Zero and Other Fictions (21 page)

That Sunday afternoon found Xi De standing beneath the bronze statue of Max Kristen in the city park, where he met the Defend the Earth Army contact person. After cautiously confirming their identities, they walked along the path skirting the lake. At that time a number of youngsters were sailing their remote-controlled boats. The colorful electronic contraptions cut through the water in pursuit of one another.

“I have orders from above. Tonight you are expected to attend a meeting in the number twelve game room in the bar on the third floor of the Agricultural Building. This is your ID card.”

It was a false ID for an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture. Xi De shoved it into his pocket.

“I am responsible solely for this preliminary contact. At the meeting someone else will inform you as to your mission in Central City,” he said, stretching out his hand. “So long and good luck.”

The bar was filled with employees of the Ministry of Agriculture. Passing through groups of laughing men and women, Xi De made his way to the number twelve game room. A man standing at the door stretched out his arm and prevented him from entering.

“I'm sorry, but the Ahka Game is already full.”

Xi De gave the password and was permitted to enter. The door closed behind him. Six people sat in the room. On the video screen mounted in the wall were the words “Ahka Game.” It was a game in which two teams played at star wars. The players were sitting and punching their keyboards while on the screen appeared all sorts of strange weapons, in hot pursuit of one another. The whole thing was accompanied by exciting music. People often played till they were covered with sweat and totally oblivious to all else. Xi De nodded to each comrade by way of greeting. Thus the meeting began amid the raucous sounds of the Ahka game.

First, a middle-aged man sitting to the right in front stood up and said:

“Comrades, let me introduce you the new blood of the Fifth Action Group, Xi De, the Resource Analyst.”

Xi De raised himself in a show of respect.

Following this, the leader introduced the six other members. In addition to the group leader, who was a mid-level official in the Welfare Section of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, there was his assistant, a low-level clerk of the Ministry of Industry; a street cleaner; two waste-disposal technicians; the manager of a bar attached to the Ministry of Education; and a city bus driver.

Xi De examined his partners in revolution and couldn't help feeling a little disappointed because they were not really paying attention to the group leader's lengthy introductory remarks. They were hitting the buttons on their keyboards, causing wildly funny images to appear on the screen accompanied by explosions and flashes, which made the street cleaner open his mouth in a hideous smile. The bus driver narrowed his eyes as he sized up Xi De, as if suspicious about why he had showed up at the meeting.

“The Fifth Action Group has been around for five years. In that time, we have gathered a lot of good intelligence, including a blueprint of the Central City Recreation Zone and the location of the Ministry of Scientific and Technological Development. Of course we have lost several comrades, but for the future of mankind, their sacrifice was unavoidable. We are happy to have Comrade Xi De join us today. He spent one year with Mr. Du, that great revolutionary theorist of the Defend the Earth Army.…”

That was the first time Xi De had heard Du referred to as a great revolutionary theorist. He felt strange.

After the group leader finished his talk, the clerk took over, saying:

“I report to the group leader. We have repeatedly requested precision weapons from above. Why has nothing happened?”

“Headquarters has always believed that armed violence is the final solution,” explained the leader in an amiable manner.

An expletive was heard near Xi De.

“What do you have to say, Zong Xuan?” Zong Xuan was none other than the street cleaner.

“I admit that theory is important, but what good is theory if there is no real action?”

“Let's hear the new comrade's opinion.”

Xi De considered the question before responding:

“I believe that our army cannot act recklessly at this time, because given our strength we would be able to occupy just a few insignificant organizations.”

Initially he had wanted to tell them that armed action was impossible.

“But through action, we can awaken the people,” said one of the waste disposal technicians indignantly, pounding on his game board. The screen emitted a number of static bleeps. “I've waited eleven years for this day, in this foul garbage heap. My life is not as comfortable as that of an academy graduate like you, who can spend all day talking. I don't want to spend my whole life waiting here.…”

The group leader motioned to him to stop complaining.

