Crash Land on Kurai – Chapter 28

I keep my forehead on the tatami mats and wait until I hear Tamura acknowledge my presence. Now that I’m Rin’s… property (ugh, I can’t even stomach thinking the word), I have to make all my connections through him and with him. He sits on one side while Kazuo sits on the other. If anything, my time in the Aoi Uma compound taught me that this society might be totally screwed up, but men and women seem to be on the same footing. At least I won’t have the same trouble I had at home, just because I’m a girl.

“Thank you for such an elegant bow, Minamoto,” Tamura says, his smile wide and hands placed in his lap. “It’s good to see you’re in one piece.”

“Thank you for your hospitality. I’m also glad to be in one piece, shachō-san.” I remember to use the formal title for a corporation head, and this pleases him too. I know he’s a hard man, but he seems to value good manners and intelligence. If he doesn’t appreciate my skills as a journalist, I can at least heighten the other things to please him. He’s my only hope now.

“Well, Rin Hara tells me you have some important news.” He cuts straight to the chase and avoids small talk. Fine with me.

“I do,” I say, pulling my tablet out from the thick obi of the borrowed kimono I’m wearing. He grimaces at it, but I pretend not to notice. He wants us to assimilate to his technology as fast as possible, get microchipped, and into the ecology of the system so we can be true contributors to Hikari. I’m resisting, but it’s only a matter of time.

“I have information I’m willing to sell you. Information I think you’ll be interested in.” I glance over at Rin, and he leans forward. He’s excited about this, knowing Tamura will go for the data in a heartbeat. “Rin has been briefing us on some of the things your corporation does.” Rin and Tamura make strict eye contact. “He says your primary goal is manufacturing animals for sale to the populace. Is that correct?”

Tamura’s face is quite still, and I begin to sweat. Was it wrong of me to know this? I thought it was common knowledge Aoi Uma manufactures androids and Aka Matsuba clones animals. Tamura’s eyes flick to me briefly.

“That is correct.”

“Our society, back on Orihimé, has a fascinating and proprietary technology. We make a microchip that is implanted in an area of the brain, near the language centers at a young age. Once the chip is implanted and the person adjusts to the signals, they can hear animals speak.”

“What is this?” Tamura pulls back, his eyes wide. “No… Is that possible?”

“Here,” I prompt him, handing over my tablet. He hesitates to touch it for a moment before taking it and scrolling through the data. “I know very little about how the chip works, but the basic concept is that the animals on my planet were genetically modified upon landfall to have this ability. That the microchip and the capabilities of the human being combine to make language possible. What I’m prepared to hand over are the specs and blueprints for creating your own chip and information on DNA tweaks that can be made to your animals that’ll make it easier for pairing to happen.”

“What’s pairing?” He sets my tablet in his lap and turns his eager eyes to me. I guess I do hold some value.

“Once the chip settles into the brain, the person spends time with different animals until he or she finds one they get along with the best. Some people are gifted with cats, others dogs, foxes, squirrels, et cetera. No one person is gifted with many animals.” A small lie but he’ll never know I’ve kept this part of the plan separate from him. I don’t want to sell everything. There’s enough data and plans on the tablet to buy me more things in the future should I need it. Not a lot, but some.

“Hmmm.” He picks up the tablet again and looks at the specs. “This… This could be very beneficial to my business, in something I’ve already been planning and working towards.”

I want to jump up and down and pump my fist into the air. Yay!

He hands the tablet back. “What’s your price?”

“Well, I don’t want to be blunt…” I direct my eyes at the floor like Rin told me to.

“Please be blunt. Let us come to an agreement.”

Score. The magic words. I glance at Rin, and his smile is minute. I can see it in his eyes though.

“Ten million credits.” I keep my voice like steel. I’m going to buy my way out of all of this. I did the math, looked at some public profit figures from Aka Matsuba that Rin provided, and came to this number. It should be enough to buy our autonomy.

Tamura doesn’t flinch. “Five million credits.”

“Five? No. That’s too low. Seven and a half million.”

“Six million, and you can use them to buy my men and resources to rescue the rest of your shipmates.”

My heart beats up in my throat. “That will cost me six million credits?” I bite my lip and glance at Kazuo. His face is scrunched with worry, but he doesn’t interject. If he thought this was a truly bad idea, he would caution me or advise me to leave. Rin doesn’t blink. This must mean I have no leeway.

“I would actually charge you seven million, but since I’m interested in this technology, I’m willing to make a fair trade.”

My face falls before I can stop it. This is why I don’t gamble.

