The Time War Ch. 18

The Time War

By Gary LM Martin

Chapter 18: The People's Republic of Eastern Vietnam

The Temporal Social Justice Warriors:

Craig Fuller had a secret love.

When Craig Fuller had joined the Community, he had assured Maria Jefferson that he was inanimasexual, that is, he only had sex with inanimate objects, usually soft ones with slits in the center of them--pillows, balls, holes in walls, anything he could cut open and insulate with soft material. Maria had been hesitant to let Craig into their group--after all, Craig was a white male, but after being strictly assured by Dana Slotkin, his sponsoring friend, that he had no attraction to women, Maria allowed him to join the group, perhaps as the organization's token inanimasexual.

The trouble was, that Craig was beginning to feel an attraction to his friend Dana, and he thought she might feel the same too. They had become friends at UC Berkeley, when both joined the Equality! Justice! Weed! Coalition. Craig was a "safe" friend for girls to have, because as he explained, he wasn't attracted to women. Attraction to girls was... messy. Girlfriends could argue with you, or break up with you, or hurt your feelings. But a solid object, like a tennis ball with a slit cut into it, were so much simpler, so much easier to have relationships with.

And Craig felt that way for a time. The problem was, now his thoughts were evolving. Every time he watched Maria kiss Dana in the Community Room, he found his chest tightening and he turned away. And then yesterday evening, when Maria announced to everyone that he was going to his bedroom to give Dana some "tender loving care", Dana's eyes had caught his, and it seemed she saw the hurt in them, and she gave him a sad smile. Dana was doing that more and more often lately, smiling at him, and it felt good, but it also hurt too. He began to wonder if making love to Dana might not be even better than making love to a tennis ball with a slit in it.

********

Craig wasn't the only one troubled by the web of relationships inside the Community. Keith Ashanti wasn't entirely happy either. He had let his wife Hillary persuade him to join the Community. She told him how Maria was working to change history and to give black people justice for centuries of oppression. Keith didn't know what to think when he first met Maria; he had expected to meet a black woman, and he found himself face to face with a white man. But Hillary assured him that however Maria looked, he was as black on the inside as they were, and was an excellent advocate for social justice for people of color.

And so Keith had joined the Community. He was amazed when he learned about the Time Tunnel, and the true nature of Maria Jefferson's project. He had thought it was simply all rhetoric. He was surprised to find it was reality.

But one reality that Keith didn't fully understand when he joined was the nature of equality among the members of the Community. During the joining ceremony, Keith and Hillary had been made to pledge their commitment to total equality--economically, socially, and even sexually. That last component made Keith frown, but he said the words, even as he wasn't entirely sure of the meaning.

It was only later that he learned what it meant. In theory, anyone could demand that anyone else have sex with them. To refuse would leave one open to charges of "hoarding sexual wealth". Keith had looked at the other men, John Cummings, Elijah Ellison, Red Bull, and Ahmed Ahmad, and wondered who would have the balls to try and have sex with his wife while Keith was still above ground. It seemed they all had the good sense not to try.

But that reticence didn't apply to Maria. It seemed the rule against "hoarding sexual wealth" was meant to benefit him, and him only. He could and did have his pick of the women. Mostly, it didn't matter, as they were all enthralled by him, and unmarried... all except for Hillary, Keith's wife.

The first time Maria had put his arms around Hillary, Keith had been enraged. But Hillary had gestured with her eyes for him to be calm. Afterwards she had spoken to him in hushed tones, telling him that it was all just for show, and that she would never, ever let it go too far.

And so Keith let it continue, and he was forced to watch as matters progressed. When Maria saw that Keith didn't object to his putting his arms around Hillary, he took her in his arms again and gave her a kiss. Keith was outraged, but still did nothing. And then before long Keith found himself sitting, furiously at the long dinner table, watching as Hillary sat on Maria's lap, squealing as Keith fondled her breasts.

"The fruits of Mama Africa," Maria said, in a low tone, with a wicked smile, as he squeezed Hillary's breasts. Keith was livid. He wanted to strangle Maria. Somehow he forced himself to remain still as Maria fondled and then kissed his wife. But then it got even worse. Maria, sensing the power he had over Keith, said, "This is quite a piece of African ass you have here, Keith. You don't mind sharing the sexual wealth, do you?"

