Post by Lorpius Prime on Oct 11, 2008 22:41:21 GMT -5
Xi Feng had not had to withstand any kind of serious gravity field in four years. In February of 2069 she had departed from Quito to Earth Fleet's shipyards to take command of the Uruguay for its maiden flight. It had been the vindication of her entire career; sixteen years spent clawing her way up the Fleet's chain of command. Even in an organization whose personnel requirements had been nearly doubling every five years, it was quite an achievement.
Four years ago had been her last time on Earth. But Xi Feng had not been to her home since 2053, the year she had left for the Fleet Academy. Xi Feng had known she wanted to join the Fleet since the day she had heard of its creation. It had only been her good fortune that Singapore had joined the OES the year she passed her A-level. Before the news came, Xi Feng had been making preparations to defect to Indonesia so that she could join up. But the Kyhyex's show of force had led to the downfall of the pro-Russian SDA government, the return of the PAP, and accession to the OES. Instead of defecting, Xi Feng had become the first Singaporean Earth Fleet Cadet.
Her government had been all too happy to hold up Xi Feng as a poster-child of the "new" Singapore, a symbol of the tiny nation's commitment to Earth. Xi Feng's parents had been less happy. Her family had deep roots in Singaporean politics, and Xi Feng's father especially had been expecting her to join that tradition. He was a member of parliament from the PAP himself, so he'd gritted his teeth and smiled for the photographs along with everyone else; but in private, his disappointment had been very clear. Part of it, Xi Feng suspected, was that she'd caught him off-guard. The mountains of science fiction stories which filled her bookshelves had obviously failed to tip her parents off to her plans. Afterwards, however, she was reasonably certain that they had figured out her plans to leave Singapore. They'd never spoken about it, but Xi Feng's relations with her family had cooled ever since.
So she'd never been home again. Her parents had come to Houston for her graduation, of course, but mostly so father could keep up appearances. But after that, Xi Feng had gone into space, into service for her planet, her species, her self, and nothing else. She had no regrets, and she probably wouldn't be coming back at all now, if it hadn't been for the invitation she'd received.
It was more like an order, anyway. One didn't refuse an invitation from the supreme commander of Earth Fleet. The Uruguay had been in a parking orbit near Quito station for two days before Xi Feng had received the invitation. Her ship had technically joined First Fleet under EarthCOM, but it hadn't been integrated into any divisions or joined any maneuvers. So they had sat for two days with nothing to do while all of Xi Feng's best attempts to penetrate the bureaucracy and get straight answers from her superiors had been rebuffed. She hadn't even been able to get clearance to grant leaves to her crew. The grumbling had been minimal thus far, which was no small mercy. But it was painful for anyone to be locked onboard that close to the home world, unable to get time groundside, but without any actual orders either. The crew was unhappy, and Xi Feng didn't blame them one bit.
It wasn't in the official job description, but a ship captain had a responsibility to look after the welfare of her crew, and that often meant dancing around official restrictions. Working the system like that was not openly encouraged, but it was necessary. A ship's company could get royally screwed otherwise. And if a Captain allowed that to happen, she wasn't worthy of her position. So the total lockdown on Uruguay's orders and crew was leaving Xi Feng more than a bit angry, with herself as much as with Earth Fleet.
The elevator was nearing the halfway point between its orbital anchor and the Singapore base station, and Xi Feng was beginning to feel the effects of actual gravity. It wasn't nearly so strong as the force which the Uruguay's engines could exert with plasma rockets at full burn, but it would be a constant effect, and Xi Feng would have to walk against it, rather than letting an acceleration chair support her weight. The fact that the elevator was very nearly in free fall helped, some, but that wouldn't last long. Outside the climber's thick windows, she could see the edges of its enormous atmospheric brake beginning to glow with the heat of friction.
The brake expanded and engines kicked into action. Xi Feng could feel her weight growing by the second as the climber's descent slowed enough for its motors to engage the elevator's tether.
Xi Feng was sitting in the climber's passenger section, which was tiny relative to the machine's enormous cargo bay. It still came equipped with windows that covered almost the entire outer wall of the compartment, giving everyone inside a breathtaking view of planet Earth. All of Northern Asia was spread out before Xi Feng, slowly rising up to meet her.
The view was nothing like what one might expect from watching movies. Even now, too many special effects designers liked to depict most of East Asia as a black and barren wasteland, just as they would the western half of North America. The reality was far less bleak. From space China, Japan, and the American west coast all looked just as green and lush as anywhere else on the globe.
But cultural memory was a powerful thing. People were familiar with the lifeless deserts and desolate cities which they saw in their historical documentaries as much as in their entertainment. They expected the emotions they felt about those places to be reflected in photographs and videos no matter how distant the camera. And no filmmaker in her right financial mind would dare attempt to defy expectations.
Xi Feng's family had settled in Singapore over two hundred years ago. Prior to that, they had lived in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fuijan. The Chinese government's final census in 2024 had counted over 150 million people living in each of those provinces. In 2073, the best estimates of the OES put the combined figure at less than one million. Greater than eighty percent of the difference had died in the war and its aftermath. The rest had left in the decades afterward, fleeing from a poisoned land.
No one called it a world war, it had happened too fast for many countries to get involved. The Chinese claimed from the very beginning that it had been started by the Americans. Most historians agreed; some overenthusiastic SAM operator had launched on Chinese warplanes engaged in training exercises that strayed too close to a US Navy fleet in the Taiwan Strait. Five days later, as American bombers were flattening Beijing and their government was still trying to figure out just what it had gotten itself into, the first missiles were launched. That first flight of nukes landed on the American and Canadian west coasts, subsequent flights destroyed most of Japan, Taiwan, and the American Navy's Pacific infrastructure. The Chinese strategic missiles performed beyond their makers' wildest expectations, nearly a fifth of the American population perished. The Chinese government celebrated for less than an hour before the American retaliation obliterated their country.