“Is this an unfair proposition, Minamoto?” Tamura bristles, and I panic, not wanting to lose the deal.

“No. At least, I don’t think so. Please forgive me,” I say, bowing again as low as I can go. “If I lived among you, I’d better understand your currency and how much everything is worth. I don’t…” I swallow, realizing I’m showing my weakness. “I don’t even know how much a sandwich costs. I want to help my shipmates more than anything. It’s just that…” I inch back up to a seated position. “I owe Rin Hara two million credits.”

Tamura nods slowly, glancing between us. “I’m afraid you have a difficult choice then. You can either buy your freedom or buy the freedom of all your shipmates. I’m afraid you can’t have both.”

Of course, I can’t have both. Because that would be too easy, and my life has never been easy despite the high family rank and connections to the throne. From the outside, I looked like a princess. Now, I look like a sex slave.

My, how the mighty have fallen.

“I’ll trade the information for the rescue of my shipmates. But!” I raise my finger, and Tamura’s eyebrows go up with it. “I need them to all be independent. They can’t be indebted to anyone once we bring them in. The trade includes rescuing, medical help, and resettlement until our people come for us.”

Tamura’s lips spread into a slow smile. “You have a deal. I will give your men and women a year’s salary comparable to their jobs, medical help, housing on Hikari, and placements in my corporation.”

I nod, pleased at the outcome. “Thank you, shachō-san,” I say, bowing down to the floor.

“Thank you, Minamoto. I appreciate your deference.” He clears his throat, and I pause, waiting for him to continue. “I’m grateful you’ve chosen Aka Matsuba to ally with, and it’s clear from Kazuo that you’re influential with your people, even if your preferred profession is not one I agree with.”

I try not to smile or get excited though my stomach is somersaulting like a trained gymnast.

“I’m dismayed to hear Aoi Uma has hacked the contract system by which our whole society depends on. What they did was highly illegal, and they had no right to transfer your contract to them. As such, you were still under contract to Aka Matsuba while you were there. But since Rin Hara has become involved and has forfeited much of his hard-earned income to bring you here today, I propose a plan.”

I lick my lips and glance at Rin. He shrugs his shoulders.

“I think it’s important to keep you alive and well, that you should represent your people on Hikari and be an ambassador for when your rescue comes from Orihimé.” Hearing my planet’s name on his lips is foreign, an alternate universe. I look to Kazuo now, and his eyes tell me to not rock the boat. This is not what I wanted. I’m a journalist, not a politician. “But you have made some enemies, and Rin Hara needs to be compensated for his brave work in saving you from an unfortunate end. So…” He smoothes out the fabric of his pants and grabs his tablet. “I am hereby paying Rin Hara three million credits. Two million for what he paid for you, and another one million to hold your contract and keep an eye on you. He’s now in charge of making sure you stay alive.”

I blink a few times, my heart speeding up. Is this for real? “I… I don’t know what to say. Are you freeing me from my debt with Rin?”

Tamura’s smile is just this side of evil. “No, I’m not. He still owns you. I’m merely funding your living expenses and keeping my bargain with him. My bargain with him was to pay for any of your people he brought back. It wasn’t what we discussed regarding payment, but I never go back on my word.”

I draw my eyebrows together, not understanding. Why am I not free then?

“This is called Ownership By Proxy,” Rin interjects. “It’s more common with minors. You owe Aka Matsuba two million credits now, but I’m in charge of your well-being and collecting payment. And I make ten percent, correct?”

I swallow hard as Tamura nods. “Rin Hara will earn ten percent of whatever you make.” He turns his eyes on Rin, and Rin sits up straighter. “I hope you find this arrangement suitable?”

Rin doesn’t answer but bows instead. I’m relieved he’s earned back his money, but that doesn’t change my situation. I’m still a piece of property, and I’m in the kind of debt I’ll never be able to pay back. Tamura makes it look like a gift, but this is my punishment for fleeing the temple. His wicked smile says it all. I’m fucked, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’ve bought freedom for some, but not for me.

It is just not my day.

—-

I look down at my bed, at the two things that belong to me — my tablet and my knife. That’s it. The data device is with Kazuo, and he’s the only one I trust as we make the transfer of the animal microchip plans from us to Tamura.

I never thought I’d miss my clothes, my jewelry, the photos I hung on my walls at home. I may never see my mother, father, or older brother again. I may never walk the streets of my youth, visit my favorite café, talk with my favorite noodle shop owner. Already my hometown of Yamato is fading from my memories, a photo sun-bleached by days outside.

