An Alternate Story of the Knight Sabers
2034 Year of the Tiger
Neo No Armour Against Fate (Section 4 of 5)
Fearful Symmetry (8 of 8)
by Shawn Hagen(2000;2005)
Based on situations and characters created by Suzuki Toshimichi.
Domino stood amongst a group of security people, effectively screened as the Knight Sabers left the South Pillar. They spoke to the senior security officer for several seconds, then walked away from him, back towards the waiting helicopter.
The officer called several of his men to him, gave them orders, then sent them into the building. So everything ends, Domino thought, so far in Genom's favour. All well and good.
She continued to watch the Knight Sabers until the helicopter took to the air. Once they were gone she turned towards the Tower. There was a lot of work to do, and a number of questions she still needed answered.
At least the primary crisis had been dealt with.
"Odotte-san," someone called from behind her.
She turned to see one of the security people rushing up to her. "Yes?" she asked once he had come close.
"A member of the ADP would like to speak with you. Her name is Akamura Kaneko."
Domino did not say anything for a moment as she thought about it, then said, "Please take me to her."
The man nodded and turned, leading Domino to the edge of the perimeter. There, standing near a slightly battered ADP patrol car, was Kaneko. She was still wearing the work dress uniform she had been in earlier.
"You may go," Domino said to the man who had led her to the woman. Once he had left Domino turned to Kaneko. "You wanted to speak with me Lieutenant Akamura?"
Kaneko opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it. After a moment she got out, "There is no easy way to say this."
"Say what?" Domino asked, curious.
"I have the unfortunate duty of telling you that one of your employees, Sheffield Akiko was killed during the fighting this evening."
"I see," Domino said, perfectly calm.
"I have the body, I did not..." Kaneko trailed off. There was no right way to say 'lock her up in the ADP evidence vaults for investigation and eventual destruction'.
"I understand," Domino moved closer to Kaneko. "Please."
Kaneko nodded after a moment then walked to the rear of the car and then opened the hatchback. In the back of the small vehicle was a body bag. It occupant had been bent at the waist so as to fit in the small space. Domino reached in, carefully moving the body so it was straight and then opened then zipper.
Kaneko moved to block Domino's actions from anyone's sight.
Domino looked down at Akiko's ruined face, and the rest of her body. After a moment she sighed. "I hope you enjoyed your time of freedom," Domino said, then zipped the bag back up.
She looked around then signalled two security guards to her. "Take this to lab 14D," she ordered them.
Kaneko watched as the body bag and its contents were taken away, wondering what was going to be done with the body. After a moment she decided she did not want to know. She looked at Domino who stood by the rear of the car, watching as Akiko's remains were carried off. "Odotte-san," she said after a moment.
"Yes Lieutenant Akamura?" Domino turned her attention to Kaneko.
"May I ask you something?"
"I make no promises to answer."
"You know what I am?"
"Yes."
"You haven't tried to use that against me. Even the case with the fire fighting boomers you never really told me what to do."
"And you'd like to know why."
"Yes."
"Akamura-san, the individuals who put you into the police force and then the ADP did so because they were afraid of making mistakes. They put you in a position where you could cover those mistakes. It made them sloppy, careless. I do not plan to make such a mistake myself."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"I do not plan to make mistakes, therefore I do not need someone to cover those mistakes up. In fact, you serve me better by being independent. I'll always know you are out there, and I'll always make sure my plans take you into effect. You will keep me sharp Akamura-san."
Kaneko was not sure she understood Domino at first, then she realised she did. "And what if I don't want to keep you sharp? What if I quit the ADP and go and write romance novels?"
"Do as you wish."
Kaneko stared at Domino for several seconds, then said, "You mean that don't you."
"Of course. Your life is your own Akamura-san. If you remain with the ADP you will be of use to me, if you leave, I will not be harmed."
Kaneko was a little taken aback by that. "Thank you," she said. "You are different than I thought you would be, from that short meeting we had in my apartment."
"First impressions can be troublesome," Domino said.
"Maybe." Kaneko took a step closer to Domino. "I think, maybe, I'd like to get to know you better."
Domino looked at her for a moment. "Lieutenant Akamura"
"Yes?"
"Where are Sheffield-san's weapons?"
"Pardon?"
"Sheffield-san's weapon were not on her body. Do you have them?"
Kaneko said nothing for a few seconds, then turned stiffly to her car and pulled open the driver's door. She reached across the car and grabbed a bundle from the passenger's seat. She straightened, turned and then handed the bundle to Domino. "These are her weapons," she said in clipped tones. "I would hate you to think I had stolen any of Genom's property."
Domino opened the bundle and looked to make sure all the weapons were there, then she looked at Kaneko. "Thank you Lieutenant Akamura. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." She bowed then straightened, turned and walked away.
Kaneko got into her car, pulled the door closed much harder than she had to, resulting in a crack in the glass. She sighed, taking advantage of her housekeeping computer to reach a state of calm, then started the car up.
There was something about Domino Odotte that bothered her. She was going to have to give it some calm thought. That would be later though. She also had work to do.
Sylia dropped Priss off at a private clinic as soon as she was able. The wound in her side had re-opened during the fighting and she had come close to passing out. The clinic was one where Sylia had made arrangements. No one would ask any questions and there would be no record of Priss' admission.
The doctor had told her that he expected Priss would have to remain in the clinic for two to three weeks. Sylia would be surprised if Priss were willing to stay more than two or three days.
She would let the doctor deal with it.
After that they had returned to the garage under LADYS633. Sylia was a little surprised when she looked at the clock in the van's dashboard. Not quite midnight yet. Everything had happened quickly. She was not even quite sure what had happened. It would probably take a few days to piece everything together, and even then she knew there would be many unknowns.
At the moment she was more concerned with cleaning, repairing and storing all the equipment. She and the others performed some simple preventive maintenance, but over the next few days Mackie and Sylia would complete all the repairs on the equipment. Sylia decided she would start with Priss' hardsuit and the Typhoon II as they had taken the most damage.
Later though. There was something she had to take care of at that moment.
"Linna-san," Sylia said after they had changed out of their innersuits.
"Hai?" Linna looked up from where she was sitting, wrapping her left arm with a cooling bandage. Linna had some areas of bruising on her body and other signs of blunt trauma injury. They hurt a little, but none of them were really bad.
"The other night, you were at the tribute dinner."
Linna looked a little uncomfortable but nodded. "I was. A friend invited me at the last minute."
"Your friend, he is Devon Okami isn't he?"
"Yes."
"Okami?" Nene said. "That name sounds familiar."
"He is one of Genom's Genro. He helped form the company."
"You're dating someone from Genom?" Nene asked Linna.
"We're not actually dating."
Sylia was not about to argue exactly what Linna's relationship with Devon was. "By just knowing him you put us in danger."
"I have been careful," Linna said, getting to her feet, feeling defensive. "I'm not being followed or watched, and Devon's security people are only interested in me when I am with him, if they are interested in me at all."
"You cannot be sure of any of that. And even if Okami and Genom are not interested in you that is not the only threat. Okami is a potential target to anyone who might wish to take on Genom. And if you are with him, then you become a potential target. There are a great number of risks."
Linna was not sure how to answer that, she fell back on, "I've taken precautions, been careful and watchful, used all the things you taught me."
"I know you have, but you still represent a threat."
"Are you going to ask me to stop seeing him?" Linna's tone was sharp, almost challenging. There was something defiant in her manner.
Sylia shook her head. "I could, but I don't see the point." She paused for a moment, considering whether she should continue with what she had planned to say. "I was thinking of dismissing you from the Knight Sabers."
Linna looked rather surprised by that, and Nene let out a gasp. Neither could quite believe what they had just heard.
