She had studied all the nonsense, Yak thought, all the pop
proverbs. She had them memorized. “You saved me,” she insisted,
“Now let me save you. Without this, we’ve lost it all. Undergrounds,
World O’Partments, Gymnesia. The world will be a sad place without
them.”
“It will always be a sad place,” Yak insisted, “There’s no use
making it sadder.” She reached over and playfully grabbed his ass.
He jumped, and she surged ahead, the halfwayers cutting in between
them. They swarmed around her like drones around their queen.
When they arrived at Gymnesia at seven in the morning it was
already full of people. These were the hardest of the hard-core
Martian soldiers. They were called that now: Martians.They decided
to honor Martin by printing up tight white T-shirts that announced
this very fact. They believed that the earth was going to hell and
blamed the human race for that. It was a joke, albeit a serious one,
that because of this they had to renounce their status as humans. As
Mars was the Greek god of war, the name seemed all the more apt.
They had embarked on a righteous campaign. Refusing to believe
that their exercise could not be put to good use, many had
contributed their own funds to keep the place going. And now that
they had a genuine martyr to inspire them, the place was going like
crazy.
“I’m sorry,” can I see your membership cards?” the sculpted
woman at the front desk said. Two enormous guards eyed them with
cruel suspicion.
“Oh shit,” said Colin. “We’ll never get in here.”
“This place looks worse than the Pentagon,” Bennie said.
“Hi Jenny,” Sprout said, glancing at her nametag. “How are
you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. We’re on a major mission to avenge Martin and also to
publicly destroy Biddenbrooks. Would you like to join us?”
Jenny briefly raised what was left of her plucked eyebrow. “Oh
yeah,” she said.
“Then let us in, please. I need to address the Martians.”
“Just you,” Jenny pointed a shiny nail at her. “The others can
stay here.” The way she said otherssent a chill up their spines. She
charged into the workout area alone. The others waited patiently and
watched the TV. A video was on warning of the dreaded White Earth
Scenario. Apparently, if pushed too far from its present weather
ABYSSINIA
260
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