“My name is Yuko. You were badly injured and in need of immediate medical assistance. We brought you to our facility for the help you needed.”
Asai was silent for a moment, then her eyes flew wide. “My mother, she was with me. Where is she?”
Yuko held out her hand. “She is here, as well as your cousin Koda. If you will come with me, I’ll take you to them.”
Asai looked at Yuko for a moment before she hesitantly reached out grasped it. Yuko assisted her out of the Pod-doc and offered her a clean ankle-length robe.
After she was wrapped in the robe, Yuko led her to the dining hall.
Ono rushed to her daughter when they entered and wrapped her arms around her. “Oh, Asai, I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you,” she murmured, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Asai returned her mother’s embrace. “It’s not your fault. I heard you begging him to stop each time. I’m glad it was me he chose to torment instead of you. I could not bear the thought of him touching you as he did me.”
“Oh, my brave, brave girl. I wanted to rip his eyes out of his head each time he made me watch. He knew that and made it a game to torture me as he did those things to you.” Ono sobbed as she buried her face in her daughter’s neck and covered it with kisses.
Ono pulled back, her eyes wide as she looked at Asai’s smooth, unscarred flesh. “I… What? I don’t understand,” she stammered as she looked from her daughter to Yuko.
“The technology we used to heal her is extremely advanced. Her body has been restored to the condition a healthy woman of her age should be in,” Yuko explained. “Now that she is no longer in danger, I would like to have you and Koda receive similar treatments.”
Ono touched her daughter’s smooth neck and then pushed the sleeves of her robe up on both of her arms, revealing more unblemished skin. “This is a miracle. The scar from where you cut yourself as a child is gone, along with all the marks and bruises from that beast.”
“Oh, Mother, you must do as she says. Let her help you, too!” Asai exclaimed.
Eve had waited silently at the door while the two women had their reunion. Now she called, “Ono, if you will come with me, I can have you as good as new in the time it takes Asai to eat.”
Ono looked at her daughter, hesitant to leave her.
Asai smiled. “Go, Mother. Koda is here, and I know they mean us no harm. Please go with her and heal.”
Ono slowly nodded. “Are you sure you will be okay?”
“Mother, I am a grown woman. I will be fine,” she assured her.
Ono hesitantly started toward the door, stopping and looking back before she stepped out of the room.
“We will be fine, oba-san. Go with her. I will take care of Asai,” Koda urged.
With one last look at her daughter, Ono smiled and followed Eve.
“Koda.” Asai hesitated before drawing a deep breath and continuing, “My father. Is he, does he still live?”
“I don’t know.” Koda’s voice was laced with sorrow. “He did when I was taken two weeks ago.”
Yuko placed a steaming bowl of stew and an electrolyte drink in front of Asai. “Is your father Yagi-san, the mayor?
“Hai,” Asai confirmed.
Yuko smiled. “Your father is alive. We saw him and several others in town tonight before we came for you. I thought that was who you were when I realized the two of you were mother and daughter.”
Tears ran down Asai’s cheeks as she was overcome with emotion. “My father lives? Are you sure it was him?”
“Yes. He told us you and your mother were taken when Isamu, the beast you knew as Mitsuro, and his thugs arrived. We will take you to him as soon as your mother and Koda are healed.” Yuko left the two women to themselves as she went in search of Akio to discuss what needed to be done.
“Akio, do we need to do anything on the island before the government representatives arrive? They will not arrive until tomorrow evening or later.”
He hesitated, considering for a moment before he replied, “Yes. I heard, and that will be fine. We need to clean up the remains of the Nosferatu and burn them to ensure that no samples can be collected. I have seen the results of experiments done with such samples. It was not a good thing.”
Yuko nodded. “I thought as much, based on your reactions on the island. What information did you pull from Isamu before he died?”
