Comrade Mo Wang was sitting in the bus after a leisurely lunch in downtown Shanghai, about to arrive at the docks for the second time that day to board the ships. The flotilla of ten ships was due to leave Shanghai harbor at 6:00, an hour from then.
His cell phone buzzed for a second and then stopped. It had done this a couple of times that afternoon, and this time he had a chance to take it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen and was surprised to see that the weirdly lit up screen had nothing but dashes across it—not what he had expected. “It must have been damaged when I dropped it,” he thought to himself, as the bus pulled up to the wharf next to the aircraft carrier towering up above them and blocking out the sun. He would have to wait until he got to his room before he could get the spare phone out of his luggage.
He didn’t have time, however, because just then the chairman told all the men that there would be drinks and celebration as the ships left Shanghai and he expected all of them to be with him as they began their journey to invade and capture the other half of the world.
They entered the carrier through a large cargo door in its side and the captain of the ship escorted them up several flights of stairs to the flight deck. They followed the uniformed men, impeccability dressed in navy white, as they walked across the outside flight deck where several fighters were standing. They walked past them across the wide runway and over to the port side of the ship. It was so high that they felt as if they were on the roof of a massive building.
The view of Shanghai and the harbor was fantastic once the group reached the port side. They could hear orders being shouted and the grinding of steel chains, as well as new rumblings beneath their feet. It was an hour yet before darkness would creep into the area, and the sun was just getting low over the buildings of the city.
“Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to be so high and know that the whole world is at your feet, Comrade Wang?” the chairman asked Wang. Wang hadn’t noticed that the chairman had sidled up to him, as he had been deep in thought. “I get the sense that something is troubling you, Comrade.”
“Something does not feel right, you are correct in sensing my feelings, Comrade Chairman,” replied Wang. “I’ve have this knot in my stomach for a day or two now that something out there is not as it seems. I should have had more phone calls from my men telling me of great victories, but I get somebody different on the phone every time I call. I know this young man Bo Lee Tang, he is a good man and dependable, but I cannot get over the sound of his voice. It didn’t sound like him, yet he could prove everything I asked him, to make sure it actually was him, and not an imposter. Comrade Deng should have called twice today, but I haven’t gotten a call. The squads clearing the runway in New York were meant to contact me directly, as well as contacting Comrade Fung back at headquarters. Yet, I do not receive a phone call but Comrade Feng does. Comrade Chairman, these are our elite troops. It is part of their training to do as ordered.”
“I understand your need for discipline and information at all times. That is the making of a great leader,” replied Chairman Chunqiao. “But today is a day of glory. This is the only aircraft carrier in the world. Look at her magnificence. Look at her power, Comrade Wang. We are invincible only because we defeated our enemy before we even attacked. The rules of war are to defeat your enemy before you go into battle, and we have done that, Comrade. Yes, there will be problems arising out of the fires and the ashes of the enemy’s defeat, but without their Army, their Navy, and their Air Force, America is a small mouse and we are a large cat. Who is going to win, Comrade? Who is going to win?”
The ship slowly grumbled and vibrated underneath them. Several tugs slowly moved and guided her to the large entrance to the docks, and beyond that, the open river and then the ocean. A dozen or so sailors began to distribute glasses of champagne to the 16 dignitaries, and they could faintly hear the band still playing across the harbor. The whole mass of shipping began an orderly move towards open water.
Alarms sounded and dozens of soldiers in dress uniform ran out of doors everywhere, and within two minutes thousands of them lined the complete flight deck of the aircraft carrier, one arm length apart except for where the Politburo was standing. Fanfares sounded out of horns on the ships as they glided by thousands of soldiers waving their goodbyes.
As the sun set, the Shi Lang left the protection of the harbor, the tugs disengaged, and she and the four smaller warships left for open water to allow the massive container ships enough room to get out of the harbor behind them.
Once they reached the sea, and at ten knots, the naval ships aimed for Panama and sailed at reduced speed so that the container ships could catch up with them and get into formation.
By the time night covered the area the five container ships had left the river and were only a couple of miles behind. Within three hours, the flotilla was only a mile apart and the coast of Shanghai disappeared off the short-range radar screens in the dark night behind them.
Once the VIPs had gone back inside the aircraft carrier’s tower, they moved to the bridge to watch the whole flotilla coming together. Night lights began flashing from the others around them as the sea worsened and the radar screen showed the ten ships getting into formation for their pass 200 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands in two days time.
Dinner for the Politburo was served at 9:00 pm in the main dining room on a large table. By this time, several bottles of champagne had been drunk and the group was in a festive mood. They had still not been allowed to visit their rooms and Wang was desperate to get his replacement phone and call Feng to get updates.
The chairman’s control consul with the five red buttons had been placed in the middle of the table, directly in front of the his place at the head of the table, and the first course of the meal was served to the rowdy group. The chairman had placed his own satellite phone next to the display and none of the men had ever heard it go off, ever.
It was three hours later, and after the main course that Wang managed to leave the room and, with an escort who knew the ship, retrieve the extra phone from his stateroom. It took five minutes to turn on and he watched in horror as several messages arrived on the screen, all from Comrade Feng, the latest only an hour ago.
Comrade Wang climbed back up to the flight-deck with his escort to get perfect communications and he dialed Feng’s number—the red number written on all phones. A new phone, it took several seconds to patch itself through. Finally, at 11:15 pm he finally got a hold of Comrade Feng, who was in his office on the 18th floor of the smaller headquarters building.
“Feng, I apologize that I have not been in contact with you,” said Wang into the mouthpiece, “but I dropped my old phone earlier this afternoon and it took me several hours to realize that it was broken.”
“Comrade Wang, I don’t know where to start. We have had battles everywhere,” replied Feng, totally stressed and frustrated.
“Did the aircraft land, Feng?”
“Yes, Comrade, they are on the ground. They landed in America an hour ago. Twelve hours ago, I tried to call the termination squads at JFK, and the man who spoke was totally drunk. He shouted at me and told not to disturb him and I couldn’t understand why they had been drinking. That’s why I wanted to call you.”
“The men clearing the runway were drunk?” asked Wang, his mouth open and again his face was white with worry.
“The men were totally drunk! Next Comrade, Comrade Deng was attacked by two old World War II military aircraft. They were hit with machine guns and rockets in Alabama,” continued Comrade Feng.