The Supernova Era

by Cixin Liu

  “Wow. This is China’s White House?” Benes asked softly. Behind her, two other American kids were carrying a roll of paper, a full two meters long, and they set it gingerly on the carpet as the Chinese children looked on curiously.

  “That’s right,” Xiaomeng said. “The adults used to receive foreign heads of state here. You know, this is our first time in here, too.”

  “Your first time? Why didn’t you come before? You’re the supreme leaders of the country, so surely it ought to be your workplace.”

  “We work in the NIT. I was kind of scared to come here, since it seemed like as soon as I came in I’d have all those pairs of adult eyes watching us from some place, like they were saying, ‘Children, you’re being stupid!’ ”

  “I felt the same way my first time in the White House, but I got over it eventually. I don’t like adults watching us. Still, I’m really grateful that you’ve brought us here, because a historic meeting should be held in an exceptional setting so that we won’t feel embarrassed when it is written into the history books.”

  The children sat down in the armchairs.

  “Now we’ll explain the new world games,” Benes said.

  Huahua shook his head. “You can’t simply place world games however you please. We’ve done them once with your idea, so now it’s time to listen to someone else’s.”

  “Naturally we won’t force anyone to play our game. You can come up with your own rules, and we’ll use whichever is more fun. Do you have anything new?”

  Xiaomeng shook her head. “We’ve got too many other things to do right now. The end of the Antarctic Games obliterated the children’s dream for a new world on that continent, and now a dark mood of loss and disappointment has descended upon all of society. There are signs of a reemergence of Candytown.”

  Benes nodded. “It’s the same in the US. The streets are ringing with gunfire again, since violent games are the only way for kids to find thrills. Or any meaning in life at all. We really need a new game to give them some kind of spiritual support, so they can escape the current danger.”

  “Very well,” Huahua said. “Then let’s discuss your new game.”

  When Xiaomeng and Specs nodded their agreement, Benes’s excitement bubbled over. “Thank you! Thank you! Now, before we get to the idea of the game, I’d first advise you to mentally prepare yourselves for the shock of the unimaginable. We may have a far better tolerance for that than the adults, and our tolerance has only been strengthened by the supernova, but the shock we’re preparing will still be a challenge for our Chinese friends.”

  “You’re bluffing,” Huahua said dismissively.

  “You’ll find that out soon enough.”

  “Then out with it.”

  Now the young president grew nervous. She quickly crossed herself, and with her eyes half closed, she said, “God bless America,” in a voice audible only to herself. Then she leapt up from the chair and began to pace energetically, before stopping short and clasping her hands to her chest. She said, “First I’d like to make a request. Would our Chinese friends share with us your impressions of our country?”

  The Chinese children’s remarks came out in a jumble:

  “America is skyscrapers covered in mirror glass glittering in the sun.”

  “In America, a river of cars flows morning till night, unceasingly.”

  “America has Disneyland and lots of other fun places.”

  “Americans love football.”

  “American farms use huge machines, so one family can till a huge area!”

  “In American factories, it’s all robots and assembly lines, and a whole car can be assembled in a matter of seconds!”

  “Americans have been to the moon, and they want to go to Mars. They fire tons of rockets off every year.”

  “America has lots and lots of nuclear weapons, and huge aircraft carriers. No one messes with them.”

  The impressions shared by the Chinese children sketched a rough outline of America that happened to match exactly with what Benes had been hoping for. All was going according to plan, so she determinedly took the next step.

  “I have long been aware that China is a great and mysterious country, but as a newly arrived guest, I know far less about your country than you do of mine. So let me ask you: Does your country have anything that’s better than ours?”

  It was a challenging question, to be sure.

  “Our country is huge. It covers an area of nine-point-six million square kilometers,” Huahua exclaimed.

  “Ours is pretty big too: nine-point-three-six million square kilometers. But we’ve got more arable land than you, and more forest cover. Those are important things for a country,” Benes said solemnly.

  “We have lots and lots of oil underground, and lots and lots of coal. And lots and lots of iron,” Xiaomeng said.

  “So do we. Oil in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and California. And we’ve got lots of places with coal. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio all have tons of it. And there’s lots of iron under the southwestern part of Lake Superior, and copper in Arizona, Utah, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico, and lead and zinc in Missouri. You haven’t got us beat in that area.”

  “Well . . . ​we’ve got the Yangtze River. It’s the biggest, longest river in the world!”

  “Not true in the slightest. The Mississippi is bigger. And one of its tributaries, the Ohio River, is over a thousand meters wide at its widest point. Have you ever seen a thousand-meter-wide river?”

  “Does the Mississippi River have the Three Gorges?”

  “No, but the Colorado does. We call it the Grand Canyon, and it’s magnificent!”

  “You just memorized a geography textbook and came here to challenge us, is that it?” Huahua said angrily.

