“It's my turn before you take your next shot anyway,” Akio smiled.
“Fine. Let's see you do better.”
Akio putted it straight into the monster's mouth. The monster then spit it down the green towards the hole.
“Well, aren't you just better?” Zara teased.
“In this case, yes,” Akio said.
“Break it up, kids,” Kato said.
Akio smiled. Then he looked serious. “I can't come with you to New Jersey,” he said. “Or at least not into any town that’s too dodgy. If I was caught on the wrong side of the tracks, it wouldn’t look good for my father.”
“Understood,” Zara said. “I used to walk on the wild side a bit in my previous life. Hopefully I can negotiate it again.”
On the evening of the following day, the two people that had been Kato and Zara walked through the parkland in the Manhattan Pyramid, heading towards Pyramid 1. “I feel like I turned into one of the fat kids at school,” Zara said. “Or a bloated corpse!”
Kato chucked. “I look like Frankenstein. Or at least a biracial version of him, without the scars. Yet, not so odd that I stand out. The disguises work well. But then they should, for fifty thousand each. Maybe a corpse and Frankenstein is overstating it. The main thing is, nobody’s even taken a second glance at us since we put them on.”
Zara nodded. “I still feel dirty just having been to Newark, the slums and the dirty, downtrodden mess of it all. I didn’t like how sterile this place was before, but I do now.”
On entering the cloud-strewn hotel lobby, the first person they saw was Akio, sitting off to the right. He was staring off into space, looking bored. Zara watched his reaction. Kato was about to greet Akio, but Zara touched his arm to stop him. “Shhh!”
Akio gazed over at them, paying no real attention. Then, the light bulb seemed to switch on, and he grinned. “Got your disguises, I see,” he said.
“Yep!” Zara said. “What do you think?”
“Very cool!” Akio said. “Didn't recognize you, which I suppose is the point of the exercise. How was your trip to Newark?”
“Unnerving.”
“Not surprised. There are burned out cities like that all over the place.” Zara nodded. Her long hair still flowed over her shoulders, the way it always had.
“Um, I wanted to ask you something,” Akio said.
Now he had Zara's attention. “Okay…”
“I was wondering... if you'd like to come to Tokyo with me. For a sightseeing trip,” he added hurriedly.
Zara raised her eyebrows, and paused for a few seconds. “Oh... well, I'll have to think about that, I guess. That's a long way.”
“Not for someone who’s been to a star and back!”
“True. Actually, my Dad and I have an important mission, before I even think about going there.”
“Oh. What is it?”
“Going back to our home in North Carolina. That was my main reason for wanting to come back to Earth so quickly in the first place.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “Makes sense. One thing I was thinking that you might like though, is a huge outdoor rave festival in Tokyo. It takes place every year. It's called Movement. It's taking place next Saturday.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. All the most famous DJs will be there. There's a gigantic amphitheater called Japanboura, with room for a million people. It's in Itabashi, to the north of downtown. It's gonna be frickin' awesome!”
Zara became very animated. “Hell, yeah! I'll be there! Just have to take care of business in the US first.”
“Alright! Can't wait!”
Chapter 12
“I really want to go to NC tomorrow dad,” Zara said over dinner.
“Me too,” Kato said. “It's time. We've landed and had a chance to breathe.”
Kato turned to Akio. “How do we get around? I mean, distances further than around New York?”
“Same as the 21st century,” Akio shrugged. “Airplane or spaceplane. There is also another option; long-distance vee-tol. Regular vee-tols only have a range of around two hundred kilometers. Long-distance ones are hybrids of jet and electric, with ranges of around twenty-five hundred kilometers.”
“Gotcha,” Kato said.
“There aren't many scheduled services on them,” Kato said, “other than to places where you have to land vertically, like offshore destinations. You can charter them to wherever you want, though.”
Kato nodded, taking in the information. “Thanks.”
After dinner, they sat on a bench at the bottom of Pyramid 1. Zara studied the granite-smooth walls above with their hair-thin, horizontal lines of light. Kato attempted to book an airplane flight to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. He turned to Zara. “This is weird,” he said. “I can't find any flights.”
