Roland grunted again, his nostrils flared. There was something strange about the words Jim had chosen. No one left alive. Had there been others? He knew his mods had come courtesy of the old U.S. Defense Department, but he didn’t remember which unit he’d been a part of or what he’d done. There was a bit of memory, hazy and fragmented, that popped into his dreams from time to time–

He was stuck inside a long, cool metal pod. The cold black of space unfolded around him. Roland felt warm bodies to his left and right, smelled the comforting scents of Men He Trusted. Red lights blinked above his field of vision. Something tugged at his belly, there was a powerful feeling of inertia–Roland closed his eyes, leaned forward, pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned just a little bit. When he came back up Nana Yazzie stared at him in confusion. Jim looked, perhaps, worried? It was hard to tell with that guy.

“What’s going to happen if I don’t do it?” he asked Nana Yazzie.

“To you? Nothing.”

Roland shook his head. “Not to me. What are you guys going to do if I don’t help?”

“Oh,” she frowned. “I suppose we’ll have to mount an assault. Send in a small team, four to six commandos, and try to pull them out.”

“It’ll be bloody,” Jim said.

The old man frowned at that. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but the lady put her hand on his and gave him a significant look.

“That’s true,” she said, “it will be bloody.”

Roland felt a twinge of anger, but he couldn’t blame Nana Yazzie for trying to manipulate him. The lives of her friends were on the line. Roland knew himself, though, and he knew that missions like this always went wrong. If he took this job Roland knew he’d take more lives.

“You’ll save lives by being there,” Jim insisted, smiling. That fucking smile. Roland was sure that smile had tricked him into dumb, violent things in the past. “You’re the only one who can handle this with a minimum of death.”

Roland didn’t believe that and, at the same time, he had to admit it was technically true. He just didn’t trust himself, or reality, or Jim. And yet–

“I’ll do it,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll regret agreeing to do it, but whatever. I’ll do it.”

Jim looked satisfied with himself. Nana Yazzie looked relieved. The old man looked, somehow, angry?