The sky was an eternal blue, turning darker as it neared its summit. White mountains of clouds rolled in a massive structuring as an ocean. The air was cold and windless. Yet it was still a majestic scene.
Yet even mightier than the high skies was the almighty Zeppelin. An enormous visage, by sure. Truly an amazing sight. A grand balloon shaped as an enormous bullet carried the tiny cargo of human beings in a container below. The air reverberated when the monster passed, high above any ground. The balloon itself must have been eight or nine stories tall. Striping of black shot down the length of the balloon until the massive propeller and rudder fins. The container, which looked like a long two story tall box with windows, swung gently underneath the massive package of hot air.
Many people were aboard this behemoth. People of all races, but of one class. The rich and wealthy boarded this vessel in hopes of reaching new lands. Servers walked down the halls, offering food and drink to any who would like it. A Titanic of the sky, the Argentina soared as a god. To those inside, it felt as if they were in a train car. They walked about, touring the mighty craft, sat at tables in the dining hall, gambled in the casino, and were overall merry. Please, you must understand the awe inspiring magnitude of this vessel for there was one, much like yourself, had never seen such a thing.
She was small. Her black hair was held in a bun by long, oriental sticks. Her bangs attempted to cover her large black eyes. She wore unusual clothing, at least to Western train of thought, as she was obviously Asian. Her short green robe was adorned by white images of swirling clouds, much like the ones outside the window she was peering out of. Her sash tied into a great bow in the back, completing her outfit with wooden sandals. Ayame had the largest smile in the world upon her face.
As I said before, she peered out the window, gazing out upon the giant rolling clouds. Her face was practically pressed upon the window. Ayame, being a commoner herself, had never seen such things. The farthest from the ground she had ever been before this trip was upon the limb of a tree, honing her ninja skills. Several Europeans and American that acquired a vast amount of wealth, through birth or work, had glanced over the little girl as the walked past. The server had past by, thinking weather to offer the charming girl a drink or not, but had decided not to. Anyways, to the point, Ayame was indeed impressed with the majesty of it all.
"I still says it's all unnatural! 'Taint right for a human being to be off the ground. Especially this high! I can't even see the ground!" An old, short wrinkled Asian woman complained as she peered out the window alongside Ayame.
"Grandma! Look outside and be quiet! Just look at the beauty of it all! It just makes me all light hearted inside!" Ayame said.
"The spirits are angry! I can tell! They're mad because us mortals now pretend we're God and flying in the air! All these foolish Westerners and they're technology! I don't like neither of `em!"
"Well you certainly like to pick their pockets, Grandma. Why don't you ward off evil spirits with your stickers!"
"Don't have any reason to ward them off girly! We're in their house now."
A Caucasian mad, dressed in blue from head to foot, walked towards the two ladies. In his right hand were several tickets. The ticket collector, he was.
"Ahem. Do you fine ladies have your tickets?" The man asked.
Ayame turned away from the window to witness the man. She smiled and placed her hand in her pockets, searching for the stubs.
"Ayame, you have those tickets that lousy western invader sent us, right?" Granny spoke.
"Uh …Err …I have them somewhere in here, I promise…." Ayame nervously laughed. The ticket collector raised an eyebrow.
"Darn it Ayame! Don't tell me you've lost the tickets! This westerner here is probably waiting for the slightest excuse to slit our throats and steal our land!" Granny shouted.
"Excuse me good lady, but I'd never even think about taking land from my passengers. I do, however, intend on taking their tickets! Now present them to me or I'll be forced to take drastic measures." The man said in a rather irritated speech.
"I honestly do have them! Where could they be?!" Ayame said nervously.
"Hurry up Ayame! This ain't no wagon or train! We can't jump out whenever we please!" Granny shouted.
"SHUT UP GRANNY BEFORE I STRIKE MY SHURIKEN IN YOUR HEART!" Ayame burst.
"Bring it on little girl! You're not even a ninja yet!" Granny egged her granddaughter on.
"Ladies?" The man asked.
"You're two feet tall! I could step on you and end your stupid mouth's talking forever!" Ayame shot.
"You can't even throw a shuriken! Hell, you couldn't even throw a brick!" Granny spat.
"Ladies?" The man pleaded.
"The last time you could throw a shuriken was a hundred years ago!"
"And I can still throw it better than you today!"
"Ladies?!"
"The only thing you're good for is being a stepping stool!"
"It's a wonder at all that you brought back a power stone! I thought you were going to bring home a lump of coal!"
"Ladies?!"
"Old frog!"
"Bitch!"
"LADIES!" the ticket collector screamed.
The two woman had clutched each other's necks and were going for a strangling death. Both looked towards the screaming man with hell burning in their eyes.
"WHAT?!" they shouted with as much evil aura as a trip to hell.
