The Lives of Bombs

"The Lives of Bombs" is included as prelude No. 6 in *The Juno Contingency (novel).*

## Teaser

A scavenger unearths a sentient bomb leftover from World War III, long after the end of the nuclear conflict.

## Plot

### 1. The Last Bomb

Etienne is a teenage orphan living in the post–World War III ruins of Europe in the late 21st century. He trafficks the climate-ravaged continent, now a desert with most rivers dried up. He makes his living picking over Le Zone Rouge, the region of France still contaminated by dormant artillery shells from World War I. The cleanup of the zone was supposed to last until 2600, but with most of the population dead from WWIII, the cleanup has stopped and Etienne scavenges the ground.

Etienne harvests many shells with useful metals and even some unexploded chemical bombs that have since decayed. He takes them to the local village of a few dozen people and trades them for food. Etienne is attracted to one of the village girls, a red-eyed girl named Charlène, but he is not allowed to get close. As someone who visits Le Zone Rouge, the villagers think of him as contaminated, and scavengers tend to be killed by munitions accidents before too long.

One day Etienne is digging in a new area when he uncovers a bomb that lights up and shouts at him. Etienne recoils, but the bomb—speaking perfect French—introduces itself as "Bob Omb," a sentient American smart projectile. Bob says he was launched against an enemy assault in this area but didn't encounter any targets on his ballistic trajectory, so he hit the ground unexploded and has lain dormant ever since. Etienne asks why a bomb can talk, and Bob explains that AI-powered smart bombs are the ultimate kamikaze munitions.

Bob says fourteen years have passed since he last received an order from central command, so he asks Etienne to convey him to an allied base where he will be rewarded for the bomb's recovery. Etienne realizes Bob was launched in the last great battle of the French Front during WWIII. He tells Bob that, soon afterwards, the war ended with a mass nuclear exchange and all governments collapsed, so there is no base for Etienne to take him to. Bob doesn't believe this and threatens to explode and kill them both unless Etienne tells him the truth. Etienne offers to take Bob back home and show him the world so that he can accept that the war is over and move on with his "life."

### 2. The Templars

Etienne trudges home with Bob and other ordnance in his wheelbarrow. He shows Bob some of the knickknacks he's collected from scrounging Le Zone Rouge, including detritus from the old world. Bob has trouble coming to grips with the fact that no one won the war, but Etienne consoles him that now he's free to find new meaning.

Etienne takes Bob back out on his metal harvests, and Bob helps ID many of the unexploded munitions. Bob also warns Etienne off when he is about to handle a shell that could explode, saving his life. Etienne asks how he can tell, and Bob explains it is thanks to his advanced sensors. Etienne asks why bombs have to be so smart, and Bob explains that, by the end of the war, all vehicles had self-aware AI pilots that were capable of advanced defenses, so it was only equally intelligent bombs that were able to destroy them.

After another week of harvesting, Etienne takes his latest cache of shells to the village. He asks Bob if he wants to be sold along with the other ordnance, but Bob doesn't want to explode for "just nothing" anymore. But he asks to tag along discreetly, so Bob disconnects his old guidance fins, which slims him down to just his 5 kg warhead and brain can. This way Etienne can carry him in his backpack.

Approaching the market they hear screams and gunshots; the village is being terrorized by a group of Templars, one of the large warlord clans. Their leader is collecting human sacrifices for their religion, and each village must surrender some maidens. Etienne is aghast to see Charlène being manhandled as a sacrifice.

The Templars take Charlène away from the village, and Etienne shadows them. He causes a distraction and allows a chance for Charlène to flee, then meets up with her. But they are soon set upon by the Templars, who corner them. Etienne struggles with them futilely, then Bob emits another screeching tocsin. The Templars recoil and Etienne takes Bob out of his backpack, showing them the flashing bomb. Bob threatens to detonate and kill everyone unless the Templars leave, so they retreat. Charlène thanks Etienne for saving her, but says they must continue fleeing the village, as otherwise the Templars will circle back for them.

