Forever Future 1.7 PBEM game

[Eerion]

The Persians were no more. The city of Bahrein fell swiftly under the might of Japanese military forces. Tens of thousands of local militia, armed with archaic weapons tried to hold their last bastion, but the difference in power was overwhelming. City was captured within one day, and from that point it was prepared for a demolition. Every day, the Japanese ships were transporting people toward Hyrcania and Cunaxa, which were about to become their new homes. Or in some cases it was a return to their homeland.
The victorious forces, however, did not establish the garrison in town. Fighter planes were soaring in the sky, scanning the surrounding areas for any unusual landscapes, which were checked by land forces afterwards. Such bizarre orders were given the highest priority, what made the soldiers even more confused and question the authorities. Still, they were bound do fulfill their orders. The search continued for more than three years.

“It certainly looks similar. It should be this one.” Hinotebi spoke, while looking at the hole. Unlike the one in Hyrcania, this one was made of granite.
“Should be? You’re speaking as if we’d find plenty of them.” Astonished Perun commented. He pointed at the entrance. “Do your job ninja girl.”
Mochizuki nodded and entered the tunnel without saying anything. For few minutes, they stood there in complete silence, listening only to the wind blowing from the sea. Eventually Chiyome signaled them with a flashlight that the path is safe. They were descending slowly. The entrance might have been covered, but it did not stop some sand from getting in, making some steps somewhat slippery.
The deeper part looked exactly like the last room they visited. The silvery steel surface with red lights. Only the huge gates blocking the entrance to the chamber distinguished these two. Few marks on the doors, together with some broken tools showed that some people tried to get inside in the past.
“Some peasants found this place. As they could not breach the doors, they locked the tunnel again, so others will not even have a chance to get in. Them or no one... how typical.” Perun criticised the past visitors. “Actually I should be thankful to them. Otherwise other masters might have found this place before us.” He smiled. “Give me the bag Haruhi.”
Suzumiya passed him the big sack. Perun put it next to the wall and pulled out the golden apple.
“Move back. I may not know much about this technology, but everything should give up... with enough brute force.” He smiled and raised his hammer. Standing next to the doors, he threw the apple up, and smashed it at the gates with his weapon.
The room exploded with light. Girls were swept away by the shockwave it created in such small room. After few seconds, Hinotebi raised her head to see the effects, but seeing as her father was picking up another apple she lied flat on the floor and covered her ears.

“Finally” Perun spoke cheerfully. The doors finally fell apart. “You forced me to use five apples you bastard. You better be worth it.” He kicked the molten remains inside the room, waiting for the reaction. The capsule in the middle was still closed, hibernating the master.
“Chiyome. Check out the room for any traps.” He commanded before stepping inside. As she passed him by and was about to enter the room, he stopped her with his hand. “Or go back. I’m tired of waiting.” A faint smile appeared on her face. She walked back with a loud sigh of relief.
Slavic raised his hand and unleashed the lightning.

Perun simply stood there. With his hands clenched, breathing heavily, he was emitting small lightnings from his body. He simply looked at the very top of the capsule. Just like the other ones it was made of some kind of glass revealing the person sleeping inside. Girls, standing far behind in the corridor looked at each other. After few moments of hesitation, Hinotebi walked towards her father. She tried to tap him on the back, but the electricity burned her hand. She jumped back hissing and licked her burned hand. To her surprise, her father did not even move a single muscle, completely oblivious of his surroundings. She sighed, encircled him and approached the capsule from the other side.
“Is this someone you know?” She asked looking at the person inside.
He did not answer, making her even more angry. Empress hit the capsule with both fists.
“Fathe... ouch!” She pulled back her burned hand.
He finally looked at her. His face was grim, as if countless emotions were fighting inside. She took half a step back.
“Who... is he?” She asked, more gently now.
“Someone... I know.” He answered slowly. “He’s from my original times.”
“Was he... your enemy?” Hinotebi asked. He had to be, since he was a master.
He nodded.
“Did you hate him?”
“It was... hard to do so. He was an enemy, but not the one can really hate.”
Empress tilted her head unsure of the answer. Enemy you do not hate? Is that even possible? She looked at the master, but he kept on sleeping peacefully inside.
“If you do not hate him, then why did you get so angry?” Empress broke the silence
“This person... is dangerous.”
“Like every master. Yet we have killed three of them already. How is he different?”
“No. This man is beyond these lesser beings or Gandhi. He is not a mad dog. His very existence pushes him towards victory.”
She wrinkled her brews. “Then why we won’t use them to claim the victory? With such person as a servant it should be easy, right?”
Perun looked at her. “Only if he will want to help us. Otherwise he will serve us, claim the hearts of his subordinates and turn them against us. He is capable of that. In the past... back then... he was a honourable man. Still I have no idea what he went through. Waking him up may be the beginning of our end.” He raised his hammer and pointed at the hibernated person. “It’s a huge risk.”
Hinotebi’s tails were set on fire, as she burst out with anger. “So you want to kill him now? You are afraid of one enemy, as if we were living in a peaceful area surrounded by friends?! I do not know what happened in the past. I have really no idea Father, but we both know what lies ahead. Annihilation of us and our people! Because some galactic scum plays a ****ing game with our lives and make us slaughter each other. You know that well. Better than anyone. And now you have a chance to learn more about these ********* and you want to destroy it because of a risk? Seriously? Our whole life is a ****ing risk! One stupid mistake and Egyptians, French and Celts will tear us apart. We are working on a weapon that can annihilate a master without giving him a time to react, and you are afraid of one person!? Really!?” She was yelling at his surprised face. Perun opened his mouth, but he did not answer.
He sheathed his weapon. “We’re taking him with us. I won’t try waking him up so close to the border.” He spoke suddenly and raised the lid. Hinotebi run around the capsule. “You can open it so easily?” She calmed down greatly after her wigging.
“I am not entirely sure how these capsules work, but when we wake up, we have to open them ourselves, so it must be easy.” He answered, while lifting the body. “Getting him out of the tunnel will be pretty hard.”
“We can call a military track and tell them to bring ropes with them. Soldier will pull him out.”
“Mochizuki. Call that truck.” He commanded. The ninja girl run to the exit.
They sat down near the exit. Suzumiya climbed outside as well, complaining about being useless and wasting her time. Perun, usually cutting off such behaviour ignored it completely. He just looked at the small ray of light reaching the bottom.
“Oh. You did not tell me his name. Who is he?” Hinotebi asked.
Perun looked at his face again.
“Iskandar. The ruler of Macedonia.”

[Max_Smirnov]

MAA'ED

---

The Organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU
17 March 1767

---

The Future of Science is Discussed in Thebes

Last week, the Theban University housed an international nuclear physics conference, under the honorary presidency of Proffessor Adnokamyencov. Leading nuclear physicists from all over the world attended the conference, including British Enrique Ferminho, French Werner Heisenberg and Japanese Nishina Yoshio. The direct cause of holding the conference was the recent breakthrough made by Comrade Igor Kurchatov, who managed to experimentally prove the possibility of chain reaction of uranium nuclei by building a working atomic pile.
"The Quantum Theory," said Comrade Kurchatov in the opening words, "which had been holding sway over scientific imagination and matured throughout the last century, gradually built by scientists from all over the world, had been finally proven here at Thebes, putting the University at the cutting edge of human achievement, to the great honour of the socialist science."
The conference lasted for five days, with the greatest scientific minds of our times discussing various implications and possibilities opened up by Kurchatov's achievement, such as energy generation, cosmology and even the validity of the so-called atomic bomb, all too well known from sci-fi books since the possibility of releasing the enormous energy held by atomic nuclei had been first seriously proposed in the 1680's.
The conference passed not without some heated arguments, of which it bears to mention Saturday's afternoon, when Comrade Adnokamyencov publicly challenged one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Theory, saying that the "God doesn't play dice" and there must be some higher order to these phenomena, which he is intending to discover. Most of the scientists present were, however, not amused by that declaration, with the prevalent opinion that the greatest scientific celebrity of our times might, for the first time, be wrong.
One of the more exotic topics discussed on the conference were the possibilities of exploiting the Quantum Theory in the continuous developement of the electronic calculating and computing devices, of which the first one in the world, the ENIAC, had been constructed in the 1765 at the Luxiorian Institute of Technology. The mind behind this machine, Doctor Amun Turringis envisioned its future, stating (to the general disbelief of the audience) that someday such machines would inevitably approach a threshold of computational power putting them on par, and eventually surpassing, the human mind. "The Artificial Intelligence," he stated, "may appear a wild fantasy now, but its eventual coming is inevitable, and I'm predicting that to happen within the next two centuries."

