Portals of Infinity: Kaiju

by John Van Stry

  "And we'll be grateful, very grateful." I added.

  "I think, I think you should talk to my commander," the woman said.

  "Yes, I think we should too. Wonderful idea," Suzona snarked.

  "Now, now, Suzona. No need to twist the knife, she's helping and while I know you didn't get to kill that many people in the last sphere, no reason to bring those troubles here."

  I helped the woman to her feet. "What is your name by the way?"

  "Emiko."

  "Ah, well Emiko, please, show us the way."

  She led us out of the small building and there were a large number of armed men surrounding us, with their rifles being held at the ready and trained on us.

  "They're champions," Emiko said.

  "We heard," one of the men said.

  "Then you know that you can't stop us," Suzona said and smiled, "So why not put the guns away, and let's avoid any trouble."

  "There are ten of us, and we're all rather well armed."

  "Do you know what happens when you kill a champion?" I sighed.

  "They die."

  "And then they reincarnate, and they come back, and they kill you, and everything around you. It's really not pretty.

  I shifted then, the paper jumpsuit shredding as I assumed my champion form, "And if I have to come back here, when I am done with this place, there won't be a living thing within ten miles of this point. Understand?" I growled.

  Suzona smiled, "It's always the calm ones who are the most deadly you know."

  "Uhhh," the guard who had been doing all the talking said while looking at me in shock.

  "Put the guns up Captain," Emiko said, and I could see she was shaking now. "He's serious, and yes, champions do come back."

  "And people say I have a temper," Suzona laughed.

  I sighed, "Yes, I'm a bad man, I know it." I looked down at Emiko, "Your commander? Please? I promise not to start anything, and unless provoked I know Suzona won't do anything either."

  "Yes. Come," She said and we started following.

  "You might want to release the others," I said to the captain as we passed, "To prevent any other problems from occurring, Captain."

  "I will consider it," He said.

  We walked down another pathway, and came to a much larger building. In my champion form, I of course had much better night vision than as a human, which was more of a function of the feline body than any champion power.

  Looking around, I could see there were a number of what looked like turrets facing the platform we had sat on when we'd climbed out of the tunnel, and what looked like several more sniper platforms located in different places. We were also inside a very large tent.

  We weren't outside at all.

  "You've spent a lot of time on this set up," I said to Emiko. "Were they really causing you that much trouble?"

  "I'm not allowed to talk about that, the commander will discuss it."

  We came up to the door, and it slid open by itself, so I led the way in, followed by Emiko who was followed by Suzona. There was a large man in the room, he looked older and had a slight Asian cast to his features. His uniform was spotless and well pressed. He had that air about him.

  "I am Commander Yuudai, am I correct in understanding that you are not residents of the world you traveled here from?"

  I shook my head, "No, Commander. I am from a world where the people look like me," I motioned with a hand to my champion form. "My name is Will."

  "And you?" He motioned to Suzona.

  "I'm from a different world," She said.

  "So, why then are you working together?"

  "Favors, debts, alliances, matters of honor," Suzona replied. "Most of our group are from William's world."

  "And you are all champions?" Commander Yuudai seemed surprised at that.

  "Yes, we are," I replied.

  "I have heard it is rare to see three champions together, and you are nine. You must understand that there will be much concern over this."

  "Well then let us sit down and talk, to ease those concerns," I sighed. "I understand your position, Commander Yuudai. You just had a powerful force of people, each backed with the power of a god, dropped into your lap.

  "However, you must understand my position. We have been tasked with an urgent assignment to find and retrieve a particular item, as quickly as we can. We have no other desires, no other concerns. We just want to get one, if you have it, or continue on our way to the place that does.

  "If you could bring Evean here, she would probably be much better at telling you exactly what it is we are looking for, than I am."

  "Emiko, go find this Evean and bring her here, please." Commander Yuudai ordered.

  "Yes, Sir!" and she turned and left.

  "So, why all of this?" Suzona waved her hand around her, "Have the people from the sphere on the other side of that portal been such a problem?"

  Commander Yuudai nodded, then gestured to a group of seats around a table, "Please, have a seat," he said and walked to the head of the table and sat down.

  I took the seat on his right; Suzona interestingly took the seat on my right, rather than on his left.

  "Many years ago, the people on that world, which we call the 'War World,' experienced a rather large war, one that covered the entire globe if we understand it correctly. We had only just discovered the portals ourselves about sixty years ago, and had set about mapping those in our lands. After the war had ended in the other world, it was suggested by many that we help those poor unfortunates that had lost their war."

  "I'm rather surprised that they haven't rebuilt," I said.

  "Yes, well. It has to do with their philosophy. You see, they do not believe that they can lose; they simply believe they are being punished for not trying hard enough. Their leader is a religious idol to them, and early during the war he died and was replaced by his son, who was only a young child.

  "Having a young child's view of things, and being steered by men who had their own fates at heart, rather than the fates of their people, he threw a large tantrum when the war was lost and commanded his people and his generals to win at all costs.

