Interlude Z

  Bucha, Ukraine, Erd simulation

  Year 2022 of the Current Era (local time)

  In a basement off Yablunska Street, a group of girls and women are detained by soldiers from the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade. The girls and women have all been raped several times and know they will be raped again this evening as the soldiers currently on patrol duty return. One woman is not being raped, however, because the soldiers found certain messages on her phone that indicated a willingness to fight against the invaders. This woman has instead been tied to a chair and is being tortured with knives and cigarettes. Sometime later, she is dragged outside and executed with a gunshot to the head.

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  As the blood gushes forth from the woman’s gunshot wound, there is a slight irregularity in how it spreads out on the ground. It is as if the blood pulses in long and short intervals, both measured in fractions of a second. None of the soldiers or civilians in the area take note of this minute pulsing. Should one, nevertheless, interpret the pulses according to the principles of the Morse code, the following message would appear: “It would be to our mutual benefit to exchange perspectives on certain matters of interest.”