A War Most Modest (JNC Edition)

by Hiroyuki Morioka

  Did the enemy troops know about this car? It was safe to assume the occupying army wouldn’t be doing the local police’s dirty work for them, but if they got wind of their connection to the Star Forces soldier, things would turn very sour indeed. It would mean they were aware of the two down to their personal appearances.

  Should they turn back? Nothing tied them to Guzonh specifically. But no, that’d positively scream “suspicious.” He didn’t know what that land war weapon was, but he’d bet his star fief it was nothing that could be fended off with a couple of phasers.

  They could make a run for it if it was slower than a hovercar...

  ...No. There was no way they’d inspect hovercars with a weapon that couldn’t catch up to one. It must be able to fly. Faster than a hovercar crawling along the ground.

  Damn it. What was this inspection even about?

  They had two lovely options: turn back and get caught for sure, or proceed, and flirt with capture.

  They had no choice but to talk their way out of this.

  Jinto screwed up his resolve.

  “Lafier,” Jinto whispered. “Keep your mouth shut, and don’t talk. You’re not used to the local language.”

  “Ah, of course. Otherwise they might catch on to us!” she replied, satisfied she’d grasped his meaning.

  “Excellent, so you get it now.”

  “Hold on, are you mocking me?” she said, her expression offended.

  “If you hadn’t spoken to those three in Baronh, I wouldn’t have to say these things.”

  “That was a poor showing,” she said meekly. “I shouldn’t have said words like ‘the Star Forces.”

  “Nor would robbers go out and declare ‘we are robbers.’ They’re usually totally silent when they’re doing their thing. There must be crime in Abh society, surely?”

  “Yes, there is. My family simply isn’t used to the pettier sort.”

  “Figured as much.”

  As they conversed, the line of cars advanced one by one, and soon their number would come.

  “Forget the guns,” he warned, noticing Lafier was touching her phaser through her clothing. “Just stay still.”

  The royal princess pouted, but nodded.

  Finally, the troops gave their car a look. They were a sour-faced middle-aged man, and a young man wearing a cheerful smile.

  Jinto played the amicable driver. “Something happen?”

  “No, nothing to worry about, citizen,” answered the young one. The translation device attached to his waist interpreted his words simultaneously.

  “This is a light-hearted survey. We’re investigating the flow of people for the future administration’s reference.”

  “Hope that’s not putting you out.” Jinto smiled openly, as to drive home that he was an utterly harmless individual. And since they were relying on machine translation, they couldn’t even notice his accent. That was the only good news.

  The soldier extended a hand. “Your wallet, please.”

  “My wallet, you say?”

  “We won’t be taking any money. We’re not bandits, don’t worry,” he said, guffawing at his own joke. “We just want to know your citizen standings, that’s all.”

  “I see...” Jinto’s heart thumped so hard it nearly turned inside-out.

  It seemed a wallet was not a receptacle for money, but rather a memory crystal with personal and bank account information, or something close enough to one.

  Needless to say, Jinto had no wallet. His personal and bank info were in his compuwatch, and though he could show them their rarefied “standings” through the watches, that was precisely what he wanted to avoid.

  Actually, Jinto’s compuwatch was Seelnay’s, though that didn’t improve their conundrum. The soldiers weren’t about to welcome an imperial citizen with open arms, and convincing them he was in fact a woman seemed a tall order.

  “Uhh... oh, man, I must’ve forgotten it at home...” A hackneyed excuse, even for him.

  “Oh, well, that’s odd. You forgot it? I thought folks here always had it on them.”

  “Oh, you know, I’m the kind that only trusts cash...”

  The soldier’s gaze fell on Lafier. “What about that little lady?”

  “Uh, she doesn’t have a wallet.”

  “Uh-huh...” The soldier’s eyes narrowed.

  Jinto lavished him even more with his winning smile.

  The soldier turned off his translation device and traded words with the older soldier. The glances they shot toward Jinto and Lafier during their exchange could not be called favorable.

