“Thank you for this,” Ryllen said. “It’s been the greatest time of my life. I miss the open sea already.”
“I wanted you to experience what we’re fighting for. We can’t let Freelanders and immos compromise what’s ours.”
The entire eastern hemisphere of Hokkaido was water, broken up only by The Lagos and a few other islands comprising Greater Oceania. The Quantum Majesty’s four-day excursion only ventured a thousand kilometers beyond Pinchon, but that was enough for Ryllen.
To see the darkest blue of the deepest ocean? To see the sparkling schools of hemolids turn the surface into a fiery glow at night? To feel the ship dance through turbulent storms? To hear the wail of Kohlna as they are caught and throw themselves toward the ship in a hopeless bout for survival?
This is living.
Ryllen embraced Green Sun’s philosophy: The ocean belongs to the true seamasters.
“But there’s so much of it, Kai. It’s more than half the planet, and the continentals outnumber us, twenty to one. They’re desperate. They’re losing arable land; clans are fighting in the cities. The more they depend on us for food, the seamasters raise prices. Won’t there be a tipping point where we won’t be able to keep them out?”
Kai handed Ryllen the pipe.
“We’re already there, RJ. I was going to tell you after we disembarked, but now seems as good a time.”
“Tell me what?”
“Lan Chua called for a summit. Tonight. District captains and their lieutenants. You’ve earned your seat.”
“A summit? There hasn’t been one of those in …”
“Ninety-five days.”
“You said it only happened when …”
“We entered a new phase of the crusade. Yes. Listen to me, RJ. You knew sooner or later this business would turn dirty. I never lied to you about it. The things some of us have done. You understand?”
He did. “The immos who were disappeared.”
“Among others. Yes. I’ll tell it to you straight, RJ, because I love you.” Kai glanced about the deck as if making sure no one might overhear. His shoulder-length blue locks waved in the wind. “What we’ve been doing isn’t working. The threats, the beatings, the payoffs, the silent deportations. We’re scaring them, but we’re not making them understand. Even worse, the competitors are finding new and creative ways to smuggle operatives.
“We suspect crews on a third of the corporate ships are infested with continentals. Some of the off-island estates are paying immos at bottom Dims while hiding their books. Freelander partisans, most likely. The seamasters won’t act because they’re afraid of pushback from their biggest continental clients. And the Island Council won’t act because the seamasters dictate their agenda.”
Ryllen heard rumors of such things, usually from Green Sun brothers and sisters who believed a full-on Hokki civil war was inevitable. Yet now he saw confirmation in Kai’s earnest hazel eyes.
“What does it mean for Green Sun?”
“I think you know. Scaring these people isn’t enough. They have to learn a simple lesson. If they corrupt The Lagos, they die.”
“Lan Chua told you this?”
“He’s wanted to escalate for some time, but he’s a cautious man. He believes we finally have the infrastructure to cull immos without drawing undo attention.”
Ryllen was never under any illusion, not even when he received the body stamp over his chest and committed to the cause. In his heart, Ryllen always sensed the truth about his roommate turned lover.
Kai was a killer who long ago found peace and purpose in his work, though he never spoke of it directly. Instead, Kai talked of the need to maintain the purity of The Lagos, always using a righteous tone. He was neither angry nor impatient; Ryllen detected a quiet discipline.
“Cull them?” Ryllen said, pulling on the pipe. “Like Kohlna?”
“But quietly.”
They didn’t speak of it again. The Quantum Majesty completed docking procedures. Soon, they disembarked.
The trip home in Kai’s bucket sedan was quiet. Traffic on the UpWay was sparse. Ryllen felt no tension, but the silence was a noted departure; Kai usually played Jorca Hop at its most thunderous bass. Was he waiting for Ryllen’s questions? Perhaps an admission he wasn’t prepared to kill immos? Or maybe Kai appreciated the need for peaceful introspection.
Ryllen closed his eyes and leaned back.
I’m a soldier, he thought. We’re justified. War is coming anyway. If we can’t preserve our way of life, what else will we sacrifice?
