Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In the year 20XX,
the last war between the world's great powers resulted in the destruction of
every orbiting satellite, and with it, the promise of mutually assured destruction of any new
spacebound object. After decades of death arriving from afar, all sides are now scrambling
to find alternative weapons as a new form of war dawns.
Excuse me, may I sit down?
Of course. Ms...?
Natasha. Natasha...
I've been sent by my governmenwt to welcome you back, Mr. Costas.
Ahh please, call me Ray. I'm glad to be back.
Well, borders reopen, which means we can return to boring topics like trade.
Well, my government is pleased to hear that.
And I'm sure there is a lot of mutually beneficial business that can be done.
Is that all there is to your trip?
Or do you want to see more than just the inside of a conference room?
Well, that remains to be seen.
I trust you will enjoy your time here in XinBeijing.
But be careful that your eyes don't get too distracted.
I'll be fine. Thank you.
It's been a pleasure.
No, the pleasure has been all mine.
But I'm sure our paths will cross again.
In our business, everything is possible.
Well see you again.
See you again.
It's good to see you again Mr. Costas.
It's quite a view up here.
This way please. The General is waiting.
Sir.
Ah, Mr. Costas, Ni Hao. Good to see you again.
Ni Hao. Good to see you again.
Mr. Xi, my government thanks you for your invitiation.
Not at all. Please.
The war is the war, but now it's peace again.
We should invite our old friends back.
I must admit I was surprised that your father
would be happy with our countries breaking bread and signing a new trade deal.
Well, the war is over. My father and the other Generals have had their time. So,
that means there's room for a new generation and new ideas.
Well what do you have in mind...
How was the meeting General?
Good, too good in fact.
We got everything we asked for.
They could send anyone for this.
Clearly he's here for another reason.
Indeed.
Ray.
Hey Carson.
It's been far too long my friend. How has life been here behind the lines?
Yeah well, better than expected. You?
It's nice to be here, in the old Beijing.
Yeah, well enjoy it. It'll all be gone soon. It's progress they call it.
Still, they have good fish? Oh yeah, come on let's go.
You know Ray, I didn't expect to see you back here again.
I'd imagine your leaders are still struggling trying to figure out what happened.
Worse, they don't even know what to do next.
So I've heard. You know they say,
Generals are always preparing to fight the last war. But not here.
Our old friend the elder General Xi has been, umm, 'retired'.
His son did seem overly pleased with himself.
Well his father had wanted him out of the way.
So he put him in charge of what seemed to be a dead end weapons program.
Let me guess, manned weapons.
Exactly. Suddenly the most valuable piece of tech in the world.
And yet our countries are all still trying to return to killing people from afar.
So Carson, what exactly do you know?
Well surprisingly, almost everything Ray. They've taken old armored drones, and
modified them. They'll be deadly up close.
And right now, no one will see them coming. -Exactly.
Well, except for clever people like me.
And now you.
How did you get it?
Well, let's just say I've gotten to know this place pretty well.
Now make sure that gets back to my government as well. There's no need for us to refight the last war.
Sure. But perhaps,
I hope there's a day that we can have dinner with no talk of the war.
Cheers.
Sir.
Our suspicions are clearly justified General.
As expected. What did you see?
He met with our old friend, Carson, who gave him the blueprints.
Ah, Carson. He always was a clever spy.
How worried should we be? If the other powers develop their own...
They would have anyway. The future must be manned weapons.
Sir.
Let them have the empty shells,
The don't know the most important part.
They donĂt have our pilots.
There's a new type of war coming,
and they don't know the half of it.