The Dragons of Jupiter

by Jacob Holo

  “Naomi’s with you?” Miyuki tilted her head to one side and looked past him. “Hey, Naomi. Nice to see you.”

  Naomi took the cigarette out of her mouth and exhaled. She didn’t look up.

  “So, uhhh, Naomi, glad to see you made it back,” Miyuki said. “I bet New London was pretty rough.”

  Naomi took a long draw from her cigarette. The end glowed orange.

  “Huh, okay.” Miyuki leaned next to Ryu and whispered, “Who shoved the stick up her ass?”

  “I don’t know,” Ryu whispered. “She’s been like this since New London. By the way, she can still hear us.”

  Naomi waved without looking up.

  “Oh crap!” Miyuki whispered. “I always forget that.”

  “So, can you join us?”

  “Thanks, but I’m heading back up to the spaceport,” Miyuki said. “I only stopped by to let the family know I wasn’t drifting in space somewhere. My parents don’t believe I’m okay unless I’m standing right in front of them. It’s a sweet sentiment, but it gets annoying sometimes.”

  “If only they knew the kind of trouble you get into.”

  “Oh, hell no! It’s best that they don’t.”

  “Are you heading out?”

  “Not yet. Matriarch has had my ship stuck in orbit all week. I know she has something planned but she won’t let me know what it is.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot too.”

  “I wish she’d drop a hint instead of letting me worry over it,” Miyuki said.

  “Well, if you change your mind, you know where we’ll be.”

  “Thanks, Ryu. You’re the best.”

  Miyuki gave him a quick peck on the cheek then waved goodbye and ran off. Ryu smiled and walked to the car.

  Naomi looked up at him, cigarette dangling from her lips.

  “What?” Ryu asked.

  “Just get in and drive,” Naomi said.

  Ryu shook his head and jumped in. “What is with you today?” He stuck his beret into a shoulder strap and put on a pair of reflective driving glasses. With a small push of the throttle, he powered up the Saito’s engine, grabbed the flight stick, and flew them out of the parking garage.

  “Would you look at all this traffic?” Ryu said, forming up with a commuter lane heading for the upper eastern part of the city. The inverted spire of the old Omnitech Building stood out from the more nondescript office towers in the corporate district. Most of the towers were built in simple orthogonal shapes, all straight edges and flat surfaces that hung from the city’s upper shell. In contrast, the Omnitech Building was a pale blue-and-white tower with a circumference that expanded or contracted with each level, like gently rolling waves, only vertical.

  Ryu weaved underneath a lumbering cargo trolley and accelerated to double the speed limit. He skirted the edge of the aerial traffic zone and veered into the Omnitech Building’s private parking zone.

  Ryu settled the Saito onto a landing off the Omnitech Building’s lowest level and locked the controls. A dog barked from inside his apartment.

  “Oh, I think he knows who’s home,” Ryu said.

  Naomi extinguished her cigarette in the Saito’s ashtray. She climbed out of the car and grabbed her bag. Ryu grabbed his bag and closed the trunk. He palmed the apartment door open and stepped in.

  A gray-and-white sheltie barked at him, tongue lolling from his jaw.

  “Pochi!” Ryu said. “Did you miss me?”

  “Yeah! Yeah!” the dog said.

  Ryu threw his bag onto the great room couch, leaned over, and scratched Pochi behind the ears. He looked over his apartment, trying to find anything out of place. Nothing looked amiss. The open apartment space was separated into “rooms” by a few waist-high counters. The transparent floor gave a spectacular view of the city below.

  “So, did you watch over my stuff? Huh, did you, boy?”

  “Yeah! Yeah!”

  “Oh, there’s a good boy! I’m proud of you!”

  “Thanks!” Pochi said.

  Naomi stepped in and tossed her bag on the couch. She grabbed a sake bottle from the kitchen and headed for the balcony.

  Pochi barked at her. “Don’t! Don’t!”

  “Now, Pochi!” Ryu said. “What have I told you? You treat Naomi the way you treat me, got it?”

  Pochi whined. He covered his eyes with his paws.