The Japanese Proletariat Bleeds

The military forces of the Empire of Nippon have finally put an end to a greatest uprising against their brutal and uncaring capitalism that happened so far. The huge underground organization which had been operating in the area of Kimobetsu had been tracked down and destroyed this February. What had been traditionally portrayed as a fringe criminal organisation, composed of various shady elements and assorted no-goodders, turned out to be a strong and dedicated socialist militia force, numbering into six thousand of guerrilas, yet again proving both the deceitful nature of the Japanese propaganda, as well as the true depth of despair their supposedly-just Libertarian ideology had inflicted upon the common Japanese working man. The Japanese officials denied any comments regarding this situation.

In the Wake of the Delhi Summit

The tensions between the Socialist Union and the British Federation that have arisen over the ownership of the Sachalin island, situated on the Arctic Ocean on the crossing of the British, French and ours spheres of influence, have been finally eased after the summit in Delhi. The British agreed to drop any claims regarding the island, and several mutually beneficial trade agreements had been signed. Our traditional alliance with the people of the British Federation had been, thankfully, saved.

Is Your TV Set Watching You?

Pierre Bourget, one of the prominent figures in the French Bonapartist party, made a bizarre claim that the Egyptian National Television is nothing but a tool of our security apparatus to hold sway over the minds of the people of the Union. "The Big Brother is watching your every step," he addressed our citizens. While the notion of the television being some devillish mind-control contraption is known to circulate all over the world, which had been so far unable to replicate this marvel of our science, such words coming from a highly educated man cannot be seen as anything but a deliberate provocation. The French also fail to understand that being watched over is nothing a moral Socialist man is afraid of.

The Woozles Tour The Japan

The phenomena of Jazz Music, that had appeared in the Jamaican community of the Black Bay area in the last two decades, and is certainly known to the reader from radio or television transmissions, had recently caused a huge turmoil in Japan, as a certain entrepreneur of Persian origin hired one of the most popular bands to make a tour across the Empire. More than thirty thousand people have attended their performance in the grand hall of Kyoto's opera, and all the radio stations which choose to transmit Jazz noticed huge boosts in their audience ratings, making this new musical genre that had arisen in a remote area of the Union a huge hit amongst the Japanese. The musicians themselves refused to return to the Union, undoubtedly seduced by the enormous amounts of money they were able to make, which, in the imperialist ideology, is the ultimate measure of any success.

[Max_Smirnov]

MAA'ED

---

The Organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU
7 August 1778

---

The Green Flag Waves No More

At the afternoon hours of 5th August, the French forces have seized the last bastion of Stalinist forces, Roman city of Antium, uniting the entirety of Roman isles under the French banner. The operation was supervised by Bonaparte's right hand woman, Jeanne D'Arc. Her iconic airship appeared over the conquered city yesterday, as the French have conducted the victory parade through Antium's main streets. Thus the final act of the 300-years long war with Stalinist regime had came to an end, and the whole world is finally at peace, for the first time since antiquity. We can only hope any of the imperialist regimes won't decide to disturb it.



The Bonapartist Stormtoopers parading through Antium


Our Rockets Stand Ready

In accordance with our new 5-year defence plan, the first batteries of our OSA-2 Surface-To-Air Missiles are being deployed around Thebes. While sporting less massive warhead than its only contestant, the Japanese Kagu-Tsuchi, the OSA-2 underwent more thorough development process and is equipped with advanced electronic guidance system and able to intercept and destroy any model of fighter or bomber plane in existence. Units of OSA-2 are currently being mass-produced all over the Union to form an impenetrable defensive umbrella over our major cities.



OSA-2 test launch at the Abydos Firing Range


MIT at the Forefront of the Revolution

The MIT (Memphis Institute of Technology) became the first research centre in the Union equipped with new, revolutionary supercomputer, the Unity. Unlike the old designs, iconic for their vacuum tubes and perforated cards, the Unity employs the completely new inventions of transistor and magnetic tapes to provide the Memphician academicians with unparalleled computation power and previously-unheard of reliability. At the same time, this new supercomputer is so compact that it entirely fits into a single room!



The Unity Supercomputer

[Eerion]

“Our reports state that Egypt has already begun the construction of the atomic bomb. However, they seem to struggle with several technical issues. We can safely assume they need one to two decades before the project will be finished.” Mochizuki Chiyome was explaining the situation.
“Basically, they are few decades ahead of us when it comes to the nuclear weaponry. It’s very bad.” Hinotebi drew a conclusion.
“They were always ahead of us in the technical stuff. I see no reason why you should be so surprised about that.” Haruhi answered coldly. “As if you’d expect that we would suddenly leap ahead. Seriously...”
Perun nodded. “It was obvious they are going to be first, yet we must minimize the gap as quickly as possible. There is no time to waste. What about the France and Brittania?”
“They are still working on the design and technical details, however, we were unable to verify on which stage of work they are right now. We may be a decade behind them or decade ahead. I would say that for now it’s safest to assume that we are on similar level, or they are slightly ahead.”
Everyone nodded.
“On the other hand our mission in Russia...” The ninja stopped, as the telephone rung in the command room. Only the highest priority issues were directed to this room, so everyone’s eyes focused on the small black box.
“Chiyome here. What’s happening.” The ninja answered. Her eyes moved quickly moved onto Perun. “Understood. We will be there shortly.”
“They succeeded. He has awakened.” Mochizuki spoke while putting away the device.
“Finally.” Perun stood up. “You’re all staying here. Wait for further orders.” He spoke to the girls.
“But!” Hinotebi tried to object.
“No buts. This is a personal matter. I will kill anyone who gets close.” His tone was serious.
As he walked out, Hinotebi asked.
“Do you think they will kill each other?”
“I would rather ask how” Haruhi answered with grim voice.


