Penguin Highway

by Tomihiko Morimi

  While we were researching The Sea, we played chess under the parasol or with a ball Uchida brought. We also laid cards out on the grass and played massive games of Concentration. Hamamoto flipped a bunch of different cards over and then wailed “I can’t concentrate!” and flopped over on the ground beneath the parasol. Sometimes we spent the entire day in that clearing, but we never once saw anyone else come through the Jabberwock Woods. This was a secret clearing hidden deep in the woods.

  Sitting in that clearing felt like we were in outer space, so I talked about outer space a lot.

  Uchida and I were fascinated by wormholes. Wormholes were passages that connected our universe to another. Some people thought that black holes were actually wormholes. Uchida was extremely interested in the idea that black holes weren’t dead ends but actually led to another universe.

  “Even if you get sucked into a black hole, maybe you can get sucked through it and end up in another universe,” Uchida insisted. “If the gravitational force along the way doesn’t crush you.”

  “So what’s it like on the other side?” Hamamoto asked.

  “It’s the opposite of a black hole, so it would be a white hole.”

  Hamamoto often played with LEGOs while she talked. She’d brought some blue bricks in her bag, and she made a sturdy wall with them. She didn’t make space stations like I did. She just made walls, and she only used blue LEGOs. But she seemed to have so much fun doing this that watching her made me think it might really be fun.

  “Do you only make walls, Hamamoto?” I asked.

  “I dunno, I just like them.” When she ran out of LEGOs, she broke the wall she’d made up and started again. “I wish I had a lot more bricks. I think it would be fun to make a really big wall.”

  “Maybe it would be fun,” I said.

  “You’re weird, Hamamoto,” Uchida said.

  “Am I?” she asked.

  Uchida wasn’t sure how to respond.

  “…Maybe not weird enough to call weird,” he said, at last.

  Hamamoto hugged the LEGOs to her chest, chuckling.

  I imagined a whole lot of long blue walls all lined up across the grass. And Hamamoto standing on a ladder, piling up one blue block after another. The blue plastic wall shining in the sunlight. The Sea floating silently behind all these blue walls. I thought that would be extremely beautiful.

  It was a beautiful clear morning, with a warm breeze blowing. Cumulonimbus were piling up on the other side of the mountains.

  I spent the morning out of the heat in my room, researching the Suzuki Empire.

  After organizing all my previous notes, I wrote a list of all the kids in class, drawing circles around each group. I ended up with a bunch of different circles, like drops of water on tiles. The smallest circle of all was Uchida and me. I could also add Hamamoto to that circle.

  Drawing it all out like this showed me that the Suzuki Empire was definitely not very big. Kobayashi and Nagasaki were the only ones always with Suzuki. The Empire’s actual numbers were no different from our group, if we included Hamamoto. The only reason Suzuki could act like the king of the class is because the other little groups would do what he said. It was a strange hierarchy. Extremely interesting.

  After eating lunch, I got my rucksack ready. I was on my way to research The Sea. As I was putting my shoes on at the door, my sister asked, “Where are you going?” “To do an experiment,” I said.

  “I wanna come, too! Can I come?”

  “No.”

  “Why not? Why not?!”

  “Well, it’s an extremely difficult experiment. You wouldn’t understand.”

  “I would so! I understand things!”

  “What’s three plus five plus eight?”

  “Um, uh…”

  While my sister thought about that, I put on my hat and ran out of the house. I could hear her wailing behind me and felt a little sorry for her, but our experiments were a secret, and I had no choice.

  I met Hamamoto and Uchida on the water-tower hill, and we cut through the Jabberwock Woods. The breeze was hot, and the trees were swaying, making the light dance.

  Our plan was to send another probe into The Sea. On the grass under the parasol, I began construction on Penguin II. Hamamoto was wearing a big white hat, and she walked off alone across the grass toward the stream. Uchida sat on the chair under the parasol, glaring at his notes like a philosopher. The warm breeze was making the corners of the pages flutter.

