I found it very disrespectful of Weaver to push Tector like that and so blatantly play on the feelings of a person who's driving a large truck. If I were Tector, I would have asked Weaver if he wanted to take over driving, or I would have stopped the truck and gone to the back just to avoid Weaver asking questions, but maybe that's just me.
I guess Tector couldn't stop driving, because they were low on fuel anyway, and there was no immediate reason to stop driving and unnecessarily spend fuel on slowing down and then later going on again. Weaver, of course, was using the situation. I think then I would have given Weaver "Don't push it. Sir."
We don't really know what was Weaver's reason to start pushing so hard on Tector. One reason could have just been the plain lack of manpower, and perhaps he wanted to find out if Tector has more in him than he has so far let know. Maybe it's that he's looking for someone who would in the future be able to command just in case something happens to Weaver himself.
So here I'm playing around with an alternate exchange between Weaver and Tector:
(Not exactly spoilers, but hey, I had like two options of how this would go, so here's one... I considered adding a Southern accent to Weaver, but might have fumbled it, 'cuz I can't distinct Black Southern and White Southern in writing. And it all may be a cliche of my own, so beware)
Option #1
- T: "Don't push it. Sir."
Here, Weaver would pause to process the Sir, as it alludes to Tector deferring to his command. Weaver now knows that Tector is alot more trustworthy, but realizes that Tector said as much just to avoid Weaver pushing him.
And after a while,
W: So you were a soldier?
Tector is silent and avoids eye contact.
Weaver realizes that his assumptions have been correct, but doesn't feel they've been completely confirmed to stop asking. Out of boredom, and to try to pull more out from Tector, Weaver would start talking about himself, maybe about some ambush he experienced, and some similar stuff, about the deaths, and such and such.
Tector, who is not really as stupid as he lets on, would pre-empt this by cutting off Weaver's speech:
- T: Don't tell me about some ambush, and that you lost people and that you regret it, and that you wished you were the one to go...
Tector's breathing has become heavier, while Weaver stops, realizing he hit one of Tector's sweet spots. Weaver is silent, while Tector tries to keep his calm.
But,
Weaver then explains his realization that what keeps him going are all the people there behind him, which he then calls responsibility, "Ya know?"
- T: I know. I know what it's like to be in a battlefield. And what it's like to lose your mates.
- W: I just wanted to know.
- T: I don't think I want you to know. Yet.
This at least is a second confirmation to Weaver that Tector has had advanced military training of some sort. This would make Weaver want to know more about Tector, but he knows he has to tread gently.
- W: What if somethin' happened to me again?
This makes Tector think.
- T: Tom can take over.
- W: He was on the alien ship.
- T: What, you distrust him now?
- W: No!
- T: Hal?
- W[with doubt]: He's a good boy, but he ain't got long-term experience.
Tector pauses a bit, and then, almost non-chalantly:
- T: Well, Pope's a good shot.
- W: Pope?! Pope's a firebrand! Yer too good to know it yerself!
[A pause ensues.]
Here I thought Tector would start opening up by explaining his two tours of duties in Iraq and Afghanistan. But not the ambush.
- W: So you are a soldier?
Tector tells his rank and where/who he was stationed with.
I relized that the second dialogue option would be even more intersting:
Option #2
- T: "Don't push it!"
Here, Weaver learns that there might be soft spot in Tector.
- W: Ya know, I've been thinkin' about givin' it all up, too.
- T: Oh yea, tell me abot it! [said dismissively]
Weaver takes it as if Tector is challenging Weaver to humour Tector, so Weaver (perhaps out of feeling insulted about it) starts blathering about his experience of loss from his past military experience and into the post-invasion times; all the while progressing into more and more desolate and macabre descriptions, whilst Tector becomes at first slowly, and then more visibly distraught. As Weaver continues without at first actually looking at Tector, we see Tector breathing more heavily and wiping his left cheek onto the left jacket arm (assuming Weaver doesn't notice from that angle, or intentionally doesn't pay attention), while Weaver goes on and on [insert somewhere Weaver's wish to give it all up and a death wish, too] until Tector audibly sniffs, crying his eyes red while trying to drive a truck, which starts veering off-course. Noticing this, Weaver stops his blather, realizing he's taken it much too far, and helps guide the driver's wheel that Tector somehow holds to turn the truck's course straight.
(This is actually a dangerous situation in another sense, as here Weaver could lose Tector's emotional trust.)
Weaver is silent and keeps his left hand on the wheel of the truck, as Tector tries to regain composure so as to be able to drive the truck on his own.
Weaver just says:
- W: I'm very sorry.
- T: No you're not.
Weaver is very angry (because he did feel really sorry for Tector, knowing that he had experienced a traumatic event before the invasion), but doesn't show it. Weaver eventually becomes really sad himself, looking down, and then forward, but without all the water.
After a minute or so silence:
- W: So you were a soldier?
- T: I was.
- W: Something happened, right?
- T: Yeah. Lots of things.
Weaver finally, but much more shortly, explains his past feelings of despair and then his rationale for going on, and the case for responsibility for the people behind his back.
Tector then says that he knows, like he understands, and starts telling how he was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, his rank and which group he was deployed with, and about the ambush. Some moisture exits Tector's eyes again, but he maintains composure.
Weaver finally pats Tector on the shoulder:
- W: I honestly didn't know.
- T: I didn't want you to know.
- W [looking at Tector]: We really need people like you.
Here's a pause, to let Tector calm down completely.
- Weaver: So you are a soldier?
- Tector [who is now more determined and looking at Weaver for a moment]:
Yes, Sir, I am.
Weaver feels moved. Maybe he'd say something cliche, like
- W: It is an honor to have you with us.
Tector, though begins explaining his doubts, that his initial plan was only going to take the 2nd Mass to Charleston, until he suddently stops the truck because of the broken bridge.
[spoilers end here]
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