To Be A Rebel

Chapter 43: Live And Let Die

"Okay, Five. I reckon we can stop here and have a think," Louise says, and we slow to a stop.

"Blimey," Sam says. "Who would have adult-sized tricycles in a replica of the hotel from The Shining? Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

I look at the tricycle I'm on. The worst thing it's done in terms of giving us trouble is it nearly tipped over when I tried to stand on it, but it's surprisingly fast so I've been riding it. I look like an idiot, but my legs are getting tired and this takes less effort than running.

"Some people really do want to ask for trouble," Amelia says. "It's a personality thing."

"If we've got a minute, can we just talk about what the hell we're going to do with this nuclear button we just nicked from this eccentric billionaire who collects film sets?" Louise asks.

"And, subsidiary point," Jody says, "are we going to give it to the Exmoore Militia?"

"I mean, really, what is a nuclear button?" Sam asks.

"It's a call button," Amelia says before I can. "Puts in a call to a nuclear sub. There will be a few of them still patrolling British waters on tours of duty lasting seven to ten years. They'll have no idea what's going on up here at all. No way to contact them if they've gone dark, except this. One press of that button, and you can communicate with them directly, tell them where to point the nukes, and that they have authorization to fire." She blinks when she notices me gaping at her. "What?"

"You... know a lot about that," I state. Most civilians don't know about this kind of thing. I didn't learn about it until I had been at the A.M.T.B. for nearly nine months, and it was really the Torrencers that told me about that.

"I know a lot about a lot of things," She answers. "I'm great in a pop quiz."

"And what do we think the Exmoore Militia want with it?" Jody asks.

"What do you think?" I ask. "You tell somebody, 'I have this box and with the press of a button I could blow you all up unless you do exactly as I say', what do you think's gonna happen? They're obviously wanting this as a play on power."

"But how do you know?"

"Can you think of any other reason as to why they'd want it? Because I can't."

"Uh, yeah. Guys, sorry, but I think we're going to have to debate the ethics of nuclear warfare while on the run," Sam says. "You've got to keep running. Uh, head towards Rivendell." He laughs in disbelief. "Bloody hell. It is actually Rivendell."

I get off the tricycle, wishing that I could take it with me, but knowing that it would be a waste of time and energy. Plus the tricycle was just to give my legs a break. So I go on, running alongside Louise and Amelia with the nuclear button in hand.

This is... not good. It's not good at all. This button can give a person more power than you can imagine. With the threat of blowing up entire cities, they could get anyone and everyone to do whatever you want them to. That's why they didn't want us to look inside this box. They knew we'd see it. They knew if they didn't ask, we'd look and we'd know what they're planning to do. These people must be thinking of using this in order to take over the whole country!

And knowing them, if they got pissed off enough, they might actually, cruelly go through with blowing up a county or city just to prove a point. It just couldn't have anything that's meant to be preserved on that land, since they're really weird about that.

We can't give this to them. We can't give a weapon like this one to shady people we barely know.

I don't think their trust or help is worth it, not when it comes to something like this. We need allies, but giving them this could put us in danger too. No, it would put us in more danger, even more danger than we are in now as Sigrid's enemy!