Zavirdyaev suddenly got the impression that for Landskricht these were some trifles that could be confused. Maybe she was flying away from Earth? How old is she anyway?
- Well, by the middle of the fifteenth year, plans changed. Everyone's plans changed. It turned out that it was not only possible to live in the War, but also to live normally. Of course, I'm not talking about people like Africans running around with fourth- and fifth-grade weapons, or city dwellers living... You've been to the slums too... There's a contractor nearby who makes these weapons.
Landskricht grabbed the spacesuit with both hands and was now "treating" Zavirdyaev in a position as if she were standing over him and holding him in her hands.
- There was all this talk about deconvention and all the other problems that stand in the way of signing the peace package. By 2116, the US national debt was zero. And that's just a trifle. Was that a big event? Do many people remember that?
- Well, I remember it very well, they talked about it for a while.
- The average person hasn't thought about it for a long time and doesn't ask uncomfortable questions. And doesn't draw uncomfortable conclusions. The US national debt was converted into terminals and other defenses around the world. Will anyone now say that this is an occupation?
- Well, who will say?
- Who? A drunkard in a bar? Okay, not a drunkard, just a lover of talk in the company of friends. That's all. That's all. Because everyone watches and listens to what is needed. See how everything has started to come together. As for the Super Federation, the relevance of the interface port has begun to fade into the background, but it has not disappeared - twelve-foot branches in the southern direction are still being built, and there are still plans for them.
- And why was it necessary to arrange this whole Super Federation port. I understand that in the conditions of the Cold War or Frozen War, direct trade could be complicated, but it can be done through third countries, India, Iran. There are still countries on earth that have not joined the War.
- And enrich them with customs duties? As you say, "there are no fools".
Only now Zavirdyaev noticed that Landskricht began to speak Russian much more naturally than before. - And so there will be customs clearance. So that no one makes a fuss about secret conspiracies of the top brass during the War. People won't like it. And so the goods go through an uncontrolled, almost neutral region, albeit part of Russia, but on a super-federal basis. Goods are not clothes or phones - the time of consumer goods has passed. Goods are turbines of nuclear installations, superconductors, hydrocarbons. The Super-Federate will not break away from super-profits - everything will go where it is needed, although it will be more than enough for a tiny region. It would be enough for its local Switzerland - this is what motivated this entire establishment in the person of - she grinned once again - "Combat" and "Doc" ... Great people, - she added mockingly. - It would be enough for the whole of Russia. Initially, the confrontation between the right and left banks was not planned, but it just happened that way. Local initiative. Initiative of the Masses, as you have, in the Soviet Union they used to say. They came up with an expression.
- So what about my revolution? - Zavirdyaev hurried.
- We'll get to your revolution, Mr. Che Guevara, - Landskricht answered. - So, War has come to such a form that it has become possible to live in its conditions. In ancient times, countries and peoples fought exactly like that, for years and decades. Such a way of life affects the productive potential. It can degrade, be in a static state, adapting to a long war, like climate change, or even develop. As for climate change, this is not a horror story of the twentieth century, such things happened, for example, due to volcanic eruptions. Now there will be a little history. So, volcanoes hit civilization, in particular European civilization, no weaker than war. I am now describing only what happened within the framework of your Earth, that is, you, as a person, either know about all this or have heard about it. Zavirdyaev still could not move his body, but surprisingly he did not want to. In response, he only blinked.
- Then people moved to a new level, of course, they improved their weapons, and the war suddenly took on the appearance of the First World War. The modern one is also sometimes compared to it, but this is only fair in the sense of a static state that has been established for years. There was no AEX or GBA back then, although some of the companies that make up these constellations already existed - Krupp, DuPont and all the rest. People were disposed of barbarously back then - it's no better than concentration camps, although there are certainly psychological differences... Although I don't know, a field strewn with corpses, onto which another living wave is about to run to die - that's also quite a sight... The difference from concentration camps, it's true, was that the soldiers were fed, or tried to be fed properly. Technical progress was to blame for all this madness.
- What, are you for everyone riding in carts? - Zavirdyaev came to life.
- No, it's just that technical progress that suddenly covers this fragile civilization can greatly distort morality. Then everything straightens out. There was a time when a peasant boy - she said "boy" - learned to write by candlelight and perceived the light bulb as a miracle, and died a very old man, but already on the couch in front of the TV. To hell with that, but for the owners, your owners, this growth of technology hits the brains hard, and they start rushing around like a dog in a sausage shop. For the sake of fairness, it must be said that the ending in the form of a couch with a TV for a commoner who learned to write by candlelight is also too much. A bicycle and a radio the size of a chest - just right. To listen to football. With a sharp increase in progress, ordinary people also begin to do God knows what. But for his children, a black and white TV would be enough. Not flat, but like a box. Do you know what kind of displays they had? The glass bulb was so heavy. All the other machinery was of the same level. Okay, let's move on.
In the middle of the century before last, you danced to the point that you began to see war as something very fast and inevitably killing everyone and finally.
The average citizen began to be convinced that humanity, having created nuclear weapons for itself, is a monkey with a grenade, which, moreover, it will not throw away from itself and as a result of a careless prank will inevitably blow itself up. An interesting picture of the world, isn't it?
- And wasn't it so?
- Well, you know... The way you, a person of the 22nd century, imagine that disgrace, looks much more modest and restrained than what the Americans or Soviets of that time imagined. It was complete absurdity. At the same time, the American establishment was perfectly aware of what the war threatened... Yes, everything was the same as now with the Seventh Headquarters. It functioned in exactly the same way at the time of the transition of the Pre-War into the War. In the twentieth century there was a direct telephone line. "Hello, did you launch a missile at us? - No, our satellite has left orbit, don't worry." Before this mutual understanding there was the Cuban Missile Crisis, but even there the recklessness was only visible.
- We've gotten too deep into history
- What's the hurry? We have plenty of time. The highest point of orbit is only in a day. No one is going to attack us, so relax and listen, - she stuck out her index finger and from it, just like then, a yellow fiery tourniquet burst out, reaching for Zavirdyaev's face. - Don't be afraid, it's harmless, - she brought her hand closer and the fiery whip slid across Zavirdyaev's face several times.
Only, unlike that first time, now he felt how his body, which had almost lost the ability to move, began to come to its senses.
- You'd better tie yourself to the chair, although I don't care.