"I understand." Sheiko rested her cheek on his muscled chest. "I'll be here. Waiting for you. Be careful."
"Always am." Hirohira combed his fingers through her soft hair and wondered what it would be like to have a family of his own.
Later they dressed and went outside where they found Hiroko at her lessons with the Buddhist priest. He was teaching her calligraphy.
"Look, I wrote my name." She held it up for Hirohira to see. It said Izumo Hiroko.
"Beautiful," Hirohira said. "You're very talented."
The priest had a big smile on his face and then gave Hirohira a wink. Hirohira assumed the man knew she was his daughter.
"Thank you," Hiroko blushed. She rolled up the paper and held it out to him. "I want you to have it."
"I-I...thank you, Hiroko-chan," Hirohira said to the little girl. "I'll treasure it."
Did Sheiko tell her that am her father? Or does she just suspect?
"Thank you," Hirohira said again. You must be a good teacher, sir."
"You are too kind, Lieutenant Izumo. She has been a good student. I'm sad she and her mother are leaving. I wish them the best and you too."
The priest bowed politely from where he knelt and Hirohira returned the bow. Sheiko and Hiroko also bowed to the priest.
They walked away and Hirohira found himself holding both of their hands. He felt good as if this was what was meant to be. As if he had found something good...something he had never had before. He looked down at Hiroko and squatted so he could face the girl. "I must go back to the airship that I came here on, but we will meet again later in California. I promise you that, Hiroko-chan."
"That's good," Hiroko said. "I'll be going to California with my mom."
"I know she told me, Hiroko-chan." Hirohira kissed his daughter on the forehead and stood up. He looked at Sheiko for several minutes and then kissed her on the lips in front of the girl. "Goodbye."
"Goodbye!" Hiroko said.
"Goodbye," Sheiko said, softly with a tear.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Secrets.
"I have it, sir!" McKeon shouted to Lieutenant Commander Brice.
"Good job, Ron." Brice peered over McKeon's shoulder.
Wendy got up from her chair to move closer. She leaned in to see the screen but she tried to not force her way in. Not a smart thing for an ensign to do to a lieutenant commander. The image of a bedroom with a woman sitting in a chair near a desk appeared on the screen. The woman was dressed in fine Parisian undergarments; her feet were bare. McKeon blushed and so did Wendy.
"Th-that's Mrs. Le Trosne, sir," Wendy said.
Brice coughed.
"Sorry, sir," McKeon said.
"Nothing to be sorry about, both of you," Brice said. "We need to find out what is going on and so it is our duty to uh...put our modesty aside and pay attention."
"Yes, sir," the junior officers said.
Seraphine Trosne was speaking to someone in Martian and Wendy realized that there was another person in Trosne’s room with her. Who could that be? How many of them are in that room?
"Can you translate that, Ron?" Brice said.
"Yes, sir." McKeon flipped a couple of switches and twisted a delicate knob slowly. The language changed to the Queen's English. "There."
"...I know that wasn't our original plan," Mrs. Le Trosne said. "But we need more information on this Doctor Sakusa. She is a threat to our operation, and so is that huge airship of theirs."
"Just another Japanese airship," the person off-screen said.
"It is not," Mrs. Trosne said. "That's Venusian technology. They are giving the Imperial Union an edge over our own humans. We need to know how much."
"It would be a huge moronic idea to hand over superior Martian technology to humans, even if they are our 'pets'!" the other person in the room said. "You're not going native on us, are you, old friend?"
"Of course not!" Mrs. Trosne said. "I served the Monarchy with my three hearts! I would die a hundred times for the Monarchy past, present, and future!"
"As would I! As should all!" said the other person in the room.
"As should all!"
"As should all!" spoke a third voice from that McKeon said was from the Martian MAM device. "You will go and find out more about this Dr. Sakusa and her airship. I will then decide what to do."
"Yes, my Lord," Mrs. Trosne said.
"Yes, my Lord," the other person in the room said.
The image disappeared.
"Now we know." Brice put his hands behind his back.
"That's impossible--she looks human," Wendy said. "I've seen pictures of them. She can't be one!"