It all made perfect sense, of course. He heard it from his Green Sun brothers and sisters often enough. The Kye-Do rings will continue to poison the land, they said. The continentals will want what we have. They’ll demand we share as equal partners, or worse.
We are the salvation and the future of the Hokki people.
Ryllen liked the idea of being a hero.
They’ll thank me someday.
Their home was a simple flat with few adornments, part of a sprawling public estate sheltered by palms and bullabast trees, directly beneath the UpWay, mid-distance between the city center and exotic residences of the Haansu District. Neighbors looked out for each other but never pried. Kai said most were Modernists and Lagos Nationalists. He doubted any would object to a Green Sun presence.
“They have as much to lose as we do,” Kai once said. “Their families go back centuries, and they care about the purity of their line no different than the elites in Haansu. We fight for them, RJ.”
Whenever Kai spoke of families, Ryllen saw a glint of pain. Kai never divulged the details of the Durin family schism, only once referencing a shipping accident and the betrayal of his biological sister, who moved to New Seoul years earlier.
“Being alone is kind of a kick,” Kai once said. “I asked Mei to sack with me once,” he added, referring to the adoptive sister he lusted after. “We both knew that was a sorry cudfrucking idea soon as I said it. You’re not bad seconds, RJ.”
They shared a laugh in the awkward moment, though Ryllen never forgot it. He hadn’t seen Mei since the night in Umkau when he joined Green Sun. He understood Kai’s temptation, but his strange chemistry with Mei unnerved Ryllen.
Now, an hour after Kai announced they’d soon be killing people, Ryllen undressed and fell into bed. He didn’t realize how exhausted the shipboard excursion left him; plus, Kai suggested they’d best rest up. The night was bound to be long – especially if Lan Chua announced more than a new phase in their silent war.
“Do you want me?” Kai said, standing in the doorway. “If you need to be alone, I’ll deal.”
Kai’s crooked smile implied only one possible response, so Ryllen slapped the pillow by his side. Kai joined him.
“Thanks for being honest with me,” Ryllen said. “I knew we’d be dealing in blood eventually. But it’s been five months, and I’d gotten used to our tactics. I thought they were effective.”
“They are. Just not enough.” He kissed Ryllen. “We won’t be executioners. We’ll be killing invaders. Self-defense.”
Ryllen winced. These immos came for new opportunities lost to them on the continent, few if any armed for battle. Yet that word – invaders – was becoming the de facto label Green Sun used to justify its actions.
“I know you still have concerns,” Kai continued. “But they’re not innocent, RJ. If we give them space to organize, they’ll form an army of their own. We’ll have blood in the streets of Pinchon.”
“I know,” Ryllen whispered. “By then, it’ll be too late.”
“Yes, it will …”
The flashing glow on Ryllen’s left wrist shut down the conversation. His bicomm signaled an incoming call. He reached for the device, which was melded to his skin, but Kai grabbed his arm.
“Careful. Who could it be?”
“I only have four codes. Yours and three others. They’re safe, Kai.”
“If you say so.”
He pressed the receptor and gasped when the holographic
image of his caller rose six inches above his wrist.
“Mother?”
Muna-Lin Jee, all five feet of her dressed in a permanent uniform of black and blue, crossed her arms over her chest.
“Ryllen, I request a visit. One hour.”
“Mother, how are you able to call my bicomm?”
“Your brother gifted me a device. He thought I might take some pleasure. Also, I have your gene code.”
The bicomms spread in popularity after the new tech arrived on Hokkaido two years earlier, but Green Sun approached it with caution, fearing hackers might override the device’s delicate genetic linking protocol. If it became an effective tracking tool, the silent army might find itself in unfortunate crosshairs.
“This is not a good day, Mother. What is so important for …”
“Is he there with you?” She asked. “Kai Durin?”
Ryllen muted the receptor and faced Kai.
“I never told her about you.”
“So, she snoops, just like everybody’s mother. Say hello for me.”
