"Children of the War" Short story Author Unknown V Storybook (World International Publishing Ltd.)

Elizabeth agonizes over Kyle's capture by the Visitors.

Story Summary

Elizabeth laments being the sought-after Starchild, while she, Robin, and Willie wait in the car for Kyle to meet a resistance contact inside a bookstore. But they soon observe Kyle taken into custody by a police officer.

Later, they report what has happened to the other resistance members and Tyler argues they have no choice but leave him to his fate. But the others decide they want to try to rescue him and Julie goes to one of her own contacts for information.

Willie soon learns that Kyle is going to be taken by Diana at Compton Airport. A plan is formed and, with the help of a sympathetic police officer named Henderson, the group rescues Kyle at the airport drop point and escapes in a Visitor shuttle.

THE END

Didja Know?

This story appeared in the British 1984 V Storybook, a kids book of short stories all about V. The stories are all pretty lame.

There doesn't seem to be any particular reason this story is titled "Children of War". I suppose you could consider Elizabeth a child of war even though she looks like an adult, but she's the only one.

Notes from the V Timeline

The presence of Robin and the mention of the negotiations between the Visitors and Science Frontiers to keep L.A. an open city, place this story after Nathan Bates is shot and lying in a coma (with Chaing trying to maintain control of the city) in "The Hero" and before Robin's departure in "The Betrayal".

Didja Notice? 

The L.A. uniform of the cop depicted in the artwork of page 39 looks more like an old-timey uniform than anything that would actually have been worn by L.A. police in the 1980s when the story takes place.

Also on page 39, the cop's partner tells him to hurry it up because they have a line of cars stretching to Carson. This could be a reference to either Carson Street in Los Angeles or the suburb of Los Angeles called Carson.

Willie learns that the captured Kyle is being taken to Compton Airport, where Diana will have a shuttle waiting to take him to her. This is presumably a reference to Compton/Woodley Airport, a public-use airport in the city of Compton, which lies within Los Angeles County.

On page 45, the cop called Henderson tells Diana they have a Mexican standoff. A Mexican standoff is a pop-culture term describing two or more opposing parties, usually armed with guns, standing off, each with an equal chance of killing one or more of the others at the same time.

On page 45, Donovan mentions taking the captured skyfighter to one of the mountain camps. We could presume he is talking about the camp at an old movie ranch in the Santa Monica mountains which they use as a hangar and repair facility for captured skyfighters (as depicted in "City on the Edge").