Mochizuki Chiyome

He was sitting on the capsule, looking at his surrounding carefully. A fiery bearded giant did not look like someone who slept for millennia’s. Fit, as during the prime of life, he seemed to be ready to enter the battlefield at any moment.
Perun looked through the Roman glass, one of their last inventions. An only one way see through it was a perfect choice for an observation. He tapped his hammer and opened the doors.
Iskandar looked surprised for a second, but then the big smile appeared on his face.
“I knew you were not dead. Others kept on saying you were assassinated, but I know it wasn’t true.”
He spoke cheerfully, but seeing the serious face of other ruler, he calmed down.
“To meet you again. Are you my curse or something?”
“Now now. I have been sleeping for a long time, then finally I meet someone I haven’t seen for hundreds of years and these are your first words Thundie?”
“Thundie... I have not heard this nickname in millennia. Only you dared to call me like that...” Japanese ruler inhaled loudly.
“My my. Are you still angry about that?” Macedonian asked.
“I vaguely remember it. Thousands of years have passed since that times if not more.”
“So it’s been that long.” Iskandar tapped his legs and stood up. He was more than a head higher and way wider compared to Perun.
“Tell me Alexander. Did you win?” Slavic’s voice sounded bitter.
“Ah. You always disliked the friendly chit-chat didn’t you? Yes, I won. After your empire crumbled many parts of it joined me to avoid the nuclear revenge from Carthage. With them I managed to subdue the rest of the world within next two hundred years. But it did not feel right anymore.”
“What happened after.” Perun asked coldly.
They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. A smile vanished from Iskandar’s face.
“They have appeared. If you ask about it means you know... I found out that our legendary battles were just a child’s play in their game. They wanted to take me to the place where victors travelled, but I objected. I did not believe anything anymore and managed to kill them with the help of my friends.”
Perun was nodding, as he listened carefully. He knew that it was hard for the other one. Out of many dire situations he was in, Alexander always maintained his smile or lively expressions. Situation like this was... out of this world. Just figuring that out he slightly smiled, remembering the past.
“Then they arrived with space armada. Their ships were bigger than our metropolis. And they could be counted in hundreds if not more. They laid waste to the earth and within two days subdued or obliterated all Macedonia. We stood no chance... I could only see my people dying everywhere.” He stopped for a moment. “But I could not die in the battlefield. They captured me and decided I am not worthy of their prize anymore. Instead they decided that I may be useful in their future experiments and forcefully hibernated me. What happened later... I do not know.”
“They. How did they look like?”
Macedonian looked away. He tried to remember, scratching his head.
“I don’t know. They must have messed with my head. I am sure I saw a lot of them pretty clearly, but...”
“Never mind.”
“Now let me ask one question.” Iskandar spoke. Seeing a nod, he asked. “Where am I.”
“The special laboratory created to awaken you up. It’s under the Royal Palace in the city of Kyoto. A Japanese capitol.”
“So all these flasks were used to wake me up?” He pointed at the tables filled with medical instruments. Another nod. “And what’s with the Japanese?”
“I am their ruler now. It is my new country, the one I lead in this game.”
“So this is how your new battleground looks up? Interesting. Will you show it to me?” A smile slowly reappeared on Macedonian’s man face, as they ventured away from the dire topic.
“We have to talk first.”
“Yes! There are so many stories I am sure you will be able to entertain me with!” Iskandar laughed.
“Stories will have to wait. I must decide what to do with you first.” Perun answered coldly, avoiding being swayed by opponent’s charisma. Alexander looked at his hammer.
“So be it. But let’s change the place first, all right? It’s quite creepy here. And I would drink something. Do you have any wine?”
Slavic ruler sighed heavily.


Iskandar, the king of Macedonians.


“Is there something wrong?” Hinotebi, startled and somewhat annoyed with the persistent gaze, asked.
“No, no. You just remind me of someone... but who?” Iskandar answered, while waving his hand. He turned around. “I know you’ve always liked cooler territories, but the South Pole? I’m amazed you managed to build a civilisation on such terrains.” He spoke while covering himself in the huge red mantle.
“I did not choose anything. These people just lived here. I would move slightly to the north if I could.” The ruler answered.
“So you’ve claimed this nation as your own? Did they never figured out that you look...” he stopped for a moment. “different?”
“I did not reveal myself for a long time. I was keeping things in check from the shadows. The dynasty of Nekomimi’s ruled officially.” He pointed at Hinotebi.
Macedonian scratched his beard in a muse. “She doesn’t look too Japanese either.”
“They consider me a goddess. Divine being, which exist to guide Nippon to the unimaginable power.”
“Ha! This sounds much more like our times, doesn’t it friend? What about other important people around you Thundie? Generals? Admirals?”
“They all have passed away. I have not nominated the new ones yet.”
“So you keep the humans at such positions, huh? It’s good if general understand his soldiers.” Iskandar nodded with acknowledgment.
“They were not perfectly human. I always gave them a very small piece of my power. It resulted in their incredibly long lifespan, but nothing more than that.”
“So you’ve aided them somehow. Clever. Still I’m sad you do not lead your people personally anymore. Ah... I remember when we charged against each other at the Granicus River. This battle still gives me shivers when I think about it.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to remember the times you were fighting with each other.” Suzumiya pointed out.
“That was that, this is this little girl. We waged wars against each other, but with a true enemy you can share a drink afterward and cheer about the cool stuff that happened. Yes, this is what enemies are for.”
“I’m not little you fu.cking giant.” Haruhi mumbled quietly. “Unfortunately for you there are no enemies like that here. Everyone just wants to cut each other throats and conquer their lands.” She answered him loudly afterwards.
“That’s sad. Your times must be very grim indeed. I remember when Slavic bombarded the Carthage border with nukes it took me two days to convince Hannibal to have a drink with Thundie after signing the peace treaty. That was the only chance we could not celebrate together... and you say that you have never seen the leaders of other countries?”
“Never.” Hinotebi denied. “Rulers avoid each other whenever possible. During diplomatic meetings everyone send their subordinates. I’m not sure if even Egypt, France and Celt rulers have met each other during the golden age of their alliance.
Iskandar kept on nodding his head. “I understand. So now you want me to go and change the stuff as it should look like?”
Everyone looked at him dumbfounded.
“Hold your horses.” Perun answered calmly. “I know you are called King of Conquerors for your endless campaigns, but do you even understand the position you are in right now?”
“I’m not sure.” Macedonian scratched his head. “But I know two things. If you would like to kill me you would have done it while I was sleeping. If you just wanted some information, you could do it in the underground chamber. You even had your hammer with you. Still I am alive. You want my help.” He spoke cheerfully.
“I want you to become my servant.” Slavic man gave a short, rough answer.
“My. My. That’s quite a demand.” Alexander sighed. “My people may have died, but I am still their king and ruler. You know what that means.” He straightened out, taking full advantage of his superhuman posture.
“Do you really think I will let another player join this game? I am not stupid Iskandar. You know I want to have my revenge on these beings. I will do anything to reach it, even if that means killing you right now. This is actually a small price to pay.” Perun followed the Macedonian’s gesture. He might not be as huge, yet it did not mean he should cower.
They looked into each other’s eyes.
“So this is the battleground you have chosen? It is very vast.” Iskandar laughed. “I have a better option for you. I may not be your servant, but I will help you with your battles. In the end, I want to repay these space bastards as well.”
“But this...” Nekomimi tried to say something, but the tubal voice of King of Conquerors suppressed it.
“When we win against all of them and conquer the galaxy then we will divide our empire into two. Like allies. I can agree on this, but nothing less.”
Perun smiled. “You will never cease to amaze me. A Japanese-Macedonian alliance?”
“Japanese-Slavic-Macedonian.” Iskandar corrected him.
“Are you insane?” Haruhi yelled. “We do not even know if we have a slight chance against them! Egyptian army was slaughtered. Your countries before were wiped out in less than three days and you are talking about conquering the fu.cking universe? Did you go completely nuts?” She kept on breathing heavily.
“This is how he is.” Perun calmed her down. “When our countries were still young, there were hundreds of barbarian tribes around. Everyone strived to survive, but I remember when Iskandar sent an official message that he want to see the Okeanos with his own eyes. Being a small country in the middle of the land... everyone took him as insane. But in few centuries it turned into the vast empire and his ports at the Eastern Sea were the richest in the world.”
“This is madness!” Haruhi took a step back.
“Madness? Glory lies behind the horizon little girl. As a king you must be greedier than any other man. You must laugh louder and rage harder. You must exemplify the extreme of all things, good and evil. This is why the retainers adore you.” Iskandar gave a short speech. His loud tubal voice resonated from the walls.
“Or just be a superhuman being with wonderful body and big boobs. Like Hinotebi.” Suzumiya commented harshly, displeased about overly moralizing answer.
The punch in the back of her head made her lose conscious. Empress looked with satisfaction as the girl’s body hits the stone floor. “Anything else you have to say?” Her tone was almost poisonous.
Iskandar laughed. “You have quite a lively bunch of servants here.” He turned around to Perun. “So what do you think about my proposition my old friend and enemy?”
“After we conquer the universe I’m going to kick your ass.” He answered as they shook hands. They both smiled widely.
“For some reason I think my empire is about to go nuts.” Nine tailed girl clutched her head in astonishment.
“Do not worry cat lady. I will help you prepare for your future battles. What’s your plan for now? And where is my wine?”

