Ghost in the Shell

It's amazing how some things have a way of sneaking up on you and catching you out, despite every precaution you take.

Alan Tyler, who had succeeded in undertaking some genuinely dangerous pursuits of the creature known as Godzilla, was starting to feel that way now. In the space of a year, he'd been involved in many events that were beyond his control, that all of his experience of following the radioactive dinosaur had left him unprepared for.

The first event was an unknown invader's attack on the city of London. Alan had barely survived an encounter with this monster and taken the photos as evidence, only for the American and British governments to cover up the whole story and make every effort to discredit him. Alan still harboured bitter feelings towards both governments. Now every time he went G-Chasing, he had to face a constant reminder of this bitterness. For every time he went to follow Godzilla, he also had run-ins with the Mechagodzilla, created by the medical conglomerate the Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research. The first time it had been pretty amusing, as he'd witnessed Godzilla rip his mechanical counterpart's arm off; every other time since had been considerably less thrilling.

Now he was feeling annoyed that he'd missed some great chances. He had been out in Malaysia on holiday when another Mechagodzilla - rumoured to have been built by aliens, no less - had tried to impersonate Godzilla and destroy Japan, mirroring events he'd heard about stemming from 1974. He found no limit to the amount of irony this presented; one robotic clone of Godzilla had been destroyed by another one. Looked like he knew where the Utah Foundation got the idea anyway.

Now, several long months after that incident, he was out here on a day trip to Yokohama. He felt like getting out of the main bustle of Tokyo for a day, even if Yokohama wasn't that far from it. He just needed to be somewhere - anywhere - away from that city for today. He'd gotten sick of waiting with no news on Godzilla.

Just think Alan, he thought, you might end up having to get a real job.

He didn't know why he G-Chased half the time anymore. He couldn't get the exclusives he liked, due to the non-violent nature of the encounters between the two Godzillas; normally he'd be the only one who dared to get close enough. He sighed, and shook himself. He hated having such thoughts in his head. Maybe it was time he headed abroad again for a while.

He rested at the roadside, quite near to the coast near Yokohama. He leaned on his black Kawasaki, taking in the seabreeze. Partly because he had been raised in a seaside town, he'd always liked looking out over the ocean; it was always a reminder that there were new horizons, new places that he had yet to see with his own eyes. It was quite breezy, and every now and then Alan pulled a lock of hair away from his cat-like eyes; he'd let it grow over the last year, and now it was longer than usual and normally tied into a ponytail. Every now and then he had the feeling that today was just a touch too quiet. Maybe if he thought that really hard, something might happen.

It was then that he heard a shrill beeping, coming from his jacket pocket. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone, opening up the new text message he'd just received. He hated using text messaging, but he guessed he had no choice in the matter. The message had obviously been typed in a hurry;

'Goji headed for Yokohama. ETA 10 mins. Shinoda.'

It looked like Yuji Shinoda, Alan's contact in the Godzilla Prediction Network and the main source of his tip-offs on Godzilla's movements, had finally braved the use of the text messenger on his mobile. No doubt his daughter Io had schooled him in its uses. He looked at the ETA and wondered how Godzilla's movements hadn't been picked up sooner. He wasn't hearing any sirens go off. Then again, this was a fairly remote part of the country. There was nothing of interest here, so why was Godzilla coming? Nevertheless, a G-Chase was a G-Chase, even if he had to deal with Chrome Crotch while he was at it.

Hauling himself back onto his motorbike, he revved the engine and sped off down the road at top speed. He made for the coast, knowing he could still get a few pictures of Godzilla surfacing in the bay. Upon breaking away from the main road, and taking a small side road to reach the coast, he slowed down, keeping a sharp eye out towards the water for any sign of Godzilla surfacing.

Along this route, glancing back inland, he could make out a square-shaped, four-storey office building, almost exactly between this lane and the main road. Close by these, he saw a few large smoke stacks, pumping out steam into the atmosphere. He wondered who on Earth would want to have something like this in such a remote place. That was probably the most interesting thing he saw there; the rest was extremely remote, surely no good reason for Godzilla to come here.

