institutions, or massive manufacturing firms collapsed, it toppled and took with it the entire economic system. Therefore, as abstract and flawed as it seemed, the economic philosophy of one prosperous sector of an economy bailing out a faltering one benefits everyone and ultimately leads to greater prosperity for all.
Roosevelt, and eventually his financial backers, understood this new reality and the new President said as much in his acceptance speech. “Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth…I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign or slogan. It is a call to arms…”
Hastelloy watched the president’s acceptance speech with great delight. He knew this nation, with all the potential in the world within its borders, was now moving in the right direction under President Roosevelt’s leadership. His plan to destroy the Alpha base on Mars once and for all was off to a good start.
Chapter 7: Departing from us, Comrade Lenin
Oleg took a look at his surroundings and felt a wave of warmth radiate from within on this otherwise freezing cold afternoon. The icy wind had long since numbed his extremities through the thick gloves, coat and hat he wore, but the inferno of pride burning in his heart was untouched. It was his family duty to honor this moment in a proper manner. This gave him cause to defy the thirty-five degree below freezing temperature to stand at the closest corner of the train station’s arrival platform, the premier spot in all of Moscow, to greet the arrival of the revolution’s dearly departed leader; Vladimir Lenin.
Over the last six hours of waiting, many had attempted to dislodge Oleg from his chosen place of tribute, but he would not be moved. To do otherwise was cowardly and contrary to all that Comrade Lenin stood for during his inspiring life. For most of his existence, Oleg had chosen the cowardly course of deference and inaction. Comrade Lenin gave him the courage to admit this about himself and then imparted upon him the resolve to remain strong and unyielding to those seeking dominion over him. Twenty years ago, he was not so brave.
All those years ago, Oleg was made to stand with his father and mother among a crowd. In front of them rose an elevated platform featuring two hanging nooses. There he looked on with a stomach hollowed out from weeks of starvation as his older brother and a friend stood trial. The pair dared to poach a deer on the Tsar’s land and would answer for the ‘grave offense’.
It was one deer; one scrawny buck out of several million that roamed the monarch’s land consisting of a massive estate the royal had not bothered to visit for countless years. The deer was not shot for sport, or any other foolishness. It was meant to feed a starving family. This much was said to justify the act in a plea for leniency, but only a peasant’s implied insult to his better was recognized by the courts. The Tsar’s rigid social hierarchy would be enforced without charity or humanity.
Oleg was only ten at the time, but he never forgave himself for just standing there. He just watched in deferred silence as they passed judgment and wrapped the noose around the neck of his best friend in the world. Even when the executioner kicked the stool out from under his brother, his only reaction was to watch his boyhood idol flail about in a losing battle to live. Oleg, his parents, and the entire crowd of hundreds forced to watch did nothing to stop the injustice.
The Tsar’s soldiers would have thwarted any attempt at rescue; Oleg did not fool himself in that regard. The instant his brother was arrested for the crime his fate was sealed. Oleg’s most haunting memory of that day was that he and
Roosevelt, and eventually his financial backers, understood this new reality and the new President said as much in his acceptance speech. “Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth…I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign or slogan. It is a call to arms…”
Hastelloy watched the president’s acceptance speech with great delight. He knew this nation, with all the potential in the world within its borders, was now moving in the right direction under President Roosevelt’s leadership. His plan to destroy the Alpha base on Mars once and for all was off to a good start.
Chapter 7: Departing from us, Comrade Lenin
Oleg took a look at his surroundings and felt a wave of warmth radiate from within on this otherwise freezing cold afternoon. The icy wind had long since numbed his extremities through the thick gloves, coat and hat he wore, but the inferno of pride burning in his heart was untouched. It was his family duty to honor this moment in a proper manner. This gave him cause to defy the thirty-five degree below freezing temperature to stand at the closest corner of the train station’s arrival platform, the premier spot in all of Moscow, to greet the arrival of the revolution’s dearly departed leader; Vladimir Lenin.
Over the last six hours of waiting, many had attempted to dislodge Oleg from his chosen place of tribute, but he would not be moved. To do otherwise was cowardly and contrary to all that Comrade Lenin stood for during his inspiring life. For most of his existence, Oleg had chosen the cowardly course of deference and inaction. Comrade Lenin gave him the courage to admit this about himself and then imparted upon him the resolve to remain strong and unyielding to those seeking dominion over him. Twenty years ago, he was not so brave.
All those years ago, Oleg was made to stand with his father and mother among a crowd. In front of them rose an elevated platform featuring two hanging nooses. There he looked on with a stomach hollowed out from weeks of starvation as his older brother and a friend stood trial. The pair dared to poach a deer on the Tsar’s land and would answer for the ‘grave offense’.
It was one deer; one scrawny buck out of several million that roamed the monarch’s land consisting of a massive estate the royal had not bothered to visit for countless years. The deer was not shot for sport, or any other foolishness. It was meant to feed a starving family. This much was said to justify the act in a plea for leniency, but only a peasant’s implied insult to his better was recognized by the courts. The Tsar’s rigid social hierarchy would be enforced without charity or humanity.
Oleg was only ten at the time, but he never forgave himself for just standing there. He just watched in deferred silence as they passed judgment and wrapped the noose around the neck of his best friend in the world. Even when the executioner kicked the stool out from under his brother, his only reaction was to watch his boyhood idol flail about in a losing battle to live. Oleg, his parents, and the entire crowd of hundreds forced to watch did nothing to stop the injustice.
The Tsar’s soldiers would have thwarted any attempt at rescue; Oleg did not fool himself in that regard. The instant his brother was arrested for the crime his fate was sealed. Oleg’s most haunting memory of that day was that he and
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