The Fate of Shin-Osaka – Chapter 18

“All surveillance footage along your route is looped. I have redirected androids to the fire station in the lobby.” Yoshi’s voice is clear and confident in my ear. I meant it when I asked him to do other things for our mission. He’s now the head of technology, a role he’s filling brilliantly.

“We’re all set,” I tell Kazuo at the front. The door we’re waiting at clicks open, and we file inside.

Rin is right in front of me, so I rest my hand on his shoulder as we skirt down the hall. “Don’t you think the car crash would be enough to blow up the building?”

“No. They’ll have it under control in thirty to forty minutes. The front lobby has excellent fire suppression systems. But it’s enough to keep them occupied.”

I don’t recognize this area of the building, so we must be on the ground floor. When I was here last, I went from the UPN drops in the sublevels all the way up to Narumi’s unfinished office. We traversed a few floors in between, but it wasn’t enough for me to see more than five percent of the building.

We pass a door, and the glass window reveals streams of people leaving through the main walkways of the building. I swallow and wonder why we haven’t run into anyone until Yoshi is in my ear again.

“The android at the end of this hall will be re-tasked to direct people to the main lobby. Proceed up through the stairwell. It’s clear.”

Ah. I peek into the same video feeds Yoshi has access to. He’s directed everyone in the building through other stairwells using the onsite androids. Clever. “This stairwell is dangerous. Please use the south stairwell,” I overhear one android tell a group of people running towards him. They stop and head in the right direction.

“You are clear to the tenth floor. From there, you can take the maintenance elevator to the twenty-fifth floor. I have overridden the safeties on it to keep it working. Ohama Ward fire teams are incoming.”

In my human body, climbing ten floors’ worth of stairs would have been enough to put me out for the day, but not anymore. The climb gives me a few moments to remember why we’re here. Rin’s points are a list in my head, but the doubts remain.

I’m missing something. I know it.

I was here before. Maybe my memories from that time will help? I dive back and find a few fuzzy events — a jail cell with Ryoko, Akikazé holding a sword to my throat, a dead security guard — but that’s it. Shit. I know there’s more here that could help!

We have to keep going. I can’t leave this building until I figure out what’s missing from this mission.

By the time we make it to the tenth floor, everyone is breathing heavily, and my charge is at eighty-nine percent. We enter the floor, slink down a side hallway, and board a maintenance elevator that is open and waiting for us.

“Okay, this is where things get a little dicey,” Kazuo says as we ascend through the building. “Everything in this building changed a few months ago when it was attacked.”

He huffs through his fist. Who attacked this building? It was us. Yes, it was.

“Everything from the tenth to the twenty-first floor was damaged, so they moved Research and Development to the twenty-sixth through thirtieth floors. They constructed apartments above that.”

It’s a fifty-story building, so they had a lot of space to work with. I remember it still being under construction the first time I was here.

The elevator doors open on an empty corridor. We step out, confident Yoshi is keeping us hidden.

“When the alarms activated, a lockdown procedure started on the twenty-sixth floor, the server floor. We won’t be able to get in there because the systems are independent and run from an offsite location that Yoshi doesn’t have access to. So we’re going to plant our explosives one floor below.” He points to the door leading to this floor. “This should cut power to the server floor and probably light up the whole top of the building. Remember, a lot is happening here that needs to stop. But the server floor is the most critical piece.”

“This is where their distribution network resides,” I fill in for the Kiiroi Yama team. “Aoi Uma has backups now since our strike on their Amagasaki installation. But this is their only update node. They’ve been building a new one in Kadoma Ward since taking over there, but it’s at least a year from completion. If we can destroy this, coordinating their teams in the field will be difficult. There’ll be lag, and people will make wrong decisions, decisions which will give us an advantage.”

I pause. “Yoshi, how are things on the floor?”

“Empty for now,” he responds. I give everyone another thumbs-up. We’re cleared to go.

“Without this building, Aoi Uma is dead in the water.” Rin nods, and everyone else agrees. “Let’s get moving.”

When the door opens, I suck in a quick breath. I remember this floor layout. The security doors are on the other side of the stairwell with the elevator banks in between. As we pass the main elevator doors, I increase the volume on my hearing. No activity in the elevator. Okay. That’s working out as planned. Because of the fire, they have routed everyone through the stairwells.