A couple of minutes later though, as he heard a sudden rushing of sea-spray, all thoughts of how remote the location was were driven from his mind. He looked out towards the ocean, just in time to spot a large reptilian head come bursting out of the water, followed by an enormous reptilian body. The monster known as Godzilla was now approaching the shore, wading through the sea water, soon arriving at the beach.

Alan pulled out his camera and pointed it towards the towering titan. He was about to take a couple of photos when he suddenly heard a hissing sound coming from behind him. With a start, Alan spun round, just in time to see a large metallic head, shaped to look like a reptile's, was rising out of the ground, followed by an enormous metallic body. Alan made every effort to remember where he was, for as he raised his camera to take photos, he realised he now knew where the Utah Foundation kept its most prized possession.

As Alan snapped photos of the two arrivals, he heard Godzilla release his trumpet-like roar, as he slowly lumbered towards the titanic machine known as Mechagodzilla. Alan couldn't tell whether this was a challenge, but the first big surprise of the day for him came when Mechagodzilla answered with its own roar. It was a strange, rather unnerving mix of Godzilla's own call and a curious metallic, almost alien sound. Alan wished he'd brought a tape recorder, but he knew a recording would never be able to capture the sheer strangeness of what he was hearing. These were sounds that would stay with him for many years to come, even if the only evidence he had of it was his own ears.

He watched Godzilla slowly approach Mechagodzilla, cocking his head to one side, rather like some kind of curious dog. Alan got the feeling that there wasn't going to be any fights yet again. Indeed, as he watched, he saw Mechagodzilla stick his hands out, palms facing Godzilla, almost like some kind of gesture of surrender. Alan let a slight chuckle escape his throat as he saw Godzilla repeat the action; from this angle, it looked like the two were on the verge of playing Pattycake. He caught a few photos of this peculiar sight, a grin spreading on his face.

He watched Godzilla moving closer to Mechagodzilla, and heard thick inhaling sounds; Godzilla was clearly sniffing and examining his metallic counterpart. The machine itself didn't seem to mind though, because it remained docile as Godzilla walked around him, examining every inch of his frame. This was an extraordinary sight for Alan; he'd never known Godzilla to stick around this long after Mechagodzilla had shown up.

An insane theory came into his head; was Mechagodzilla actually the reason Godzilla had come here? Had he come here to take a look at his metallic rival? If so, why was Mechagodzilla letting him? Alan shook himself; this theory sounded too crazy even to his ears. He continued to watch as Godzilla pushed down on Mechagodzilla's dorsal spikes, prompting Mechagodzilla to step forward slightly and turn slowly round. To Alan, Godzilla seemed to be 'cautiously curious'.

Alan then jumped slightly, as he suddenly heard a barking sound coming from Godzilla, followed by a series of growls mixed in with a few short, slightly high-pitched screeches. Alan had never known Godzilla to make those kinds of noises; that screeching sound seemed surprisingly soft, despite its high pitch. He jumped slightly as he suddenly heard Mechagodzilla start to mimic the sounds. These were the weirdest sounds Alan had ever heard any living creature make. This was an incredible discovery, if it was what he thought it was; some kind of language. It was pretty similar to how he'd heard some animals communicate in the wild, but he'd never expected these two to get to talking. He saw Godzilla cock his head to one side again, obviously confused by this machine's attempts to speak.

He then saw Mechagodzilla slump down onto the ground, almost as if out of exhaustion. Alan snapped away, capturing this strangely human motion through the lens. He saw Godzilla kneel down next to the machine, making that strange high-pitched screech again; Alan could only reasonably describe it as 'chirping', though he wasn't sure that was entirely accurate. Then he saw Godzilla do something completely unexpected. He saw the big lizard slowly lift his claw and pat Mechagodzilla on the back; a universal sign of wanting to comfort someone. Alan was astounded that this creature could make such a human action, and he snapped away like crazy to capture it. His mouth hung open when he saw Mechagodzilla extend his hand, Godzilla doing the same, then Mechagodzilla taking hold of Godzilla's hand and giving an unmistakeable handshake.

Alan could scarcely believe his eyes. He continued to stand rooted to the spot as the hands parted ways, and Godzilla leaned in, reaching up to feel around Mechagodzilla's face and snout. He saw Mechagodzilla scoot back slightly, holding up his index finger. Curious as to this new turn of events, Alan zoomed in with the lens, determined to capture all that he could. As he watched, he saw Mechagodzilla reach behind his head, and there was a sudden snapping sound. Alan felt himself go numb as he watched Mechagodzilla suddenly lift his face clean away!

