Лю Цысинь - Supernova Era

Angrily, the major general said, “Don’t be cheeky. Do you really want me to call in a squadron of Apaches to take you out?”

Another boy behind the barricade said, “Why can’t you be reasonable? We’re not playing against you. We arranged it with the Blue Devils this morning. If we don’t play, then we’re the untrustworthy ones, you see? If you really don’t have anyone to play with, then wait back there. We might be done early.”

Just then Mitchell walked up behind Dowell, and one of the kids behind the barricade recognized him. “Hey, isn’t that the vice president? That might really be a government motorcade.”

A kid with a shaved head jumped out from behind the barricade and inspected Mitchell and the others from closer up. Then he waved back at the others. “We shouldn’t obstruct official business. Let’s let them pass.”

The children jumped up and began moving sandbags, but as they were doing so, rapid gunfire sounded from the other end of the street, and then the air around them was filled with the whine of bullets and of armor being struck. Everyone out in the open dove into armored cars or behind sandbags. Du Bin pulled Huahua back into the car, and then they heard a kid behind the barricade shout through a loudspeaker, “Hey, Blue Devil leader! Stop! Stop!”

The gunfire stopped, and from that same direction came a kid’s voice over a loudspeaker: “Red Devils, what’s the problem? Check your watches. Didn’t we decide to start the game at eighteen thirty Eastern time?”

“A government motorcade is passing through. It’s a foreign head of state going to the UN General Assembly. Wait for them to leave first.”

“Okay. Hurry up, though.”

“Then you all send over a few people to help.”

“Fine. Here we come. Hold your fire!”

A few children came running from a grassy slope opposite the road. They threw their weapons down into a pile and helped the others move sandbags. Before long an opening was made. When they were done, the Blue Devil children picked up their guns and headed back, but the shaved-head kid called after them, “Don’t go yet. Help us rebuild the fortification in a bit. Also, two of us got injured just now.”

“So what? We didn’t break the rules.”

“True. But when the game restarts we won’t have even teams. How do we know who wins?”

“That’s easy. Mike, you stay on this side. This time you’re with the Red Devils. Of course you’ve got to play for them as hard as you would for the Blue Devils. But you can’t tell them our battle plans.”

Mike said, “Don’t worry. I want it to be interesting, too.”

“Great. Red Devils, we’re giving you the Blue Devils’ best shot. Yesterday on Wall Street he took out three of the Bears. Now that’s fair, right?”

Mitchell was about to get back into the car when one of the children called, “Mr. Vice President, we’ve got something to say to you.” Then he was surrounded by a group of children, their faces smeared with black camouflage so that only their teeth and eyes flashed in the firelight. The children began pelting him with questions.

“What the hell are you doing? The adults spent trillions on tons of fun stuff, but kids are only allowed to play with this crap!” said one, smacking the M16 he was holding.

“That’s right! Why can’t you give us all those aircraft carriers to play on?”

“And fighters and bombers. And cruise missiles. Those would be fun.”

“And ICBMs too!”

“Right. Bringing out the big guns would really make it interesting. But all those toys are going unused right now. It’s a waste of American wealth. The government should be ashamed!”

“If American kids aren’t having fun, you’re going to be responsible.”

Mitchell spread out his hands. “My apologies to you all. I can’t speak for the government here. The president spoke on TV last night about these questions—”

“What’re you afraid of? There aren’t any reporters here.”

“I heard that Congress is going to impeach him. If that happens, that’s the end for you Democrats.”

“The Republican leader promised on TV last night that if they come to power, they’ll let kids play with all of the army, air force, and navy’s big boys.”

“Ooh. He’s awesome. I’m going to vote Republican!”

“I also heard that the army is going to use them for itself.”

“That’s right. Don’t listen to the government. Playing on their own? What’s the point of them staging exercises all the time? Bring them out and play for real!”

Dowell barged into the group and found the kid who had said the army would play by itself and seized him by the collar. “You little bastard. If you spread rumors about the US Army again I’ll have you arrested!”

The kid struggled to speak. “Then go arrest the commander of the Atlantic Fleet and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They’re the ones that said they’ll play on their own!”

Another kid pointed in the direction of the ocean, where lights flashed periodically, like a storm on the horizon. “See! The Atlantic Fleet has been firing offshore for the past two days. Who knows, maybe they’ve already begun to play!”

Mitchell looked around him, and then said in a low voice, “We never said we won’t let you play. The president and the government have never said that. But if we play, the whole world has to play. It’s suicidal if it’s just ourselves, right?”

The other children nodded.

One kid tugged at him and said, “So these leaders are coming to the UN to discuss the games?”

Mitchell nodded. “That’s right.”

Another kid, holding an antitank rocket launcher, said through smiles, “Awesome! Make it a good talk. You all are responsible for making the world a fun place!”

The motorcade proceeded onward. Huahua asked Mitchell, “If the roads are so dangerous, why not use helicopters?”

Mitchell shook his head. “That would be a simpler solution, of course, but a destroyer in port last week lost ten Stinger missiles, and one of them took down an NYPD helicopter the day before yesterday. The FBI believes the remaining nine are still somewhere nearby, so it’s safer if we stay on the ground.”

Huahua looked out at the vast ocean, and the colossal illuminated figure rising out of it.

“Is that the Statue of Liberty?” Huahua asked, and when Mitchell nodded, he looked carefully at the symbol of America. But he found something wasn’t quite right. “Where’s her torch?”

Mitchell said, “Knocked off by some asshole with a recoilless rifle last week. Her left arm had a hole blown in it by a rocket.”

Huahua asked, “What are American kids up to?”

Beneath the car’s dim red overhead light, Mitchell appeared extremely irked. “What’re they up to? I’ve received dozens of national leaders and that’s what you all ask. They’re kids. What’re they up to? Playing!”

Huahua said, “Our kids don’t play like this.”

“Even if they wanted to, they don’t have the guns.”

Du Bin leaned over to whisper in Huahua’s ear. “This is Candytown in America. The entire country is playing violent games.”

At last the motorcade reached the UN. When Huahua got out of the car to look at the building that at least nominally was the world’s office building, he stared in shock. The Secretariat was pitch-black, in stark contrast to the blazing lights in the surrounding buildings; a whole chunk was missing out of the upper left corner of the monument-like building; half of its exterior windows were gone; and there were several other large holes, one still smoking.

As they crossed the glass and cement fragments on their way to the building, a nearby little boy caught Huahua’s attention. The kid looked to be only three or four years old, and was holding a gun almost as big as himself. He struggled to hold it level, and aimed it at a compact car a few meters away. The kickback knocked him onto his ass, and he sat there staring straight at the car, but when he realized that nothing had happened, he pulled himself up using the gunstock—his bare bottom, peeking through his open-crotch trousers, had two circular smudges of dirt—and then slammed the muzzle on the ground and loaded another cartridge, and again tried to hold the swaying barrel steady enough to take another shot at the car. Again he fell back to the ground, and again the car made no reaction. The kid stood up again to take another shot. Every time he fired he fell backward, but on the fifth shot there was a boom and the car burst into flames and black smoke. The kid crowed “Woohoo!” and bounded away carrying the huge gun with him.