[Max_Smirnov]

Operation Midnight Sun

Uranium-235 is an unstable isotope, its nucleus far too heavy for the nuclear forces to keep it together indefinitely. In time, it spontaneously breaks apart, generating two nuclei of lighter radioactive isotopes, and an average of 2.4 neutrons. During this process, a fraction of the mass disappears, changing into a vast amount of energy. If an Uranium-235 nucleus is hit by a neutron, however, it immediately goes over the energy threshold and the fission happens instantaneously. Normally, most of the neutrons generated by this fission escape into space.
Not so when a set of powerful explosives, set to detonate simultaneously all over the surface of a sphere of U-235 crush it into a ball of a fraction of the original size. There is no place for the neutrons to escape, and more and more Uranium nuclei are undergoing fission, generating even more neutrons. This is called a chain reaction. And it takes mere nanoseconds for it to run its course.
The enormous energy, generated through the destruction of matter, is radiated in the form of hard gamma rays. These rays impart their energy upon anything they hit, atoms of metal, plastic and air, quickly raising their speed and consequently, temperature, into millions of degrees. These atoms in turn radiate away a gamma ray of lower energy and frequency, hitting further atoms. Within microseconds, and a few hundred metres of the ground zero, the length of these rays drops to the level of visible and heat radiation, creating a fireball glowing with the intensity of a thousand suns.
Only the cameras, set to hopefully withstand such luminosity, and a few unfortunate animals were looking at the source of light that instantly changed the night over the Russian steppe into a bright day.



The humans dared to look out of their heavily fortified bunker only several seconds later. Despite their thick, black goggles, the fading light was still blinding.

"The... colors," said an awed female voice, before being interrupted by a loud bang, followed by low, thundering growl that took almost a minute to fully subside. Despite the distance, the observation slits were choked by a wave of hot sand, brought by the shockwave.

Igor Kurchatov, the head of the project, stood up first, patting his lab coat, to look at the slowly ascending mushroom cloud.

"And the Man said, let there be light."

The radiance was already fading, lost in the sea of dust risen by the explosion.

"...The colors... were beautiful," murmured Colonel Arturia, slowly blinking, her eyes wide open.

"Impressive," said someone, while another person ran out towards the toilets, covering their mouth.

"Write it down, the first nuclear initiation had been a success," continued Kurchatov.

"Sure, we're still alive," winced Doctor Nielsov. "My calculations were wrong, the atmosphere didn't catch fire and you haven't destroyed the world. This time. Way to go, Igor."

"I can't wait to assess the damage," added General Markov, the military head of the project. His agonizing job of herding scientists, fighting bureaucrats, appeasing superiors and warding off spies had finally bore fruit.

"Do not dispatch the teams just yet," said Kurchatov. "Let's wait several hours for the radiation to subside a bit. We only have a vague idea how deadly could it be. Besides, the radio communications won't work until the ionized cloud disperses."

"Let me do it," said Arturia. "Just get me one of these hazmat suits and a tank. And a good Geiger counter. I should survive where a normal human can't."

"So eager!" said Nielsov with contempt. "Yeah, why not die for the thrill, go ahead, hero."

"I have nothing against it," said Markov coldly. "At ten o'clock. We shall dispatch the investigation teams depending on your success."

---

The historical events of the early morning of the 15th June, 1784 were already a few days in the past. Arturia's underground private study, built close to the ancient and long-abandoned Cleopatra's tomb under the Theban Palace, was filled with things she wouldn't allow herself to be associated with in the public, such as a collection of antique melee weapons, several trinkets from her time as an Empress, that somehow found their way to Thebes as well as three alien helmets displayed proudly over her desk. And plates full of chocolate candy, one of which she was assaulting while trying to get her magnetic tape player to work.

"Damn it, this thing is more complicated than my M-19-X3," she muttered. "Oh, there we go," she smiled, as the reel finally started to spin and the large TV screen flickered to life, showing overexposed, bright images of desert, heavy with static. "The quality is far from great, but only this kind of camera worked at all, at least during the first hours. All the reels of celluloid tape were wasted, completely blackened by the radioactivity... Ugh, my skin is still itching from that."

"I have a feeling this... videotape technology is going to quickly find its way the hands of the Boobiewood directors," Cleopatra tried to joke. However, her face was severe, and her fingers, clutching freshly-refilled glass of vodka, were white.

"If they learn how to operate these damned things. Anyway," Arturia brightened up. "Seems Kurchatov had underestimated his own invention. We were generally expecting an explosive force ten to fifty times greater than what happened at Ahmedabad," she purposefully used an ancient name of the town, where an explosion of several munitions ships in 1410 led to destruction of a whole Japanese fleet, crowded in the harbor, and claimed lives of at least 20 thousands people. "It was well over two hundred. Or in other words, an equivalent of a hundred thousand aerial bombs detonated at once. By a device no larger than a single one."

Cleopatra nodded, raising her glass with a slightly trembling hand. The unsteady footage was showing blackened remains of what looked like a human settlement, with burn-out skeletons of cars littering the streets.

"...Thus, of the three mockup towns we have constructed, only this one, situated about two half kilometres away, survived in any shape. Still, the wooden buildings were swept away, and even brick and concrete ones suffered severe damage. The fires that started in the aftermath destroyed most combustible material..."

The camera moved to some human-shaped blackened remains.

"The mannequins. Turns out even at this range, the atomic light was so intense that their clothing immediately caught fire. If they were humans, they'd probably survive that... but not necessarily the shockwave or radiation that came with it," she pointed her finger at a mannequin skewered with a metal beam. She looked at Cleopatra, but the Queen of the Nile was silent, her eyes transfixed on the screen.

"The towns built one and a half kilometre from ground zero were almost completely levelled. Some people would've survived at those ranges, but not many. Closer than that... even I would be simply... evaporated."

The camera rolled along a circle of charred, thrown about T-34s, with machineguns and antennas melted or ripped away, to finally stop at an almost perfectly round circle of ground turned to glass.

"So... this is the final..."

"Hardly. General Markov's favourite scientist, Doctor Ulamov, claims to already have an idea how to build the next generation of this weapon. With explosive yields a hundred, if not a thousand times higher..."

"Enough," said Cleopatra, standing up. "Enough, I don't want to have anything to do with this anymore. Is this where we're heading? Total annihilation? Bombs that can vaporize cities in an instant?" Like water finally breaking a weakened dam, her long-supressed fears exploded outwards. Her Phantasm reacted too, the room turning dark, as dark as the images dancing in her head.



"Cleo, calm down," said Arturia, standing up, her face getting serious.

"Don't you dare to tell me to calm down! I built this country, and for what? To see it melt? I can't take it anymore! This new world is not for me! It's horrifying. I was afraid of it all the way, but now I can see it's even more horrible than I imagined... How am I supposed to run the country, if..."

The blonde woman moved in and slapped Cleopatra hard, making her to stumble and drawing blood.

"Shut the hell up and get a hold of yourself!"

The black haired woman could only look back at furious Arturia, blinking, her lip bleeding slowly.

"This is not Cleopatra I know! Running a country? Hah! You weren't doing much of it lately anyway! Surely, we're doing good, because that previous, smart Cleopatra set everything up in such a masterful manner that the country is running itself. What the hell is happening with you?"

The Queen of the Nile tensed, as to strike back, but she just slumped her shoulders instead.

"I don't know what to do anymore. We're beset by three powerful countries. I guess we could try annihilating them with these new weapons before they have a chance to develop them themselves, but..."

She reeled back at another slap.

"Is this how the leader of the most powerful country on the planet speaks? Order me to, and I will set this planet on fire. No problem. But this is not a solution. What happened to your unshakeable faith in yourself? What happened to the woman who could subdue, deceive, seduce and ultimately use that demon Azuria to her own ends? What happened to the woman who managed to turn her old and crumbling kingdom into a superpower?"

"I'm not fit for all this anymore."

"Yes you are. Because if not you, then who else?"

"Maybe I should give you my power..."

"No. I am a warrior, not a king. Only you have the skills and mind needed to compete with other powers. Napoleon, Perun, even Ifurita, they're tough customers. We need to stand up to them, and my blade and honor are nothing against them. We...I need you. I shall be your support if you can't stand up by yourself, Cleo. Well, such is the role of a..." she snorted "..a knight, right. But it is you who must be the Queen. You and only you. No one else can do it. But... you're not alone. You have myself, and all these people around. No, they're not slaves. And even if they are, they believe in you. So you must believe in yourself."

