Earth Awakens by Card Orson Scott & Johnston Aaron

Author:Card, Orson Scott & Johnston, Aaron [Card, Orson Scott & Johnston, Aaron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, Age Range 2 Older Audience, War, Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781429948814
Amazon: 0765367386
Goodreads: 19478403
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2014-06-10T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Dragon’s Den

Bingwen and the MOPs were standing on a dusty two-lane road ten klicks southeast of Dragon’s Den when the truck arrived to pick them up. All around them was death and rot. The road they were on cut through the center of a valley filled with rice fields, and the Formic gas had killed everything here a long time ago. Paddy frogs lay belly-up in the muck, their skin sun scorched and dry as a raisin. A bloated water buffalo lay half submerged in the mud, decomposing amid a cloud of flies. The rice crop lay withered and black atop the standing water, the surface of which glistened with a toxic oily film. The sight of it all made Bingwen grateful for his radiation suit, which kept out the gag-inducing smell of decay.

The truck parked directly in front of them, and the Chinese soldier behind the wheel hopped down, moved to the back of the truck, and lowered the gate for them to board. He wore a biosuit, and when he turned back, Bingwen saw that he was only a boy. Fourteen at the most, not even old enough to drive. The suit was probably the smallest size available, but like Bingwen’s it hung limp on the soldier’s narrow shoulders like a rubber blanket.

Were boys lying about their ages now to enlist? Bingwen wondered. The influx of Indian commandos was alleviating the burden on the Chinese military, but maybe it wasn’t enough. Maybe China still needed anyone willing to join the fight.

Bingwen doubted the military would take him, however. He was small for an eight-year-old, and even the most lenient of recruiters wouldn’t believe him a day over ten.

A young Chinese lieutenant got out of the cab on the passenger side, and Bingwen knew at once that there would be trouble. The lieutenant was tall and thin with a hard, tight line for a mouth and suspicious eyes that darted between all of the MOPs in an instant. A sidearm was holstered at the waist of his biosuit, and his hand rested on it as he approached. He spotted Bingwen and crinkled his nose.

“I was told to bring in soldiers, not boys.” His English was good, but his accent was heavy.

“He’s part of our unit,” said Deen.

“A boy among a group of men. One can’t help but wonder what you used him for.”

Bingwen didn’t understand the lieutenant’s meaning, but it was clearly offensive. Deen smiled in that way he did sometimes when he wanted to throttle someone.

“What’s your name, Lieutenant?” Deen asked pleasantly.

The lieutenant put his hands on his hips. “Li.”

“Well, Lieutenant Li, we’re MOPs. We’ve spent the last two weeks blowing up transports and skimmers and about three hundred Formics, give or take, without any word from our commanding officer. So when he calls us out of the blue and tells us to meet him at Dragon’s Den, we obviously stop what we’re doing and come. He’s even going to send a truck to pick us up. Great, says I.

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