Chapter 37
嘘同化と実王化
Shoon Say woke up on the outskirts of town a few hundred feet from his bed. He would have thought it was a dream... except for the whiplash that had just broken his neck. He lay paralyzed and facing the starry sky, fragrant wild gase plants tickling his cheek.
It felt like he was alone. The wind was muttering something, wordless gutterals that he couldn't understand. He remembered going to bed on a empty stomach, thinking about getting a snack and falling asleep instead. Maybe he should have. Maybe every living being's fate was on a tightrope with only one course of action allowed at any given time and true choice was impossible. Maybe he'd made an infinitesimal mistake that caused reality to glitch and spit him out here.
A shadow stepped into view over him, blocking out the starscape. The teen's irregular breaths were questions filling the air around them. That hair... those eyes... it was that creepy kid that was staying with the Jaffs. Shoon Say didn't even know his name.
Vegeta crossed his arms thoughtfully as the teen's skull caved in under his foot. He took a seat next to the body. No doubt about it, he'd have to find a way into that army base. That army base home to a collective power level of 64,000. And most likely unfamiliar alien software. If he wanted to use the base's transmission capabilities to put together any sort of message... he'd need a strategy. The Common Power Level of Rock-Row's citizens was 56. So how was their military force stronger than Freeza's?
Vegeta brushed off about ten black bugs that were crawling on him before running home. More importantly, was he afraid of them?
The next day during breakfast, Abla Jaff looked at Vegeta and made an unpleasant noise. "There's a tock on your neck. Don't move, I have to get it myself."
Vegeta sat still, not liking Abla's tone of voice and how the other two Jaffs cringed and looked away. Able sat down next to him with a pair of tweezers and Vegeta felt a sharp pinch then pain as Abla pulled out one of those black bugs from last night, dark red in the morning light. He gave Vegeta a cloth to stop the bleeding and mashed the bug in the sink with the back of a knife. Blood splattered and the brothers Jaff all gagged.
"Where were you? We don't see them in the city," said Mem Jaff.
"Must have been from when I first got in," said Vegeta. "I'll make sure there aren't any more before I start work."
Abla nodded and gave Vegeta the tweezers. "You have to be gentle, otherwise the head comes off under your skin. And don't try to burn them off, they'll throw up inside you and you'll get Lemyn disease. Hold on." Abla got a bottle of something out and read the label. "'If the tock has swelled bigger than the size of a fingernail you may be at risk for Lemyn disease.' Take a spoonful of this just to be safe." He handed Vegeta the bottle. "And make sure they're dead! We find one of those things crawling around here, you're out on the streets, got it?" Abla paused. "Be more careful next time. Let me know if you start to feel sick."
What a fun planet this was turning out to be.
*⁂*⁂*
Vegeta, tock-free, was helping to store the Jaffs' supplies and finished meals in their next-door rental house. He lifted stacks so tall and heavy that he fell through the floor.
"Call the property inspector," Vegeta said, floating up through the hole with the undisturbed 15-foot high pile of cauldrons. The other worker gave him a funny look. He tried to kick Vegeta but his foot collided with a leg of iron.
"Mention anything about me to anyone and you're dead," Vegeta said, walking by. "I know where your aunt lives, too."
The worker nodded pathetically.
*⁂*⁂*
"Is there anything you know how to cook yourself?" Mem Jaff asked Vegeta.
"Mint chocolate milkshakes," Vegeta said, not looking up from the dough he was kneading. "Does this planet even have mint? It's green, spiky, sharp smelling?"
Somehow Mem went to the storeroom and brought back a bundle of mint leaves. "Make one for me, I want to try it!" he said brightly. "Just tell me what ingredients you need."
After a few minutes Vegeta gave Mem a full green glass. Mem took a sip. "It's good," he choked out, setting it down in the sink. "B—bit strong, though. Thanks, you can get back to the noodles."
*⁂*⁂*
"You've been out of bay leaves for the past three days," Vegeta said, kicking down a pyramid of cans in the grocery store. "Abla Jaff needs them to serve this entire planet. Have them next time if you don't want this to happen." One of the cashiers dropped to the ground with a hole in his chest. Vegeta materialized in front of the door before anyone made a move. "All of you," he said loud enough to reach every shopper. "Say anything to anyone and you're all dead."
"Y... you missed them," a voice came from aisle five. "The—the bay leaves, I mean. They were just behind the t—thyme."
Vegeta flipped the sign from "OPEN" to "CLOSED" and drew the shades across the windows. "I'll tell you what it's time for."