As we approach, the security door pops open, and I’m assaulted by another memory of dragging Ryoko’s android copy through the halls after she was damaged. That night, I rescued Ryoko and Shintaro… and Tamura’s bird! I forgot about her. I got them out of this building and to safety.

But the subsequent memories are hidden in a wall of haze. Are they corrupted?

“Yoshi,” I send to him via text. “I need access to memories from a specific time and place, but they’re not coming forward.”

“I’m a little busy right now, Kara. Can it wait?”

“How long? It’s important. Like, vital to this mission important. They should be at about the same time I was in this building last.”

Without missing a beat, he responds, “Understood. Give me five minutes.”

Okay. That’s the best I’m going to get right now.

Originally, floors eight through nineteen were for security and administrative offices. After our first attack on the building, they must have moved things around. The assault did not touch these upper floors that day. In the intervening time, Aoi Uma turned those lower floors into office space.

I wonder if we could gather intel by going up and breaking into Gen and Narumi’s apartment. It looked lived in from across the street, like they spend a lot of time there. The apartment could be a wealth of information. It seems almost a waste to destroy the building and not even look into it.

Setting that idea aside because of a lack of time, I concentrate on the task at hand.

The floor is empty except for a myriad of cubicles and offices that fill the space like a giant maze. The sweet, musty smell of new construction lingers, and the air is thick and dry, like a day in the desert. The lights flicker once, twice. Everyone freezes.

“Looks like we’re going to lose power here in a bit,” Yoshi says in our ears. “This is only a problem for the elevators and a few other coolant systems. When emergency power kicks in, be ready to use flashlights.”

“Let’s work a little faster,” I urge Kazuo. “There are a few things I want to check in on before we leave.”

Kazuo sets his bag of explosives on a nearby desk. The sound of sirens from the street below echo from the glass windows. He smacks packs into opened hands, and each person peels off to set them.

“What things?” he asks, giving me my package. I flip the explosive over and remove the backing that reveals the sticky surface. My job is to reach two support beams on the floor’s south side.

“Give me a few minutes, and I’ll explain.” I lift the explosives, and he nods.

Rin and I are on opposite ends of the floor, but I keep him in my peripheral vision. I can’t lose sight of him. It’s more important he makes it through this than me. I have a backup; he does not. I would prefer it if he makes it out of this mess alive.

I climb up on a desk next to the support pillar and set the explosive near the top. We’re trying to torch the two floors above this one, so we might as well get them as close as possible. Flipping open the panel, I throw the switch to arm it. Kazuo or Yoshi can blow them up when we leave.

We work in silence until the lights flicker again. This time, the room darkens, and the lights don’t come back.

I jump down from my spot and approach the nearest Kiiroi Yama soldier. She’s still setting her explosives, so I take out my flashlight and help her. “Thanks,” she murmurs, glancing down at me. A device attached to her arm lights up with a notification, and she peeks at it before swearing.

“What’s wrong?”

“Communiqué from Kiiroi Yama headquarters. Looks like Aoi Uma is blaming us for this attack. They are mobilizing on us.”

I nod and offer her a hand to get down. “We knew this would happen. Are they prepared?”

“Yes, but…” Her hesitation is concerning. “But they cut off power to our main building much quicker than we bargained for.”

Hmmm. We figured if Aoi Uma moved on Kiiroi Yama, they wouldn’t cut the power unless it was a last resort. Angering Kiiroi Yama is never a good idea. Okamoto is not a forgiving man. But then again, Aoi Uma has been manufacturing its own armored vehicles, explosives, and guns. Kiiroi Yama stopped supplying them months ago, yet they keep showing up with more.

“Let’s settle up here, and you guys can go. Kazuo, Rin, and I can finish this job.” I need Kiiroi Yama to hold their headquarters because that’s where my backup is. If I don’t have a backup, I become as mortal as everyone else.

That’s not a part of the plan.

She nods once. “Understood. And thanks.”

I glance out the window at the lights of nearby skyscrapers and the line of vehicles heading into the distance. The flicker of firelight sparkles in the windows. Night has descended on Shin-Osaka, but it has not stopped the chaos below. I finish the task and visually examine everything else on the floor with my flashlight.