The Straits War began in 2027 without any kind of official declaration, and it ended 102 hours later without a formal peace. Even had the American government cared, there was nothing left for it to make peace with. The world war began a week later.
It started when North Korea invaded the dazed and battered south. That first episode also saw the use of nuclear weapons, and the North quickly overran the South. The conquest lasted little more than a year, however, before the bloated and chronically incompetent government collapsed in on itself and cast the Korean peninsula into a new period of bloody turmoil. The chaos lasted until the spring of 2030, when the Russians finally intervened, crushing the competing juntas to impose a unified, orderly, and even somewhat democratic government.
Things were worse on the other side of the continent. Southwest and Central Asian regimes, having lost most of their external financial and political backers, toppled one after the other. More often than not, they were replaced by nothing and no one. Russian soldiers staved off total collapse in a few countries after receiving a sweeping mandate from the United Nations Security Council and the "invitation" of a few teetering governments, but even the Russian army could not be everywhere at once. Most of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa were lost to anarchy and intractable clan warfare. When the brutal fanatics of the Great Jihad began surging out of Egypt and the Sudan, many people were more relieved than horrified. The Mujahideen's preferred form of slaughter was at least orderly and predictable; one need only become a fanatic oneself in order to avoid their sword.
By the early 2040s, Xi Feng's own Singapore was facing crisis. The desperate situation in China had quickly spilled over into Southeast Asia. None of the countries there could deal with the absolute sea of refugees pouring into their territory demanding food and shelter. Vietnam attempted to close its borders in 2029, and quickly found itself fighting a war against remnant units from the PLA supported by a flood of mostly unarmed refugees. In Laos and much of Burma, government gave way to mobs with an appetite for ethnic cleansing. In 2035, the year Xi Feng was born, the slaughter was reaching a fever pitch. The Thai government, under pressure from the refugee hordes in the north and militant converts to the Jihad in the south, transformed itself into a state which recalled the darkest days of the twentieth century. Singapore was the only surviving nation in the world with a majority Chinese population, and it was in a region where Chinese were increasingly viewed as the enemy.
Nine years later Xi Feng remembered crying in her room while her parents argued outside. Xi Feng's mother wanted the family to leave. The Malaysian army was encircled at Kuala Lumpur and a spearhead of vicious Thai soldiers was knocking on the gates of Singapore. No one was sure if the Indonesian government was going to survive a widespread revolt attempting to claim the country's islands for the Jihad. Xi Feng's father insisted that the situation was not so bad as it seemed, and that anyway negotiations with the Australians would soon succeed and that country would come to Singapore's defense.
Salvation did come the next year, but not from Australia. In 2045 an international pressure group, mostly supported by European activists, finally convinced the Indian government to drop its support for the murderous regime in Thailand. While the Bats arrived in the Solar System unnoticed and began to colonize Jupiter's moons, Russian marines were seizing Bangkok. Australia did intervene that year, too, but only with peacekeepers to stabilize Indonesia. In Singapore, the government breathed a sigh of relief, and then squawked as it was voted out of power for entrusting its defense to unreliable Western nations.
A loudspeaker in the climber's passenger compartment buzzed, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Singapore. Welcome to Earth."
Xi Feng blinked. She had gotten so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed most of the journey down. As awareness returned, she realized how ragged her breathing had become. She sighed, and took a few moments to relax her diaphragm and begin taking slow, deep breaths. She leaned her head back to look up through the transparent ceiling at the blue sky above. Although everyone just called it the Singapore Elevator, the installation's official name was the Singapore-Johor Memorial Sea- and Spaceport. The name was intended to recall the forty-four members of the Republic of Singapore Air Force who died defending the city from 2044 to 2045 after the bridges to Johor were detonated. The elevator's tethers stood out against the sky as eleven thin black ribbons which stretched up towards the heavens and disappeared.
She was received by an Honor Guard. The actual Singapore Guards picked her up from the elevator in one of their helicopters and flew her to Changi Airport. There she stepped out into the middle of a platoon of Guards in their maroon hoplite suits to be officially welcomed back to her country. If a Guard lieutenant hadn't told her what to expect, Xi Feng would almost certainly have responded to the spectacle with an unflattering open-mouthed stare. She almost did anyway.
The government had tried to make her into a celebrity once before, when she first shipped out to the Earth Fleet Academy. But that initiative had faded completely after a few years of not responding to press inquiries and not visiting Singapore. Now it seemed like they were trying to do it again, and this time they had the territorial advantage. There were at least a dozen cameras from the video media pointed at her, and God only knew how many personal cameras from the tiny crowd that had assembled beyond a security rope. Inside the rope, but just beyond the Honor Guards were the six VIPs: Singapore's President Samara and Chief of Defence Forces General Mah, Chief Executive Molinas of the OES, Earth Fleet Admiral Kozlov, and Xi Feng's parents. Xi Feng found her parents intimidating enough on their own; in this company they were terrifying. But the cameras were rolling and Xi Feng hadn't let twenty years of military discipline just wash over her, she gritted her teeth and smiled as she walked down the line of Guardsmen to greet everyone.
Singapore was running this show, so she shook hands with President Samara first, even though, to Xi Feng's mind; Chief Molinas should have topped the order of precedence. The President was a big man, and he hadn't been living in null gravity for the past four years, so he pulled on her forearm hard enough to leave her wrist and elbow aching.
"Welcome home, Captain Lee," he said, "the Republic of Singapore thanks you for your service to your country and to planet Earth."
"I'm proud to serve," Xi Feng replied dutifully, but the President had already turned his head away to beam at the cameras.
General Mah cut a much less imposing figure, but his handshake was also far stronger than Xi Feng could comfortably match. At least she was more prepared for it this time. He thanked her for her service as well, but opted for a polite nod over a big photogenic smile. Xi Feng didn't really know what he was doing here, joining the Fleet had exempted her from the National Service and she had never been a part of the Singapore Armed Forces. She returned the thanks, however, and tried to appear as gracious as possible.