Keith bit his lips. His fists were clenched under the table. He shook his head.

Maria looked at Hillary. "You see, dear? I told you he didn't mind." And then as Keith watched, Maria slipped a hand inside her shirt and squeezed Hillary's ripe melons. "You believe in redistribution of sexual wealth, don't you, Keith?" Squeeze squeeze squeeze. "You want all of us to experience what you've been hoarding, don't you?" Squeeze squeeze. "And what a wealth it is," he said, staring Hillary in the eye for a long moment, and something special passed between them. Then they kissed.

That night, Keith was enraged. He wanted to kill Maria. Or leave the group. Or both. Hillary tried to calm him down. "Keith, we can't leave."

"Just watch me!"

"Do you really think Maria is going to let us leave, knowing all we do about the Time Shaft?" She grabbed his hands. "Darling, once we joined, we're in. There's no going out. If we try to leave, they'll find us. They have the Time Shaft, remember?"

Keith understood. "But... you promised me you wouldn't let things go too far."

She touched his face tenderly. "I promise."

And Hillary kept her promise... for two whole days.

********

Two days later, Maria stood up after a satisfying dinner that the girls had prepared. The girls were still assigned to cooking duty while the men worked on the next mission, which rankled them to no end. But in front of Maria, they were all smiles. "Hillary, come here, honey bun," he said, waggling his finger.

Keith preemptively clenched his fists under the table while Hillary practically danced into Maria's arms. Maria gave her a passionate kiss, and what was worse, Hillary seemed to give as good as she got. Maria smiled as he held her in his arms. "Hillary, my dear, have I ever shown you my fine collection of African nipple rings?"

"No, Maria, you haven't," said Hillary, in an artificially high voice.

"Come," he said, smiling knowingly, leading her to his bedroom.

Keith pushed his chair back, scraping it loudly against the floor, and stood up, his face flushed with anger. He moved between Maria and his path to his quarters.

"Is there some problem, Keith?" Maria asked mildly, as he held Keith's wife in his arms.

Keith looked around. Suddenly, he was surrounded by John Cummings, Elijah Ellison, Red Bull, and Ahmed Ahmad, and they all looked none too friendly.

Keith sucked in his lips. "No... no problem," he said, in a hoarse whisper.

"You want to share your sexual wealth with me, do you not?"

Keith gave a strained nod.

"Good," said Maria. He turned to Hillary. "Say goodnight to hubby, dear."

"Goodnight, Keith," said Hillary. Somehow, that hurt him worse than anything. He watched as the two went into Maria's quarters, and then the door slammed shut.

********

The next morning Keith was awoken by a hand grazing his shoulder. He immediately woke up and saw Hillary, looking pleased with herself. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"What I had to do," she said.

"You said you wouldn't let it go this far," said Keith, suddenly getting out of bed.

"Keith... it was just once. Maria needed to show the others, to demonstrate his... his power," said Hillary. "It won't happen again."

"It better not!" said Keith, his eyes wide.

She kissed him. He resisted, only slightly. "It won't," she said softly.

********

Maria was all smiles at breakfast. "Keith!" he said, shaking his hand. "Did you sleep well?"

Keith nodded.

"Good, because we have a busy day ahead of us," said Maria. "Before we get down to business, I want to welcome our newest recruits, Pablo Guzman and his lovely wife, Joy Montana."

Keith turned and saw a Spanish couple sitting at the long breakfast table. Pablo was a thin Spanish man with a small moustache. He looked ordinary. His wife, Joy Montana, did not. She had a gorgeous face, and even more gorgeous breasts, big, juicy looking things which stuck out of her shirt. Keith had a sinking feeling he knew why they had been recruited, and he wondered if Pablo was aware of all the rules when they had joined.

"-for the longest time I realized that Spanish people, Latinos, Latinas, Hispanics, Herspanics, were all underrepresented here," said Maria. "In fact, as a black Latina trisexual woman of color, until today I was the only Hispanic in our group! I found such tokenism unacceptable. That's why I want you to give Pablo and Joy a big hand and welcome them all to the group!"

Everyone clapped. Pablo gave a weak smile. Joy, seeing the expression on the faces of the men, gave a broader one.