Zara frowned, and thought for a minute. “Are there travel agents who can help us out?”
Kato consulted Buzz. A few seconds later, he said: “Yes, actually. We'll have to go to level 92, back out in the Manhattan Pyramid.”
“Hmph,” Zara said. “Oh well. Let's go. Why does this place have to be so darn huge? It's a pain in the ass to get anywhere.”
Having taken three elevators to get there, they arrived at the travel agency. On entering, they were greeted by a blonde woman wearing a blue skirt suit. “Welcome. I'm Marcia. How may I help you?”
They sat down at her desk. “We're trying to get to Durham, North Carolina,” Kato said. “I can't find any flights there.”
Marcia frowned. “There isn't an airport there.”
Kato looked perplexed. “Yes there is. Why do you say that?”
“Because there isn't,” she replied crossly. Zara watched the exchange intently. “There's hardly even a city.”
“What?”
“There hasn't been for over a hundred years,” Marcia said. “You know, the war...?”
Kato and Zara looked at one another in disbelief. “Oh, yes, of course,” Kato said. “The war. So, how would we get to what is left there?”
“Fly to Charlotte and then charter a vee-tol,” she said.
Kato nodded slowly. “We want to go tomorrow.”
“Okay. I'll arrange both flight and charter. What are your names please?”
“Kato and Zara Sasake-Robbins.”
Marcia looked up, wide-eyed. She studied their faces intently, trying to make out lines, features, details. “Surely not?” she said.
Kato nodded, and sighed. “Yes, we're the Sleepers. Keep quiet about it.”
“Oh. You may want to think about changing your names then.”
Zara sighed. “I have been thinking about it. I quite like my name, though.”
Marcia stared off into space for a few seconds. “There, you're all set,” she said. “Eight forty-five out of JFK. That’ll be twelve thousand orbs altogether. Just touch your ring to this pad.”
“Okay.”
As the elevator glided back down the side of the Manhattan Pyramid, Zara said: “I can't believe Durham doesn't exist anymore!”
“Me neither. We'll just have to go and see what's there.”
A teary-eyed Zara sat in the half-empty terminal at JFK, having just arrived on a high-speed flight back from Charlotte. They were supposed to have taken the train back to Manhattan, but she just gazed, unseeing, out at the runway. Oh God, why did she ever go to the remains of Durham? A sharp red blade tore through her inner being. Turnbury Estate, their old home: gone. The city: devastated. But why, why had Dad insisted they fly over the exact intersection where Mom had met her death? Her heart was a pit of black with no bottom. She had been too young to understand why Mommy was never coming back. Zara kneeled on the floor beside a row of red plastic chairs and wailed. The dam had burst. Sobs echoed from the soulless white walls. Passersby shied away. Kato stood by the opposite wall looking like a schoolboy who had accidentally started a fire. Why, oh why, couldn’t she have just left her memories of her earlier life intact? Her friends Anna-Nicole and Mikayla’
s faces, as they played with the animals behind the huge house. Tigers as tame as pussycats. Cruising as teens. Hanging downtown, wishing Durham was a real city, like faraway Charlotte. High school, parties, talk of boys and moving to New York. Even their school was now gone. If she could just erase what she’d seen that day from her mind… Zara moved down to the floor and put her head between her knees as she cried. Kato looked around and fidgeted.
Eventually Zara, now exhausted, got up and sat back down on the red plastic chair. Kato brought reams of toilet paper. She dried her eyes and blew her nose.
“Maybe we weren’t ready to go back there…” Kato said gently, sitting down beside her.
“YA THINK?”
Kato looked distraught.
“I’m sorry, Dad. It’s just that… I wanted to go back to my roots and know who I was, but I haven’t a clue now! I’m even more confused than I was before. Everyone and everything’s gone. It was too soon…”
“I love you.” Kato put an arm around Zara’s shoulder. Her chest heaved as she drew ragged breaths. She blew her nose again. They sat in silence for a few minutes. People resumed walking by. The security guards that had hovered some distance away walked off.
