Chapter 5: Advance to Runway

Imperial Palace, Sadera

"What do you mean, the envoy was shot, and they're preparing a counterattack?" Pina shouted, rising from her throne. "Where are you hearing this from?"

Clayton looked over at Sugawara, who unfolded the printout of Professor Shirai's email and slowly read the contents aloud. He had warned the Japanese diplomat that this would happen, considering as carrier pigeons, wyvern messengers, and even the new magic-gliders had nothing on satellite communications moving near the speed of light. And now… here they were.

"We warned you about this," Pina pointed out. "Now it looks like we'll be taking matters into our own hands. Sherry, tell General Aldo to muster the men, and prepare to move against Rondel."

Sherry nodded and was about to leave when Clayton added, "May I ask a question of both of you?"

Pina's advisor stopped in place, and he thought that he saw a twitch in her upper lip suggesting a smile. The young woman clearly had anticipated what he was about to say.

"According to Professor Shirai's report, you sent a group of twelve men into Rondel to demand the Council Chairman's peaceful surrender. Knowing that Rondel hosts people with hostile intents, including the man that tried to shoot you, why did you limit the force to only a dozen people? Why not a whole regiment?"

"Our aim was to settle things peacefully," Pina said.

"If that's the case, why were the soldiers attempting to take the Chairman by force? Wouldn't it have made more sense to leave, and then send in a larger force to take Rondel? Allowing your men to be destroyed eliminates your communications link, and is an unnecessary waste of lives."

Pina looked like she was about to say something, but ultimately she looked over at Sherry, clearly waiting for an answer from her.

Should've known, Clayton thought. This wasn't Pina's idea at all.

Sherry turned her head to look Clayton dead in the eye. "Surely a great Western nation isn't suggesting that we attack another nation without a violent premise first. What would we tell the people? That we were off to declare war on a country that peacefully disagreed? Or perhaps you would have preferred we excuse it with an American term like "Military Police Action"?"

"You started it."

"They started it with the brutal murder of Cicero La Moltose, and the attempted assassination of our Empress," Sherry stated simply. "If they are willing to threaten some aggression against our government, we must be prepared to respond in kind. If you will excuse me, Ambassador, unless America has anything to contribute, I must now go make war preparations."

"You are dismissed," Pina hurriedly added.

"Well," Sugawara said, switching to English once they were both out of earshot, "That could've gone better. Why did you rile up Sherry like that?"

"Because this whole situation stinks," Clayton spat as they moved from gallery to gallery. "Even if Pina has the tactical brains of a jelly donut, we both know that Sherry is smarter than this. So you tell me, what is there to gain by starting a war this way?"

Sugawara thought for a moment, and said, "You are absolutely correct in saying that a decapitation strike against the Rondel Council would have made more sense. Doing it this way means that Pina may be in for a drawn-out campaign."

"Unless…?" Clayton supplied, waiting for the Japanese diplomat to continue.

"Unless?"

"Unless we commit Earth armed forces to the conflict, or provide Sadera with the technology to end it quickly," Clayton finished. "The two things neither of us wants to do, and both Sherry and Rondel have put together a perfect storm designed to force our hand."

Sugawara blocked his path. "Are you calling Sherry a collaborator?"

"God no," Clayton said. "Rondel can think whatever they want, but unless they have more tricks up their sleeves, they won't be able to beat Sadera in a prolonged conflict. They just don't have the resources or allies to pull it off, even after we take magic into consideration. My guess? Sherry's just a good politician. She saw an opportunity and she took it. A victory against Rondel would drum up nationalist support and strengthen the proposed Saderan Parliament, and any technology would bolster their abilities against anyone… including us, down the road."

Sugawara sighed, looked about to leave, then turned around and stated, "You're planning something."

He's not wrong, Clayton thought as he brought up his hands in mock surrender. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Robert, can we speak honestly for a moment? I know that before your time as Dirrel's Secretary of Defense you were a Director of the CIA, and before that you were in the military working with the Nimitz Operational Intelligence Center. We all saw something like this coming seven years ago, and I would be shocked if you didn't implement a plan before Dirrel's term ended."

