Echo of Tomorrow: Book One (Drake chronicles)

by Rob Buckman

  "After this War, we will have the weapon,” he smiled, but there was humor in it, “who then will tell us what to do?” The old lady nodded in agreement. "Also, by that time, we will have found another place to live.” Why he said it, he did not know, only that it was the right thing to say, and it was the truth.

  Early the next morning the shuttles and his personal transport settled down in the field next to the building and everybody help load the data crystals as they came up from the underground storage vault. Scott was amazed at the extent of the passageway and workshops down there and how carefully the Aikidoist, for that was who they were, had transcribed the data from one medium to another as the technology improved. It was all here, and just a quick sampling showed that the data had been taken from a wide variety of sources. Universities, Corporate computers, research labs, libraries, publishing companies, and surprise of surprises, the CIA, KGB, and MI5. There was a staggering amount of material on these wafers, all pure gold for his people back in New Zealand to look through. That evening, after the second group of shuttles departed, he sat watching the sunset and thinking of the future. The old lady came and sat down beside him, silent and still, and together they watched the sun slowly vanish in the Western sky.

  "Tell me what happened here in Japan.” He said at last.

  "According to the records, after you were buried the world went into panic mode, destroying and disposing of weapons as fast as they could. You scared them badly, and for a while, it was a good thing. I have read all the records and histories and thought that what you did was the best thing for mankind and that we would fight no more forever.”

  “I could see a World emerging, free of the curse of War and that the four horsemen would never ride across the land again. Then I saw the changes and wondered if the old way was better." Scott looked at her, puzzled.

  "Just how old are you?"

  "Not as old as you.” She said with a smile. "I was born one hundred years after you died, and with longevity treatments I should live a while longer, but I am intimately familiar with your time period."

  "You are over one hundred and eighty years old?"

  "Yes, more or less, it's difficult to remember sometimes," she patted the back of his hand, "yet I feel that you will live longer than that, much longer."

  "I've already got you beat by a hundred odd years old women.” He said with a smile.

  "Are, but you cheated, you went to sleep for almost three hundred years." She chuckled.

  "You have a point there, but what happened?"

  "The World Council voted to take it a step further, to ensure that we would have no war in the future, they started to rewrite history, little changes at first, to teach the children they said. Then information started vanishing from archives and computers, certain books were first banned, then destroyed, and the race was on.” She stopped for a moment to rearrange her robe.

  "We here in Japan were worried, having climbed up out of the ashes of World War II to become an industrial and financial giant, we saw all that threatened and refusing to permit the World Council to tamper with our databases and archives. Their answer was to gradually isolate us, cutting us off from the rest of the World until we complied, and so it started.” She shook her head sadly as she remembered.

  "My grandfather was the director of the Tokyo Research Institute and when he realized what was happening, he began to strip the World data banks of all information. By that time, many that had been closed to the public for years were open as by-product of your War.”

  “How come?” Scott asked.

  “You could say that they wanted people to know just how many secrets the government had kept from them, and of the terrible weapons that were being designed in secret facilities. That was what my father gathered, and I can only thank fate that he started when he did, because before long they isolated us completely. The Government in Tokyo refused to capitulate, and I suppose in a way decided to commit racial suicide."

  "Was there a plague."

  "Yes, there was.” She said, nodding her head. "When the system collapsed and shortages occurred. There was a plague, and some of my associates still think it was planted here by the World Government, the last act of War you could say."

  "Some bug out of a lab?"

  "Possibly, but I doubt that we shall ever know.” She shrugged.

  “Anyway, they isolated us for one hundred years, and ninety percent of the population died. We called for help, begged, pleaded, but they never came."

  "Damn!” Scott whispered, shaking his head.

  "What is it young one?" She asked, sensing his pain.

  "That night, the night I went over the border into Iraq. I thought I was avenging the death of my wife and sons, and all the others that died in the nuclear blast in LA, New York, Kansas City and Washington. I never imagined that it would turn out like this."

  “How did you think it would turn out?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “You must have had some thought of what your act would bring.”

  "After I disobeyed orders from the President and did it anyway, I expected, if I lived, that I would be court marshaled and executed, and that would be the end of it. Now I find I am responsible for the death of more people!" He shook his head.

  "Your Karma is great and your circle of existence will be long.” The old Lady murmured.

  "No good deed goes unpunished, right!” Scott said with a smile. She nodded in agreement, a slight smile crossing her lemon yellow face.

  "So how did you manage to get out of here before they isolated Japan?"

  "I was studying in that was the United States at the time and my father thought it best if I stayed and working on gathering information thought the net, then it was too late to come back.”