"And now we get down to business," said Maria. "One of the greatest injustices of the 20th century was the capitalist war against the people of Vietnam. The people of Vietnam were minding their own business, building a communist utopia, when all of a sudden white people from America arrived in helicopter gunships and started murdering women and children by the millions. It was a crime of race, of white against yellow. And while I am not a yellow person, as a woman of color my sympathies naturally are with whoever is being oppressed by the white man."

"I agree wholeheartedly," said Chloe Weatherly, and the other white girls also nodded, eager to be on the right side of history.

"I'm glad to hear that," Maria smiled.

"So what are we going to do? Can we prevent the Vietnam War from happening?" Dana Slotkin asked.

"Not exactly," said Maria. "It would be too difficult to prevent the war of aggression against the peace loving people of Vietnam. I'm thinking more in the category of payback."

"Payback?" said Dana.

"Yes," said Maria. "Just as America invaded Vietnam, Vietnam will invade America."

********

Maria was meeting with General Vo Nguyen Giap, a senior member of the North Vietnamese Politburo and North Vietnamese Minister of Defense. Maria, who had been brainstamped with both Russian and Vietnamese, was impersonating a senior member of the Comintern, sent to them by comrade Leonid Brezhnev himself. He was trying to persuade the General to take bold action.

"To invade America?" said General Giap. "But it is so big!"

"You needn't invade all of it," said Maria. "California should be sufficient."

"The Americans would fight back," said Giap.

"No they wouldn't," said Maria. "You have seen how the Americans have run with their tails between their legs. You have defeated the United States armed forces all on your own. California would be ripe for the picking. The people would even welcome you."

"They would?"

"Californians are different from other Americans," said Maria. "They love socialism. They love one party government. They love high taxes, and government control of every facet of their lives. They love redistribution. In places like Berkeley, San Francisco, and Oakland, they would welcome you with parades and cheers."

"Really?" said General Giap. He stared at a wall, and drummed his fingers on his desk. He was obviously giving the idea some thought. Then he said, "They would never accept being ruled by a Vietnamese."

"That's why you'd need the perfect puppet ruler," said Maria. "And I know someone who would be perfect... a very popular American actress...."

********

It was a terrifying sight to behold, and it came with little or no warning.

Major Reynold's team was checking out a report that the North Pole was melting. It turned out to be a false alarm. So he activated the recall device to open a gateway back to the Continuity Service Headquarters. While they waited for the gateway to open, Calle noticed one of the team members, Lieutenant Moshe Hill, was jerking his head slightly.

"Are you all right?" Calle asked.

"I... yeah," said Hill. He took a deep breath. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired, I guess."

Hill didn't look tired. He looked agitated.

The gateway opened. Major Reynolds gave Hill another glance, and stepped through. Erica Green was next, followed by Daniel Acton, and then Moshe Hill and Calle.

They walked through the Binochi Corridor, following the lit path leading back to the lab. The brightly colored mist swirled around them.

And then, before they had gotten halfway back to the lab, Lieutenant Hill suddenly stiffened, cried out, and ran off the lighted path, into the swirling mists.

"Come back!" Major Reynolds cried.

"Nooo!" Erica Green yelled.

They watched helplessly as Hill ran screaming into the mists.

"We have to go after him," said Calle.

"We can't!" Reynolds yelled. "If we go off the path, we'll be lost forever!"

"But we can't just leave him here!" said Calle.

Reynolds grabbed him by his shirt. "He's gone! Now get going!" He pushed Calle roughly, so that he was now in front of him.

Calle grudgingly started walking. In moments, they were back in the control room.

********

"It sounds like a classic case of temporal psychosis," said Doctor Vladek.

"What causes it?" said Calle.

Vladek shrugged. "We don't know. It could be from the cumulative effect of time travel. It could be something from the Binochi Corridor. It could be many things."

"We have to reopen the Corridor. Moshe is still in there, somewhere," Calle said.

"He's gone, Captain," said Strayker, giving him a furious look while he puffed on his nuclear cigar. "It's time to move on."

"A man is dead, and you say it's time to move on?" said Calle.

"Captain, I have seven teams out checking for temporal incursions. I'm responsible for the lives of 79 people on this base, and ultimately, the lives of every person in the history of mankind. This is a war, and in war, there are casualties," said Strayker. "The sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be." He turned and stomped off.

********

"It happens," said Sarah, staring at 15 different holoscreens.

"How often?" Calle asked.

