Retaliation

by Charles Tillman

  Yuko paused, knowing there was more to it than he had admitted, then decided he would tell her when he was ready. It was not like him to forget something that could affect a project like Kume. “Oh, okay. If I can help, let me know.”

  “I will,” Akio answered. “It’s something I am not sure about for now. I will tell you more once I can be positive of what I think I saw.”

  “Eve is at the Palace with Koda. Know that whatever it is you’re dealing with, I’m here when you need me, Akio. Always.”

  “Is Akio well?” Yuko asked Eve when she was alone. “He has been distracted and cryptic for the past few days. Do you know what it is?”

  “He is looking for a Forsaken who survived at Acheng,” Eve told her. “Apparently, my pucking technique needs improvement.”

  “This is an unusual amount of time and resources to spend on one Forsaken,” Yuko reasoned. “Do you know why it’s so important?”

  “Abel told me Akio recognized him and seemed surprised that he was alive. It must be someone from his past.”

  “I don’t want to pry, Eve, but would you keep an eye on him? Something is off here, and it concerns me. His anger toward Isamu was not in character. I fear that this new Forsaken might be part of what happened to Akio that made him kill Isamu in so brutal a manner.” Yuko shuddered as she remembered Akio pinning Isamu to a wall with his tanto and torturing him before he finally ended his life.

  “I already am,” Eve assured her. “He hasn’t shared the information with even Abel as to why this one Forsaken is so important, or Abel hasn’t told me. I have been watching in the background, but so far all he has done is sift through the feeds on over thirteen hundred drones and redeploy them when he doesn’t find what he is looking for. I will notify you if that changes.”

  “Thank you, Eve. I don’t want to intrude, but I do not like to see him like this. In all the years I have known Akio, this is the first time I have ever seen him out of sorts.”

  “I’m on it,” Eve promised. “I also uploaded the files with the blueprints I drew up for the Kume dock project for Horst. I used all the data available to determine what is most efficient for the project but left plenty of room for his input.”

  “That’s kind of you,” Yuko told her. “He has been floundering for a purpose since he arrived here. I think this will help him immensely.”

  “It will help us too if he wants to take on the overseer position,” Eve replied. “The contractors I am considering all come highly recommended, but Horst onsite overseeing the whole project will cut down on the chance of corruption and greed being involved. Plus, it gives me more time to develop new sims for us here.”

  Yuko laughed. “We're going to need an expansion on the expansion before we even start construction if you keep going at this rate.”

  “The realtor who worked with us on purchasing the property was here with his family yesterday,” Eve informed her. “He told me that the property around us has appreciated over one hundred percent since we opened. He has sold several properties his company has been trying to sell for years. This area is the hottest real estate market in Tokyo now. We will have to build up instead of out when we expand again.”

  “Hmm, maybe we should see what it would cost to add a few more levels to the new building. It will probably be less expensive to do it now instead of later.”

  “Already on it.” Eve chuckled. “I have started drawing up new blueprints with three additional levels. I’ll send them to you when I get them finished.”

  “You’re going to be the wealthiest AI in the galaxy if you keep this up,” Yuko teased.

  “I’ll have you know, I am the richest AI in the solar system already,” Eve responded with mock seriousness.

  Yuko chortled. “I suppose you are at that.”

  Eve grinned. “Have fun on Kume, and tell Yagi-san I said hello. I need to get this new sim uploaded and run the beta test on it. This is the one with the user feedback Seki suggested. I want to roll it out over the weekend since Monday is a holiday and we are expecting large crowds.”

  Chapter Ten

  Ning Jing Temple, Dabie Mountains, China

  “Master Peng?” the acolyte called softly from outside the curtained door.

  “Enter,” Peng Kun commanded.

  The acolyte prostrated himself on the floor, his forehead pressed down firmly until Kun spoke.

  “Report.”

  “Master, I have been sent to inform you that Master Li has called. He is arriving in Japan tonight. He wishes to know if you have any further instructions for him before his team begins the mission.”

  “Tell him to report in twice daily as he searches,” Kun ordered, hoping he was being unnecessarily paranoid but wanting to know as soon as possible if Li’s team met the same fate as the others.

  The acolyte rose to his feet, bowed at the waist, and backed out of the room when Kun said no more.

  Kun closed his eyes and settled back into the lotus position he had been in before the acolyte came. To anyone watching, he appeared to be in deep meditation. In truth, he was thinking about the past—how he came to be in this temple and what he had been directed to do. Kun had been born and bred for the Clan, his parents paired as children for the purpose of producing him, just as their parents and their parents before them had been. The Clan had been selecting couples for centuries, cultivating the strongest traits and breeding out the less desirable ones.

  Kun was born to be a warrior and leader of warriors. His path was predetermined, and he had followed it his entire life up until that bitch and her people killed the Leopard Empress and her father. His death, coupled with that idiot General Li starting the war that had almost destroyed the world, had changed everything.

