by Jacob Whaler
Miyazawa looks at his arms and legs. “They’re gone now, but they’re coming back, aren’t they?”
“The Lethonen?” Matt nods. “I scared them off, but as soon as I leave . . .”
“I’ll be under their power again.” His eyes drift around as he reaches down and pulls up the torn rags of his Shinto robes. “How can I get rid of them?”
“I’m guessing they’ve taken over your mind. You must have invited them in at some point. I don’t know what you can do.” Matt holds his Stone in his hand, warm and hard, and takes a step back.
They stand on opposite sides of the torii gate.
The priest stares at Matt’s Stone. “I’ve seen that before. Ryzaard has many. You have one. That means you have power. You can help me. You can come to me and cast them out.” The movement begins under his skin again. Small bulges appear in random places. The bones of his face shift. He hands go up to his eyes, and he screams. “Find me! Before it’s too late.” Stumbling backwards, Miyazawa falls on the ground and reaches up to Matt.
“Where are you?” Matt says.
Miyazawa opens his mouth and tries to answer, but he chokes on the words. His cheekbones sink in and completely disappear as his mouth and head double in size. Scales form on his skin and a mass of sharp needles poke through his chest. Then he morphs into a full-blown monster and lunges at Matt.
As the monster slams into the blue energy field dropping down from the crossbeam of the gate, it opens its mouth.
Give us the power.
Matt backs up, turns and runs in the opposite direction.
CHAPTER 90
“Ohayou gozaimasu. Time to get up.” The thin voice of a woman drifts through a whirlwind of movement, color and sound that circles Miyazawa.
The voices of the Kami move inside him like swarms of insects creeping through his body.
The female Shinto priest comes closer.
“Restful dreams last night, Miyazawa-san?”
The cold metal tip of a transdermal injector touches the soft skin of his neck just above the jugular. The subtle hiss of compressed air is followed by a rush of light down his spine. It fans out and turns into a warm embrace that cradles his entire body.
When his eyes flip open, the assistant priest is bending over him in her snow-white robes. The voices inside scatter like startled cockroaches.
She disconnects a tube of green liquid. “You were talking in your sleep. Very strange. You’ve never done that before.”
“The Kami speak to me.” Miyazawa lifts his upper body into a sitting position and swings his legs off the side of the bed. “Perhaps I spoke to them as well.”
The assistant pauses and looks down. “You said a word. One I’ve never heard before. Lethonen.”
Miyazawa lets the soles of his feet slowly float down to the floor. “The Kami speak many strange words.” He stands, lifts his arms and allows her to dress him. “What else did I say?” He steps into baggy leggings.
The assistant priest pulls them up around his waist and ties them with a white string. “You asked someone to come for you. It sounded like . . .” She hesitates.
Miyazawa smiles. “Like what?”
“Like you were begging for help.” She threads the long sleeves of a stiff white robe through each of his arms and adjusts it on his shoulders. She looks up through long eyelashes. “Is everything all right, Master Priest?”
Miyazawa walks past her to the window. “I have no recollection of my dreams. The Kami use me as an instrument. Their ways are not always clear, but I do not fear them. I trust that they will bring us the unity and peace promised for thousands of years.”
“Paradise?”
“Yes.” Miyazawa presses an open palm to the window and stares down at an uneven layer of clouds below. “Where are we?”
“Over the Indian Ocean. Just off the coast of Ceylon. Today is India’s turn to receive the blue jewel. A nation of two billion, all in one day.” She walks close to him and lets her eyes drift down. “Would you like to drop in for a visit? I’m sure any one of the 500,000 shrines here will give you a warm welcome. Perhaps you could officiate in the implant ceremonies.”
Miyazawa’s hand goes up behind his ear, searching for the familiar bump on the skin. Feeling a sudden urge, he begins to dig at it with his fingernails, trying to tear it out. Pain spikes below his fingers. His hand is covered in blood.