Cleopatra sighed, and put her hand on Arturia's cheek.

"I'm... sorry I brought... this up. You're right. I cannot just back out. I just need... A vision of the future. Different from this one."

"Then find it, Cleo. I'll be always there for you, for good and bad. But only if you promise to be like in the times of old. The frightening Queen of Egypt everyone was afraid of. Even the black-hearted Empress of the Celtic Empire who never feared anything. The only thing I won't suffer is if you give up."

[Eerion]

“Seriously, I have no idea what are you trying to do. “The heated conversation was ongoing in the command room. “Are you trying to blow your own country?” Haruhi was obviously angry.
“Calm down Haruhi.” Hinotebi tried to remain calm. “I know why are you thinking that, but until now everything Father organised worked out well. Why are you so distrusting now?”
“Until now. It was a good word. But now it’s not just a plan or a created servant. It’s a master. A fu.cking master who right now is traveling around the empire and befriend everyone he meets. Do you understand what it means? In few decades he may be able to create an official uprising against us and people will support him! That’s what you want Perun?!”
The Slavic man, sitting on the table, looked somewhat absent minded. After a moment he raised his head and looked at the girl.
“It’s not what I want. And... I know it may happen. Still we have to take the risk.” His tone was calm, but a little bit sad.
“You want to risk everything in order to gain what?! What can Iskandar give you that is worth sacrificing everything?” Haruhi was yelling. Afraid and angry to the limits.
“I cannot tell you much. Time will give you the answer on this question. It will also show if I was right or wrong.”
“Oh Fu.ck you!” Haruhi, angry at the received answer turned around and walked out of the room.
They just sat around and looked at the doors Suzumiya used, without saying anything, for a couple of minutes. Then, Chiyome has decided to break the silence.
“Maybe I should resume the report?” She asked gently. Seeing as Perun nodded, she spoke. “As I mentioned earlier, Alexander is visiting the garrisons, forts and officials around the empire. Due to his nature, people start to gather around him. He spokes about unity and helping the Japanese Empire, however, are this his honest thoughts or he uses them for other purposes is currently unknown.”
“He means that. At least for now.” The ruler spoke. “Iskandar is not a liar, he despise it. If he says he wants to help the empire it means it. The only question we should ask is does his idea of strengthening the Nippon includes taking over the throne or not.”
“Is this really worth it then? The situation doesn’t look too good for us if that’s the case.” Hinotebi asked worriedly.
“We are going to need a person like him. Not now maybe, but in the future. On top of that even if he will try to claim the Japan with force and succeed it does not mean end of us. He is not that kind of person.”
“Still I do not wish for it to happen...” Hinotebi made a disappointed face.
“Neither do I. We have to show him who is the real ruler using our country. He is the king of conquerors, but we have thousands of years of support. I am going to use that in order to make him serve me, not the other way around. But it’s enough of this topic. Chiyome?”
“Yes sir. Iskandar crossed the border once few months ago. He ended up next to the Egyptian garrison close to Akashi. Not only he was not expelled, but actually they treated him like a guest for several days until he went back. It looks like the he can live up to his title. From other news, the scientists are saying that the water levels are rising at a dangerous rate due to global warming. There are, however, few differences when it comes to the prognosis. Our scientists predict that we are going to cause a natural catastrophe within next five to six decades. Egyptian and French ones speak about ten to twenty years.”
“What do they say about the result of this... catastrophe?”
“Villages at the sea and many terrains at the seas or oceans are going to get permanently flooded. They are not sure about the exact amount or terrains, but in general our lands are considered safe.”
“If that’s the case we should ignore this topic.” Perun waved his hand. “What about nuclear project?”
“It is completed. We are capable of mass production of the nuclear weapon.”
“Good. I want to start the production of them as soon as possible.” Hinotebi looked at him grimly, as he was giving an order.
Mochizuki nodded.
“What about other countries?” The Slavic ruler asked.
“We have surpassed France and Britannia in this race, what is a great accomplishment. Egyptians already possess the bombs themselves and had a successful test explosion on the steppes of Russia.”
Perun nodded. “What about our defences?”
“Our shield project is advancing smoothly. We still have some more work to do, but everything is progressing at maximum capacity.”
“That’s very good. Since it’s only four of us left we have to ensure no one can launch a surprise attack on us.” Perun stood up. “I think this is all I needed to know. Now it’s time to grab a drink or two. I’m off.” He spoke while walking out.
Hinotebi and Chiyome remained inside the room. They looked at each other.
“What do you think about all of that?” Empress asked.
“He seemed to have much more on his head than he used to before. He always disliked chit-chat, but now it’s pretty often just a short exchange of sentences and that’s all. I’m not sure if I have to be worried or he is just that busy.” Chiyome answered while scratching her head.
“He has lost to Iskandar once. I believe he does not want to repeat the same mistake. If he keeps him alive, I believe there is a reason for it.” She answered, trying to smile gently. “Shall we grab a drink as well?”
Mochizuki nodded.

[Max_Smirnov]

The Bang



The sun was high, mercilessly scorching the vast desert flat, stretching all the way to the horizon, warped by the circulation of the hot air. All the colors were bleached.
"Control to Red Saber. Status report," muttered the radio, barely audible over the whine of jet engines, working at high power.
"Engine check complete. Going steady at 85%. Permission to start."
"Permission granted, over."
"Roger. Releasing the brakes. Over"
Arturia felt sudden acceleration as the shiny Y-45 surged forward. Her flight suit, tight as it was, reacted by pumping even more air into its inflatable areas to fight the g-force, then loosened a bit again. She looked upon the computer displays one last time, and raised her thumb at the control tower, before shutting the black visor of her helmet. Comfortable shade covered the scorching sky and land. She could hardly fight her excitement, her eyes focused far ahead now.

---

It's been over 200 years ago when the Egyptian forces have seized the dusty wasteland of Vyzhennaya Strana. About the same time the vigorous progress of the early decades of aviation had all but petered out. Every country was making incremental upgrades to their fighters and bombers, but these changes were extremely slow to take place. The jet airplane, both military and commercial, became as ubiquitous as a car or a train, but no radical breakthroughs were coming and it seemed it became yet another technology that was destined to be forever stalled at its limit. The change came from an unlikely direction: aided by computers, the Egyptian scientist could now freely custom-design all kind of substances of desired qualities. Just like Kevlar made the notion of armoring the infantry a viable possibility once again, the new ceramics promised aircraft hulls of once thought impossible heat resistance. Futurologists were already envisioning airplanes travelling around the world in mere hours. The thing was, without heavy funding, they were nothing but pipe dreams. Even the sound barrier hadn't been broken yet by a manned aircraft, mostly for the lack of any interest in doing so. With fast progress in surface-to-air missiles, there was never a window of hope for an airplane to outrun them. But now, the game had changed. Inspired by these discoveries, the head of the Socialist Union declared a plan of an unparalelled boldness: putting a human on the moon. Both of them. Huge resources were funnelled into that idea, and suddenly it seemed the pure fantasy was within hand's reach. The inert masses suddenly received a bold idea to be excited with, and even the foreign regimes couldn't keep quiet about. The wastelands east of Chelabyinsk were to become the centre of the Egyptian Space Program. A schedule of milestones was set up. One leg of the program was to test bigger and bigger rockets to first reach the orbit, then, the moons; the other, making sure the humans are going to survive the experience.