  “Don’t you do that,” Ryu said. “You look at me when I’m scolding you.”

  Pochi lifted one paw and looked at him.

  “Now apologize to her.”

  “Sorry?” Pochi said, looking at Naomi.

  “It’s no big deal,” Naomi said. She walked out to the balcony, sunk into one of the recliners, and took a long swing from the sake bottle.

  Pochi frowned at Ryu. “I’m sorry?”

  “Oh, that’s all right. Just try to be nice to her, okay?”

  “Okay ...”

  “There’s a good boy. Now, how about finding my dragon capsule, okay?”

  “Right! Right!”

  Pochi bounded off for the walk-in closet, tongue flopping out of his mouth. He came back moments later and dropped a body paint capsule at Ryu’s feet.

  “Here! Here!”

  “Pochi,” Ryu said with a grimace. “That’s the green and blue one. You know that one’s out of style. Can you find the black and red one for me?”

  Pochi whimpered. “Okay ...” The dog hurried back into the closet.

  Ryu glanced around his apartment. A hologram over his chess set caught his eye. He sighed and walked over. The hologram showed one waiting message from his long distance opponent. It was almost two weeks old.

  Ryu let the message play on the holographic board.

  The white queen moved to check the black king while supporting a bishop and a rook. Things were not looking good for the black king. The move contained a text attachment, which Ryu accessed: “Nice try. My shoulder is still sore. Better luck next time. -K”

  “You ass,” Ryu muttered.

  “What was that?” Naomi asked from the balcony.

  “Not you,” Ryu said. “It’s nothing. I’m just losing at chess again.”

  Ryu moved his king out of check and selected “transmit.” The board indicated it would take 43 minutes for the message to arrive.

  “You should find an easier opponent,” Naomi said.

  If only that were possible, Ryu thought.

  Pochi dropped another capsule at his feet.

  “Here! Here!”

  “Oh, good boy! That’s the one!”

  “Thanks!”

  Ryu stepped into the shower and stuck the capsule in the shower head. He undressed and switched the shower cycle on. When it was done he had red skin, red hair, and a black serpentine dragon looping around his chest. He put on a pair of black pants and sandals to finish the look.

  Ryu joined Naomi on the balcony. She’d drunk half the bottle.

  “That’s pretty impressive,” Ryu said. “You sure you don’t want to save it for Seven’s?”

  Naomi put a fresh cigarette in her mouth and lit it. The city lights were dimming now, slowly entering their artificial night cycle. The aerial traffic glowed in the distance as moving lines of white or red dots.

  “Come on, Naomi. What’s this all about?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Of course I care. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

  “You really have no idea?” Naomi asked. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

  “Okay, so I’m an idiot. What else is new?”

  “Just go. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I don’t get it,” Ryu said. “You’ve been acting weird since New London. What’s wrong?”

  Naomi shook her head. “I hate being a dragon.”

  “What?”

  “Do you have any idea what I gave up to be a dragon?”

  “It’s the same as what the rest of us went through.”

  “No! It’s not the same!” Na
omi shouted. She dropped her cigarette into an ashtray. “It’s not the same at all! You were designed to be the perfect dragon. You were born to be a weapon! I had to be cut up and put back together for all these implants to work! Have you ever had a migraine so bad you had to be sedated?”

  “No, but—”

  “Maybe you’ve had your hands shake so much you couldn’t hold your chopsticks?”

  “Err ... no ...”

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through to get here.”

  “That’s not true,” Ryu said. “I know it’s been difficult for you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. I saw what you put up with to become a dragon. I know you made some huge sacrifices.”

  “See! You don’t get it at all!”

  Naomi crushed the neck of the sake bottle. The bottom fell off and shattered against the balcony floor. Naomi shook her head and wiped her hand off. The glass shards didn’t leave a mark on her hand.

  “Look, Ryu. You remember when we were trying to get those people out of the House of Parliament? There was this one blonde kid in the crowd. He couldn’t have been older than seven. When the crusaders opened fire he turned, and I swear he looked straight at me. He looked straight into my eyes just before a bullet punched into the back of his skull.

