The Last Marine : Book Two (A Dystopian War Novel) by T.S. Ransdell

Author:T.S. Ransdell [Ransdell, T.S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Of course it is!” Harris laughed, to Levine’s surprise. “Where’s the danger in being a slave? There’s no danger in doing what others tell you to do, or thinking what others tell you to think. But be the man God made you? That’ll piss off a lot of folks.”

“Yes, and some are very powerful.” Levine imagined Madam General Perro. “So why do it? Where’s the value in it?”

“A free man has got a right to own his thoughts, like anything else he creates or makes for himself. It makes life worth living. That’s your value. Otherwise you’re just dying a slow death.”

Like Sergeant MacTaggart in Perro’s office. Joel closed his eyes and pushed the memory away. “That all sounds quaint. Like something my grandfather would have said.” Levine shifted his glance up to look Harris in the eye. “Maybe that was true in his day, and yours. But today it’s compliance and submission that make life worth living. It’s the only way to get VIP status.”

“People with VIP status can say and think what they want?”

Levine thought of his own situation. If he wrote a history General Perro didn’t want, he would not keep his VIP status. At the very least, it would end his career.

It’s like dealing with my grandfather, Levine thought. How do I tell a man like Harris that freedom isn’t worth the risk of ruin? That it’s too far gone and just not worth the fight to get it back?

“So, at that point in time, it’s right before the attempted coup.” Levine wanted to shake the thoughts in his head and get back to the task at hand. “Some have suggested the San Diego police were involved. One theory is that the Marines’ attack on the peace marchers was a signal to the Marines in China to instigate their mutiny. Others argue it was the other way around. That is, the mutiny kicked everything off. What light, if any, can you shed on this?”

“What’s the government’s perspective right now?” Harris asked as an answer.

“There’s never been an official history. That’s why I have the job to create one. It has been acceptable, over the decades, to presume the Marines were a problem waiting to happen. Clark’s Marine Corps is perceived as evidence that international peace cannot exist when cultures breed and train men for war. Thus…” Levine paused, thinking of how to inoffensively state the truth.

“We had to be destroyed,” Harris finished for him.

Levine shifted around, not able to get comfortable. “It was for the sake of peace.” Levine sheepishly regurgitated the reasoning cited through his school years. “A matter of moral integrity, really.”

“Of course.” Harris laughed. “Re-education has taught me: Marines killing during an act of war is murder; but when progressives kill, then it’s justice.”

“Some have said the turnover of Ragnarsson instigated the mutiny,” Levine went on, not wanting to think about what Harris said, but then still thinking about it. “Tell me,” Joel continued after a pause, “do you see the turnover of Ragnarsson as an injustice?”

Harris, assuming the question was rhetorical, said nothing.

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