Fault Lines

by D. J. McCune

  In the past, his premonitions had made him feel sick up until the point when he knew what was going to happen – and what he should do about it. He had thought if he allowed the vision to unfold he would have received the message and been left to get on with his life in relative peace. But something about this disaster was making him feel worse, not better. Maybe it was the scale of it. There could be so many casualties, maybe even people he knew.

  The thought gave him pause. Up until now he’d been so busy thinking about all the Japanese people who would die that it hadn’t occurred to him who else might get caught up in the wave. In the vision he had been standing up high, out of the way, at the processing plant. But how far would the water come up the hill? Maybe it would reach them too. Or what if some of their group were down at the waterside when the wave struck?

  It doesn’t matter because I can’t do anything about it! Adam’s nails were digging into his palms and he tried to take a deep breath, pushing the sick feeling down inside. He started walking, hoping the movement would give him something to focus on other than the guilt. He was going to let hundreds, maybe thousands of people die, just to save his own skin. And my family. I’m saving my family too. He felt a fresh wave of hatred for Darian. If he had left them alone in peace maybe Adam could have done something but not while they were being investigated.

  He had almost reached the far end of the exhibition space when the announcement caught his attention. It was in Japanese but one word jumped out at him: tsunami. A moment later the message was repeated, this time in English. ‘Delegates attending the seminar on tsunami warning systems should please make their way to lecture room B.’

  Adam stopped dead. There was no getting away from it, was there? But why were they talking about tsunamis at a computer convention? For a moment a pang of curiosity cut through the fog in his head. He looked around, hoping to see people moving towards lecture room B but there wasn’t exactly a mob stampeding in that direction. Then, as he passed two men, he heard them talking in French and gathered that they shared his niche interest. They were consulting some kind of floor plan and he followed them back towards the entrance and down a short corridor.

  There were an optimistic number of seats set out and Adam slipped into the back row, feeling conspicuous. A wiry woman with grey hair was up on a low stage, standing behind a laptop. More people were filtering in and the lights in the room dimmed, just as a large projector screen flared into life. It was cooler here and the darkness was soothing. Adam closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping to achieve from this but at least he had found somewhere to sit in peace.

  The woman introduced herself in English as Dr Someone from the University of Somewhere and immediately launched into a horribly complicated explanation of the computer equipment she would be using. Adam wished that Spike was there to decode. In his absence he did the next best thing and turned on the voice recorder on his mobile. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping to achieve.

  Luckily when it came to the tsunamis Adam was no less informed than a lot of the people around him and Dr Expert explained it in layman’s terms. ‘The tsunami warning system is a state-of-the-art system being deployed in earthquake regions around the globe. It is impossible to calculate how many lives have been saved. Just a few minutes’ warning can be the difference between life and death for those living in coastal areas.’

  Adam sat up rigid as she explained how the system worked, holding his mobile steady, desperate not to miss a word. For the first time in days, something like hope kindled inside him. As Auntie Jo liked to say, there was more than one way to skin a cat. Up until now he had convinced himself that only he could warn people about the tsunami.

  Just maybe there was another way.

  Chapter 22

  dam stayed until the bitter end of the talk, even though Dr Expert descended back into computer gibberish. He didn’t care if he didn’t understand it – he knew someone who would. All he had to do now was figure out how to make Spike listen to it.

  As it transpired, this was easier than Adam had dared to imagine. He was back at the meeting point with a few minutes to spare, whereas a scowling Spike was dragged to the door by a harried-looking technician. ‘I only needed another minute,’ he protested.

  When he saw Adam he grinned. ‘How amazing is this place? Seriously, I would swap all of Tokyo for a few more hours here. I was just trying to find out how they had created the cluster and they got this goon to take me away.’

  Adam raised an eyebrow. ‘How exactly were you finding stuff out?’

  Spike smirked. ‘Magic.’ He refused to be drawn.

  Kenai appeared beside them. ‘Your principal is missing. Bulber-San. Have you seen him?’

