This is one of my earliest stories, from the late seventies, early eighties, when I was just starting out. This story was the first one I wrote that actually appeared in print, in the British fanzine Tangent.

I got the idea after watching a news report about an uprising in one of the countries where the reporter said he didn't even can say with confidence how many sides there are in this war. This got me thinking about governments that might decide to go to war for their own ends. I was still developing my own voice at that point, but I think the story worked.