American Twist
The action takes place in 2119-2120. Since 2113, a protracted nuclear war has been going on between the Asian and Western Blocs. The war was preceded by the "Pre-War" for Indonesia, which began in 2107. The historical period of the Pre-War & War has already formed an entire generation. The "war process", as it is called, has little in common with ideas about a global Armageddon.
The economy of the Western Nations is privatized by two superholdings - "constellations", which are parts of a single whole and do not compete.
Over the years of the War, the ruling circles of different levels have achieved goals that were not initially set. This is the write-off of the US national debt, which paid for the construction of the global defense of the West, the implicit occupation by the US of its allies, partial privatization of the US itself by constellations. In the Asian Bloc, the picture is similar. Between the Blocks there is a channel for concluding and observing shadow "anti-apocalyptic" agreements - the "seventh headquarters". This is a nuclear-powered superplane-headquarters constantly flying over Antarctica.
By the end of the 2110s, a peaceful settlement of the "Only War" is no longer being considered. Instead, the option of "Conversion of the Military Process" is being actively developed - minimizing military actions on the fronts, denuclearizing the War and "pushing" military actions into "high space orbits".
The top of the constellations and the billionaire technocrat Bandon the Third in particular are interested in such a scenario. The "converted" War will open up freedom of action to form a new society, industry, morality and the exit of a selected part of humanity to the development of other planets. The moral values of the top of the constellations and Bandon are quite dubious. A certain crisis event, the details of which were determined later, was chosen as the impetus for launching "Conversion" several years earlier.
An important element of this scenario is a certain personality - the leader of the rebels who seize a nuclear base, an aircraft carrier, etc. The role of the personality is doubly important due to the fact that the crisis event must develop on display, "in front of the cameras", to the whole world.
The question of the motivation of such a personality is complicated by the fact that most candidates for this role will inevitably see such an enterprise as risky and having an outcome that is unpredictable for them.
The problem is solved by preparing an agent with a processed consciousness - a fragment of memory and life that contains preparation, moral pumping and technical training for such an agent is hidden, erased. One of these sleeper agents, Andrei Zavirdyaev, lives the life of an ordinary CSCE employee (the old-new name of the OSCE).
The crisis event is determined - it must be the hijacking of a new shuttle.
Zavirdyaev, who completed his "sleeper agent course" in 2113, regularly undergoes a "technical inspection" - during trips abroad, he is received by secret services, partially "de-mothballed" by his memory, checked and "updated". During the "update" in 2120, he is told that he is to hijack a shuttle.
He does not need to control the vehicle and mission - he is a supermedia "monkey with a grenade". The plan starts successfully, the media machine successfully carries out the stages of the program developed by the constellations.
Another character is an extraterrestrial life form that looks like a 35-year-old northern European woman. This is Haldoris Landskricht. She is an "avatar" of the mind of a black hole located in one of the arms of the galaxy. Despite all the exoticism, the psychological appearance of her personality is quite human. Living among people, possessing a number of superhuman abilities, she avoids directly and openly influencing the historical process, not wanting to make things worse.
Haldoris Landskricht does not agree with the plans of the constellations…
