We See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology Read Online Free PDF Page A

they were beautiful and blonde.
    Once they had the Cucaracha stabilized, we popped the hatch, and rolled down the ladder. I sent Cháirez down first, just in case.
    They didn’t shoot him. The blondes rushed up, hugged and kissed him.
    “Alejandro!”
    It was Xiomara’s voice. I hurried down, getting tangled in the ladder. She grabbed me and kept me from falling down like Buster Keaton.
    I nearly knocked us both over as I turned to embrace her, trying to look into her eyes and kiss her at the same time. Her dark eyes scorched my soul. The kiss was delicious, if a bit crooked.
    There were flashes of light. Explosions.
    I grabbed the death ray.
    “Hey! Alejandro, amigo! No need to go for that gun!” It was a voice that annoyed me.
    We were surrounded by uniformed men, some of them had rifles, others had cameras.
    “Newsmen?” I tried to hold Xiomara close while looking around.
    “Of course, my love. This is news.”
    There was even a movie camera.
    She winked at the cameraman and kissed my cheek. “Smile, Alejandro. You are going to be a star.”
    “Yes, Alejandro, amigo.” I looked at the irritating man. It was Raoul, the pig of a director. His Spanish was good, but he pronounced it like a gringo. “This newsreel is going to go around the world—and make history!”
    He rushed up, slapped my back, shook my hand and smiled for the camera.
    Then I got a good look at the strange uniforms that the men were wearing. They had patches that read Studio Corps.
    “Yeah,” said Raoul, “Hollywood is getting more rich and powerful. Our need for security has grown beyond what a private police force can provide, with international tensions being what they are these days. So now we have our own army.”
    “What? Is Hollywood its own country?”
    Raoul laughed. This started everyone else laughing.
    Xiomara kissed me again.
    “Not quite,” said Raoul, his teeth gleaming. “Not yet.”
    I held Xiomara close, and kept my right hand near the death ray.
    “You see, Alejandro, my friend, some of us in Hollywood see moving pictures as the greatest leap forward in the history of communications. This is going to make the invention of movable type look crude. Now we have people from all over the world following the same stories, the same stars. We can change the way they think. How they behave. What they want. Newspapers are lagging behind. Radio is still in its infancy. And when we add sound to our pictures, and with this ship, we could take over California and secede from the Union—and then after that—we could conquer the world.”
    Xiomara put her lips to my ear, and whispered, in Spanish, “ We could conquer the world, my love.”
    “We have an army—and planes—but we won’t have to fire a shot. Especially with this death-spitting flying machine of yours! Once we’ve prepared the people of the world, they will want to be ruled by Hollywood. They probably won’t wait to vote us in—they’ll kick their governments out and beg us make them subjects of the Hollywood Empire.” His eyes glazed over. He was lost in his vision of the future.
    “You could be my emperor, Alejandro.” Xiomara’s breath scorched my ear.
    “So, what do you say, Alejandro, old boy?” He reached out smiling. “Why don’t you let me take a look at that interesting gadget you have there?”
    He reached out. His eyes were like a snake’s.
    Xiomara’s hand patted my ass. “You know what to do, my love!” She said it so softly, I could barely hear it.
    Of course I knew. I didn’t think—I just took the death ray and vaporized Raoul.
    When I coughed, I remembered General Villa’s words, “Without huevos—cojones!—brains are nothing.”
    Suddenly, all the Studio Corps troops had their weapons aimed at us. I gripped the death ray.
    Xiomara put her hand on mine, and winked at me. Then she smiled like a thousands suns rising. She turned around, looking at all of the men, and down the barrels of their guns.
    “Raoul was a fool.” Her