*⁂*⁂*
Walking down the street, Vegeta caught the eye of a woman opening her front door. She instantly shrank back inside. The door came off in Vegeta's hand. He climbed to the second floor where the woman and her two sons were frantically packing their bags.
"Stop that," Vegeta said. "Don't you know you'll all die right now if you try to run away?"
"Why would we listen to you? You're gonna kill us anyway, aren't you!" the eldest boy yelled.
Vegeta shrugged. "The difference between killing you for a moment and a minute. An hour. A day. I bet I could drag it out for a week if I wanted to."
Five people on the street saw the broken door when Vegeta came back out. They all gave him a slow nod and slunk back to their lives with resignation. He walked home with a smile on his face. He wasn't marooned after all. He'd found a familiar place in the middle of terra incognita. Ha!
*⁂*⁂*
"I don't come from here but even I can tell people have been going missing," Mem said, kneading dough with his head down. "Nick says the buffalo have disappeared as well. And none of the dogs that stuck around want to go outside to find truffles."
Vegeta padded around on the tile floor as he searched for reception on his scouter. It looked like their comm tower was up and running again.
"Your shoes don't have any laces. Boots. And I've never seen a machine like the one on your face." Mem held up a comm. "I'm calling Shiwasay."
Suddenly the comm was in Vegeta's hands, cracking to pieces.
"Th—the second I die, my brothers will know. They'll feel it. And they'll call for help long before you can track them down."
Vegeta pressed a button on his scouter. "Nick and Abla are both about a hundred feet to the north of us."
"Tell me your name." Mem's trembling fingers tore holes in the dough.
"Vegeta. And yes, I'm from the Freeza Force."
"Dow always said we'd be invaded," Mem said. Vegeta's eye twitched at his tone of voice. "I pictured explosions, comets falling from space. To think that the Freeza would use one that looked like us to get past our guard. And a child, of all things."
"Now you've done it," Vegeta said in Universal, stepping forward.
*⁂*⁂*
At 2:45 that afternoon, the giant climate screen downtown flickered. The afternoon forecast was replaced by footage of soldiers marching across a stone plaza.
"Our troops are already celebrating the approaching anniversary of safety!" Cut to a few of them laughing over drinks and stories. "But the festivities starting in four days don't mean a thing to evil invaders. Sir Dow himself urges you to keep an eye out for suspicious people who don't belong."
Vegeta stilled. He felt the town around him convulse and start to pull apart but it snapped back in place. Good. They're all holding nicely, even with the comm tower. I'll be done before the anniversary.
"And now, a personal message from Sir Dow Moe himself." The camera cut to a man sitting cross-legged in front of a fireplace.
"I thank each and every one of you for letting me in when I came to you in pieces. And for trusting me when I said there was danger." He wiped a tear from his black eye. "I'm so proud of this entire Rock-Row. Believe me when I say you've accomplished something great in withdrawing contact with every other planet you had just started to meet. I believe that we'll live uninterrupted on this planet for years to come. And for that, we all deserve a week of good food and good people. Thank you."
Vegeta kept his gaze up for a few seconds after the announcement ended. What was Ren doing on the big screen?
*⁂*⁂*
Vegeta ascended for breakfast the next day just as Abla was telling Nick the news.
"... Gathering themselves since none of the townspeople have found anything. And they ordered fifty lunches for tomorrow morning to take along with them."
"Who's this?" Vegeta asked, pulling all the food on the table towards him.
"Shiwasay Base," Abla said. "You know how to make a basic lunch set, right? We're too busy working on the banquet today." He shook his oil mix together angrily. "Lucky Mem finished all the noodles before disappearing. Do you know where he went?"
"He said he was going to look for some special wheat, that's why he finished earlier," Vegeta lied. "He won't be back for two days. But I can help. I'll put together all the lunches and run them down tomorrow so you two can work uninterrupted."
Abla sighed in relief. Nick spoke, a rare occasion for him. "Thanks. You've been so much help to us. Sorry for our rude brother, when he gets back we would like to offer you a formal apprentice position here. (I didn't say anything.) Thanks again for taking care of the lunches."
"You're welcome," Vegeta laughed and finished his breakfast. "I'll get started now." He was not going to come back from Shiwasay Base.
*⁂*⁂*
Vegeta was at the base's shiny metal double doors, two weeks after landing on Rock-Row and fifty days after leave Planet Freeza 14. He had the cart of lunches, his scouter in his pocket, and the packet of instant ramen stuffed down one of his socks. He rang the doorbell, and barely a second passed before it cracked open and an eye appeared. The eye looked him up and down. Vegeta's heart pounded as he gestured to the food at his side. His skin had darkened a little under the Rock-Row sun, but his hair remained jet-black...