"That's quite an accusation—"

"Accusation? Let's talk about Tyuule."

Clayton shook his head. "I explained the whole thing to you years ago."

"It's worth repeating! Prior to the raid on Zorzal and Telta, we gave your Military Intelligence everything we knew about her, including her formal role as the leader of the Warrior Tribes. Our specific request was that she be kept alive, so that we could start structured negotiations with them as a people. Correct me if I'm wrong so far."

"I still don't see the point."

"So you can imagine my surprise when your SEALs produced not one, but two captured bodies after the raid. It was then, that our State department was finally informed that your think tanks had declared Tyuule a long-term threat, saw the Warrior Tribes as more manageable if they remained shattered under Imperial control, and acted unilaterally."

"Tyuule has a long-term bone to pick against the Royal Family, including Pina," Clayton said. "If we had let her return to the warrior tribes, you'd be fighting an insurgency in the North to this day. As it was, you wound up fighting a three-month counterinsurgency operation against the Haryo tribe. Having seen the bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, you should be thanking us."

Sugawara pressed his lips into a firm line, took a deep breath, then said, "That's not the point. The point is that the United States has a habit of implementing plans without telling us, so tell me. What's America's intent for this specific contingency?"

"Everything I told Pina during our previous meeting is true," Clayton said, folding his arms. "US Military support is limited to what Japan will let us bring through the Gate, and we don't have much to spare until you change that. Our current plan, pending the President's approval, is to work with what we have, on a purely defensive basis, until you change your mind."

"I don't believe you. You must have some kind of Hidden Special Forces team or strategic weapon—"

"I am willing to speak on the record when I say that everything you've seen in the Special Region, is what we have in the Special Region," Clayton said simply. "And we have a specific set of guidelines for use of our strategic weapons, and those guidelines have not been met. There is no fleet of F-35s tucked away somewhere ready to save you. SEAL Team Six has gone home. We will continue to support the JMSDF with our outpost, maintain American-built equipment where applicable, and operate our satellites, but if Japan wants more, you will publically need to come out and say it."

Clayton had been waiting on a moment like this for years, and had practiced that speech in his head at times when Sugawara had been particularly stubborn. It didn't matter, he knew what the answer would be.

But Sugawara's response was not the expected, "No." Instead, he said, "Sherry said that the United States could intervene instantly. Care to explain that?"

The American Ambassador raised an eyebrow, but kept his shock suppressed. Sugawara's question suggested that he and Sherry had already discussed the whole thing. The fact that the Japanese Ambassador was consulting the United States second… was a bad sign. Was that how she knew about Greta? He wondered. From now on, Clayton decided, he would treat any information he shared with Sugawara as a direct line to Sherry.

That said… he could play with that.

"Of course," Clayton said, "Pending Japan's permission."

"That's not how she understood it."

"That's a shame, her English seemed almost fluent."

The Japanese diplomat ignored the insult and said, "I will pass on your position to Defense Minister Nomura."

"Please do. Secretary Barton will be waiting to hear from him."

As he watched Sugawara go, Clayton took a deep breath and shook his head. Now that Sugawara was out of play, the only groups he could still depend upon was the American base and the JSDF. While Sherry had placed herself in an awful tactical position, she had also wiggled into a surprisingly solid diplomatic one.

Clayton knew that he had at least two cards left to play. One, Sherry already knew about, and the other was still, last he'd heard, still in the process of being implemented.

Hopefully, he'd need neither of them, but an irritated part hoped that he'd have a chance to play both, just to prove a point.

Arriving at Alnus Hill

Ellie had seen plenty of towns and a small handful of cities from the air before. She was used to solid castles and houses made of mud or brick. In most, the highest object was a temple or manor. At Alnus, it was the windmills.