---

The sleek jet was rising fast, soaring into the stratosphere, leaving a white trail in its wake. The bleached sky turned deep, beautiful shade of blue.
"Levelling the flight. Pushing the engine to 100% power."
There were no frontiers left to conquer on Earth. Attacking any of the three huge powers only invited a couterassault by the remaining two. To have any glimpse of hope of winning, Egypt would have to deploy atomic weapons. Even then, it would only push the planet into a nuclear armageddon; the other powers were very close to attaining the nuclear capability of their own. Any winners would end up with a devastated world to rule, in an universe, as it seemed, full of dangers.
When Arturia thought of it now, it seemed only natural. Widening the frontiers beyond the atmosphere, into the space. Maybe it wasn't the solution Cleopatra was seeking, not yet, but it was a step in a good direction. Proving the final war wasn't inevitable. That there were other things to conquer than other countries.
Of course, she didn't want Arturia to become the test subject. But she wasn't at her full power either, and her Knight managed to win her over. Who would be better suited to achieve the impossible than her? Who would survive where normal humans would die, and ensure the Socialist Union will get the prize before others? The Japanese were already building their own computers; the computational power needed to get to the moons was almost within their grasp. And their skill at building rockets was well known. They weren't far behind.
Arturia grinned. Cleopatra was unable to stop her. They won't stop her either. She won't be denied her prize, the greatest conquest of these times. Not this time.
The fuselage of the plane started to tremble, almost like it was going to fell apart. Arturia gripped her control stick harder and pushed the plane into a slight dive. The trembling intensified, blurring her sight. Her HUD was showing big green number: 0.97. It switched into 0.98.
"Coming close...!" She said over the radio, just before the jet broke through the barrier of the air it was pushing ahead of itself with a loud bang.



Suddenly, the plane became more steady than ever. The HUD was displaying numbers quickly approaching 1.1, but the jet was cutting the blue sky without as much as a slight tremble.

"Red Saber, this is the control. It is 0330 Theban Time, 23 June 1795. The radars are confirming you broke the sound barrier, over."
"The sky is perfect on this side, control..." she answered with her grin widening into a huge smile. Her century-old dream of going faster than anyone before her came true, and the knowledge of alien space empires and Stalin's flying saucer tarnished the joy only a little. Now all she wanted was an even faster vehicle.

[Max_Smirnov]

Theban News Highlights, 1806

First Manned Orbital Flight - The Egyptian moon program is progressing without delays
The DNA Research Progresses - Japanese scientists intent on playing God
Global Warming Seems To Be A Myth - Sea levels rising much slower than predicted
Socialist Union Builds Up Marine Infantry Force - Elite units as an answer to fascist stormtroopers
Major Chemical Spill North of Thebes - Rhakotis and over 50 smaller towns evacuated

[KevinDaneil]

So what is the use of it? I am just eagerly want to know more about it?

[Solarius Scorch]

So what is the use of it? I am just eagerly want to know more about it?

What do you mean exactly by "it" - the entire writing cycle (in some parts of the internet known as "write******ry") that happens here? If so, I'm not sure what you mean by "use" - we do it for fun.

[MarkanthonyDonald]

Well I am not getting this...Is there any other alternatives of it?? Any suggestions???

[Solarius Scorch]

Well I am not getting this...Is there any other alternatives of it?? Any suggestions???

What? Speak English please? Use whole sentences?

No, really. Either I lost my ability to understand what people say, or this thread attracts a... peculiar type of Internet users.

[Max_Smirnov]

The Golden Century



Kyoto, 1850's

The years between 1774, when the last major armed conflict ended, and 1889, when the Great Cataclysm struck, even though overshadowed by the ever-present threat of nuclear war and marked with increasing environmental degradation, are often referred to as the Golden Century. The Japanese Heinleinist society celebrated their libertarian ways of life, surrounded by unprecedented luxury (at least their middle and higher classes), while the Egyptian Socialist Union was pushing the boundaries of engineering and scientific knowledge on a scale unknown before, while building an unsurpassed military and industrial might. Global population skyrocketed, from around a billion to over four billions at its peak, and the technology was making everyone's lives easier than even before. Even the British militarist regime, while admittedly poorer than the other powers, allowed its inhabitants relatively easiest way of life, with much less pressure than Japanese, much less control than the French, and much more liberty than the Egyptian. The great northern French empire managed to unify like never before, and under Napoleon's guidance, was quickly closing the scientific gap to the two leading powers, the British following close by.

The Golden Century started to gain real momentum by the 1810's, with all the powers finally in the possession of Quantum Mechanics and computers, and the unparalleled Egyptian investments in science, like a shockwaves emanating from their lead objective, declared by Cleopatra in 1800, the Space Program. The moons were to be conquered. And so it came to pass, as an Immortal, Arthuria, first landed on the moon Thoth in 1819, closely followed by normal humans. Even the terrible earthquake that happened at the same day as the moon landing, causing a large part of Southern Russia to sink a hundred metres beneath the waves, and generated huge tsunami waves that killed hundreds of thousands all over the world, was unable to spoil this new age of technological achievement...



The World in 1835

The 1820s were characterized by massive Egyptian military buildup, their unsurpassed engineering producing thousands of space-age jetfighters and hundreds of compact thermonuclear warheads, generating a quite real scare around the world, as no other power possessed military technology on that level. Yet the Japanese had their own wonders of science too, unveiling the secrets of life by breaking the genetic code. Their genetically-altered food quickly flooded the whole planet, leading to a new agricultural revolution that lead to the massive population boom of the following decades - as well as further strengthening of their powerful economy. Meanwhile, the British state proved they cannot be ignored too, independently developing means of peaceful use of atomic energy and sharing this technology with all the other countries for massive commercial gains.



Civilian disobedience in Numantia, 1851. Such actions were only posturing and ended in dialogue, not bloodshed.

In the 1830's, it seemed that the threat of nuclear annihilation was slowly passing, or at least everyone got used to it. The network of international trade was strengthening, and the war would be disastrous for the profits, especially for the wasteful Communist economy of Egypt which needed every source of profit it could get its hands on to keep above water, but also for France and Brittania, as they needed money to keep up with the scientific progress. New momentous breakthroughs were made in that decade, too. While the Japanese were busy catching up to Egyptian aerospace technology (and succeeding), the French put their effort into particle physics, culminating with the construction of CERN, an immense particle accelerator, in 1834, still blamed by some people for what happened in 1889. Meanwhile, the British regime, in an effort to appeal less totalitarian than it really was, had to lessen the oppression and seek dialogue with its subjects, which unexpectedly led to humanitarian revolution of the late 1830's - early 1840's. This new peculiar form of democracy, based on longstanding British democratic traditions (that were never warped, like in the rest of the world), led to massive social reforms and establishment of the British Federation, a regime still iron-handed, but admittedly more humane. They even made and initiative for world peace, that was none the less largely ignored - in part through knowledge that it was a British cabal of generals, politicians and scientists, so-called Wizards of Armageddon, who were quietly pushing for the global nuclear war in hopes of great reshuffle where British could come on top.

The 1840's saw further advances in Egyptian engineering. Deploying first Aegis Cruisers, so popular in the later decades, and making another quantum leap in the advanced material engineering, they also funnelled immense resources into the biggest intelligence network the world had ever seen, the infamous KGB, tasked with guarding the technological secrets - and legendary for its massive surveillance networks.



Egyptian troops containing a major chemical disaster area near Moscow, 1868

In the 1850's, while the global economy was growing steadily, providing wealth to all, concerns about global pollution and environmental degradation were arising. The British Federation, with its newfound peaceful agenda, championed the idea of saving the planet and developed revolutionary techniques of reducing industrial pollution and waste, which were quickly bought by Egypt, plagued by huge problems with toxic fallout from its thousands of factories. Ironically, it was the Socialist Union which managed to cut its staggering environmental footprint almost in half, while other powers weren't that much into cutting their profit margins. Still it had proven to be too little, too late and 1860's had seen more and more environmental destruction. Still, not nearly enough to really affect the world's economy. Around the same time, the French gained an edge in communication and thermal imaging technologies, which allowed them to build first effective spy satellites, a concept which had been around for some time but had been of limited usefulness.

By the 1870's, the Socialist Union broke yet another ceiling in military technology, by deploying stealth bombers, computer-aided infantry clad in full bulletproof carapace armor, and last but not least, a small fleet of Space Planes, extremely advanced airplanes powerful enough to be able to get into orbit by themselves, and nimble enough to hover above ground and deploy lightly-armed forces to any point on the globe in a matter of hours, unexpected and untouchable. The streak of an Egyptian Space Plane re-entering the atmosphere became synonymous with a threat of a special forces unit being deployed past any defensive lines that could be built, and the Socialist Union gained both a threatening weapon and a powerful tool of intelligence.