I close my eyes and picture the kitchen at home, the place I spent most of my time growing up. The satisfying crunch of garlic pushed through a press. The swift chop of an onion and the tears it brings to my eyes. Snacking on carrots as I slice them at angles and add them to a potato stew. The sweet melodies of Germaine singing while she made her famous soup stock. If I breathe in deep enough, the stinging smell of cake, our local herb we smoke for recreation or pain relief, tickles my nose and relaxes my shoulders.

If I wasn’t out chasing a story or I wasn’t expected in the dōjō, you could find me in the kitchen at home. It was my safe place, the one spot where no one judged me, no one fought with me. If I wanted to make something, our house chef, Germaine, a woman who had been with us for almost twenty years, would step aside and let me have my way. The pain of missing that place rips through my chest. I may never have peace like that again.

“Yumi, I have news,” Rin says, opening my door to enter without asking permission. I sniff up, realizing my imagined onion tears are actually the real thing. It wasn’t until I was looking at my only two possessions that I missed being at home. I love adventure, and I love a good story, but even this is too much for me.

“Is something wrong?” Rin approaches me slowly, staring down at the two items on the bed.

“There is nothing left of me.” I wave at the two items and pick up my knife. “Fuck it. It’s not like there was anything worth keeping anyway.” I jam the knife into the waistband of my pants, and I slip the tablet back into my bra strap. Rin watches it go away, a wry grin on his face. “You know, I feel sorry for you, Rin Hara.”

“Why is that?” His face pulls into a series of pinched lines. I doubt anyone’s ever felt sorry for him. He has a stable job that makes him money. He probably has a swanky apartment on Hikari. Shit, I never even asked him if he has a wife or kids or anything. He’s never mentioned it. My lips jerk into a fragment of a smile. Lovers, no.

“You ended up with me. I’m the least valuable person on this mission. I have no marketable skills in your society. No money. Hell, I’m not even pretty. I have no idea how I’m going to pay back Aka Matsuba and make you money. If you had bought my friend, Ayamé, you would’ve been all set. She’s a plant biologist and gorgeous. She engineered three new kinds of high-protein soy plants all on her own before she was eighteen. But then again, I’m sure she never would’ve gotten herself into the position to be bought in the first place.”

Rin rubs the top of his head with his open hand. “Let’s not worry about this now. We have no idea what’ll happen once we’re on Hikari, and I don’t want to deal with the future until then. You have so much to learn and so much potential, I can feel it. Don’t count yourself out yet.”

For someone who barely knows me, he seems to have a lot more confidence in this situation than I do.

“Here.” He swipes on his tablet and hands it to me. I gasp at the image on the screen. Shintaro! My brother’s weary face peers out of Rin’s tablet at me. He’s alive! “Hit play.”

“I’ve been asked to make this statement by the head of Shiroi Nami. They’ve managed to capture and imprison about ten surviving crew members of the Murasaki, and they’re holding us hostage. To secure our release, Shiroi Nami demands that their corporation be reinstated on Hikari, their comrades released from jail, and that all holdings of the Southern Continent be returned to their possession. They have no desire to inhabit the Northern Continent. If you wish to negotiate, meet at Kinyoake temple at dawn in two days. Yumi, my heart is with you.”

I choke down a sob at his closing, something we’ve said to each other since we were kids, so I know it’s him, and he’s safe.

“This is your brother, right?” Rin stares at the screen. “You two are twins.”

I nod, my hand pressed to my lips.

“Twins are so rare on Hikari,” he whispers. “I’ve shown this to Tamura. He says he’s agreeable to meeting the demands of Shiroi Nami.” He shakes his head. “Shiroi Nami hasn’t lived on Hikari in almost forty years, so this will be a big deal amongst all the corporations who are already wary of the Southern Continent. For Tamura to capitulate? He must have alternate plans.”

“I don’t care,” I say, turning to him. “We get my brother and those people back at whatever cost. Give them the damned land. Your politics mean nothing to me.”

A small smile lives and dies on his lips in a fraction of a second. “You’re awfully reckless for someone who knows nothing of the world you’re about to enter.”

I throw his words back at him. “We have no idea what’ll happen once we’re on Hikari, and I don’t want to deal with the future until then.”

See? Two can play at this game. He wants to be in the dark? I’m at the depths of the abyss where light can’t even reach me.

He sighs, rubbing his head again. “You’re going to make my life very difficult, aren’t you?”

I push his tablet back at his chest, and he grasps it, brushing my fingers accidentally. We both halt, a square centimeter’s worth of skin-on-skin before we snap our hands away from each other.

“Count on it. Let’s get moving.”