Happy Hour

[closesecond]

It takes a while for Kane to notice the napkin, engrossed as he is in his EVA display and its reports of the layout of the proving ground where the GDI Mammoth Tank is being tested. The napkins have piled up five-high by the time he finally gets the message.

Kane sighs. "I suppose it was just a matter of time before you pressed me into service. Very well."

Idly he glances up at the calendar. To a man who has lived as many days as Kane, nearly every day of the year carries some significance, most of which the world has forgotten. But as the war against the imperialists rages across Europe, today feels especially significant.

He quickly begins writing the sign.


Madam Bar has enlisted me to be your bartender for this evening. It is, to my understanding, customary for guest bartenders to provide a discount on certain drinks. I shall not be doing so. However, since today is the anniversary of the First Battle of the Marne, I instead invite you to share with me this bottle of 1914 Lafite Rothschild, and drink in remembrance of the fallen.

- Jacob Caine

Comments

[closesecond]

"The republicans who followed you saw to it that you were remembered," Kane says.

"The Germans sought to capture Paris and knock the French out of the war. Their position was a precarious one - they faced the Russians in the East and the French in the West. They knew they had to defeat France quickly if they were to win. So they devised a plan by which they would attack through neutral Belgium and wheel toward Paris - an all-or-nothing scheme.

"They got within 25 miles of Paris. The prospect of defeat was very real. But France stood firm, along with their British allies. And her people stood with them. Even the taxi drivers of Paris pitched in by bringing soldiers to the front lines. They found a gap in the German lines and counterattacked. They saved Paris at the cost of a quarter million casualties.

"Four years of awful fighting followed. But Germany would never come so close to victory again."

[street_sparrow]

He listens, his face sobering, and nods. "So Paris pulled together when it counted. But such a price... how could Europe have any young men left, if that was just one battle in the war?"

[closesecond]

"There were more people in Europe in the 20th century than in the 19th," Kane says. "But it is true that they lost many young men. The Lost Generation, they were called.

"The war settled along deeply entrenched defensive lines which, for all the millions of lives thrown against them, scarcely moved until the spring of 1918. There is little to tell of those years other than mud, gas, shelling and death. I won't recount the battles that followed.

"France won the war, but at a terrible cost. And there was still at least one world war left to fight in the 20th century, depending on the universe."

He has, of course, deliberately neglected to mention the Brotherhood's role in each of them. This will remain a historical mystery even in his own universe. The mun leaves for the reader to decide whether it is a coincidence that Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a member of a movement affiliated with an organization called the Black Hand.

[street_sparrow]

Gavroche, of course, has no suspicion that the Brotherhood even exist, or reason to notice the omission. He pales at what was said.

"Millions - and then millions more, in the same century?"

[closesecond]

"I'm afraid so," Kane says. "Most versions of Earth I've encountered saw only one more world war, though that one killed still more people than the first one. My world saw two more."

[street_sparrow]

"And the world was bigger then", he says quietly. "More countries to get involved as more than colonies."

[closesecond]

"And more colonies as well," Kane says.

"But you are correct. Among others, the Americans were also involved. They joined late in both of the first two. In my world, they were invaded in the third."

[street_sparrow]

He only has a vague idea about America, and most of that from talking to people in Milliways.

"Invaded by who?"

[closesecond]

"By the Soviet Union," Kane says. "The communist state formed from Russia and other surrounding countries."

[street_sparrow]

"Russia got rid of their king and queen too?" He frowns. "But that doesn't sound like a good state."

[closesecond]

"It began with noble intentions," Kane says. "But their leaders had other plans."

Willing as he was to manipulate Stalin, he never liked him much. If the Soviets had won the war he would have had him killed.

[street_sparrow]

"Ah. One of those situations." The frown turns to a sad smile. "People and a lot of power, almost never a good mix."

[closesecond]

"One which 19th century France knew well," Kane says. "It was even called the Soviet Thermidor."

Even so, their defeat was something of a setback at the time. He had believed that a unitary state would set the stage more easily for the real revolution to come. He'd been forced to adjust, as he often had. Even Kane can't control all of history.

"Such seems to be the way of all countries, if they last long enough. Call me an idealist, but I hope to one day see a world that has no need of nations or banners."

[street_sparrow]

"It would be nice", Gavroche agrees wistfully, "but I haven't found a world yet that's close to it. At least not without some sort of dictatorship, and then there's still conflict and opposition."

[closesecond]

"The answer is technology," Kane says. "When mankind progresses to a post-scarcity society, they will finally be able to sweep away the systems of oppression that have held them back for so long."

[street_sparrow]

"Maybe. But even in countries where there should be enough for everybody, as far as I've seen, some people have more than others."

[closesecond]

"A society without scarcity is a different beast from a merely wealthy one," Kane says. "Do you know anything of a material called tiberium."

[street_sparrow]

"Tiberium?" He shakes his head. "I don't think I've ever heard of it."

[closesecond]

"Most worlds haven't," Kane says. "Suffice it to say that it will be the salvation of my world, provided the plutocrats don't get their hands on it."

[street_sparrow]

"And if they do, and it's that valuable, they'll start controlling the supply. What's it used for?"

[closesecond]

"It would almost be easier to answer what it isn't used for," Kane says. "But primarily, it is a living, self-replicating substance that gathers valuable minerals deep within the earth and gathers it into crystalline form at the surface."

[street_sparrow]

His eyes widen.

"So any mineral that exists could be easily gathered without spending resources and lives on mining."

[closesecond]

"Precisely," Kane says. "It also has a host of other applications, though I am most intrigued by its possible transformative effects on living things. My attempts to harness and control it have proven quite fruitful. We may yet be able to endow the human race with indefinite lifespans."

[street_sparrow]

Gavroche frowns.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that. It may not be good for them."

[closesecond]

"Well, that's what trials are for," Kane says. "To ensure these modifications are safe."

Well, it's what most trials are for. Certainly not his.