  Now Benes squatted down beside the long roll of paper, untied the green ribbon holding it together, and gently unrolled it. It was a world map, one so big that when fully unrolled it occupied half of the floor space in the hall, but it was a peculiar one: the United States and China were the only two countries drawn, and the remainder of the map was water, giving them the look of two islands floating in a vast ocean. Benes jumped onto the map into the middle of the Pacific, and pointed a hand at each territory.

  “Look at our two countries. We’re in opposition on either side of the globe, practically equal in area, more or less the same shape. It’s like we’re a pair of images reflected onto the Earth. And there really are so many things that are mirror images. For example, the two are the world’s oldest and the world’s youngest countries; one whose people have deep roots and ancient heritage, the other made up almost entirely of immigrants; one that stresses tradition, one that prizes innovation; one quiet and introverted, one outgoing and expansive. My Chinese friends, God put two such countries on the Earth. Don’t you think there’s a certain mystical connection between them?”

  The words captivated her listeners, and they waited silently for her to show her final card.

  The president walked across the map to the United States. From a pocket she pulled out a small, gleaming pair of scissors, and then, crawling on the map like a lizard on a wall, cut out first the United States, and then China. The map was so big that it took her quite a while to snip around the borders of the two countries under the astonished gaze of the Chinese children. Then she took the China cutout, crossed the map, and handed it to Huahua.

  “This is your territory. Take care of it.”

  Then she retrieved the cutout of the United States, and returned to the Chinese children. Holding it out in front of her, she said, “Look, this is our territory.”

  Now the president passed the US cutout into one of Huahua’s hands, and with her other hand took hold of the China cutout. She said, “We exchange them.”

  The Chinese interpreter stared at her in shock. “Sorry, I beg your pardon?”

  Benes did not repeat her statement—words meant for the history books cannot be repeated. Besides, s
he knew that not only had the interpreter understood her, but that even Huahua, with only two semesters of English study, had also grasped that simple sentence. She simply nodded at the Chinese children, confirming the unbelievable proposition she had just made.

  THE EXCHANGE

  “What? An exchange?” they asked.

  “All Chinese children will move to our territory, and all American children will move to yours,” Benes said.

  “So that means our territory would belong to you?”

  “That’s right. And our territory would be yours.”

  “But . . . ​what about all the stuff on the territory? You can’t ship whole cities across the Pacific!”

  “We’ll exchange everything in the two countries.”

  “You mean, you come empty-handed, and we leave emptyhanded?”

  “Exactly! It’s the territorial-exchange game!”

  Wide-eyed, the Chinese children looked at each other in total disbelief.

  “But . . . ​that means all of your—” Huahua said.

  “All of our factories,” Benes said quickly, cutting him off. “And all of our farms. All of our delicacies and entertainments. Everything in America will be yours! Of course, that means everything in China will be ours.”

  The Chinese children stared at the president like she was a madwoman. Then the foreign minister cracked up laughing, and soon all of the Chinese children were laughing along with him.

  “You’ve taken the joke a little too far,” Xiaomeng said.

  “Your interpretation is understandable, but I can solemnly declare in my role as national leader that this suggestion is the task I have flown across the Pacific to accomplish. I do realize that it may be hard to prove it isn’t a joke, but we are willing to do whatever it takes,” Benes said with sincerity.

  “How do you plan to do that?” Huahua asked.

  “That will fall to Mr. Vaughn,” she said, gesturing to invite him over from behind the crowd, where he had been admiring one of the hall’s huge hanging carpets. Upon hearing the president mention his name, he slowly turned and came over and stood in the empty space on the map the United States had once occupied. He said, “To prove this ambition would be like proving the international politics equivalent of quantum mechanics or the theory of relativity. You’d need a superhuman mind and intelligence. There’s only one person here I can talk to.”

  Specs had remained silent throughout all of this, but now he stood up and went over to the space on the map formerly occupied by China. Now the two young thinkers stared at each other across the Pacific Ocean.

  Vaughn said impassively, “The only heroes in the world are you and me. A tremendous peal of thunder.”*

  “You’re very familiar with Chinese culture,” Specs replied, similarly impassively.

  “More familiar than you know,” Vaughn said, to the astonishment of the children. Not the words themselves, but the fact that they came not through the translator device but from Vaughn himself, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

  Vaughn was unfazed by their shock. “I always wanted to learn an Eastern language, but dithered for a long time among Japanese, Sanskrit, and Mandarin before deciding.”

  Specs said, “We need to be candid.”

  Vaughn nodded. “Frankness is essential for proving our intentions.”

  “Then proceed with your proof.”

  Vaughn paused for a few seconds, and then said, “First, the new world is an abandoned child. It will never grow up; or perhaps more accurately, it’s already grown, and this is its shape.”

  Specs nodded.

  “Second, you have your strength, and we have ours. Each of us needs to awaken our strength.” Then he paused to give Specs time to reflect on his words.

  Specs nodded again.

