we’re the infestation"

"Periplaneta americana to their Homo sapiens? In that contest, I’ll take the cockroach Very difficult to eradicate"

He pats me on the shoulder Gets very serious We’ve come to the real meat of it, do or die ti the sleek silver device over and over in his hand

Your plan sucks, Zombie You know that