Chapter 8: Corruption.

When Reiner awoke, a violent migraine assailed him, forcing him to open his eyes. The faint rays of sunlight streaming through his window blinded him almost immediately, forcing him to squint to adjust to the ambient light. He got up slowly, and awkwardly, before leaving his room. The beginnings of a three-day beard were visible on his face. But as he scratched it off, he headed for the living room, where Alice greeted him, trying to speak in a soft voice, while keeping her concentration on the animated show she was watching on TV.

"Sleep well?"

Reiner replied, his voice slightly hoarse.

"Well...hungover, otherwise fine. And you?"

However, he corrected himself almost immediately, and added, mumbling with a slightly flushed face.

"Well, even if you don't really sleep, well...anyway."

This made Alice laugh, as the end credits of whatever she was watching played melancholy, sad music behind her. Once she stopped laughing, Reiner spoke again, not without embarrassment.

"I... I don't remember much about last night, so did it go well for you? From what little I remember, you seemed to be pretty isolated..."

As Alice began to answer, she turned off the passing music, putting on a TV channel instead. This left the voices of a few journalists blurred, seeming almost inaudible and trembling, interfering with her words, which also began to tremble strangely.

"I had a lot of fun watching you and your brother cha-a-amailler."

Reiner smiled with contentment, secretly relieved. However, Alice's face began to tremble, which didn't disturb Reiner at all, before the whole environment shook and blurred. Some of the furniture and walls even disappeared, giving way to empty spaces where nothing could be seen but absolute blackness. A black and silent space, yet so disquieting, seeming to want to suck everything in, never letting anything out.

And yet, as if nothing were happening, Reiner opened his lips, letting inaudible sounds and sound parasites emerge, before suddenly everything stabilized as he finished his sentence.

"...It's a quarter to twelve already."

"Yes, you were sleeping well so I left you. I was going to wake you up at half past twelve if you were still asleep."

Alice replied while scratching the back of her head. Letting Reiner speak instead without much conviction as he walked away, shaking his shoulders.

"Well I'm going to make dinner, can you turn the TV up a bit so I can hear from the kitchen please?"

Once in the kitchen, Reiner took out some spaghetti, which seemed to be shaking slightly, some of it disappearing partially or completely. He then boiled some water on a hot plate, while listening to some of the nonsensical theories on the news. And yet, in the midst of all this uninteresting talk, something woke up Reiner, who was on the verge of falling asleep as he leaned on one of the corners of a cupboard.

"Don't forget that at precisely 1 p.m. a speech by our great leader Artus on the asteroid will be broadcast from our TV channel, as well as all other TV and radio channels, as an exceptional program interruption. If you're not at home, the announcement can also be seen online on our channel's website, or the government's."

After hearing this, Reiner approached Alice, who hadn't moved, and said.

"Well, maybe in an hour we'll find out what it's all about, after all."

"What would make me laugh would be if the conspiracists were right."

Alice replied, giggling, which also made Reiner laugh, and he replied, trying to regain his composure.

"Do you think it has anything to do with the Martian mining colony losing contact?"

Alice then pondered for a few seconds before shaking her head and mumbling.

"I don't think so, there are only synthetics up there, and if it was really serious there would have been a distress call, some country would have taken the initiative to go and investigate, especially the great empire of china. Right now, it looks more like a communications jam linked to a solar flare or something."

"Yet we still have our ties to the moon."

Reiner grunted, scratching his chin.

"But the moon's a lot closer, and it's just a dump so even if there were no more communications it wouldn't make any difference, there's barely a few simple recycling drones out there, and a couple of matter transmutation devices."

Reiner then shrugged, leaving the kitchen to return rather quickly with a plate so hot in his hand that he couldn't restrain himself from letting out a little shriek. Seeing what Reiner was doing, Alice stared at him more intensely, sighing.

"You could at least take care of yourself..."

Reiner only gave her an embarrassed smile in response, as he began to eat, burning his tongue in the process. Seeing him do so, Alice covered his face with her hands, while the sounds of cutlery and television had become the only background music in the room.

Having finished eating and cleaned his cutlery, Reiner sat down on the sofa with Alice, waiting curiously for the announcement.

When the scheduled time arrived, all channels simultaneously broadcast the image of a politician, the great governor. After a few seconds of silence, the man spoke mechanically, as if he'd memorized his speech, but something was bothering him.

"Dear citizens, I have important news for you in these troubled times. The leaders of every country, myself included, have reached an agreement that has been historic since the War of Unification: to be transparent with our people about the nature of the situation in the United States of America.