  They shook their heads. He pursed his lips but was too polite to say anything. Adam considered him for a moment. ‘Have you worked for Mr Murai for a long time?’

  ‘Hai. Since I left university. I am his communications assistant.’

  ‘Do you know the place we’re travelling to? Hachimana?’

  ‘Of course. I visit it frequently.’

  ‘To see the fish?’ There was a mocking edge to Spike’s voice that made Adam want to slap him. Why didn’t he just keep his mouth shut?

  Either Kenai didn’t notice or chose not to notice. ‘The fish-processing plant is not the only business Murai-San has in Hachimana. He also owns a large research and development plant there. Microprocessors are the main product, not unlike the ones in our exhibition stand.’

  Spike’s eyes widened. ‘Are we going there?’

  Kenai smiled. ‘Unfortunately we will not have time. You will however see the many innovative machines developed by Murai-San for the processing of fish.’ Now there was a mocking edge to his voice that almost made Adam smile.

  He cleared his throat. He knew he was taking a chance but he had to find out more. ‘Hachimana is on the coast, isn’t it?’ At Kenai’s nod he hesitated. ‘Will we be safe there?’

  ‘Safe from what?’

  ‘I was in one of the talks. It was about tsunamis.’ Adam tried to sound nervous and found it came quite naturally under the circumstances. ‘The lecturer said that there are hundreds of earthquakes every year and some of them cause tsunamis. Are we in danger?’

  ‘I am sure the lecturer also told you that Japan has the most sophisticated earthquake detection and tsunami-warning system in the world. In fact, Murai-San himself has manufactured some of the cutting-edge equipment used, especially that used for undersea monitoring.’

  ‘But what if a tsunami comes?’ Adam didn’t want to push his luck but surely there had to be some kind of back-up plan. He was getting genuinely nervous, for his friends as well as the people living in Hachimana. From what Dr Expert had said, a big tsunami could travel hundreds of metres inland. Adam hadn’t seen the full scale of the wave, only what it looked like at shore level. What if the water travelled uphill and swamped the processing plant with all the Bonehill visitors inside? What if his doom sense was shrieking madly because he was sensing his own death?

  ‘If an earthquake should happen, all our facilities have been built to withstand even a powerful quake. And in the event of a tsunami warning, we will evacuate the plant and move to higher ground. In fact, we will withdraw to the research building that I spoke of. It is a four-storey building at the highest point in Hachimana, just a short walk away.’

  Adam nodded. The white building. He knew what Kenai was talking about from his premonition, not that he was going to tell Kenai that. He murmured his thanks, still pretending to be scared. Inside he was jumping up and down with joy. He risked a sidelong glance at Spike, who was staring thoughtfully after a retreating Kenai. Adam knew what he would be thinking about: how to get into that research plant. What he didn’t know was that Adam was going to give him the way.

  A dejected-looking Bulb returned, escorted by a security guard, blustering about having needed the facilities. There was a pungent smell around him that Adam recognised as sake. Kenai led
them onto the Metro and two hours later they were back at the hostel, eating yakitori and rice balls. Dan and Archie were already there, gabbling and interrupting each other in their excitement to talk about the RPG Exhibition. Judging by Archie’s phone, he had spent most of the afternoon taking photos of smiling Japanese girls making peace signs, dressed in a variety of weird and wonderful outfits. Spike meanwhile was emailing The Bulb, explaining the Sensai’s unfortunate absence, which gave Adam time to plan his next move.

  The entertainment for the evening was a large karaoke bar for a couple of hours and then a return to the hostel to pack. They would take their bags with them the following day on a coach tour, then catch an afternoon train to Hachimana. After one overnight stay they would return to Tokyo for a final few days of sightseeing, before catching their flight back to London. Privately, Adam was pretty sure they wouldn’t be travelling anywhere unless the tsunami really was very much confined only to the Hachimana area.