"Calm yourself, Ensign," Brice said.
"Sorry, sir," Wendy said.
"I have seen reports that they may have technology to change their form," Brice said. "I don't know how it works, but we have suspected for some time that they can do this."
"I never heard they could do that," McKeon said.
"It was more of a guess and not an actual fact, Ron," Brice said. "You wouldn't find it in the usual reports. Well, we now have something to bring to the captain's attention."
"They seem worried about humans getting alien weapons technology," Wendy said. "It seems they don't trust any humans."
"Yes," Brice said. "What are they up to-complete conquest of Earth, or something else? Well, let's go tell the captain."
#
Captain Ian Parsons walked into the control room of the HMS Kaede.
"Captain on the bridge! Captain on the bridge!" shouted the marine sergeant-a stout Japanese woman with very thin eyes-standing guard that day.
"Thank you, Sergeant Takahashi." Captain Parsons walked to where Commander Matsuo stood, which was behind the Rudder Officer or pilot, Lieutenant Frederick Bronte. On the starboard side stood Lieutenant Mick Woodsworth, the Elevator Officer who kept the airship level at all times, especially during battle so the gunnery crews could fire accurately.
"You have the command, Captain," Commander Matsuo said.
"Thank you, Commander." Captain Parsons nodded to the communications officer on duty. "Lieutenant Muranaka, turn the communications tubes on so I can talk to the whole crew."
"Yes, Captain." Muranaka flipped a switch and turned a knob on the communications console on the port side of the control room. Muranaka handed Captain Parsons the communications tube. "It's ready, sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Muranaka." He held up the tube and spoke into it. "This is Captain Parsons! This is Captain Parsons speaking! As of now, we are leaving dock! All crew get to your stations! All windows and doors must be shut and all crew must be inside! Repeat! All windows and must be shut and all crew must be inside! All crew be ready, we are returning to Confederate territory! I expect all men and women to do their duty for Queens and Country! That is all!"
Parsons handed the tube back to Muranaka and wondered about the soldiers and supplies he was supposed to be dropping off in the Confederate state called Michigan for Colonel Custer and his so-called U.S. Army. Many of them looked frightened or cold, old men and over-eager children. It needed to be done, but he didn't like how it made him feel. He didn't have much confidence in them; the Negroes would wind up slaves if they were captured-a worse punishment than a firing squad or hanging.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Crazy New Ideas.
Hirohira found Lieutenant Ron McKeon and Ensign Wendy Montgomery in the officer's mess hall talking with one of the U.S. Army officers. They waved him over. He came with his plate of food to sit beside Wendy and across from McKeon.
"This is Lieutenant Edward Bathurst from the U.S. Army, Hirohira-san," McKeon said. "We've been talking about the MAM devices he was able to get from the Confederates. They have some similarities to the Venusian ones that we use, but their micro-cube uses a different counting table--"
"Though it's still 10101010," Bathurst said.
Bathurst and McKeon laughed at something that Hirohira didn't get. Hirohira thought Bathurst was the
skinniest young man he had ever seen, even by Japanese standards. He wasn't short, just thin as a young bamboo tree. He wondered if the man might fall through a crack in his chair.
Wendy poked him in the ribs. He leaned over and she whispered, "These two speak the same language and I'm trying to figure out where they're from."
Hirohira grinned. "They look happy. Have you been able to determine Mrs. Le Trosne's location?"
"No." Wendy sipped her watered-down sake. "She hasn't used her MAM so we can't hack into it."
"Hack? What are you talking about?" Hirohira said.
"Oh, that's what Edward thought would be a good name for what we are doing," McKeon butted in.
"Yes," Bathurst said. "We are basically breaking into these, uh..."
Hirohira realized he was trying to simplify it for him.
"Let's think of it this way. The Martians and Venusians make these information and communication systems with what you could think of as walls. You hack through a wall to get to the info on the other side. Now we still need to figure out how to send something to it--"
"Like a command to shut down or give us complete or almost control of the MAM or even a AM...maybe even a satellite."