“He is part of a group who continued with some of the projects Kamiko’s mother was working on before she died when the American bombs fell on Japan,” Akio informed her. “They have discovered a way to make weaker Forsaken more advanced. Isamu was stronger and faster than he was when I knew him. That comes with age, but he was still too young to have advanced as much as he had. I saw another I knew from that time when I went into his mind, along with some of the experiments he is doing. If he continues along that path, the Forsaken will be much harder to kill.”
“Were you able to see where he is?” Yuko inquired hopefully.
“Only a general location. He is near an old military research location from the war. The labs were destroyed, along with all the test subjects, when the war was lost, but Isamu had the old designation, Unit 731, in his mind. I know where it was located, but China is a big area to hide in. Since the Chinese government is all but nonexistent since they released the virus that decimated most of the world’s computers and systems, it could take time to locate them.”
“After we do what is necessary on Kume, we will ask Eve to see what she can find. If that doesn’t work, we will do what we must to find and stop this before it becomes a bigger problem.” Yuko hesitated. “How bad will it be?”
“Devastatingly bad.” Several heartbeats later, he continued, “If it is not stopped, we could have an increase in Forsaken numbers, and they could be comparable to vampires who are several hundred years old in strength. They would be capable of doing great harm to the human populations wherever they went.”
“We must stop this. That is what Bethany Anne left us to do, and there is no way that I will fail her,” Yuko declared.
Akio inclined his head. “Hai, Yuko. We will do what must be done to ensure she has a world to come back to.”
Chapter Ten
Kume Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
The sun was above the horizon as the black Pod descended from the sky and landed just outside the small town. When the ramp opened, Akio stepped out. Eve and Yuko followed.
“Come, ladies. I believe there are some people here who would like to see you.” Yuko smiled as three more women stepped out onto the sand.
Ono and Asai blinked, their eyes adjusting to the first sunlight they had seen in many months. They slowly looked around and took in the remains of the town they had lived in all their lives.
“Oh, Mother, it looks deserted,” Asai cried.
“No, they are merely afraid. There were several people in the main house and others hiding in a few more when we were last here,” Yuko informed her.
As the group made their way into the town square, the remnants of the fight from the night before became visible. Nosferatu bodies were smoldering in the morning sun. The older ones were completely gone, while the recently changed were barely scorched but starting to rot.
“Eve, we need to clean this up,” Akio told the small android. “Although I don’t think there will be any viable samples from the remains, I am not willing to risk some misguided scientist learning things they shouldn’t.”
“I will take care of gathering the bodies for disposal. The data I have says that the nanocytes deteriorate rapidly after the host is dead, but they should be burned to destroy any possibility of a sample being obtained,” Eve responded.
“Hai,” Akio agreed. “I will join you once we have made contact with the villagers.”
Ono approached the scarred and battered door of her house and discovered it was locked when she tried it. She lightly knocked while calling, “Suzu?”
Sounds of movement came from inside, followed b
y the door cracking open barely enough for the unseen occupant to peer out.
The door flew completely open as Suzu Yagi stared open-mouthed at his wife. “Ono? Is it truly you, or am I dreaming that you have returned?”
Ono stepped into him, her arms going around him as she cried tears of joy. “No, Suzu. I am really here, as is our daughter.”
“How? Why? How did you escape? I thought you were both dead,” he exclaimed as Asai wrapped her arms around them in a tearful group hug.
Ono pulled back enough to free one arm and pointed toward Yuko and Akio, who were standing back and giving the family time to reconnect. “These brave warriors freed us last night. They defeated Sho Mitsuro and his evil minions. We no longer have to live in fear of the false emperor.”
Suzu looked at Akio. “Is this true? You really have defeated Mitsuro?”
“Hai, Yagi-san,” Akio confirmed. “Isamu, or Mitsuro as you knew him, and his people are all dead.”
Suzu bowed deeply. “Thank you. Shenshi-sama. Please forgive me for doubting you last night. I owe you a great debt for returning my wife and my daughter to me. On my honor, anything I can give is yours for the asking.”
