One Hundred and Twelve Years After First Contact.
The auditorium lights dimmed slightly as the panel reset.
Several people adjusted in their seats.
A few stood quietly and slipped out. No one hurried.
Nothing being discussed here felt urgent anymore.
The war was old.
Humanity had won at least in the only way that mattered to history.
The holographic display above the stage reconfigured, resolving into a satellite image so degraded it barely looked real anymore.
A long, dark smear cut across the landscape, irregular and jagged, like a wound that never closed.
A label faded in beneath it.
EARLY GROUND ENGAGEMENTS — NORTH AMERICAN THEATER
A second line followed.
Battle of Ashen Plain.
Professor Halvorsen cleared his throat.
"Ashen Plain," he began, "is one of the most cited examples of inefficiency during the early invasion period."
He spoke calmly.
The voice of a man who had delivered the same argument dozens of times to rooms that looked just like this one.