The desk below an explosive has a photo of a woman holding a baby, maybe just a few months old. Her smile is tired and weary but genuine, and the baby’s eyes are open and alert. Motherhood is something I’ve always avoided thoughts of until I met Rin. I don’t even know why he inspires such ideas in me when the world is falling to pieces. It must be some kind of genetic instinct to keep carrying on with love and procreation in the face of utter doom.

“Okay, Kara,” Yoshi says, breaking into my thoughts. “I have time now to fix any missing memories.”

Great! I don’t want to leave here without knowing all of my options.

“I was in this building almost a year ago,” I text him, “when it was attacked the first time. But most of my memories of that time are faded or mixed up.”

I walk along the row of desks to meet up with Rin and Kazuo, who are bidding the Kiiroi Yama team farewell. Yoshi hums in the background.

“Oh, I see. You had a concussion at this time, right?”

“Yes. I was knocked upside the head a few hours before.”

I had chased who I thought was Ryoko on the butsu, and then Gen assaulted me. He gave me a concussion that made me nauseous, but I still had to run for help after. A lot happened in the hours afterward, but the memories are all messed up. Since I spied on Gen and Narumi, I have been trying to access them.

“Got it. Fixing the pointers on these. We can go through all of your memories after this mission is complete. I knew there were a few that still needed work. Sorry they were the necessary ones.”

I place my hand on Rin’s shoulder, close my eyes, and let the memories rush to me. Ryoko, Shintaro, and I were all held prisoner. Tamura was dead, and his android version was on the wallscreen, handing over the Sword of Hikari to Narumi Ogawa.

The Sword of Hikari.

Wait. That’s not the important part.

Narumi was going to clone the empress, our empress, from home.

I hold my breath. “No.” Rin asks me what’s wrong, but I keep playing the memory.

They were going to make an android likeness of the empress or clone her, but cloning her was their best option.

The empress has a genetic mutation that allows her to talk to all the animals on Orihimé, not just the ones she pairs with. It’s a genetic mutation I asked Isao to program into Yumi’s new body so I understand its significance. But if they clone the empress or even create an android in her likeness, Aoi Uma could use this to fool the populace to their side. Narumi Ogawa and Gen could point to her and say, “See? We mean you no harm. Here is the leader of the other planet. She believes in our way of life. You can too.” It would be enough to convince people to stop fighting. Especially if they kill all the Orihimé citizens. With no one to call them liars, it would be easy.

I snap out of the memories with a jolt.

“Was that what you were expecting?” Yoshi asks, but I’m too dumbfounded to speak. I press my fingers to my lips.

Did they ever follow through on this? I mean, Aoi Uma has changed tacks so many times it’s enough to make my head explode. They could have decided it was against their better judgment to clone the empress.

I force my lips to move. “This plan of ours. How much damage will it do? Destroy the building? Or just wound them?”

Kazuo shrugs. “We could plant more explosives, but this will definitely take out the servers. It may wipe out the entire building if it’s hot enough, but that’s debatable.”

Shuffling through my memories again, I find the building’s layout. It’s not much because things have changed in the intervening year.

“The original floors twenty through twenty-four were for Research and Development. So, they used to have more than just the servers. They did other things as well. You say they’re locked down now? Can we not get in at all?”

My heart rate soars with this possibility. I hate being out of the loop and making decisions based on incomplete data. We can’t destroy Aoi Uma without knowing their long-term objectives. They always try to one-up us, throwing curve balls when we least expect it.

Never again.

I’m tired of being one step behind them. I’m ready to run ahead.

“Welllllll…” Kazuo presses his lips together. “We can use a smaller explosive to blast our way in, but that’s risky, obviously.”

My smile widens, and Kazuo and Rin stare at me. I need to decide right away.

Done.

“They brought Ryoko to the twentieth floor to be scanned when she was here. That’s how they made a copy of her. I have to assume this technology is still here, and we have to see what they’re doing with it before we leave. They could be doing something we’ll need to stop or steal before we end their corporation. We can’t just blow it up and run.”

“Why? What do you hope to find there that we can’t just destroy?” Rin turns to me. “There’s nothing here worth holding onto.”

I squeeze his shoulder and let go. “You may be wrong about that.”

If our people from Orihimé are not coming for us, then I will use Aoi Uma’s own weapons against them.

If I can find them.