From the opposing point of view of the regular army, it looked like doomsday was two days in advance.

In the situation room of the national army, the commander in chief was yelling:

'Have we got the information yet?!' he shouted at no one in particular. 'We need to know how deep they managed to infiltrate us.' He paced around and then again boomed 'I'm waiting!'

'You,' he then interrupted a sergeant running on an errant, 'Take a party to fetch the minister of defence and don't think of coming back if it's without him.'

'Commander,' said a colonel from the other side of the table map, 'we just received the acknowledgement that the minister of education is down as well.'

'Fuck! He lives on the opposite side of town,' he sighed. 'It really means they are numerous and organised. We can't protect the ministers and the civil servants that are too remote from the parliament.'

'Commander,' interrupted a lieutenant, 'I have the information about the chancellor. There were two distinct assassins. One was the body guard and the other in fact was one of his own son. '

'Fucking shit, that's what should be called real infiltration...'

He paused and ordered to them all 'Send a message immediately to all the ministers still alive : "They have to stay in full view of at least five guards but be away of at least five meters from anybody at all time... and that includes guards and family," is that clear?'

'Now, where was I? Is there any report of official buildings being attacked yet?' he asked around, but looking down at the table map showing the details of the capital city.

'Not really sir.' answered the colonel in charge of the table map. 'The only weird thing is that both parliament and the FLOP headquarters have both been attacked but single men. They were neutralised quickly and couldn't even touch the walls.'

'Man, I think your report is wrong somehow. I can understand a suicide attack for something worth like the chancellor, but what you're telling me is pointless. Tell me something I need to know.'

'Commander,' the head of intelligence stepped in. 'I don't know if it is worth, but this is the third messenger I talk to which is reporting to me that he had heard screams in many houses on his way.'

'Why should I care if those little boys are scared of the dark and cry for their mummy?' He shrugged, went back to his seat facing the map and tried to think.

'Commander, we have lost contact with the senate.'

'Ah... Finally, they make a move.' he said smiling 'But that is an obvious diversion. That's where they want us to go,' he lectured. 'Considering what they have already achieved, the only sensible place to take is the radio station.'

'Commander,' slowly said the only other general physically in the situation room, 'Can we really take the risk? Sending our forces in one single place is a big gamble. We're not sure to find them there. Besides, what is telling us that they are working in large groups? To me, they seem scattered all over the place. We just received a police report confirming that four families have been killed in different parts of the city.'

'What! Did they found the door broken? Or anything which could tell whether those attacks came from outside or inside?'

'It doesn't say, sir, but I can get someone to find out.'

'Good! Do that... The last thing I need to hear is that the rebels killed their own family before going to war,' he mumbled and was suddenly faced by a pale lieutenant. 'What! Speak...'

'Commander, hum,' managed the lieutenant, 'it seems we have a problem, hum, with a couple of garrison which have reported, hum, what looks like, hum, desertions.'

'Fuuuuck! Fuck fuck fuck!' he shouted at the lieutenant who became even paler. 'Did they attacked their comrades or they simply sneaked out?'

'Hum hum.... In fact, they say they heard screams and hum the soldiers living in the neighbourhood, hum, simply left in saying, hum, they will protect their family. The ones who stayed did not shot them in the back for treason. Hum I m sorry to bring that bad news, commander.'

'We're all sorry... but this is not the time! Everybody listen, I want all the information you have now on those attack of civilians. I want to know when, where and how many on the table map asap.'

He turned around and addressed the general, 'General, it seems you were right: they're split.'

'Commander,' said the general who took the opportunity of this good appraisal to push his luck a bit further. 'If I might say, we can't regroup the population in a single place even if it is easier to protect. That would be an easy target if they changed their strategy.'

'Fuck that! We can't protect them at all if they're not regrouped. That's the only way. We've got to collect the civilians street by street and put them into safety.'

'Commander, I have more desertions to report.'

'Commander, one messenger who just arrived reported being attacked by a civilian.'

'They're targeting the lonely soldiers now,' mumbled the general... 'Commander, they're pushing our men into a trap. We've got to stop lonely deserters, they become vulnerable.

'Right, well,' sighed the commander, 'I want this message to be heard by all the garrisons commandants: "the rebels are attacking the civilians. Abandon your posts and organise strong patrols to exfiltrate citizens at risk and deliver them the radio station."

'Commander, Lord Thoral wants to talk to you.'

'Oh, fuck them. Their big guns are useless now. Let the defence minister do the talking.'

'Commander, the lords just informed us that he has been taken into an ambush on his way here... You're the head of state now.'

'Oh shit. I hope he's done the right thing. What was the last message that he has sent to the civilians?'

'Sorry Commander, but, hum, lord Thoral is on the phone.'

'Yeah yeah pass him through but get me an answer, quick, while I talk. And he winked at the soldier handing the phone.

'Lord Thoral, it is an honour to talk you, though in unexpected and sad circumstances.'

'Good morning, Commander and acting Chancellor, we followed the recent events affecting your people and I must say that we are deeply sorry for your loss. The chancellor was a superior mind, who sadly prophesised correctly his own death as well as the one of his family. I am sure the octopus kind will miss him.'