  “Fine,” said the soldier, at last. “Then I’ll just ask you your name.”

  My name!? Jinto panicked. Of course, why hadn’t he thought of a fake name sooner?

  “Ku Durin,” he said, stealing his friend’s name on the spur of the moment. He could only pray that that wasn’t a weird name on Clasbule.

  “And her?”

  “Her name is, uhhh, Clint Lina!” he said, using the name most prominent in his psyche.

  “I’d like to hear her tell me her name, thank you very much. What’s got her all clammed up?”

  Jinto looked for himself. He’d told her to stay still. He hadn’t told her to freeze in place with her hands on her lap. That was way too still. Having no reaction to any stimuli was supremely unnatural. It wasn’t as though an inspection by an occupying force was a frequent occurrence, and yet there she sat, without an iota of interest. Anyone would find that suspicious.

  Her unblinking profile was mysterious, refined, even statuesque. What it was not was human.

  “All right, you’ve got me.” Jinto threw up his hands. “It’s a doll.”

  “A doll?”

  “Y-yep.”

  “Looks pretty lifelike for a doll,” he said, casting his eyes all around her dubiously.

  “It’s just that exquisitely made.”

  “Your doll looks like it’s breathing.”

  “That’s just your imagin... no, it’s mechanized so it looks like it’s breathing.”

  “Why do you have a doll in your passenger’s seat?”

  “Why must you ask?” Jinto fired back. “This is just a traffic survey, right?”

  “I just want to know. I’m curious about this planet’s culture.” But the soldier’s face betrayed an interest that surpassed idle curiosity.

  “Look, I’ve got to keep up appearances, okay!?” Jinto lamented desperately. “I’m finally out here traveling, but I didn’t want to look lame doing it alone. That’s why I made it look like I’ve got a lady with me.”

  “Ah, sorry!” The soldier looked uncomfortable. “But someone your age, is that something you really need to be that worried about?”

  “What would you know!?”

  “Well, looking back, I guess I had as much on my mind as you seem to when I was your age,” the soldier sighed nostalgically. “If only I’d known how dumb I was being back then.”

  “Can I go now?” said Jinto sulkily.

  “Could you let me touch your doll a bit before I let you go? I can’t believe how amazing it looks,” he said, reaching a hand.

  “No, don’t!” Jinto leapt out. “Please don’t touch her!”

  “‘Her’?” The soldier raised an eyebrow.

  “I mean, it’s mine, I own it, I don’t want anyone touching it!”

  Again the soldier sighed, his gaze full of compassion. “You’re in love with it, aren’t you... You’re sick in the head, and may need help.”

  Oh, give it a rest.

  “Not only that, but the doll looks as cold as it does beautiful...”

  The middle-aged soldier said something. The young one looked back and answered. Jinto didn’t understand a word of it.

  The young soldier shrugged. “I’m sorry to have taken your time. You can go now.”

  “Thank you.” Every fiber in his body wanted to explode with joy, but he deliberately kept his expression emotionless as he pushed the pedal.

  After a
little while, they lost sight of the soldiers. Lafier was still frozen.

  “You can stop now,” he said. “Man, though. The way you played along really saves our hides. You’re pretty adaptable yourself, gotta say. You understood what I was trying to tell you inside and out.”

  “Only because your pronunciation was so much clearer.” She shot him a sidelong glare. “The nerve of you! Telling a lie like that.”

  Jinto suddenly looked apprehensive. “You’re not gonna blow up on me, are you?”

  “Oh? Do I look happy to you? Acting like a doll isn’t just exhausting. It’s a mark on my pride. That man, he said something to the effect of I look ‘cold,’ didn’t he?”

  “I wouldn’t say you look cold the way you are right now. In fact, you look like you could erupt on a dime.” Just my luck, she catches only the words that set her off. “Besides, he called you beautiful, too.”