  "That he was all of seven years old at the time did not lessen his orders at all apparently."

  "Power in the hands of a child is never a good thing," Suzona said shaking her head.

  "We did not know of this at first, we discovered it later. Almost too late, sadly. We engaged in trade with them, and even let some of their people come here to study and learn. We had hoped to teach them ways to be more successful and efficient. To rebuild their cities better, produce more food, and other goods to keep their people from want.

  "After all, happy people with full bellies do not make war, no?"

  "No," we both agreed.

  "But it turns out that what they were really looking for was a way to build a weapon of mass destruction. Some of the laws of physics are different there, so some of the weapons we have here, will not work there, but one of them was a geologist, and apparently he came up with the idea of the towers."

  Evean was escorted in at that point, and I held up my hand and waved to her, she saw I was in my champion form, and I saw her expression relax slightly.

  "Evean, Commander Yuudai was just explaining to us what the purpose of the towers is back there. Please, have a seat and join us."

  Evean nodded and took the seat on Commander Yuudai's left, across from me.

  "Continue, please," She said.

  "They're earthquake machines. Once they have all reached the calculated height, a large slug made out of lead, with a tungsten tip, will be dropped from the top of the tower, with a rocket to push it up to speed.

  "As it passes into the ground, a large shaped charge will be detonated behind it, to help accelerated it to transonic speeds."

  "Won't the air in the tunnel in front of it, slow it down?" Evean asked.

  "The design of the slug has two air channels, shaped like venturi tubes to act as ramjets, and coal dust will be dumpe
d into the shaft prior to firing to act as fuel. They will automatically fire once the proper combustion pressure is reached. The effect will be almost as if the pressurized air is pulling the slug down the tube, until it impacts with enough force to send a huge seismic wave down into the crust to hit the fault line the tower is centered over."

  "And what will that do?"

  "Seven of them firing at the same time will cause a seismic event of such scale that it will be felt for thousands of miles, and a tsunami of such a great height will be generated, that every port, every naval base, every coastal city, that borders their ocean will be wiped clean from the surface of the earth."

  "That's insane!" I said, "They'll destroy themselves in the process!"

  Commander Yuudai shrugged, "Probably. But their emperor does not care. Plus he lives up in the mountains a good distance from all of the towers. Chances are that he and those living around him will probably survive."

  "Sad, very sad," Evean said taking over the conversation, "but it has nothing to do with us, and is not why we are here. Now, what we are looking for is a device called the Okishijen Desootoria. The monster we are fighting comes from what many call the 'underworld' or the 'negative plane'. It is such that normal weapons and attacks do little to no harm to it.

  "About forty-five years ago, a man from the world that was once my home, came here, or perhaps a world further along, learned of both the monster and the device, and came back to tell stories of it."

  "So you're basing your search on a story told over four decades ago?" Commander Yuudai said, rather skeptically.

  "He made a movie; he recreated the look and sounds of the monster almost perfectly. Which considering what he had to work with was an impressive feat. So we know that someone, somewhere, faced this same monster, but they had the technology to destroy it."

  "How do you know it will work for you?"

  "Because our gods told us it would."

  Commander Yuudai looked taken aback by that statement.

  "Your gods?" He asked.

  Evean and I both nodded.

  "Then why can't they tell you were to find it?" He asked looking confused.

  "Will?" Evean looked at me.

  "Commander," I said, "Just as we are all constrained by rules in our lives, some of which are made by our leaders, others which are made by the laws of physics of the world we live in, gods are also constrained. If they were not, they would wreak havoc across the many worlds of what they call 'the Infinite' in their struggles for power and followers.

  "So there are things that they know, but which they cannot tell, to us, their champions and their followers. But in many cases they can tell us when we are right."

  "So, they know that this weapon will work, but they can not tell you where it is?" He asked.

  "Correct, we must find it for ourselves."

  Commander Yuudai nodded slowly. "Well, I can tell you that we have no monsters like that here, ourselves. Also, I am not sure we even know about these portals to the negative plane. I will be sure to alert our researchers to those immediately.

  "However, we have had a lot of people explore our portals, and after we started to suspect what the people on the War World were up to, we started to track the names of those coming through our portals, especially that one. So if you can tell me his name, maybe we can help."

  "That would be a great help, Commander Yuudai," Evean said. "His name was Eiji Tsuburaya, and if we could talk to whoever records the stories of those who have examined the portals as well, that would be a great service too."

  Commander Yuudai nodded again, "I will talk to my superiors immediately. I think they will understand that having nine unhappy champions in our country is probably not a good idea. But I must ask ...."

  "Yes?" Evean prompted.

  "What is in it for us?" He asked rather bluntly.

  "Have you ever been owed a favor by a god, Commander?" Evean said and smiled.

  "No, but I can sure understand my bosses wanting to be," he said and then smiled. "I'll see to it that your things are returned and that you are all given the freedom to come and go as you wish."

  "Thank you, Commander Yuudai," Evean said and standing up bowed to him. Suzona and I stood up and bowed to him as well.

