“Not only is it possible, it’s already happened, stupid!” Laferrière barked. “Look around you, Josef. Does this look like California?”
“How?” Ranell asked hollowly, “Was there a war? Is someone doing anything about this?”
“They didn’t fire a shot.” Ackerman shuddered and coughed, “They just bribed the key people in our administration. It’s a perfect Chinese victory.”
“That’s their way,” Laferrière agreed. “Now we gotta figure out how to survive.”
“Survive?” Ranell was incredible. “It’s way below zero out here. We’re not going to last an hour.”
Laferrière grunted, “I’ve been dealing with this weather for thirty years. Trust me, you’ll get used to the cold.”
But somewhere in the recesses of his memory Ranell recalled Emily Belair’s words; you’ll never get used to the cold. “I’ve got to get back to America!” he objected. “We need to escape. You don’t understand, I’ve got a wife!”
“It’s you who doesn’t understand, Josef.” Ackerman pulled Ranell’s face close. “For you, America is gone. And if you want to survive out here, you better realize right now that you’ll never see your wife again.”
Survive? Ranell’s heart leaped like it would burst forth from his breast. Why would I want to survive this? But something deep and primitive kicked in and gave him a well of unexpected strength. I’m already dead, he thought. He slid in beside Laferrière and braced himself against the cold.
Your entire airship operation has been seized by an enemy foreign government.
This includes your aircraft, facilities, and your employees. You have failed to preserve GML from the ravages of the Greater Depression and realized (too late) that the secret purpose of the global financial calamity was an act of economic warfare designed to bring about America’s downfall.
Option 1: Choose this option if you wish to return to a different point and retrace your steps to determine where you went wrong.
Option 2: Choose this option if you wish to quit this exercise in Directed Fiction. Continue to the solutions page to learn more about how these scenarios were developed.