  “What are you writing in your notes, Uchida?”

  “Hmm…,” Uchida said, clutching his head. “I’m not good at explaining things.”

  “Really? I think you’re good at it.”

  “But these are my own thoughts.”

  “It’s harder to explain things you think up yourself?”

  “If I struggle to explain something and then you just say ‘Oh, that’s easy,’ then I’d be sad. Maybe it’s all boring.”

  “I’d never say it was boring.”

  “I know you wouldn’t say that, but… It’s just embarrassing.”

  “Embarrassing things are tough to handle.”

  “Very.”

  “Is this like how Suzuki is in love with Hamamoto but won’t admit it?”

  “I dunno. Maybe.”

  “Then I won’t ask again. Professor Hamamoto himself said that really important research shouldn’t be shared with just anyone. That we should keep it secret.”

  Uchida focused on his notes, and I focused on building Penguin II.

  When I finally finished the probe and looked up, I saw Hamamoto moving closer to The Sea on her own. “Hamamoto, careful!” I said. She raised a hand and waggled her fingers. I looked through the binoculars, and there was a construction floating on the surface of The Sea like a big blue vein, moving like blood was circulating through it. I’d never seen a construction like that before. Hamamoto clasped her hands behind her, walking cautiously all around The Sea. Then her head tilted sideways.

  Suddenly, she started waving frantically. “Get over here! Quick!” she yelled.

  “What is it?”

  I jumped up and ran across the grass.

  When I drew up next to her, she said nothing, just pointed at the thing moving around The Sea’s circumference. Hidden on the curved surface of The Sea, I could see a boy and girl standing with their backs to us. The girl was wearing a big hat just like Hamamoto’s. The boy was wearing shorts just like mine.

  “Who are they? Where’d they come from?” I whispered.

  “I dunno,” Hamamoto said.

  “I couldn’t see them from the parasol.”

  “It was just a girl at first, but now there’s a boy, too.”

  Hamamoto frowned, worried. No other children had ever appeared in this secret clearing before. And these children just seemed to be hiding in the shadow of The Sea, not trying to talk to us at all. Hamamoto and I moved slowly around The Sea. But the strange children did the same thing, and we couldn’t seem to catch them.

  “Hey! Who are you?” I called.

  “Aoyama!” said a voice. Hamamoto and I turned around and saw Uchida standing there, looking baffled. “You see something?”

  We turned back toward The Sea to tell Uchida about the strange children, but there were three of them now.

  “There’s more!” I yelled. “There’s two boys now!”

  Hamamoto’s eyes narrowed. She looked them over carefully. “Are they us?” she said.

  “Is that even possible?”

  I waved an arm. One of the boys on the other side waved, too.

  “Hamamoto, can you turn around?”

  She did, and the girl on the other side turned to face us. The girl looked exactly like Hamamoto. Hamamoto’s double looked right at my face and said, “I can see them from here!” The Hamamoto next to me said the same thing at the same time. This was an extremely perplexing situation.

  When we turned around, the three children hiding on the other side of The Sea did the same, peering into
the shadow of The Sea’s curve.

  “What’s going on?” Uchida said. “There’s a lot of us!”

  We went back to the parasol and analyzed the strange phenomenon we’d just observed.

  I drew a circle representing The Sea in my notebook and us standing next to it. Then I drew arrows wrapping around The Sea. “We could see our backs because the light went all the way around The Sea and reached our eyes. Maybe light is bending around The Sea.”

  “Like a black hole?” Uchida said. “But then why aren’t we sucked into it?”

  “The light is bending, but the gravity itself isn’t strong.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Hamamoto said. “If light doesn’t go straight, then wouldn’t The Sea look much weirder when we observe it from here?”

  I had to mull over that one. Hamamoto definitely had a point.

  “That must mean that when we’re standing there, only certain light circles the outside of The Sea.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “I don’t know. But when you walked around The Sea, I saw new activity occurring on the surface of it. Weird blue veinlike things rising up. Maybe that construct has something to do with the light bending.”

