About the future beyond Earth.
Okay, that's nonsense. In general, there is no single rationality. What your Western World will end up with is something like a horde wandering around the solar system. It's amazing how all this manifests itself where you least expect it. By the way, all these Genghis Khans were not part of the Asian World as we know it now - they conquered it just like your Russia, well, those peoples who lived on your territory at that time.
- At least the Asian nations won't seize world domination. - Zavirdyaev finally perked up. - Maybe it would be better if we created all these ships and wandered around the planets? High technology and all that.
- It's not much consolation. Those left on Earth will drag out a miserable existence under constant oppression, and at the same time there will be celestials who will do whatever they please. That's on the one hand, and on the other, - Landskricht smiled unkindly, - it will allow me to feel a little more uninhibited if I defend this humiliated Earth. After all, this will take place in outer space...
- What are you talking about? - Zavirdyaev became slightly alarmed.
- About the fact that it's already simpler than cutting and sewing up a bacterium. If I had an aluminum can in my hand right now, - she stretched out her hand in front of her so that Zavirdyaev could see it, and pretended to hold that very tin can in her hands. Imagine that there is.
- Wham and that's it, - she smiled rather unkindly. The bigger the trough, the merrier, - you can assemble a bundle of solar particles or make a disturbance - it's not a gravitational wave, but something like that. Plus or minus a thousand kilometers, what's the difference. It's far from Earth and other planets, so it's possible.
- Really? And are they really the villains?
- Listen, Mr. Zavirdyaev, I've just given you a whole speech. Are you not convinced?
- You started with various secrets and confirmation of conspiracy theories, continued with the plans of our, as you called them, bosses, and then switched to some fairy tales, okay, science fiction about the exploration of planets, and that it's bad. It looks like you just want to keep humanity out of space.
- Well, how can I say... It's just not according to that scenario. But I want to leave Assembler's enterprises safe and sound. And especially the reactors. By the way, things aren't so bad for you - you've mastered thermonuclear energy and are using it successfully. And imagine if everything in your country still ran on oil. And then it runs out everywhere and that's it. Just everything. Just coal and firewood. Also dams. And somewhere a little bit of nuclear fuel, which still needs to be extracted and enriched, but not with what. Well, somewhere the old stuff will remain, they'll spend it and that's it.
- So, not everything is so bad with us, people. Science, technology, industry... Maybe the future that is planned is not so gloomy?
- And do you know how our time was imagined a hundred years ago? Well, like any normal person, you probably watched a bunch of old movies. For example, there were the first parts of "Terminator". In addition to time travel, there was a military system, like our interlink, headquarters and battlefield environment taken together. Only there, of course, they, these machines, rebelled. But in general, people foresaw all this total digitalization, didn't they? They foresaw it.
And there were also a bunch of stories where people were cloned and treated like meat and sausage products. The moral inconsistency did not bother anyone at all, I mean the viewers.
- But these are just feature films. Now you just want to find fault with something.
- No, this science of yours could have gone in the wrong direction and gone very far. Do you know why this is not the case?
- Why?
- Someone would occasionally take these scientists out of... - she grinned - work and life in general. A kind of sanitary... Cleaning up your house.
- "Someone" - is it Haldoris Landskricht?
- Yes, - Landskricht answered cheerfully. But in general, I didn't kill them.
- I see. You were just standing nearby.
- No, of course not! What are you always... Someone was just so scared that they went a little crazy, someone ended up in a parallel world. For example, there was such a direction in science as vivisectionists. Do you know about them? Well, it was enough to gather a few dozen of these scientists, the most powerful, in one room, choose a few and show them to everyone else a surgical show. The main thing is to wash your hands. Both before and after. The most unpleasant thing for them was not even the cuts and incisions and the screams of friends, but the fact that these meetings could be arranged on a regular basis. And that's it. After that, they abandon their evil business or, when necessary, desperately sabotage it, for example, by incapacitating their subordinates. Well, someone drinks themselves to death, that's how it turns out. My measures of influence are humane. In general, I... - she somehow stretched her head proudly. - In general, I adhere to my system of moral values quite strictly.
- "My own", what do you mean? - thought Zavirdyaev, but kept silent.