"I will not do so though," Sylia continued. "I am going to ask you to limit your contact with the others. I think it would be best if you did not see any of them outside of our activities as the Knight Sabers."
"Sylia-san..." Nene began, not liking the sound of things. A sharp glance from Sylia quieted her.
Linna said nothing for a few seconds, then nodded. "I understand. It's a good idea."
"Furthermore, do not try to contact me in the future. I will get in contact with you any time you are needed." Sylia softened her stance and gave Linna an apologetic look. "I am sorry, but on the positive side, this will give you a chance to devote more of your energies to your dance."
Linna nodded again. "If, after a certain time, we are sure that no one is taking any interest in me, can things go back to the way they were?"
"I don't know," Sylia told her.
"I am sorry Sylia," Linna told her. "I just wasn't thinking I guess."
"I understand."
"I think I better go now," Linna said. "If you don't need my help that is."
"Of course."
Linna picked up her bag and looked to Sylia. "Goodnight," she said, then over at Nene, "Later." Then she turned and walked from the room. Nene and Sylia heard her say goodbye to Mackie.
After a few seconds Nene looked over at Sylia. "Sylia-san, that was cruel."
Sylia looked at Nene for a moment then sighed. "We are in dangerous times Nene-san. Tonight's events proved that. I, we, have to be very careful. I am not trying to be cruel, quite the opposite in fact."
Nene wanted to say something, but she knew that Sylia was right. Linna had been wrong to become involved in such a relationship, and yet Nene knew it was not really Linna's fault. Who could control that sort of thing?
Sunday March 26th, 12:35am
After Nene left LADYS633 she went back to the ADP building, fully expecting to have to explain her absence. When she arrived she found no one waiting to demand a reason for her absence. After giving it some thought it made sense. Leon was her direct supervisor, and he would not have needed her for anything. She went un-missed.
She did not stay long. She discovered a list of wounded that sent her out of the building and off to the hospital.
Not long afterwards Nene clutched a bouquet of flowers tight to her chest as she rushed through the hospital, looking at the numbers on the doors, stopping every now and then to look over the maps mounted on the wall with the big, friendly, 'you are here' markers.
Her thoughts were focused on Kaoru. He had been wounded in the incidentwhat a PR Lieutenant was doing out in front line combat was beyond herthough not badly.
Finally she found the room where he was. She noted with a little surprise that it was a private room. That was strange, but maybe there were so many wounded that they ran out of space in the other rooms.
She took a breath, composed herself, and pushed the door open.
"Are you okay Wada-ch..." she stopped as she saw Kaoru was not alone. An attractive womanprobably in her late twentieswas sitting by his bedside. She turned to face Nene. She was beautiful, her black hair long and straight, her brown eyes piercing, she had a stare that reminded Nene a little of Sylia.
"Ne...Romanova-san," Kaoru said a little quickly. "Have you met my wife, Karen Kasumi?"
Nene almost dropped the flowers she was carrying. She felt a little as if she had been punched in the stomach.
"No, you never told me you were married," Nene said, amazed at how calm she sounded.
"Oh, Kaoru is like that," Kasumi stood and walked to Nene. "My position in Genom might cause him a little embarrassment, or so he thinks." She smiled fondly then looked over her shoulder at him. "So, you are one of Kaoru's friends from the ADP?" she turned her attention back to Nene.
She stressed the word friend in such a way that made Nene sure she knew about her and Kaoru. That she did not even seem to care made it even worse.
"Yes," Nene said. "You are with Genom?"
"I'm in control of the operations in Osaka. As soon as I heard about this I flew right in."
On your broom? Nene thought, rather uncharitably. "I'm glad. I was worried that there would be no one here with him."
"We might not be able to spend much time together, but we are always there when the other needs us. Here, let me take those." She took the flowers from Nene. "I'll find some place for them."
For the first time she noticed that the room was filled with flowers. In charge of Genom's Osaka operations. The woman was obviously very rich. It explained why she often though that Kaoru was living beyond his means.
"You are all right aren't you?" Nene walked to Kaoru's bedside.
"Oh, just fine. Minor fracture," he held up his left arm which had a light cast on it. "Tripped jumping out of the APC," he laughed.
"It's so nice of you to be concerned about my husband's health," Karen said, turning back to Nene. She moved closer to Nene, not quite invading her personal space. Nene had to look up a little to look the woman in the face. "You are so adorable," she said in a slightly patronising tone that made Nene feel like she was twelve. She smiled coolly as she turned to look at Kaoru. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a daughter like her?" She walked over to Kaoru and sat down on his bed, putting her hands on his shoulder in a very possessive manner. "We really should start thinking about a family. It seems you like children more than I thought."
Nene stiffened a little at that. She did not care to be insulted by this beautiful woman who did not even see her as a credible threat to her marriage. She might not look quite as mature, but if she really wanted to she could take Kaoru away from Karen.
Karen looked over at Nene, still smiling. "Perhaps you could come to our place in Osaka for dinner one night. I don't often get a chance to meet with Kaoru's associates."
"Maybe," Nene said, having not intention of spending any time with that woman. "I hope you are feeling well soon Wada-san." She put on her best smile. "You should probably stick to the ADP building from now on."
Kaoru laughed. It almost did not sound forced. "I'll try. Tonight they grabbed anyone they could when this happened. Your friend Naoko-san was out there you know?"
"Naoko?" Nene asked, suddenly worried. Why was she wasting time with this liar when Naoko might be hurt, or worse?
"I'm sure she is all right," Kaoru said.
"Well, I think I better check, seeing as you were not hurt badly."
"Do go, make sure your friend is all right," Kasumi said. "Kaoru will be fine."
"Thanks," Nene said.
"I want to thank you for everything you've done," she said, getting to her feet and then bowing deeply. Behind her Kaoru was giving her an apologetic look as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure," Nene said, quickly leaving the room.
That bastard, Nene thought as she angrily strode through halls. He had lied to her, made her love him, and he was married. By the looks of things he was not about to leave her either. Whether he loved her or her money did not matter, he was staying with her.
And her. Nene was sure that she knew and that made her feel dirty, like she was some diversion that need not be worried about.
When she saw a computer terminal behind one of the nurse's stations she walked to it, hoping someone would ask her what she was doing so she could snap, 'ADP business' at him or her. No one did.
She did not even try to be subtle with her computer work. The security hardly slowed her and soon she was in the hospital admission section. She found Naoko's name quickly. She was down two floors in one of the 6 person rooms. Checking deeper Nene was relieved to see that she was just in for the night for observation.
After making a stop at the gift shop for another bouquet of flowers, Nene went to her friend's room.
She pushed the door open slowly in case anyone was sleeping. She need not have bothered.
There were five people in the room. Naoko, two other communications techs and two women from the TAC squads. Nene recognised one as Corporal Arwen Sakaki. They were all sitting on their beds, talking animatedly.
"Well if it isn't Sergeant Romanova," Arwen said happily, the first to see Nene. "You're late you know. You could have got those pretty rank pins of yours splattered with a little blood," her tone was good-natured. Nene had received some flack from some of the women on the TAC squads before, as had most of the communication techs. Since changing departments that had lessened a little.
"Nene-san," Naoko said happily.
"I heard you were here so I thought I better check up on you."
"She's fine," the other woman from the TAC squads said. "Took a little shrapnel in the arm and a concussion that the doctors are holding her for."
"Ah, I remember my first concussion," Arwen said. "Lot better than loosing your head."
"I just wanted to be sure," Nene walked close to Naoko's bed and gave her the flowers.
"Thanks," Naoko said, taking the flowers. "They're beautiful."
"I'm going to go now, it is late," Nene told them.
"Grab a seat Sergeant-chan," Arwen told her. "We have a bottle of Chivas that someone sneaked in here and none of us can drink it due to medication and other problems."