He unmuted. “Kai says he is honored to meet you. He hopes one day to share a table.”
“No, he does not. Ryllen, I know who he is and what he does. I also know what you do. We must talk.”
“Why? I’ve done fine for myself the past seven months, and you never showed an interest. Why meet with you now?”
“Because I have asked nothing else of you. We will talk. You will leave. And you will go back to him.”
“What about the others? Will they be …?”
“No. Your sisters and brother will not be here. They have jobs.”
Kai looked away. “Cold.”
“Tell me this will change my life, Mother, or I won’t see you.”
She nodded with certainty. “Every question you ever asked, I intend to answer. But only today, and only in one hour. Goodbye.”
Muna-Lin broke the connection. Her hologram disappeared.
“Well?” Kai asked.
“Not an hour after I step off the ship. It’s no coincidence.”
“You might be right, but I think you’d best see her, RJ.”
“I don’t care what she says, Kai. I won’t go back. I promise.”
“Only promise what you’re sure you’ll keep. She’s your mother.”
Ryllen threw back the covers and reached for his pants.
“No, Kai. She’s not.”
Muna-Lin lived less than a kilometer away in one of the island’s largest residential high-rises. Fifth level. Family suite.
Ryllen hated this building almost as much as the people. From day one, after the family left its Haansu mansion in shame and moved here with heads fallen and eyes shaded, Muna-Lin insisted their neighbors would come around to acceptance. What was more foolish? He wondered. Muna-Lin’s blind faith in community or Ryllen’s assumption his family wouldn’t hold him responsible for Father’s collapse and death?
As promised, his adoptive siblings were not home. He didn’t want a rematch of their last encounter. The vulgarities. The accusations.
He found Muna-Lin waiting for him on the balcony.
She sat on a pillow, her legs crossed, at the far end of a low table sculpted from the colossal trunk of an ancient shingo tree. She bowed her head in meditation. In front of her, a full cup of tea rested upon a saucer. At opposite end, a sky-blue pillow awaited Ryllen; on the table, a silver plate with his favorite treat and a cup of tea beckoned.
“Why am I here?” He asked, but her eyes remained shaded.
“Sit. Eat.”
As much as he wanted quick resolution, Ryllen fell for his mother’s predictable trap. The silver plate featured a Maylish braid, which was a knotted ring blending succulent ocean strips from the six-armed F’heldabeast, drifting sea cabbage, and yellow crab. Inside the braid, a dipping bowl featured a mango-pepper chutney. Ryllen held this culinary wonder above all others. Muna Lin knew his weakness.
He took a seat but hesitated to tear apart the braid.
“Is this her recipe?” He asked.
“Honorable Mother prided herself on each braid. I watched her as a child, learning how she balanced the flavors by twisting strands through her fingers like an artisan. She might spend an entire morning spinning braids for the family. I have done my best to replicate her treasure. I know how much you enjoyed it, Ryllen.”
Fire raced through his chest. “And how much I loved her.”
“She never judged.”
With that, Muna Lin faced her adoptive son. “Eat.”
He grabbed the braid and muttered. “For Honorable Gran.”
He tore the braid into segments and dipped into the chutney. It was as delicious as anything that ever crossed his lips. Sweet and buttery, mellow and chewy. Muna Lin sipped tea and watched in silence, which might have unnerved Ryllen were he not filing away this taste to be remembered for years.
“Satisfied?” He asked when finished. “I’ll never eat better.”
“That will depend.”
“On what?”
“Whether you squeeze out a long, productive life.”
He washed down the braid with half his tea.
“Go on, Mother. Explain.”
“Green Sun will be your end.”
He twitched, but not enough to be noticed.
“What’s Green Sun, Mother?”
She sighed. “I assumed you would deny the connection. My people tell me it is considered a betrayal to openly admit affiliation. And yet, they seem to have considerable intelligence about the machinations of these vigilantes. Logic dictates … someone must be talking. Yes?”
“I don’t know who’s filling your ear, Mother, but it sounds like they’re trying to tear us down. More of this endless refinery.”