  “I can see every part of it with perfect clarity. I can see the bullet push into his head. I can see his eyes pop out of his skull when the bullet explodes. I can see his scalp and skull break apart. The shrapnel pushed out, carrying bits of brain and bone and hair with them. I can see it all, and I can’t shut it off. I can’t bury it with drink. I can’t forget, and I can’t fucking deal with this anymore!”

  “Look, Naomi.”

  “Just go,” Naomi said, reaching into her breast pocket. Her fingers trembled as she drew another cigarette. “Get out of here.”

  “Naomi ...” Ryu put a hand on her shoulder but she brushed him off.

  “I want to be alone right now,” Naomi said. “Just let me drink in peace. I’ll join you later, okay?”

  “All right, if that’s what you want,” Ryu said. “I’ll see you at Seven’s.”

  “Sure. Fine. At Seven’s.”

  Ryu stepped out of the apartment and started the Saito up. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the floor had dropped out from under him.

  * * *

  Ryu looped his Saito around the central column in Capitol City. The artificial lighting continued to slide into darkness. Beneath him, flood lights switched on, illuminating Heart as the city slowly fell asleep.

  Ryu pulled in close to a modest parking deck in front of a two story pagoda façade. Holographic letters proclaimed “SEVEN’S” in vivid red. The parking deck was packed. He spotted Cat’s white BMW and eased his Saito down next to it.

  The bamboo fountain in the koi pond tipped over and clicked against wet stone. Ryu took a deep breath, savoring the mix of hibachi cooking, cigarette smoke, and the fresh scents of the koi pond. The restaurant was alive with dozens of overlapping conversations.

  From inside, Cat waved him over. He walked in and sat down at the bar next to her. Cat had chosen a pattern of emerald waves with a pair of green shorts and matching sandals. She’d given her blonde hair a few sparkly green highlights.

  Cat looked him up and down, then started giggling.

  “What?” Ryu asked.

  “Dragons again?”

  “I like dragons.”

  “Clearly.”

  “It’s good to see you back, Ryu,” Seven said from behind the bar. The dark-skinned Martian wore a red button-down shirt with red bowtie and a cream vest that strained against his considerable girth. He idly polished a glass.

  “Seven! How have things been?”

  “Everyone’s still talking about Luna. The Federacy appointed a military governor about a week ago.”

  “Yeah, we heard about that on the way home,” Ryu said.

  “I guess that’s it for the Lunar State,” Seven said. “On the bright side, my regulars started drinking more.”

  “You see? That was my intention the whole time. Screw up so you can sell more drinks.”

  “I appreciate it,” Seven said. He set the dry glass down and picked up a wet one.

  “So what’s good?”

  “The salmon and tuna are quite good. The squid, too. All of it came in fresh today from North Pacifica.”

  “How about the eel?”

  “To be honest, it’s marginal.”

  “Hmm,” Ryu said. “Whatever you think is best. Let’s start off with some nigiri and a spicy tuna roll.”

  “Right away, sir,” Seven said. He set the glass down and tapped the order into his pad. “Anything to drink?”

  “Sake. The usual.”

  “One ice cold Ueda coming right up,” Seven said, pulling a large green bottle from the rack behind the bar. He poured out Ryu’s drink. “So where’s Naomi? You two didn’t have another fight, did you?”

  Ryu frowned. “How do you guess these things?”

  “It’s written all over your face. So, am I right?”

  Ryu nodded.

  “You had another fight?” Cat asked.

  “Yeah. I don’t get this one. I mean, I love her. I really do. But sometimes I just don’t understand her.”

  “What’s the problem this time?” Seven asked.

  “She said she’s upset about being a dragon.”

  “Hmm, that does make sense,” Seven said.

  “I’m glad someone understands her,” Ryu said. “Shame it’s not me.”

  “I really shouldn’t speculate ...” Seven said carefully.

  “Oh, go right ahead. Psychoanalyze our relationship all you want. I enjoy having my life picked apart.”

  “Well, Naomi joined the dragons to be with you,” Seven said. “She didn’t join out of a sense of duty or to protect her home. She’s there for only one reason and is probably having doubts about her choice.”