The man backed down and started to whimper. "N-never mind…" He then scurried away to some dark part of the Zeppelin.
The two ladies backed off of each other, still heated mad. Ayame placed her hands in a cross over her chest as Granny dug her fists into her pockets.
"Eh? What's this?" Granny spoke as she pulled out two Zeppelin tickets.
Ayame turned around with a surprised look on her face. "Wha?! You mean you had them the whole time?!"
Granny shrugged. "You must have given them to me at the station and I forgot all about them. Ha ha!"
Ayame fell over with the whole idiocy of it all.
** *
The zeppelin had been in flight for quite some time now. It would take a long time, Ayame theorized, to cross half of the planet. But this time she wasn't on her feet. Sure she had taken trains, horseless carriages, ships, and even a steer one time (the vast fields of America's interior was nothing but steer and flat land for thousands of miles.). Secretly, she was excited about this trip. Her family and clan were important to her, sure, but once she had gotten out into the world, she yearned for more of it.
I am quite sure that you are knowledgeable in what I am speaking of. The late nineteenth century was a hotbed for discovery, innovation, and excitement. But the feudal country of Japan had refused to partake in the miracles of science. The rest of the world had discovered antibiotics, aviation, hydraulics, coal-powered ships, trains that spanned continents like enormous spider webs. Grapeshot, the machine gun, and basic rocketry had emerged as well as photography, telegraphs, Morse code, and silent films. However, like I said before, Japan refused to act. The island nation sealed itself within its own walls, shunning contact from the outside world for generations. Even the great nation of China was moving forth into factories and engineering. Korea was doing the same as France's claims to Indochina produced goods by the ton. Even the super power Russia was expanding itself across the northern wastes of Asia. Japan was indeed far behind, and the samurai lords wished it to be that way. The sword and wagon were still the trademarks of Japanese culture, and Ayame knew this.
"Ayame!" Granny called from her chair.
Ayame had been peering at a traditional European couple that were discussing current event for quite some time. She sighed and picked up her cup of green tea.
"AYAME!" Granny finally screamed.
Ayame screamed in panic and leaped out of her chair. Finally noticing her very shot grandmothers chuckles, she frowned and sat back down on the lovely, craved German chair.
"Ayame, what are you staring at? Taint polite to stare, y'know?" Granny sipped her tea.
"Oh nothing Granny. Why did you decide to come anyways?" Ayame asked out of curiosity.
"…I'm getting old Ayame. Decided I'd like to see what was on the other side of the Ocean before I pass on."
"You know Granny… Those people over there are talking about how a man actually covered the globe in eighty days! You could do that!" Ayame smiled.
"Poppy cock! They're doing nothing but spreading gossip. It's impossible! Going around the world in eighty days… I'd be satisfied just seeing one part of the western world. Walking and we could have seen the sights of China!" granny fussed.
"Oh the western world is great! There are so many people doing a thousand things! Life is always busy! They have huge cities made of stone, a thousand times larger than Oedo! You can take a train to just about anywhere! In France –that's where we're going!- They have a great city built over a river with an enormous metal tower! They just finished it when I got there for a world fair!"
"A world fair? What the devil is that?"
"Oh World fairs are great! People from all over the world come to one city and throw a giant festival! There was food and dancing and all sorts of weird machines that different people made. Tents are everywhere and there's people who will tell you your fortune and people who will sell you odd trinkets from their homelands and…and there was even something called a motion picture!"
"A motion picture?"
"It's unreal Granny! You sit down in a huge dark room and watch a wall! And on this wall was a man dressed in funny clothing doing odd things! But he really wasn't there!"
"Sounds like bad magic to me! Probably had a conjurer summon a devil to lock the man in the wall! I'm going to need more stickers!"
"Oh grandmother." Ayame sighed. "There are friendly people in the west to! I met Falcon in Britain – that's the country that owns more than half the world! – And I met a girl from British Persia, and a man from Mexico – that's in the New World, on the other side of the great ocean- and a huge man from British Canada! Canada is as far west as you can go!"
"British people are fools. They keep sending over their business mean and their missionaries! It's damned annoying!"
"Grandma! If you're going to enjoy the outside world, you need to have a positive attitude! Everything doesn't revolve around Nippon!" Ayame grew angry.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing! My own granddaughter putting the evil ways of the west before her own samurai lord! They must have enchanted you wish some kind of devil enchantment!" Granny dived into her sack, no doubt digging for her stickers.
Ayame scowled and stomped away to a far spot on the zeppelin, a flight of stairs down and in the dining hall. The entire way she practically blew steam from her ears.
