Worlds

43. The Beginning of the End

“What the hell is going on?” Jeff said quietly. On the dash of the floater a red light blinked several times and then glowed constantly: EMERGENCY POWER.

Jeff brought the floater down to treetop level, searched, and drifted down onto a baseball diamond. “It’s not just Denver,” he said. “The carrier wave this thing runs on is federally maintained.”

We tried all the civilian channels on the flatscreen and got nothing but a white square, until we found a Canadian station. It was from a French province, but a simultaneous translation in English slid along the bottom of the picture:

…OF A SCALE UNPARALLELED IN THE COUNTRY’S HISTORY AT LEAST TWO ATOM BOMBS HAVE EXPLODED, IN WASHINGTON AND CHICAGO THE SABOTAGE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN DIRECTED MAINLY TOWARD POWER GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS, AND COMMUNICATION THE GROUP RESPONSIBLE HAS-IDENTIFIED ITSELF AS LA TROISIEME REVOLUTION *CORRECTION* THE THIRD REVOLUTION AND CLAIMS TO HAVE OVER A MILLION MEMBERS UNDER ARMS THE REVOLUTION’S LEADER, WHO CALLS HIMSELF PROVISIONAL PRESIDENT, IS RICHARD CONKLIN—

“My God!” Jeff said.

—WHO IS ALSO THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION A STATEMENT FROM HIM IS FORTHCOMING.

IT IS NOT KNOWN HOW MANY OF THE COUNTRY’S LEADERS SURVIVED THE DESTRUCTION OF DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAS DECLARED A COUNTRY-WIDE STATE OF MARTIAL LAW, ORDERING ALL MILITARY PERSONNEL TO REPORT TO THEIR UNITS, INCLUDING THB SEMI-CIVILIAN NATIONAL GUARD.

The message was repeated, and we were urged to stay tuned for further developments. Jeff turned it off.

“I don’t know how far we can get on emergency power. Probably not as far as the Cape. Have to try, though.”

“How long do you think the power will be off?”

“Depends on how thorough they were. Suppose they actually destroyed all of the country’s major generators? A couple of thousand people could do the trick, with moderate training.” He typed out directions for the autopilot and we drifted up off the grass with barely perceptible acceleration.

“We can’t make new generators without energy. We can’t do anything. Get food to cities…”

“I wonder if it’s the group Benny and I were involved with.”

“Probably. And with Conklin at the head of it, going to the Bureau is what got him killed. What I wonder is how much of the Bureau is involved? How much of the police and military?”

For hours we watched the screen, cruising slowly to conserve power. We got an outline of the catastrophe’s dimensions.

New York City was in chaos, a three-way firefight among police, looters, and revolutionaries. From most cities, there was no communication at all. Satellite photos showed that Pittsburgh and Los Angeles were in flames.

Canada, Mexico, and Nevada had all closed their borders. The revolution was condemned by most of Common Europe but cautiously endorsed by the Supreme Socialist Union.

There were more than ten thousand people caught in the interstate tube system. Rescue operations were under way, but most of them would suffocate. Thousands had died because their floaters’ failsafes didn’t work.

New New York denied having anything to do with it, but the timing of their turning off the powersat convinced at least one commentator that they were part of the revolution.

“That’s not possible, is it?” Jeff asked.

“I can’t see it. Nobody’s much interested in Earth politics except as it affects the price we get for steel and electricity. This 3R gang isn’t going to help the market any.

“Besides, the Worlds are all pacifistic. We’re too vulnerable to get involved in revolutions and wars.”

“You’re involved in this one, I’m afraid.” It would be two days before we found out how catastrophically true that was.