Above the city, perched on the surrounding hills, two dozen slim white windmills, each over a hundred feet high, beat the air over a carpet of bright reflective paneling. 0Below, a city as grand as any she'd ever seen, with carefully organized avenues and roads and buildings so meticulously assembled that they didn't seem real. Even as they pulled into the station, she could see from her window the prevalence of strange moving machines; some large metal carts that moved without anyone to pull them, others twin-wheel contraptions that a rider powered by pushing pedals around an axis.

As she followed Hector off of the train, she was assaulted by a sudden gritty smell—she wasn't quite sure what it was, but it had a sort of strange, sooty texture to it. Beyond that, the noise; the rumble of the self-propelled carts, the statements from the station speakers, the whirl of people… Ellie wasn't sure where to begin, and jumped at a chiming noise that announced the departure of the Densha back down its track to Italica.

It was too much… it was just too much. She found it hard to breathe. She reached out to Hector for support, but was interrupted by a shrill scream.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one that had a severe reaction to the new environment. Several feet down the platform, an older man had collapsed and was being shaken by his wife. Ellie was surprised to see Hector, of all people, rush over and place a hand under the man's nose, then two fingers along his neck, then shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he said, looking up at the growing crowd, "This man is—"

"Hayakyuu! Hayakyuu! Out of way!"

A pair of Japanese Men had pushed through the crowd, along with a pair of wolf-demihumans wearing black armbands with odd lettering. One of the men repeated Hector's action, waved everyone back, and began repeatedly pressing on the man's chest.

"It's no use," Hector tried to tell him, "He's gone."

But the Japanese ignored him, raised the unconscious man's mouth, and began blowing air into it.

Ellie had seen a similar breathing procedure for sailors that had fallen overboard and nearly drowned, but if the older man was truly dead, as Hector was suggesting, then the tactic wouldn't work.

What she did not expect was the second Japanese man, who had opened a large box and had produced a pair of tiny shears, which he then used to cut the older man's shirt option. Next from the box came what looked like a set of paper pieces attached to the box by string. A few seconds later, the box began to speak in Japanese, and the platform fell into a hush.

After another line of Japanese warbling, the man operating the box looked up and shouted, first in Japanese, then in accented Imperial, "MOVE BACK! DANGER! MOVE BACK!"

Some in the crowd fled, others, like Ellie and Hector, backed just a few feet away, still close enough to see the man performing the chest compressions jump back, and the other Japanese man press a glowing orange button within the box.

THUNK!

The older man's body seemed to leap up with a start, and Ellie had to bring her hands up to her mouth to suppress a shriek. What were they doing!? She thought. The man just died, and now—

But the man that had just been zapped shocked everyone by suddenly sucking in a ragged gasp and coughing it back out as his eyes fluttered open. The Japanese were back at his side immediately urging him to stay down.

The old man was clearly scared, but very much alive.

In the past few days, Ellie had heard and experienced all kinds of things in relation to the men in green and tan; cold flames, flying ships, but nowhere in the list was anything, aside from the mysterious Godwrecker, to suggest that these people were capable of beating the Gods at anything, much less forcing them to surrender. Yet, right before her eyes, a team of two Japanese people had produced a mysterious technology that seemed to yank souls out of Hardy's grip and haul them back to the world above-ground. As the consequences of such a device began to dawn on her, Ellie felt her legs starting to go weak and she sank to her knees on the station platform.

How? She thought. Where do you even begin trying to solve a problem like that? How could they understand the entire system of life, souls, and gods so intimately as to reverse the irreversible? And they make it look so EASY!

Above her, Hector had slowly settled into a sardonic smile. "Considering their fondness for kicking the gods in the face at every chance, something like this was to be expected, I suppose."

"You suppose!?" Ellie sputtered. "You saw what just happened! How did they do that?"

"Based on the way that man moved? I suspect they did it with lightning."

Ellie looked at the little box, which was now being repacked, before looking to Hector and repeating, "Lightning?"

"Yes. I have seen people twitch like that before when struck by Lightning magic. If such magic could stop a heart… then I suppose that the right application could be used to restart one. The Japanese got to the man before he was cold—before he was truly dead—and restarted his heart, allowing him to continue living. I hate to admit it, but it's a clever idea."

