Peace Army Read Free Page B

ground.
    Although much faster than the carriers he had grown up with, this new version was constricting in its size. Where normal carriers were utilitarian vehicles designed to carry a dozen or more passengers from once place to another, this new variety carried a maximum of two people in tiny, separate compartments. The jet carrier was meant for two things: speed and war.
    In addition to the jet design initially described by Grant, but developed by Tane’s ever-growing research and development team, the vehicle boasted a wide range of weapon systems and defensive countermeasures. According to Grant, ancient armies known as “air forces” were built around similar, though not quite as efficient, flying machines.
    Tane and Mouse were finally home from the three-day trip that had them visiting the generals of each of the four other Culture Armies. The four generals reported directly to Grant, who also acted as the general of the N’mercan Armed Forces. The purpose of the trip was to notify the other Cultures of the impending arrival of another Minith mothership, and to alert them to the coming battle.
    Tane and Mouse had found the other generals and their Culture Armies woefully unprepared for what was headed their way.
    Grant had worked miracles preparing Earth and its citizens for this day, but it was an uphill battle at best. Reversing hundreds of years of forced indoctrination toward a peaceful society could not be accomplished in a short period—even when the fate of the planet rested in the balance. The majority of the world’s population was too fixated on Peace to understand the need for an army, weapons, or soldiers, much less the fighting that those things implied. Billions would prefer to let the Minith destroy the planet to picking up a weapon and fighting against their ultimate destruction.
    The concept of Peace threatened to strangle any hope for success against a Minith return. It was a deeply bred flaw—one that the human psyche, once geared toward the concept, could not easily shake. At least, not in less than a single generation.
    The best chance of breaking the cycle rested with the youngest generation of humans. At the direction of the Leadership Council six years earlier, all children six years or younger were held out of the formerly required Peace training sessions. Tendencies toward violence were officially relaxed for the first time in more than two hundred years.
    Parents were required by their leaders to be tolerant of pushing, shoving, and hitting. Instead of using old techniques for stopping and redirecting outbursts, parents were instructed on how to properly guide the behaviors. Children were no longer put into Peace training classes or subjected to mind-alteration therapies. Parents were directed to explain to children that hitting and kicking were acceptable, but only if done to protect themselves or others from attack or abuse.
    But knowing what is needed and being able to provide it are two wholly separate things. Many complied and did their best. Other parents could not adjust, though their future and the world’s future depended on it. So they refused to comply with the Council’s directives and raised their children as they had been raised. Still others complied, but could not bear to see their children express the mildest displays of violence. Most of these eventually turned their children over to Council-run orphanages and care centers.
    Within these orphanages, trained instructors were hired and all followed the letter and intent of the Leadership directives. Children in these facilities quickly outnumbered the trained adults and they grew up fighting as kids once did, often outside the “only when to protect yourself” guidelines. Nature was permitted to take its course and the strongest and smartest children quickly led their groups. Not surprisingly, the children who showed the most promise of becoming future soldiers came from these places. But there were too few, and they