Chief Molinas was next, he clasped her hand in both of his, but did not attempt to actually jerk her arm around at all, for which she was grateful.
"Welcome back to Earth, Captain," he said, then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "I hope you can forgive the political theater, we'll try to make it up to you later."
Xi Feng smiled. She had not supported Eduard Molinas' bid for the Chief Executive position, he had always seemed just a little too slimy for her taste. She had hoped that the Indian Prime Minister, Subhas Jahnavi, would get the job; he had always taken a much tougher line on policy towards the aliens and was an outspoken supporter of an expanded Earth Fleet. But the Chief Executive was selected by the General Assembly of the OES, not the actual people of Earth; and whatever his other faults were, Molinas had proven himself to be a far superior politician to Jahnavi. He also seemed nice enough in person; at least he wasn't taking things as seriously as Xi Feng's countrymen were.
Finally she exchanged salutes with Admiral Kozlov. He didn't actually say anything, but his expression communicated a lot on its own: they were going to talk later.
By the time Kozlov stepped aside, Xi Feng was feeling pretty tired. Even after a century of human space exploration, Earth hadn't yet figured out how to fully eliminate all the health problems caused by extended periods in zero gravity. They could stop or at least slow down significantly the severest symptoms of bone and muscle atrophy with drugs and implants, but it just wasn't possible to get the sort of exercise which simply living in a gravity field entailed.
Still, despite her exhaustion, Xi Feng found the energy to hug her parents when they emerged from behind Admiral Kozlov.
To anyone who didn't already know better, it would not have been immediately obvious that Xi Feng and her parents were actually related. Xi Feng stood below the average height for women from her country, which meant the top of her head only reached up to her mother's neck, while her father towered over the both of them. She also had somewhat darker skin than both of her parents, probably the result of the little bit of Malay ancestry on her mother's side. Most of the resemblance was in the details of her face and hands and, as her father had once said only half-jokingly, in her academic performance.
Xi Feng couldn't keep her eyes from tearing up as she embraced her mother.
"We're so proud of you," said Khew Huang Yien, Xi Feng's mother. Xi Feng's eyes watered even more as she felt a twinge of guilt mix with all her joy. Her parents had not been happy with her decision to join Earth Fleet, but Xi Feng had never really considered the possibility that their feelings might change.
After a moment, Xi Feng attempted to bring her face back under control, then pulled herself out of her mother's arms to turn to her father. She blinked slightly when she noticed that everyone was looking at them, press and dignitaries included, but it should not have surprised her considering she was the reason everyone was here.
She gave her father a much more modest hug, and he patted her on the back with one hand.
"Welcome home, Xi Feng," he said. "I hope you'll stay with us while you're here."
Xi Feng tensed, and let go of her father, "I don't know how long I'll be here," she said, "they haven't told me much." She was glad to see her parents again, she had decided, but still wanted to keep her options open if things didn't go so smoothly after they were clear of the public. Better not to commit to anything just yet.
Her father nodded, though, obviously not wanting to pressure her too much at the moment either. President Samara walked up alongside them and held out his hand to indicate that they should begin walking again.
"This way, please, we have some cars waiting."
Xi Feng nodded, and she turned towards the little convoy of black limousines and security vehicles which was waiting for them. Her mother and father walked on either side of her, and they were themselves flanked by the other VIPs. A little ring of security men opened to let them through to the waiting cars, then promptly closed ranks again behind. The security was apparently a joint operation of Singapore's Security Command and Executive Protection Service bodyguards hired by the OES, and it was interesting to see the contrast between their respective philosophies. SecCom attempted to be unobtrusive, and its agents dressed in ordinary business suits. EPS, on the other hand, took a far less subtle approach; their men were carrying enough firepower to put up a good fight even against the soldiers of the Guards platoon a few yards away.
As soon as they were enclosed by the security men, someone put a hand on Xi Feng's shoulder. She turned to see that it was Chief Molinas.
"You'll be coming with Admiral Kozlov and me in the last car, Captain Lee," he pointed to the final limousine in the line. Xi Feng had been following President Samara and General Mah towards the one in the middle. Molinas turned to her parents and bowed slightly, "Mr. and Mrs. Lee, I promise I'll have your daughter back to you by this evening."
Xi Feng's mother put her arms around her daughter once more while her husband shook the Chief Executive's hand.
"We'll see you later," she said with a slight sob, then let Xi Feng go. Xi Feng squeezed her mother's hand before following her commander and her Chief Executive to the car. An EPS man held the door open for the three of them as they climbed in.
Xi Feng had been in a limousine only a handful of times in her life, when travelling with her father. This one was nice, but the interior felt smaller than her memories said it should have. Chief Molinas and Admiral Kozlov took seats facing the rear of the car, and indicated that Xi Feng should sit opposite them. She did, and the bodyguard outside closed the door after her, sealing them all in. The windows were thick and dark, and the heavy armor of the car's skin effectively shut off the dull roar of noise from the outside.
Xi Feng forced herself to sit upright, despite protesting muscles in her back and neck. Kozlov did the same, while Molinas fidgeted a little to get comfortable before speaking.
"Sorry about that, Captain," he said. "Prime Minister Tan caught us a little off-guard with all this pomp, although I guess I should have expected it given the polls. Plus," and he turned to narrow his eyes at Kozlov, "Lavrentiy here didn't tell me how long it was since you've been home. I'm truly sorry about tearing you away from your parents like that; we'll get you back as soon as possible."
Xi Feng felt herself redden a bit, "Thank you, sir," she said, "but it's no trouble."
Molinas raised an eyebrow, but didn't dig further, for which Xi Feng was grateful. "Anyway," he said, "give me that box please, Admiral."
