Chapter 5: Return to Odo
The team plodded down the seaplane's steps one at a time. Ishiro was last. He wanted to personally thank the captain and copilot for the soft landing as per Shinzo's recommendation. He also slipped them a sizable tip.
Ishiro grabbed his luggage and walked down the steps to his team waiting on the dock. He heard Erika whisper to Akane, "This preliminary tour should be a short trek around the local area. Professor Sato shouldn't overexert himself after his queasiness on the plane." He saw Akane nod in agreement.
"They think I'm old, frail and recovering from the plane episode? How cute."
Ishiro power-walked to the front of the group, moving faster than anyone else, carrying his luggage with ease and whistled a tune. He passed up Erika and Akane, garnering surprised expressions from the two concerned women.
"The professor was sweating and vomiting a few moments ago. Now he's power-walking with a grin like it's nothing."
"For a man his age, he keeps in really good shape. Do you think it's nothing Professor Shiragami?" The group was struggling with their luggage, still trying to stay awake a bit longer. They saw Ishiro far ahead. He pick up a black rock lying on the dock. He looked at it for a moment, then threw it, skipping over the water's surface several times.
"He seems fine now," Erika said in slight befuddlment. "Either way, lets keep an eye out."
"Was that someone's rock?" Akane whispered, even though everyone saw him throw it.
"Let's be off everyone," Ishiro said with vibrancy, waving the group to move ahead of him. The group moved as a single unit. He was dead-last again, gradually slowing down and observing the surreal landscape around him. He paused when Hideo was the last member to step foot off the fiber glass dock onto the dirt. Everything was about to change for Ishiro.
The transition.
The group noticed Ishiro wasn't keeping pace. They saw him standing there, blinking at the scenery, then back towards their feet, just before the end of the dock. He looked hesitant.
"Professor Sato, would you like some help?" Emiko asked, motioning Hideo to carry one of Ishiro's bags. He obligatorily stepped forward a few paces.
Ishiro grunted a laugh, "That's all right Ms. Yamane, Mr. Ogata. Just a bit dizzy from the plane ride. I'm getting my bearings back now. I'll manage."
The group headed off, Erika and Akane trailing slowly behind to make sure Ishiro could keep going.
Ishiro closed his eyes, took a breath and made his first tentative step on the soil.
"I'm back," he thought to himself quietly. "I, I don't seem to be having any reactions right now. Whatever happened on the seaplane must have been a fluke of some kind." Slowly but surely his pace grew quicker. He was finally walking fast enough to rejoin the group, now behind Shinzo who trailed the tail end.
He mentally reflected while passing over a small earthy hill. It was the weathered portion of the landslide toe. "The change here has been menial to say the least; Dismal, foreboding and traumatized as we left it Masako."
He thought his tensions, fears and dreams would immediately inundate his mind. They were settled, under his control. Ishiro was certain looking at this landscape again would set off the horrific memories or dreams he had of this place. Nothing.
His emotions grew more energetic, inquisitive, thirsting to investigate the area.
"It's strange. I usually don't feel this way about Odo."
Emotions and intentions bottled up in his distant subconscious enveloped him. Raging, angry determination and a calculating mind became is inner mode."These emotions...I must have always had them." His somber face amassed a look of vigor and intensity.
"Whatever it takes, I'm going to get as much information as I can, wherever and whenever I can."
He looked over at his team. His congenial side slipped in. He felt sightly sorry for how hard he was about to be working his team, mainly Akane, Hideo, Erika and Shinzo.
"I apologize everyone," he said mentally, "but I'm going to have to utilize you as a means to an end. I must have resolution."
His thoughts more powerful, greater in volume, screaming a singular goal in his head. His face began flushing red in maddened conviction.
"What ever it takes, I must. I must have the answers I need. I MUST HAVE TRUTH!"
"Professor Sato, you look like you're overheating. Care for a bottled water?" Hideo said, rotating his body around in a solid motion, his hand out with a cool plastic bottle with slight condensation on it. Ishiro snapped back to his main personality.
"Why... thank you Hideo. Full of additional minerals, very good...very good indeed."
The team was still a distance away from the main camp site. The group passed a large dug up excavation that contained what looked like portions of a burnt-out wall, with several pieces of loose clothing and various labeled, charred trinkets. Further up the ditch they saw a broken gong. Lying next to this were several skeletons, seemingly crushed and broken from a large wooden beam lying on top of them. The beam was connected to a warped wooden structure still fixed in the upper layers of the landslide.
As they approached downhill of a large mound, Ishiro saw Yamane, his small team and the hosting archeological researchers sitting at a bench with several laptops, maps, charts and miscellaneous tools. Several steaming cups of coffee with colored labelling were placed in an orderly fashion.
Yamane noticed the group heading towards them. He headed for Ishiro's group with a fellow researcher, and was joined by another individual, dressed in clothing more suited for an office job. Ishiro, controlling his new temperament, smiled and waived to his colleague and friend.