It was a mask! As Alan saw what was under the mask, his eyes widened and he very nearly shouted out loud.

For where he had expected the inner workings of the machine to be revealed, what he actually saw was a reptilian face, identical to Godzilla's own in every way, right down to the same slate-grey skin colour. Actually, when Alan thought about it, the face of this being somehow looked older to him, more experienced than Godzilla somehow. The amber eyes - those very same ones that Alan himself had - shone from that face, glinting in the sunshine. A myriad of metallic green bio-syntech tentacles sprouted from the top of the head, making Mechagodzilla look like he had dreadlocks. Perhaps the most bizarre feature of all though was the snout; the mouth was twisted into a smile, something that looked more human than anything else.

Of all the things that Alan had prepared himself for, there was no way Alan could've prepared himself for this. He wanted to say something - anything - but felt the words die in his throat. There was no way he could describe it. He wanted to believe that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the photos he had taken didn't lie; Godzilla's face really was on that thing's head.

He saw Mechagodzilla stand up slowly, Godzilla soon doing the same. Godzilla saw the strange helmet lying on the ground, and stooped down to pick it up. He watched Godzilla examine it for a moment, before placing the helmet on his own head. Although Alan found this a very peculiar sight, and was still taking photos, he didn't even chuckle; the sudden shock of seeing Mechagodzilla's true face seemed to have taken all the energy out of him. Alan continued to watch though. He was too entranced, too fascinated by this new development to leave now. He saw the helmet fall off Godzilla's face, landing with a dull thud on the ground below. Godzilla picked the helm up again, and handed it to Mechagodzilla, who placed it back down on the ground.

Then Godzilla started pulling on Mechagodzilla's arm, rather like a child wanting to show something interesting to his parents. Mechagodzilla stooped down for a moment, picking up his helmet and placing it back over that face that made him seem alive, despite the fact he was a machine. Actually, when he thought about it, 'machine' seemed too tacky a word now to describe him.

Godzilla grabbed Mechagodzilla's arm again, pulling him down towards the water. However, as Mechagodzilla reached the water's edge he suddenly roared, pulling his hand away and shaking his head. Godzilla didn't seem angry with this though, just disappointed. As the Mechagodzilla turned away and started to head back inland, Godzilla gave a roar. Maybe Alan was imagining it, but this roar sounded full of an unspeakable sorrow. It would be a sound that was to haunt Alan for the rest of his life. Why would Godzilla feel such sorrow though?

As he watched, Mechagodzilla slowly turned back to Godzilla, placing a metal claw on his shoulder. Alan spotted the mecha making odd gestures, like some kind of sign language. Whatever was being said, Godzilla seemed to show signs of understanding, since he nodded and rumbled.

Mechagodzilla then placed his claw on Godzilla's shoulder again, and then made such a strange gesture. The mecha touched Godzilla's forehead with his snout, before slowly pulling away. Alan took more photos, only dimly aware that he'd probably filled an entire memory card with photos from this day. So many strange things had been shown, and he couldn't explain any of them. As he watched, Mechagodzilla turned away again, striding back towards the area Alan had seen him rise out of. Godzilla watched him for a moment, before letting loose a sad sigh, before turning round and heading ocean-bound again. It was all over.

Sensing that this was all he was going to see for today, he revved up the motorbike engine and sped away from the area. He turned back for a second to see Mechagodzilla being lowered back underground, like something out of an episode of Thunderbirds, before he headed back along the lane and back onto the main road. He made a mental note of the location of that office building he'd seen earlier, since it wasn't that far from where he'd seen the mecha rise out of the ground.

Once he was sure he was well clear of the area, Alan stopped, pulling over on the roadside, running over everything in his mind. For some time now, he'd suspected something was odd about the Utah Foundation's creation, ever since noticing how Godzilla reacted when he ripped off the mecha's arm, in fact. He'd never expected what he had witnessed today though. That face inparticular had truly unnerved him. How had the Utah Foundation being able to do that? Was this why Godzilla acted the way he did around Mechagodzilla? Was it even remotely possible that Godzilla considered Mechagodzilla to be a friend, perhaps even some kind of brother?

