A Discovery at Sea

It was a race against time.

After an advance survey expedition had hastily determined the biosphere, the geological features, and the state of metagenomics on the southern landmass to be virtually identical to that on Earth, the Japanese government, in cooperation with the private sector, had scrambled to mobilize for the massive overseas projects that were to take place. An emergency meeting between Minato and Kuroda had then been held, and the Bank of Japan had agreed to back the Takahashi Cabinet's policy of immediately divesting in companies that were judged to "not be contributing to their full capacity." At the same time, companies that were participating were offered almost unlimited financing to support their operations. The result was that nearly the entirety of corporate Japan was rushing to participate in some capacity. Because of Minato's extreme policy measures - which was predictably condemned by the Asahi Shimbun -, the whole of industrial Japan was scrambling to mobilize at a pace not seen in at least seventy-five years.

The first wave alone involved the transport of more than two-hundred thousand workers and more than one million tons of industrial equipment to the southern landmass, which had quickly been dubbed "Shin Minami" by the media. As the economic and financial collapse caused by the transfer to the new world had led to an unprecedented number of job dismissals across Japan, finding workers willing to embark to these new lands had not proved too complicated, and the process of shipping them over to Shin Minami had been complete within two weeks. As they disembarked on the northern edges of the landmass, the workers found themselves in a place with vegetation and wildlife similar to that in Brazil, and completely devoid of human life.

The economic expedition, under the management of the government and dozens of private companies, urgently set itself to work. Apart from seeding the available arable land, agricultural workers set themselves with extracting the seeds of the naturally occurring plant crops to use for further seeding, given that the available stocks of seeds they had shipped from Japan would not give sufficient yields to feed the population back home. Astoundingly, most (or maybe all) of the naturally occurring plant crops were identical to those back on Earth, including wheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, soybeans, sorghum, legumes, coffee beans, and a variety of fruits and vegetables in large amounts - and almost all were of the 21st century, monoculture variant. Little rice, or many other crops historically common in Japan, however.

Yet this was only the beginning. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries estimated that at least 1.5 million agricultural workers would be needed in Shin Minami in the short term for Japan's food demand to eventually be satisfied. And the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimated that perhaps another three million workers and tens of millions in tons in capital equipment would be needed overseas to eventually meet Japan's demand for natural resources. The sheer scale of it all would almost certainly make this the largest overseas economic undertaking in human history. Back on Earth, at least.

Everything was being rushed as quickly as possible, even if quality of execution had to be sacrificed. Many Japanese organizers and executives gnashed their teeth at this fact, as it went against long-established Japanese management practises and a culture of meticulous planning and deliberation. Minato and other cabinet officials had even pressed private sector actors to eschew "unnecessary" bureaucratic and organizational practises and traditions, and to speed up decision-making procedures. Pressed by Minato, the government itself had massively downscaled its bureaucratic apparatus by cutting down on or overlooking rules, regulations, approval processes, and administrative and organizational traditions. The task of coordinating a project of such scale involving so many different actors was formidable and took up much of the government's governing capacity, and the number of civil servants had to be expanded by more than half. All of this was highly grueling for a country not used to such rapid and extreme actions and changes, but it had to be done.

For the fact was, Japan was running out of time.

Given the size of Shin Minami, the landmass should have more than enough natural resources to satisfy the demands of the Japanese economy, but the challenge was in setting up the projects, mostly the infrastructure and the logistics, which were a time-consuming endeavor. And the projects to extract natural resources themselves required natural resources during the time they were being constructed and developed, and so did transportation and other logistical undertakings. In other words, if Japan's current stockpiles and meager reserves of natural resources, in particular oil, ran out before the projects started yielding meaningful results by adding more to the country's natural resources production than they required in return… Suddenly the word deindustrialization took on an entirely new meaning in the eyes of government officials. For now, the allocation of the country's oil stockpiles were prioritized toward the hundreds of merchant and other ships that passed through the waters between Japan and Shin Minami.

In Japan, the economic rout was already making itself known. Think tanks were scrambling to forecast this year's annual GDP growth, with large ranges from -20% up to -50%. The Cabinet Office and the Bank of Japan had stopped publishing forecasts altogether, citing the unpredictable and fast-changing situation. The problem the economy was struggling with, aside from heavy rationing and a loss of overseas demand, was that much of the Japanese industrial sector had been reliant on foreign parts in their supply chains, and was therefore no longer able to manufacture many products. The industrial sector was scrambling to indigenize entire production processes, with heavy government support, but for the time being industrial production was plummeting.