The two parties met just around a tent housing several large digging apparatus.
"Professor Sato! I'm extremely glad you've arrived. Hope the family is doing well."
"It's great to see you too my friend. The travel was satisfactory but tiring for my team. Everyone except Professor Shiragami, my student Ms. Yashiro and myself requested additional resting time. Where are our cottages located?"
"They are located right behind our cottages, just a few dozen meters past the next excavation site. Did you want some rest too Ishiro? It's still rather early."
"That is alright. The three of us are awake and rested enough to engage a preliminary tour of the island, if you're willing."
Yamane padded his jacket pockets, searching for something. He pulled out a GPS unit.
"I'm afraid I'm still learning the overall island topography. I've visited a few spots where the archeologists actually utilized me in their efforts. Before we do the tour, I'd like you to meet the team we have here."
"Very good. They seem preoccupied at the moment though, so I'll introduce mine," Ishiro said, adjusting his place in the group to be on the left of them.
"You're familiar with Professor Shiragami and Professor Mafune of course. I've also brought along three of my students in the Integrated Bioscience Program. This is Akane Yashiro, who is specializing in computational and mathematical biology. The solo young man here, Hideo Ogata, is leaning towards biomolecular physics; basically a realm of biophysics that I could never quite understand fully. Finally we have this young woman, who I understand wants to become a paleontologist, much like a cranky old man I know," Ishiro said with a smirk.
Emiko walked past the group towards Yamane.
"Who is this young woman Ishiro? She seems like a trouble maker and a partier," he said with a slight snicker towards Emiko. She laughed with a big smile.
"Grandpa, you silly old fossil, I've missed you," she said exuberantly while giving him a big hug. Hideo stood in the back awkwardly, slightly nervous.
"Emiko my granddaughter. It's wonderful to see you again." Yamane whispered to the group, pointing at Ishiro, "I'm not the only fossil here. There's a much older specimen on your team." Ishiro chuckled a bit. Yamane motioned the two gentlemen on his side to the front.
"Now, the gentleman to my left is Professor Takashi Oguchi. He his a Co-Field Director and geomorphologist studying the landslide and surrounding area. The young man to my right is Professor Kono Otani. He is our Ethnohistorican, specializing in South Pacific Island cultures and scripture. He is also the Field Director and in charge of the archeological researchers here."
Professor Oguchi, a big muscular gruff looking man in his late thirties was coated in a layer of dry, cracked mud and particles. His hat, with unkept hair poking out the sides was the only thing not filthy. Professor Otani was the polar opposite. He was extremely nice and unusually young, probably in his late twenties. His suit was spotless, his hair kept. His outward demeanor screamed the essence of a neurotic clean freak with some kind of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He constantly wiped his shoulders of particulate matter that landed on him from the excavation sites.
Both gentlemen bowed. Ishiro and the team replied in kind.
"As a matter of fact, "Yamane continued, "Professor Otani was absolutely instrumental in getting this archeological excavation approved with the government. He is the Field Director of operations here. My title of Co- Field Director is more honorary than anything else."
Professor Otani spoke up, "There's much to learn of what happened sixty years ago. Admittedly the overall picture and story of Odo's demise seems rather fractured. Our archeologists have found peculiar oddities and...I"ll discuss our findings with you all in a bit," the young Professor said smiling while his eyes were slightly angled towards the ground, as if disturbed by his own statement.
"Perfect, this will make my inquiry easier," Ishiro said internally. His body relaxed even further.
"In the meantime. Professor Oguchi, Professor Otani, I will guide Professor Sato and the coming members of his team on a tour of the island. Let's let them settle their stuff in the cottages."
"If I may interrupt," Professor Oguchi said in a horse but respectful voice, "but have you seen a rock sample I may have left at the dock? Dark, black in color? It was a beautiful sample of Boninite."
Everyone looked in the direction of Ishiro. Emiko and Akane were trying their hardest not to smile, Shinzo put his head in Erika's shoulder feigning a cough, Erika tried remaining silent while her eye twitched and Ishiro turned to his group with a face pleading them not to say anything.
"I don't believe I saw such a sample. Did anyone see the rock specimen Professor Oguchi has described, "he asked while cracking his neck. Everyone except Akane and Shinzo said no calmly; they chortled their words with red faces.
Yamane parted with Otani and Oguchi, including several other members and guided the new group to their cottages.
Shinzo whispered over to Erika, "I told you something was amiss. Ask about my observation at the conference."
"What conference worrywart?"
"The one I overheard is going to be happening in twenty minutes. Anyways, what's with a kid being head of an operation like this?"
Yamane lead the group. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Emiko holding Hideo's hand.
"Hmm...I thought she was with that chemistry graduate Daisuke." He looked over again. She purposely bumped into him, giggling away and laughing.
"Young love... care-free and eventually...tumultuous."
