Jack of Harts

“I’ve got your back, John,” Cassie said.

His displays flashed with recommendations and target locks.

“Never doubted it for a second,” Christensen said and sprang back to his feet. He lined the rifle in his right hand up on one enemy quad, waited a moment for the display to flash a target lock, and pulled the trigger. The secondary barrel glowed with electromagnetic energy for an instant before spitting out a single high explosive round that shot across the Martian landscape faster than the speed of sound. The kinetic energy alone was enough to breach the armor of anything but the heaviest enemy tanks. He would have needed a proper armor-piercing warhead to take one of them out, but the unarmored quad and its rider were an entirely different matter. It was akin to beating a piñata with a sledgehammer.

The other quads opened fire and rounds bounced off his armor or sent showers of red Martian dirt into the air all around him.

Christensen rode the recoil and turned away from the exploding quad. He stepped up onto the rim of the small crater, bringing the heavy rifle in his left hand to aim at another target. He pulled that trigger, kinetic energy flashed, and his second target exploded. He rode the recoil once more and brought the first rifle down on a third target. A stream of enemy rounds smashed into it and sparks filled his view. Powerful electromagnetic coils crackled their energy all over the Martian landscape. His display flashed red warning signs as the rifle fried itself to death in his hand.

***

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Two weeks ago, during the Democrat Convention, there was no violence in our streets worth talking about. But the Covid-19 epidemic was so terrifying that every speech was phoned in over the internet, and even when fully socially distanced masks were worn like a ward against the plague at nearly all times.

One week ago, during the Republican Convention, the epidemic of violence, destruction, and murder in our streets was the greatest threat to our Republic. The Chinese Virus was rarely talked about, unless blaming China for attacking us, many speeches were conducted live from inside a socially distanced convention center, and masks were rarely seen, even when people were not socially distancing themselves.

It is amazing how different the world is today, all seemingly based on the political beliefs we have. The things we fear are different. The causes and people we support. And often, we do not seem to recognize what the other side fears at all.

That is not a recipe for working together to either Make America Great Again or to Build Back Better…