  “And now?”

  “Oh, we managed to survive and finally climbed out of the dark times. We have an Emperor again, a good one this time.”

  “In what way?”

  “This Emperor is strong, and unlike the old ones keeps the power to himself and uses it wisely.”

  “I’m not sure that’s good or bad.”

  “Good, I taught him well.” She said with a smile.

  “You… Your son. I see.” And he did.

  “He is no feudal Emperor. He formed a government and organized the districts into functioning entities that are self-sustaining. Each has a governor who reports directly to him, and woe betide anyone who abuses his privileges. Beheading is the least he or she can expect.”

  “So you at least managed to get equality for woman here.”

  “Is there any other way?”

  “No. Any society that excludes females from fully participating in the running and development of that society is fighting with one hand tied behind their back and blindfolded.”

  “A very enlightened attitude considering the age we live in.”

  “I’m damned if I’ll turn the clock back to the fourteenth Century just for these nut balls.” He shook his head. “Just how the hell did Islam become the World religion, and take over?” It was something none of the history books they had given him explained.

  “The same way that Hitler and the Nazis took over Germany before the second world war.”

  “That makes sense. A little bit at the time, huh.”

  “Yes. The… what you would call, radical elements realized that blowing people up wasn’t getting them anywhere, especially in a changing world. As the military forces around the world vanished, they had less and less reason to complain about foreign aggression, so they got political. As the World government formed, they put young, intelligent fanatics into sensitive positions.”

  “Looking long term, right?”

  “Right. Gradually, these young men worked their way up through the ranks. If someone stood in the way of their advancement, that person had a fatal ‘accident’.”

  “Christ on a crutch! Didn’t anyone… No, scratch that. Of course they didn’t, the same as the German’s didn’t see Hi
tler coming until it was too late.”

  “And by the time anyone realized what was going on, it was far too late to stop it. Anyone that tried to sound a warning was summarily disposed of. After that, no one spoke up.”

  “And three hundred years later they are in the shit so deep only their eyeballs are showing above the surface.” The old lady burst out laughing, patting his hand, and nodding.

  “Oh I do so love twentieth century humor.” She said after she stopped laughing. They sat there in silence after that, meditating on the future and what it had in store for them.

  Scott had difficulty sleeping that night, tossing and turning as one possibility after another ran though his brain. They had the data, but could they manufacture the weapons they needed, and if they could, would they be powerful enough to defeat the aliens? It was a never-ending cycle with no definitive answer. As dawn streaked the Eastern sky, Scott got up and rolled up the bed before taking off for a hike, hoping it would help. With the sky lightening in the East, Scott climbed the hill behind the estate compound, finding himself on a cliff top overlooking the dark ocean. Below, pacific waves outlines the rocky shoreline in white foam as the waves pounded the base of the cliff. A light wind lifted the sound, muted by distance to a soft ‘boom’. A dim path ran along the cliff top, and he slowly walked along, deep in thought, and he hardly noticed the sun lifting over the horizon. A dark figure appeared in the distance, seemingly out of nowhere walking slowly towards him, but Scott thought little about it. Just another early morning wanderer. As he drew closer, the figure stopped and moved off the trail, as if to let him pass, and Scott nodded his thanks. The stranger was as tall as he was, which was unusual in this land, and dressed in some long overcoat with a hood and carried a long walking staff in one hand. As Scott approached, he inclined his head in a slight bow, which Scott returned. As he did, he felt the ground under his left foot move. He instinctively sprung to one side, but to his horror, he saw that the lip of the cliff was breaking away. In desperation, he threw himself to one side, hoping it was enough. It wasn’t, as the crack spread to take out a large section of the cliff top.

  “Oh shit!” He snarled, thinking of all the things left undone. Then, seemingly out of nowhere strong hands reached out and gripped his arm and pulled him to safety.

  “You should take more care my young friend.” A deep voice murmured in his ear in flawless English. “How else are you going to save this World.” It was an odd thing to say, but Scott didn’t think about it then. He was just thankful the stranger was there to save his ass. He sat on the hard ground, sweating, heart pounding hands shaking and thankful to be alive. He looked up, seeing a handsome white man of indeterminable age looking down at him. His eyes were the same color as Scott’s, and he was definitely a Gaijin.

  “Thank you!” He panted, taking a careful look over the edge of the cliff.

  “You are welcome.” The stranger called as he walked away. “Take care.” Scott moved back from the edge, just in case and stood up, but to his surprise, the stranger was gone. He’d vanished as suddenly as he’d appeared.

