Kotoe scooped noodles into her mouth. Training this morning was an exhausting endeavor. Her day had started easily enough, computer training and reflex conditioning. Hirooki Okura took a seat next to her. His shaggy black hair and thin eyebrows. He was twenty years old, but a computer prodigy. He worked in development, the rumors were the Japanese government were building their own mecha. He nodded and smiled at Kotoe.
"Long day for you?" He asked as he put a pile of noodles in his mouth.
"Yes, and you too?"
He grinned with a mouth full of noodles. "I skipped breakfast again. I just don't have time, I stay up late reading fiction all night."
Kotoe smiled at him. "So it's close to done?"
"You know I can't tell you that, but we're having some problems."
She left it at that. Let him keep his secrets.
"I will share this, they were discussing who had some of the highest scores and your name came up often." He said as he piled the last of his food into his mouth.
He gave her a grin.
***
John had a picture of his family hanging next to his lookout window. His wife with her blonde hair and brown roots and flashy smile. His son with his chubby frame and a wide smile. Every time he passed over his home state of Indiana he would think about what they were doing at that exact moment.
Anxiety cluttered his mind. "Voyager two? When was the last time we got a signal?"
Katie's fingers flew over the keys. "Ten years. And it's coming in fast, it will be here in five days."
"From Pluto? Five days?" That just didn't make any sense to John. It took New Horizon eight years to reach that planet. "What does Houston want us to do?"
"They're gathering their team now. And Japan is assembling its defense."
John had forgotten the real terror at hand.
***
Kotoe was lifted onto her awaiting helicopter. The blades above spun and lifted the machine from the earth. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She was being taken to a turret to control facing the eastern sea near the southern edge of Tokyo.
Godzilla had been spotted. Something had awoken him. The Japanese had planned on him landing in what they called "Military Zone 3." They had purposefully built a giant nuclear reactor to draw him into a trap full of countermeasures to try and kill him. Possibly even drop a nuke on him.
When they built it, they weren't even sure if this was going to work, but judging by his incoming path it seemed to be calling him. Godzilla had fed on nuclear energy the last time he made landfall.
A video feed provided Kotoe with images of Godzilla still half submerged in the water up to his thighs. His menacing grin and lifeless eyes. Destroyers were launching their giant cannons at Godzilla. They erupted into explosions on his skin, but little to deter his path. Then suddenly he pulled his head back and blasted a blue atomic ray at the ship. It erupted into pieces of metal and sparks. Kotoe put her hand over her mouth. Hundreds of soldiers — gone. Their wives now left to take care of their children. Sons and daughters now left to grow up fatherless.
Jets flew overhead and fired their 30mm Gatling guns and Godzilla. He turned his head to the sky and fired his atomic breath. They evaporated, simply disappearing from existence.
The soldiers in the helicopters watched in horror. Some shook their head in anger.
"We already tried this! Why are they doing this again?" A soldier yelled out.
She lowered her head as she felt the chopper descend. It landed in front of a column of twenty green towers. At the top of each were eight long white turrets. These were built to withstand intense heat. Their green armored shell was based from modern tanks. Each one had the ability to be operated by a single crew member, which were all preassigned.
"Remember your station! And good luck out there!" The captain roared as the chopper landed. Kotoe hopped out and followed the sign to her turret, number seven. Then she heard the familiar roar. He was close. She looked east but couldn't see him. The sun beamed and the trees waved in the breeze. Few clouds were in the sky. A perfect beach day.
She went to the base of her two hundred foot tower and used the eye scan. Then scanned her card. Then entered her preassigned number. Then recited her name. The door opened and she entered the elevator. It rose quickly to the top.
The doors opened to the command shell. Computers lined the room showing various data. She sat in the single seat and pulled forward the control panel — A simplistic desk of labeled buttons and five joysticks.
Before her was a wide view: green vegetation that covered the land until it hit a sandy beach about ten miles away. Behind that was the Pacific Ocean, large waves curled onto the beach. Crash-landed Boats were drawn onshore and rested on the beachfront or some were stuck in trees. The dangerous tide was caused by the monster on the horizon. His thundering walk toward Kotoe. Her seat rocked at every step.
She pulled her hair back. Her fingers grazed over her scar. For fear of a premature drawing Godzilla onto land, she was under strict orders to wait until Godzilla reached the mark: the beach. Once he left his home and invaded ours, it was time to attack with ground weapons. Kotoe thought about how Japan had survived their own brutal civil war and World War II. They would survive this, but again she kept circling back to the question, why us? Why this island?
***
"We're wrong." John heard Katie say in the background. Godzilla's tiny form from a magnified camera played in front of John. The water was at Godzilla's ankles. He was about to make landfall.
"What's that?" John asked.
"Voyager two is gonna be here in twenty hours. And I've got data coming in, it's breathing."
John wiped his sweat covered head.
***
A giant golden orb floats in the blackness. A ring of rocky material surrounds the planet at the equator.
Saturn.
A bright flash stretches in front of it. A trailing white powder behind it like a comet. White crystals populate the form like the inside of a newly discovered cavern not yet touched by humanity. The crystals are a bright white as if a flashlight is illuminating them.
At the front of the crystalized pile, a small head wrapped in a protective film. An orange glowing crest protrudes from his purple skinned forehead. His jaw is lined with sharp jagged teeth. At the corners of his mouth are extra teeth that look like horns. His eyes glow a deep red like a demon from hell.