The commander of Earth Fleet fished a little box, like a long jewelry box, out of the pocket of his coat and handed it over to the Chief Executive.
Molinas popped it open, "Well, good news first, Captain Lee. You're promoted." He flipped the box around and handed it to her.
Xi Feng blinked as she took it. It was a jewelry box. Inside was a pair of eight-pointed silver stars. Xi Feng looked back at the Chief Executive, but didn't know what to say, her mouth was hanging open.
Molinas chuckled, "Congratulations, Commodore. You've earned it."
She looked at Admiral Kozlov, as if expecting him to tell her it was all a joke, but the Russian just nodded. He kept a mostly straight face, but his eyes were smiling. Xi Feng blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"Uh, thank you. Thank you, sir, Admiral, very much. Although I'm not sure what's prompted this."
The Chief Executive nodded, a bit more grimly this time, "That's the bad news, Commodore."
"Sir?"
Molinas opened his mouth, but shut it before saying anything. He looked out one of the windows at the road their car was travelling across silently.
"The bad news…" he turned back, "well, it can wait until we're at the Fleet building. But you'd better enjoy your vacation here, Commodore; it's going to be some time until you can take another."
Hyong Yaheek did not like to think about the health implications of his current assignment. The embassy had some basic medical facilities, of course, and the colony had a decent hospital. But none of it could compare the quality of care which was available on his homeworld, Karee, or any of the Republic's core planets. The facilities available to Hyong and the other colonists were enough to handle most issues. Unfortunately, this planet presented a number of unique hazards which could cause damage not easily treated by ordinary means.
Foremost in Hyong's mind was the appalling haze in which most Humans lived their lives. Prolonged exposure to such toxic particulate matter, a frightening amount of which was also radioactive, would eventually destroy his lungs, no matter how often he underwent a scrubbing procedure. And the colony's ability to build replacements was severely limited.
Then there was the Humans' tendency to consume prodigious amounts of ethanol. Hyong had been quite disturbed to learn that there were Human business establishments which vaporized the stuff for their customers to breathe. To be fair, the Humans didn't have to worry about the health effects of the substance to quite the same extent as Hyong's people. There were plenty of ethanol addicts on Karee, as well, and they were all instantly recognizable by their disfigured and useless wings. Anyone attempting to spray it into the air would probably be arrested for engaging in chemical warfare.
"I think perhaps your philosopher Freud was correct," Hyong said out loud as his thoughts led him to a conclusion.
"Freud was a psychiatrist," said the human sitting on the stool next to him, "but why do you think so?"
"Your species has a very prominent oral fixation," Hyong told him.
The human didn't respond immediately, but moved the glass in his hand about slowly, appearing to think about Hyong's statement. After a moment, he swallowed a large amount of the liquid in the glass. Then he slammed it down on the wooden table in front of them.
"It must be because we have lips," the human said, and exercised the fleshy flaps at the end of his mouth to demonstrate his point. "You Bats are missing out, they're really quite something."
"On the contrary, I pity your species for this obvious evolutionary defect. Your mouth appendages seem to have little function other than to suffer from biting injuries; this must be why your teeth are so blunt."
The human shook his head, clearly unconvinced, and Hyong did not press the point. The human's name was Eugene LaRue; he was an educator, a senior instructor in one of the local academic universities. Hyong considered Eugene to be his best friend among the aliens, although the human media seemed far less impressed with that relationship than the one Hyong had with one of their females.
"So how is your work these days?" Eugene asked as he took another drink.
"I am learning much about the way your government works," Hyong said. "Or, rather, how it does not."
Eugene chuckled, "Oh?"
"Yes. It seems every official I meet with is either terrified into inaction by your media, or too constrained by regulation to accomplish anything."
The human laughed openly at this, "Well," he said after he'd sputtered to a stop, "you may cause more than the usual fear because of your particular problems with our media, Operative Yaheek. But I shall tell you a secret about humanity," he leaned close and lowered his voice, which Hyong had learned was a signal of humorous intent, "we prefer that our governments not work."
Hyong clacked his teeth at this absurdity, "You are joking, of course."
"I am not," Eugene said, and raised his chin slightly into the air, "our history has taught us the dangers of governments which work too well. Where we must give them power, we prefer to hobble them as much as possible."
Hyong considered this for a few moments, then nodded cautiously, "I see. I think perhaps my own people might benefit from this wisdom… if it were only so."
Eugene laughed again, and Hyong felt his wings uncurl slightly at the human's insulting response. The human, however, seemed to recognize Hyong's anger, and he waved a hand.
"Forgive me," he said, "but I am so used to your expressions of absolute superiority, I found your words ironic."
Hyong calmed somewhat, but still felt a little irked. "How is your own… work?" he asked the human, hoping to leave the somewhat embarrassing subject behind.
"Ah," Eugene held up a finger to touch the end of his nose, a gesture Hyong did not recognize, "I have a request from one of my colleagues."
He paused, and Hyong waited for him to continue.
"He is a political science professor at the university, and he has learned of our acquaintance."
"Is this bad?" Hyong was not sure where this was going.
"Not at all," Eugene shook his head. "In fact, he asked me to inquire if you would be interested in speaking to his class. He would love to invite you."
"Speak to his class?"
"Yes. Potentially to many classes at once, actually. You would be a guest lecturer."
"This is part of your education?"
"Of course, we give the students as much perspective as we can. Humans wish to understand the Bats, and who better to ask than an actual Bat?"
Hyong had to stop for a moment to understand just what exactly was going on.
"I am intrigued… but I am not sure it would be appropriate, nor in the best interest of my people for me to do this."
Eugene chuckled again, "I am sure you could learn much about us by the questions we ask, couldn't you? So you could have much to report back to your own superiors. And more importantly," he leaned towards Hyong again, "I am sure there would be many young university girls there who would want to ask you many questions." He blinked one eye and laughed again, and it took Hyong a moment to catch on to the thought that Eugene was attempting to communicate.