“Miyazawa-san, you’re bleeding!” The assistant rushes to his side. “Someone please help me with the Master Priest. He’s been contaminated.”
Two more assistant priests run through the open door to his room.
He presses one bloody palm against the other and stares at his hands as the three of them hover around him, strip off his robes and clean his body.
“Take me back to the mountain shrine,” he whispers.
One of the assistants looks up, a confused look on her face. “What did you say?”
“Take me back to my home shrine.”
“But sir, you specifically said that you would never—”
“Purification rituals,” Miyazawa mumbles.
“Sir?” The assistant priest looks at the other two.
Miyazawa holds up his hands. “The blood. It requires the proper purification rituals. I am unclean and must be cleansed.” He places his palms against the windows, leaving red outlines of his hands. “Take me back immediately.”
The transport moves away over the clouds.
CHAPTER 91
Ryzaard floats back down to the meditation cushion and stands. After spending most of the night wandering the far reaches of the Mesh, he gazes out the window at the red light gathering in the eastern sky. The beginning of a new day.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Startled at the woman’s voice, he turns to see Jing-wei standing behind him. His lips relax into a half grin. “We are getting so close.” He goes back to the window. “Paradise. Hard to believe that it is finally almost here. The culmination of so many years of work.”
“What will you do when it finally comes?” She steps to his side and opens her palm to the window.
Ryzaard’s chest deflates with a slow exhale. “I suppose the first thing I’ll do is take a long rest.”
Jing-wei nods. “I think we’ll all take a long rest.” She stares down at a barge moving up the Hudson River. “I’ve tried to imagine what it will be like when Paradise finally comes. And I’ve just got one question that I haven’t been able to figure out.” She turns to Ryzaard. “Will we be happy?”
“What is happiness?” Ryzaard says.
Jing-wei shrugs her shoulders. “I have no idea.”
“I’ll tell you what it is.” Ryzaard turns from the window and walks to his desk. “An empty emotion.”
“What do you mean?”
“Suffering is real and tangible. When you’re sick or hurting, when you want something you can’t have, when you’re consumed with worry, then you feel suffering.” Ryzaard draws a Stone from the collection floating above his chest and lifts it close to his face in the palm of his hand. “Eliminate all suffering from the mind and what do you have left? Happiness. It’s nothing more than what results when everything else is taken away. An empty emotion.”
Jing-wei runs her fingers across the window. “So we’ll bring the people happiness by removing their suffering.”
“Yes,” Ryzaard says. “And suffering is nothing more than a particular state of mind. Once we control what they think, we can abolish suffering. Make it impossible to be anything but happy.”
“What about you?” Jing-wei walks close to Ryzaard and speaks to him as he looks away. “There won’t be anyone to control your mind, to take away your suffering. Will you be happy?”
“That’s the beauty of it.” Ryzaard laughs. “I have no use for happiness. I don’t need it or want it. It’s only for the weak and simple. The rest of us draw our satisfaction from a higher state of being.”
Jing-wei tilts her head to the side. “A higher state?
”
“Of course.” Ryzaard wraps his fingers around the Zeus statue. “It’s called power.”
CHAPTER 92
Matt frowns. “Don’t go, Michiko.”
“Someone has to do it.” Dressed in a kimono, Michiko puts four bowls of rice on the table, each one topped with a fried egg stuffed with crumbled bacon. Sheets of dried seaweed are stacked up on a plate in the middle. “I’m the logical choice.”
“It’s dangerous.” Matt reaches across his plate to a glass holding several pairs of chopsticks. “We have no idea what it will do to you.” He looks closely and picks out a matching pair.
Jessica lifts the rice bowl to her mouth. “And it’s likely to be irreversible.” She grabs the fried egg with the chopsticks and bites off a piece. “You might become a slave to Ryzaard, like everyone else.”