“I am honored, Yagi-san, but you owe me nothing. It is my sworn duty, laid upon me by my Queen, to defend the innocent from creatures like Isamu.”
As Suzu started to protest, he was interrupted by an excited voice.
“Father! You’re alive,” Koda shouted. She ran past the others and almost knocked a man down as she wrapped him in a strong embrace when he emerged from inside the house.
“Koda, my daughter, my light. You live!” he exclaimed as he returned the embrace.
“I have been so afraid for you since they took me.” Koda clung to her father. “I was overjoyed when you were not brought to the keep, but as time passed, I feared you dead. Grandfather told me to keep hoping, but hope was not easy to find among the beasts and demons there.”
The news stunned Koda’s father. “What, you saw my father? Your grandfather lives?”
“I’m not so easily killed, it seems,” a voice called from the side of the house.
Koda’s head snapped up, and she released her father and ran to the frail and dirty man leaning heavily on the young woman who had led the group of survivors from the castle into the town.
“Grandfather!” she cried as she went to the opposite side of the woman and took his other arm to relieve her of some of the burden. “Isamu, Sho Mitsuro, is dead. These warriors saved us from his evil.”
He smiled as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Hai. I saw the remains when I went in search of you, granddaughter. You almost gave this old man a heart attack when you ran back into the caves last night. At first light, I could wait no longer and returned to try to find you. Imagine my shock when all I found were the dead, no sign of my hardheaded granddaughter.”
Koda blushed. “Ono and Asai needed medical help after their ordeal. I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone would dare go looking for me. I went with Akio-sama and Yuko-sama to get them help.”
The old man looked in the direction she indicated and pulled away from both of the women supporting him. He stood straight and slowly bowed ninety degrees at the waist to the two.
“My thanks to you both for rescuing us.” He turned to Yuko. “My apologies for doubting you. I am forever in your debt.”
Akio and Yuko returned his bow. “Thank you for the honor, but you owe us nothing. It was our duty,” Yuko told him.
Everyone gathered in front of Yagi’s home, the survivors from the castle and the villagers reconnecting with family and friends. They were happy for the ones who’d survived and mourned those they’d lost.
Mayor Yagi and several of the villagers were speaking quietly in the group, all looking and several gesturing toward where Eve stood behind Akio and Yuko. Yuko overheard one woman refer to Eve as an odd-looking child and wonder why she was here.
“Yagi-san, I would like to introduce you to the third member of our team.” She motioned for Eve to step forward. “This is Eve. She is an Entity Intelligence in an android body. Like our aircraft, she was created by TQB to assist us until they return from space.”
Yagi’s eyes lit up at this revelation. “You’re part of TQB?”
“Hai. We stayed behind to prevent things like Isamu did here. When we discover innocents being preyed on, we step in and deal with the offenders.”
Yagi nodded slowly as he absorbed this. “What is an Entity Intelligence?”
Eve bowed slightly to Yagi. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am an advanced program, capable of making thousands of calculations in seconds. Think of me as a walking, thinking supercomputer on steroids.”
Yagi’s eyes widened, shocked at how lifelike the android appeared and acted. “It is indeed a pleasure to meet you as well.”
“Eve will be assisting us with the recovery of the bodies of the people Isamu took,” Yuko explained.
Eve had piled the remains of the Nosferatu into an old fishing net and was moving the Pod into position to lift them away from the village when Akio and Yuko returned.
“We should make a pyre of whatever we collect from here and the castle. The villagers need to have closure,” Yuko told her.
“I will move these to the beach. We can collect what is left at the castle next, Yuko,” Eve replied.
When the Pod touched down in front of the gates of the castle, all that remained of Ogawa and the other three Forsaken were their swords and scorched sand where they had fallen. Akio and Yuko stepped out, and Yuko turned to Eve as she started to exit.