A Space Plane prowling the sky, 1882

Even as the world was working together closer than ever before, tensions run higher and higher, the Japanese Heinleinists bolstering their military in a new arms race. To keep up, in the mid-1880's the Socialist Union declared a virtual martial law, so-called War on Terror, diverting even more resources into their military machine at the cost of greater poverty of its population, but masterfully crafted propaganda and ever-more efficient technology allowed to keep both morale and industrial production high. It seemed like the Egyptian Soviet Union finally gotten an upper hand over the Japanese Empire, the lines of growth and efficiency surpassing the economical advantage of the latter. The opportunistic French, cooperating with both powers, could also finally catch some breath, having ensured that they won't be left too far behind and already planning for a whole new economy where their unsurpassed trade could even break the stranglehold of Kyoto Stock Exchange. Even the British Federation could hope to get some part of the pie, supplying the others with their unique expertise, this time in the area of advanced medicine, that quickly became sought after by all the other powers, either to increase the longevity of the rich or supply new tools for warfare. The future looked bright... but it was to be a whole different kind of future than everyone was expecting. For huge masses of people, there was no future at all.

[Eerion]

Fukushima. 11.03.1889

It was a bad day for Echizuki Mamoru. Being a passionate poker player combined with bad luck was an unlucky combination.
“Royal Flush” Kichirou Sasaki revealed his hand. “Can you beat that?”
“Ladies and a speed limit” Echizuki threw the cards angrily.
“Don’t hate my just because I’m lucky!” Kichirou laughed. Out of four people he was the only one with good mood, as he was scooping the most.
“I’m out of cash and have enough.” Mamoru bit his lip.
“Tonight drinks are on me then.” Everyone else nodded. “But only if you will spare us from talking about your theory all night.”
“Ok, whatever.”
Sasaki stood up and put the money into his wallet. He walked up to the shelf and took out a sandwich. He unwrapped it and looked at the machinery. The Japanese Heksagon Seismographic Centre was a relatively lazy place. Since the huge earthquake seventy years ago that destroyed huge part of Russia the only thing that was happening were small local quakes.
“What are you thinking about?” Another employee asked. Waiting for water to boil for instant noodles he was walking around impatiently.
“I’m thinking about our annual report. I think I should just copy the last one I used and change the data. No one is going to give a damn about it anyway.”
His companion laughed “As if. I’d be surprised if someone will actually read it whole.”
They both nodded. “By the way... Why did you forbid Mamoru to talk about his idea at the bar? I know I haven’t been here for long, but...”
“Oh. He has a concept. A pretty cool one to be honest. It’s a little bit similar to the concept from ‘Two days after tomorrow’ that you could see in the cinemas recently. He called it ‘The Sundering’”.
“But if it’s cool then why not?”
“Because if he starts talking about it, he’s not going to stop. Sober, drunk, smashed it will not matter.”
“Ok... I won’t ask him then. However, what is it about? You’ve got me interested to be honest.”
“During his scientific researchers he found a relation between the atmospheric disturbances caused by the pollution and increased amount of cataclysms in the recent decades. Solar wind, or an unknown power correlated to it messes up with everything we can consider Geophysics. From his calculations if we maintain the current pollution emissions, within next three hundred of years the great catastrophe is bound to happen during the increased sun activity period. Even geomagnetic shift is considered possible, what well... could mean an end to whole human civilisation.”
“That sounds... somewhat scary.”
“It is. Fortunately the environmentalism is being more and more popular recently, so the risk is being slowly reduced. If you want, ask Echizuki when you’ll both have some free time. Like week or so.”
“He really can speak for so long about it?!” The ma laughed.
“You bet.” Kichirou smiled.
Tele seismograph sudden movement interrupted their conversation. They rushed to the electronic device. The long sharp lines could not be misinterpreted.
“Run to the localisation branch and get me info about the area of the quake.” He ordered, as he turned around. He picked up the microphone and broadcasted.
“All crew. Code red. I repeat. All crew. Code red.” Sasaki turned around to the seismometer. “What the ****...” he spoke as he noticed an irregularity. The record has lost its consistency, as if some weird disturbance influenced the measurement.
“How the readings looks like?” Echizuki entered the room. “Have you received information where is it happening?”
“Take a look at it.” His friend ignored the questions. “Something is wrong with the machine.”
The scientists watched as the information on the earthquake changed several times per second.
“How long has it been like this?”
“About two minutes.” Kichirou answered. “Look. It’s getting even more insane.” The digital display began overwriting the numbers dozens of time per second. Analog recording began to look like a never ending new age music using hundreds of drums. No breaks, just a thick line with countless spikes.
“What the hell.” They both looked clueless.
“Guys...” the speakers transmitted the shaking voice.
“Have you found the epicenter?”
“We did... Three of them.”
“What?” Mamoru yelled.
“There first one happened in central Italy. Three minutes later one in the Eastern Colonies, most likely around Sendai, but we are not sure. The records are overlapping. Last one seems to be happening in Southern Egypt.”
“Impossible.” Kichirou denied the information. “The first one is still undergoing?”
“Yes. It’s been more than ten minutes by now.”
“It has begun.” Echizuki muttered.
Mamoru looked at him coldly.
“What are you blabbering about?”
“The Sundering... has begun. I don’t know why so early and how, but...”
Sasaki wanted to answer, but he suddenly snapped.
“Call the Capitol! They must evacuate! Now!”


Aircraft Carrier “Horo”. 17/01/1890

“The risk of disaster has finally be stopped thanks to the organised civilian-military action. Royal Palace has also been repaired and within next couple of weeks it will be ready for your return my lady.” Mochizuki stated calmly, but a relief could be seen on her face. “With the massive help from volunteers the survivor cities slowly return to the pre-cataclysm schedule. The surrounding areas however, often need a massive help in order to become of any use. For now the survivors from these lands shelter in the bigger cities. In some situations the sudden action must be taken, as there is a shortage of food, which may lead to starvation if not solved within next years.”
“Tell them we’ll take care of that as soon as possible.” Perun answered. Sitting on the chair, with elbows on his knees he looked somewhat bored. “What about the losses? Ours and other nations.”
Chiyome took a deep breath. “The numbers may vary in the future, but for now we consider that around two hundred millions of Japanese have died during the catastrophe. This is, however, the lowest amount of casualties compared to other nations. Celts anticipate up to two hundred fifty millions dead. Egypt three hundred fifty millions. France around four hundred millions, as the central France was almost completely wiped out. In total more than one billion of people have lost their lives during the sundering, reducing the world population from 4 to 3 billion. Almost fifty cities worldwide ceased to exist.” Her voice was becoming sadder and sadder as she was reading the statistics.
“I am satisfied with morale of these people. It proves that our decisions were correct.” Everyone nodded as he spoke. “Still, we must create some kind of... morale boost or reward for them.”
“You have any ideas, don’t you father?” Hinotebi asked.
Perun nodded. “Haruhi. Pack up. You’ll execute that operation.”
Suzumiya wrinkled her brews as if trying to remember something.
“Yes, that one.” Perun confirmed.
The sudden explosion made everyone else take a step back. “Are you fu.cking out of your mind?!” Suzumiya started yelling at the Slavic man. “It’s the fu.cking apocalypse and this is all you can think about? I told you already. No. Over my dead body you mind rotten fu.cker!” She launched one set of insults after another.
Iskandar scratched his head and looked at Hinotebi. She moved closer, so he could hear her despite the ruckus going on. “During the introduction of Television my father wanted to organise something to increase the popularity of the new invention. So he told a Haruhi to go to Boobiewood and take part of the porn movie. Everything was already prepared and as he said, he increased the size of her breasts for that kind of purpose only. Her reaction was, well... quite similar to now.” Empress answered with a face that was unsure of which emotion it should show – amusement or annoyance.
Alexander burst out with laughter. “Out of everyone only you could come up with such idea.”
Suzumiya looked at him with annoyance.
“Don’t be so angry little girl.” He spoke to her. “I don’t know what to say. I know you wish for some impressive deeds that you could accomplish, but it’s not that moving your ass a little bit will be the most important event of your life. But for normal soldiers and your believers it will.”
Her face slowly began change it’s colour to the one of lava. The new eruption of insults began.
Perun and Iskandar exchanged glances. The first one, taking advantage of not being seen by the Goddess, shrugged his shoulders.