"Well, I'm still not exactly sure what you are doing," Hirohira admitted. "But I hope it works."
"I wish I could stay longer to help, Hirohira-san," Bathurst said. "But we've got a war to a fight."
"Of course." Hirohira hoped his disbelief in the man's 'war' wasn't showing in his face. "Best of luck to you and your men, Lieutenant Bathurst."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." I need to get back to my boss. Ron, maybe show you how to jury-rig a broken MAM later tonight."
"That would be great, Edward," McKeon said as Bathurst got up and left.
"We could use someone like him on the Kaede," McKeon said.
"Really?" Wendy said, half-jokingly. "I thought we had you and that was enough."
"What? He could get killed. It's way too dangerous for someone that brilliant."
"Yes," Hirohira said. "Leave it to us average intelligence folks to go where it's dangerous, unlike being on an airship with an atomic reactor. I heard about something called radiation."
"Don't worry, Hirohira-san," McKeon said, calmly. "The nuclear energy is well contained. Our atomic engineers know what they are doing. It's quite safe."
"Glad to hear it," Hirohira said.
Something in McKeon's jacket whistled loudly and caused a number of people to turn their heads. McKeon pulled out his pocket watch and the sound stopped. "Oops," he said. "I'm on duty in ten minutes."
"Was that your pocket watch?" Wendy asked.
"What? Oh the signal? Yes! Part of an experiment I'm working on. I'm trying to put Venusian tech in my pocket watch. It kind of works, but still has a lot of bugs. That's what Edward and I have been talking about. Talk to you later. Sorry, I must dash."
"I don't know if I should find comfort in that or be extremely afraid," Wendy said.
"Probably a little of both, Wendy-san," Hirohira said. They laughed.
Hirohira took a bite of his pickle and lifted some rice noodles with his chopsticks. He sat back down.
"It occurred to me that I have nothing to do on this airship now that Doctor Sakusa has gone."
"She's not gone!" Wendy snapped.
Hirohira looked wide-eyed at the ensign.
"I'm sorry, sir," Wendy said. "I--"
"No need to apologize, Wendy-san. That was rude and unfeeling. I should have phrased that differently."
"Thank you. I'm very worried about her and I'm having trouble sleeping."
"Sleeping?"
"I need something to get my mind off of her for a few minutes," Wendy confessed. "My work duty help, but still..."
"I've been looking for someone to practice jujitsu with," Hirohira said.
"That's like wrestling. Right?"
"Yes," Hirohira laughed. "It might not sound too impressive after you saw Jeremiah Klein beat the crap out of me."
"I don't know. You held your own for a while against that mean thuggee."
"Thanks," Hirohira said. "I appreciate that."
"Now what about jujitsu?"
"I learned it growing up. I'm very experienced in it along with some weapons such as stick and rope."
"Rope?"
"Yes. I would be happy to teach you."
"Sounds interesting, Hirohira-san. I think I would like to learn more about."
"Great!"
"Of course," Wendy said. "I have a slight feeling that you might be using me as a living target to beat around."
"True." Hirohira grinned. "I never said you weren’t."
"Oh?"
"When do you have time today?"
"How about...19:00 tonight?" Wendy said. "I think we might find a mat free in the gym about that time."
#
Later that night, Hirohira walked into the gym on the Kaede. It was mainly a room with mats on the floor. There were various kinds of western and eastern weights tied up in the corner, and in another corner was a bag-he recognized as a target used in western boxing--hanging from a rope. He came dressed in gi clothing that just become popular in Japan for physical recreation. White pants with white wraparound jacket held together with a belt.
Hirohira walked up to a mat and took off his sandals. He rolled his neck and his shoulders to loosen up. He thought about what he was going to teach Wendy. The basics: stretching, break falls, rolls, a few simple throws and break free from an arm grab.
"Hello, Hirohira-san," Wendy said. "Or should I say sensei? That's the correct word, right?"
"Yes, Wendy-san. Sensei is the correct for you to use while I'm teaching you jujitsu."