"Okay," Nene said as she took a seat. Being around these women would be a good way to put Kaoru from her mind for a time.
"So, Naoko, you were about to tell us how you ended up here," Arwen said as she poured Nene a generous amount of the whisky.
"Well, I was guarding one of the shelters when Captain Yamano and her team showed up in pursuit of a boomer..."
Most of the ADP's command officers, those who could be spared from other duties or who were not in the hospital, had gathered together in the largest briefing room in the ADP building. Their topic of conversation dealt mostly with the events of the night and with Genom.
"So why did Genom help us?" Asako demanded. "That is the key to this, I'm sure."
While most everyone in the room knew that Asako would put the blame on Genom no matter what, they all agreed with her in this case.
"They wanted to test a bunch of product," Ryouchi Mano, Daily's second in command suggested.
"Doesn't wash," Daily said. "Nothing happened tonight that could not have been reproduced easier and cheaper at some testing range."
"I think this was an attack against Genom," Leon said. "They were getting hit. They had enough warning to come to us for help. That's it."
"So why are they letting us keep most of the toys they gave us?" Shiroko asked. "They're taking back the nasty sniper rifles, but have said nothing about the rest of the stuff they gave us."
"They'll probably just get the politicians to take it away from us," Asako said angrily.
"I don't think they will do that," a quiet voice said from the back of the room.
Everyone turned to look where Kaneko sat. "Why do you think that?" Daily asked her.
"The rules have changed. In the past Genom benefited from an ineffective ADP. They got to do what they wanted without worrying. I think it has made them lazy, prone to making mistakes. Tonight's events have shown them that they have to worry about that." Kaneko paused, staring at the floor. She thought back about what Domino Odotte had told her.
"They need a better ADP," Kaneko continued. "They need us to become the wolves, to go after the weak, the sick and the stupid of their herd. To ensure that, they will make sure we have teeth. I think we can expect an improvement in our weapon situation very soon."
"You have to be kidding," Asako stated. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."
"Is it?" Daily asked her. "In a way it makes a lot of sense. Genom did not have to give us any help. We all saw their operatives in the city, often giving us a hand, and their boomers were on site in places we needed help."
"Small numbers," Asako said. "If they took all the enemy boomers out themselves they would have been in a lot of trouble."
"For saving the city?" Shiroko asked her. "I'm not so sure."
"I think that Akamura-san has it right," Kina HayamiAsako's second in commandsaid. That earned her and angry stare from Asako. Kina continued, but looked a little cowed. "There is value to Genom if we are better at our job."
"Hey, if they want us to be the wolves I'm all for that, Tetsuya Kawasaki said. "We'll rip their herd apart." He smiled and looked to Leon. He was a little surprised that Leon did not appear to share his joy at the situation.
"You're right," Leon said to him. "Problem is, the real targets we really want to go after are wolves themselves. We go up against them, we might come away bloody."
"I find it interesting that you are using wolves as your metaphor considering they are basically extinct in Japan," Chief Toda said as he entered the room. "We might be better off being foxes and thinking for once in a while," he turned his gaze on both Leon and Asako as he walked to the raised stage. "Sit down," he told them all. He stepped up onto the stage, then took a seat.
Before anyone could ask him any questions Tylor Yamanaka entered the room. He stepped up onto the stage and took his place at the podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it could be argued that Genom has screwed up tonight. Combat class boomers stored in this city, ready for deployment, armed and they even made use of them. Armed Genom personnel moving through the city, interfering with the ADP's performance of its duty. And all the weapons and stuff they have given us, a number of laws were broken there as well. I suspect most of you are ready to nail them, already got your targets picked out. Some of you have even given me formal requests for warrants." He looked over at Asako. "Captain Yamano, the Chairman of Genom? Dare to dream." He placed his briefcase on the podium and opened it.
"These are the requests for warrants I have received so far." He held up a thick pile of paper. "Several of you are stepping on each other's toes in these. Well, forget it." He tossed the paper out onto the floor. "It is not going to happen."
"What the hell do you mean?" Asako was the first to yell out, though several other officers were on their feet as well.
"I mean I called several judges already and they won't touch this. You may not have seen the news lately, but Genom is spinning this well. They are singing the ADP's praises, but they are not leaving themselves out of this either. You got paramedic boomers being shot to hell as they shield the wounded and boomers sacrificing themselves to save lives. Now you go after Genom on this and what do you think the public will do?" he asked the entire room.
There was silence for several seconds; no one had an answer.
"They still broke the law," Jeena Malso said.
"They did, but we'll have a hard time pinning anything on them. Those 12Bs that lent us an occasional hand were being stored for shipment to the SDF. I've seen the paperwork so they've got that end covered. That they released those boomers is of course a questionable action but there is not a judge in the city that would convict them. They may be paying some fines, but I doubt even that. And then there are the weapons they gave us. We'll look like hypocritical idiots if we go after them for that. As for armed Genom personnel in the city, if we prove it we still may have a hard time doing anything with it."
"That's a load of shit," Ira Fujishima, a TAC squad lieutenant, said. "No way Genom could get that many Boomers armed and ready."
"Well, Genom has a bunch of boomer techs who will swear that that is what they did. Will say they used construction boomers to do the weapons loading and stuff. Did any of you get an accurate count of how many 12Bs were out there so we can refute those statements?"
"We were too busy trying to stay alive," Ira told him.
"Which is what Genom was counting on."
"We do know where some of those Boomers came from. Those were not standard Genom storage sites," Daily said.
"True. The main storage depot is having its security system replaced; Genom moved all the boomers to different sites. They kept it quiet for security reasons. And before you ask I suspect it is a load of crap as well but I did get a warrant to check it out. Liuetenant Malso," he held a sheet of folded paper up, "you're all set to go."
"About bloody time," Jeena said as she stood up, snatching the paper from his hand with her left hand. "I'll get out there and give you all a report as soon as I get back." She turned and walked from the room.
"So we are just supposed to do nothing?" Asako asked.
"Captain Yamano, we can't do anything. Like I said, I checked the news just before I came in here. I saw a scene of a 12B, weapons stripped from it, cleaning up the mess out there. Hell, some Genom suit even put a kid up on this thing's shoulders so she could have a ride. We go after Genom for helping us and the city and we will have the politicians and the public all over us."
"Screw the politicos," Asako said.
"Well, what about the citizens? They might not be happy with us. The Genom Spin Doctors may have the public calling for our disbandment."
"That's a lie," Asako said.
"It's not a lie," Tylor told her. "Genom is making the people love us right now, it seems to be in their interest to do so, but they are making the people love them as well. We start going after Genom we may find ourselves in the sort of trouble we don't want.
"Right now the SDF is pissed off at us for cleaning up their mess before they had a chance to roll in here and declare martial law. I've even heard there has been a suggestion to make the ADP a branch of the SDF since we are very close to a military right now. We might need Genom's help to stop that.
"And then there is the fact that boomers fought boomers tonight and that might get some people thinking that that is a good idea. Push Genom too hard and they might begin suggesting that boomers take the ADP's place, for our safety.
"For whatever reason Genom seems to want us to be effective, but if I know that Tower, there are different factions involved in this. We push too hard, we make too big of a stink over this, and things in the Tower might change and some new faction may move into place that would rather we were gone." Tylor looked about the room, waiting to see if anyone raised any objections.
"We finally had something substantial on them," Ira said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Tylor frowned. He felt he had still not convinced them. "You want, we can bypass the judges. It's in our mandate. I'll give you the warrants, now, but are you willing to deal with the consequences?" he asked them. No one said anything. "We know Genom was ready for something like this. That means they got themselves covered, even if things went south. Who wants to try their hand at this one?"
Toda looked up at that, wondering if any of his officers would take Tylor up on that challenge. Tylor was bluffing and it might not be good if the officers realised that.