"So… you're saying… that they trapped a lightning bolt... in that little box."

"Have you gone deaf, girl? Keep up. If we continue at this pace, we'll never reach the Men in Tan."

But it was no easier once they left the platform. The streets teemed with people in all manner of clothes, some native to the special region, others with a distinctive foreign flair that must have been from Earth. Every window was full of signs illuminated by bright lights, and some featured more invisible music-players. Before one store, Ellie stopped to stare at a bright picture featuring drawn characters that nonetheless ran around the screen and waved at her, and was about to wave back before Hector grabbed her lifted arm and hauled her away.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" Ellie asked.

"We need to find the fortress of the Men in Green," Hector explained. "There must be a sign somewhere, and I'd rather not follow soldiers all day. One tends to get a poor reputation for doing that."

"We could just ask for directions," Ellie pointed out.

"I wouldn't—"

She gave an aggravated sigh, looked around, and spotted a woman with long blonde hair walking with a young girl—around six years old—and, based on their Earth-style attire, assumed that they were Alnus natives. Ellie made her way over to them and said, "Oh, um, excuse me, miss—"

The woman whirled around, placing herself between Ellie and the child, and said, "I'm sorry, but if you need help, there's a tourism desk back at the train station."

"Oh, it's not that, we have an invitation from the army and were trying to find their garrison."

The woman tilted her head, clearly somewhat cynical. "An invitation? Why?"

"My name is Ellie Fe Agne. I'm traveling from a land outside of Falmart," Ellie explained. "My traveling companion is from Carenth… he was struck in the last war by the Godwrecker—"

"Oh!" The woman's demeanor changed drastically, her face softening. What is it about that word that opens all the doors? Ellie wondered. It seemed increasingly like everyone who heard of the weapon was sad, even those who were on the side that used it.

Hector appeared at Ellie's side and said, "Ma'am, my name is Hector El Sava. I was a combat mage under King Selecus, and I was told by the jeeyetai at Italica Station to present myself to the head of the garrison here. Can you help us?"

"Of course!" The woman said with a smile. "My name is Bozes Co Tomita, by the way, and this is little Mai. Say hello to our guests, Mai-kun!"

The child looked up at Hector, shied away from the man's disfigured face, and retreated behind her mother again.

"It's okay!" Ellie said, dropping to her knees so that she was eye-level with the girl. "We're friendly, I promise!"

Mai peeked out at her and offered a shy smile, but that was all.

Bozes gestured for them to follow and explained, "My husband is a soldier in the jeeyetai. We met years ago, just after the Gate opened. They know both of us over there, so you'll probably be attended to faster."

"He's an officer, then?" Hector asked.

"Ummm… they call it a non-commissioned officer? The Japanese don't select their officers from nobility. Instead, they have two different types of officer—those who rise through the ranks from an enlisted position, and those who go to a special kind of military management and tactics school? My husband could explain it better."

"So if your husband is Japanese, and you're from the Saderan Empire, what nation does Mai belong to?" Ellie asked.

The little girl was skipping along holding her mother's hand, occasionally granting a curious glance up at the strangers.

"The political situation with Japan is strange," Bozes admitted. "Akira says that Mai is technically a dual-citizen, but, as of yet, it's impossible for non-government officials to get a visa to pass through the Gate, so Mai has never seen her father's country. We are represented in their Diet though! Minister Regulus was only an observer for the first six years, but they finally gave us voting power last year! Compared to Japan, Alnus's population is small though, and it's difficult for our minister to convince others of our needs."

Though her words seemed positive, Ellie detected a level of frustration there and wondered if Bozes was bending the truth in places. Was Alnus being locked out of Japanese government, or was it possible that they were being locked out of Japanese society in general? Surely, most empires would want to see free movement and trade within their borders, so Japan keeping the people of Alnus bottled up there was curious. To test her theory, she asked, "Do they at least let Alnus and Japanese natives live together?"

"If they are married, yes," Bozes said. "Otherwise, the Japanese keep to themselves, in a fenced neighborhood closer to the Gate."

So it is social separation. But why?