  “I don’t know,” Ryu said. “I’m not so sure you have it right. And for the record, I was being sarcastic about the psychoanalysis.”

  Seven shook his head and set a plate in front of Ryu. “Your sushi, sir.”

  “Thanks.” Ryu picked up his chopsticks, dabbed a little wasabi on top of his salmon nigiri and took a bite. “Oh, yeah. Very fresh. That’s good stuff.”

  “I’m glad you approve,” Seven said. “Now, not to pry ...”

  “Why not? It’s not like I can stop you short of leaving.”

  “So, do you still flirt with other women?”

  “What? No!”

  Seven cleared his throat.

  “Look, it’s not like I sleep with them.”

  Seven raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, not recently,” Ryu said.

  “And the truth comes out.”

  “Hey, now. That was a special case. We were going through a bad patch, and I wanted to get back at her. Besides, you know how Miyuki can be.”

  Seven nodded, “True, very true.”

  “I haven’t done anything like that recently.”

  “Ryu, you’re a celebrity. Have you ever thought that maybe Naomi feels threatened by this?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Well, let’s use tonight as an example,” Seven said. “Naomi could very easily misunderstand you meeting in a bar with this very lovely young woman here.”

  Cat giggled.

  Ryu planted his face in his palm.

  “What?” Seven asked. “I’m missing something, aren’t I?”

  “Seven, who do you think this young lady is?” Ryu said, putting his arm over Cat’s shoulder.

  “Honestly? I’d guess an immigrant from Earth trying to fit in.”

  “And how old?”

  Seven paused and grimaced.

  “Go on,” Cat said. “I want to hear this.”

  “Very well. I’d guess either late teens or early twenties.”

  “Wrong!” Cat said with a smile.

  “An
d that’s why I didn’t want to guess,” Seven said.

  “Seven, my good friend,” Ryu said. “May I introduce you to Catherine Kusanagi, my little sister.”

  “That ... was unexpected.”

  “It usually is,” Ryu said.

  “But the eyes, the facial features, and hair color. She’s nothing like you.”

  “I am aware of this. However, the fact remains Cat is my little sister.”

  “But ... ohhh ...”

  “Ah,” Ryu said. “I see you just had an epiphany.”

  “You were designed by Matriarch?” Seven asked.

  “Yes!” Cat said. “I’m a well-kept government secret.”

  “No you’re not,” Ryu said.

  “But I like saying it.”

  “You think I’d introduce you to a Martian spy if you were a secret?”

  “Retired spy,” Seven said. “Matriarch keeps a close eye on me.”

  “Right, I forgot,” Ryu said, rolling his eyes. “Retired spy.”

  “Hey, here comes Toshi!” Cat said.

  Ryu turned to see Toshi’s oversized, black recreation vehicle land on the parking deck and almost strip the paint off the vehicles to either side.

  “Wow,” Ryu said. “Glad he didn’t park next to me.”

  Toshi stepped out and slammed the door. Body paint covered him in crashing waves and fanciful underwater super-predators. He folded his driving glasses and stuffed them into his knee-length shorts.

  “Toshi!” Ryu said. “Looking good. I like the new paint.”

  Toshi sat down and thumped the bar with a fist. “Martian Suicide, extra scotch, no ice.”

  “Yes, sir,” Seven said. “One Martian Suicide coming right up.”

  “I guess you’re not holding back tonight,” Ryu said.

  “There are two types of problems in life,” Toshi said. “Those we can fix by killing people, and those we can’t.”

  “I’m surprised you actually make a distinction,” Ryu said.

  “It’s a small category.”

  “Here you go, sir,” Seven said, setting the blood red drink on the counter. Cinnamon dust caked the top of the glass. “Would you like a ...”

  Toshi grabbed the drink and gulped the whole thing down.

  “I see my suggestion of a straw was unnecessary,” Seven said.

  Toshi slammed the glass onto the counter. “Another,” he said, now sporting a dusty brown mustache.

  Seven sighed. “The customer is always right.”