  The Clan was scattered into many enclaves hidden in monasteries all over China. There were entire villages and towns where only Clan members lived. They had adapted to changing times and were hidden in plain sight. Farmers, tradesmen, doctors, bankers; the Clan had members in every field. By sending their children to universities, getting jobs, and even enrolling in the military, they had infiltrated all aspects of life in China. Peng Kun had been a general in the People’s Army when he was sent to take over this facility.

  The cover story had been that the Buddhist monks from this temple were spreading sedition. The Communist People’s Party was suppressing religion again. A Clan member placed high in the party also ordered that the temple be left intact and occupied as a warning to others who dared to defy the people, and just like that, the Clan had use of the facility.

  Kun had been assigned to command the forces left to occupy the temple complex. Over time, he had managed to have Sacred Clan members of the military moved there and the humans reassigned. On the day the world collapsed—the World’s Worst Day Ever, or WWDE as it was now called—he’d had a battalion of troops training there, all Sacred Clan members.

  Over the years since WWDE, Kun had established contact with some enclaves, but others had not been heard from in many years. Of the ones he had been in contact with, he was the highest-ranking survivor, and by default had named himself Grand Master of the Clan. It was not a position he had been trained for as a warrior, but one aspect of being a soldier was to adapt to changing situations. The deaths of their leaders and the destruction caused by the war was nothing if not a changing situation.

  If the Clan had known that General Li was planning his attack, he would have been killed immediately. As it was, with the turn of a key and push of a button, the command code was sent to millions of infected computers around the world. With that simple act, one man had killed billions. The virus had spread, affecting critical systems in every country in the world. Of course, those countries panicked and blamed their enemies, and it was only a matter of time until someone launched a nuke. The virus and the resulting chaos had been all the push needed to make it happen.

  It could have been much worse. However, the virus cutting communications off over much of the world meant that the information di
d not circulate in seconds, it now took days. The United States, Russia, and China still had limited capabilities, as did a number of other countries. They’d all had plans for just this eventuality. Every commander of a nuclear-capable asset had their orders. No one knew how many missiles were ultimately launched—not all them obviously, but enough to cause even more death and destruction.

  Beijing and Hong Kong had been reduced to bombed-out wastelands before it was known that the virus had come from China. When that information was made public, all countries that were still capable attacked. When it was done, China no longer had any large cities that had not suffered damage. Many of the largest were uninhabitable nuclear wastelands, occupied only by the ghosts of the millions who had lived and died within them.

  The rural and farming areas were spared the bombs, but without the support they depended on from the cities, manufactured goods—and more importantly, medicines—were in short supply. That had led to the deaths of millions more. The people of rural China had always felt they were apart from the people in the cities, able to sustain themselves. The truth was that the Chinese government had made the whole country interdependent. They had managed to weed out the knowledge of home cures and the basic survival skills the people living outside of the cities had possessed in earlier generations. Even almost a quarter-century later, the mortality rate in the rural areas was still high from disease and the lack of infrastructure.

  The pockets of Sacred Clan survivors were much better equipped to deal with the realities of post-apocalyptic China. Weres were not susceptible to disease and could farm or hunt with equal ease, which ensured they were the dominant species in the areas where they lived. That was why Kun had launched the plans for the Clan to take over now, instead of in another century as the founder’s plans had called for.

  He was brought out of his reverie by the sounds of combat echoing through the temple. He unfolded from his position on the cushions and made his way to the training area to watch the progress of the Clan’s next group of operatives.

  Chapter Eleven

  TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan

  Akio had been going over satellite images of the various groups he had been monitoring for only a few minutes before he noticed something was off. One of the groups he had determined to be a potential problem was gone. The small settlement was still there, but there were no signs that it had been occupied for some time. “Abel, how recent are these images?”

  “These images were recorded fifteen days and twelve hours ago,” Abel replied.

  “Go back to the images taken just before those,” Akio instructed.

  The screen shifted and showed the same group of buildings, this time with some signs of habitation. Smoke rose from two of the structures, and a couple was seen crossing the street that cut through the center of the settlement.

  Akio looked at the image then ordered, “Go back to the images before these.”

  Again, the screen flickered, and the same area was displayed. This image was taken on a bright day, and there was smoke coming from all the homes as well as numerous figures moving about.

  Akio frowned. “When were these images taken?”

  “Forty-eight days and three hours ago,” Abel replied.

  “Now, where could you have gone?” Akio murmured as he looked at the screen.

  “Abel, please run a search of all data that has been gathered in this area and see if you can find out what happened. There were close to three hundred Weres living there.”

  “Search started based on your parameters,” Abel’s voice intoned mechanically.

  Within seconds, Abel spoke again. “Findings inconclusive, additional data required.”

  “What does that mean?” Akio asked.

  “The existing data does not provide enough information to determine the answer to your query,” Abel replied.

  Akio sighed. Abel was a very competent EI and easy to work with most of the time. Other times he was unable or, Akio suspected, unwilling to extrapolate to provide answers to the questions without literal direction. “Can you define what additional data you need?”

  “Without the data, there is no way to determine what data is required,” Abel replied.

