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gonna happen to me–
    And there’s a fizzing sound and a burning feeling in my arm and I instinctively lean away from it but I see a Spackle with one of those white sticks pointed at me and I see the cloth from my uniform burning away in a foul-smelling steam and the skin under it feeling like it’s been slapped and I realize if I’d been two centimetres over I’d have probably just lost my arm and–
    BANG!
    A rifle shot beside me and the Mayor’s there and he’s shot the Spackle, shot him to the ground, saying, “That’s twice now, Todd.”
    And he plunges back into battle.

{VIOLA}
    Bradley starts to answer Mistress Coyle but Simone speaks first, “Yes, we can.”
    “Simone!” Bradley snaps.
    “But fire them where?” Simone continues. “Into which army?”
    “Into the Spackle!” Mistress Coyle shouts.
    “A moment ago you wanted our help to stop this President’s army!” Bradley says. “And Viola told us you tried to kill her to suit your own ends. Why exactly should we trust your opinion?”
    “You
shouldn’t,
” I say.
    “Not even when I’m
right,
my girl!?” Mistress Coyle says, pointing at the projection. “The battle is being lost!” We can see a break in the darker line of men and a pulse like a river bursting its banks as the Spackle pour through.
    Todd,
I think.
Get out of there.
    “We could send a point-to-point at the base of the hill,” Simone says.
    Bradley turns to her, shocked. “And have our first action here be killing hundreds of the local species, the local
intelligent
species that, in case you’re forgetting, we’re going to have to live with for the
rest of our lives
?”
    “The rest of your very short lives if you don’t hurry up and
do something
!” Mistress Coyle practically screams.
    “We could just show them our fire-power,” Simone says to Bradley. “Get them to back off and then try and negotiate–”
    Mistress Coyle makes a hard clucking sound. “You
can’t
negotiate with them!”
    “
You
did,” Bradley says and turns back to Simone. “Look, we jump into the middle of a
war
? Without even knowing which side to
trust
? We just blow something up and hope the consequences aren’t too terrible?”
    “People are dying!” Mistress Coyle yells.
    “People you were just asking us to KILL!” Bradley shouts back. “If the President committed genocide, maybe they’re just after
him
and us attacking will only cause an even bigger mess!”
    “That’s enough!” Simone snaps, suddenly like the Mission Commander. Bradley and Mistress Coyle stop. Then Simone says, “Viola?”
    They all look at me.
    “You’re the one who’s been here,” Simone says. “What do
you
think we should do?”

[T ODD ]
    We’re losing–
    There ain’t no two ways about it–
    Me knocking down the Spackle on the horned creacher only made things better for a second–
    The men keep pushing forward and firing their guns and Spackle are falling and dying everywhere–
    But they keep coming down the hill–
    And there’s so many more of ’em than there are of us–
    The only thing that’s saved us so far is that they ain’t been able to get another one of those fire things down to the bottom of the hill yet–
    But there’re more coming–
    And when they get here–
    I AM THE C IRCLE AND THE C IRCLE IS ME.
    Thumping thru my head as the Mayor’s horse bumps into Angharrad, so exhausted now she’s barely lifting her nose–
    “Keep in the moment!” he shouts, firing his gun past me. “Or all is lost!”
    “All is lost!” I shout back. “We can’t win this!”
    “It’s always darkest before the dawn, Todd.”
    I look at him, baffled. “No, it ain’t! What kinda stupid saying is that? It’s always lightest before the dawn!”
    D OWN! he puts in my head and I duck before I even think about it and an arrow flies right thru the space where my head just was.
    “That’s three times,” the Mayor says.
    And then there’s another blast of the Spackle horn, so loud you can