The group settled and unpacked into their cottages; men in one cottage, women in the other, much to the annoyance of Emiko and Hideo; Yamane laughed at their misfortune.
After seeming to appear awake and animated for the landing and greetings, Shinzo, Emiko and Hideo were passed out in a matter of minutes. Ishiro, Erika and Akane left with Yamane.
8:01am.
"Before our island tour, we need to attend a quick conference on the team's findings as of late. We'll only be ten to fifteen minutes, then we can get to it." They reached the exterior of a small modular building with a capacity for twenty-five people. Yamane lead the group to a set of seats inside. Moving around was cumbersome. The whole room was small and tight-quartered, just barely enough space to sit in one's seat.
All the members from both Yamane's small team and the hosting team sat in a huddled zone of desks. One member, an Anthropologist named Kenji Wagura , was handing out Portfolio's of report summaries and observations. The top cover said, "Classified Report Summary."
"You'll each need one. Please...," Professor Wagura said. Erika and Akane skimmed a few pages of their copy. Ishiro immersed himself in it.
"One moment please everyone. You'll need to sign these confidentiality agreements," Yamane interjected. Ishiro looked over his shoulder at Yamane, eyebrows raised up.
"This research site is not sponsored by the government, I presume?" he said slightly sarcastically, knowing full well it was when both Yamane and Otani stated this fact.
"It is Ishiro. The data and information however are to be only discussed within the confines of this sphere of people; the present members, and the agency."
"Which agency may I ask? I was not given details on this aspect of the dig. I'm also confused as to the need for such measures. Why all the secrecy for an archeological dig site?"
"Afraid I can't discuss that yet, not until you voluntarily agree to sign the agreement Ishiro."
Akane quickly scribbled her name in the agreement, followed slowly by Erika after reading it two times. Ishiro read the document three times. It was only three pages long, but he was reluctant to sign binding documents.
"Why would they want us to sign this. Do they know what happened?" he thought to himself, puzzled by the slap of security out of nowhere. "Information regulation usually happens when someone knows more than they let on." He thought for a moment.
"Will the research findings be eventually fed to the appropriate academic outlets to publish?"
"I'm afraid that will be for Professor Otani, the Co-Field directors, and most importantly, the agency to determine," Yamane said frankly, not blinking once.
Bewildered but certain to get the facts, Ishiro skimmed the agreement one last time before signing his signature. He thought to himself "The point of this research is to satisfy my quench, not the public." He relaxed for a moment before reading the first page of the portfolio.
"Superb! I've also had a member from my team give these agreements to the sleepier members to read over and sign."
"Professor Mafune is going to be angry as heck," Erika whispered to Akane.
"Mafune's question! I better ask before the conference gets going." She reorganized Mafune's inquiry to a more formal and less suspicious-sounding form.
"Professor Yamane, may I ask a question? Professor Mafune made an observation and I wanted to follow up on it."
"Certainly Erika...I, I mean, Professor Shiragami."
"It's okay. Erika is fine. His question was something like this. What function does a paleontologist have at an archeological dig site. The island is basically a mass gravesite, is it not?"
A cough escaped Professor Otani, followed by Professor Oguchi. The whole room was silent. Nonchalant stares were haphazardly piercing Erika from all sides. Ishiro seemed oblivious to the situation, his attention entirely focused on the factoids hidden in the portfolio. He was jotting personal notes from it and the confidentiality agreement. Akane feigned ignorance of the situation, but was listening intently.
"I was invited as a guest researcher. You know of the new Museum of Earth and Human Sciences in Yoyogi Park, the building under construction between the Meiji Shrine and the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center? When it opens next month, I will be its acting Director. The backers for this museum have asked that I expand upon my "Human" knowledge, particularly in the fields of anthropology and archeology. When I was approached about Odo, I found it to be a good source to acquire basic knowledge of archeological techniques. It was only natural that I take this position. I hope this explains my presence here Erika."
"Thank you Professor Yamane. I'm certain Professor Mafune should be quite satisfied with this answer."
Faint ruffling of pages were heard from an oblivious Ishiro. Everyone redirected their attention to the portfolio. A PowerPoint presentation flicked on against the wall in the center of the room. The first slide showed a simulation model of Odo's landslide. A highlighted piece of text stated, "Documented Landslide Exceeds Model Simulation Sizes: Missing Force Vectors Necessary To Generate Observed Size."
Yamane headed towards the front. He looked at the screen. Yamane made sure Erika, Akane and especially Ishiro were preoccupied with their papers. He then whispered over to Oguchi and Otani who were discussing something.
"Professor Oguchi, a word please. What does "Missing Force Vectors" mean?"
"That...that means the landslide may have required an enormous amount of external, unknown force to get generated. The old maps indicate that a large, steep hillside encircled the village. This hillside no longer exists on current maps. It was this hillslope that collapsed and destroyed Odo village. What's not making sense is that there's no remnant hillside. There should be a scarp, a crown, cracks, some origin point. For reasons we don't quite know, the whole hillside just gave way in what appears to be a giant solid mass, moved from unknown external forces."