The door opened fully to a uniformed soldier with brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail, running in place. He nodded his approval at the cart of lunches. "Hi! Thank you." He grabbed the box at the top of the stack and pushed it in his backpack, then jogged past Vegeta. Soldier after soldier was drawn out the door after him as if they were on fishing line.
"Hi! Thank you."
"Hi! Thank you."
"Hi! Thank you."
"Hi!..."
Vegeta counted fifty soldiers, one for every meal he brought. He looked critically at the size of the base as the last man disappeared into the hills with a "Show those hidden truffles the visible spirit of Rock-Row!"
The door didn't lock behind them. Vegeta stepped inside a brightly-lit room filled with armchairs, jigsaw puzzles, sports balls, and plastic glasses with silly straws in them. A four square court was painted on the floor. He noticed incense and a phonograph in a glass cabinet in the corner. And a chemical smell that made his hair stand on end.
A stooped old woman shuffled into the room. She looked at Vegeta, looked away, looked back, then sprayed the cabinet with cleaner. "Hate," she mumbled, wiping the glass with a rag. "Hate being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a medium town, medium town worse than a small town, worse than the big city."
"Where are the restrooms?" Vegeta asked.
"Big city base has a lot, has signs everywhere, no question unanswered with a guidelook in the guidebook, small town base has nothing, nothing at all, root, hog, or die in the bushes like—"
"Where's someone else I can talk to?"
"Big city base has a staff, whole staff to cater to every one's every need, small town base doesn't need a one to meet needs that aren't needed, medium base, selfish base, takes no more than one wretch to mind the whole estate while no one's around to—"
"Where's the communication room?"
"Big city, beautiful city, has a one under the ground under lock and key hidden in the dark as a secret secret that no one needs, small town, smart town, doesn't have what it doesn't need, medium town, miserable town, keeps it at the highest floor as if no one will see—"
Vegeta blasted a hole through her chest and found the stairs. His feet moved so fast he was almost flying.
Rock-Row clearly had previous contact with other planets. Their Interplanetary Communications Unit was a standard audio-only FF 100 model, programmed in the local language. Once Vegeta had on his scouter and confirmed that he was still alone he entered in the code for Planet Freeza 14.
It was jarring to hear the voice on the other side speak Universal. "Unknown caller! Identify yourself!" That was the most unfriendly tone he'd heard since landing on Rock-Row.
"It's Vegeta. Give me Freeza right now. I won't take no for an answer, this is important." The line went dead. Vegeta nervously watched the Shiwasay soldiers' readings. They were static a few miles away from town.
Finally the line opened again. "Vegeta? Why aren't you asleep in your ship right now?" It was Zarbon. Damn it, good enough.
"I got hit by an asteroid midflight. Must have been made of bangite or something else strong enough to destroy my ship. But the emergency failsafe came through and I'm stranded on a random planet. I don't have a way off. Send help now." The knot in his shoulders relaxed slightly with the knowledge that finally someone knew where he was.
Zarbon laughed. "Whether good or bad I don't know, but you have some of the strongest luck I've ever seen. Give me a minute to extract your co-ordinates."
The knot returned when the group of soldiers moved one pixel closer back to the base.
"Why aren't I talking to Freeza right now?"
"Lord Freeza? Funny how you assumed he would drop what he's doing just because you asked for him. Maybe someone doesn't want to be picked up after all."
Vegeta closed his eyes. Oh my god. "I spoke out of turn, Lord Zarbon. Thank you for taking my call personally. I just happened to discover a certain someone that I know Fr—Lord Freeza would be very interested to meet again..."
The Shiwasay boys marched back to their base in a cold sweat. The one in the front clutched a sickening omen. The one in the back had his thumb pressed tightly against a panic button.
"... Have they been sent yet? What part of 'now' don't you understand?! ... What I've done to this planet is my business, as well as what I'm planning on doing. Do you want a say in what happens, Zarbon? Get over here before I have the chance to kill all of them." Vegeta looked up to see a group of Shiwasay soldiers crowded in the doorway. He thought they wouldn't have understood a word he said, but it looked like they did. And he was clearly using their machine for illegal contact with the outside world. Wearing a scouter. Small enough to fit the muddy battle-jacket one of them was holding.
Soldiers stared at soldier.
Soldier stared at soldiers.
Vegeta jumped straight through the ceiling and jetted out of sight. He didn't need a scouter to know that every high power level on the planet had started to close in on him.