'Lord, the attempt on the life of the chancellor was a highly probable event. He was prepared for that, as part of his responsibility, like we all are in this room. It seems we're suffering from a bigger loss, which is our population. The civilians are under attack, my lord, and they are not prepared. What we miss now is not our former leader but your help.'

'Of course, I see. Sorry for being carried away. You're an unexpected type of people, aren't you? Well, your predecessor asked us not to intervene unless it was it critical. So I guess now is the time, so what do you reckon might be the best course of action?'

'My lord, your superior mind knows it of course,' he looked on the side at the messenger who had come back, 'but if it is a test, I will of course comply and answer.'

The messenger silently spelled out: 'there was no message yet to the civilians.' so that the commander read on his lips.

'Well,' started the commander, 'the emergency is of course to save the civilians by grouping them in a place that you could fully control. I already suggested the radio station to the military hierarchy so as to limit the stretch of our limited forces. But the civilians haven't heard yet any message. I suggest you spread the message with our own superior means, because it seems we need to focus on gathering the civilians.'

'Well indeed, we are proud of you. It seems the choice of raising the octopus kind was not as delusory as one might have thought. You are intelligent and dedicated. It is only a shame that some of you... How could I say that? Hum, Those rebels...' He said with disgust, 'they can t be trusted, can they? How is it possible that you share the same gene and also education but still some of you are highly counterproductive?'

'Every second we talk,' he slowly pronounced menacingly, which was pointless against robots, 'my people are dying, so will you help us?'

'Very well, we'll wait at the radio station and secure a perimeter. But I need to understand those differences. We'll talk again. In the mean time, keep up the good work.'

But the commander was already gone. So it was an embarrassed lieutenant who closed the call with a badly fake voice: 'Thank you my lord. Good day to you too.'

The commander was worryingly pacing in circle and mumbling mostly to himself.

'So the word is not out yet that the chancellor is dead. Maybe the rebels don't know that. But they know about the defence minister. And the civilians have no clue and will be terrorised when they hear the robots. They'll never leave their house until a patrol arrives. Waiting to be collected. They're an easy target.'

And then he shouted, 'where is the map I asked about the house murders? Is that all the information we have?'

And then again mumbling, 'where would I start as a rebel knowing they'll wait? Or maybe better: how would I operate? Dress as policemen? Infiltrate the civilians?'

And he turned around to face the general, who was visibly still in shock.

'General, what would you do as a rebel? General? I asked you a question! What would you do, as a rebel?'

'Hum... I don t know. I guess I would target the robots, He answered confused.'

Yeah, you're right. There s no point in keeping slaughtering the masses you want to save. So they target the civilians to attract the robots. Those rebels are real bastards: they use octopuses as bait.'

'I think,' interrupted the general, that they rather consider them as martyrs. And the robots are definitely the real bastards. Haven't you heard? They grow us up and fight against counterproductive elements. We are just harvest to them.

'General,' warned the commander, 'you are going too far in thinking like the enemy.'

As a few seconds passed without verbal exchange, the staff around sensed the tension had risen to a newer level and they stopped whatever task they were onto and threw a glance at what was happening. They saw the two officers face to face three paces away quietly stepping sideways and around trying to corner each other. The general wore the regulatory three knives of the National Guard, whereas the commander for convenience carried only one. A lieutenant close by started to speak and move in between and that actually triggered the mutual assault. The commander managed to deflect a knife, block another as well as a simple punch which was a lure. But he couldn't avoid the double blow of a punch immediately followed by the last knife which almost hit one of his three hearts. His opponent who was all out on a full attack mode hadn't bothered to pare the single blow and received the knife directly in his brain and died instantly. They both fell heavily on the floor before the lieutenant could finish his useless call for calm.

Everybody run in closer to watch the bloody scene, which is called assessing the situation in military terms. Despite the blood he was losing fast, the commander was still alive and tried to say something. Through the gurgles, the audience heard him painfully pronouncing a single sentence that he didn't managed to repeat: Let them know.

The head of intelligence was flabbergasted when he realised he had to carry at the same time the unusual task of spreading information rather than gathering it and the totally unexpected position of acting chancellor. Not knowing exactly what meant the commander in his enigmatic last words but being an excellent diplomat, he solved the issue by delegating it. And so he addressed an audience of newly-appointed messenger: 'you heard the commander! He wanted you to spread the word. So I want you to report what just happened... You understood me, so dismiss!'

In fact, each messenger understood what he wanted. Some of the messengers went to the garrisons to tell them to protect the population rather than the buildings. The bulk went to the population to warn them directly that the rebels would attack them, but many of them found themselves to be the targets. A few went to the rebels to report a renegade general had managed to sabotage the situation room. A single messenger went to the robots, thinking that they were not omniscient and so needed to be warned but still overpowering and therefore were needed to restore order. He was so careful to avoid the rebel ambushes that he actually arrived about four hours later.

The former head of intelligence had managed to survive up to that time, but he had been arrested quickly by a group of colonel who also wanted to restore order. They had claimed they needed to stop the bloodshed which meant negotiating with the rebels and of course avoiding any further contact with the robots.

With hindsight it could be said that this military coup was clearly not the decisive event, among an already long list, to push the former octopus community into proper anarchy. That is, until the rebels arrived... And then it became worse.