“I'll take this matter to the higher-ups.”

After the meeting ended, the group leader invited Xi De to have a drink. They took a corner of the bar.

“If I don't give them a chance to blow off steam once in a while,” said the group leader, sighing, “something will happen sooner or later.”

“But Commander Du told me—”

“You still don't get it, Xi De. Not one of them buys this whole story about being invaded by aliens from outer space.”

“Goodness!”

“With the exception of a few core comrades of the Defend the Earth Army, most members have joined because they are dissatisfied with their jobs or some other personal reason.”

“Then how can the revolution—”

“We have to be resigned to our fate,” said the group leader. “They're even dissatisfied with you and me.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We must gain access to a high-level agency.”

“But that's too difficult.”

“Sending you to an action group was a mistake on the part of headquarters,” said the group leader apologetically. “We are incapable of doing anything except complaining.”

23

The action group was not the place for someone as ardent and purposeful as Xi De. Their meetings were nothing more than gripe sessions, and there was no future for their efforts. After joining the Defend the Earth Army, they became acquainted with the lifestyle of the upper class and came to envy and hate them, and put down the ideals of the great army. However, according to Du's theory, at the beginning of overthrowing the leadership class, only the unthinking masses were capable of bringing into full play the unbridled power of the revolution, and only could those who were passionate about the revolution actually placate the uneasy people. Du believed that a lofty goal was of use only for the upper level of revolutionary leadership. History had proven that the masses did not understand any plan to establish a new order. All they could remember were a few slogans such as, “Down with the landlords” and “Down with official corruption.” But after the old order was overthrown, then what? Either they were ignorant or they were uninterested. Therefore, after the revolution succeeded, these people would without a doubt become obstacles to the progress of the new society.

What was the likelihood of actually being able to topple the Supreme Committee? Du's reply was disheartening: none. The Ministry of Security of the new world was the most advanced and efficient organization of its kind. Famous security organizations in history included the Russian KGB, Hitler's Gestapo, and the U.S. CIA. They all adopted a method of spy versus spy and always made what ought to have been an easy-to-solve problem into a complicated mess on account of their pathological secrecy. But the Ministry of Security of the new world was different. The overwhelming majority were scholars or experts educated in special skills; they were not the spies in dark glasses and upturned collars of the movies. They wouldn't follow you in the streets or bug your home. Every one of them was gentle and cultivated, polite, modest, and well mannered. Never in a million years would they rush off to put down a rebellion or run around catching revolutionaries. This is because they used “planned insurrection” or “armed rebellion,” which is to say they would not just sit back and watch rebellion ferment and break out naturally. They possessed superior information systems and painstaking computer analysis. When the analysis showed that a certain area was likely to erupt in violence at a certain time, they would rush ahead and set off the violence or create a reason for it to erupt. In this way all rebellion was predictable and controllable.

This was frightening. Xi De thought of Du's words while examining his own situation and found it all very troubling. Up to this time, he and his comrades had not encountered the slightest obstacle or the slightest trouble. The Ministry of Security was like an irrelevant shadow on the wall, but he knew that they were somewhere, waiting calmly with a well thought-out plan.

Three months later, Xi De received new orders directing him to leave the action group. The same contact person told him to report to headquarters.

Headquarters was in a basement. There Xi De met the Central City commander, who was an older man around fifty, very thin, with fierce eyes. After scrutinizing Xi De for a moment, he said:

“I saw Commander Du a few days ago and discovered that we had assigned you to the wrong group. The action group is a useless peripheral group. Did you tell them your true identity?”

“I mentioned it,” replied Xi De.

“That's too bad,” said the commander, “but there is a way to repair the damage. Be a little more careful in the future.”

Two other people sat in the background, reading through some documents.

“As you can see,” said the commander, directing his eyes to the two men, “core comrades are few in number.”

“That's what Commander Du said.”

