The light signifying the last submarine off the California coast went dark. Song set the teacup on the desk again, forcefully enough to cause the young woman a row in front of him to look up at the clatter. She looked away as if she’d seen something frightening. A phlegmy cough rattled over Song’s shoulder.
“Rubbing Chinese noses in the dirt again, I see,” General Bai observed, hands resting pompously on the top of his round belly. His aide-de-camp and toady, Chang, stood beside him. Pale and scaly, Chang sifted flakes of dandruff wherever he walked. It was off-putting, to say the least, but it also had the effect of making people think Chang far more benign than Song knew him to be.
Song stood. As a lieutenant general, Bai outranked him.
“The scenarios offer no benefit if they do not unfold without intervention.”
“Perhaps,” Bai mused, eyes squinting over fat cheeks at the screen. “Or perhaps battle cannot be reduced to ones and zeros. Your children’s games fail to take into account the heart and spirit of our Chinese countrymen.”
Song closed his eyes, steadying himself. “And your war games offer more reality?”
“Exercises,” Bai corrected. “Exercises carried out with flesh-and-blood players, not to mention actual weapons and technology. Surely you would agree that that is a much better predictor of outcomes than lines of computer code.” He nodded toward the flashing map and chuckled. “Your pretend games are doing so well, perhaps one day you will receive a pretend promotion.”
Song clenched his jaw, fighting the urge to smash Bai in the face with his teacup. Bai had won the girl — all those years ago. There was no reason for him to gloat. But he did. A lot.
“So, Comrade General,” Song sighed, dripping with sarcasm. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
“An invitation,” Bai said.
“In that case I will save you the trouble and decline in advance.”
“This is not the kind of invitation one can decline,” Bai said. “We are summoned to meet with President Zhao and explain our programs. I am to give him a full brief on the victories and lessons learned from our latest exercise off the Korean coast. You will tell him how the same PLA Navy that won handily is always beaten by the end of your computer games.”
What do you think?” Bai asked his bagman, Chang, five minutes after they’d left Song’s game room and were safely back on their own side of the building. Bai wouldn’t have put it past the old dog to bug the walls outside his office. Bai had done just that, which was why there wasn’t much chatter in the halls of the north wing.
“General Song is tireless in pursuit of his mission,” Chang said. “He knows he is right, and that shows on his face.”
“A dangerous combination.” Bai grunted, half to himself. “Moral superiority and a work ethic.”
“Difficult to stop a man like that,” Chang conceded, scratching his chin.
“Nonsense,” Bai said. “I said dangerous, not invincible.” He waved sausage fingers at his aide. “And anyway, we do not need to stop him. We are ahead. I merely want to make sure Chairman Zhao does not buy into his fatalistic beliefs before we have everything in place.”
Chang nodded. “The software is everything we had hoped for and more. I would like to continue with a few more tests, but—”
“Continue with whatever tests you wish,” the general said. “But I want FIRESHIP moving forward. It is ready, is it not?”
“I believe so, General Bai,” Chang said. “But—”
“You believe?” Bai clenched his fists, looking around as if he needed something to strike. “I do not need
“A few more tests,” Chang said. “Then I will be certain.”
“If we go forward and fail, the chairman will put our backs against a concrete wall and shoot us in the heart.”
The major kept his voice low and calm, an engineer under pressure, too focused on his task to realize how great the threat truly was. “My people are running diagnostics as we speak. This software is…” He shook his head. “Extremely volatile.”
“Volatile?” Bai said. “It is a computer program. A virus.”
“No, General,” Chang said. “It is not a virus. Though it can behave as one. It has a mind of its own. We must take extra precautions to be certain that the program is contained until we want it not to be. Otherwise the outcome could be like a science-fiction movie.”
“That sounds very much like a virus to me,” Bai said. “And that is exactly what I want it to be.” His head snapped up. “I want to be able to brief Chairman Zhao at once.”
“I would advise against it.” Chang’s itch had apparently moved to his forearm. “There is still too much we do not understand about the software’s behavior. Many specifics of our plan could prove to be problematic.”
General Bai tossed off the warning with a shrug. “We’ll give him generalities, then. FIRESHIP buys me no goodwill if the chairman does not know it is happening. There are promises I wish to make, and this is a way to back them up.”