Several blank stares came from Yamane and Otani.
"At least that's what the model predicts. It could be flawed, and for all we know there may be one or several variables we haven't taken account for yet."
"Could there have been a source of weakening from the agricultural practices of the natives farming on the hillslope," Professor Otani chimed in.
"Aerial maps and you're the records you found for the time indicate the level of impact the villagers had was minimal. Small local slides would be expected from modifications by the villagers during heavy rainfall. It's not enough to warrant the collapse of the entire hillside. It had plenty of vegetation, little to no surface erosion or historic seismic activity, equilibrium in groundwater pressures. Most importantly, meteorological data indicate there was little rainfall several years before the landslide. All I can say is that the model predicts a force variable we haven't foreseen yet...an enormous external force."
"Let me know if there are further updates on the simulations," Yamane huffed over his shoulder.
Erika settled into her seat comfortably again. Yamane's reasons seemed quite appropriate. His body language however, showed a small amount of uneasiness. He didn't blink through the whole exposition.
"Mafune's turning me into a suspicious cynic."
Erika then felt someone grab her left hand; It was Akane, passing on a torn piece of paper. She took it discreetly and slipped it in her portfolio to read.
"I noticed also. Something's off about this place. The geomorphologist said the landslide isn't predicted by their models...something about necessary external force, lots of it."
Erika shook her head for a moment, before another note came her way from Akane.
"Yamane's eye's widened. He didn't blink once. People do that when they lie."
Erika looked at Akane with a "drop it" face. She brushed the notes back into her portfolio. Then a piece of paper was slipped into her right hand. It was Ishiro. He was looking at the PowerPoint as though her inquiry with Professor Yamane was trivial. She opened and read the wrinkled bit of paper.
"I noticed it too."
"Fifteen minutes just to go over facts already in a portfolio; what a waste of my time!" Akane complained to Erika while stretching her arms over her head as the group left the conference. She looked behind her. Ishiro and Yamane were far behind, talking away.
"You have to admit, those were riveting findings...strange but interesting. The landslide simulation may be modeling error, but those other two findings are downright unnerving."
"Which ones?"
"Did you dose off again?" Erika said in a jokingly formal tone. She switched to a more informative one. "Recall those destroyed dwelling timber samples found all over the village? The sample analyses indicated they were scorched by fire. Seared and blackened marks were present in eight-five percent of the samples all over the old village."
"Maybe it was a double disaster Erika...a huge fire, then a massive landslide. It's not unheard of."
"Maybe, though the second finding kind of throws us off that trail. The village skeletal remains don't correlate well with common landslide injuries and fatalities. The trauma to the bodies is vastly greater, many thousand times in most cases."
"How do you know that Erika? I don't recall that being in the conference discussions."
"I brought along a medical geology textbook. That was the heavy thing I was reading before you went to bed. It had useful discussions on the health, trauma and mortality impacts of various natural disasters, particularly on landslides."
"That being the case, what injuries in those skeletal remains should the archeologists have found according to your text?"
"Noticeable trauma to bones, which was observed in some remains."
"So, of the observed remains..."
"-most are completely flattened, every bone shattered, splintered beyond recognition. More than half the villager remains discovered at this point looked like that happened to them. Forces required to do that to human bones immeasurably exceed the forces generated by this landslide, no matter how bad it was. The numbers don't add up."
"Erika, there seems to be a lot of weird, missing things not adding up about this island."
"Keep it cool Akane. I'm just bringing up facts. The picture of those skeletal remains, along with the ones we walked by already looked as though one-hundred plus ton boulders fell on them."
Erika grabbed her water and took a drink. Akane cracked her neck and kicked a loose rock on the ground towards another loose rock.
"Speaking of this macabre topic, something's been on my mind, the point of this whole excavation," she said loudly, as if trying to get Ishiro and Yamane to hear from the far distance back.
"AKANE...keep your voice down."
"It's alright. They're still far behind us."
"I concur Ms. Yashiro, but to your point of this excavation," Ishiro said right behind them, causing both to jump in surprise.
"Holy cra...Professor Sato, you scared the life out of us,"Akane exhaled out heavily.
"I unintentionally do that every now and then." Erika and Akane tried to remain silent. Ishiro broke the silence.
"If you two have developed suspicions, I wouldn't blame you. Professor Yamane and those other two are holding back information."
"Do you suspect something Professor?" Akane asked.
"Yes. I don't quite know what it is though."
"You might be able to answer this thought I have Professor Sato."
"What's on your mind Akane?"
"Why hasn't there been any investigations or excavations in the last sixty years here? Why after all this time?"
"That's a very good question..."
