Cyber Shogun Revolution

by Peter Tieryas

  “Honestly, don’t know, don’t care,” K replied, then paused to gargle a drink. “You all the bad guys for attacking innocent people. Don’t expect your villain’s speech to convince me.”

  “You take us lightly, but you’ll pay for your insolence.”

  “I don’t have that much money,” K replied as he engaged the Craterus and Antipater.

  K’s fighting style was very unusual, Reiko noted. It was loose, with no methodical stance. Instead, it was almost liquid-like as he flowed into battle with attacks that were blindingly fast. Reiko swore she recognized it from somewhere, but she couldn’t quite place it.

  “Hey, Reiko,” Bishop called.

  “What’s up?”

  “Unless we have something to do here, would you mind heading for the Nakahara Unity? My forensics partner, Yasu, is holed up there. Says there’s a lot of dead agents and he needs help getting out.”

  “Bloody Mary’s still there?”

  “I think so, but I just saw his message and I haven’t been able to get ahold of him to confirm.”

  As the two mecha battles in front of them intensified, Reiko wished she could help and take part somehow. But she knew it wasn’t her place. She thought again of Governor Yamaoka’s execution. Would that be her fate as well? She shuddered because she had no idea.

  BISHOP WAKANA

  HOLLYWOOD

  I.

  A part of Bishop was eager to get to the Nakahara Unity and confront Bloody Mary. Another part dreaded it.

  “Have you been to the Nakahara Unity?” Reiko asked as they arrived in the Kamakiri.

  “Only once. Two agents showed me the fancy media center. It was as big as a concert hall.”

  “What’s the whole place for?”

  “The main mission at the Unity is regulating communications throughout the country,” Bishop said. “Tokko’s official term is ‘Archetype Construction.’”

  “That sounds fancy.”

  “The Tokko think of society as a series of stories and symbols the people believe in, giving them reasons to follow the rules. Without it, there’s only physical force, which won’t last long, since the populace always outnumbers those in actual power. The broader symbols are what keep people under control and preserve order,” Bishop said. “In the old Americas, the construction of these social beliefs was in the hands of religious institutions. In the Empire, the Tokko took charge of creating and controlling these social archetypes. We supplanted God’s role as thought police and created kikkai orbits like SOCIAL.”

  “I didn’t realize the Tokko had a hand in all that.”

  “Information needs a sieve. Complete, unfiltered freedom would be too daunting and overwhelming. The essential element is to foster the illusion of freedom without actually giving it. People are willing to accept just about anything if you can give them the illusion of choic—”

  Bishop’s voice trailed off. Reiko looked over and saw that his face was pale and he had to steady himself against the console. “Bishop?” she called.

  He took a deep breath and remembered a case that took place shortly after the death of Governor Tamura. Akiko-san and he had been ordered to arrest a group of businessmen who’d been selling military secrets to the Nazis. The businessmen were rounded up in their homes and driven to a Tokko interrogation hall. Eight of them were lined up, blindfolded. Four wore pajamas, two were naked, and the remaining two were in their boxer shorts. Three of them had sullied their pants, and one of them was openly weeping. Tokko agents had guns in their hands, ready to fire.

  “I know you’ve been selling personnel information on our mecha pilots to the Nazis,” Akiko said. “The first person to tell me all your contacts, what information you sold, and who else is collaborating with you will survive. Everyone else will be executed. Do I have a volunteer?”

  “We didn’t sell secrets to the Nazis!” a man screamed.

  “We hate the goddamn Nazis!”

  Bishop was disgusted by the traitors and looked at his portical to see who was who. But as he read over the charges, something caught his attention. They were the messages these eight had allegedly sent with military information to the Nazis. But they were navy secrets, schematics which they had no access to, not the mecha corps profiles they’d been charged with. Did that mean there was someone in the navy who had betrayed them? But the messages themselves indicated it was mecha pilot profiles they were relaying, not architectural layouts for their underwater bases or their Kraken-class battle submarines.

  Bishop went to Akiko and whispered in her ear, “Can we talk?”

  She nodded and they went to an adjacent room. Bishop explained the discrepancy.

  Akiko replied, “I told data systems to fix that. I see they haven’t gotten to it.”

  “Wait, you knew about this?” Bishop asked.

  “Of course,” Akiko replied. “It was a sloppy job by the Kempeitai.”

  “Why?”

  “These eight incurred the wrath of a minister who wants to take over their businesses. The Kempei were told to find a reasonable excuse to have them removed. We’ve come in to mop up.”

  “So they’re innocent?”

  “Of this charge, yes.”

  “And you’re okay with this?” Bishop asked, stunned that Akiko already knew.

  “I’m not okay with this,” she said. “But with a new regime in charge, this is part of our duty.”

  “You were hiding the truth from me?”

  “I was trying to protect you.”

  “But these are innocent people. We should be hunting down real traitors.”

  “I brought all of this to the attention of my superiors already,” Akiko said. “They have insisted I follow orders.”

  “What about all the stuff on the news Governor Yamaoka was saying about forgiveness and reconciliation?”

