Distraction (Hugo 1999) by Sterling Bruce

Author:Sterling, Bruce [Sterling, Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, General
ISBN: 9781857989281
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2010-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

NIMBY

suits,

emi-nent-domain hassles ... that's tailor-made for Huey. Once he's got federal contractors stuck knee-deep in the swamp, he could rip off a leg and bleed the whole budget to death."

"Exactly. So we're stuck. We were trashing Huey big-time on the patriotism charge, but he's turned the tables on us. He's wrapping himself in the very same flag that we stitched for him. We've played right into his hands. And we can't ignore his radar hole, because he's already exploiting it. Last night, French unmanned aircraft started buzzing South Louisiana. They're flying over the swamps, playing French pop music."

"French pop music?"

"Multichannel broadcasts off unmanned aerial drones. It's the Cajun Francophone card."

"Come on. Even Huey can't seriously believe that anybody lis-tens to French pop music."

"The French believe it. They can smell Yankee blood in the wa-ter. It's your basic culture-war gambit. The French have always loved French-language confrontations. Now they can turn up their amps till we pull every burger joint out of Paris."

"Leon, calm down. You're a professional. You can't let him get you rattled like this."

"He does have me rattled, damn it. The son of a bitch just doesn't play by the rules! He does two contradictory things at once, and he screws us coming and going. It's like he's got two brains!"

"Get a grip," Oscar said. "It's a minor provocation. What are we supposed to do about this so-called problem? Declare war on France?"

"Well ... " Sosik said. He lowered his voice. "I know this sounds strange. But listen. A declaration of war would dissolve the Emergency committees by immediate fiat."

"What!" Oscar shouted. "Are you crazy? We can't invade France!

France is a major industrial democracy! What are we, Nazis? That's totally out of the question!"

Oscar looked up. He confronted a looming crowd of astonished scientists. They'd left their own discussion and had gathered on the far side of the lab bench, where they were straining to overhear him.

"Listen, Oscar," Sosik continued tinnily, "nobody's suggesting that we actually fight a war. But the concept is getting a pretty good float in DC. A declaration of war is a manual override of the federal system. As a domestic maneuver, a foreign war could be a real trump card. France is much too much, I agree with that—hell, the French still have nuclear power!

But we could declare war on Holland. Hol-land's a tiny, unarmed country, a bunch of radical pipsqueaks. So we throw a proper scare into the Dutch, the phony war lasts a week or so, and then the President declares victory. The Emergency is over. Then, once the dust settles, we have a fully functional Congress again."

Oscar removed the phone from his ear, stared at it with distaste, and replaced it at his ear. "Look, I gotta get back to you later, Leon. I have some serious work to accomplish here."

"The Senator's very big on this idea, Oscar. He really thinks it could fly. It's visionary."

Oscar hung up. "They're playing French pop music in Louisi-ana," he told his impromptu audience.

Albert Gazzaniga scratched his head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.