Then there was the issue of all the foreigners who were now stuck in Japan. There was an ongoing debate on whether it still made sense to offer diplomatic immunity to diplomats who represented countries that no longer existed. The policy so far had been to offer an olive branch to any foreigner who would accept it, including diplomats and ambassadors, and even the occasional foreign government official who had happened to be in the wrong country at the wrong time.

"I understand the principle of offering Japanese citizenship to any foreigner who requests it, but is it really appropriate to scrap the requirement to renounce any previous citizenship? That would break with a long tradition."

Minato tilted his head. "It's not like it really matters, as their non-Japanese citizenship would be of countries that no longer exist."

Nakano did not seem entirely convinced by the answer, but left it at that. He leaned back in his chair, and stopped himself from pulling out a cigarette, by the looks of it. "I still don't understand how this planet can be so similar to Earth in all aspects," he muttered. "Everything from its radius to its gravitational acceleration, atmospheric pressure and composition, biosphere and terrain, everything. Monoculture crops identical to those on Earth, a happy coincidence? Even the climate and the ocean currents of Japan have barely changed!"

"A selection effect," Minato pointed out with a straight face. "Were the atmospheric pressure and composition too different, we would all have died almost instantly, thereby not sitting here pondering on the fact that everything is so similar to Earth."

Nakano snorted. "I see you are in a good mood today."

"I suppose… I got to enjoy some omakase at Masuda finally, after being trapped here in the Kantei for so long."

Nakano narrowed his eyes. "We are not supposed to be out. Didn't you read the report this noon? More than twenty thousand confirmed cases at this point, and the numbers aren't showing any signs of slowing down."

"Which is why I had to do it now rather than later. And how many have died?"

"Almost nine hundred… the mortality rate seems to be rising." Nakano sighed. "It's only a matter of time before the coronavirus makes its entrance in Shin Minami, if it hasn't already. I must say I'm surprised we haven't faced more censure by the press on this point, since we basically have no plan for dealing with the virus over there, or even a proper vetting system in place."

"It's something we'll have to accept…" Minato checked his watch. "Only four minutes until the conference." He rose from his chair.

"The search within this perimeter," the speaker pointed to an encircled part of the map, south of Japan, "has so far proved unfruitful. We will therefore change the perimeter for the seismic vessels and the drillships further southward…" Minato listened to the report while also reflecting on the situation.

So far, they had yet to find any oil at sea. While vast reservoirs of some hydrocarbons such as natural gas had been uncovered in Shin Minami, so far they had only successfully found some oil in the continent's northern desert region, and the reservoirs there would only be able to provide about half a million barrels of oil per day once the wells had been set up, far from enough for Japan. The teams responsible for offshore oil exploration (which, confusingly, were under various cabinets as well as some private companies) did as well as anyone could have under the punishing circumstances - the race against time - yet as the speaker continued the briefing a question was starting to bug Minato, and in the end he could not refrain from voicing it out loud.

"Why the south?"

The speaker stopped dead in her briefing. "Pardon, Takahashi-shushou?"

"So far the exploration missions have always been to the south of Japan, correct?" He received an affirmative. "Why only in that direction?"

"I- There isn't really any specific reason, except that is where we started, so we might as well have the entire south covered in our search before moving on in a different direction. At least I think that has been the reasoning."

"I see… would it perhaps be possible to divert your ships to diversify the geographic areas you are searching? And send some to the north, west, and east of Japan."

The speaker blinked. "Well, that's up to you to decide…"

Standing on the bridge, Captain Daichi looked out over the foggy seas. He preferred the clear blue skies of the south to the overcast and drizzle that seemed to be more common in these northern parts, at least during this time of the year. Or maybe he had just been unlucky.

"We are approaching the target destination," Daichi sounded out to the deck officers. "Time to slow down."

Soon Chikyū had stopped, and it was time to drill. Based on data from the seismic tests, this area showed unusually great promise, and Daichi had hopes that finally, they would be able to find some black gold.

After lowering the anchor and adjusting the propellers to achieve better stability, the work began. Over the next hour, several crew members worked meticulously in the rain, lowering pipes into the sea. Daichi was relieved that the weather, despite being rather uninviting, did not produce significant currents or waves. If it had, they could not have proceeded to the next stage.

Slowly, the drill was lowered into the dark grey waters. It was to sink to a depth of about 1,500 meters, where the seabed was.