  "Emiko, if you could show them to their things and the others, and make sure everyone understands that they are honored guests and to be treated accordingly?"

  "Yes, Commander," Emiko replied from where she was standing by the door.

  Commander Yuudai stood up, "If you will excuse me, I have some calls I must make."

  "So, just why are you in your champion form, William?" Evean asked in a voice that could only be best described as 'frigid'.

  "My fault," Suzona said.

  "Oh, really now?" Evean said looking at Suzona.

  "Yes, I lost my temper and started to go off on poor Emiko here, and well, we were making progress, but someone thought they could trump us and William ...." Suzona shrugged.

  "Put them in their places," Evean sighed.

  "Well, he does it so well," Suzona giggled, surprising the hell out of me, I didn't know Suzona could giggle up to that moment. "He's done it to me before."

  "Yeah, me too," Evean giggled back.

  I sighed and tried not to face-palm.

  "I like the way his fur stands up, you just know he's thinking of shredding you into tiny little pieces of bloody flesh!" Suzona laughed and Evean joined her.

  "If you're all champions, why are they afraid of you?" Emiko asked me.

  "Oh, they're just teasing," I sighed. "I'm really a very nice, reasonable, forgiving kind of guy."

  They both laughed even harder then.

  "You know that threat that he made?" Suzona said to Emiko.

  "Yes?" she said sounding a little unsure of herself.

  "He would have done it, he's done worse."

  Emiko looked up at me and moved a little further away as we walked.

  "So now what?" I sighed shaking my head.

  "Get everyone together, gather up our things, see about some food and a place to relax while we wait to see what Yuudai's people turn up." Evean said.

  "By the way, Will, are you planning on staying in your champion form?"

  "Seeing as I completely shredded this suit, I thought I'd wait until I got my clothes back," I grinned.

  "I think you should stay like that for now."

  "Really?" I said looking at Evean.

  "It's a constant reminder of just who they're dealing with."

  "What about everyone else?" Suzona asked.

  "Let's not overwhelm them," Evean warned. "The last thing we want to do is to scare them too much. We want their cooperation after all."

  Emiko led us to a second building that was up against the side of the tent-like structure that covered the area.

  "Why the tent?" I asked her as we went inside.

  "To keep it dark inside. It's hard to blind people with the lighting otherwise. Also it hides the snipers we have stationed around the perimeter."

  I nodded, "I noticed them, and the turrets you have aimed at the platform. What's up with the chamber the portal opens onto?"

  "Oh, there's a ten thousand gallon water tank on top of it. If things get out of control, they just flood the room and drown everyone inside."

  "Nice trick," Evean said, and nodded to the rest of the group, who all had their clothes back on. I went and found my things, took off the remains of the paper jumpsuit and put on my shorts, then repacked my backpack. Interestingly they had put my carbine with it. I strapped that to the pack as well.

  "Would you like some breakfast?" Emiko asked?

  "Most definitely!" Joseph called out.

  "Then follow me to the mess hall."

  We didn't meet with Yuudai again for the rest of that day, though he did ask for clarification on the spelling of Eiji's name. He said he'd hoped to have something tomorrow.

  They had put us in a small barracks room that had ten beds in it; we s
hared the showers and other facilities with the rest of the men and women in the building. For the most part, they got along with us okay, though I got a lot of looks.

  "Well, I must say, they're being rather nice to us," Gregory said, stretching out on his bed.

  "If they're nice to us, they don't have to worry about us wandering around," Loomis said.

  "And the quicker they find where we're going, the quicker they get us out of their fur," Teshes agreed.

  "I just can't believe those people back at that tower are so freaking insane," Joseph said. "When that thing goes off, they're all gonna die. There are enough explosives in that building to level everything within miles! If the pressure wave doesn't kill everything in the tunnels, the collapse of the tunnels will."

  "Not our problem," I sighed.

  "I just hope they can tell us where that guy went," Shin said. "I really like Saladin, and I really like working for Tonoponah,"

  "Where is your home, anyway?" Loomis asked. "I've never heard of Tonoponah before.

  "Tonoponah is my goddess, the kingdom is called 'Right Isles', I guess because they were the right ones, or something. We're five large islands, and eight smaller ones, out in the ocean. An ocean-going monster would destroy our way of life. That's why I'm here, you?"

  "Bronsard is right next to the Barassa; my god Quzelatin's main temple is there. Many of those slaughtered outside the city were troops from my country. I was there with Evean when the monster rose out of the pit."

  "Were you killed when Evean was?" I asked.

  "No, I was with the reserves when it happened. We had been preparing for an assault, but when the monster came, I called it off. It was already doing more damage to Barassa than we ever could."

  "What about you, Will?" Shin asked.

  "William had no part in the attack on Barassa," Loomis said. "His people weren't interested."

  I looked over at where Loomis was lying down, and frowned. "It's not that we weren't interested. We were still recovering from the last war with Barassa. The one that cut their army down to the point where the rest of you could go after it. My people spent two years in open war with Barassa, and many more years of dealing with their agents."