When the Devil Dances

What has always seemed distant to many Americans has always been real and close to me. I have had to wonder how many of my schoolmates were in the crowd that stormed the embassy in Teheran. I’ve had to wonder if my best friend from fifth grade died in the Bosnian conflict. And I’ve always wondered what “it” was going to be. What “it” was that was going to sufficiently shock my fellow countrymen out of their complacency. Was “it” going to be a nuke in Washington? Or smallpox? Or anthrax?

As things turned out, “it” was destroying the Twin Towers.

In WWII, for the British, “it” was the invasion of Poland, and even more so the invasion of France. For the U.S. “it” was Pearl Harbor. Democracies require an “it,” a defining moment when the call to arms is so clear that the most complacent hear the trumpets.

Where we are going in the future is uncertain. We may yet descend into cataclysmic warfare to dwarf my books. Or we may “change the paradigm” and hammer through on the backs of our elite. I don’t know what we shall find in the tunnel ahead. I do know this, though. That is all that it is. A dark tunnel. There is a light at the end; it is not another train, it is the future. We will create that future as Americans always have: a better, brighter future.

All we need do, as a nation, is drive through to the end.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,

Age shall not weary them… nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them!

— Lawrence Binyon

John Ringo

Commerce, GA

October 5, 2001

Glossary

abat — Small, generally inoffensive Posleen pest.

Attenrenalslar — Five percenter Kessentai in Rochester.

Blastplas — Material that blastdoors are made from.

Castleman Avenue — One side (the east) of the “box” in Rochester.

Chengdu — City near western limit of Posleen advance in China.

Cholosta’an — Junior Kessentai.

chorho — Birthplace.

cosslain — Superior normal.

defib — Defibrillator.

devourers — Digging machines.

Drasanar — “Patrolmaster,” operations officer in charge of patrols.

edas — Set-up debt. Also any general debt.

eson’sora — Junior officer/protégé.

Essthree — S-3, Operations.

Esstu — S-2, Intelligence.

estanaar — Greater Warleader/Khan.

Forty-Three — Uncompleted SheVa.

Forty-Two — SheVa in Rochester.

Galplas — Standard Galactic structural material.

grat — Malicious Posleen pest. Only eats abat. Similar in appearance to a large wasp. Very territorial and aggressive.

Halligan — Type of entry tool.

Irmansul — Darhel planet currently under attack by the Posleen.

Kenstain — God Kings who act as castellaine.

Kerlan — Posleen name for Barwhon.

Luoxia Shan — Mountainous region in China.

micrite — Small UAV, larger than a nannite.

oolt — Posleen company.

oolt Po’osol — Lamprey. Holds Posleen company and Kessentai.

oolt’ondai — “Colonel,” brigade/battalion commander.

oolt’ondar — Brigade (B-Dec unit)/battalion (C-Dec unit).

oolt’os — Posleen normal.

oolt’po’slen’ar — C-Dec. Holds four Posleen companies (oolt’ondar). Commanded by an oolt’ondai.

orna’adar — Posleen Ragnarok.

Orostan — Senior Posleen. Oolt’ondai.

Pendergrass Mountain — Mountain near Franklin, N.C.

plasteel — Galactic armor.

polylon — Galactic weaving material.

Po’oslena’ar — Posleen.

PreserFilm — Weapon sealing material.

Ramsardal — Kessentai. Casualty in Clayton.

Staraquon — Posleen S-2.

Teneral — Flying tanks.

thresh’c’oolt — Posleen iron rations.

Westbury — Area on the Ontario Plain.

Xian — City in Eastern China. Last major defensive action on the part of the Chinese.

SheVa I Specifications

Height: 170 ft. ground to top of turret

Treads: four

Tread height: 27 ft.

Tread width, individual tread: 150 ft.

Weight of individual tread: 37 tons

Total vehicle width: 385 ft.

Total vehicle length: 468 ft.

Gun length: 200 ft. including barrel and breech

Gun bore: 16”

Round weight: 16 tons, projectile, cartridge and propellant.

Cartridge length: 14.7 ft.

Cartridge diameter: 27 inches

Reactors: 4 Johannes/Cummings pebble-bed uranium/helium

Drive motors: 48

Total power: 12,000 horsepower

Unloaded weight: 7,000 tons approximate

Calculation of PSI Overpressure Wave for Nuclear Explosions