"Do you never worry that your authorities will arrest you for subversion?"
This time the human's laughter was the loudest yet.
Four years ago had been her last time on Earth. But Xi Feng had not been to her home since 2053, the year she had left for the Fleet Academy. Xi Feng had known she wanted to join the Fleet since the day she had heard of its creation. It had only been her good fortune that Singapore had joined the OES the year she passed her A-level. Before the news came, Xi Feng had been making preparations to defect to Indonesia so that she could join up. But the Kyhyex's show of force had led to the downfall of the pro-Russian SDA government, the return of the PAP, and accession to the OES. Instead of defecting, Xi Feng had become the first Singaporean Earth Fleet Cadet.
Her government had been all too happy to hold up Xi Feng as a poster-child of the "new" Singapore, a symbol of the tiny nation's commitment to Earth. Xi Feng's parents had been less happy. Her family had deep roots in Singaporean politics, and Xi Feng's father especially had been expecting her to join that tradition. He was a member of parliament from the PAP himself, so he'd gritted his teeth and smiled for the photographs along with everyone else; but in private, his disappointment had been very clear. Part of it, Xi Feng suspected, was that she'd caught him off-guard. The mountains of science fiction stories which filled her bookshelves had obviously failed to tip her parents off to her plans. Afterwards, however, she was reasonably certain that they had figured out her plans to leave Singapore. They'd never spoken about it, but Xi Feng's relations with her family had cooled ever since.
So she'd never been home again. Her parents had come to Houston for her graduation, of course, but mostly so father could keep up appearances. But after that, Xi Feng had gone into space, into service for her planet, her species, her self, and nothing else. She had no regrets, and she probably wouldn't be coming back at all now, if it hadn't been for the invitation she'd received.
It was more like an order, anyway. One didn't refuse an invitation from the supreme commander of Earth Fleet. The Uruguay had been in a parking orbit near Quito station for two days before Xi Feng had received the invitation. Her ship had technically joined First Fleet under EarthCOM, but it hadn't been integrated into any divisions or joined any maneuvers. So they had sat for two days with nothing to do while all of Xi Feng's best attempts to penetrate the bureaucracy and get straight answers from her superiors had been rebuffed. She hadn't even been able to get clearance to grant leaves to her crew. The grumbling had been minimal thus far, which was no small mercy. But it was painful for anyone to be locked onboard that close to the home world, unable to get time groundside, but without any actual orders either. The crew was unhappy, and Xi Feng didn't blame them one bit.
It wasn't in the official job description, but a ship captain had a responsibility to look after the welfare of her crew, and that often meant dancing around official restrictions. Working the system like that was not openly encouraged, but it was necessary. A ship's company could get royally screwed otherwise. And if a Captain allowed that to happen, she wasn't worthy of her position. So the total lockdown on Uruguay's orders and crew was leaving Xi Feng more than a bit angry, with herself as much as with Earth Fleet.
The elevator was nearing the halfway point between its orbital anchor and the Singapore base station, and Xi Feng was beginning to feel the effects of actual gravity. It wasn't nearly so strong as the force which the Uruguay's engines could exert with plasma rockets at full burn, but it would be a constant effect, and Xi Feng would have to walk against it, rather than letting an acceleration chair support her weight. The fact that the elevator was very nearly in free fall helped, some, but that wouldn't last long. Outside the climber's thick windows, she could see the edges of its enormous atmospheric brake beginning to glow with the heat of friction.
The brake expanded and engines kicked into action. Xi Feng could feel her weight growing by the second as the climber's descent slowed enough for its motors to engage the elevator's tether.
Xi Feng was sitting in the climber's passenger section, which was tiny relative to the machine's enormous cargo bay. It still came equipped with windows that covered almost the entire outer wall of the compartment, giving everyone inside a breathtaking view of planet Earth. All of Northern Asia was spread out before Xi Feng, slowly rising up to meet her.
The view was nothing like what one might expect from watching movies. Even now, too many special effects designers liked to depict most of East Asia as a black and barren wasteland, just as they would the western half of North America. The reality was far less bleak. From space China, Japan, and the American west coast all looked just as green and lush as anywhere else on the globe.
But cultural memory was a powerful thing. People were familiar with the lifeless deserts and desolate cities which they saw in their historical documentaries as much as in their entertainment. They expected the emotions they felt about those places to be reflected in photographs and videos no matter how distant the camera. And no filmmaker in her right financial mind would dare attempt to defy expectations.
Xi Feng's family had settled in Singapore over two hundred years ago. Prior to that, they had lived in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fuijan. The Chinese government's final census in 2024 had counted over 150 million people living in each of those provinces. In 2073, the best estimates of the OES put the combined figure at less than one million. Greater than eighty percent of the difference had died in the war and its aftermath. The rest had left in the decades afterward, fleeing from a poisoned land.
No one called it a world war, it had happened too fast for many countries to get involved. The Chinese claimed from the very beginning that it had been started by the Americans. Most historians agreed; some overenthusiastic SAM operator had launched on Chinese warplanes engaged in training exercises that strayed too close to a US Navy fleet in the Taiwan Strait. Five days later, as American bombers were flattening Beijing and their government was still trying to figure out just what it had gotten itself into, the first missiles were launched. That first flight of nukes landed on the American and Canadian west coasts, subsequent flights destroyed most of Japan, Taiwan, and the American Navy's Pacific infrastructure. The Chinese strategic missiles performed beyond their makers' wildest expectations, nearly a fifth of the American population perished. The Chinese government celebrated for less than an hour before the American retaliation obliterated their country.
The Straits War began in 2027 without any kind of official declaration, and it ended 102 hours later without a formal peace. Even had the American government cared, there was nothing left for it to make peace with. The world war began a week later.