  “I’m not ‘beautiful.’ I’m graceful. Also, he said I’m beautiful, like that’s all there is to me, like that’s all I’m worth...”

  “Yeah, well you know what, we got outta there, didn’t we?” he said, fed up. “You’ve gotta hand me that much.”

  “From a rational standpoint, I applaud your quick wits. But the emotional side of me is demanding your blood!”

  “Then I’m glad you’re a girl of reason,” he said, ingratiating her.

  “I suppose you wouldn’t know, but the Abliar family is renowned for being bad at keeping their emotions in check — particularly their anger!”

  “I don’t really think your family needed the help, fame-wise, given they’re the most famous in the universe. And that’s not touching on the issue of you getting stuck in your family’s ways.”

  “Shut up, Jinto! I like the way I am!”

  “So you’re in love with yourself... You’re sick in the head, and may need help.”

  “You’d best be careful, Jinto; my emotional side is overtaking my rational side.”

  “Come to think of it...” Jinto was quick to change the subject. “...what were they doing that inspection for? It didn’t look like they were searching for us.”

  “It’s to capture the key figures among the territorial civilian government.”

  Jinto was a little surprised. “How do you know?”

  “That’s what they were saying.”

  “Oh, right. I totally forgot you can understand their language.”

  “Yep. They said something along the lines of: ‘We’re searching for the big shots of the slave government. We have no business with these children. Their hair isn’t dyed blue, so just let them go. Let’s not waste any more of people’s time.’”

  “The ‘slave government’?”

  “What they’re calling the territorial civilian government, I suppose.”

  “But territorial citizens aren’t ‘slaves.’”

  “You and I both know that. So too do the citizens of this planet, probably. But they don’t know that.”

  “Phew... They’ve got a twisted view of the world, huh?”

  “About that... one of the soldiers seemed as though he wanted to bear some responsibility toward your mental wellness.”

  “Responsibility toward my mental wellness?” he repeated, bewildered.

  “He wanted to ask you about your troubles outside of work. But the older one told him not to.”

  Jinto shuddered. “Talk about a close shave.”

  “I, for one, would have enjoyed watching you divulge your teenaged anguish,” she said, her voice laden with venom. “I would’ve even pretended to be a doll for a whole day to see that.”

  Jinto had thought the royal princess’s ire had abated, but he’d been premature to do so. “That aside, what are soldiers like them doing being such busybodies, anyway?”

  “How would I know?” she said coldly.

  The hovercar cleared the forested area and entered an open space.

  “Is this the city?” asked Lafier.

  To their left, grasslands. To their right, an endless wall. Beyond the wall, a line of dozens of towers.

  “Can’t be. City’s over there.” Jinto pointed forward with his chin. The tree-like buildings were bunched together like they’d been at Lune Beega.

  “Then what are those?” Lafier pointed at the group of towers. “They can’t be natural.”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe the city stretches all the way out here.” It was hard to think that people were living in those towers. There were no windows, and they were all identical in every aspect except color, as they were all painted in the typically Clabulian gaudy palette. Any normal person living in a town like that would go funny for sure.

  Jinto cocked his head. “Maybe they’re some kind of memorial.”

  “A memorial? To what?”

  “Couldn’t tell you.” He couldn’t even guess. What event could there have even been for a city on a planet without much history to speak of to spend so much money commemorating it? “It’s got nothing to do with us, though.”

  “You can be surprisingly boring,” she said scornfully.

  “On my home planet, they say ‘curosity killed the cat,’” he said, closing the topic. They had so much else to think about.

  The city began where the “memorial towers” ended. Sfagnoff’s sun was still high in the sky, but according to biological time, it was near midnight. There were few civilians out at this hour, and only the figures of the enemy troops caught their eyes.

  Jinto switched the driving mode to manual and left the car in a parking lot at random.

  “Lafier, don’t speak, even in town, okay?” whispered Jinto, after checking whether anyone was around to eavesdrop. “Leave the talking to me.”

  “I know. You must think me a great big fool.”