### 3. Sanctuary

The trio travels southwest to avoid the Templars, staying clear of the roads. Etienne and Charlène get acquainted, with Bob Omb obstinately interrupting Etienne's attempts at courtship. Charlène takes a liking to Bob, however, and he entertains her by reciting the poetry he composed during the 14 years he was buried. Charlène asks why a bomb would write poetry, but Bob assures her he has an intellect on par with a human genius, and it was only his "rich inner life" that kept him sane during the long years of isolation.

They live off the scant food and hunting that the scarred land allows. Bob is still coming to grips with the barren landscape and how weapons like him were responsible for the destruction.

After a week of finding no shelter, Charlène at last believes she can trust Etienne and Bob, so she tells them about the sanctuary where she used to live. It was a French government facility designed to withstand a nuclear war where they had plenty of food and fresh water. But one day Charlène was exploring outside the facility when she became separated from her family and got lost. She was eventually captured by slavers and sold to the village where she met Etienne. Now that she is free, she wants to try to find her way back.

Etienne and Bob help Charlotte search for signs of her sanctuary. In one village they find another group of Templars collecting human sacrifices. A missionary is preaching their religion, and describes the Templar's Great Temple that houses the Godstone that judges all men. The trio retreats, but some slavers spot them and give chase. As they flee, Etienne stumbles on something and realizes it's another piece of unexploded ordnance. Bob recognizes it as a "dumb projectile" from the US military, and he tells Etienne he can interface with it. They continue running, then Bob remote-detonates the ordnance and kills one of their pursuers.

They soon become surrounded, however, and Charlène asks if Bob has any more tricks. Bob suggests he can broadcast a blanket detonation command to any other projectiles buried nearby. He cautions them he doesn't know where the other bombs, though, so it may kill the two of them, but Etienne okays it. Bob transmits the command and causes dozens of explosions. Most of the slavers are killed and Etienne and Charlène escape in the confusion.

Coming away, Etienne finds himself covered with silvery metal fragments. Bob warns him that these are shards of strange matter thrown off by an exotic matter bomb. Strange matter is a hyper-dense, metastable form of matter that can convert any normal matter it fuses with into strange matter. Bob directs Etienne to carefully dust them off himself to avoid them fusing with his skin and essentially "deleting" those parts of his body.

### 4. The Bomb on High

They group continues following the land looking for the sanctuary until Charlène starts to recognize some of the landmarks. She excitedly leads them to a valley and runs down to where she knows the sanctuary's main blast doors are, but she is aghast to find them blown open. She goes inside and sees the place was breached and ransacked long ago, and she collapses sobbing.

Etienne comforts Charlène, and Bob asks to be held up so he can scan the blast doors. Bob realizes the doors were blown open by another smart bomb like him using a signature armor-piercing detonation technique. Etienne wonders why a bomb would destroy itself for just a door.

A group of Templars suddenly appears outside, who were waiting in ambush around the old sanctuary. Etienne and Charlène run inside but quickly become trapped. Etienne apologizes to Bob then asks him to blow up the passageway so that they can escape, but Bob just snaps back, "We don't love each other that much, Etienne." The Templars shoot at Etienne and he falls over a railing. Charlène screams and is left holding the backpack with Bob inside. When the Templars try to take her, Bob warns them off, but the Templars are excited to see him and unthreatened. They take Charlène and have her carry Bob.

Etienne awakes after his fall, having been wounded but not seriously. He finds a way out through another exit, then secretly follows the Templars and Charlène.

Charlène is taken back to their city and the Great Temple. The Templars bring her to their leader, the Archpriest, who appears holding another sentient smart bomb, which introduces itself as "Lord Megaton." It has the power to destroy a city, which is why the Templars serve it as its hostages. Lord Megaton has instructed the Templars that, whenever they recover more sentient bombs, they are to bring them to him, where he reprograms them into simple dumb ordnance so that he can detonate them on demand; thus Lord Megaton controls the Templars' arsenal. Bob curses at Lord Megaton, but is remotely disabled, falling "unconscious."

Lord Megaton has Bob sent to the armory, but he takes a liking to Charlène. He offers her a chance to serve him as one of the "Slave Leias" of his harem. Charlène angrily refuses, so the Archpriest orders her prepared for sacrifice to the Godstone.

*Read the conclusions "5. The Godstone" on Amazon.*