John Shirley - BioShock: Rapture

Thanks to Eric Raab and Paula Guran.

Special thanks to Dustin Bond for additional game research.

Special thanks to everyone who put up with my bitching.

Sullivan, chief of security, found the Great Man standing in front of the enormous window in his corporate office. The boss was silhouetted against city lights. The only other illumination was from a green-shaded lamp on the big glass-topped desk across the room, so that the Great Man was mostly in shadow, hands in the pockets of his crisply tailored suit jacket as he gazed broodingly out at the skyline.

It was eight oclock, and Chief Sullivan, a tired middle-aged man in a rain-dampened suit, badly wanted to go home, kick off his shoes, and listen to the fight on the radio. But the Great Man often worked late, and hed been waiting for these two reports. One report, in particular, Sullivan wanted to have done withthe one from Japan. It was a report that made him want a stiff drink, and fast. But he knew the Great Man wouldnt offer him one.

The Great Man was how Sullivan thought of his bossone of the richest, most powerful men in the world. The term was both sarcastic and serious, and Sullivan kept it to himselfthe Great Man was vain and quick to sense the slightest disrespect. Yet sometimes it seemed the tycoon was casting about for a friend he could take to heart. Sullivan was not that man. People rarely liked him much. Something about ex-cops.

Well, Sullivan? the Great Man asked, not turning from the window. Do you have them?

I have them both, sir.

Lets have the report on the strikes first, get it out of the way. The other one He shook his head. Thatll be like hiding from a hurricane in a cellar. Well have to dig the cellar first, so to speak

Sullivan wondered what he meant by that cellar remark, but he let it go. The strikestheyre still going on at the Kentucky mines and the Mississippi refinery.

The Great Man grimaced. His shoulders, angularly padded in the current style, slumped ever so slightly. Weve got to be tougher about this, Sullivan. For the countrys good, as well as our own.

SirI have sent in strikebreakers. I have sent Pinkerton men to get names on the strike leaders, see if we can get something on them. Butthese people are persistent. A hard-nosed bunch.

Have you been out there in person? Did you go to Kentuckyor Mississippi, Chief? Hm? You need not await permission from me to take personal actionnot on this! Unions they had their own little army in Russiathey called them Workers Militias. Do you know who these strikers are? They are agents of the Reds, Sullivan! Soviet agents! And what is it they demand? Why, better wages and work conditions. What is that but Socialism? Leeches. I had no need of unions! I made my own way.

Sullivan knew that the Great Man had the benefit of luckhed struck oil, as a young manbut it was true hed invested brilliantly.

Ill see to them myself, sir.

The Great Man reached out and touched the glass wall, remembering. I came here from Russia as a boythe Bolshies had just taken the place over We barely got out alive. I wont see that sickness spread.

No sir.

Andthe other report? Its true, isnt it?

Both cities are almost entirely destroyed. One bomb apiece.

The Great Man shook his head in wonder. Just one bombfor a whole city

Sullivan stepped closer, opened one of the envelopes, handed over the photographs. The Great Man held the glossy photographs to the window so he could make them out in the twinkling light of the skyline. They were fairly sharp black-and-white snaps of the devastation of Hiroshima, mostly seen from the air. The city lights were caught on their glossy surface, as if somehow the thrusting boldness of the New York skyline had itself destroyed Hiroshima.

Our man in the State Department smuggled this out for us, Sullivan went on. Some in the target cities were atomized. Blown to bits. Hundreds of thousands dead or dying in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A great many more dying from He read aloud from one of the reports hed brought. Flash burns, radiation burns and trauma It is expected that an equal amount will be dead of radiation sickness and possibly cancer in another twelve months or so.

Cancer? Caused by this weapon?

Yes sir. Its not yet confirmed, butbased on past experiments they say its likely.

I see. Are we indeed certain the Soviets are developing such weapons?

Theyre working on it.

The Great Man snorted ruefully. Two gigantic empires, two great octopi struggling with one anotherand equipped with monstrous weapons. Just one bomb to destroy an entire city! These bombs will only get bigger, and more powerful. What do you suppose will happen, in time, Sullivan?

Atomic war is what some are saying.

I feel certain of it! Theyll destroy us all! Still there is another possibility. For some of us.

Yes sir?

I despise what this civilization is becoming, Sullivan. First the Bolsheviks and thenRoosevelt. Truman, carrying on much of what Roosevelt began. Little men on the backs of great ones. It will only stop when real men stand up and say no more!

Sullivan nodded, shivering. At times the Great Man could convey the power of his inner conviction, almost like a lightning rod transmitting a mighty burst of electricity. There was an undeniable power around him

After a moment the Great Man looked curiously at Sullivan, as if wondering how much he could be trusted. At last his employer said, My mind is made up, Sullivan. I shall move ahead on a project I was toying with. It will no longer be a toyit will be a glorious reality. It entails great riskbut it must be done. And you may as well know now: it will take, perhaps, every penny I have to make it happen

Sullivan blinked. Every penny? What extreme was his boss going to now?

The Great Man chuckled, evidently enjoying Sullivans astonishment. Oh yes! At first it was an experiment. Little more than a hypothesisa game. I already have the drawings for a smaller versionbut it could be bigger. Much bigger! It is the solution to a gigantic problem

The union problem? Sullivan asked, puzzled.

Nowell, yes, in the long run. Unions too! But I was thinking of a more pressing problem: the potential destruction of civilization! The problem, Sullivan, is the inevitability of Atomic war. That inevitability calls for a gigantic solution. Ive sent out explorersand Ive picked the spot. But I wasnt sure I would ever give it the go-ahead. Not until today. He peered again at the photos of the devastation, turning them to catch the light better. Not until this. We can escape, you and Iand certain others. We can escape from the mutual destruction of the mad little men who scuttle about the halls of government power. We are going to build a