She pointed at the cliff on the east side of the structure. “If you take the Pod to the beach at the foot of the cliff, there is a cave that leads to the area under the castle. I believe that is where most of the bodies are.”
Eve lifted the Pod, and it dropped out of sight behind the wall as she guided it to the indicated area.
Akio and Yuko entered the castle through the broken doors and made a quick circuit of the upper floors. On the second floor, they came upon a closed door with the stench of Forsaken strong around it. The door opened into a sleeping chamber with a huge four-poster bed draped in heavy cloth. The windows were all covered with thick tapestries, and when Yuko pulled one back, she found the windows had planks nailed over them to keep the sunlight out. Metal shackles hung from one wall on chains. They had found Isamu’s bedroom, where Akio had seen the horrors taking place in Ono and Asai’s minds when he broke Isamu’s compulsion.
“We should burn this place to the ground,” Yuko growled. “It will always be a reminder to Ono and Asai of what they endured.”
“Agreed, but it is up to them and their families to decide that,” Akio stated quietly.
“Why are the Forsaken so horrible? With all that has happened, they could be a force for good if they would work with humans.”
“Yuko, the Forsaken only want one thing from humans, and that is total domination over them. Nothing drives them but the lust for power, over each other as much as humans.”
Yuko was appalled. “It is senseless to be so strong and want to only subjugate others. I think I understand now why you want to kill them all. There is no way to achieve peaceful coexistence, is there?”
“No. The only way to make peace with a Forsaken is to kill them. Anything less is a foolish effort that could easily see you killed instead. The only good Forsaken is a dead one. There can be no diplomatic solutions with such as them,” he stated coldly.
“Hai. I understand, but I still do not like to kill. Granted, Isamu deserved it, and he made me angry enough to go after him—not that it turned out as I envisioned it.” She finished the last in a whisper.
Akio chuckled. “Hai, although your little fall should remind you not to allow it to happen again. Hopefully, you will learn quicker than Tabitha did. The stories Hirotoshi told me about her first few adventures were eye-opening. It will turn my hair gray if you turn out to be half as impulsive a student.”
Yuko smiled when she saw him relax a little for the first time since he had encountered Ogawa and Isamu. She didn’t know what was wrong, but she was relieved to see him turning back into the person she had known for over twenty years. He was still the most serious man she had ever met, but he had relaxed enough that she was shocked to discover he did have a sense of humor. Granted, it was buried deep, but it was in there.
They worked their way through the remainder of the keep. When they arrived at the sublevel, they found that Eve had gathered all the Nosferatu pieces and piled them onto the fishing net she had found. Isamu’s headless corpse was where it had fallen when Akio retrieved his knife, and it was slowly starting to rot as his nanocytes degraded.
Akio looked down at the remains briefly, distaste written on his face, before he kicked the rotting head onto the body. He grabbed the robe and dragged it all out into the sun. Isamu’s corpse smoked in the morning light before it burst into flames and turned to ash.
Eve came out dragging her net of body parts, then stopped and placed her hands on her hips as she looked at Akio. “A little help would be appreciated here. I did clean up the mess you made, after all.”
Akio didn’t look away from Isamu’s ashes as he informed her, “Not my mess. I cleaned up after myself just now.”
Eve’s eyes widened, and her mouth formed an O as she looked at Yuko, who blushed under the EI’s shocked look.
“You did all this?” Eve demanded.
Yuko blushed. “Hai. I didn’t have much choice after Isamu dropped me into them.”
The android stared at her for another moment before turning to Akio. “If you can’t take better care of Yuko than that, I must insist that I accompany her on any further adventures. It is my job to see that no harm comes to the Vicereine.” Her tone left no room for argument.
“It was my fault, Eve,” Yuko explained. “I grew angry and allowed myself to make a stupid mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t,” she snapped. “I don’t want to have to explain to ADAM how I lost you, and Bethany Anne would dismantle me slowly if I did.”
Reprisal Page 6