"Well just great," Asako said, surging to her feet. "Genom can help us so we are just going to forget all that crap that has gone before and be friendly with them. It's bullshit and if they want a fight I say we give it to them!"
Toda sighed, knowing that Asako might just be able to lead a crusade against Genom. A crusade that could destroy them.
For a moment there was silence, the Leon got to his feet. "Shut up," he said to Asako. "Your hate on for Genom is getting tired. We'll do what the chief says. We'll be foxes and play this smart." Leon shook his head. "I've got reports to fill out." He turned and walked from the room, the situation defused.
"Fuck," Asako snapped. "And the next time some TAC squad personnel gets killed by some boomer, then what?" she yelled at Leon's back. When he did not answer she ran after him.
Toda watched it all and wondered what had come over Leon.
"McNichol, what's with this shit?" Asako demanded as she caught up with him outside the briefing room. "Why aren't you all over the old man on this one?"
"Because there is no point in it," he said, not looking back.
"Those bastards at Genom. The damn politicians. The citizens of this hole for not realising what is going on, not wanting to realise. That's our problem."
"Maybe," Leon said, "but what's our job?"
She almost said 'to nail Genom,' but stopped herself. "To protect the citizens of this city." She sounded as if the words tasted bad in her mouth.
"Yeah, and I can't get it in me to go after Genom for helping us do our job better."
Asako stopped, the thought coming as a surprise to her. It was true. Everything Genom had done had helped them to save countless lives and property as well.
Still, it did not sit well with her. She ran after Leon and caught up with him, grabbing his shoulder, making him stop and turn to face her. "Why are you jumping on Genom's bandwagon? That cute piece of tail they sent over here fuck you or something?"
"Give it a rest," Leon told her.
"Or maybe you are just on the take? Genom pay well?"
Stupid comment, she thought even as she said it. Tasteless and stupid.
Leon punched her. He would have done the same to any officer, male or female, who suggested such a thing.
Asako stumbled back, hit the wall and almost fell. She thought her nose might be broken.
"Let's not have this conversation again," Leon said as he turned around and continued towards the elevators.
She wiped the blood from her face, and carefully poked at her nose, hissing in pain as soon as she caused the broken bones to move a little.
Nene had taken a cab home from the hospital. She was a little drunk, but just a little. She was a little surprised that the lights on the house's first floor were still on. She had called her parents from the hospital to tell them that she was all right and that everything was over.
She unlocked the front door and stepped into the house. "Tadaima(I'm home)," she said softly. No one answered. Nene took off her shoes as she stepped up from the genkan, then knelt down to neatly arrange her shoes.
Before going to bed she wanted to get something to drink. On the way to the kitchen she found her mother in the living room. She was sitting in one of the chairs, several files, computer disks, a computer and a cup on the table in front of her.
"I'm back," Nene said.
"Welcome home," Ali said, looking up from her notes.
"Where's Papa?"
"Asleep." Ali lifted her eyes to the ceiling.
"Oh." Nene walked over to her mother. "Mama, what are you doing?"
"Preparations," Ali told her. "The events of this evening have resulted in a number of casualties that will require prosthetic surgery. I have three cases tomorrow. Two eyes, that will be easy and a lower leg that will keep me busy. And in two hours a patient will be stable enough for me to go in and remove a blood clot from her brain. How was your friend?"
"She's fine, observation for a concussion."
"Luckier than some according to the news. It was not as bad as it might have been. According to the news the ADP did an excellent job."
"Everyone just did their jobs," Nene said as she took a seat on the arm of her mother's chair. "I remember when I could sit in a chair with you."
"I think there is still room," Ali said, sliding over, smiling.
Nene moved into the space created. It was very tight, but also rather nice.
"So, why so nostalgic," Ali picked up her coffee cup and took a drink.
"Have you ever been involved with a married man?" Nene asked.
Ali came close to choking on the coffee she had just drunk. Her expression would have made Nene laugh had she not been feeling so down.
"What?"
"It's not like we slept together," Nene told her. "Thought I guess we came close."
"Nene-chan, what are you talking about?"
"One of the Lieutenants at work, we were seeing each other and, well tonight I found out he was married," Nene put her arms around her mother and buried her face in her chest.
"And he never told you?" Ali stroked Nene's hair.
"If he had told me I would have stopped seeing him," Nene laughed, though it sounded like she might be holding back tears.
"Oh Nene-chan, you can be so foolish," Ali told her.
"Thanks," Nene said sarcastically.
"Did his wife find out?"
"I think she knew, and she didn't care. She's rich and beautiful and I think Kaoru likes that."
"Poor Nene-chan."
"And he just sat there in the bed, not even having the decency to say anything. And his wife did not even see me as any sort of threat. It was like I was a little girl who had a crush on her husband. She probably thought it was cute."
"Nene-chan," her Mother said as she hugged her daughter tight. "If you really wanted to I'm sure you could take any husband away from his wife. Not that I want you to try that." Ali's tone took on a slight edge.
Nene laughed again, but it did not sound as if she was going to cry. "I'll try not to mama."
"Did you love him?"
"I thought I loved him," Nene said softly. "I think I did, until tonight. How could he lie like that?" The lighter mood she had exhibited only seconds before was gone.
"Maybe he never realised how important he had become to you. Maybe he's just a bastard."
Nene began to laugh, hearing her Mother speak like that was just so out of character for her. Her emotions were bouncing up and down. The alcohol she had consumed was not helping things.
"Once," Ali said softly.
"Pardon?"
"I was involved with a married man once."
"Really," Nene moved back a little so she could look up at her mother.
"Yes, really. I wasn't much older than you and he, well he was one of the professors, not one of mine. Young and smart and very pretty." Ali smiled. "And he never told me he was married and I found out from friends who thought I was acting like a real idiot over him."
"What did you do?"
"I made a rather large scene about it. Very embarrassing, but I did get back at him."
"Mama is an idiot," Nene moved close to her Mother again.
"Well, if you are going to act stupid doing it over a man is not so bad," Ali told her.
Nene laughed softly.
Yoshiaki Majima was Genom's top boomer researcher. He was the one they could not afford to lose, so he was the one that did not exist. He had never published a paper, he had never given a lecture, and he worked with very few people.
He was a very small man, though he was perfectly proportioned. He stood a little under 120 centimetres. Along with the black suits, he always wore were a pair of round-framed glasses. Domino, who had met the man a few times, was fairly certain that the glass in them was just window-glass.
"So Majima-hakase," Domino said as she took a seat across from him, "what have you found out?"
"I've been looking over the chips that were recovered and made a few discoveries you might be interested in."
"Of course."
"The three chips, taken from the D-class boomers, were all given ice pick lobotomies," he said, using the term for cutting the chips connection from the OMS receiver with a probe of some sort.
"How skilfully was it done?"
"I've seen better jobs, but whoever did it knew the basics. They were functioning at about eighty to eighty-five percent."
"Fortunate for us."
He nodded. "The way the two chips, both standard AI chips by the way, were set up in the Flecks copy was interesting."
"How so?"
"It was not done quite right. Both chips were basically working at the same thing at the same time. Instead of working with two brains, as it were, it was simply working with a spare."
"Someone was sloppy," Domino said, smiling slightly.
"Or did not know what they were doing. That is not really important, at least not to me. Take a look at this." He took a sheet from his desk and handed it to her.
Domino took the sheet and looked at it. It was graph of sorts, marked with one thick red line, and a number of thinner lines of different colours. The lines were nearly identical with only small deviations between them. "What is it?"
"That red line represents the average of the performance of ten AI chips, five just off the line, five produced last month. The others represent the performance of chips taken from the boomers that attacked the city this night."
Domino looked back at the sheet, then up at Yoshiaki. "That's impossible. Those chips are performing at near full efficiency."