"Yes, sensei." Wendy was dressed in a blue and white exercise clothes that were currently popular with western women. It looked functional to Hirohira, though not as modest as a woman's regular uniform. Hirohira found himself working to control his breathing before they got started.
"Uh...first off, we'll do some stretching and exercises before moving on to break falls."
"Yes, sensei."
After the stretching and exercises were done Hirohira demonstrated the break falls.
"These will help you survive a fall. Your hands or feet will absorb the...kinetic energy that would normally hit your head or back when you land on the mat or ground. This is the forward break fall..."
Hirohira squatted on the edge of the mat and fell forward while slapping the mat with both hands. Wendy tried it and Hirohira demonstrated again. She tried it a few more times and he demonstrated the backwards break fall and the side break falls. She didn't seem to have too much trouble with them. He moved on to rolls.
"So you don't roll straight forward, sensei?" Wendy said. "It's kind of sideways?"
"Not exactly a sideways roll, but kind of in-between sideways and what you did. Like this."
He tried showing her a few times, but she seemed to have trouble with the rolling on the ground.
"Well, we can work on that some other time. Now grab my wrist and hold it tightly."
Wendy did as she was told. He easily broke free from her grasp.
"Now do it again," Hirohira said. Wendy obeyed. "Now if I yanked this way it would be harder for me to break free because there are four fingers gripped around my wrist but on the other side there is just one thumb. By pulling that way I break free with as little effort on my part. Now you try it." Hirohira grabbed Wendy's wrist. She yanked it free. "See, it's very simple."
"Reach out and put your hands around my throat as if to choke me," Hirohira said. She obeyed. He poked his finger in the little hollow spot at the base of her neck. She stepped backwards and coughed. "That is a pressure point and we use them to control an attacker. Have you ever heard of Chinese medicine?"
"A little, sensei. They stick needles into points on the body to cure illnesses, or something like that."
"They also massage the same spots to relieve pain as well. In jujitsu, we use them to cause an attack
er to release a grip or a chokehold they have on us. But more of that later on. Let me show you a couple of basic throws."
Afterward, Wendy agreed to come back the next day for more lessons. They said goodbye.
#
Hirohira went to the Japanese bathroom. He had brought some clean clothes with him to the gym. In Japanese fashion he used soap to wash himself and then poured water on himself. He then got into the large round bathtub to relax.
That must be him. Ishi...Ishihara, Hirohira thought, as a two Japanese men came in and washed in a similar way. They also washed each other's backs as was done in Japan for many centuries. One was a Petty Officer named Nakatomi, he recalled. The other man was gigantic. Hirohira had heard that a former sumo wrestler was serving aboard the Kaede.
"Konnichi wa, Lieutenant Izuma," Nakatomi said, as he and the large man joined him in the pool. They politely covered their genitals with a small towel.
"Konnichi wa, Lieutenant Izuma," the other man said.
"Konnichi wa, Nakatomi-san and konnichi wa, Ishihara-san," Hirohira said. "Is that correct?"
"Hai!" they both replied.
Two women entered the bathroom dressed in old country robes that they removed to wash themselves in one corner of the bathroom. He politely talked to the two men and tried not to look too much like a perv as the women washed each other's backs. They used the bucket to pour water over themselves as he had done and walked to the tub. Each covered their genitals with a small towel as they got into the tub with them. Hirohira thought he recognized the older of the women. She was a marine sergeant, but he couldn't think of her name. Chubby like the first officer, but with muscular limbs.
"Konnichi wa, Nakatomi-san," the sergeant said. "Konnichi wa, Ishihara-san. Konnichi wa, uh..."
"Konnichi wa, Takahashi-san," the men said.
"I'm Lieutenant Izumo," Hirohira said. "I'm Doctor Sakusa's bodyguard and secretary."
"Honored to meet you, sir," she said. "I'm Sergeant Takahashi and this is Corporal Oda."
After casual greetings went around the large tub, the joking and usual gossip started.
"Ishihara-san, are my eyes blurry from the hot steam in this room?" Takahashi said. "Or have you gotten bigger since I last saw you?"
The Mighty Airship Kaede. (The Mighty Airships of Earth. Book 1) Page 15