It started when North Korea invaded the dazed and battered south. That first episode also saw the use of nuclear weapons, and the North quickly overran the South. The conquest lasted little more than a year, however, before the bloated and chronically incompetent government collapsed in on itself and cast the Korean peninsula into a new period of bloody turmoil. The chaos lasted until the spring of 2030, when the Russians finally intervened, crushing the competing juntas to impose a unified, orderly, and even somewhat democratic government.
Things were worse on the other side of the continent. Southwest and Central Asian regimes, having lost most of their external financial and political backers, toppled one after the other. More often than not, they were replaced by nothing and no one. Russian soldiers staved off total collapse in a few countries after receiving a sweeping mandate from the United Nations Security Council and the "invitation" of a few teetering governments, but even the Russian army could not be everywhere at once. Most of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa were lost to anarchy and intractable clan warfare. When the brutal fanatics of the Great Jihad began surging out of Egypt and the Sudan, many people were more relieved than horrified. The Mujahideen's preferred form of slaughter was at least orderly and predictable; one need only become a fanatic oneself in order to avoid their sword.
By the early 2040s, Xi Feng's own Singapore was facing crisis. The desperate situation in China had quickly spilled over into Southeast Asia. None of the countries there could deal with the absolute sea of refugees pouring into their territory demanding food and shelter. Vietnam attempted to close its borders in 2029, and quickly found itself fighting a war against remnant units from the PLA supported by a flood of mostly unarmed refugees. In Laos and much of Burma, government gave way to mobs with an appetite for ethnic cleansing. In 2035, the year Xi Feng was born, the slaughter was reaching a fever pitch. The Thai government, under pressure from the refugee hordes in the north and militant converts to the Jihad in the south, transformed itself into a state which recalled the darkest days of the twentieth century. Singapore was the only surviving nation in the world with a majority Chinese population, and it was in a region where Chinese were increasingly viewed as the enemy.
Nine years later Xi Feng remembered crying in her room while her parents argued outside. Xi Feng's mother wanted the family to leave. The Malaysian army was encircled at Kuala Lumpur and a spearhead of vicious Thai soldiers was knocking on the gates of Singapore. No one was sure if the Indonesian government was going to survive a widespread revolt attempting to claim the country's islands for the Jihad. Xi Feng's father insisted that the situation was not so bad as it seemed, and that anyway negotiations with the Australians would soon succeed and that country would come to Singapore's defense.
Salvation did come the next year, but not from Australia. In 2045 an international pressure group, mostly supported by European activists, finally convinced the Indian government to drop its support for the murderous regime in Thailand. While the Bats arrived in the Solar System unnoticed and began to colonize Jupiter's moons, Russian marines were seizing Bangkok. Australia did intervene that year, too, but only with peacekeepers to stabilize Indonesia. In Singapore, the government breathed a sigh of relief, and then squawked as it was voted out of power for entrusting its defense to unreliable Western nations.
A loudspeaker in the climber's passenger compartment buzzed, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Singapore. Welcome to Earth."
Xi Feng blinked. She had gotten so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed most of the journey down. As awareness returned, she realized how ragged her breathing had become. She sighed, and took a few moments to relax her diaphragm and begin taking slow, deep breaths. She leaned her head back to look up through the transparent ceiling at the blue sky above. Although everyone just called it the Singapore Elevator, the installation's official name was the Singapore-Johor Memorial Sea- and Spaceport. The name was intended to recall the forty-four members of the Republic of Singapore Air Force who died defending the city from 2044 to 2045 after the bridges to Johor were detonated. The elevator's tethers stood out against the sky as eleven thin black ribbons which stretched up towards the heavens and disappeared.
* * *
She was received by an Honor Guard. The actual Singapore Guards picked her up from the elevator in one of their helicopters and flew her to Changi Airport. There she stepped out into the middle of a platoon of Guards in their maroon hoplite suits to be officially welcomed back to her country. If a Guard lieutenant hadn't told her what to expect, Xi Feng would almost certainly have responded to the spectacle with an unflattering open-mouthed stare. She almost did anyway.
The government had tried to make her into a celebrity once before, when she first shipped out to the Earth Fleet Academy. But that initiative had faded completely after a few years of not responding to press inquiries and not visiting Singapore. Now it seemed like they were trying to do it again, and this time they had the territorial advantage. There were at least a dozen cameras from the video media pointed at her, and God only knew how many personal cameras from the tiny crowd that had assembled beyond a security rope. Inside the rope, but just beyond the Honor Guards were the six VIPs: Singapore's President Samara and Chief of Defence Forces General Mah, Chief Executive Molinas of the OES, Earth Fleet Admiral Kozlov, and Xi Feng's parents. Xi Feng found her parents intimidating enough on their own; in this company they were terrifying. But the cameras were rolling and Xi Feng hadn't let twenty years of military discipline just wash over her, she gritted her teeth and smiled as she walked down the line of Guardsmen to greet everyone.
Singapore was running this show, so she shook hands with President Samara first, even though, to Xi Feng's mind; Chief Molinas should have topped the order of precedence. The President was a big man, and he hadn't been living in null gravity for the past four years, so he pulled on her forearm hard enough to leave her wrist and elbow aching.
"Welcome home, Captain Lee," he said, "the Republic of Singapore thanks you for your service to your country and to planet Earth."
"I'm proud to serve," Xi Feng replied dutifully, but the President had already turned his head away to beam at the cameras.
General Mah cut a much less imposing figure, but his handshake was also far stronger than Xi Feng could comfortably match. At least she was more prepared for it this time. He thanked her for her service as well, but opted for a polite nod over a big photogenic smile. Xi Feng didn't really know what he was doing here, joining the Fleet had exempted her from the National Service and she had never been a part of the Singapore Armed Forces. She returned the thanks, however, and tried to appear as gracious as possible.