- Well, do you think that your humanity, being left to itself, will prove itself smart enough not to cripple itself forever, - she continued her chatter. - By "cripple" I mean blow everything and be left without resources and without reactors. Smart, of course, but not so smart as to be completely insured against this.
So, let's continue about everyday and current affairs related to the War Process. Having achieved a number of goals, such as the neutralization of the US national debt and bringing all nations under a common, albeit informal, principle, we, humanity, that is, they, its masters, were faced with the need for the Conversion of War. I am now describing the current state of affairs. You did not like science fiction, so let's change the subject. I will speak about humanity as "we" and not "you" because I am with you.
It turned out that it would not work to just go and conclude a number of agreements, albeit secret and through the Seventh Headquarters - not only are there multi-vector interests within their own, Western Bloc, but in the Asian Bloc this multi-directionality, that is, the conflict of interests is even more pronounced. Negotiations were conducted for about a couple of years - this is precisely the specialization of the Seventh Headquarters. This did not bring results. Then it was decided to push this process and, in order to develop some kind of roadmap, they began to hold regular series of staff games. Each series was adjusted for current changes. As a result of these efforts, they developed a scheme, the meaning of which was that the path to Conversion had to be opened by some kind of crisis event. Your flight is such a crisis event.
In general, in the implementation of the shock, they were not so strictly dependent on you and this beautiful shuttle - this is so that you do not think about your exclusivity. The crisis event could be another demarche of some country, a rebellion, the seizure of a terminal, for example. With sufficient skill, anti-missiles can be reprogrammed and fired as ballistic missiles. The accuracy is terrible, but you can hit a big city. It would be a big deal. Still, the AEX management kept the shuttle in mind and gave priority - it was not for nothing that they fussed over it so much, although initially, back in the years of the Pre-War, they had a prototype of a ship with a nuclear engine, and they thought about it. It was a very fortunate coincidence that private research at AEX led to the creation of a new reactor, and I contributed to this - it was enough to draw something on a few sheets of paper and show it to some of the scientists. I was so mysterious ... I like it. I told you, sometimes I enter into such a conversation with the advanced scientific detachment of your humanity. With the shuttle, I even went further - some saw those unearthly ships. The research process received its start and its motivation. And so, they succeeded. If they had not made it in time, someone else would have hijacked the bomber, but perhaps at another time. I say "made it in time" because when Oppenheimer learned about the reactor and the shuttle, he had a pretty firm idea in his head that the crisis event could be carried out according to a scenario that was dizzyingly advantageous for him - there was the shuttle, which opened the way to superiority in the converted war of the future, there was his heroic behavior in the crisis, and all this right before the elections. In general, it so happened that he had the opportunity to make history very effectively and he seized it. I have nothing to do with it. You were supposed to be involved anyway, but on a nuclear shuttle - they didn't just train you like that. Another thing is that, in my opinion, you acted rather recklessly when you got involved in all this, but you are not unique in this.
I can also tell you an interesting little thing about the fight between Oppenheimer and Harlington. It just so happened, and it couldn't have happened any other way, that this whole community of big bosses, making plans for the future, constantly disagrees. Some groups are constantly forming and breaking up. In general, typical intrigues. These confrontations are not of a completely confrontational nature, but discussions do take place. And so, let's assume there are two options for how to implement something - usually everything comes down to two. In ancient times, in such cases, they often cast lots. But in the twenty-second century, casting lots is somehow completely frivolous. And so, presidential elections, mainly American ones, act as lots. Elections are extremely honest and transparent. Well, it would not be appropriate for these bosses to deceive each other. Funny, right? The people of the United States are now a hat with papers, or whatever they take out of it. Oppenheimer is first Conversion, then reorganization of the rear. Harlington is first reorganization of the rear, then Conversion.
Another interesting thing is what scenarios were worked out in these staff games. A series of demarches and your, well, now our, trick and a classic escalation collapse were designated as a crisis event, and another wonderful option, when a series of truly uncontrollable demarches of the countries of our Bloc are compensated by, do you know what? They called it an Escalation surge. In general, all they had to do was return to the glorious days of the beginning of the War. Everyone would come to their senses and get back into the general line. Wonderful people, these bosses! Well, here they were also guided by a newfangled principle, according to which, in order to sell your scenario to an equal opposing side behind the back of a third party, you have to pretend to be beaten and unhappy. I think I don't need to remind you how the first days of the War differed from all the subsequent and previous ones. I also sometimes do things that not everyone likes, but I have never reached such sophistication. If only because sophisticated plans fail more often than primitive ones.
