Jack of Harts

Another debate is in the can, and after last week I decided to watch it very carefully. The first thing I was looking for was who would interrupt the other first. I figured it would happen fairly soon, probably after the first round of question and answer. I was not disappointed when Harris interrupted Pence fairly early in the debate. Though it did not delve into the total crash and burn of last week’s debate.

Harris spent most of the debate attacking Trump, rather than the man she was debating. And Pence spent most of his time talking about the policies the Trump/Pence administration had, were, and would be conducting. Harris made a lot of funny faces and called Trump dishonest. Pence stayed calm and went a bit long on most of his answers, to the point that I was getting tired of the moderator trying to shut him up in the middle of sentences filled with information I actually wanted to hear.

There was one big confrontation between them when Pence tried to get Harris to answer the question about whether they would pack the supreme court, and then took the stage back when she didn’t have a quick answer and told everybody that of course they would do it if elected. There were numerous other confrontations and disagreements between them as well, but the moderator did fairly well at making certain each had the time to answer the questions the way they wanted to. Including giving extra time to Harris after she and Pence argued about some point of fact.

The thing I liked most about the debate is that we heard from both candidates and they had the time to say what they thought in response to the questions. That is the role of a good debate in my opinion. With some room for them to disagree in real time and call each other on those opinions and the facts that back them up or disprove them. We got that in the Pence Harris debate, and so I consider it a mostly successful debate.

I personally think that Pence’s calm demeanor and presentation helped him win the night, though I do admit to being biased on the point. I have always liked those aspects of his personality, and wish more politicians acted like him.

“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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