Chief Molinas was next, he clasped her hand in both of his, but did not attempt to actually jerk her arm around at all, for which she was grateful.
"Welcome back to Earth, Captain," he said, then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "I hope you can forgive the political theater, we'll try to make it up to you later."
Xi Feng smiled. She had not supported Eduard Molinas' bid for the Chief Executive position, he had always seemed just a little too slimy for her taste. She had hoped that the Indian Prime Minister, Subhas Jahnavi, would get the job; he had always taken a much tougher line on policy towards the aliens and was an outspoken supporter of an expanded Earth Fleet. But the Chief Executive was selected by the General Assembly of the OES, not the actual people of Earth; and whatever his other faults were, Molinas had proven himself to be a far superior politician to Jahnavi. He also seemed nice enough in person; at least he wasn't taking things as seriously as Xi Feng's countrymen were.
Finally she exchanged salutes with Admiral Kozlov. He didn't actually say anything, but his expression communicated a lot on its own: they were going to talk later.
By the time Kozlov stepped aside, Xi Feng was feeling pretty tired. Even after a century of human space exploration, Earth hadn't yet figured out how to fully eliminate all the health problems caused by extended periods in zero gravity. They could stop or at least slow down significantly the severest symptoms of bone and muscle atrophy with drugs and implants, but it just wasn't possible to get the sort of exercise which simply living in a gravity field entailed.
Still, despite her exhaustion, Xi Feng found the energy to hug her parents when they emerged from behind Admiral Kozlov.
To anyone who didn't already know better, it would not have been immediately obvious that Xi Feng and her parents were actually related. Xi Feng stood below the average height for women from her country, which meant the top of her head only reached up to her mother's neck, while her father towered over the both of them. She also had somewhat darker skin than both of her parents, probably the result of the little bit of Malay ancestry on her mother's side. Most of the resemblance was in the details of her face and hands and, as her father had once said only half-jokingly, in her academic performance.
Xi Feng couldn't keep her eyes from tearing up as she embraced her mother.
"We're so proud of you," said Khew Huang Yien, Xi Feng's mother. Xi Feng's eyes watered even more as she felt a twinge of guilt mix with all her joy. Her parents had not been happy with her decision to join Earth Fleet, but Xi Feng had never really considered the possibility that their feelings might change.
After a moment, Xi Feng attempted to bring her face back under control, then pulled herself out of her mother's arms to turn to her father. She blinked slightly when she noticed that everyone was looking at them, press and dignitaries included, but it should not have surprised her considering she was the reason everyone was here.
She gave her father a much more modest hug, and he patted her on the back with one hand.
"Welcome home, Xi Feng," he said. "I hope you'll stay with us while you're here."
Xi Feng tensed, and let go of her father, "I don't know how long I'll be here," she said, "they haven't told me much." She was glad to see her parents again, she had decided, but still wanted to keep her options open if things didn't go so smoothly after they were clear of the public. Better not to commit to anything just yet.
Her father nodded, though, obviously not wanting to pressure her too much at the moment either. President Samara walked up alongside them and held out his hand to indicate that they should begin walking again.
"This way, please, we have some cars waiting."
Xi Feng nodded, and she turned towards the little convoy of black limousines and security vehicles which was waiting for them. Her mother and father walked on either side of her, and they were themselves flanked by the other VIPs. A little ring of security men opened to let them through to the waiting cars, then promptly closed ranks again behind. The security was apparently a joint operation of Singapore's Security Command and Executive Protection Service bodyguards hired by the OES, and it was interesting to see the contrast between their respective philosophies. SecCom attempted to be unobtrusive, and its agents dressed in ordinary business suits. EPS, on the other hand, took a far less subtle approach; their men were carrying enough firepower to put up a good fight even against the soldiers of the Guards platoon a few yards away.
As soon as they were enclosed by the security men, someone put a hand on Xi Feng's shoulder. She turned to see that it was Chief Molinas.
"You'll be coming with Admiral Kozlov and me in the last car, Captain Lee," he pointed to the final limousine in the line. Xi Feng had been following President Samara and General Mah towards the one in the middle. Molinas turned to her parents and bowed slightly, "Mr. and Mrs. Lee, I promise I'll have your daughter back to you by this evening."
Xi Feng's mother put her arms around her daughter once more while her husband shook the Chief Executive's hand.
"We'll see you later," she said with a slight sob, then let Xi Feng go. Xi Feng squeezed her mother's hand before following her commander and her Chief Executive to the car. An EPS man held the door open for the three of them as they climbed in.
Xi Feng had been in a limousine only a handful of times in her life, when travelling with her father. This one was nice, but the interior felt smaller than her memories said it should have. Chief Molinas and Admiral Kozlov took seats facing the rear of the car, and indicated that Xi Feng should sit opposite them. She did, and the bodyguard outside closed the door after her, sealing them all in. The windows were thick and dark, and the heavy armor of the car's skin effectively shut off the dull roar of noise from the outside.
Xi Feng forced herself to sit upright, despite protesting muscles in her back and neck. Kozlov did the same, while Molinas fidgeted a little to get comfortable before speaking.
"Sorry about that, Captain," he said. "Prime Minister Tan caught us a little off-guard with all this pomp, although I guess I should have expected it given the polls. Plus," and he turned to narrow his eyes at Kozlov, "Lavrentiy here didn't tell me how long it was since you've been home. I'm truly sorry about tearing you away from your parents like that; we'll get you back as soon as possible."
Xi Feng felt herself redden a bit, "Thank you, sir," she said, "but it's no trouble."
Molinas raised an eyebrow, but didn't dig further, for which Xi Feng was grateful. "Anyway," he said, "give me that box please, Admiral."
The commander of Earth Fleet fished a little box, like a long jewelry box, out of the pocket of his coat and handed it over to the Chief Executive.
Molinas popped it open, "Well, good news first, Captain Lee. You're promoted." He flipped the box around and handed it to her.
