"It's as simple as that, Ozu."
"And what happens when it's not?"
"They signed up for it."
"So they know?"
"They want to help. They've seen what Those can do."
Ozu sighed. It was not that Silva was reckless or ruthless, neither of these things could be said of them, but the sheer resolution in which they spoke about the Sacrifices was something that Ozu has not seen in the years they shared the job, the bottle or, ocasionally, the bed.
"Sacrifices are going to win this war, Ozu."
"And what do we do with the foil?"
Silva was silent. They signaled the window with their chin. Both of them approached it and looked down to the plateau. In the distance, the assembly yard, big enough to need a vehicle to move anyone through the stations, not big enough to give any confindence to Ozu that was possible to win the war. In the front of the yard and right on their faces stood the Marvel of Creation, a combined effort from a Humanity that knew no borders anymore.
What Ozu was going to remember until the last days of his life was not the missing limbs or broken bodies of the Sacrifices, but how silent the Marvel of Creation was. It's hydraulic systems flowing with pure silicon should've made a rumble capable to shake the entire building. But it didn't. Instead, it stood there. Silent and still like a puppet without someone to pull the strings.
The Sacrifice approached the pod.
"Do you believe in God?"
"I still don't have an answer for that, Ozu."
The Sacrifice entered the pod.
"Her name is Maria. Can you believe the coincidence? No older than your own offsprings, Ozu."
"How desperate we became to accept a child Sacrifice?"
"She signed up for that."
The pod began to fill with bio-fluid and its blue shimmering viscosity. Maria was calm at first but when the liquids got to her lungs she started to shake violently. Ozu knew what was coming. He was about to witness a twelve year old girl die in front of his eyes.
"In the Name of the Victory."
Ozu didn't repeat the motto.
When Maria was regurgitated she was screaming but no one of them could hear her words properly. Her left arm was missing from the elbow down. The soldiers came to take her to the infirmary but before they could grab her, she swiftly crawled between their legs and threw herself again on the pod filled with bio-fluid.
And for the first time, It made a noise.
The Marvel of Creation roared.