The war was over. The skies were clear of hostile aircraft, the streets were quiet save for the sounds of recovery, and a fragile, bewildered peace had settled over Los Angeles. But in the fortified underground chambers of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the war was still being waged on drawing boards and in the fearful hearts of the most powerful people on Earth.
The emergency chamber was a tomb of polished marble and cold anxiety. The US President stood at the central podium, his face a mask of grim determination, flanked by the leaders of Russia and China. Screens around the room displayed the same devastating footage: the stand-down of their armies, soldiers weeping, the impossible, pacifying wave that had swept the globe. To them, it wasn't salvation. It was the most sophisticated and terrifying act of psychological warfare ever conceived.