  Before they left, he grabbed his headphones and stuck them in his pocket. He made sure that he fell into step beside Spike as they walked the few blocks to the karaoke shack. It felt awkward. He’d avoided having any kind of real conversation with Spike since the weirdness on the plane. Adam still felt a cold shock of fear and anger, thinking about his so-called friend snooping into his life. He was taking a big risk. There was no way Spike would ever believe it was just a coincidence but he would worry about that when it happened.

  Once again, luck was on his side. It was Spike who brought Hachimana up. ‘I can’t believe we have to go to a fish factory. Why the hell can’t we just stay in Tokyo? Or better yet, why can’t we go to the research lab? I mean, seriously, what can they actually do with fish? Machines to chop them into pieces? Big deal.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Adam hesitated. If he took the plunge, there was no going back. ‘The only way they’ll let us near the research place is if there’s a tsunami.’

  ‘Some chance,’ Spike muttered, looking gloomy.

  Not for the first time, Adam found himself wondering if Spike cared about anyone. Sometimes he seemed more like a machine than a person. Who else would think a tsunami was a price worth paying for a trip to a computer factory? Not that Adam was in any position to judge. He had been putting his own safety and his family’s before all the people who would be caught up in the wave. Now he was going to lie to his friend and use him. Still, it was for the right reasons. Wasn’t that enough?

  He took a deep breath. Crunch time. ‘There might be a way.’

  Spike didn’t even look round. ‘What, you can make an earthquake happen, can you?’

  Adam shook his head. ‘Of course not. But we don’t actually have to make anything happen. We just have to make it look like something’s going to happen.’

  ‘And how are we going to do that?’ Spike seemed sceptical but interested. This was exactly what Adam was banking on.

  ‘I’ll tell you later,’ he whispered. They had arrived at the Karaoke Kingdom, which turned out to be a multi-storey building with an array of karaoke rooms, each complete with a screen, microphones and a telephone for ordering drinks. Mr Fenton and The Bulb were explaining very slowly and loudly to the manager that under no circumstances were alcoholic drinks to be provided to any of the rooms with Bonehill students inside. There didn’t seem to be a similar ban on the teachers’ personal karaoke chamber …

  The karaoke was more of a laugh than anyone had really expected, mainly because the teachers left them in peace. It was one of the few nights when they got to spend any proper time with the girls and in spite of everything else on his mind, Adam was missing Melissa. Seeing her friends dressed up beneath the colourful lights and hearing the music reminded Adam of the night in Cryptique. After their disastrous evening there he would never have believed that she would give him another chance. They had come so far and then it had all gone so wrong.

  He didn’t feel like singing, even in a mob. Archie proved definitively that there was more to rap than wearing baggy clothes and talking very fast. Dan stood up and sang some kind of rock ballad in a high, pure voice, which led to startled silence followed swiftly by a chorus of derision. Being Dan, he didn’t take it personally but grinned as he sat down. ‘They’re just jealous. In a few years I’ll be in a boy band and loaded.’

  Archie scoffed at him. ‘I thought you were going to be a dentist?’

  Dan shrugged. ‘Maybe I’ll buy a chain of dentists with my band money. That’ll keep my dad off my back.’

  Adam left them to their bickering, muttering that he was going to find the toilets. Instead, he waited in the corridor, and within a minute Spike had slipped outside too. Adam suppressed a grin. Usually it was Spike baiting traps but tonight he was the prey and Adam was the fisherman.

  There was a niche in the wall with a vase full of dried flowers. They perched there, separated by the vase. Adam didn’t know how long they had before Dan and Archie came to find them so he got straight to the point. ‘I went to the tsunami talk earlier, about how the warning system works. Listen to this.’ He passed Archie one of the headphones and slipped the other bud into his own ear.

  They sat in silence until the recording ended, interrupted occasionally by the crash of doors opening and closing as groups of people ran up and down the corridors laughing. No one bothered them and no teachers shooed them back inside. As it finished, Spike turned to Adam. ‘Is that it?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘And?’ Spike looked irritated rather than pleased.