"We have reached the floor," confirmed a crew member.

"Good." Daichi took a quick glance at his clock. "You have three hours before I call it a day."

A day passed, and while the weather conditions had not changed, the last of the work was eventually done, and the results were in.

"Amazing, this ocean floor is practically a black hold mine…" murmured a crew member. Daichi had to agree, that was an impressive amount of oil that had sat under the seabed.

Suddenly a crew member entered the bridge. "Our sonic equipment has picked up some abnormal readings."

"Huh? Let me see." Daichi quickly scanned through the computer-written report. He frowned, before reading it again. Then he looked up from the piece of paper in his hand, and his whole demeanor seemed to have changed.

"Raise the pipe and raise the anchor!" Daichi ordered. When the officers loitered, he added, "Now!" The officers quickly went to work.

"Reset the position of the propellers," he spoke quickly to the deck officers as he paced back and forth on the bridge. "Once you are done with your instructed tasks, get inside the ship!" he announced through the public address system so that everyone in the ship could hear his words.

He then stared out of the window at the left of the bridge and said: "Full steam ahead."

The crew looked at him as if he had grown several heads. "The anchor isn't even fully raised, not to mention-"

"Just do it!" Daichi barked.

The ship quickly started picking up pace, and several crew members struggled to keep balance at the sudden acceleration and at the slight vibrations. As one deck officer spun to face the front window of the ship as he tried to regain his footing, he gasped and then pointed and shouted.

Out there in the fog and barely visible, about half a nautical mile in front of the ship, something stirred in the waters. That area of the sea was bubbling, and it seemed to be moving…

"Something is approaching the ship!" someone yelled.

Daichi stood frozen for a few seconds, then he rushed to the steering wheel and spun heavily to the right. The ship immediately started to turn, but, to his dismay, so did the disturbance in the water moving toward them, now producing a large foam and waves as it cleaved through the water, perhaps five hundred meters away and coming closer and closer.

Then something more than just water emerged from the foam; a pair of shiny jaws, larger than those of a bowhead whale and filled with hundreds of glinting white teeth, and then more of its body became visible: The head was long and angular. A bony crest jutted out over the eyes, and from the outer part of each crest grew a ropy tendril that was over two meters in length. The neck of the creature resembled that of a giant, rippling snake. What was visible of the creature's torso was smooth and powerfully built and looked incredibly dense. A pair of oar-shaped flippers extended from the sides of its chest, flailing helplessly in the air.

In the second or two that had passed, Daichi realized that no matter how much he tried to turn, whatever was in the water would be able to change its direction more easily than the ship. If a head-on collision was inevitable, it was better for them if the ship was not half-listing, and for the thing in the water to collide with the front of the ship rather than the left side of a ship that was tilting toward the opposite side, so Daichi quickly reversed and steered to the left as much as possible.

Time seemed to slow down as the distance with the monster closed. Then, less than two hundred meters until collision, Daichi caught its eyes; if they could be called even that. They stuck out of the head and were as black as a drop of tar, and full of malevolence…

Then he felt it. An immense pressure forced its way into his very mind, and he fell to his knees with a half-choked cry. He could not move, and the pressure continued its attack, digging deeper into his pounding head, and a ringing started to fill his ears…

Then the pressure stopped, and Daichi once again found himself in control of his limbs. A second later, an ear-splitting metallic thud echoed through the bridge. The ship started to vibrate and shake uncontrollably, and swayed violently from side to side, and he was suddenly reminded of that terrible earthquake back in March 2011. Screams filled the bridge.

Despite the throbbing in his head, he quickly rose, only to falter as stars danced before his eyes. Even as he tried to regain his bearings he rushed to the windows, almost losing his balance to the rocking movements of the ship, and scanned desperately for the monstrous sea serpent. He found it just to the left of the ship. It lay sideways and still; apparently the force from the collision had been enough to slow its momentum and knock it to the side, as well as shift its body more than ninety degrees on its side. As the ship was still moving forward, though occasionally brushing against the monster, they quickly passed it, and eventually the edge of the windows blocked Daichi's line of sight to the monstrosity.

Daichi shaked all over as he looked over at his crew, and found many of them on their knees.

"W-what…" someone stuttered.

"Did you feel it too?!" someone else demanded in a shrill voice. "It… that… something entered my consciousness!" Several affirmatives sounded on the bridge.

Daichi walked over to the steering wheel on shaky legs. "Full steam ahead," he said weakly.