“Therefore we cannot afford to lose even one. Do you know Lin Xing?”

“Lin Xing? We were colleagues at one time.”

“He is a core comrade in the agricultural city.”

Xi De gasped. He should have known that a discontented middle-aged central official sent down to the countryside would be an ideal recruit for the Defend the Earth Army.

“If nothing untoward happens,” said the commander in conclusion, “once a week at an appointed time, go to the bar at the Bureau of Resource Analysis and meet Ah Tai, the bartender. If you have any problems, tell him and he can relay them to us. Do you know Ah Tai?”

Xi De nodded. Of course he knew him, the man who always wore a forced smile and stood behind the bar, ever ready and willing to listen to the drunken maunderings of a customer.

“When something unusual occurs, headquarters will send someone to you.”

24

Two months later, Ah Tai came and knocked on his door. Xi De was still half asleep and was startled to see that face with the forced smile. He felt as if he were in the bar.

“You are to go to the riverside tomorrow at noon. Someone wants to meet you,” said Ah Tai, standing at the door.

“But—”

“The person knows you.”

The following day, Xi De left the Bureau of Resource Analysis alone after lunch and set off toward the river. It was noon, and the buildings on both sides of the street were reflecting a blinding light. Occasional cars would pass silently on the street, but there were few pedestrians.

Xi De sat on a bench beside the river and gazed at the clear blue water flowing beyond his feet. Various matters filled his mind. He envied his colleagues, who had no worries. After work, they would go have fun without any second thoughts, at least not his sort.
Ignorance is bliss,
he suddenly thought. He racked his brain trying to remember where he had heard the expression. At that moment someone slapped him on the shoulders.

“Xi De.” It was the commander. “How are you?”

The commander then informed him of an urgent matter that had just occurred. His intelligence indicated that in a few days the Central City Ministry of Coordination would issue an order closing down the Steel-Cutting Plant in the Third Industrial City.

“Three hundred technicians will lose their lives,” said the commander, heavily. “You've been to the industrial city and know what it's like. This is an urgent and important mission. Are you willing to go?”

“Yes,” replied Xi De, “but how am I supposed to get away from the Bureau of Resource Analysis?”

“Do you remember that computer you fixed last time?” asked the commander, the corner of his mouth twitching. “This time it is in even worse shape, so you'll have to go.”

The next day, Xi De did, in fact, receive orders to travel for work. With him, he carried a list of the names of the three hundred low-level technicians that the Ministry of Coordination thought were redundant. Each had mastered only one skill: cutting steel sheets. From morning to night, they squatted and cut out steel plates with a laser gun. If no changes occurred, they, like all other professionals, could live out their lives in a smooth, quiet fashion. But things had changed. Most of the construction for the new world had been completed and there had been a significant drop in demand for steel plates, or perhaps a shearing machine had been invented to take their place. The three hundred workers were like three hundred rusty nails destined to be consigned to the blast furnace. There was no other fate for them. To save them had become the sacred mission of the Defend the Earth Army. But how was it supposed to be accomplished? By opening a new factory to accommodate them?

Xi De sat in the high-speed train bound for the Third Industrial City. The scenery on both sides flew by. His mind moved as swiftly as the scenery.

If he hadn't learned about the secret plan of the aliens to exterminate the people of the earth, then he would probably be sitting calmly behind his desk at work, feeling it was not worth his while to get involved in changes in the outside world. His intellectual training did not include a conscience. But what was a conscience? Ask any academy graduate and he would tell you that acting according to your conscience was just 1 +1 = 2, a wise activity carried out in the most scientific and efficient fashion. If you asked a bee to live by the dictates of its own conscience, it would laugh at you, because it was not in its character as a bee to complain. In the days when nationalism reigned, the slogan “Sacrifice yourself for the greater good” was viewed as holy writ. But in those days it was just talk; these days, it had been thoroughly inculcated in the new world.