  Adam stared at him. ‘I thought it would help.’

  ‘How?’ Spike stood up, as though he was going to walk away.

  Adam stood up too. ‘Did you understand how it works?’

  Spike rolled his eyes. ‘It’s not exactly complicated. There are sensors on land and beneath the seabed to pick up any seismic activity. When there’s an earthquake they detect the vertical P waves and beam the information to Tokyo by satellite. It sounds the alarm system so people have a few seconds to get ready before the S waves get everything shaking. And if the earthquake is beneath the seabed it monitors sea level and triggers the tsunami warning system if there’s going to be any big waves hitting the shore.’

  ‘So there you go then.’ Spike was still looking bemused. Adam sighed. ‘I told you, there doesn’t have to be an earthquake or a tsunami. It just has to look like there’s going to be one, to trigger the warning system. And then they’ll evacuate us to higher ground. And in our case that means Murai’s research facility.’

  Understanding dawned in Spike’s face – but the look he gave Adam was more incredulous than pleased. ‘So you want me to trigger a fake earthquake in the system, get a tsunami warning declared and thousands of people evacuated for nothing?’

  But it’s not for nothing! Why couldn’t he just tell him the truth? Just blurt it out and accept that he would look crazy? Because it’s Spike and he won’t just let it alone. I can always pretend it was a coincidence and there won’t be anything he can do about it – but if I tell him the truth, he’ll never let it go. Adam tried to look casual. ‘I thought this was the kind of thing you’d do for a laugh. After all, you’d get to see the research plant. You could get all sorts of stuff there for your hackers’ group. Plus pulling off a stunt like that would definitely get you in.’ He hesitated, hating himself. ‘Although they did say the warning system was totally unhackable.’

  ‘They would never say that,’ Spike said flatly. ‘Nothing is unhackable. They probably meant that no one would want to hack into it.’ He chewed his lip, staring into space. ‘I might give it a go at home sometime.’

  ‘Nah.’ Adam breathed in slowly, keeping his voice level. ‘What would be the point in that? At least if you do it here we’ll get to see the research plant. Plus, you’ll get to see the evacuation. All the sirens and stuff … it would be pretty cool.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess.’ Spike fell silent.

  Adam stayed quiet, holding his breath. This was it. This was the moment when it could all wo
rk out or it could all fall apart. The power was in Spike’s hands … and he had no idea. Of all the people in the world, why did it have to rest with someone like him?

  Spike looked at him. ‘I know how I’d do it,’ he said slowly. ‘But tell me one thing. Why should I? I know you want me to do it. But just tell me why.’

  Adam shrugged. ‘I don’t like fish guts any more than you do.’

  Spike smirked. ‘I’m not buying it.’ He started walking away.

  Adam stared after him in desperation. What was he going to do now? ‘OK, OK, I’ll tell you why.’ He looked at Spike’s expectant face and somehow words started pouring out of his mouth. ‘Because this trip … I thought it was going to be brilliant. But then I split up with Melissa and she didn’t come on the trip anyway. And I’ve felt sick the whole time I’m here. And Murai and Kenai are smug twats and I want to see The Bulb crapping himself when the sirens go. And I don’t want to spend a day in a fish factory. I … I don’t know. I just want to see it play out. To see it all happen and know that we did it.’

  Spike studied him for a long moment. Then at last he nodded and grinned. ‘Fair enough. Maybe we should send The Bulb down on to the beach for something before the alarm goes. Then he’ll really shit himself.’

  Adam grinned back. He felt like laughing or crying or jumping up and down screaming. He felt like he’d just sold his soul to the devil – but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care. If this works out, it will all have been worth it.

  He followed Spike back to the karaoke room, hovering somewhere between triumph and terror.

  For the first time in days, Adam was happy again. Maybe it was the knowledge that he was finally doing something, without doing it at all. The weight of responsibility had been heavy on his shoulders from the moment he had realised what was going to happen. Now that he was sharing the load he felt lighter than air.