"As the daughter of a jeeyetai soldier, I would assume that Mai is well cared for?" Hector asked.

"Of course!" Bozes visibly brightened at this. "You should see the school! Mai here can do sums! Sums! I was the daughter of a Count, and I couldn't do sums until I was nearly eleven years of age. Even during my time in the Rose Order I would still reach for the abacus."

As a navigator, Ellie had taken her fair share of math lessons, but to teach it to such a young child… "Is she privately tutored?"

"Not at all! It's a lecture of twenty children, and yet they still manage to cram their heads full of information—history, reading, natural philosophy… Mai, tell them about your project!"

The little girl looked up at her mother's encouraging smile and said, "Sazuki-sensei had us learn about planets and my group got the new blue one, and—and—and it's really far away and made of clouds and it's really cold there, and—and one year there is a hundred years long so you don't get to have your birthday Party for a long time." She looked up at Ellie and added, "I like this planet better."

"That's… really cool!" Ellie said, not knowing what else to say. It had long been speculated amongst astronomers that there might be other planets beyond the known four, so of course the people from beyond the Gate had gone out and found one.

"It's really amazing the stuff they're finding these days," Bozes went on. "I remember back when there was only four planets. Do you get the regular updates from Shirai-Hakase? The JSDF puts his pictures up outside the base at the end of every week. Some of them are really pretty. I hear that one of them inspired the winning dress at last year's holiday gala in Sadera."

By this point they were reaching the edge of the city and had arrived outside of a metal fence. Under normal circumstances, the field beyond would have taken Ellie's breath away, but this time she was namely awestruck by the fence. Normally, cities would build their walls and barricades out of stone or wood. The fence before them spoke volumes of Japanese industry—they had access to vast amounts of metal, and not only could they refine it, they could fold and form it with the same kind of afterthought afforded to bricklaying. She wondered if they had a big machine, like the other machines she'd seen so far, that did nothing but fold metal fences all day long.

As if to remind her that there was more to these people than folding metal, she was struck by a tremendous roar from overhead as one of the metal gliders, of the same sort she'd seen outside Italica, passed low over her head and dipped into the field beyond. As she watched, compartments opened in the belly of the machine, which produced thin legs with wheels on the end. The flyer touched down with these wheels on a great stone road, making a loud screeching noise as it did so, and raced down the path for nearly a quarter mile before slowing to a halt. What really impressed Ellie as she watched the maneuver was the way the plane tilted back slightly before touching down with its rear wheels first, just as she did with her wings and legs when coming in for landing. She had been doing it for so long that she rarely thought about the motion, but seeing it replicated mechanically made her immediately excited and curious.

"Efftoo! Efftoo!" Mai shouted, Jumping up and down with excitement and pointing in the direction of the plane.

Ellie ducked down to the girl and asked, "Is that what it's called?"

Mai, a big grin on her face, vigorously nodded. "There are lots of flying things, but efftoo is the best!"

"There's more!?" Ellie said.

"Uh huh! There's yoo-eeys and co-bras and chin-nuks and see-toos and—and—momma, what do they call the big ones with the two whirly wings?"

Above them, Bozes wracked her brains and said, "Didn't you already say Chinooks?"

"No, the other one!"

It took her a moment, but they she said, "I think it's ozz-pray?"

"That's it! Ozz-pray," Mai concluded.

If he's seen everything flying that came from this place, then maybe, just maybe… "I heard of something called a rocket," Ellie said. "Have you seen any of those?"

She nodded. "They're really loud."

"What do they look like?"

Mai thought about it a moment, then raised both of her hands above her head so that they touched at a point, which meant aboslutely nothing to Ellie. This confusion only worsened as Mai jumped up and shouted, "VOOOM! Like that!"

"Do you see a lot of them?"

"No, they're very rare," Bozes said. "The last one was nearly a year ago, and usually it's the Americans that want to launch them."

Hector, who had been quiet for some time, asked, "The Americans are over there?"

"Yes, in fact…" Bozes peered out over the airfield and pointed. "There, see the building?"

"Which one?"

