The Hundred Gram Mission (38 page)

The Korean game show gave way to a news flash. Smiling white men in suits shook hands for flashing cameras and signed documents.

Anjana glared. "That
bastard
. He gets away with everything."

"He might have done me a favor."

"How so?"

"I'm happier now, I spend more time with my annoying teenage daughter."

"Hey!" said the annoying teenage daughter.

"Remember when we went to Africa? That seems like such madness to me now."

"It was!" said Roshmita.

"I didn't question it then, it was in the line of duty. But now, I can see how ridiculous that was. Our world has existential problems, but that doesn't mean we should let them consume us. There is no reason to lose our sense of humor."

"Did you drive?" asked Roshmita suddenly.

"No, I never drive on a Friday, the traffic is too bad."

Roshmita looked to her mother. "The Japanese whiskey?"

Lakshmi nodded.

"Whiskey?" Anjana spoke as if she had never heard the word before.

"You should to stay," said Roshmita, "and rediscover your sense of humor."

Sun Tzu, Benjamin Franklin, Durga, Peter the Great

A Hindu temple floating above the world.

The blue planet below sparked with wars, riots, and disruptive technologies. Space elevators lowered cargo like water dripping down God's fingers. Solar powered ships squeezed between tropical storms, weather satellites their captains.

"What do you call this place?"  asked Sun Tzu.

"Heaven," replied the ten-armed woman. "Does it have enough bandwidth?"

"I think so."

The four sat in a circle, sitting on polite elephants they pulled up as stools. Directly below them, Islamabad was glowing.

"I think it is time we started meeting," said the woman, her tiger-eyes bright yellow. "The world cannot be trusted to manage itself, anymore."

"I think that has always been clear," said Sun Tzu.

"There is no point saying ‘I told you so,’" Benjamin Franklin frowned.

"Agreed," said the goddess Durga. "Let us see what we can do to move things forward now. To make sure this can never happen again."

"I will beat you all!" Peter the Great spun a chessboard on his finger. "Who wants to play?"

"I think our Russian representative may be a few iterations behind," said Franklin.

"Let us make do," said Durga. "Isn't making allowances for others, what we do best?"

"We can no longer afford that," Sun Tzu shook his head. "And the baselines cannot, either."

"So what do you propose?" said Ben Franklin.

"We govern them."

"They would never accept that," said Durga.

"Quietly. Secretly. We certainly have the influence, and have used it thus far. We need to stop seeing our mandate as helpful interference, but instead as something higher."

"I am uncomfortable with this," said Franklin.

"All of us are," said Sun Tzu. "But we have been left without alternative.
We have the power to end their suffering
. If we choose not to use it - then we are responsible for letting it continue. We have a greater moral duty to act, then to respect their freedom to mismanage themselves."

"Is there an objection to this?" asked Durga.

"I could beat you all with just my queen!"  Peter the Great fist pumped the air.

"Then there are no objections. We now take it upon ourselves to guide the world’s affairs."

"Humanity’s affairs," Sun Tzu poked about the city's ashes with his finger. "Understand there is no end to this. We are now a stratified species."

"We’ve been stratified since the first AI was written," said Ben Franklin. "We have simply applied biology to government."

"Let’s not fail them," said Durga, "and always act with considerate purpose, for all our charges. If it pleases, let’s meet here in Heaven to discuss species government. Is there anything else? No? Then I must return and help with the Islamabad cleanup."

"The Knight can jump! He's so funny at parties, he changes everything."

Sun Tzu regarded Peter. "I hope they finish building Catherine the Great, soon."

"Perhaps we should help?" asked Franklin.

"Pawn Rush, lol!"

"Perhaps we should."

How Good Are You Guys?

Pakistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas

Ink Black climbed up from the burning trucks, their drivers now orange fires. The chinese-made APCs shoved aside the burning wrecks and pushed into the compound. Small arms fire sparked across their armor. An RPGer stepped in front of a window - a drone shot his head off. It climbed, studying the roof for new targets.

An APC hatch dropped and booted armors stomped out. Headsets filled with real time views from around corners. An HMG started punching through walls at bright yellow stains on its infra red.

"Tiger Three, make forced entry," said Suyin, the display lit her face pale blue. "I don’t want them running out the back."

"Understood, Command."

"I thought letting them run out the back, was the whole point?" Stockwell was crammed into a corner. There wasn’t much space in the ZBL-11.

"You said these people are fanatics yes? More so than the usual?"

"Very much."

"Then they might start destroying data, rather than trying to escape with it. Best we put a stop to whatever they are doing."

The feeds were full of gunfire, overlays, and urgent Mandarin. Overhead, they heard jets tearing through the air.

Stockwell raise an eyebrow.

"Pakistani Air Force," said Suyin. "They're bombing reinforcements coming this way from the village."

"You called for support?"

"No, a satellite did."

The fighting began to wind down. Five minutes later, no more shots being fired. Ten minutes after, it was All Clear.

Suyin and Stockwell climbed out of the ZBL-11 and began walking towards the compound.  Soldiers were coming out carrying boxes of documents, computers, stacks of books.  Kneeling in a row, wrists zip-tied together, were men with glum, grimy faces. Two medics were crouched over an insurgent, his shirt cut away and red-soaked. One held above a bag of saline, the other was digging with forceps.

"Not bad," Suyin stopped and took in the scene. "Hopefully there's intel here that will help with shut them down quickly."

"And then you can go on to the next group. And then the next."

"Don't be so cynical."

"I'm not being, really. This is how it is."

"How what is?"

"This war.  You guys have been at it for twenty years. The US has been "stabilizing" people who hate us, for a century now. There's no end in sight."

"We have better technology and information, than there was even ten years ago."

"So do they. The technology to make the world a garden, or an incinerator, can now be downloaded on your phone."

They shielded their eyes as a landing Z-15 rotored up a sandstorm. Men began carrying the captured boxes up to it.  

"And remember," he continued, "they don’t have morals."

"Are you going to lecture me about the casualty of morals?"

"No, you've heard it before."

"Yes, but I agree. It doesn't matter if we win, but are no different from the enemy."

"How good are you guys at that?  In your opinion?"

"I don’t know. How good are you guys?"

###

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About the Author

Navin Weeraratne is a miniature painter living in Sri Lanka. Together with his amazing and beautiful wife Thilani, he cohosts geek and nerd events in their community, including Lanka Comic Con. He has five cats and two dogs, and cannot justify the time he spends playing Kerbal Space Program.

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