We Sons Of Daley [Manhattan Blues]

You live in the glorious DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CHICAGO. It has been your dream to join the GRAND ARMY since you started growing up in ILLINOIS and now you finally get the chance to do so. It certainly seems like a better deal than FARMING CORN AND BEANS to have HALF OF IT TAKEN AWAY at any rate.

You are in the RECRUITING OFFICE. It is from the PRE-BLOOM days, so of course it is in the BEST OF CONDITION. Cracked, IVY-COVERED PIPES leak CONDENSED WATER. Before you is a HEAVY, WOODEN DESK behind which sits the RECRUITMENT OFFICER.

What do you do?

Search for edifying PROPAGANDA PAMPHLETS!

>Tell the recruiting officer that you're here to sign up!

> REVIEW KNOWN INFORMATION.

>Try to look as dignified and disciplined as you can. Stand up straight! Throw back those shoulders!

> Search for edifying PROPAGANDA PAMPHLETS!

Oh, there are plenty of those! You've read most of them, but occasionally you like to leaf through them anyway. They're on a rack here, printed out on PLAIN PAPER, folded into THREE LEAVES.
-- "My Little Esper: Registration is SCIENCE"
-- "SIREN'S CALL: The Selkie Menace"
-- "CHICAGO FIRST TANK BATTALION: OUR BEST DEFENSE"
-- "An Informational Guide for Young Mages"
-- "Is SPECIAL FORCES right for you?"
-- "Grand Army Main Infantry: Holding The Line Against Anarchy And The Bloom."
-- "President Daley's Speech To Congress, Dec. 12, 2026"

You never bothered to look through the INFORMATIONAL GUIDE or MY LITTLE ESPER; you get that a lot of your friends around the SAME AGE AS YOU- SEVENTEEN, right now- are actually MAGES or ESPERS or KI-USERS, but it seems like a lot of hullabaloo over flashy lights and special effects.

> REVIEW KNOWN INFORMATION.

Well, let's see. Back about fifteen years ago, there was a HUGE CATACLYSM called the BLOOM. From what your PARENTS and TEACHERS told you and what you've PIECED TOGETHER, this was a period of IMMENSE PLANT GROWTH. You've heard that the SOUTHERN REGION was hit pretty hard in DECEMBER, but up near CHICAGO AND FARTHER NORTH, of course, it waited for the first thaw.

Worse than that, however, was the destruction of every TRANSISTOR then in use or being built. You have no idea what a TRANSISTOR is or WHY IT WOULD BE SO IMPORTANT, nor why your parents wish there was still something called an INTERNET. You gather it was a REALLY BIG LIBRARY OF SOME KIND.

PRESIDENT DALEY- MAY HE LIVE LONG- took control in the middle of the logistics disaster, and forced the GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS to MOBILIZE the NATIONAL GUARD. It STILL EXISTS, of course; but with COMMUNICATION WITH WASHINGTON cut off, Daley decided to bring in AS MANY CONGRESSMEN AS HE COULD, and established a TEMPORARY LEGISLATURE. With the TEMPORARY LEGISLATURE came a NEW CONSTITUTION. you will awaken soon

About five years later came the establishment of the FIRST TANK BATTALION, the GRAND ARMY MAIN INFANTRY, the REFORMED AIR FORCES, and THE SPECIAL FORCES UNIT. The NATIONAL GUARD still exists as a TRAINED MILITIA, but they are largely designed for TEMPORARY DEFENSIVE MEASURES.

Chicago has been slowly bringing the region into ORDER ever since.

>Tell the recruiting officer that you're here to sign up!

>Try to look as dignified and disciplined as you can. Stand up straight! Throw back those shoulders!

Oh! Right! Why were you woolgathering again? You walk up to the RECRUITER.

He gives you the HAIRY EYEBALL. "Yes? What do you want?"

"I'd like to sign up for the Grand Army, sir."

"You WH- ah... Right. May I ask your reasons?" He pauses. "And your name?"

John Daily! Because FUN duh.

stay asleep. Keep dreaming! Waking's for chumps.

Justine *cough* Justin Wendel.

Moloch Arlington! The fifth!

> Your name was Ace Harrington and you wear your sunglasses at night cause you're so damn cool.

Ronald Reagan Washington! And you BELIEVE IN THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY.

Harold Greenwood.

John Daily! Because FUN duh.

stay asleep. Keep dreaming! Waking's for chumps.

What? No. No no no, that would be TREASON. You're not the VICE PRESIDENT.

Ronald Reagan Washington! And you BELIEVE IN THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY.

Harold Greenwood.

Ace Harrington

Moloch Arlington!

"Harold Arlington, sir. And... Well, mostly I BELIEVE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO."

He continues to LOOK at you, like he's not sure which is more HORRIFYING- that you're TELLING THE TRUTH, or that you're LYING. "Aside from that," he says, lips pursed in a regaining of COMPOSURE. He folds his hands on top of the desk. You can hear a drop of water hit the CONCRETE FLOOR.

"... It seems better than FARMING for a living."

UNDERSTANDING DAWNS. "Ahhh. You're bored. Well, plenty of excitement in Grand Army, sure. At least until they stick you behind a desk." He seems SOUR. "Well, I suppose I'd better get this over with. Age?"

"Seventeen, sir."

"Seventeen?" Another careful look. "You got a GIFT?"

"Not that I'm aware, sir." You've always been odd among your CLASSMATES for that. They've been LEAVING TOWN more and more OFTEN.