- And who is the third participant? - asked Zavirdyaev, who finally broke through the curtain of chatter with his suddenly arisen question.
- The third participant is War as such, - answered Landskricht. - There is no mysticism here, just like that, you can characterize this whole heap of diverse interests and concerns in a personified way. A little vulgar, of course, but possible. She, like a player or politician, is preventing the conclusion of a peace package. Not like, but simply preventing. And she has already grown to such an extent that in order to cope with this you need ... she suddenly fell silent. - Hello, I am Haldoris Landskricht, - she continued cheerfully, I am not from your part, but oh well.
- Well, you've described the picture, - Zavirdyaev said thoughtfully. And in general, how do you know all this? All these details about staff games and secret negotiations? - Zavirdyaev finally asked the question that had been brewing for a long time.
- Yes, you asked the right thing. I've always tried to be proficient in everything related to communications. Alone, I can do amazing things that can make a strong impression, but systematic mass work, in this case, espionage... Here, everything is banal and ordinary - hacking communications, all that. I have my own people for this. You will be too. You want it, right?
- And if not?
- No, then no. Let's land and get lost. I'll get you home anyway. Do you refuse to cooperate with me? - she was definitely fooling around, perfectly aware that in Zavirdyaev's mind, all this could not be ended so simply. - Okay, we were joking. So I'll continue, - she herself broke off all prospects of further bickering. - Various options were considered as scenarios for the further development of the Military Process and, in general, future life. Basically, they wanted to outline life in conditions of a complete and successful Conversion - for the sake of this Conversion, as you, I think, understand, the crisis event was planned.
The post-crisis structure was also seen in other, less acceptable options. Such as a continuation of everything that was before your take-off, but in conditions of less military danger. Another option is, on the contrary, life in conditions of complete martial law and even, imagine, they thought out the establishment of a socialist order.
The constellations have already clung so tightly to all economic life, and life in general, that if they changed some names and some organizational methods to parodies of your Soviet Union, nothing would have changed.
The Soviet Union on a global scale, or rather, of course, semi-global, with puppets of business bigwigs on a mausoleum or some other pyramid. Normal, right? True, the aesthetics are no longer purely Russian-communist, but, as your military say, more different. I would say that I would like to see such a farce, but I would be lying, because there is nothing to want here - I have already watched it and will probably watch it for a long time. This is not on your Earth.
As a result, the staff players decided to lump everything together - fortunately, the multi-republic approach allows this. Well, everything except for full martial law, although measures to ensure the inviolability of everything directly related to the Assembler are implemented precisely in the spirit of full martial law. This is beneficial to me, because I want to preserve this industry.
And so ... I'm telling you, they lump everything together. The Titanic with a brothel on board, you can't call it anything else. The Asian Bloc should not be viewed as the weaker side, forced to endure all the West's undertakings either - they have their own plans for the future, and these plans also provide for going beyond the Earth. Only there the internal social structure is presented somewhat uniquely. Suppression of the individual, racial policy and all that. Yes, they have had this for millennia, so there is nothing new. Also isolationism - they view it with much more favor than you, than the West. Therefore, the Superfederant, as a trading port, has not been of interest to them for some time now, by and large. Well, some unique industrial units will be bought and sold. Only very little. The West, the negotiators from AEX, did manage to sell this idea of the Superfederant in exchange for certain concessions from the Asian Bloc - and really, why should the Asians refuse the fact that there will be an extra hotbed of tension in the enemy's rear, even if it is tame in relation to the same enemy. Anything to make things worse for the West. One way or another, nothing was done without mutual agreement. I am now talking about the scale of the War as a whole.
Back in the twentieth century, ideas of step-by-step escalation and corresponding agreements were being worked out, and in the twenty-second century, all this worked much better than it could have worked in the twentieth.
That's how it is - with one hand, humanity holds a pistol from which it shoots itself, and with the other hand it holds out so that the bullet pierces it and wastes some of its energy.
Well, now I think you can see more clearly why you were sent on your flight - to organize a crisis event and nothing more. And they told you a story about your historically exceptional role. It's good that they still plan to save your life and use you as a living symbol for some time.