Viewing the news.
It was time to relax. One of the laptops finally got access to the media networks. Zavirdyaev immediately opened Y-tube.
Half of the preview pictures were about the shuttle flight in one way or another. Somewhere there was a photo of a yellow comet rushing across the night sky, somewhere there was Zavirdyaev's face. There was definitely something to see.
Zavirdyaev pointed his finger at the CNN newscast.
- If you thought that in the seventh year of the War you had seen everything, then today has shown that it is not so. - George Tyler, the host of the daily six o'clock newscast, appeared in the studio on an emergency basis, on the screen.
- Now we have a huge mercury lamp flying across the sky, throwing bombs. Inside is a Russian terrorist fanatic. As far as I understand, it is not so easy to shoot down the damn thing - it passed over the territories of "@enemy" twice, and the second time quite low. I suppose they really tried to shoot it down. However, it emerged from behind the horizon over London for the second time. Our latest generation defense system AEX AMANDA also failed.
- Still, the reports about the threat of a repeat strike are rumors, - the co-host stood up for Zavirdyaev. - We have been seeing what was the first strike all the time, at least until recently, until laser selectors appeared.
- These are all rather weak consolations, and they do not make any favorable impression on me personally. How do you like the fact that the new shuttle was hijacked like some ordinary plane?! It's mind-boggling! - Tyler continued to pretend to be a butthurt. - And now I'll show you something else.
The screen showed photographs of "Combat" and "Doc" displayed side by side.
- Look at these intelligent faces, - Tyler made quotation marks. - a self-organized ghetto has existed on the territory of our important ally since 114. This cesspool has been living by its own rules for six years now and no one cares. Oh yeah, Senator Harlington visited the region last fall as part of his famous tour. Things have been different in our rear since then. It's a shame I didn't notice it. For those who joined us not from the very beginning, I'll tell you that the terrorist Zavirdyaev is also from there, just like all this super-federalist scum, - Tyler waved his hand towards the place where the picture with "Combat" and "Doc" was superimposed.
- I sincerely wish the speaker of the parliament of the Russian Federal Republic, Mr. Lebedev, to carry out the sanitary operation he has planned as quickly and effectively as possible. Mr. Lebedev, I'm with you!
It seemed like he was about to start shouting. It was normal - Tyler was overflowing with emotion every time, and it was an integral part of his releases. Now the level of emotional activity was slightly above average - in such cases, inarticulate fragments of words were heard - this is how the co-host tried to insert something in order to cool her boss down a little.
- By the way, about mercury, - the co-host finally broke through. - They say that it is not mercury, but sodium. Also, atmospheric measurements showed no excess of isotopes.
- Well, the fact that it is not mercury, but sodium, changes everything. We can go about our business, - Tyler answered with mockery.
The next clip was a video made by someone who was in the western part of Russia. The shuttle with a working ion screen really did resemble a comet, but it still looked more like a space rocket taking off - the same bubble of glowing gas and a thin tail behind. Only now the tail was coming from somewhere beyond the horizon, originating many hundreds of kilometers away. The video was accompanied by delighted obscenities. There were also a number of voices gloating over the fate awaiting the central government of the RFR and, who would have thought, London. In general, the meaning and content of the voiceovers looked rather unsightly. It's one thing to say something like that in a drunken company, and another thing to end up with it in a video that will inevitably gain popularity.
Oddly enough, the same thing was said by some observer located in Europe. There were about the same number of obscenities and the same emotions. Everything indicated that those who recorded the video, like those standing nearby, did not experience any particular fear or indignation.
It would also be reckless to count on their sympathy for Zavirdyaev himself now. They would certainly have liked it if one of the MDS rockets had hit the shuttle. The townsfolk were simply interested in gawking at something new that had arisen against the backdrop of the boring everyday life of war. This reaction reminded Zavirdyaev of the inhabitants of Superfederant - they reacted in exactly the same way to some new and incomprehensible crap, and the question of whether it was dangerous was only a secondary one.
Zavirdyaev had a slightly different, higher opinion of the inhabitants of Europe, even despite the behavior of the German soldiers there. No, everything was as if the inhabitants of the SFS or KANAR were behind the scenes, seeing for the first time, for example, how the AEX AMANDA laser selector works.
In general, as far as the inhabitants of the, so to speak, outside world - Russia, Europe and America with Australia - were concerned, Zavirdyaev had not had a chance to observe their everyday reactions to various innovations for a long time. Firstly, there had been no serious innovations for a long time, and secondly, the AI video services carried out some kind of censorship, in particular, limiting the distribution of video recordings of the operation of new weapons.
Suddenly, these restrictions were weakened or simply could not cope with the flow of materials. Now the show in the sky has been superimposed on a political upheaval of a global scale. Here is the result - the SSSF really began to go beyond its territorial boundaries in one way or another, in this case, discovering the same behavior of citizens across the continent. The shuttle continued to move away from the Earth, or, to put it more vulgarly, it was gaining altitude. It would take more than a day to move away. More and more radars were added to the ones already irradiating the shuttle, but the ship's reach, on the contrary, was getting lower and lower.