BITOCRACY
"I pledge allegiance, to the flags, of the United Countries of Bitocracy."
I can see myself, decades ago, upright alongside my classmates, shouting at the tops of our small innocent lungs.
Many of those classmates are now ash, scattered in the black smoldering ruins of the nuked city below.
"Sir, we need to be out of the air."
"Copy," I say, and I feel our droneship pivot.
It did this.