Ishiro just walked along quietly without looking at Akane or Erika for several moments. They passed a small dig site. There was an old decrepit boat sticking out of the soil with a skeleton huddled under it. It made Ishiro uneasy, though not to the extent were he couldn't follow his goal. Akane interrupted his thinking.
"Is there an answer Professor Sato?"
"That's another good question. I asked Professor Yamane and Professor Otani the same thing. Neither gave me an answer beyond it being not in the government's business to investigate a disaster site with no survivors. That to me is a cop-out and not very plausible or explanatory."
"What do you think?" Erika asked in anticipation.
"I think, before we went into the conference room I saw a partially open tent with a bunch of Geiger counters. Wait a minute..."Ishiro turned his head to see Yamane was going to catch up any moment.
"Professor Yamane is heading this way. We'll discuss this later. Erika, do what you're doing. Akane, take your note pad out. Write something every now and then."
Erika and Akane nodded quickly. Moments later Yamane reached them.
"You guys are fast walkers. Before we head off on the tour, I'd like to see what this new dig site has uncovered. It's the biggest one yet."
Yamane had the lead now, the other three remaining silent. He took them to a large open pit that gradually increased in depth. It must have been over thirty meters in length. Spread out all over the place were the remnants of the village homes, buried and destroyed, some looked like they were aflame at some point. Dozens of orange place markers stood for skeletal remains. Towards the end of the pit were two dwellings, both with roofs caved in and walls smashed from the inside, but looked like they were not as affected by the landslide. Tarps and tools littered the area, and there was one lone archeologist digging in an open area near the homes. He stood up, waiting to greet the coming group.
"There's something odd about those two homes," Ishiro thought to himself.
"Professor Yamane, what brings you here on this lovely hot morning?" The archeologist said with an aloof sense of warmth.
"Professor Saeko Kaneshiro, good morning. This is the group I'll be escorting around. I'm giving them a tour of the island. I wanted to show them typical dig site activity."
Kaneshiro, a man in his early thirties, looked curiously at Ishiro, Akane and Erika.
"They signed the agreements I presume, Professor Yamane?"
"Yes."
"Well, just be cautious while down here. I've uncovered some intriguing findings. It seems that some areas of this site are easier to dig than others; some kind of unusual sediment compaction under portions of the landslide. What's also strange is that while most clothing layers on the victims decomposed over the last sixty years, some samples in the skeletal remains of the landslide survived degradation. Other than that, I've mostly uncovered standard trinkets and objects typical of a village like this." He paused, looking over at several tool boxes and white cloths strewn about with objects in them.
"Oh, and I found this...," Kaneshiro said, pulling a white cloth from a case. "...in the digging area by the shoreline two days ago, near those mangled whale bones that were just dug up."
"Mangled whale bones..." Ishiro thought to himself blankly. Inside the cloth was a Shamisen, weathered and worn down.
"The strings can still vibrate a little, can you believe it?" Kaneshiro plucked a couple strings. Ishiro suddenly felt queasy and light-headed. He took a big gulp. The sounds of the instrument evoked deep, fuzzy memories, memories he wasn't sure were real or just bad dreams.
"Erika, can you pull a water out for me? I'm a little flushed."
Kaneshiro got back down into the spot, crossed his legs and wiped the sweat off his face.
"Goodness it's hot this morning! Anyway, my primary responsibility is determining the various ages of the Odo Island victims. This requires many different methods since a lot of the samples are not easy to identify. It's not an easy task since so many are shattered beyond recognition. A couple are sheared from intense heat; most degraded to such extremes it isn't likely I could identify them, except..."
He moved over to a tarp on the ground.
"...here. The skeletal remains under this tarp have been the most interesting I've found," he said with engaged enthusiasm, a contorted grin on his face. "Mainly, it's because her remains are still cloaked in a dress, one of only a handful."
"Her?" Erika asked inquisitively.
"Yes. Based on samples of select non-shattered bones I've identified these remains a day ago to be those of an elderly woman, possibly in her late seventies. Professor Sato, do you have any thoughts on this sample?" Kaneshiro asked, inviting Ishiro down to a spot next to the tarp.
Ishiro's pulse spiked, his arms began shaking violently.
"Let me take the tarp off...one moment."
"Why am I edgy about these bones? They're just bones!" He roared in his head internally, pleading himself to stay in control and stop his overheating. Something about Kaneshiro's observations and findings as of late seemed to unhinge Ishiro; this dig area looked a little too...familiar.
"Here...we...are!" Kaneshiro puffed out. A beam of satisfaction escaped his face. He pulled out his notepad, waiting for a thought or two to come form Ishiro.
"That dress..." Ishiro croaked out quietly.
"That dress, what?" Erika asked, sensing something was off about his demeanor.
"Nothing. I...this sample, ehm...that dress...I recognize..."
"Professor Sato?" Akane asked sheepishly, also detecting something was wrong with his tone.
"Ishiro, your thoughts?" Yamane asked obliviously.