"It's not impossible."
Domino shook her head. "Any AI chip set up to function with the OMS suffers degradation in performance if cut off from the OMS receiver. Yes, there are ways to cut that connection and have the chip still function, but not at near perfect levels."
"Until now," Yoshiaki said calmly. He took off his glasses and made a show of polishing the lenses. Domino was tempted to smack them from his hands but kept her calm and waited. He put his glasses back on and reached for another page on his desk. "I cut the chips open and in everyone of them I found a few of these," he told her as he handed her the page. "That picture is at two hundred times magnification."
Domino took the page and looked at it. Pictured was something that looked like a mechanical bug. Domino had seen something like it before. "Do you know what this is?" she asked him.
Yoshiaki nodded. "The Chairman sent me information on Knight-hakase's terminated work. It is quite clever using her design on boomer AI chips."
Domino nodded. "They could cut just what needed to be cut within the chip and leave everything else unharmed. How do we stop this from being used again?"
"We can change the interior architecture of the chip, put up barriers against this sort of thing, but that is a temporary measure at best. The door has been opened and someone will eventually find away around what we do."
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Get rid of the OMS entirely."
"That is a very dangerous suggestion."
"It would solve a lot of problems."
"And cause a lot more. Still..." Domino thought about it for a moment. "Prepare a report. Perhaps we can do something."
"I'll do so."
Domino nodded. "Tell me, how goes special project Munin?"
"Well enough. We currently have an eighty seven percent recovery rate. We hope to increase that by two or three percent more in the next few days."
"Good. Thank you for your time Majima-hakase, it has been most enlightening," she said as she handed the pages back to him.
"You are quite welcome Odotte-san."
Domino stood up, bowed to him, and then walked from his office.
Her next stop was Shileea Satto's office. Shileea had been performing the post-mortem on the body of Douglas Meren. He had been identified as the leader by the surviving terrorists.
She was about to knock on Shileea's door when Rebecca Lin ran up to her.
"You have to help Kiki," she said. There were tears in her eyes.
Domino looked down at her. "Sheffield Akiko-kun is dead. She is beyond help."
"No," Rebecca snapped. "You have to do something. Copy her mind like you did to me, or fix her."
Domino shook her head. "There was too much damage. There is nothing left to copy, no way to repair the damage. Even if I could do as you ask I could not recreate Akiko, just like I could not recreate the real Rebecca Lin." Just like D could not recreate Brain Mason, she thought.
"You promised her that you would copy her memories!"
"I promised her that I would give her a chance to live the rest of her time as best she could. At the end of that time I would give her a chance to pass something of herself on to a new being. I knew she was going to die, as did she. You should have known."
"I loved her! Don't you understand that?"
Domino shook her head. "Even if I did bring something back from Akiko-san's memories there is no guarantee that this new person would care for you. It if quite possible that she would look at you and only see a child. Would be sickened by the thought of having any sort of physical relationship with you."
Rebecca took a step back. She looked as if she had been slapped. "You're so cruel."
"Miss Lin, you may look like a child, but we both know you are not one. If I don't think you can be of value to me then maybe I'll just have to get rid of you."
Rebecca took another step back from Domino, a look of fear on her face. Then she turned about and ran off, sobbing loudly.
"She's right, you are very cruel," Shileea said as she opened her door.
"She is acting like a fool," Domino said as she turned to face her doctor.
"One might say that function follows form."
"Pardon?"
"If you put someone in the body of a child you have to expect that they might act as such." She moved aside so Domino could enter her office.
"I don't see why that should be," Domino said as she stepped into the office, closing the door behind her. "And she is not really in the body of a child."
"Close enough. She has just lost someone she loved. You can't expect her to be rational about things." Shileea walked to her desk.
Domino sighed. "I don't have time to play nurse-maid to her. What have you found out Satto-hakase?"
"That you call me up to work at the oddest times."
"Please Satto-hakase, I don't have time for games right now."
Shillea nodded. "I suppose Becky-san is not the only person who lost a friend tonight."
"What did you discover?" Domino asked.
"I still have work to do, but I did finish examining his brain. It is as you expected."
Domino nodded. "Thank you Satto-hakase."
"What are you going to do now?"
Domino opened the door and then looked back at Shileea. "I'm going to hurt someone."
Not far from the Tower was one of the most comfortable prisons in the world. It did not look like a prison; it looked like an apartment building. There were no walls around it, and its occupants could leave the building if they wished, but it was a prison non-the-less.
It was where Yoshiro Andrews had been moved to after the events earlier in the month. He occupied a condominium that took up the entire second floor of the building. He had a staff of three, two bodyguards and a maid. All three were boomers, there to protect him and as his jailers.
He no longer looked like the man he had. The changes in his face were minor, but they had altered his appearance. He looked a little younger than he had, more handsome, a stronger jaw. People who had known him well would probably still recognise him, but few others.
Yoshiro was sitting in his living room watching the news. The events of the night had made it hard from him to sleep. His guards had been ready to evacuate him if necessary. Things were calming down but Yoshiro still felt a little too worked up to sleep. He knew a little too much about what was happening out there.
The ringing of the entry chime made him look up from the television. A moment later he heard one of his guards welcome someone in. Yoshiro turned in his chair, looking towards the entryway. A few seconds later Domino walked in.
"Morning," he said. "To what to I owe the pleasure." His tone was sarcastic. He did not like Domino now and made no pretence otherwise.
Domino walked over to where he was sitting. They stared at each other from several seconds. Yoshiro was expecting a question. What he got was a backhand that sent him sprawling out of his chair to the floor.
One of the security boomers started into the room but Domino turned to it. "Stand down," she ordered.
The boomer stopped, accepting the order, though it conflicted with its directive to protect Yoshiro. Still Domino Odotte had the authority to countermand that directive.
Domino turned back to Yoshiro. He was getting to his hands and knees. He looked at Domino, rage and fear in his eyes. The earlier blow had split his lip. "What do you think you are doing?" he demanded, a spray of blood and spit coming from his mouth.
Domino did not answer. Instead she kicked him in the ribs, hard enough to knock him over onto his side. She reached down and grabbed him by the lapels of his robe then yanked him onto his feet. Before he could get his balance she drove him back, slamming him up against a bookshelf. Yoshiro cried out in pain.
Twisting at her hips, lifting him into the air, she tossed Yoshiro a few meters from her. He came crashing down on a coffee table that collapsed under him. His head rapped hard against the table and the air was knocked from his lungs. For a few short seconds he was aware of nothing but greyness and a desperate need to draw breath.
Then with a loud gasp he sucked in air with a hoarse breath. He became aware of what was happening as Domino grasped his cybernetic arm, yanked it straight, and then from under her coat produced a long knife made of some milky, crystal-like material.
He was just realising what she was going to do when she slashed down with the knife, cutting the arm clean off between the wrist and the elbow.
There was a lot of pain for a moment, then it faded to a background itch. The cybernetic limb was capable of transmitting pain, but at a certain point pain was counterproductive. It might not have hurt any longer, but the psychological shock was still there. She had cut his arm off.
Domino pulled him back to his feet, then gave him a push. As he stumbled back the blade flicked out, cutting him from the left side of his chin, across his cheek, and nicking the top of his ear. It stung like a paper-cut, making him cry out in surprise and pain.
He came to a stop when his back hit the wall. Before he could move the tip of the blade was placed just under his left eye, pricking the skin of the lower eyelid ever so slightly. He did not move.
Domino looked at him, holding the knife in a perfectly steady hand. "I've grown tired of your lies Andrews," she told him, not using any honorific. "I'm tired of your attempt to play conspiracy games that you are very bad at. I'm tired of looking at you. And," she dropped her voice to a near whisper, "I'd like to kill you. To kill my creator, that would be very enjoyable."