"The only one flying a banner that has blue in it."

"Is that their headquarters?"

"It's an outpost. Their headquarters is out at sea somewhere, on an island that they share with Japan."

"I see…"

As they continued their way towards the base entry gate, Ellie listened on Bozes' continued explanation of the various services they had access to at Alnus—indoor plumbing, lighted streets, first access to tradable resources from the Gate… and an endless wealth of entertainment. "Some nights they put up a big cloth in one of the amphitheaters and do moving-picture shows," she said. "They use a machine to record people and play it back as stories… the trouble is that sometimes it's hard to guess which parts are true and which parts are made up for the story. A few months ago there was a terrifying show that had a giant dragon-like beast attacking Japan. The monster could destroy cities, shoot blue fire from its mouth, and shrug off attacks by Japan's most powerful weapons. When it was over, Tomita told me that the dragon didn't exist and the city was still intact… but it looked so real…"

"Perhaps he was only telling you that to keep you from being afraid," Hector said.

Bozes shook her head. "I want to move to Japan some day with Mai. It can't be real."

Ellie gave her an odd look. "Why would you want to move to Japan?"

"Why wouldn't you want to move to Japan!?" Bozes said, shocked, "Everyone wants to move to Japan! If Earth is even half as amazing at it appears in the moving pictures… wonders everywhere! Food stores on every corner! Easy transport to anywhere, no roving bands of bandits, and the knowledge… I had a chance to see one of their computing machines before the restrictions were put into place, and they have this thing on it called Google that knows all. All! I had Tomita ask it what the sky was made of, and as if by magic it produced thousands of essays, and pictures, and moving-pictures… I want Mai to have that. I don't want her to grow up in the dirt like everyone in Falmart did."

Ellie could easily understand her excitement. Earth seemed to have everything so much better, so it made sense to want to go there someday. And yet… she found herself stuck on one line of Bozes's statement. "What do you mean by restrictions?"

"We used to have free access to Earth knowledge. Not anymore."

"Why not?"

"Tomita said that the Earth governments were afraid of what we'd do with it."

There was a first, an Earth group being afraid of something. She looked back over to Hector, who was giving a very self-satisfied smirk.

In the intervening pause, Mai pulled on Ellie's hand and asked, "Can you fly?"

It seemed like an obvious question with an obvious answer to Ellie, until she remembered that the Monarch race was not native to Falmart. "Of course," she said, untucking her wings so that Mai could get a better look at them. "I'd show you, but I was told that I'm not allowed to fly here."

"You should ask them to fly an Efftoo," she stated. They don't let anybody, and dad says it's because it's really hard. But you can already fly, so it should be easy for you!"

That would be fun, Ellie thought. She had never been up in the air under the power of something other than her own wings before. That said, she didn't believe anyone at the base would let her just borrow one. Perhaps she'd have better luck with one of the magic gliders? Did the Japanese operate those? It was a long shot, but she said, "I don't know if they'd let me, but I'll ask! If they let me up, I'll wave at you as I fly over, okay?"

Mai seemed happy with this answer and gave a satisfied nod.

At the entry point to the base, Bozes finally said, "This is where we part. It was wonderful chatting with you both, and I hope that the JSDF can give you what you're looking for!"

"I hope so too, thanks for everything!" Ellie said. Beside her, Hector offered a formal bow and added, "If there is anything we can do for you in the future, please let us know."

As Bozes pulled Mai on their way, the girl glanced back, waved, and shouted something in one of the Earth languages at them. "Bye-bye!" Ellie had no idea what it meant, but she assumed that it was something nice.

"Two worlds, one place," Hector muttered. "Remarkable."

"That they can live together like this?"

"Open your eyes, girl. Separate living areas, no free movement to Earth, endless stalling on admission to government? Alnus is as segregated as segregated can get. The remarkable piece is that the natives at Alnus are so satisfied with it."

"When you come from nothing, everything's a miracle," Ellie pointed out. "And there's still one more miracle that I need to see for myself. Let's go—the Night Triangle isn't going to explain itself!"