Ishiro's face drained of color within seconds, as though he just died.
"...grandmother?"
His eyes grew wide and dark. Ishiro passed out, fell over to his side and landed on his back, knocking the wind out of himself.
"ISHIRO! ARE YOU OKAY!"Yamane yelled out. Erika and Akane were around him in an instant, trying to hold him up to breathe. He was still, as though he shut down completely and passed.
"Professor Sato. Please! Wake up!" Erika gasped out in distress.
"He's burning up! Give him some water!" Akane yelled out, handing Erika a bottled water. Erika, Akane and Yamane managed to pull Ishiro up in a slouching position. Erika tried to give him water, but Ishiro unconsciously gurgled it out.
"I..I think he's awaking!" Kaneshiro whispered while getting some of the white cloth wraps soaked in water. They saw black pupils; his eyes were dilated.
"Professor Sato, it's Erika. Can you hear me? Can you see me?" Erika said gently but with distress in her timbre.
Ishiro's eyes were red and still dilated, but he looked awake and breathing, trying to process his surroundings. He was silent, staring at the diminutive, crushed skeletal remains within the withered yet intact dress.
"...grandmother...GRANDMOTHER!" Ishiro boomed to the top of his lungs, ripping out of their arms. Anguish, heartache and calamity saturated this raving man. Fear ruled his dilated eyes, tears streaming out. He moved frantically backwards and forwards.
"PROFESSOR SATO. PLEASE CALM DOWN!" Erika shouted out at him.
"Megumi... MEGUMI. MY SISTER! WHERE ARE YOU! He looked at the pile of cloths, then at Akane, her white pack in her hands. He lunged forwards at Akane, trying to take her white backpack.
"PROFESSOR SATO! PLEASE STOP THIS!"Akane cried out, trying to release herself from his grasp. He ripped the pack away, held it to his chest, then ran up the dig site entrance.
"THE SILHOUETTE! IT'S COMING AFTER US!" He shouted before everyone could get their bearings. He was gone in seconds.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIM? DID HE GO INSANE?" Kaneshiro roared out to the group, confused and befuddled by the events that just transpired.
"COME ONE! We have to catch up to him! AKANE! You follow him; you're arguably the fastest of us!"
"Shouldn't we get the group Erika?"
"We'll get them. Just hurry. DON'T LOSE HIM AKANE!"
The group headed towards the cottages. Akane grabbed the first aid kit and sprinted out the dig site towards the ever-disappearing figure that was Ishiro. She looked at the group for a moment, then the sea. The sun was beginning to be blocked by a rolling wave of fog barreling towards the island.
Erika and the others barged through the men's cottage. It was dark inside, with a small light poking from the window in the corner. The loud banging and calls unfazed Shinzo and Hideo's sleep.
"WAKE UP YOU TWO!" Erika shouted, her voice reverberating off the high wooden ceiling. "WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY! GET UP!"
Shinzo turned over, a grumpy face looking at the group." Emergency? What's wrong?"
"Professor Sato is having some kind of traumatic episode. Akane's trying to catch up and keep track of him. He headed for the hills and we're going after him!"
Professor Yamane came through the door and hurriedly asked, "Please get ready everyone. My colleague...our friend is in trouble!"
"I'll get Emiko Professor Yamane. Please find any of your members with medical training. We'll meet you in a moment."
"Thank you Professor Shiragami...Erika," he said with a worried smile, then departed with Kaneshiro.
Erika looked over the cottage interior for a moment.
"He's gone. You can come out from under the covers now Emiko," Erika said in a huff. Emiko's head popped out from under Hideo's covers. Both were blushing heavily.
Shinzo shouted, "When the hell did she get in here?"
"About the time you were mumbling in your sleep about tenure, some female professor and sake," Hideo curtly said.
"All of you. Get Ready, NOW! You two," Erika said with immense authority in her voice, pointing at Emiko and Hideo. "You owe me big time."
"I couldn't save her!" Ishiro shouted in his mind while erratically running past multiple excavation sites. Archeologists saw him run by fast. They tried greeting him respectfully, with no reply. Four of them climbed out of the pits, trying to wave him down.
Ishiro turned his head back. Ishiro saw villagers being enveloped by a huge wall of dark fog. A massive, clawed foot punctured the fog and slammed right on top the villagers. He heard screaming and cries from the fog, the sounds of buildings being pulverized...he heard the bellows and rumbles of the creature. Ishiro turned his direction back towards the ridges and hills, clutching the bundle in his arms tighter.
"These boots suck! My feet are weighed down too much," Akane grumbled loudly. She was slowly catching up to Ishiro running up the slopes.
She started mumbling to herself, "Of course nobody cares Akane! You're running up a stupid hill to find Professor Sato and determine who knows what sweet flying hell happened to him." She looked up the edge of a trail that divided into two paths. The left path went to an empty spot on the hill, but the right went towards another path heading to a tall, steep ridge trail that stretched into Odo Bay. The footprints led right. Akane followed them. The fog gradually smothered the visible landscape.