“Ready?” Kato said.
“Yeah.” They got up and began making their way to the platform. While they waited for the next train into the city, Zara said: “Buzz: call Akio.” A few seconds passed.
“Hey! Are you back?”
“On the way. Listen. Meet me at the Statue of Liberty tonight at 6 PM.”
“Okay, sure. See you then.”
Chapter 13
The station at the Statue was a large tube, decorated with retro black and white tiles, as homage to the historic stations of the old subway system. Zara took an escalator from the station, which was deep beneath the harbor, up to a thoroughly modern, glass, concourse built on a manmade island next to the statue. It also had a vee-tol landing area. There was a bridge that connected it to Liberty Island. She crossed over on a moving walkway. A hugely smiling Akio, wearing a red zip-up hoodie greeted her at the end of the bridge, where metal gave way to concrete. “Hey!”
“Hi!” Zara hugged him tightly. She didn’t let go. The two embraced long and silently. Zara’s eyes were still red from crying.
“I’m guessing today was… upsetting?” Akio said.
“Yeah.”
“Shall we get a bite to eat?”
“Sure.”
They made their way from the east side of the small, tourist-filled island, to the new cafeteria, located at the south end. Lady Liberty, on her huge pedestal, held her steady gaze out to sea.
“Do you think her arm ever gets tired?” Zara asked, desperate to lighten her mood.
Akio smiled. “Maybe she rests it at night.”
Once at the cafeteria, Zara ordered chicken and dumplings and Akio ordered a salad. They sat at a somewhat uncomfortable booth. The table top was cheap Formica.
“Good old American food, at an American icon,” Zara shrugged, with a half-smile.
Akio nodded. They ate in silence for a minute.
“So, about that rave…” Zara said.
Akio’s face lit up. “You’re coming to Tokyo?”
“Yes. Yes, I am. How about tomorrow?”
Akio was floored. “Um… uh… won’t your old man mind?”
Zara shrugged. “He’s just that. My old man. I’m technically a fifty-five year old woman. I don’t have to ask for permission to pick my nose… or steal a huge spaceship, for that matter.”
“Okay… great! I’ll book us flights. Right now!” Zara watched Akio’s face. He spaced out for perhaps twenty seconds. His eyes darted this way and that. Then, he looked back at Zara. “Okay. Spaceplane, tomorrow, JFK, 11.30 AM.”
“Cool,” she said. “How do those damn implants work, anyway?”
“They’re like a version of Buzz, except you talk by thought. It’s tens of times faster than speaking. They’re hooked into all my senses so I can send things I’m seeing or hearing, etcetera, or experience things that other people send me. Some of those functions are optional extras, but I got them all.”
“Right.” Zara sighed.
“Chewy sad?” Akio said.
“What?”
“Chewbacca.”
Then, comprehension dawned on her face. “Holy crap! I saw that movie once!”
“You did?” Akio said.
“Yeah! You’re my brother from another mother!” The pair laughed. Zara pushed her half-finished meal aside. “Aaargh!” Zara grabbed her head with both hands. Her pupils contracted. “Oh God…”
“What? What’s wrong?”
Her face was screwed up, her teeth gritted.
“Uh… I’ll call for medics! Hold on!” Akio’s eyes went unfocused as his neural implants kicked in. By this time, other diners were looking over, concerned.
Zara’s face was red. Then, her eyes focused on Akio, who was now sitting beside her in the booth, holding her. Zara released her head. Her eyes were moist. “It’s… gone away…”
“What? What was it?”
“Um… I don’t know. This weird feeling in my brain. I don’t understand…”
“Doctors are on their way. Just hang on.”
“No, I’m okay. Seriously. I don’t want doctors.”
“But… they have to check you.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t want doctors! No-one can know who I am!” Akio backed up a few inches, leaning away from Zara, evidently taken back by her ferocity. “Call them back, or whatever it is you do, and tell them not to come. Seriously, I’m fine. I just need some fresh air.”
