Dusk by Ashanti Luke

remarkably in the enemies it controlled. The cavalry
spun and twisted as arrows tore through armor and horses in a
well-orchestrated ballet of slaughter and terror. Men fell from
their mounts, horses trampled the living and dead alike, and only
the commander managed to scurry for cover behind a rock.
    “Wow,” Dr. Jang exhaled, “it looks like a
totally different scenario now. These guys just rode into the wrong
door at a slaughterhouse.”
    “Pause it,” Cyrus added calmly, admiring his
work. “The battle’s not over yet. We still have to take over the
base.”
    “Yeah, and we’re still outnumbered.”
    “Scroll over to the side again. What was that
structure I saw earlier?”
    Dr. Jang scrolled closer to the main base and
over to the right. “You mean this? That’s a supply depot. It
confuses them for a little while if you take it over, but it
doesn’t really help much.”
    “There’s only those guys on the inside
defending it?”
    “Yeah, but they are pretty strong.”
    “Will the men come out of the main fortress
if assistance is needed at the supply base?”
    “Yeah, if you are taking too long to beat the
supply captains, or if you set the place on fire. But you have to
do that from the inside.”
    “Hmm,” Cyrus pondered the situation for a
moment, “Can your archers help with the fire attack?”
    “If you combine them with the fire attack
unit they can launch flaming arrows from a distance.”
    “Okay, send your archers to this hill here.”
Cyrus let a feeble yawn escape as he pointed out the hill in front
of the supply depot. “Rush your foot soldiers to the front, but
then stop. When the gates to the depot open, fire your arrows
inside. If the men here are as clumsy as the cavalry, they will
stumble over themselves trying to figure out whether the fire or
your foot soldiers are more important. Have the foot soldiers run
to the back of the supply depot and when the reinforcements come,
set another fire behind them and rain arrows down on them from the
hill.”
    Dr. Jang chuckled to himself as he reached to
enter some commands into the game, “We sure are setting a lot of
things on fire.”
    “Even people fascinated with fire are afraid
of it. I’d say it’s one of the most fearsome things in the human
imagination.”
    Dr. Jang finished entering the series of
commands Cyrus had dictated. He kept the system paused as he turned
back to Cyrus, “Why do you think that is?”
    “I think it’s because one way or the other,
everything burns. The trick is getting something warmed up enough
to reach its flash point. But once it’s burned, it ain’t coming
back. Fire is decisive, permanent, and unforgiving.”
    Dr. Jang’s eyes focused on Cyrus’s rather
intently for a brief moment and then relaxed as he let out a hybrid
sigh-chuckle. He started to say something, reconsidered, and then
said it anyway, “You ever say anything like that to anyone who
didn’t think you were a twisted freebirth after you said it?” The
words came out rushed and awkward.
    Cyrus smiled a little to reassure Dr. Jang he
was not offended, “I said something like that to my wife once, but
she was already indubitably convinced I was a twisted
freebirth.”
    “If this long-winded scheme of yours works,
twisted freebirth or not, you have my respect.” Dr. Jang turned
back and was about to let the commands run their course, but he
stopped again, hand hovering over the controls. “Just do me a
favor. Don’t tell anyone about me hacking this game into the
system.”
    “If anyone hears it, they won’t hear it from
me. But you’re gonna have trouble keeping it from any other
scientists who venture in here to burn the midnight oil.”
    “Honestly, I don’t mind if anyone else knows,
or even plays. That would be stellar if they did. I just don’t want
Dr. Villichez to find out. That guy reminds me too much of my
halabagi.” Dr. Jang exhaled a weak chuckle again and set the battle
in motion, awaiting the