"Great...THANKS NATURE...you go right ahead and make a stressful situation even harder," she bickered into the fog sarcastically. She tripped over a branch hidden by some tall grasses.
"DAMN IT! What the heck set Professor Sato off like that anyways? Why's he acting like a lunatic, as though something is chasing him." She kept trudging up for what felt like eternity.
"I mean he has been acting bizarre the last few hours; first fine, then sick, then fine again, then skittish, and now a complete episodic breakdown. There's got to be a reason!" Akane pondered for several minutes while trying to follow his prints. Her mind wrestled pieces of the day and any eventful information relating to Ishiro.
"Him freaking out can't be a fluke...maybe, maybe Professor Sato is the clue?"
She coughed out dust and soil several times. Exasperated, breathing heavily and sore all over she stubbornly climbed up the slopes. The footprints, erratic but forth-telling lead to the top of a ridge trail. The surrounding fog was extremely dense now. Akane could hear the other researchers just starting the climb down below.
"Come on Akane. THINK! There has to be..."
It came to her in one huge wave of recall. The things that made little difference to her throughout the morning finally coalesced and resonated into profound meaning.
"Those books, him reacting to the view of the island from the seaplane, his skittish behavior in and around the dig sites...most importantly, him yelling at those remains in the dig site..."
Her eyes widened, a new concept taking hold now.
"THAT'S IT! That's why he's been so sporadic...he lived here. He saw what happened...HOLY SHIT! Those were his grandmother's remains..."
Akane heard whimpering from the dense fog up ahead along the top region of the ridge. It sounded low and gritty.
"He's over there...I better be careful."
She cautiously approached, peering behind a downed log and a small boulder. Akane heard forced whispering.
"I couldn't save her Megumi...please forgive me. I promise I'll keep you safe!"
"Professor Sato?" Akane whispered, poking her head over the log. Ishiro was huddled between the log and boulder.
"Professor Sato. Please stay calm, don't freak out...it's me."
Ishiro turned his head extremely quickly. His eyes looked worn down and deluded.
"Masako!?"
"No Professor, my name is-"
"We don't have time Masako! STAY DOWN!"
"Great, he's lost it. Playing along might be my only way out of this," Akane mumbled quietly.
"It's still here, beyond that ridge in the fog," Ishiro said shaking, pointing towards the fog. "Where...where is Akira Masako? Your mother?"
"Profe-Ishiro, what happened?" Akane asked, trying to subtly elicit information.
"We were in the ocean, it...it came from the ocean. Akira and I saw it head straight into the village. The destruction...screams and death. It killed everyo...THERE !"
Ishiro rocketed his arm upwards, pointing towards the fog swirling around a peak in the hills.
"IT'S COMING!"
Nothing but fog and cloaked hillsides.
"Ishiro, Ishiro breathe! Take deep breaths. Take de-"
"THE SILHOUETTE IS AFTER US!" He cried out trembling, falling over slightly and finally looking into Akane's eyes.
"You're...you're not Masako. WHERE IS SHE? Masako! AKIRA! GRANDMOTHER!"
He wailed over and fell into a fetal position, still clutching Akane's pack.
"DAMMIT ISHIRO- please try and get control of yourself! The thing-the silhouette...whatever did this, it's not her-"
"IT'S GOING TO KILL US!"
"AKANE! ISHIRO! WHERE ARE YOU?" cried out a familiar voice.
"ERIKA? UP HERE BEHIND THE LOG!"
Akane saw the outlines of Erika, Shinzo, Yamane and the others all running towards her and Ishiro. She could faintly hear Erika talking on a cellphone. Yamane was corralling the professors with medical training and several other researchers up front. Shinzo was directing Emiko and Hideo.
"Thank goodness...ISHIRO-"Akane yelled out as Ishiro was seizing into a fit. His pupils were pitch black, his eyes red, still looking in the direction of the ridge.
"HURRY! I THINK PROFESSOR SATO IS HAVING A SEIZURE!"
Moments later they crowded around the log. Erika, Yamane and the medic professors jumped over it to Ishiro, trying to move him on his side.
"Epileptic seizure...get hold of him and keep him on his side!" One of them said forcefully, trying to hold Ishiro at an angle now and loosen his clothing. Ishiro dropped Akane's pack, unable to grasp it tightly anymore. Erika walked over with the cellphone, talking to the other end about what was happening to Ishiro.
"LET ME TALK TO HIM," cried the voice on the other end.
"I'm putting you on webcam and speaker Mrs. Sato."
From Akane's perspective she saw the smartphone pop up a picture of an elderly woman, looking horrified by the sight around us.
"Ishiro," she said with calm but concern. "Ishiro, listen to me. This is Masako, your wife!"