  “My assessment of the veracity of a case is separate from my orders,” Akiko replied.

  “What if we disobey the orders?”

  “Then some other Tokko agent will carry out the orders instead.”

  “But this is wrong.”

  Akiko looked at Bishop and said, “Do you remember the writers we arrested last weekend?”

  Bishop’s eyes tightened. “Of course. Don’t tell me they were innocent.”

  “They did write articles questioning Governor Yamaoka. Our original orders were that they be executed. I was able to convince our superiors that execution was too extreme,” Akiko said.

  “Cutting off their hands wasn’t extreme?” Bishop demanded.

  “They can get artificial hands,” Akiko stated. “These eight businessmen might not be guilty of the crime they’re being executed for, but they’ve been trafficking weapons for some time now. Weapons that were used against our troops. We have to know where and when to fight our battles.”

  “If your idea of protecting people is to cut off their hands, that’s madness.”

  Akiko had a look of sadness in her eyes that took Bishop aback. “You’re right. But we are all snails on the razor’s edge, trying in our little ways to dull the pain for ourselves and, if we’re fortunate, others as well.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” Bishop said.

  “It means whether we carry out our orders or not, those eight will be executed. If we put ourselves in a position where even if we do evil things, we can help alleviate evils for people who really need it, that’s better than nothing.”

  “There’s got to be a better way,” Bishop said.

  “Not as long as you’re part of the Tokko,” Akiko replied.

  “Bishop!” Reiko yelled.

  He snapped out of it, looked at Reiko, and said, “I had a dizzy spell for a second there. I think I need some rest.”

  “You’re still recovering from being under the Cyber Bubble for so long. If you want to take a short n
ap, I can wait.”

  “Yeah, let me take a nap while Bloody Mary burns the city down,” Bishop replied. “I’ll manage, but thank you.”

  It was evening, so lights were on all over the Unity, with spotlights pointed up in the air in an emblematic show of authority. Police cars had been stationed in front of the Nakahara Unity, but those that hadn’t already been destroyed were abandoned. Bishop didn’t know how five security armored personnel carriers got stacked on top of each other, but suspected it had something to do with the Sygma.

  “You don’t have to come down,” Bishop said.

  “I absolutely need to come,” Reiko replied.

  “What if we need the Kamakiri?”

  “Since our porticals are working again, I can control the Kamakiri remotely.”

  They descended to ground level and entered the Unity.

  The central lobby had an indoor river and gardens surrounding it. Holographic bees and flowers welcomed them. Normally, there would be guards, sensors, and other precautionary measures that would alert security. But nobody greeted them. Inside the river, they saw a hill of dead bodies. Bishop counted over thirty corpses, all members of the Tokko. He shut his eyes, trying his best not to explode in anger.

  At the reception desk, there were four slumped corpses.

  Bishop lifted the head of one of the receptionists. He was a young man who’d started working at the Unity several years ago.

  “You know him?” Reiko asked. As she looked closer, she saw that there was something about him that seemed plastic.

  “Not personally,” Bishop replied, then put his fingers inside the receptionist’s eyes.

  “What are you doing?” Reiko asked, perturbed that Bishop was digging inside the receptionist’s eye socket.

  Bishop pulled the eyeball out. Connected to the sclera was a viscous clump of electric wires and red-tinted oil. “He—he’s artificial?” she asked.

  Bishop nodded and connected a wire protruding from the sclera to his portical. “We need to see what he saw.” On his display screen, visuals appeared of the moments before the receptionist’s death. A masked woman with giant swords was thronged by an entourage of nineteen soldiers.

  The receptionist stated, “Welcome to the Tokko. You need the proper authorization to be present, and at the current time, I don’t see your identification. Could you please—”

  Functions ceased at the last image of Bloody Mary thrusting a blade into his forehead.

  “Not much help there,” Bishop said. He contacted Yasu again and asked, “Where are you?”

  But there was no answer.

  Bishop was wondering what steps to take next when eight strangers approached them, brandishing electric prods and katanas. They wore body armor that augmented their natural abilities, making them stronger and providing protection against regular bullets. To Bishop’s surprise, the porticals indicated they were members of the special forces group Sohei.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing coming in here?” one of the men snarled.

  “We’re conducting an investigation,” Reiko replied. “You are?”

  “We’re with Bloody Mary.”

  “Where is she at the moment?”

  “None of your goddamn business.”

  “You think you can come to our base and talk to us so disrespectfully?” Bishop snapped.

  “What if we do?”

  As answer, Reiko removed four pieces from her artificial arm that became aerial knife missiles and hovered next to her.

  “Did not know you had that,” Bishop said, then realized his reaction was reflected in the disconcerted expressions of the soldiers across from them.

  “I added these after Bloody Mary’s attack,” Reiko replied. “Custom Skaffens.”

  The goons raised their katanas and guns. Reiko directed the knife missiles at them. They were fast, deadly, and fired armor-piercing smart bullets. Three targets got shot in the leg, blowing out their knees. The bullets from the other guns disabled four, taking out chunks of their shoulders and arms. The last, and bulkiest, Reiko left for Bishop. But Bishop swore he recognized the man.