"Sometimes."

"How often is sometimes?" Calle asked.

Sarah said, "Sometimes means... sometimes." She raised an eyebrow. "Commander Strayker, please report to the control room immediately."

Strayker came in a moment later, trailing behind an Indian woman with long dark hair and very round buttocks. "What is it?" he said.

"It's California, sir."

"What about it?" Strayker asked.

"It seems to be part of another country." Sarah pointed to a holoscreen.

Strayker looked at it. It showed a holobroadcast from... The People's Republic of East Vietnam.

********

"California, or Bang Pham Phoo, as it is now called, is now almost unrecognizable," said Sarah. "It has nothing in common with the rest of America. It encourages illegal immigration and rampant drug use. The government controls every aspect of civilian life, from employee wages to rent control to car sizes to recycling rules to... hundreds of other areas of private life."

"How did this come about?" Strayker asked.

"After the United States pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, Vietnam launched an invasion of California in 1975. It sent troops stealthily across the Pacific in merchant vessels. They disembarked in Mexico and crossed the border into California. Back in the 20th century, there was no force field or atomic land mines demarking the border. The Vietnamese quickly took power, and were even greeted as liberators in most of California's major cities. They installed a puppet ruler, a communist sympathizer named Jane Fonda who appeared in exercise videos every morning to encourage the population to perform tai chi. As a result, California is now the Democratic Republic of Eastern Vietnam."

"How are we going to reverse this?" Strayker asked.

"I've read up on the history," said Daniel. "The new history, that is. The United States government, having just been defeated in Vietnam, was severely demoralized. They lost the will to fight. I don't see how we can give it back to them."

"I read about the opposition to the Vietnam war," said Strayker. "American society rotted from within. The hippie culture, drug use, and left wing propaganda made them lose the war as much as the Vietnamese did."

"That's it!" said Daniel, standing up abruptly. "That's how we'll reverse this."

"What do you mean?" said Strayker.

"We'll fuel the antiwar movement in Vietnam," said Daniel.

********

Suddenly, Weed started appearing on college campuses in Vietnam in large quantities. Posters sprouted up calling for an end to the Eastern Vietnam War with catchy slogans such as "Make Weed Not War". Rallies were held, more Weed was consumed, and there was also a lot of free love.

The Continuity Service kidnapped a number of leading journalists and news broadcasters and had them brainwashed, under the personal supervision of Doctor Vladek.

Calle watched one of the journalists being brainwashed. He saw an elderly Vietnamese broadcaster, tied to a chair, forced to hear Doctor Vladek's soothing voice saying "You hate Vietnam. You hate Vietnam. You hate Vietnam." Over and over.

Calle questioned that. "Shouldn't you be programming them specifically to oppose the war, rather than hating their own country?"

"There's no need," said Vladek. "Once they are trained to hate their own country, they naturally want to see it defeated in war. One follows the other." He stared into the indoctrination chamber. "800 repetitions."

"What?"

"On average, it takes 800 repetitions to convince them. 800 repetitions to make a fact," said Vladek.

"Just repeating a phrase, over and over, gets the subject to believe it?" Calle asked.

Vladek nodded. "That is how the mind works. When presented with the same stimulus, over and over, it eventually accepts it, no matter how odd or outlandish. Do you know, back in the 21st century, people believed that men could become women or women could become men, simply by declaring themselves the opposite gender. And the population accepted that! Preposterous, isn't it? And yet the population believed it, because the mainstream media repeated that simply deciding you were a different gender was not only possible but highly virtuous. One study found that as few as 200 repetitions in the mainstream media could convince them of that. Or convince them of anything."

Calle looked uneasily into the indoctrination room again. He wondered what he may have been told by the media 200 times and accepted as a given.....

********

Daniel's plan worked. The Vietnamese had successfully invaded California, but two years later the Vietnamese military, totally demoralized, withdrew of its own accord. Every day news broadcasters in Vietnam would highlight some atrocity committed by Vietnamese soldiers in California. Every military victory by the Vietnamese army was underreported, and every Vietnamese casualty was over reported by the Vietnamese media, accompanied by weeping image of grieving family members. The news media became a wall to wall montage of war crimes committed by the Vietnamese military on the one hand, and casualties and losses suffered by the Vietnamese military on the other. Vietnam basically defeated itself from within.