“What now my friend?” Macedonian asked, holding a cup of wine in his hand.
“We must carry on. As if nothing happened.”
“This will be hard you know?” Iskandar sighed. “It was a huge hit to them. Everyone is acting tough and working really hard, but it’s only to avoid facing one’s own feeling and memories. You cannot count it will last forever.” He took a sip.
“I know.” Perun answered sadly. “Still we must keep on moving at all costs. Otherwise there will be more casualties. Not one billion, but other three as well. They will share the fate of billions that died during our era. That’s why we must act as if nothing happened and do all the stuff we used to. For these girls. They must look strong and confident, as whole nation is watching them. This is the only way.”
Alexander pat his shoulders and took another sip.


Aircraft Carrier “Horo”. 18/01/1890

“The biggest mystery is the cause itself.” Mochizuki was speaking. “While the situation greatly resembles the “Great Sundering” theory created by Echizuki Mamoru, the reason must be completely different, as it doesn’t fit the one created by him. The external cause is possible.”
“It’s not.” Perun answered coldly. “It would make no sense if that was the case. Stalin is dead. If something would decide to punish us, Japan would be their first target as we are the only openly opposing them. Also only our country has masters living more than they should. I think the reason is more simple than we think. It is an artificially created world. What happened was nothing more than a failure of the created system. This explains a sudden chain of catastrophes that happened just before this... sundering. For some reason the amount of ozone in atmosphere began shrinking very rapidly despite lowering the pollution emission. We did not notice any intervention from outer space and I think doing such thing without us noticing is impossible.”
“So you’re trying to say that all these people died because of an... error?” Hinotebi looked confused.
Slavic man nodded. “Error of a planet claimed many lives. This way everything makes sense. Also remember that this planet was completely terraformed before. It is possible that it happened many times actually. The land looks completely different from when I ruled directly. A backfire of such actions... is not an impossible conclusion.”
“That’s a pretty late backfire.” Empress was clearly unhappy. “But let’s stick to this theory for now. If we learn anything new we may adjust it. Yet we must declare something officially. We cannot say all of that to citizens.”
“Miscalculations of the theory. Simple as that. Due to the environmentalism being pretty new science type, the predictions were greatly off. That’s all.”
“But... that’s unfair! It’s not their fault at all! Why should they take all the blame?” Chiyome asked sadly.
“Because someone has to. We either tell them the truth and watch as the world crumbles and in the end everything is lost, or make a small group take a blame and carry on. You choose.” Perun looked at her with his golden eyes. She avoided his gaze. “I’m not happy with this either. Yet we have no other choice.” He stood up. “That’s enough for today. Let’s take a break from these serious topics. Hinotebi. Will you take some food to Haruhi? Maybe she will let you in her cabin.”
“I will try my best...” Empress bit her lip.
“You can tell her that if she refuses to do, next time I’ll come personally and will blow away the doors together with whole level of this ship. It should help.”
“Thanks...” She answered confusedly.

[Max_Smirnov]

Arturia's black glove was stroking the inner window of Osiris One. Even though this command vessel was commissioned to the new Communist Party leader, Ramsis, she naturally had a free pass onboard. Not to even mention Cleopatra, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table.
Behind the window, the blue orb of Earth was slowly floating against the background of stars.

"Getting here became so effortless nowadays," the blonde smiled to her thoughts. "I remember the moon rocket, eighty years ago, like it was yesterday. When I saw it first, a hundred metre tall tower packed with explosives, for a moment I wondered if I'll be able to tame such a steed at all. But then, as I rode it... I will never forget the feeling."

"Do you thing something was lost?" asked Cleopatra, who, unlike Arturia, wasn't dressed in contemporary clothing, but a loose, hooded black robe instead. Such strange fits of antique taste did happen sometimes, and, knowing for how long she had lived, no one really felt the need to question such behaviour. Even if it was becoming more regular lately. "You look quite adapted to modernity," she continued, her voice and expression rather distant and hollow, referring to Arturia's black business suit.

"To this new modernity, definitely. Doesn't the devastated landscape look beautiful now, once the nature had reclaimed it? Underwater ruins and abandoned towns, roads that lead to nowhere..."

"Are you enjoying this?"

"Don't get me wrong." Arturia frowned. "The aftermath of a battle looks beautiful, but I'm fully aware that over a billion people lost their lives during the cataclysm and the following couple of years. We have to ensure their deaths, and all the suffering that is still going on, had some meaning." She bit her lip. "I'm horrified by the alternative."

"It's the coming of the age of chaos. It had been foretold."

"Here you go again. I almost preferred you from before the cataclysm..." Arturia frowned again, opening her briefcase and starting to put some papers on the table. Cleopatra reacted strangely to the disaster. For a few hours, she disappeared inside her study, not talking to anyone. When she emerged, her nervousness seemed gone, replaced by some intangible darkness. At least her strength of personality returned, but even Arturia had trouble piercing that veil.
"Anyway, my investigation is practically concluded. Well, not so much really mine, I've just collected what the others found out. Here, the geological survey maps... The second one looks pretty chaotic all right. The global climate shifted radically in a span of a few months. It's been only five years and where the cataclysm didn't reduce the landscape to lifeless wasteland, the nature invaded. The whole equatorial zone is now covered by tropical flora, while Japan and France are no longer lands of ice, the climate turned quite temperate except for extreme latitudes. It still rains in Thebes but we haven't had a winter for five years. And it's unlikely we're ever going to have one again. Even the place I was born ended up beneath the waves. Some say it's a wonder the humanity survived at all," she smiled.



1880



1894

"So you've spoken with Iskandar."

Arturia winced.
"He's far too loud and obnoxious to my liking, but I've managed to get some information out of him. Perun thinks the planet is... malfunctioning. Like it was some clock. Maybe it is so, considering he used thermonuclear weapons in the past. Who knows what that could have caused. Iskandar was quite vocal on this, underlining how we should all be friends if we don't want the God of Lightning to strike us with his atomics again."

"So this is his game. Playing for every team. A deposed Master wants to become the master of diplomacy."

"Well, you could say that, he was rallying us to his cause. He was speaking of the universe just waiting to be conquered. By people who have vision."

"All the vision Japanese leaders had died with Hanekawa. I could have worked with her, but not with this old goat. Japan would be much better off without him. I'd sooner go to bed with that bastard Napoleon. Anyway. To the point. Does he have any insights on the cataclysm?"

"Perun thinks the outside involvement can be ruled out. He doesn't know, though, what we have found on the moon. That device Stalin activated before I've put him out of his misery... I don't know. CERN says they have detected massive neutrino surge just prior to the initial quakes. Somebody might be tampering with us, but his idea about this planet having some machinery inside of it... Who knows? Thankfully, we know where to start investigating. The biggest epicentre of the initial quake was situated in the Jamaican Trench, in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. Building a submarine capable of going down there and investigating won't be that hard with modern technology."

"Assuming we have resources to spare. Which we have not. Not now, not with everything we have to deal with now. Like ensuring future survival. The floating cities."

"What?"

"The idea is plausible, and they'd be mostly immune to any repeat of what happened. The science for this is almost here, actually. It's a question of designing specific materials. Solving engineering problems would take longer, maybe a decade or two. But this is something we can rally people behind."

"If it works? Anything is better than the martial law and frontier economy we have now. And we do have to... make sure we... will survive. With what they did to Stalin... The universe is definitely a hostile place."

Cleopatra looked out of the window as well, her face as dark as the starry sky.
"Make no mistake though. Before it gets better, it has to get worse first."