  “Just making sure.”

  “Shall I pretend to be a doll again?” she remarked snidely. “You may carry me through town.”

  “Don’t be silly, I would never dream of laying a hand on Your Highness.”

  Jinto beckoned Lafier get out of the car. They double-checked to see whether they’d left anything in it. Though they’d just gotten to know the vehicle, this was goodbye.

  “Since we’re ditching the car here, we might want to head to some other city and put some distance between us.” There was nobody in sight, but he spoke quietly anyway.

  “How?” she whispered back.

  “There must be some sort of mass transportation between cities. Don’t know what they use here, though.”

  “We shouldn’t, Jinto.”

  “Why not?”

  “There may be more inspections. And I am not turning into a doll that many times.”

  “You’re never gonna let that go, are you? But you’re absolutely right.” He was forced to admit it. If those two soldiers weren’t the exception, then the enemy was exceedingly nosey. And though she’d dyed her hair black, if they’d taken her hat off, it’d be obvious she was Abh. The wiser move would be to bide their time in the big city until the situation improved.

  “All right, let’s look for an inn,” said Jinto.

  Chapter 11: The Ladomhoth Lomhotr (Team-up Proposal)

  Entryua Reie (“RAY”), Police Inspector of the Lune Beega Criminal Investigation Department, stubbed out his cigarette into the ashtray. The light was already snuffed, but he forced it down like he had some strange vendetta. Feeling a bit better afterward, he finally felt like poking his head into the manager’s office.

  It was a terrible morning.

  He took that back: it had been nothing but terrible days ever since that lot came a-knocking.

  Entryua, much like the rest of the citizenry of Clasbule, couldn’t give a toss whether it was the Abh or the United Humankind that ruled the universe. None of it affected them.

  ...Though it did affect them. Lots.

  Since they’d inspected the police without notice, traffic was jammed, along with various other inconveniences. Those who worked in suburban farmland and schoolgoing children in the city wer
e getting up very early. Meanwhile, stores were beginning to run out of their wares.

  Moreover, they were searching every nook and cranny for civilians who’d dyed their hair blue, and diligently shaving their heads, though to what end he had no idea. Even one of Entryua’s subordinates got hit.

  And baldness as a fashion statement was very three years ago. Did they KNOW how humiliating it was to be caught in a trend from three years ago — particularly for the women?

  But the worst was how they’d meddled in their regularly scheduled programming. Their right to choose what holovision program they so desired had been cut back severely. He couldn’t watch the next episode in the serial drama he’d been looking forward to, and that had already been distributed to him.

  The only thing they were allowed to watch was their propaganda. The night prior they’d spent a long time explaining the election system.

  Entryua knew all about elections. Specifically, he couldn’t afford to ignore the election for police commissioner.

  This general wave of resentment should have been aimed at the occupying forces of the United Humankind, but for some reason, the people were airing their grievances at the police. The biggest cause was probably the fact that nobody knew where the occupying army’s headquarters were.

  What a giant pain.

  Lune Beega may have seemed small, if judged solely by the urban area where the building-trees were located, but the city limits were in fact quite expansive. With those buildings at the center, the city stretched on for a radius of 3,000 üésdagh. Most of that space was taken up by plantations, but it was dotted by small villages and isolated homes. 80% of the population was so scattered. And that’s how big the area of the Lune Beega police force’s jurisdiction was, too.

  Due to the ban on use of airspace, and all of the inspections, the police couldn’t do their rounds on time. The damned soldiers made no exception for police cars. Worse, they inspected patrol cars especially scrupulously. Every time they left or entered any city, they’d be searched down to the undersides of the seats, so they were hard-pressed to keep watch over the entirety of the city’s territory.

  The Lune Beega Police had already let four flagrant offenders get away. They hadn’t gotten to the scene on time because they’d been held up by the occupying forces. It is the Criminal Investigation Department’s duty to search for offenders who evaded arrest at the scene of the crime.