Chapter 131

Dear Marissa,

Wow, that's a lot to throw out, especially that misspelling of leagally. I giggled reading that, although I still can't think of a good pun for that mistake.

It does sound like you have discovered something new with the gates in space. I'm afraid I'll never understand them. I'm good at comprehending the physics of moving a heavy tank over rough terrain and I can usually judge what would be a good angle for Erica to take a shot, but force me from the ground and I quickly get lost in the math. I can't do it in my head at that point.

But then again I don't have to. I'm a tank driver. And the truth is, I'll never be more than a tank driver. Well, maybe years from now I'll go the mustang route and become an officer, but for now Erica and I know we are too flighty to earn the respect of other tank crews. At least as officers. Our teammates listen to us and work well with us, but they know what we can do. Every time we've worked with new officers, even if other members of the Charging Rhinos tell that officer multiple times that Erica and I are good, we'll be talked down to. At least Fabio never allows them to rein us in completely.

Actually I did notice one of your points and talked to one of the professors whose part of our company. The man is an anthropologist, or at least he was, now he's a loader in one of the other tanks. The interesting thing is that he specialized in crowd behavior and had speculated a bit about Sa'arm intelligence or lack of intelligence. It's actually a common question on the front lines. The Sa'arm tend to ignore our military if it stays out of the way, but their responses when we do fight are vigorous and well coordinated.

Well, Erica and I asked about that. Sergeant McBain explained that he has a theory, but he admits it's a bit out there.

First, he pointed out that if you paid much attention to human crowds on Earth, they showed a surprising ability to turn as one and attack outsiders. It doesn't always happen because many humans at least want to pretend to be civilized. (I get the feeling he doesn't think much of most people.) However, he pointed out that celebrations of a sports team winning a championship often turn into wild drunken riots where people wearing outfits supporting other teams would be immediately and brutally attacked.

Once Erica and I accepted that he pulled up a biology video of some ant from Africa. I remember protesting the sudden change of topic, but Professor McBain just smiled and said we'd understand soon. Well, this ant species is a bit unusual. It swarms across the landscape in large masses, attacking any creature it comes across, but there are really two forms of ant involved. The first is the actual workers. They are small, fast, work well together thanks to chemical markers and bring the food home, but the border of their roads is protected by large soldiers who are actually blind and respond solely based on the chemical markers left by the workers.