Xi Feng blinked as she took it. It was a jewelry box. Inside was a pair of eight-pointed silver stars. Xi Feng looked back at the Chief Executive, but didn't know what to say, her mouth was hanging open.
Molinas chuckled, "Congratulations, Commodore. You've earned it."
She looked at Admiral Kozlov, as if expecting him to tell her it was all a joke, but the Russian just nodded. He kept a mostly straight face, but his eyes were smiling. Xi Feng blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"Uh, thank you. Thank you, sir, Admiral, very much. Although I'm not sure what's prompted this."
The Chief Executive nodded, a bit more grimly this time, "That's the bad news, Commodore."
"Sir?"
Molinas opened his mouth, but shut it before saying anything. He looked out one of the windows at the road their car was travelling across silently.
"The bad news…" he turned back, "well, it can wait until we're at the Fleet building. But you'd better enjoy your vacation here, Commodore; it's going to be some time until you can take another."
* * *
Hyong Yaheek did not like to think about the health implications of his current assignment. The embassy had some basic medical facilities, of course, and the colony had a decent hospital. But none of it could compare the quality of care which was available on his homeworld, Karee, or any of the Republic's core planets. The facilities available to Hyong and the other colonists were enough to handle most issues. Unfortunately, this planet presented a number of unique hazards which could cause damage not easily treated by ordinary means.
Foremost in Hyong's mind was the appalling haze in which most Humans lived their lives. Prolonged exposure to such toxic particulate matter, a frightening amount of which was also radioactive, would eventually destroy his lungs, no matter how often he underwent a scrubbing procedure. And the colony's ability to build replacements was severely limited.
Then there was the Humans' tendency to consume prodigious amounts of ethanol. Hyong had been quite disturbed to learn that there were Human business establishments which vaporized the stuff for their customers to breathe. To be fair, the Humans didn't have to worry about the health effects of the substance to quite the same extent as Hyong's people. There were plenty of ethanol addicts on Karee, as well, and they were all instantly recognizable by their disfigured and useless wings. Anyone attempting to spray it into the air would probably be arrested for engaging in chemical warfare.
"I think perhaps your philosopher Freud was correct," Hyong said out loud as his thoughts led him to a conclusion.
"Freud was a psychiatrist," said the human sitting on the stool next to him, "but why do you think so?"
"Your species has a very prominent oral fixation," Hyong told him.
The human didn't respond immediately, but moved the glass in his hand about slowly, appearing to think about Hyong's statement. After a moment, he swallowed a large amount of the liquid in the glass. Then he slammed it down on the wooden table in front of them.
"It must be because we have lips," the human said, and exercised the fleshy flaps at the end of his mouth to demonstrate his point. "You Bats are missing out, they're really quite something."
"On the contrary, I pity your species for this obvious evolutionary defect. Your mouth appendages seem to have little function other than to suffer from biting injuries; this must be why your teeth are so blunt."
The human shook his head, clearly unconvinced, and Hyong did not press the point. The human's name was Eugene LaRue; he was an educator, a senior instructor in one of the local academic universities. Hyong considered Eugene to be his best friend among the aliens, although the human media seemed far less impressed with that relationship than the one Hyong had with one of their females.
"So how is your work these days?" Eugene asked as he took another drink.
"I am learning much about the way your government works," Hyong said. "Or, rather, how it does not."
Eugene chuckled, "Oh?"
"Yes. It seems every official I meet with is either terrified into inaction by your media, or too constrained by regulation to accomplish anything."
The human laughed openly at this, "Well," he said after he'd sputtered to a stop, "you may cause more than the usual fear because of your particular problems with our media, Operative Yaheek. But I shall tell you a secret about humanity," he leaned close and lowered his voice, which Hyong had learned was a signal of humorous intent, "we prefer that our governments not work."
Hyong clacked his teeth at this absurdity, "You are joking, of course."
"I am not," Eugene said, and raised his chin slightly into the air, "our history has taught us the dangers of governments which work too well. Where we must give them power, we prefer to hobble them as much as possible."
Hyong considered this for a few moments, then nodded cautiously, "I see. I think perhaps my own people might benefit from this wisdom… if it were only so."
Eugene laughed again, and Hyong felt his wings uncurl slightly at the human's insulting response. The human, however, seemed to recognize Hyong's anger, and he waved a hand.
"Forgive me," he said, "but I am so used to your expressions of absolute superiority, I found your words ironic."
Hyong calmed somewhat, but still felt a little irked. "How is your own… work?" he asked the human, hoping to leave the somewhat embarrassing subject behind.
"Ah," Eugene held up a finger to touch the end of his nose, a gesture Hyong did not recognize, "I have a request from one of my colleagues."
He paused, and Hyong waited for him to continue.
"He is a political science professor at the university, and he has learned of our acquaintance."
"Is this bad?" Hyong was not sure where this was going.
"Not at all," Eugene shook his head. "In fact, he asked me to inquire if you would be interested in speaking to his class. He would love to invite you."
"Speak to his class?"
"Yes. Potentially to many classes at once, actually. You would be a guest lecturer."
"This is part of your education?"
"Of course, we give the students as much perspective as we can. Humans wish to understand the Bats, and who better to ask than an actual Bat?"
Hyong had to stop for a moment to understand just what exactly was going on.
"I am intrigued… but I am not sure it would be appropriate, nor in the best interest of my people for me to do this."
Eugene chuckled again, "I am sure you could learn much about us by the questions we ask, couldn't you? So you could have much to report back to your own superiors. And more importantly," he leaned towards Hyong again, "I am sure there would be many young university girls there who would want to ask you many questions." He blinked one eye and laughed again, and it took Hyong a moment to catch on to the thought that Eugene was attempting to communicate.
"Do you never worry that your authorities will arrest you for subversion?"
This time the human's laughter was the loudest yet.