Capítulo 63: Glory future of the Soviet Union
The meeting was held during the Soviet Black Sea fleet were gathered and went to the Karak. It has been a few weeks after that, but, the results are obvious. Within a few weeks, citizens have surprisingly found that they do not need to queue for such a long time as before.
Suppose that the country has just returned to partial mobilization from total not long before, and according to the previous efficiency, it takes a longer time for them to wait for their goods. Until they heard from friends and family about the changes.
Not only this, professors in colleges and universities, and factory directors of other industry sectors, have all got some cooperation proposals. Collaborating with universities to research, as they are almost starting from zero due to change in path, of course, they already doing this all the time.
Other factory, as they have already come out with better plans and machines that can improve their production efficiency. Of course, they need to wait for some time, factories from other sectors are still centralized, and the directors need to get permission from their supervisors.
Changing and adding equipment may just come out with such questions as how about the production during the change of equipment and how about the workers after higher efficiency equipment has been introduced.
Luckily, this is not a problem at this time, everywhere is a lack of people now. There will be a place for them to go.
Kosygin at his house, reading the report stating what has happened now, came out with a happy smile.
"Seems like our reform is a success, at least for now. What do you think, Polyansky?" In front of him, is Dimitry Polyansky, his longtime ally with age of 63.
"Great, Kosygin. If we can continue this plan, perhaps we could change the long-time inefficiency we used to face off."
"Ogh! Ogh!" Kosygin cough.
"Are you alright Kosygin?" Polyansky immediately stands up and asks.
After a while, Kosygin only replies to him.
"Not good Polyansky, I know how is my body, not much time has left for me. And that is the reason I call you here, I hope you can take over my position after I die."
Polyansky feels a bit shocked and confused by what Kosygin said.
"Kosygin please do not say like this. But isn't it supposed to be Tikhonov to be taking over your position after that? Why me?"
"Because Tikhonov is more conservative about the economic policy, he might oppose my reformist policy. So I think of everyone, and I think you may be a better choice for me. I will ask about the Comrade Secretary and inform Andropov about this. I believe you have the same visual as me and will be willing on continue my reforming policy."
"But I worry the other might not trust me, I am a little bit too young compared to them."
Another problem in the current Soviet administration is that most of them are old, but the young ones with capable abilities are not enough. People usually see this situation as the direct consequence of WW2, where many Soviet men died, causing the talent gap.
"Not to worry about it. Remember I told you about Andropov? He is on our side, if there is anyone dares to not follow your orders, KGB will throw them into the sea."
---
Siberia, once cold is now warming.
At a remote Soviet military base.
A heavily guarded convoy arrived here. Aria and Serina have been sent here, today is the day when they will activate the 'Ecliptic Veil', showing to the Soviets what their future will be.
Both are escorted to a room. The 'Ecliptic Veil' is just placed on a table in front of them. A few officers are standing behind it.
"Is everything ready? Anything else do you need?" One of the officers asked.
"We can start at any time as long as you want." Serina reply.
The officer nodded his head.
"Alright, then activate it, we will watch outside."
After the officer leaves, Aria and Serina look at each other and nod their head. They then reach out their hands, sending energy to the veil.
1 sec, 2 sec, 3 sec, 10 sec, one minute later. Nothing has happened. Both stop sending energy to it.
"What happened? It is not working, there must be something wrong, or something not correct." Aria says with confusion.
The officers also came in from outside, asking them the same question.
"What else do you all need? Make sure this thing works, you all should know how many brothers we have lost just because of this thing."
By this time Serina shook his head, she understood something.
"It will be working, but in another way, I can't tell you what is going to happen to the USSR in the future, the USSR does not belong to this world, even the 'Ecliptic Veil' can't predict. Perhaps if we use another way, I can tell you what would happen to the USSR in your original world if it did not come here. How about this? Is this ok for you?"
The officer thinks for a while and answers seriously.
"Give me some time, I will need to ask my supervisor."
Without taking much time, he walked back and gave his answer.
"No problem, what will you need to do that?"
"I need one volunteer from the USSR, someone who is local and young, so that Aria can see through his eyes in the original future, perhaps by that time, Aria can tell some of it that can be prevented."
The officers again left the room for discussion, and not long later, a young soldier walked in together with him.
"He will be volunteering for it before we start, I still hope you can tell him what possible damage could bring to him."
"Nothing will damage you, just feel relaxed."
Officers nod his head to the soldiers, and he just walks towards the veils.
The activation was launched again, energy was sent into the veils, but this time, with an addition of the soldier's hand touching the veil.
The veils started to shine, and soon, the whole room was covered with the light brought by it.
Aria falls into an illusion, taken through a strange and powerful vision. The world around her shifts and changes, and she is no longer in Siberia, but somewhere away from here.
When she opened his eyes, she felt the weight of a gas mask pressing against her face.
A surreal, apocalyptic landscape stretches before her. A once-thriving town is now silent, shrouded in radioactive dust. Muted sirens wail in the distance as helicopters drop sand and boron onto the what-called blazing reactor core. A helicopter does not know what happens to it, accidentally falls down.
She watches as soldiers and liquidators work tirelessly, their faces a mix of fear and determination. A general rushed to the front and encouraged,
"I was there with my chief of staff before, nothing to be scared, go up, do your job for one minute and come back, we will remind you when the time is up."