Ishiro's shaking and convulsion didn't stop.
"Please Ishiro. Relax and listen to me. The silhouette is gone. It went back into the waters. Megumi is safe. All three of us are safe. We have each other!"
Ishiro refocused his attention from the ridge to the smartphone. Mrs. Sato's words seemed to be getting through to him, although he was still convoluting.
"There are people all around you right now that care and love you. Let them help you!"
"I think it's working!" a medic spoke up.
"Come out of this delusion Ishiro! Fight it! It's not real!"
"...Ma...Mas...ako?" Croaked the old man, slightly shaking still.
"He's coming back!" Yamane loudly whispered in relief.
"Yes, it's me Ishiro. I love you. I always will."
"Masa...Masako?"
Then he became motionless. His body relaxed. His eyes undilated, then closed gently.
"Oh no! Did he...did he just pass?" Shinzo whispered over to Erika.
A medic took his pulse, then checked his breathing.
"He's still alive. He just passed ou-"
"Masako, where are you?" Ishiro whispered lightly, his eyes still closed.
"Professor Sato? Masako is on a webcam. She can hear and see us right now." Professor Yamane spoke, leaning over next to Ishiro.
"Yamane...my friend?"
"Yes indeed Ishiro. I'm your friend, a longtime one. We're all your friends. Please listen and if able, open your eyes. You need Masako more than a friend right now."
"Ishiro...Ishiro, can you here me?" Masako asked sheepishly.
"I...it's all fuzzy and grey, my mind just went black. I heard your voice out of the dark Masako."
Ishiro opened his eyes. The crazed expression was gone. His face was relaxed, though fatigued and drained. He looked around the scene. Almost everyone from the research teams was here, relived but worried looks plastered on them.
"What happened? That peak over there...we must be up the ridge trail. How'd I get up here?" Silence permeated the group until-
"Professor Sato. We were in a dig site. You saw some skeletal remains in a dress. You said they were of your grandmothers," Akane gently spoke over to him, letting Masako hear her, distress emanating off her face.
"You then went into some kind of shock and ran up the hill with my pack."
"Oh no...what have I done?"
"It's okay Ishiro. They're going to take you back an-"
The smartphone lost the signal to Masako.
"Dumb phone! I'll be able to get her in a little bit Ishiro. Can you move?" Erika asked him.
"I think I...wait...no, I...I'm about to pass out in a moment."
Seconds later Ishiro closed his eyes again, falling into a deep sleep.
"Let's get him back to the campsite. He needs as much rest as possible," said one of the medically trained professors. They pulled a stretcher and put him on his side. Two researchers carried from the ends while Shinzo and Hideo spotted the sides to make sure Ishiro wouldn't roll over during the debilitating track down. They all began to trek down the hillside. Erika and Akane trailed last.
Erika's phone suddenly rang on.
"I've got a signal again. An old text...a Pacific Wide Alert. Akane, it's a Tsunami Information Bulletin. One-hundred and fifty kilometers off the coast of northern California in the United States a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred. I guess I forgot to check it earlier."
"We've been busy, that's for sure. You think we'll need to come back up here?"
"Probably not. No tsunami or significant damage from the earthquake was reported. For Japan and Hawaii they say stay advised."
"Amazing how they get these warnings out in different time zones. Aren't we twenty hours ahead of North America?"
"Sixteen hours. It's 9:09 am for us. The text sent out a little over two hours ago. I think that makes it...um...2:25 pm Pacific Standard Time when the earthquake struck in California. It's 5:09 pm for them now, probably near sunset."
"I hate geography and time zone crap," Akane complained, her head still in a jumble. Her thoughts were more focused on Ishiro's terrifying rambling than anything else right now.
"I'm sorry I put you through all that stress Akane. I can't imagine how horrible it must have been to see him like that. He didn't do anything to you, did he?"
"I'm good Erika. It had to be me. Anyone else would have lost him up the hills. The fog didn't make it any better, that's for sure... and no, he didn't do anything harmful. He was mostly delusional, huddled between the log and boulder."
Erika leaned over and gave Akane a gentle hug. Akane gave one back, before breaking it off swiftly. The fog was thinned out now, pierced by the more intense rays of sunlight.
"As soon as we get to camp, I need to call Masako again."
"Ishiro would be about nine years old in 1954, right Erika?"
"I...well...yeah, that's right. You think that's relevant?"
"Erika, did you mention a silhouette to Ishiro's wife before you reached us?"
"To Masako? No, I don't recall saying anything about a silhouette. Why do you ask?"
"Well, he said a huge silhouette was going to kill him. He pointed to the hills and motioned as though it was the size of them. He mentioned Masako, Megumi, his grandmother and someone named Akira. Most importantly, Masako told him that the silhouette went back into the waters. It seems to confirm a thought I had about this whole mess."
"What's that Akane?"
"Both Ishiro and Masako experienced what really happened here."