Yoshiro found himself trembling and tried to stop it. He was worried that his movement would cause the blade to cut into him.
"Nigel Rathen was inconclusive, and one means nothing. Komatsu Seiroku was conclusive, but two can be a coincidence. Douglas Meren brings it to three, and three is a conspiracy." She stepped back from Yoshiro, pulling the blade away from him. She moved back and took a seat in the chair that he had recently occupied. Her stare kept him pinned to the wall.
"Now Andrews-hakase, you are going to tell me what you know or I am going to destroy you."
Yoshiro's shoulders sagged. This time he had no choice. He had to hope that the last of his secrets might save him.
Morning came to MegaTokyo, and as the sun rose above the horizon, its light flooding the city, the previous night's events seemed to fade and become far off. The news media worked to help the city's population deal with what had happened. They worked to make the city feel proud.
No other city, that was not in an active war zone, had ever seen such an attack, and yet MegaTokyo had come though it with very few civilian casualties and fatalities. According to the media it was the ADP that the city had to thank for that.
That the populace could count on the ADP helped to alleviate the stress that the residents might have otherwise felt.
Genom came forward with a statement that caused a great deal of surprise. The Zaibatsu had, according to the statement that was made to the press, discovered that the incident of the night before, as well as the incident on February 15th, and, quite surprising, the events that took place the previous year with the particle satellites, were all related.
Genom believed that a group, or perhaps even an individual, with an anti-Genom agenda was behind it. The company had turned over all their findings to the ADP, as well as Japan's security counsel, and a number of international police forces in hopes they might uncover the full story and stop such events from ever happening again.
It was an explanation that helped to relive the stress in the city. It told them that the problem was on its way to being solved, that many people, including agencies in other countries, were helping.
For some people, those who knew more of the story than the general public, the announcement was quite interesting. Sylia was one of those people.
Genom was saying that the events with Prometheus Bound, as well at those with the terrorists last night were related to Largo. Did that mean that boomer was still alive? Or were these allies of the would be boomer messiah?
It did explain how the man the night before had known her name. Was he alone in that knowledge or had he shared it.
As she sat in her office, looking over a file that listed all those who knew of the identity of one or more Knight Sabers, she thought about what she had decided concerning Linna. Maybe there was not point in trying to isolate Linna from the rest of the Knight Sabers, not when her own involvement with the group was compromised.
She shook her head as she closed the file. She would not think like that. So far nothing suggested that she was being watched, or investigated. Perhaps the man the night before was the only one who knew who she was. If so, he had taken that information to the grave with him.
It was perhaps too much to hope for, but until events indicated otherwise she would believe it. She would still prepare for other possibilities though.
Monday March 27th, 9:15am
The ADP building felt emptier than it had the night before. Nene guessed it was the fact that it was day, and usually the building was busier. A large number of officers would be returning over the next few days as they got out of hospital. Still, the ADP would need new recruits to replace those officers who had been killed.
Recruitment might be easier than it had been in the past. With the media singing the ADP's praises they were likely to have a larger number of applicants.
When she entered the office she found Leon sitting in his desk, staring up at the ceiling.
"Mornin', Nene-chan," he said.
"Good morning," she replied.
"Anything new for me?"
"No."
"Too bad." He shifted to look at her. "Got any opinions on Genom these days?"
"Just because they have helped us doesn't mean they can break the law," she told him.
"Good," Leon got to his feet. "Come on, we have work to do."
"What?"
"Well, we are going to investigate Genom. I'm not going to bother with those 12Bs they released, but we know there is a lot of other stuff we can nail them for, ne, Nene-chan," he walked towards the exit.
"That is so," Nene said as she followed him.
"What happened with Wada-san?" Leon asked. He had heard a few rumours.
"He turned out to be married," Nene told him.
"So you met Karen Kasumi."
"You knew?"
Leon realised he might have said too much. "I was aware that he was married and to whom."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Nene stopped in the hall.
"I wasn't sure it was my business to tell you."
"Is this some kind of 'guy code'?"
Leon sighed. "Maybe. Maybe it was just that I thought it was none of my business. You might have known. He might have been thinking of leaving his wife. I suppose I did not want to get involved in it."
Nene did not quite know how to answer that. "Next time, I want to know."
"Do you expect there is going to be a next time?"
"I hope not," Nene said, starting down the hall again. She looked back at Leon and smiled slightly. "They going to make you pay for that motoroid you wrecked?"
"I hope not," Leon answered.
Linna had thought that what had happened with Sylia would have negatively affected her dancing. She discovered quite the opposite in fact.
She had, as she had once done after the death of her parents, let herself become lost in the dance. As she moved across the stage, making her movements perfect, she had thoughts for nothing else. She let herself become Susano-Wo, being concerned with what he was concerned with. It was a very temporary solution to the problem, but at least she was dancing well.
Andrea even commented on it.
The rehearsal that day was not as light as it should have been. Moemi Itagaki had been badly hurt in the previous' nights events. While she would recover, her doctors were worried that the damage might keep her from ever again dancing professionally. None of the dancers liked to think of things like that. A dancer's career was short enough as it was.
The girl who ended up taking Moemi's place looked a little guilty as she began learning the hurt dancer's routine.
"What are you doing tonight?" Mako asked during one of the breaks.
Linna was a little surprised by the question. She was about to answer she was going to see a friend in the hospital, then remembered that Sylia would not like that. "I'm not sure really."
"Well, a number of us were thinking of going to see Moemi-san, maybe make her feel a little better."
"That would be nice," Linna said. Maybe a positive attitude would help the dancer heal.
"So, do you want to come with us?"
Linna thought about it for a moment then nodded. "Sure."
Priss had never cared much for hospitals. They always reminded her of the time after the quake, of people screaming and crying in pain, or of herself crying in pain. The private room she was in had little in common with the large wards she had found herself in after the quake. It looked more like the room in a nice hotel. Still, there was the faint sense of hospital there.
Her side still hurt, as well as the other wounds she had taken, but it was not too bad. Her doctor had told her he wanted her to remain in the hospital for a few weeks, just to make sure that she was all right.
Priss did not plan on spending that much time there. She was thinking of leaving the next day.
Such actions were not as foolish as they might have once been. Advanced medical techniques like microsurgery had decreased the damage the surgeons themselves had to do when treating their patients.
A useful thing as in many places hospital cuts resulted in patients being sent home early.
She was sitting up in bed, looking through a fashion magazineNene had been by earlier with the magazine and some cut flowersfeeling a little bored. Priss had little use for fashion, except when it came to putting her stage costumes together.
She looked up from the magazine at a knock to her door. "Come in," she said after a moment.
Priss was a little surprised to see Sylia enter the room. "You look well," she said.
"Yeah, well, this is a good place you dropped me off at."
"They do good work," Sylia said as she closed the door behind her and then locked it. Priss noticed, but did not say anything. From the foot of Priss' bed Sylia picked up the chart there and looked it over. "Blunt trauma, abdominal wound, no internal organs damaged, wounds cleaned, sealed, patient put on antibiotics. Broken ribs, internal bracing inserted, no complications." She put the chart back where it had been. "Could have been worse."
"Tell me about it," Priss said, smiling. "I looked at the chart and didn't understand most of it. I've always wondered where you learned your medical stuff."
"My father taught me," Sylia said, still looking at the chart.
That puzzled Priss who knew that Sylia had only been 12 when her father had died, matter of public record. Odd that he should have taught her something as complex as medicine at such a young age. Then again Sylia was a genius so maybe it was not so odd. "Useful things to know. Sometimes it would have been nice to know just what was wrong with me when I was dragging myself into some back alley clinic."