“The blue jewel isn’t doing that to people, at least not yet.” Michiko sips green tea. “I think we have some time before Ryzaard pulls the trigger. On my trip into town yesterday, I saw some friends with the implant. They got it in Sapporo. People I know. They looked normal.” Using her chopsticks, she tears off a piece of egg white with embedded bits of bacon and drops it in her mouth. “We won’t have all the information we need unless one of us gets the implant. Today is the first day the local shrine is giving it out. It’ll be strange if I don’t show up. People might suspect something and come looking. It’s the only logical thing to do. I’m going after breakfast.”
“I could do it.” Yarah bends over and pushes rice and egg directly from the rim of her bowl into her mouth. “He won’t be able to catch me. I’m too fast.”
Michiko shakes her head. “But you have a Stone, little one. It’s too dangerous. Ryzaard’s looking for you. The same goes for Matt and Jessica. I’m different. I’m not even on his radar.” She pours soy sauce onto a soft egg yolk and picks it up whole, sliding it past her lips. The empty bowl goes back down onto the low table. Michiko leans back and stands on the tatami floor. “So it’s settled. I’m the logical choice.”
“Then I’m going with you,” Matt says.
Michiko walks to a cabinet and pulls open a drawer. “That would be a mistake. Ryzaard has eyes and ears everywhere looking for you.” Reaching to the back, she pulls out a small pistol. “Besides, I’m fully able to take care of myself.”
Matt’s eyes drift around the room. “We can’t stay here forever. We need more information about what’s going on in the outside world.”
“I’m coming.” Jessica turns and reaches for her pulse rifle on the tatami floor.
Yarah wipes off her mouth with the back of her sleeve. “Me too!”
“You’re all crazy.” Michiko fishes a jax out of her pocket and touches its side. It’s black surface glows with a video of thousands of young people in white robes bowing with their foreheads to the ground. Rice paddies are laid out like a chessboard behind them. The words Osaki Hachimangu Shrine, Sendai, Japan appear below. “You take two steps inside the village and men in combat armor will surround us. You can find out all you need to know right here on the wall screen. It’s not safe for any of you to leave the house.”
Matt bends down close to Jessica. “You need to stay here with Yarah. I’m just going to have a quick look. I’ll be safe. I promise. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“That’s what you always say.” Jessica rolls her eyes. “This is no time to get separated.” She stands, her hand firmly gripping the rifle. “If you go, I go.”
“Same here,” Yarah says.
Michiko smiles at Matt. “Looks like you’ll have to stay.”
“Wrong,” Matt says. “We’re all coming. Safety in numbers.”
Ten minutes later, they all pack into the vintage Spyder Michiko drives out from behind the house.
“I still think this is a bad idea.” Slipping into her seat, Michiko touches the carcom’s surface. The windows take on a dark tint. “You’ll have to stay in the car. If we’re lucky, no one will see you.”
They drive past empty rice paddies, now little more than mud fields, harvested and drained of water in preparation for the coming winter. A white line runs along the pavement parallel to them, marking the edge of the road. Half a foot beyond that, it drops off into concrete ditches on either side.
Matt checks the speedometer. It registers 180 kilometers per hour. He decides not to say anything in spite of the worried look in Jessica’s eye.
They come to a stop at a T intersection and turn left onto a wider road.
“This is the main highway,” Michiko says. “It’ll take us straight into town.”
The road has an organic feel to it, following the natural contours of the land around small hills and along a river. They shoot past a sign written in Japanese, Chinese and Russian. No English.
Welcome to Nemuro.
“We’ll go straight to the Kotohira Jinja Shrine on the other side of town.” Michiko suddenly slows down, and everyone except her lurches forward in their seats.
There aren’t many cars on the road, and there are fewer people.
“Where is everyone?” Jessica says.
Michiko points through the windshield. “Right there, walking to the shrine.”
They see the backs of hundreds of people, some dressed in white robes, others in colorful kimonos and yukatas, moving down the street. A sense of excitement fills the air.
Michiko pulls the car over the side of the road and parks at the curb. “Everyone stay here until I get back. It shouldn’t take long.” She opens the door and steps out.
