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Business As Usual

By Alan Baylis

The laser tank was moving slowly but steadily towards him. From his foxhole, sergeant Smith could see the trail of destruction left behind as the main beam swept out an arc ahead of itself. Everything, including the terrain to a depth of twenty feet, was burnt to a fine white ash in its wake. Strobe lighting lit up the night sky as helicopter gunships from his own company relentlessly pounded the tank with missiles. They simply impacted on the tanks shields and did nothing to halt its advance. His own presence was hardly going to stop it either but his orders were to hold this post. All he could do was hope that the continual bombardment would eventually overwhelm the tanks defences.

Out the corner of his eye he spotted someone coming towards him, dressed in red from head to foot, hopping from one crater hole to the next. As he got closer Smith could see the familiar microphone that the reporters carried in front of themselves like a baton. The reporter made a final dash across a barren stretch of land and jumped into the foxhole beside him.
'Terrible business this, wouldn't you say?' the reporter asked, shoving the microphone towards Smith.
'We're just following orders.' he replied.
'But the loss of life and destruction of the environment has to be a consideration, wouldn't it?'
'I'm just a sergeant, I didn't start this mess.' was the best he could come up with.
'What triggered the current wave of aggression?' the reporter asked cynically.
'Our company reduced the price of our softdrink range yesterday. This forced the opposition to enter into hostile negotiations.'
'I see,' said the reporter 'any idea when this conflict will be over?'
'I have no idea.'
'Ok, thankyou for your time.' and with that the reporter hurriedly left the hole.

Smith watched him leave, weaving a path amongst the wreckage of past sales campaigns, heading for safer ground. As he sat back down in his hole, turning his attention back to the oncoming tank, he thought that all he really wanted was to join him.