  “Maybe it’s just making fun of us,” Uchida said anxiously. “I mean, we were really surprised.”

  “Payback for throwing a probe into it?” Hamamoto whispered.

  We sat together under the parasol, watching The Sea. It was extremely large right now. But the veinlike construct was no longer there.

  “What should we do? Should we hold off on throwing the new probe in there?”

  I held up the Penguin II probe I’d built. Uchida and Hamamoto thought about it.

  Uchida looked up, turning toward the stream.

  “The light’s weird again,” he said. “I can see someone over by the river.”

  I looked up. There were three children standing by the stream that ran through the clearing.

  “This is different,” Hamamoto said.

  “Uchida… Isn’t that Suzuki’s group?”

  “Chaaaaarge!” Suzuki’s yell echoed across the clearing. Sweat dripping off their faces, his minions shouted, too, and all three came running toward our base.

  Nagasaki was the biggest and the fastest. He reached our base first.

  “Eek!” Uchida yelped, running. Hamamoto was shoved aside.

  Both Kobayashi and Nagasaki tackled me, so I lost my balance and fell on my behind. A moment later, Kobayashi threw himself on top of me. I tried to shove him off, but Nagasaki jumped on top of him. Kobayashi chuckled and let drool fall on me. I said, “Ew.” They were extremely heavy, and I was extremely hot. This was a tough battle.

  At last, the Suzuki Empire’s emperor caught up with them. He took a seat on top of Kobayashi and Nagasaki, like this was his throne. It was even heavier, and I could barely breathe. “You’re heavy!” I said.

  Suzuki said, “Are we? Are we?” wriggling around. I groaned, and so did his minions. Suzuki was the only one enjoying this. That’s what emperors did. Suzuki leaned over Kobayashi and Nagasaki, looking at my face. He looked proud of himself. His sweat dripped down onto me.

  “I win! Say you lose!”

  “I…won’t!” I said. “Because…I haven’t…lost yet!”

  “You really don’t know when to quit!”

  “I…never…quit!”

  Hamamoto stood up and tried to push Suzuki off. Suzuki glared at her. “Don’t you move. I’ll stomp on Aoyama’s face!”

  “Why would you do something so stupid?” Hamamoto seemed less angry than disgusted. “You’re an idiot.”

  “Shut up. If Aoyama admits he’s lost, I’ll let him go.”

  “Aoyama, just say you’ve lost,” Hamamoto said frostily. “This is a waste of time.”

  “I…refuse!”

  “Aoyama, don’t be stubborn. They’re crushing you.”

  Suzuki yelled, “We’re crushing you!” and started rocking again. “You gonna beg the lady to save you again? It’s not fair having her save you! Promise you’ll never tattle again!”

  “I…will…not!”

  “You’re a snitch!”

  “I am!”

  This seemed to surprise Suzuki. He fell silent for a bit, then gulped. “You shouldn’t be a snitch!” He looked pretty serious. “Snitching is bad!”

  “How…did…you…find us?”

  “We were exploring the river,” Suzuki said, waving the exploration map. “Unlike you, we made a lot of progress during summer vacation. Today it took us through this dangerous forest.”

  “That…same river? From…behind…the school?”

  “Yeah. We followed it all this way.”

  The stream flowing through this clearing was the same as the drain going through the vacant lot behind the school. I was a little bit frustrated that Suzuki had figured that out before us. But only a little bit.

  “Prominence!” Hamamoto yelled.

  “What?” Suzuki said, looking up.

  Lying on top of me, Kobayashi also turned his head and saw The Sea for the first time. A number of different trumpetlike constructs were jutting out of its surface. Prominence was starting. “What is that?” Kobayashi grunted. “It’s moving! That’s…creepy!”

  “It’s dangerous. Gas comes out of the surface of it.”

  “What? Gas? Will you die if you inhale it?” Kobayashi asked.

  “You will,” Hamamoto said.

