That evening, before the dinner prayer, the raspy-voiced pastor came by to speak to all the recruits in the chow hall. Roland missed Martyr Ditmar’s introduction of the pastor (he was too busy puking up and surreptitiously eating his last bag of drugs) but his ears perked up when the wild-haired old nutfuck launched into his speech.

“The burdens placed on the Warriors of God are great. You men have sworn yourselves to a ponderous duty. But that duty does not end on the battlefield. If the Heavenly Kingdom is to remain and expand, we will need you to fight in the field and with your other God-given attributes.”

This elicited a dim chorus of chuckles from the audience. It took Roland an embarrassing amount of time to realize what the preacher was talking about. Ah jeez, this speech is about fuckin’.

“The Lord commands us to be fruitful and multiply,” the pastor wheezed, “but he also calls us to respect the sacred bonds of Holy Matri­mony. In times of war, the times we all live in now, this might seem to create some difficulty. But that’s only because most of us are trained to think of marriage in the secular context. The average married couple in the American Federation ‘dates’ for eight years before being wed. In California, it’s closer to ten. Of course, in both those places, ‘dating’ is more or less a form of cashless prostitution.”

Roland had to strain to avoid rolling his eyes. Next to him, Manny listened dutifully. His face was almost unreadable.

“Perhaps people who don’t trust their creator need years of time to decide if another person is a suitable partner. Happily, we have the Will of God to guide us. You young men are strong and virile and faithful. Your Lord wants you to find love. He wants you to bring more children into this world. This is why, as the hour of action draws closer, we still encourage each of you to spend time every day going out into the city and mingling with the other sheep of our great flock.”

Aha! Suddenly Roland understood. It had seemed odd to him that the Heavenly Kingdom, a state still so unformed and tumultuous, would devote time and resources to busing their military recruits downtown. It made sense now. They wanted all these young men to find women and fill them up with babies before they went off to die. It was grim as hell. But it was also quite logical.