Sylia nodded as she reached into her purse and removed a bug scanner. Priss said nothing as Sylia scanned the room, watching the indicators. The problem with the hospital room was the various patient monitoring equipment offered many places to hide surveillance devices. That much of that equipment was hidden so the room did not look like a hospital room made it that much more difficult.
Satisfied that they were not being listened to, Sylia walked to Priss bedside and took a seat beside the bed. She pressed a button on the side of the scanner and it began to produce white noise. She placed it on the bed.
"So, what is up?" Priss asked.
"You know about Linna-san?"
"Nene-san filled me in. She's not too happy about it."
"And you?"
"It's a pretty lousy thing to do to a friend, but considering the circumstances and what we do, it is understandable."
"I'm glad you see it that way," Sylia said.
"It's probably the painkillers," Priss told her, smiling. "So, have any idea what this was all about?"
"If Genom is to be believed then it is related to Mason and Largo."
"Ignoring the fact that they are dead, do you believe anything Genom would say?"
"I've considered what has happened. They may very well be telling the truth. If things are related then the events of Saturday night make a certain kind of sense."
"How might they be connected?"
"That I don't know. Genom claims it is a group or individual with an anti-Genom agenda. It may be true."
"So, what do we do?"
"Stay sharp. These people are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want, yet they also seem to what to keep damage down. The boomers had a very simple pattern of behaviour, it was destructive, but it was easy to clear people out of the way of boomers moving in a straight line."
"What does that mean? It sounds like there were different agendas represented."
"Maybe that is what it means," Sylia said softly.
"I guess we'll find out eventually."
Sylia nodded. Thinking about Largo and Mason had made her think about her father. Thinking about her father brought a lot of other thoughts to mind. There were things she wanted to talk about. She looked at Priss for a moment then said, "Have I ever told you much about my tou-san?" Sylia asked.
"Not really," Priss said, realising that something important was about to happen.
"Brilliant man really, but sometimes, well, maybe a bit too focused on the ends to question the means I think."
"Bad combination," Priss said.
"Yes," Sylia nodded. "Very bad. After his death a data cartridge came to me, from him."
"Pardon?"
"He had set it up with his lawyers. If he was to die in any sort of odd circumstances, and his lab blowing up was one, I was to get it. It was rather unique, you'll not find many like it anywhere. They just have too much data storage space and are too expensive to be practical for very much."
"I think Nene-san would disagree with you."
"Nene-san has always been an exception to many rules." Sylia smiled. "Still, these are not something you find in very many places. Not that I knew that then.
"There was only one machine in the house that would accept it, one that used a dermal contact headset, a heavily modified one. Another thing I did not know at the time. When I opened the files..." Sylia stared off for a time, as if she was somewhere else. Priss said nothing, just waited.
Finally she said, "Everything my tou-san ever knew, all of it, was forced into my mind."
"Well, shit," Priss said softly, not sure if she believed it.
"It hurt you know," Sylia said softly, suddenly feeling better. The pain was there, but somehow sharing it helped.
Priss nodded, not that she actually knew.
Sylia told Priss everything, the migraines, the nightmares, the doubts she had. Priss just listened, realising for the first time that for all her money Sylia had suffered much like she had. It surprised her to realise just how alike they were.
"Well," Priss said when Sylia trailed off during the talk of her mother. "That really is horrible."
"Thank you," Sylia laughed softly.
"I can't help you Sylia," Priss said, almost forcing the words out. The fact that there was nothing she could do to even try to help bothered her. "This is completely beyond me. I didn't know your Otou-san, how could I tell if you were like him?"
"I'm not asking you to," Sylia told her. "Just to know it. Someone should."
"Share your pain around, ne?" Priss smiled.
"Something like that."
"Oi," Priss reached out and put a hand on Sylia's shoulder, the physical contact another new thing in their relationship. "You know, I've heard a lot about Stingray-hakase. Some from you, and others, and I have read things about him, and, not that I ever wanted to tell you, I think your Otou-san was a real bastard. I really doubt I would have liked him."
Sylia was a little surprised by Priss' statement. It made no sense to her. After a moment she realised what Priss was actually saying, in her less than tactful way. She smiled. "Well, I can't be sure, but I think my tou-san would have hated you. Probably would have thought you someone who had wasted her life pointlessly."
"Maybe I have," Priss told her.
"Thank you," Sylia said.
"Don't mention it."
It was a dull feeling, constant, an almost ache really, not so bad by itself but, with the other things it was almost maddening. If only she could have got up, stretched out, for only a second, but the restraints held her tight.
She had been sitting in that chair for almost sixteen hours now, brought in after the Genom team had captured her in her hotel. She had waited too long, but she had been certain that Douglas would return. It was a foolish hope.
Once again she tried to break the straps that held her to the chair, pitting her not inconsiderable strength against the material. It was more an exercise, flexing all her muscles, relieving some of the pressure that was causing the pain in her back, than a serious attempt to break free. There would be no freedom for her.
The voice came again, highly distorted, sounding deep, like it came out of some bottomless pit.
"Tell us what you were doing here," the voice asked again.
Rei said nothing, like all the times before. She blinked her eyes against the bright light she was facing and wondered when they would kill her. She could not tell them what they wanted to know. She would not tell them. She was certain of that.
"How is it going?" Domino asked as she entered the room.
The woman handling the interrogation looked over at Domino. "Badly," she said. "She will not tell us anything."
Domino nodded. "I'll take over."
"As you wish," she said, then left the room, taking her assistants with her.
Domino locked the door, then shut off the recording and monitoring devices. She wanted some privacy. She decided to let the prisoner have some time to wonder what was happening. Ignoring the door that led into the holding cell, Domino instead looked over the objects on a table.
They were the things that had been found on the prisoner and in her hotel room. Clothing, nothing special, a few weapons, a diary that had few entries in itnone of them of use. She looked through a collection of cotton panties and bras. Mostly white, nothing that anyone would consider particularly sexy. She picked up a vibrator and flipped it on. It sounded as if it needed some new batteries.
She dropped the sex toy back to the table and finished looking over the objects. Not a lot there, but enough for Domino to make some guesses about what was happening.
Once Andrews had told her everything he knew Domino had went to work. An inventory of the storage site had showed a number of the units missing. Once they had the descriptions it had been easy to find the prisoner. They had found her in the visual records from Narita, with Douglas Meren and a few other members of the group. After that they had been able to track her to the hotel where she had been waiting in.
She turned and walked towards the door to the holding cell. Time to go to work.
The voice that had been asking her questions since she had been put into the room faded to silence. The bright light dimmed so she was no longer forced to squint. A moment later the hum of a fan started and cool wind began to flow through the room. She was suddenly much more comfortable, except for the bonds that sill held her in the chair.
She waited for something to happen but nothing did immediately. As the seconds changed to minutes she began to get very nervous. What were they doing?
Then the door opened behind her. She heard it close, then the tap of heels as someone crossed the floor to stand behind her. She tensed against her bonds, seriously trying to break them.
"Rei McErie," a woman said from behind her, "a 33-S boomer, first generation, AA35B."
Rei said nothing.
"Let's start with something simple. Why were you in MegaTokyo?"
Rei remained silent. Once you started talking, even as something as simple as your name, it became easier to answer other questions.
"I would prefer it if you answered these questions of your own accord." The woman moved around so she was standing in front of Rei. She was a little shorter than Rei had expected. She was beautiful, in a suit with a long skirt, and long black hair. She looked young, but the confidence with which she held herself suited someone older.
Rei just shook her head.
Domino knelt down, placing her hands on Rei's knees. "I want you to tell me what you were doing here."
Rei was about to shake her head again when her housekeeping computer tagged something in the air. Pheromones, in a much higher concentration than normal. Her eyes widened slightly. "You're a Sexaroid."