  “That sounds really bad,” Nagasaki said.

  On top of the pile, Suzuki didn’t budge. “That’s just another lie. You’ll be fine! I’m not scared.”

  Then a squeaking noise came from all around us.

  “What’s that noise?” Suzuki asked.

  I forced my head back and saw the lady, upside down, at the south entrance to the clearing. She wore a big straw hat and was leading a gang of penguins behind her like she was their boss. There was a huge wave of penguins coming out from between the trees around her.

  “Go, penguins! Get Suzuki!” the lady yelled.

  Suzuki gasped.

  The squeaking sound got louder as they approached. Kobayashi flinched and tried to stand, and Suzuki lost his balance and fell off. I was finally able to breathe properly again, so I was extremely relieved. “What the heck?” Suzuki said, angry. Both Kobayashi and Nagasaki were mad at him now. “You’re heavy!” they said. “Oh? You’re gonna disobey me now?” Suzuki yelled.

  As the Suzuki Empire was on the brink of a civil war, the charging penguins hit us.

  There were about ten in all. They knocked the parasol down and flipped the chair, stomping around us, flippers flapping. I almost got stepped on by one, and Suzuki and his minions got flipper slapped on their thighs. “Ow!” they yelped. Naturally, the penguins were quite strong. They could use those flippers to swim through the ocean like a space rocket.

  When the penguin army passed, Suzuki was gone. Kobayashi and Nagasaki were standing there, stunned.

  “Suzuki already ran for it,” I said without getting up.

  “What the…? Arghh…!”

  They looked at the group of penguins, then over at us. They clicked their tongues and ran off toward the Jabberwock Woods. The lady was standing at the border between the woods and the clearing, and as they ran by, she yelled, “The woods are dangerous! There are more penguins in there!”

  She came walking over and helped me to my feet. Then she lifted the brim of her straw hat and took a long look across the clearing at The Sea.

  “I see. That’s what you’re researching, hmm?”

  “Yes.”

  “You have found something very strange. So…what exactly is it?”

  “We don’t know.”

  The lady smiled at Hamamoto, but Hamamoto didn’t smile back. She was glaring at the lady from under her white hat.

  “Where’s Uchida?”

  “Over there,” the lady said, pointing to the west side of the clearing.

  Uchida came out of the fore
st and started walking toward us.

  “Uchida! Prominence!” Hamamoto shouted, pointing at The Sea.

  Small versions of The Sea were being fired out of the large trumpet-shaped constructs. One passed directly over our heads, flying off toward the forest. Another one went rolling across the grass, headed directly toward Uchida.

  “Look out, Uchida!” I shouted.

  But he stopped, staring at the little Sea rolling toward him, not moving at all. He was so surprised, his body had frozen up. The little Sea reflected the sunlight, glittering, like a piece of the sky rolling across the grass.

  The lady picked the Penguin II probe up from the ground at her feet.

  Then she swung her arm back and threw it.

  The stout LEGO probe puffed up as it flew through the air, changing into a penguin. Flippers flapping, it flew over to Uchida. A moment later, it slipped inside the little rolling Sea. The Sea shook like a round ball of Jell-O. The penguin seemed to turn over inside The Sea, and then The Sea exploded. Like when an old thermometer shatters, and the mercury inside comes spilling out. Large softball-size pieces went rolling across the grass, gleaming.

  The penguins that defeated Suzuki gathered around, sticking their beaks in the fragments of The Sea, shattering those until they vanished like mist. The penguins all moved their beaks happily.

  Uchida flopped to the ground, surrounded by penguins.

  “Well, kids. Have fun with your research!”

  The lady waved a hand and set off across the clearing to the north. A number of penguins waddled after her like they were following their mother around, but she ignored them, walking quickly away. The penguins were left behind, standing on the grass, looking sad.

  “Hey!” I said, waving. The lady turned around at the entrance to the clearing and waved back.

  Then she vanished into the darkness of the woods. As fast as if a neutrino had cut across the clearing.