  Akio’s lips tightened to hold back the retort that came to him. He remembered similar conversations with Eve in the early years. He thought for a moment before he replied, “Abel, what can be done to obtain additional data that might help determine the answer?”

  “I need more images than are currently available. The existing data shows activity in the settlement forty-eight days ago. Additional images of the surrounding area from thirty-two days ago show a line of vehicles one hundred and twenty-six kilometers away heading southwest. I can determine to within ninety percent surety that the vehicles came from the Were settlement based on three large trucks that match the type and color of vehicles known to be there. That and the data that indicated the Were settlement still had working vehicles and others in the area allow me to be ninety percent certain those are the Weres you are looking for.”

  “So, what you're telling me is that you need to find their current location to tell me where they are?” Akio asked, already knowing the answer but curious as to how Abel would answer.

  “That is accurate.”

  Akio was silent while he considered, determining that Abel was not ascending to AI status anytime soon. “Abel, what is the best method to obtain the information you need?”

  “Ideally, one of the satellites would locate the vehicles in a static state, and they would remain there until the next pass. Otherwise, a drone carrier combined with moving a satellite into orbit over the area to boost the signal for near real-time intelligence. I have queried Eve, and she advises that all the drone carriers currently operational are in China. It will take one day, fourteen hours, and fifty-one minutes to recover and redeploy one of them to this area.”

  “What happened to the other carriers?” Akio asked, remembering that Eve had deployed more previously.

  “Eve has started production on the larger drone units,” Abel replied. “Some of the materials needed are not currently available, so she recycled the other units to salvage them.”

  “When will the new units be ready to deploy?” Akio inquired.

  “One carrier with two hundred drones will be operational in four days, six hours at the current manufacturing rate,” Abel intoned.

  “Pull up the map that shows coverage for the China operation,” Akio instructed. “Show me a deployment pattern with one of the carriers removed.”

  The monitor shifted, showing the area requested. First dots disappeared in one section, and then others moved to take their places. The area was large but still had decent if not optimum coverage.

  Akio made his decision. “Go ahead and redeploy one carrier to Australia. Determine the most likely destinations the missing Weres could have gone and work back to their last known location using that data.”

  “Acknowledged,” Abel replied.

  Kume Island, Okinawa, Japan

  Yuko brought the Pod down smoothly on the landing area in the town. All activity stopped, as it always did when the Pod came into sight.

  Mayor Yagi was waiting when the door slid open.

  Yagi started to greet them when his mouth closed with an audible snap and his eyes went wide.

  Yuko glanced back to see Horst straightening up after ducking his head to exit the Pod. Ducking wasn’t necessary, but almost.

  Asai stepped out behind him and waved happily to her father. “Father, this is Horst. He wants to help with the port project.”

  “Oof.” Yagi grunted when Asai wrapped him in an enthusiastic hug. “Careful Asai-chan, I break easily.” He chuckled as he kissed her on top of her head.

  Asai grinned and lightly poked him in his stomach. “With all this additional cushioning, I’m surprised you felt it.” She snickered.

  Yagi feigned anger as he turned to Yuko. “See what I have to put up with? Not home five minutes and alrea
dy sounding like her mother. I work hard every day,” he lamented. “Yet the women in my life begrudge me a good meal.”

  Asai laughed. “Mother and I don’t begrudge you a good meal. It’s the multiple good meals you eat each day that we are concerned about.”

  Yuko grinned at Yagi as he shifted to the side, one arm wrapped lovingly around Asai. “Well, now that we are capable of tending the fields, along with the supplies Yuko-san and Akio-san bring us, I am making up for the lost ones. We all are.”

  Asai looked at him lovingly. “I don’t begrudge you any of them,” she murmured. “You were the glue who held the survivors together during the dark times.”

  He blushed, always uncomfortable when his wife or daughter praised him. He didn’t feel he had done nearly enough to protect them, no matter that he would have died if he had resisted Isamu and Ogawa. “Who is this rather healthy young man, Asai?”

  Asai smiled. “Father, I would like you to meet Horst. He is my friend and Koda’s very good friend. Horst, this is my father, Mayor Suzu Yagi.”

  Yagi raised one eyebrow as he heard this, giving Horst an appraising look.

  Horst had remained a few paces away, giving the two space for their greeting. Now he stepped forward, his hand extended in greeting. “Hello, Mayor Yagi-san. It’s nice to finally meet you. I have heard a lot of good things about you from Asai and Koda.”

  “Thank you, Horst-san. Welcome to our humble island.”

  “Not humble much longer, Father,” Asai enthused. “We are ready to start building the new port ahead of schedule. The Palace has done exceedingly well since it opened.”

  Yagi started at her announcement. He knew the plans Yuko had for rebuilding but didn’t expect it to happen for quite some time. “‘Port,’ Asai? I believe the word you meant to use was ‘dock,’ my dear.”

  Asai’s grin got even bigger. “No, Father, I meant what I said. Horst has looked at the original plans and believes they are not enough to handle what Kume needs.”