“But…”
“Do it,” Zara said, angrily.
“Uh… okay.” Akio spaced out again for a few seconds. “There. Done.”
“Let’s get out of here. Back up and let me out.” Akio slid out of the booth. Zara got up and led the way out of the café. All eyes in the place followed her. Akio looked around nervously and then hurried to catch up with her. Outside, dusk was falling. They walked around the west side of the island this time, behind the statue’s back. As they rounded her pedestal, New York came back into view. The mountain-sized Pyramids were lit up in a deep mauve color. They paused and watched. Slowly, the colors of all five Pyramids morphed into green. Powerful lasers shone straight up from the top of each one.
“Wow,” Zara said, her face brightening. "The view from here's changed quite a bit."
Akio looked at her. “But… what just happened… aren’t you worried?”
“Worried? No. I’m fine. It’s just… stuff.” She sighed.
Zara and Akio arrived back at the hotel around 9 PM. Zara had remained quiet during the entire trip back under New York harbor. She Buzzed Kato on the way back up Pyramid 1, and he met them in the lobby. Akio made himself scarce. Kato and Zara sat down in leather armchairs at the edge of the lobby. The artificial clouds billowed behind them.
“I'm going to Tokyo with Akio tomorrow,” Zara said.
“Oh.” Kato's face was downcast. “How long for?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a few weeks. Who knows?”
“Oh.” He sighed. “Well, I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too,” Zara said. She turned and hugged Kato, as best she could with the arms of both their chairs in the way.
“I love you,” Kato said.
“I love you too.”
“Stay safe.”
Akio and Zara fastened their seatbelts. The sleek suborbital spaceplane began to push back from the terminal. It was about the length of a medium-sized airliner, but with a narrower and much more streamlined fuselage. The nose tapered out to a fine point, like a dart. Short wings began their graceful sweep about halfway back, curved outward, and then ended abruptly at the rear, where the fuselage tailed off in a slender cone. Twin, short rear stabilizers jutted out from the top, angled away from each other. The interior closely resembled that of an airliner. Zara sat back, smiled, and closed her eyes. She
was sitting to Akio's left, next to the window. Akio took a swig from a half-liter bottle of water, and then stowed it again in a small compartment in the generously-sized armrest to his right. Businesspeople and tourists alike sat quietly. Conversation, such as it was, was quiet. The craft's jet engines, which would propel it for the atmospheric portion of its flight, whined as it rolled forward slowly and taxied to the runway.
“Welcome to AsiaTran flight forty to Tokyo,” the pilot's voice said through the cabin’s loudspeakers. “Our flight time today is one hour and forty-three minutes. Our maximum altitude will be two hundred and twenty-two kilometers, with a weightless period of fifty-nine minutes. The local time in Tokyo is currently 1.35 AM, and on arrival it will be 3.18 AM. Our route today is prograde. I'll make another announcement when we're on final approach to Narita Air and Space Port. Until then, please relax and enjoy the flight.”
Zara turned to Akio. “The jetlag's gonna be a bitch, going that distance so fast,” she half-whispered.
Akio nodded and smiled. “Spacelag, but yes, you’re right.”
Zara hadn't slept well the previous night. She looked around the cabin once more, studying the faces. I’m a 300-year-old woman, and nobody knows it. Ha!
Chapter 14
The runway lights of Narita Air and Space Port came up to meet them.
“Are you worried?” Akio asked.
Zara sighed. “Yes. I only went to Japan a couple of times, when I was a kid. I probably wouldn't even recognize it now, and I haven’t a clue about how life is there.”
“Are you worried about being with me?”
Zara's brow furrowed slightly. “It's just that I don't know you that well, yet.”
“I understand,” Akio said. Zara's right arm was on the armrest between them, and Akio touched her hand in a gesture of reassurance. The girl smiled slightly. As the craft touched down and braked, Zara looked to her right. The lights of Tokyo blazed extravagantly in the distance. They disembarked, and found that Narita was still pretty busy even in the dead of night.
Kato's War: Book Two of the Kato's War series Page 7