A thousand theories ran through Alan's head, each less likely than the last. He found himself completely stumped. He could not explain what he had seen at all, except that instead of being angry at not knowing, he was now scared. What was the Utah Foundation hiding? Did the American or Japanese governments know about this? In any case, Alan only knew for sure that now he knew, with the photos to prove it. The other members of the G-Chaser Network would never believe this, and strangely he found himself not caring if he was believed or not. He knew what he saw, and no amount of squealing would change that, just like with the incident in London.

As he revved the motorbike up again and sped down the road back to Tokyo, a selfish desire to find out more about the Mechagodzilla overcame him. Something about that machine was very strange, and it seemed obvious that the Utah Foundation were hiding something. Whatever secrets they had to hide, Alan intended to find out himself. He'd make sure of it.

***

A week later, Alan was back on the road, heading back in the direction of that office building he'd spotted. He was now positive that he'd seen Mechagodzilla come out of the ground somewhere near there, and he wanted to investigate. He had not brought his camera with him, or his weapons; what was the point of taking photos of this? He could still rely on his memory, since he knew where to start looking.

Heading down the main road near Yokohama, when he was sure he was in the right area, he spotted a small road turning off from the main road towards the coast. He started to head further down the side road, and soon he saw the office building, with the smoke stacks nearby. The road led directly to it.

Upon finally reaching the other end of the road, Alan was right at the foot of the building. Standing four storeys tall and square-shaped, there wasn't anything really remarkable about it. It looked just like any other. The fact that it was so out-of-the-way had to mean something though. A sign nearby said;

Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research: Yokohama Branch Office.

Alan was surprised to find this office here. He'd always assumed it would be in Tokyo, like every other major company's office building. His curiosity was now increasingly getting the better of him. Then again, he reasoned it would be a bit much to expect the Mechagodzilla to burst out of a city street.

In looking for a parking space in the large car park, he noticed that the western 'lot', as the Americans called them, was completely empty. What he could just make out in there were several small orange cones, arranged around the perimeter of a large depression right in the middle of the parking area. A few guards were also in that area, one or two of them looking in Alan's direction. Alan decided not to start a fight with those guys, and instead moved on until he found a parking space close to the building. Luckily the guards didn't pay him any more attention.

Alan had the funny idea he could take a pretty good guess at what was in that parking area though. He knew better than to shout about it though. Switching off the bike's engine, he climbed off and headed towards the building. Now that he thought about it, if this really was where the Mechagodzilla was housed, then they must need a lot of power to run the base. That would explain the smoke-stacks; they likely had an especially large generator somewhere.

The doors at the entrance to the building slid open as Alan approached them. He stepped inside into a fairly spacious lobby/reception area. A mauve carpet had been laid in this area, with the walls painted in an off-white colour. A number of people were walking through the area, from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, usually carrying some bundle or another of papers. Alan could take it as a given that these were members of the staff here. The Utah Foundation specialised in using bio-syntech to replace lost limbs; it wouldn't surprise him to see a few doctors hanging about.

There were several comfortable-looking chairs here, as well as a coffee machine, and a small display case with donuts and cookies laid out. No doubt people waiting for appointments could help themselves to these rather American concessions while they were here. Alan helped himself to a coffee from the machine while he was here; he hadn't had one all morning, and he wanted one even if it was brewed ten days ago. After spending a few moments getting his coffee, he figured he may as well do what he came here to do. He walked up to the reception desk. A young Japanese woman approached him, greeting him cheerfully, in English surprisingly enough;

"Welcome to the Utah Foundation Yokohama Office. How can I help you?"

"Yeah, hi," Alan replied, "I'm just enquiring about your bio-syntech research."

"Ah, yes," the receptionist replied, producing a leaflet from a shelf underneath the desk. Alan started to thumb through it - it was basically one big advert for the Utah Foundation's 'prized possession'.

"Our research has come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years," the receptionist continued, "We believe that one day we may even be able to replace certain organs with bio-syntech technology, which will help tremendously for those who cannot receive a transplant." Alan didn't really listen. There was only one reason he was interested in the bio-syntech, and it had nothing to do with organ transplants.