"Perhaps," Domino said as she straightened. "It does not matter." She moved behind Rei again and put her hands on the other woman's shoulders and began to gently massage them. "Rei. Did you choose that, or did Douglas, or did Largo?"
"Largo did," she said after a moment, knowing she was a fool to say it.
"Do you know why he called you Rei?"
"No."
"Do you think he liked that name?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think he liked you?" Domino continued to gently kneed Rei's shoulders, feeling the tenseness beginning to leave them.
"Yes," Rei said fiercely.
"Did he love you?"
"Yes." Rei paused. "No. I don't know."
"Fair enough. Tell me, did you seduce Douglas Meren or did Largo?"
"Largo did," she admitted.
"Oh dear," Domino laughed. "How very sad. You are passed off to one of his lovers, like a sorry bouquet of flowers."
Rei tensed. "It was not like that!"
"What was it like?"
"I was there to ensure that Douglas continued to do what he was supposed to!"
"And what was that?"
Rei shut her mouth and did not say anything.
"Douglas is dead now, as is Largo. You need not show any loyalty to them."
Rei remained silent.
"I've read the reports on Mr. Meren, and I have read the forensic reports from your hotel room, your clothing, your things. It has been some time since he last touched you hasn't it."
Rei did not want to say anything, but she could not help nodding.
"I'm not surprised. He was a homosexual. When he did touch you, did he use you like a man?"
Rei's face began to flush before her housekeeping computer stopped the reaction.
"I suppose he did. You deserve better than that."
Rei let out a small gasp as Domino slid a hand into her shirt, then down, under the cup of her brassier. "You deserve to be touched by someone who cares about you," Domino said as she gently rubbed Rei's nipple between her forefinger and thumb. Then she took her hand away and moved back in front of Rei. "I'm not going to do it though."
Rei blinked and came close to demanding that the woman continue.
"My name is Domino Odotte," she said. "As you said, I am a 33-S. You will tell me everything I need to know. Douglas is dead. You can stop playing fatima to his headliner. Largo is dead. The only person you owe loyalty to is yourself."
Rei said nothing for a moment. "What do you mean by 'fatima to his headliner'?"
Domino smiled slightly. "It is not important." She turned her back on Rei and walked to a table. She picked up an object from it and turned, pointed it at Rei, and pressed a button. The restraints that held Rei suddenly came free. Rei got to her feet right away. It felt so good to straighten up.
"Sit down," Domino said.
Rei remained standing for a moment, then sat. Domino picked up a file from the table and tossed it to Rei. Rei reached out and caught it. "Read it," Domino said.
Rei flipped it open and looked through it. It was a file on a girl named Machiko Motoyama, sixteen years old, though if her date of birth were right she would be seventeen now. "I don't understand."
"That girl was found in a Genom storage site in Okinawa. She was in the stasis tube that once held you. She was dead."
"I didn't know," Rei said.
"You must have suspected. You must have known that Largo would have to ensure that it was believed you were still in your tube."
"I never thought about it." There were tears in Rei's eyes.
"You should have."
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"Because it does you no good to lie to yourself."
"What do you want?"
"I told you. I want you to tell me everything I need to know, and you will."
"Why should I?"
"Do you want to die?"
Rei said nothing for a moment, then shook her head.
"Then tell me what I need to know. Tell me what happened to you after you were brought out of stasis, all of it."
Rei said nothing for a moment, then sighed. She began to talk. She talked for a long time, she held nothing back, and she told Domino everything she knew. Domino just listened, never asking any questions.
"Now what?" Rei asked when she finally finished.
"You could go back into storage or up to Genaros if you so wish."
Rei's eyes widened at that. She did not care for either of those possibilities. "No!"
"It may have been easier, but I can understand your choice." Domino picked up a thick envelope and tossed it to Rei.
Rei caught it, opened it up and looked through it. She pulled out the Canadian passport. At first she thought it was the passport that Douglas had had made for her, but she realised it was not. It was a new one. There was more ID in the envelope as well. A birth certificate, a health card, a drivers license and more. An entire life was in there. She looked up at Domino, a question obvious on her face.
"If you wish, you may leave. I won't stop you. Go and try to make a life for yourself. I know Largo removed the blood deficiency from you. You'll probably be happy as well. If you ever work against Genom again you will die."
Rei nodded.
"Or, if you choose, you may work for me."
"Pardon?" Rei asked.
"You can work for me. I won't force you to do so. I want your loyalty, I want it to be by your own choice."
Rei did not say anything for a time as she considered what Domino offered. Finally she looked straight at Domino. "Do you love me."
Domino laughed. "Of course not."
Rei nodded. Largo had told her he loved her. Douglas had said it as well. Neither had meant it. Domino might not, but at least she would respect her, and suddenly that meant quite a bit. She knew Domino would not hurt her, she was a sister of sorts. "I'll work for you," she said.
"Very well," Domino said, walking up to Rei and dropping another envelope on her lap. "You'll find you Genom ID in there, as well as a few other things. I've made arrangements for a place for you to stay. Someone will take you there. Clean up, get some rest." Domino walked away from her, towards the door. "I'll expect you in my office tomorrow, 8am sharp."
With that Domino left the room, leaving the cell door open.
Rei remained sitting for a few minutes, then slowly got to her feet. She could still leave if she wanted to, she was sure of that. She did not have to work for Domino, but she would. She wanted to.
For the first time she suddenly felt like she had found her purpose, something that could make her happy.
Tuesday March 28th, 6:19pm
Nene came to Sylia's place after work. She had information that Sylia wanted. Not long afterwards they were sitting in Sylia's office, Nene putting a disk into the computer.
"I ran a check on that guy's face, the radar image you got suggested no cosmetic surgery, but I doubled checked with the blood and DNA type you supplied me with," Nene said, sounding a little uncomfortable. She did not like where the blood had come from. "His name was Douglas Meren. American, 34 years old, no family and a member of the CIA," on the computer screen a picture of the man appeared. He looked younger than when Sylia had last saw him.
"Are you suggesting the CIA was involved?"
"I doubt it. He was a deep cover agent. He set things up, put together teams that the Americans could use with complete deniability. His superiors think he has ten separate operations currently underway. He's drawn a lot of funds, equipment and information."
"A useful person to have."
"I guess. I wonder what the CIA is going to do when they find out he is dead?"
"The question is what they are going to do when they find out he had been compromised. I suggest that you stay out of their computer systems for the next few months."
"I've already wiped the records, cleaned up all my memory, destroyed what could not be cleaned. Nothing to link me to the CIA computers. All that is left is on that disk."
"Probably more than you needed to do, but a wise precaution."
"So now what?"
"I'm looking into some leads but, that will take some time. For now we wait."
"Do you know what is happening?"
"I think someone is trying to destroy Genom."
"And we're supposed to stop that?"
"I'm not sure. I still don't know which side we are on."
"Do we have to be on a side?" Nene asked.
"I think it is naïve to assume that we can remain neutral in this. Dangerously naïve."
"What happens after we pick a side?"
"Everything changes," Sylia told her.
Cultural Notes: Japanese hospitals are quite different from those in North America. The Japanese have a medical insurance plan which provides medical care for all (at least all who are paying into the medical insurance plan, I'm not sure if those who are not are still cared for) and also covers medication. On most visits to a hospital the patient will pay a user fee of about one thousand-yen.
In the hospitals there is something of a lack of housekeeping staff. As a result family or friends need to take care of things like laundry and such.
While private rooms can be arranged, for a greater fee, most patients share a room that holds six to eight patients.
When visiting someone in a Japanese hospital one must make sure never to bring a potted plant. It suggests that the illness will take root and the patient will be in the hospital for a long time.
"When a samurai goes out to battle and does valiant and splendid exploits and makes a great name, it is only because he made up his mind to die"
-Daidoji Yuzan