She betrayed no impatience or frustration. Muna Lin held a stoic pose, her hands resting gently in her lap.
“Refinery might have ruined our family name, but it did not turn me into a fool or an outcast. I court the ear of many Nantou executives who were once public acquaintances. I have known Lan Chua most of my life.
“He is a man who leads from behind. As the fire consumes you, he will walk away. Just as he did with your Father. Do not belittle me with denials, Ryllen. You were recruited into Green Sun by Kai Durin. You have participated in the cleansing of illegal continentals from Pinchon and the neighboring islands. The last four days, you were at sea with these fanatics. Answer me straight: Have you killed anyone in the service of Green Sun?”
Cud!
She was always smarter than he gave credit.
“I don’t know about Green Sun, but I don’t kill people, Mother.”
“Not yet. If you remain bound to these people, you will become a killer. You will disgrace this household deeper than whatever shame we have already endured. Ryllen, their politics will not solve our problems. And in time, when the blood and violence reach intolerable levels, you will no longer be considered patriots. They will call you terrorists, and every weapon will be trained upon you until each member of Green Sun is slaughtered.
“Years ago, the Chancellors solved these disruptions quietly and efficiently. A single platoon of peacekeepers restored stability in days, if not hours. However, Hokkis lack their tools and their merciless desire to kill. We are slow to respond.”
Keep it together. She’s trying to break me.
“Tell me something, Mother. When the Jees were singled out during the reprisals … when we lost almost everything because people were searching for scapegoats … when Father was assassinated … when Honorable Gran couldn’t bear the pain of living … did you never want to kill those who ruined us?”
“If I thought doing so would rehabilitate our family … perhaps. But I will not walk on a carpet infused with the blood of my enemies. I must hold fast to the smallest measure of dignity. I see it in your eyes, Ryllen. You are closer in spirit to the peacekeepers than Hokkis, though we have tried to raise you in the proper manner. You will kill for Green Sun, which is why you ar
e here.”
“So, what now? Cue the family guards to sweep me away to parts unknown until the fighting ends?”
He drew a smile from Muna Lin.
“We lost the guards when we lost our compound in Haansu.”
She opened her right hand and revealed a palm-sized, translucent octagon, which Muna Lin slid deftly across the table. The memory glass banged against the silver plate. Ryllen studied it. No markings, but a perfect fit for a consumer Tachtron reader. Elite families were known to keep their entire histories embedded on memglass, accessible only to descendants bearing their line’s distinct genetic marker.
“What’s on here?”
“Who you are, Ryllen. Your origin. Your truth.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your Father obtained this a year before the Chancellors fell. He established a rapport with the Ark Carrier fleet admiral, a man who was himself acquainted with the people responsible for bringing you to Hokkaido. We made a decision to shield you from this information. You were progressing in your growth as a Hokki citizen, and we felt it would be unnecessarily confusing.”
“Why?”
“As I’m sure you long suspected, Ryllen, you were born on Earth. You came to us as part of a larger, clandestine program to embed the Chancellor gene pool among colonial populations. In return, we received wealth and privilege unprecedented in our family’s history.”
“Except for the part about Earth, none of this is new.”
“Ryllen, most of the data on the memglass is Chancellor encrypted. Even the admiral did not have clearance. Or so he said. I do not believe you were sold to us as part of a campaign for leverage. The Chancellors were capable of asserting absolute military control at any time. We were always at their mercy, even as they smiled and made deals with the elite families.
“I believe you exist as part of a larger plan. Ryllen, you were meant for greater. I have long held a suspicion, but I don’t know whether to be terrified or enthralled. Not that it matters.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is the final time you and I will share a table.”
Her words stunned Ryllen but did not surprise him.
“You’re casting me off.”
“I will not have a killer in this family. But I am not sending you away without promise of a more hopeful future. There is someone in Pinchon capable of breaking the encryption. He is ex-Chancellor. A man who went native many years ago and lives as one of us. He works freelance intelligence for the seamasters.”
The Impossible Future: Complete set Page 161