"I've read in the papers that your Mechagodzilla unit is partly constructed using bio-syntech," he asked, trying to make his tone sound politely curious.

"Oh, yes," the receptionist continued, keeping her friendly demeanour; obviously this was something the Foundation had no qualms sharing with the world. "Kiryuu is the most advanced machine ever constructed, and the bio-syntech has allowed him to increase his functionality and durability."

There was a slight pause after that. Alan looked a bit confused at what the receptionist had just said, not just the stuff about the bio-syntech, but also what he'd heard her call that thing.

"Oh," the receptionist said, anticipating Alan's next query, "Kiryuu's the name we have given Mechagodzilla. We felt it would give that extra level of class and dignity to give our greatest creation a proper name." Kiryuu roughly translated as 'Machine Dragon'. Alan thought it strange to give something like that a name, but it sounded appropriate somehow.

He decided to take a quick look around the area. Thanking the receptionist, he walked around the lobby, spotting several pictures on the walls. Most of these depicted a number of happy patients, with doctors stood near them with broad smiles on their faces. The pictures showed that the Foundation had treated a wide variety of patients; white, black, even a few Asians. Underneath each of them he saw a little tagline reading, "Bio-syntech - the future of prosthesis." Alan got the impression that this was one company that seemed a little in love with itself.

The one picture to really catch his attention was a photo of 'Kiryuu', this time fully armed and helmeted, standing outside, the sunshine reflecting brightly off his armour. Alan could have given them a much better picture if he had been paid for it. The tagline underneath the picture read "The future of monster extermination". Alan couldn't help shaking his head; that statement sounded really stupid, especially after all that he'd witnessed just a week ago.

He sat down on one of the comfortable chairs, finishing off his coffee. As he did so, he saw a porter from the Japanese postal service coming through the door with a large package on a trolley. Alan couldn't help overhearing some of what was being said. He heard the porter say that the package was for one 'William Penter', the receptionist made a quick phone call, and five minutes later a rather haggard-looking man entered the reception. Compared to the other staff Alan had seen here, this guy looked positively scruffy, with brown hair and slight beard, black shirt and blue jeans. He signed for the parcel, chatted a little with some of the staff hanging around there, before leaving the way he came.

Alan began to wonder where this 'William Penter' had come from. Perhaps he might know just a little bit more than the receptionist did. He stood up, and headed down the corridor. He saw Penter further down the corridor, now in an area behind a guard. Alan approached, only for the guard to approach him.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Yeah, what's down there?" Alan asked, pointing down the corridor. Penter was now gone.

"Sorry, sir," the guard answered, "That area's off-limits to civilians. You'll need proper authorisation to proceed down here."

Alan nodded, thanking the guard and walking away. Alan wondered if these guards knew that saying 'no entry' was a sure-fire way to get anybody's curiosity going. Still, he saw no sense in causing trouble over what could've been a duff lead anyway, so he headed back to the reception. As he did so, he noticed that there were several boxes dotted around the place. Alan began to wonder what was in them, but didn't look in them. When he got back to the reception, he enquired at the desk again;

"I couldn't help but notice," Alan said, doing his best to be polite, "but what's with all the boxes around here?"

"Well," the receptionist replied, "most of our base operations are relocating back to Utah. The branch office here will still be open, of course."

"Why's that?" Alan asked. It had to be something pretty major if their equipment here was being shipped back there...

The receptionist replied nervously, "You go where the monsters are."

Monsters? So there were monsters in Utah? When Alan asked what sort of monster was out there, the receptionist, who now looked pretty nervous under Alan's questioning, simply said that she didn't know. Alan, figuring he'd hassled the staff here enough for today, decided to leave. Thanking the receptionist, he headed back outside into the car park.

A couple of minutes later, he was riding back onto the main road, heading back to Tokyo. He was annoyed that he hadn't been able to find out much about Mechagodzilla; or should he start calling him 'Kiryuu' now? It definitely rolled easier off the tongue. Still, the day hadn't entirely been unproductive. He'd now found out where Kiryuu was heading, and that there were more monsters over in America. It was the one place he really didn't want to go, but now it looked like he very much needed to.

Of course, the day had left him with many unanswered questions, but at least he knew where to go for answers when the time came. Right now, he smiled to himself. He had a flight to catch.