"Evil demon enchantment! Ha! That's ridiculous!" Ayame growled. In truth, she was actually beginning to doubt devils, enchantment, or any thing of the like actually existed. The great philosophers and enlighten ones of Europe began to question everything, including magic, with a tool called the scientific method over a century ago. It was lunacy to believe in such things. Sure she had captured a power stone a year past. The stone was rumored to make any wish come true, but poor Ayame was never able to witness such an event. Although she ended up giving an alternate boulder to the samurai lord, her father kept the actual power stone. Since then she hadn't noticed any change. Her father had never made a wish upon it, and the same old mundane life crawled on. Sure there was her training as a ninja, but Ayame felt that the way of the ninja had died a long time ago. I her eyes, she was practicing a dead profession.
She sat herself down in a booth by a window once she had reached the dining hall. She placed her cheek upon her palms and gazed scornfully at the ground. Around the room, many westerners, in their elegant costumes of dress, milled about in their own luxurious business. Ayame sighed and felt her heart sink. She imagined her self in a grand European ball gown in side a giant palace, such as Versailles. It was her personal favorite castle. She imagined a gentle man in a fine British suit stepping towards her, his perfect reflection stepping through the floor. She imagined herself dancing the waltz to a phonograph, an invention she also loved, with a thousand other couples. Her father was nowhere to be seen and the samurai lord was missing. She smiled at the thought of this. She imagined driving the city streets in a horseless carriage, meeting the famed Sherlock Holmes (She had read Sir Doyle's dime novels while in Britain), and getting her portrait taken by famous French photographer. She imagined fighting train robbers while crossing the great plains of the United States, dancing in and Brazilian fiesta, and fighting the bulls in Mexico. By now her frustration had disappeared and she now had a great big smile on her face.
"Excuse me ma'am." Came a voice with an odd accent.
Ayame awoke from fantasyland to gaze at what looked like a masked cowboy. The man was tall, slender, and blonde. His blue eyes reflected through his mask underneath his hat. The man had a shawl on over his buttoned up shirt and tight fitting Levi's. He had his cowboy boots resting upon the table so that he was sitting in a reclined position in the booth. He smiled.
"I couldn't help but notice your enormous smile. Where you going that makes you so happy?" the cowboy asked.
Ayame looked skeptical at the man first, but feeling embarrassed for sitting in an occupied booth without saying anything, she decided to converse. "Away from home!"
"Hooey! Sounds like family problems. Where ya from, girl? By the way, I'm Accel. John Accel, but everyone calls my Accel." Accel grinned.
"Hi, I'm Ayame Uematsu." She reached her hand over the table extending it outwards.
"What in tar nation are you doing ma'am?" Accel asked.
"A hand shake. Isn't it what you westerners do when they meet each other?" Ayame was confused.
"Oh, a handshake! That's when two people meet to do business! In casual talk, we don't do hand shakes, us "westerners"." Accel smiled.
"Ah… Well Accel, what's tar nation? Is that where you're from? I'm from Oedo, Nippon."
"Nippon eh? You mean like Japan? Interesting. Tar nation is Texas miss Ayame. It's where I'm from. But I'm leaving there, got too many bad memories…"
"Texas…that's a state in the U.S. You have family problems too huh?"
"Had family problems. You see, my pa' was crippled in the war thirty years back, and my ma' had to everything her self. I didn't get to have a child hood."
"I thought America was the best country in the world?! I thought everyone in America was happy. When I went there, I went through …Montana? Yea, the Montana territory. And everyone I met was happy."
"That's cus there's three people in Montana! The war didn't touch them Yankees. Managed to hit every warm blooded Confederate though. I wasn't even born until ten years after the war and people then hated Yanks."
Ayame bit her lip. This man was obviously very disturbed by some great war. A war unknown to her. From what she has heard during her trips through Europe that America was the place to be! Jobs for every man, a house for every woman, and food for every child. America had the biggest factories and largest navy. But what this man was talking about was different. Maybe he's just a disillusioned old fool. A twenty year old fool, but a fool never the less.
"So, what's your problems?" Accel asked.
"Oh my problems! …You see, I love the outside world, I mean outside Nippon. I love everything about western culture! The music, the clothing, everything! However, every one else in Nippon thinks that the west is nothing but demonic fools. I grow so tired of it; I get it constantly from everyone in my family! That's why I'm going to France, Manches to be exact, and staying a while with a friend. A Mr. Edward Falcon. He's not French though, he's British!" Ayame seemed to put emphasis on the fact that Falcon was British.
"I'd run away if I got that all the time to. I America, all we do is want to take over all the banana republics and kill all the ingines."
"Say…Accel, why do you wear that mask?"
"Oh this thing. I'm a train rob… conductor. We wear these things. And I like to keep mine. Kind of like how an aviator always wears his goggles." Accel shrugged.
Ayame decided then and there that this was a very odd man. He was cute and funny nevertheless, but very strange. Of coarse, she probably looks strange her self to all of these people.
"Just another week before Manches…" Ayame sighed.
** *
