- The Control Voice: In order to survive, a soldier must fight many battles, physical as well as mental. But in the heat of the struggle, reality can sometimes fade, like memory, until only one thing remains certain... the first casualty of war is truth.
Soldiers battle invading bug-like aliens, but things are not as they seem.
- The Control Voice: Humans kill for love, for revenge, for survival, and even for ideas. Perhaps the capacity to kill then is a very true part of our nature. But within this behavior, defined by fear, must we also be taught to hate?
Hearts and Tropes:
- Cruel Twist Ending: A group of soldiers fight the good fight against bizarre invading insectoid beasts, only to find that the "medication" given to them by their leaders is making them see their actually-human enemies as bugs. They lay down their weapons and try to talk to the enemies... who promptly kill them all, being under the influence of similar drugs and seeing our protagonists as monsters.
- Earth That Used to Be Better: Earth suffered energy shortages for decades, leading to numerous wars, until an energy source called pergium was discovered.
- Fantastic Slurs: The North American Federation soldiers refer to the (apparent) aliens as "Bugs."
- Government Conspiracy: The North American Federation soldiers have brain implants which cause them to perceive the Asian Coalition soldiers and miners whom they are fighting as alien insectoids. They are equipped with drug injectors which they believe protect them from an alien virus when they in fact reinforce this false perception. It turns out that the Asian Coalition personnel similarly perceive the North American soldiers as a belligerent alien race.