“Be careful,” Jessica says.
Michiko smiles and nods. “Don’t worry about me. Just stay here.” She walks away and the car door swings shut with a crisp, solid sound of finality.
They watch her walk down the street and join the crowd.
Matt reaches into the front seat and puts his hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “We’ll have to be careful when she comes back. With an implant in place, she’ll have a potential connection to Ryzaard. He might be able to spy on us without Michiko even knowing.”
Jessica stares out the window in deep meditation. Then she suddenly turns back to face Matt. “Is there any way we could turn the tables on him? Use the implant to spy on him?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think—”
“Wait!” Yarah’s big eyes open up even wider with the light of discovery. “If I could use my Stone, I might be able to find Ryzaard through Michiko’s mind.” The little girl turns to Matt. “There has to be a way.”
Thrusting his hand into a side pocket, Matt draws out his Stone and the cloaking box. It’s lid is open. His finger swings the lid slowly back and forth as he gazes down.
He stops and holds them in the palms of his hands, the Stone and the cloaking box, staring down, thinking out loud.
“The cloaking box originally worked as you would expect,” Matt says. “Drop a Stone inside, shut the lid and the box made the Stone undetectable. Then I turned the whole thing inside-out. Now it works the opposite way. You open the lid to activate the box, and it makes nearby Stones undetectable and unusable.”
“So, what’s your point?” Jessica says.
“I’m not sure.”
“You showed me how use my Stone so Ryzaard couldn’t see it. All you have to do is wrap the lines of light around it. Remember?” Yarah stares at her hand.
“I know.” Matt tosses his Stone up and down. “But it’s risky. It requires concentration and focus. I don’t think we should try it unless we absolutely have to. But I’ve been thinking. Maybe there’s another way. A better way.” His eyes drift up to Yarah and Jessica. “What if the lid is open and I put a Stone on the inside?”
Yarah and Jessica both shrug their shoulders.
Jessica leans forward. “I don’t think you should—”
Before she can finish her sentence, Matt drops his Stone inside the empty box and watches it. “Get ready to run if something crazy happens.” He stares down into the open box.
Some
thing crazy happens.
The Stone begins to glow light purple.
“Interesting.” Matt’s gaze goes to Yarah. “Try to use your Stone.”
She uncurls her small fingers from around her Stone and focuses on its surface. A look of fierce concentration causes furrows to appear on her soft forehead.
She looks up at Matt. “Nothing. My Stone is still dead. Just like always.”
“Drop it in the box,” Matt says.
Yarah stretches out her hand and lets the Stone fall through the opening. It enters the box, appearing to occupy the same space as Matt’s Stone, except that it’s tip is pointing the other way. It starts to glow light purple.
They both get big smiles on their faces. Matt reaches out to the familiar flow of time and finds it.
“Are you sure you know what you’re—”
Jessica’s face and body freeze. A small speck of dust hangs motionless in the sunlight between Matt and Yarah.
“Let’s go have a quick look.” Matt opens the door and steps out with Yarah behind him. “If I’m right, the cloaking box is still working, making it impossible for Ryzaard to detect our Stones.” They both start to jog down the street to the gathered crowd. “If I’m wrong, I want to be as far away from Jessica as possible so she doesn’t get hurt when Ryzaard comes. We’ll find out soon enough.”
They turn a corner, and the large torii gate of the Shinto shrine comes into view. Its grounds are already filled to capacity with people. An overflow crowd of hundreds waits nearby.
All of them stand frozen in the act of walking or talking.
Coming closer to the torii gate, Michiko is just passing under it. Beyond her, a single line has formed and winds back and forth over the white pebble square in front of the shrine. A priest in white robes and a tall black hat stands on a platform at the top of a flight of marble steps. A bell dangles from a rope over his head. He is in the act of reaching up with one hand to jerk the bell. In the other hand, he holds a blue jewel. A woman is just about to walk down the steps on the other side.