The man then took a deep breath before continuing.

"This object is no ordinary asteroid as many have suspected. It is the first sign of life in the universe other than our own. The life forms contained within this asteroid appear to be endowed with some form of intellect, judging by their reactions, and strategies provided, to the approach of the few reconnaissance teams."

After clearing his throat, the leader resumed his discourse in a more natural voice.

"We may be facing a crisis similar to the Great Unification War. But this time the enemy is not another human, and we are not divided, but united. We have therefore decided almost unanimously to send military reinforcements to the United States of America, in response to their request for reinforcements in the face of possible threats. Our soldiers were dispatched yesterday, but the situation has not improved. My council and I have therefore decided to mobilize all reservist troops, both human and mechanical. All reservists should prepare accordingly, as transport ships will be coming to pick you up later today."

The man then paused, catching his breath, his voice becoming more authoritative.

"No refusals will be tolerated, and for no reason other than one of the rare disabilities that cannot be cured. Any usurpation will be punishable by imprisonment. Prostheses and operations will be provided for all reservists with minor disabilities they cannot afford to treat, as a reward for their participation in this war. As information is still too limited at this stage, I have nothing to add. Information will be provided to the soldiers once they arrive.

The speech ended suddenly, as quickly as it had begun, leaving Reiner and Alice puzzled by what they had heard. It wasn't until a journalist spoke that they turned their attention back to the screen.

"To follow up on our honored leader's announcement, we have been given the honor of being able to add details to this speech. The unstable contact with Mars has been cut off for three and a half days now, the androids on site and the communication systems no longer responding as you know. However, these two events are in all likelihood unrelated, and teams are currently being mobilized to re-establish communications with the mining colony. And there's no danger involved. Don't do anything rash that could land you in prison, or even the death penalty, in a panic as has happened in the past. We're not threatened, so you have nothing to worry about. That concludes this program interruption, and we wish you a pleasant day."

The journalist then adopted a slightly forced smile, before the screen changed to show the old team of journalists resuming their work. One of them spoke up, scratching his cheek.

"That concludes the special announcement, we'll see you after the commercial break!

Reiner accordingly muted the sound as the seen-and-been-seen commercials began to play on the TV, before Alice spoke up, slightly hesitant.

"Are you a reservist?"

Reiner was about to reply to Alice, but before he could, everything became unstable again, trembling, dislocating all around him, even letting Alice disappear almost entirely. Nothing remained in their places but the same mute abyssal blackness, which even seemed to impede Reiner's barely audible words, while his expression seemed to pain, despite his forced smile.

"No, uh-uh ... -against Clovis is one-"

Reiner closed his mouth again and reached out into the abyssal darkness, clutching a phone that hadn't been visible a few seconds ago, but was now quite clear. He remained silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth again, but no audible or comprehensible sound came out. Instead, his body began to disappear, leaving only a small part of Alice in the abyss.

Suddenly, she began to reappear as the last element in this jet-black landscape, only to lose her usual appearance, displaying instead a face composed of destroyed parts, revealing her internal infrastructure. She was also now dressed in a light military uniform, shredded in places, revealing in turn a white skin or complex mechanical and robotic parts, visible between her various tremors. Parts of her body disappearing, shifting, floating away from her body. All these problems were accentuated when she spoke in a robotic, time-worn voice.

"Sou...venir co- co-rompue... reprise stable dans dix...neuf neuf...huit...quatre...dix-neuf...six...huit...huit...huit... deu-"

Suddenly, the abyssal blackness began to change, giving way to the living room of Reiner's apartment with Reiner and Alice at a window, their faces wearing incredulous, terrified expressions. They were illuminated only by the flames visible on the ground, carried by flying shuttles and various cars destroyed by the flames eating away at the exterior.

What's more, men in light, reinforced military uniforms, emblazoned with "police", were firing old pulse rifles at a crowd. This same crowd was armed with even older firearms, and a few homemade Molotov cocktails, in addition to homemade weapons of all qualities, or even more modern plasma rifles. Leaving the banners and tags on the walls displaying "No to forced total mobilization" burned or melted, only making this paradox even more glaring. The paradox of generating and participating in armed conflict in order not to participate in armed conflict.

However, everything blurred again, nothing was stable, and Salvatoris slowly opened his eyes, alone with his undead, in the ruined bunker that had brought him to this vision. His expression was twisted with pain and incomprehension.