“Mommmeee! I want my mommy!”
“Don’t cry. How old are you?”
“Mommy told me… three. Three years old.” Sobs.
“Listen, don’t look for your mom. She won’t be back for a long, long time. Go next door and find some older kids.”
“Hey, Beijing! When should I turn in my homework?”
“What?!”
“When we gathered here, the teachers left us lots and lots of homework. They told us to go to sleep if we got tired, and do homework when we woke up. And not to go outside, or go anywhere. Then they left.”
“Do you have food and water?”
“Yes. But I was asking about the homework.”
“Oh, do whatever the hell you want.”
“Hello, Beijing? Is it true there aren’t adults anymore?”
“That’s right. They’re gone….”
“Beijing, who’s looking after us?”
“Go and ask your direct superiors.”
“Hey! Hello! Hello?”
In the space of fifteen minutes, the children in the NIT answered a huge number of similar calls but had not even tackled 1 percent of the total number: the display showed more than eighteen thousand ports calling Beijing, and the map was densely covered in red lines. The children began to be selective about the calls, listening for a few words and switching to another line if the situation wasn’t important.
SUPERNOVA ERA, MINUTE 30
“Hey, Beijing! We have a problem here. The oil depot is on fire, and the big drums are exploding! A river of burning oil is heading our way! It’ll reach our town at any moment!”
“Where’s the fire brigade?”
“I don’t know! I’ve never heard of any fire brigade.”
“Listen: Tell all of the kids to get out of town!”
“So… we’re just abandoning it?”
“Abandon it! And hurry!”
“But… this is our home.”
“This is an order! An order from the central government!”
“…Yes, sir!”
“Beijing? This is _____. We’ve got fire. All over the place. The biggest is at the department store!”
“Where’s the fire brigade?”
“Right here!”
“Have them put out the fire!”
“We’re at the fire. But the hydrants don’t have any water!”
“Call the government to fix it. Then take some cars and go fetch water from a nearby source…. Oh, clear all of the kids out of the area first.”
The number of calls coming into the hall had skyrocketed above a hundred thousand. The map only displayed what the system determined to be high-level information, but even so the map was practically covered in red lines, new ones replacing the old. Practically every region in the country had a red line reaching out to Beijing.
“Hey! Beijing! I’ve finally gotten through! Is everyone dead? Why have you left us all alone?”
“Are you dead? You think we can take care of everything?”
“Listen to this!”
There was a noise on the line.
“What’s that?”
“Babies crying.”
“How many of them?”
“Too many to count. Almost a thousand. Are you just abandoning them here?”
“Holy crap! You mean there are nearly a thousand little babies gathered there?”
“The youngest aren’t even a year old!”
“How many of you are looking after them?”
“Just over fifty of us.”
“When the adults left, didn’t they leave nurses to watch them?”
“There were a few hundred of us, but just now some cars came and took them all away. They said they had a more urgent situation. It’s just the few of us here now.”
“God! Listen, first, half of you go out to find other kids, anyone you meet, doesn’t matter who, and bring them in to help take care of the babies. Hurry. Your best bet is to broadcast it over the radio.”
“Right.”
“What are the babies crying about?”
“Maybe they’re hungry? Or thirsty? We have no idea. We found some peanuts, but they won’t eat them.”
“You moron! You want to give babies peanuts? They need milk!”
“Where do we get milk?”
“Are there any shops nearby?”
“Yes!”
“Go and look there. They’ll have milk powder.”
“So… we just break down the door, is that it?”
“That’s right. Don’t bother about the counter. And if there’s not enough, then go to the warehouse. Hurry!”
“Hey, Beijing! We’ve got a flood here!”
“It’s springtime! Where’s the water coming from?”
“They say it’s because they forgot to raise the sluice at the reservoir upstream, and the water rose too high and collapsed the dam! One half of the city’s underwater, and the kids are all coming over to this side. But the water’s coming too fast, and we can’t outrun it!”
“Have the kids go up onto the roof.”
“But people say buildings will collapse when they get waterlogged.”
“They won’t. Spread the word. Use the loudspeaker.”
“Beijing! Hey! Listen to all the babies crying!”
“You don’t have anyone looking after them either?”
“There aren’t any doctors!”
“Doctors? What for?”
“They’re all ill!”
“How can all of them be ill? Couldn’t they be crying from hunger?”
“No. We’re ill too! All the kids in the city are ill. The water is poisonous. If you drink it, you feel dizzy and get diarrhea.”
“Go to the hospital. See a doctor.”
“There’s no one at the hospital!”
“Find the mayor!”
“I am the mayor!”
“You’ve got to find the doctors! And get to the water company and find the source of the contamination. And collect clean water, bottled water, as soon as you can, or else the consequences will be even worse!”
“Beijing! This is _____. The government is surrounded by ten thousand kids or more. They all look ill. They’re crying and asking us for their parents!”
“Hello! Hey! Beijing!” A cough. “The chemical plant outside the city exploded and released toxic gas.” Another cough. “The wind blew it into the city, and now we can’t breathe!” Another cough.
“Beijing! A train carrying over a thousand kids derailed. I don’t know the number of casualties. What should we do?”
“Beijing! That big black rectangle is scaring us. We’re so afraid!”
Crying and frightened shouts from a huge crowd of children.
“Hi. This is Beijing. Where are you? What’s wrong?”
Crying, shouting.
“Hey! Hey!”
Crying, shouting.
SUPERNOVA ERA, HOUR 1
Onscreen the number of calls received by Beijing rocketed with frightening speed past three million. In their panic, someone accidentally clicked the Broadcast All button, and all channels played simultaneously, filling the hall with a wave of noise that pounded over them again and again. The children covered their ears to the sound of millions of voices all repeating the same word: “Beijing! Beijing! Beijing!”
Just during the time the children were standing in shock, the number of calls ballooned by a million to a total of more than four million. The wave of voices from throughout the country seemed ready to swallow up the entire hall. They heard uncontrollable wailing, and after what seemed like an eon of fiddling with the controls, Huahua finally shut off the sound, right as the children were on the brink of madness. Silence descended immediately, and then they went back to taking the millions of calls one by one.