  “That’s odd.” Scott did a 360 but other than a few bushes and some short trees in the distance, the man was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, Scott walked quickly back to the estate, thanking fate and the stranger for being there when he needed him. He asked Hira Yamaguchi if she knew of a strange Gaikokujin or Gaijin here bout.

  “No, sorry I don’t, and I would know if there were. Are you sure it wasn’t one of your own people?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Whoever it was, you can thank the lady of fortune he was there when you needed him.” She smiled, but Scott got the impression she had some secret knowledge she wasn’t sharing.

  Later that day, the old woman invited Scott to a pavilion where a startlingly beautiful young woman in a red and gold kimono performed the traditional tea ceremony. Every movement was pure poetry in motion and flawlessly executed. Scott bowed and accepted the tiny bowl, sipping the fragrant brew.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the distinct impression that there is a lot more going on over on the mainland than meets the eye.”

  “You are correct, General Drake. There is a lot more going on, all underneath and out of sight.”

  “How so?”

  “You must look to the Supreme Ayatollah for many of those answers. It is he, and his predecessors who are the architects of this world we live in.” Hera Yamaguchi looked into her tea bowl for a moment. It is the present Ayatollah that runs this world through his acolytes.”

  “So, President Westwood is his errand boy?”

  “No, as far as we can tell, he is very much as you see him. The Ayatollah does not exercise direct control of the President, he’s controlled through the Council who take their orders from the Ayatollah acolytes. Layer upon layer of secret agents and spies, so he can remain aloof from the day to day running of the planet, and rightfully claim he had no hand in any earthly matters.”

  “Not a very pretty picture you’re painting.”

  “No, it’s not. His coffers are filled to overflowing with the ill gotten gains from many different enterprises.”

  “Such as?”

  “The breeding and sale of young boys and girl for one, drugs of many sorts another, and gambling and alcohol another.” At that point Scott had to stand and stride back and forth to burn off some of his anger.

  “What sort of Islamic paradise is this where this shit goes on!” Hera Yamaguchi shrugged.

  “Is it much different from what went on in your own time?” She asked softly. That stopped him. She was right. All the things she spoke of did happen in the twenty first century. The only difference was, they weren’t under the control of one man.

  “How on earth is he getting away with it. Someone must know?”

  “Many know, but when you are surrounded by loyal fanatics who are willing to do anything they are told, who can say anything.” Scott nodded.

  “Much like what went on in Hitler’s Third Reich, or the USSR under Stalin.”

  “His followers are richly rewarded for their service, and have complete protection from whatever they do.”

  “It’s a wonder you’ve managed to stay hidden for so long.”

  “No mystery there. For years they have been watching us from space, until the satellites broke down. Now, every once in a while they fly over and take a look, but see nothing we don’t want them to see.”

  “Christ almighty, you’d think they’d have the sense to fix the damn sats.”

  “Oh, they fix the communications satellites, but they no longer have the technology or the will to fix the spy sats.”

  “You’d think they’d have the brains to build new one and launch them into orbit.”

  “Sadly, that technology went along with the knowledge of weapons. To say the least it was a bit short sighted of them not to think they might need it in the future. But there again, a lot of useful technology was destroyed along with the rest.”

  “Yes, fanatics are like that. They can’t see beyond the end of their own prejudice.”

  “I believe, that with the knowledge contain in the databank, and your people's expertise, you should be able to isolate your island from the prying ears of the World Government, and the Ayatollah, as we have done.”

  “Wait! You are tapping into the web and the communications net?” Hera smiled.

  “Oh yes, for many years now, but I must say, your coming did take us by surprise. The World Government and the Ayatollah managed to keep your existence a secret from most of the outside world.”

  “Not for much longer.”

  “Yes, I see the need for you to start recruiting from the general population. Won’t that just upset the old fart who calls himself the Supreme Leader no end.” Her face broke into a lovely smile at the thought.

  Late the next morning Scott was surprised to see the open area around the estate crowed with silent people, all sitting, all looking at the house. It was eerie to
see them there just sitting in silence. He doubted that a similar group of westerners could have done the same. A heavy droning sound filling the air as a flight of giant shuttles came into view and began circling the field. At that point the crowd stood up and moved back, leaving a clear space for the ship to land. The first transport came straight down, settling gently on the grass in the open area and lowered the ramp. Immediately the people picked up their carryall bag and trotted aboard, orderly and still silent. The security team stood and watched, a few scratching their heads in puzzlement.

  "Quiet lot aren't they?” One of the team muttered.

  "You could learn a thing or two from that lot Jawalski.” Janet Blake remarked.

  "Yeah, right!"