  “Where do I know you from?” he asked.

  “You don’t.”

  Bishop charged him, about to punch him. He instead got a kick to his face and fell back. Bishop returned to his feet and exchanged blows with the thug. Reiko lifted one of the injured, pointed a knife missile at his thigh, and asked, “How important is walking to you?” as she began interrogating him.

  Someone once said you got to know who a person really was if you fought them. But in Bishop’s experience, that meant everyone was more or less the same: desperate, dumb, and eager to survive. They bled the same, spat the same, cried the same, even pissed their pants the same. More experienced fighters could last longer, but there was always someone bigger and better to get the best of them. Contrary to films and games, there was nothing ennobling about combat. Even the most skilled warriors made mistakes. One punch landing in the wrong spot could shatter their knuckles, ending the match. His adversary had training, and Bishop anticipated his uppercut, blocking it and landing his palm on his face. His opponent had a good mix of strength and agility. Just as they were about to exchange fists again, Bishop remembered where he’d seen him.

  “You’re Albert Yokoyama, the Sohei agent Bloody Mary captured,” Bishop said, sure the facial features matched the man who’d appeared bloody and beaten on the video. Except he had none of the bruising Bishop had seen earlier.

  Yokoyama charged fiercely but dropped to the floor, legs busted open by Reiko’s knife missile.

  “I was about to take him,” Bishop protested.

  “You were taking too long,” she replied. “Don’t pout.” Reiko pointed four missile knives at Yokoyama and ordered, “Start explaining why the Sohei are working for Bloody Mary.”

  “Because she speaks the truth no one else dares.”

  “That’s why you put on that show for the porticals?”

  “I’d do anything to protect the country.”

  “Where’s Bloody Mary now?” Bishop asked.

  Yokoyama remained silent.

  “According to him,” Reiko said, pointing to the soldier she’d questioned, “Bloody Mary is somewhere called the Portopia Kikkai Cathedral.”

  “That’s one of the four main stages in the Unity.” Bishop checked his portical. “It should be on the eighteenth floor.”

  “What do you want to do with Yokoyama?”

  Bishop punched him hard in the face, knocking him out cold.

  They took the elevator up to the eighteenth floor.

  “There’s something very unusual going on here,” Bishop said. “No matter how good Bloody Mary is, there’s no way she could know how to access a Tokko station with so much ease.”

  “You forgot all the dead people in the lobby?”

  “There’s security codes and fail-safes designed to prevent infiltration, even by special forces,” Bishop replied. “Someone had to have betrayed us.”

  “Obviously she’s persuasive, since she convinced the Sohei to join her,” Reiko stated.

  “Did you learn anything else from that Sohei soldier you interrogated downstairs?”

  “Governor Yamaoka was the one who ordered them to assassinate Cossack. But Bloody Mary already had them on their side, and they eliminated those political targets as a favor to Marshal Lanser.”

  “The Marshal Lanser who’s second-in-command of the German Americas?”

  “It looks like he wants a revolution of his own.”

  Bishop felt like he was stepping into something way beyond his grasp. “This is getting too complicated for me,” he said.

  “We’ll get through it.”

  The elevator came to a stop, and they ran down two hallways that were filled with wall-sized posters of celebrities be
fore they reached the PKC. It was built like a church with an altar to the entertainment gods, display screens built into the walls similar to stained glass. There were bright lights, high ceilings, and a religious atmosphere about the multimedia cathedral.

  Nine bodies were strung upside down near the altar. They were lifeless Tokko agents. Bishop felt his blood chill. Their bodies almost didn’t look real. But the smell of death was unmistakable. Any one of them could have easily been him. Their names were the only thing that showed up on his portical, as rank, biography, and case records were classified. The tenth victim was alive, shivering, blood crusted on his face, a butterfly tattoo on his shoulder.

  It was Yasu.

  “What happened here?” Bishop asked him.

  “B-Bloody Mary killed the others after she got what sh-she—she w-wanted. But s-s-she left me alive to tell everyone a message,” Yasu said, trembling.

  “What’s that?”

  “The—the—the United States of J-J-Japan is dead,” he said as he shivered in fear. Bishop noticed Yasu had puncture marks over his arm and at least four teeth were missing. He’d never seen his forensics partner look so scared.

  “Did she say anything else?”

  Yasu choked up and stuttered, “S-s-she a-asked if—if I remembered my fi-first kill.”

  “Did you?”

  “Y-y-yes.”

  Reiko eyed Bishop. The two held Yasu so he didn’t fall headfirst to the ground, and Reiko directed her missile knife to cut the rope his feet were hanging from.

  “We—we tried, but we couldn’t stop her from s-s-sending that m-message,” Yasu stuttered.

  “Don’t think about that. Do you know if Akiko-san is safe?”

  “I—I haven’t s-seen her. She—she was supposed to—to come here. I don’t think s-she m-made it.”

  He’d have to check up on his boss later.

  “Where is Bloody Mary now?”

  “I—I think she w-went upstairs to the he-helipad.”

  Bishop looked at Reiko and said, “Let’s go.”