"What kind of weapon is this?!" she whispers, horrified.
The sign in the distance says Chernobyl.
The image stopped here and continued to move forward.
This time, she is standing in a factory surrounded by mad workers, the atmosphere is tense, and the workers are arguing among themselves.
She looked at the newspaper holding on her hand, with the title of Gorbachev's Reforms.
Workers are confused, and unsure of what the changes mean for them. As Gorbachev calls for openness and restructuring, the Soviet machine is crumbling from within. The once-mighty factories, filled with the hum of production, are now eerily quiet. Wages are low, goods are scarce, and corruption is rising to the surface.
The image again stopped.
"The Soviet Union will cease to exist. We are entering a new era of freedom, but with it comes the uncertainty of the future. We must adapt or be left behind." This is the first sentence she heard when she came to this illusion.
She is covering his face with his hand and crying in the current illusion, or more accurately is the volunteer soldier. Aria feels the despair of soldiers forced to watch the collapse of the only government they've ever served. But also some, are happy about what is happening now.
Still, most soldiers, who once fought for a strong Soviet Union, now stand confused in a world where the old banners are being torn down.
Crowds flood the streets, some waving the Russian tricolour, others shouting in protest, still clutching the Soviet hammer and sickle. Military convoys rumble past, unsure whether to maintain order or join the people.
"How could something so powerful simply... end? The country is fragile in the internal." Aria wonders aloud, feeling the void left by the collapse.
Vision stops and continues to shift.
Aria finds herself on a cold, snowy street in Moscow. People shuffle past, gaunt and ragged, their eyes hollow from hunger.
The once-great Soviet factories have been privatized, and wealth is now concentrated in the hands of a few powerful oligarchs. They flaunt their riches, while the common people are left to starve.
She watches a weathered veteran, his uniform torn and dirty, hold out his prized medals to a stranger in exchange for bread. Men and women, who fought in the Afghan war and served their country proudly, now stand in the streets selling their military medals and awards just to survive.
"We fought for a dream… and now we have nothing to show for it. The leaders have all the wealth. We... we have only our memories, and they are worth nothing now." The old man seemed to realize that he was also a veteran, whispering some thoughts to him.
The body where Aria was, remained silent and gave the veteran bread without buying any of his medals. He then returned to his home, where families huddle together in small, dilapidated apartments.
The electricity goes out often, and food is rationed to almost nothing. In the streets, Aria sees old women scavenging for scraps, children huddling together in makeshift shelters, and whole neighbourhoods filled with abandoned buildings.
Vision stops and continues to shift.
This time, she stands on the streets, looking at all the tanks and truck columns moving in the city. The tank, fires to a white building, where the building still hangs with the Soviet hammer and sickle red flag.
People protested about what the current president was doing.
"Death to Yeltsin!"
Many people died in the week.
Vision stops and continues to move.
She is in the snow-covered mountains, clutching a rifle as bullets whistle past. The military uniform on his body indicates that he joined the army again.
She's in a ruined village, surrounded by rubble and smoke. Guerilla fighters ambush her convoy and the harsh cries of battle echo through the hills. Civilians cower in basements, their homes obliterated.
The soldier she embodies feels disillusioned, sent to fight a brutal war in which victory seems impossible. The enemy blends into the civilian population, and every victory comes at a terrible cost. She sees how the soldier's comrades were treated by the enemies, how prisoners were killed, and how those people beheaded them and hung their heads on their RPGs.
To prevent their body getting insulted by the enemies, those tanks start to roll on their comrade bodies. The yellow fat and red flesh exudate from the tracks and will remain on this land forever.
"Long live Dudayev!" The enemies shouted.
"This... is unthinkable." Aria had never seen a battle as brutal as this, she thought that the Soviet Powers were horrible enough, but what made it more horrible was, when your enemies had almost the same power as you.
Vision stops and changes again.
There was a noisy sound in her ears before she opened her eyes. The streets are filled with protests. People demand answers as their savings vanish overnight. Shops are empty, and people barter goods just to get by. The government is powerless, and economic collapse seems imminent.
Another similar experience before he joined the army again. One of his comrades beside him, smoking said,
"Our rubles are worth nothing. The country's broken... how do we rebuild from this?"
Ironically, the title of the newspaper that the soldiers holding still read 'Anatoly Chubais reform success'.
Vision again stops.
After this, there is not much serious happened, of course, small-scale war and conflict never stopped, until another major war.
A place called Crimea decided to join Russia, where the country of the tricolour flag is. A small-scale war, or maybe conflict happens. It does not affect much about the body Aria control and also his family's. Eight years later, Aria looks at the young guy in front of him, wrinkled hands touching his face again and again.
"Father, take care, I will be back."
The body left tears, hugging his wife.
Aria opened his eyes, this time, she returned to the room and took a few deep breaths with sweat. The 'Ecliptic Veil' stops shining and starts to become dimmer.
"How was it?" Serina asked.
Officers outside also came in, waiting for her to talk about the future.
Aria who still holds her loyalty to the Karak of course will not tell them with truth, but only with a half-fake half real answer.
"The Soviet Union has a glorious future."
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