  “The next point is critical, and one that only a superior thinker can understand. The difference in our two strengths is . . .” Vaughn cast a look of challenge at Specs.

  “Our strength draws from our ancient native land; yours from new frontiers,” Specs said.

  The two children stared long and hard at each other from their respective continents.

  Vaughn asked, “Do you need further proof?”

  Specs shook his head gently. Then he walked off the map and said to his companions, “They’re for real.”

  “Talking with you has truly been a refreshing experience,” Vaughn said to Specs, bowing slightly from his cut-out spot on the map.

  Specs returned the bow. “I have the deepest respect for your idea. Such a profound and audacious idea deserves to be called great.”

  “We believe that once the game is made public, a process will be set in motion that will be difficult to redirect. If anyone here disagrees with the exchange, you may find it impossible to withstand the pressure of a country of children.”

  Huahua was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Perhaps that is the case. But what about your side? I have my doubts about whether you can realize your plan. Can you convince the American children?”

  With confidence, Vaughn said, “We’ve got a solution. A new world has the same attraction for American kids as it does for Chinese kids. After all, their veins flow with the blood of the pioneers. They are the most curious children in the world, and the most possessive. A reshuffling of society and the nation will be a most welcome development for them.”

  Xiaomeng asked, “How long do you expect this game to last?”

  Vaughn smiled, more noticeably this time. “According to my predictions, in the space of three to five years, we will be facing an undefended country and will easily be able to retake everything that we bartered away.”

  THE DECISION

  The meeting to discuss the territorial-exchange game was held that night, three hours after the first Sino-US talks. On the top floor of the NIT, under the light of the Rose Nebula, the Chinese children faced a choice far beyond anything they had dreamed.

  Xiaomeng said, “Look at the state of the world. We do need strong industry and defense to protect ourselves.”

  “But can we get all of that simply by going to America?” Specs asked.

  Pacing back and forth, Huahua said, “Why should we let Vaughn scare us? Why not think of another possibility? Once we’ve crossed the Pacific, can’t we maintain our current organization and discipline? Can’t we devote our efforts to work and study? Can’t Chinese children get those huge factories operating to produce steel and cars and aircraft carriers and spaceships? Can’t we put those huge farms to work growing wheat and corn? We can make those cities boom even more than they did in the Common Era. So long as we work hard, we’ll become the most powerful country in the world in no time! Why do we look down on ourselves? We showed such bravery and resolve in the war we just fought. Now we’re facing a new battle. So long as we put all our energy into it, there’s no obstacle we can’t overcome!”

  His statement drew general praise from the children.

  Xiaomeng said, “But the souls of our mothers and fathers will ask us, ‘How could you lose the land of generations of your ancestors?’ What will we tell them?”

  Huahua gave her a look of disbelief. “What do you mean, ‘lose’? If an enemy invaded and we surrendered without a fight and lost the country, well then damn us to hell! But we’re making an exchange with another party, and it’s a fair exchange. Whatever they can do, we can do too. If the adults were here, we could stand before them righteous and confident!”

  “But it’s not only about the trade. We’re swapping not just our territory, but something else even more important,” Specs said.

  “Is our strength really tied to our ancestral land?”

  Specs nodded silently.

  “Do you think there will be serious consequences?”

  Again he nodded.

  Xiaomeng asked, “What’s going to happen?”

  Specs shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think Vaughn knows either, and he’s thought about the question on a much deeper level. America has many times ou
r reserves of goods and resources, so children will be able to lead rich lives for an incredibly long time without needing to work. It’s a sweet-smelling, rainbow-hued quagmire. Just like in Candytown, we may see history moving in a particular direction but be powerless to stop it.”

  The mention of Candytown sobered everyone up for a moment, and they looked in silence out the window at the night lights.

  Huahua said, “We have no other choice. The American children are sure to disclose the nature of the games, and when that happens our own kids will want to play. We won’t be able to stop them.”

  Xiaomeng said, “It’s a diabolical move.”

  Specs nodded. “We really don’t have any choice. I’ve got to admit that Vaughn is an exceptional thinker and strategist.”

  The next day, the American children were informed that they could return home and await word of the Chinese children’s decision. This outcome was not unexpected; such a weighty matter could not be decided overnight by a handful of people.

  The first thing they did when they got back to America was to reveal the plan for the territorial-exchange game. This raised huge waves as rumors of the trade reached the Chinese children, their initial disbelief turning to elation and banishing from their minds the depression of Candytown and the dejection of the Antarctic Games. The marvelous world of their dreams beckoned. The vast majority of them were enthusiastic supporters of the exchange, and they passionately made their opinion known on Digital Domain. Just as Vaughn had predicted, the process would be difficult to redirect.

  One month later, just as the American children were unable to wait any longer, Benes received a call from Huahua.

  A pair of dark eyes from across the globe stared out of the screen into a pair of blue eyes for so excruciatingly long the air crystallized. At last, Huahua said, “We’ll do the exchange.”