NOVEL NEXT Follow Me, Sarah
"Father, our teacher was showing us horrific scenes of war." Sarah frowned. "Terrible barbarism."
"Your history teacher, Ms. Chance?"
"Yes, Father."
"Probably, so we'll never repeat our brutal history."
"But there hasn't been any war for over a century since the aliens gave us forcefield technologies."
"Indeed, Sarah, I'm grateful for that, but I question that we no longer train our people to be soldiers or to defend themselves."
"What could go wrong, Father? We'll have world peace forever …"
A holo-news station chimed and alerted while projecting its broadcast on a wall:
"Breaking news: Worldwide, all alien force fields have shut down. Apparently, factions within the One Earth council refused to share our resources with the aliens and broke all trade agreements, including the Force Fields for Peace initiative."
"Sarah, let's go down to the basement."
"Why, Father?"
"Because that's where I carry the stash."
"You mean those illegal …"
Her father held up a finger to shush her. "Follow me, Sarah."