"... All right, that's fine. Just to be sure, let me call over someone to have you CHECKED OUT." He looks over a schedule. "Hm... The next coach to base is TOMORROW." He nods. "Let's go ahead and fill out your enlistment papers."

The bureaucratic bullshit and measures takes about AN HOUR, and he runs you through some BASIC PHYSICAL EXERCISES to make sure you're not going to FALL OVER AND DIE because of the training.

The STAFF ESPER looks in your eyes for a moment. The SOUL-SEARING LOOK she INFLICTS would damage your PSYCHE if it wasn't just a basic MIND SCAN. "Hm... Null powers," she pronounces, carefully, looking at the other RECRUITMENT OFFICER.

"As in antipsi?"

"As in null. Nada. Zilch. Zero. No ZEON, no MATRIX. He hasn't even unlocked some of his KI yet." beat. "It's kinda FUNNY, actually."

"... Hm. Well, if he's got nothing, there's no need to REGISTER him. Until the COACH arrives tomorrow morning, you're free to leave, Mister Arlington. Be at the coach with your PAPERS by TEN O'CLOCK. Welcome to the ARMY."

"Yes, sir."

Well, NOW WHAT?

Go get something to eat! Gotta be hungry after that EXERCISE.

> Spend all night saluting the flag you have in your shrine to AMURICAH. You are so close to having the perfect salute and you want to make sure it is just right before your first day of ARMY.

Quietly contemplate your SECRET, UNTRACEABLE POWER THAT NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW ABOUT.

(At least, it's fun to pretend so sometimes.)

Go get something to eat! Gotta be hungry after that EXERCISE.

Hm, yeah, you probably should. It'll take you most of the day to GET BACK TO YOUR FARM so you suppose you had better STAY HERE FOR THE EVENING.

Luckily, you've planned ahead for this and head for the TAVERNA. It's not exactly the best place to HANG YOUR HAT, but you will take it.

In the meantime, it's LUNCH! You order something hot and start to eat it while you think. You tend to think a lot, don't you?

Quietly contemplate your SECRET, UNTRACEABLE POWER THAT NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW ABOUT.

(At least, it's fun to pretend so sometimes.)

Don't you just wish. Well, there are those strange dreams. But it's been proven quite often that while communication is possible, you've never had traces of ZEON like there would be if someone were using a SPELL, or the changes in your BASE MATRIX that would result if someone were contacting you PSYCHICALLY.

At least, that's the running thought on the matter. You are willing to bet that with a lot of SKILL it is possible to CONCEAL such things.

But it's very UNLIKELY that anyone YOUR AGE would be LEAPS AND BOUNDS ahead of anyone else without some EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES, and if your dreams are ANY INDICATION this is simply NOT THE CASE for whoever you DREAM of.

What color were their EYES, again? You know it was some UNNATURAL COLOR or SET OF COLORS, but it's so hard to REMEMBER dreams properly.

Aren't they orange? Like a fire?

The eyes were a stomach curdling mix of dank purple and an unnaturally bright green

The eyes were blue. But it wasn't a blue anyone could ever call natural.

Pretty sure they were slightly milky white, like they had cataracts or something. But you were pretty sure they saw fine.

(Secret Bolded Message for posterity/time saving:)

Show Content

Spoilerinsomnis veritas or possibly in somnis veritas
So, "In Sleep There Is Truth", it would seem.

They kept changing.

>You're not entirely sure. They seemed to be every color and no color all at once.

>Also. Go slam your hand in a door real quick.

>You're not entirely sure. They seemed to be every color and no color all at once.

That's right. Those eyes were OPALESCENT, like SUNLIGHT on WATER.

It hurts your head to remember any more than that. At the same time it seems like you've FORGOTTEN something IMPORTANT.

>Also. Go slam your hand in a door real quick.

You finish your meal and ask for a room for the night. The tender nervously says that it's FREE for MILITARY MEMBERS and ushers you UPSTAIRS.

Click.

You are now LOCKED IN for the night.

You start to hang up your clothes, and then WHAM-

OW. That was a remarkable feat of un-co-ordination. GOOD JOB.

Seeing as you probably want to GET UP EARLY, you decide to turn in SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET.

The WOMAN shows up again in your DREAM. It feels like you're FLOATING IN WATER. It's COLD, but not UNPLEASANTLY SO. You've always imagined this is what the OCEAN feels like to a SEAL.

The woman looks into your eyes. "Descendant. CHANGELING. Soon now, you're going to be an ADULT. Don't FORGET. Soon, you'll need to WAKE UP, which means I'll need to undo a LOT. But first, you have to get through the most careful part of the PATH YOU HAVE CHOSEN. It's... Not a PATH I would have selected for you, Descendant/changeling/son-" Those words seem to RUN TOGETHER like they all are the SAME WORD or they're all YOU. "But it can be done. In THREE YEARS. In ONE YEAR. With your OTHER TRAINING.

"With the WILL POWER at your disposal, you'll take on many opponents and may prove yourself the STRONGER. But... Even with this REPRIEVE of DREAMS... Your TIME is at a PREMIUM. For now... it is time for you to LEARN. Later... It will be time for you to SLEEP AGAIN."

When you dream, you dream of SELKIE. If you awaken, you will awaken as a PSYCHIC.

You awaken at around 8 AM to discover that your door is still LOCKED.

Well great. How are you going to catch that coach now?

Psychic powers! TIME STOP.