Well, maybe this is better than sending a box of candy to... wherever she is, Lily thought.
“Alright. I, uh, I’m not sure what you want to hear, or really where I should start...” She floundered about, trying to think of a topic from her past; preferably one that didn’t hurt.
Ai stroked at her chin and tried to look serious. She brightened, holding up her finger in the air.
“You’ve a black belt in karate, right?” Ai asked. “Tell me a karate story.”
“A karate story.” And one that will fit in the twenty-five minutes left. “Okay... it was seven years ago, I was sixteen, when I earned my black belt from my dojo in central Ohio. As both a reward and a challenge, my parents sent me to Okinawa to train at one of the original dojos for my style...”
Lily stood with her father in the Nara Airport, in the queue to get a taxi. Her short hair was pulled back in a little ponytail, and given the heat and humidity, she was profoundly glad to be wearing a tee shirt and shorts. Looking at her dad, she saw he was already sweating in his short-sleeved shirt and slacks.
“Daijoubu desu ka?” She asked him. He grinned at her.
“Daijoubu! You’ve certainly outpaced your mother and I at picking up Japanese!” He said, the pride in his voice obvious.
She grinned back. “After you made it clear that you really were going to send me here for three months, I’d no choice!”
“And in that case,” as they both took a step forward in line, “get us a cab to the Kodokan Dojo, so we can get you settled in.”
“Hai...!” She nonchalantly replied.
As the island scenery flew by the car’s window, Lily found herself both excited and nervous. Three months away from home, in a foreign country, and training under some of the best masters of her school... sure, she had earned her black belt, but as her Master in Ohio told her, “That simply means ‘this monkey is trainable.’”
The dojo, it seemed, was located in an older but still nice neighborhood. While her father paid the driver, she pulled her single piece of luggage behind her as she walked to the main entrance. A young man, maybe in his mid-twenties, greeted her as she came in.
“
“
“How’s things?” He asked.
“I think they’re okay....” She hesitantly replied.
The man grunted at the papers in front of him. “
“Sure! Oops!
“
Getting about one word in three, Clive Barrett just nodded politely. The fellow turned back to Lily.
“
“
Isi lead them down a series of hallways that seem to surround the central training area. He showed them to a small, but clean room, and indicated that the toilets were at the end of the hall. Bowing, he left them alone.
“There’s no bed.” Her father said.
Lily gave an exasperated sigh. “Really, Daddy? I bet there’s a futon folded up in this cabinet... yep! I’ve about twenty minutes until my meeting, so I’ll unpack a bit.”
While she did this, her father stared out the window. Without looking at her, he spoke.
“Lily. Is this really okay, leaving you here? I mean, the other side of the planet, a mixed dorm...”
She smiled at that. So that’s what he’s worried about! What a dad! She took a few steps and gave his back a hug.
“I’ll be fine, Daddy! Go back to Tokyo and find Mom before she spends all our money, and I’ll be home in late August. Don’t worry about me! This is Okinawa; the crime rate is almost zero, your little girl’s a black belt, and,” she returned to her luggage, pulled out her Ka-Bar Marine knife that he’d got her for Christmas some years back, and placed it onto the desk, “you know what a careful person I am!”
With a smile, he returned her hug. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go see the manager then I’ll get out of your hair!”
Lily stared off the hospital roof into the horizon of central Texas. She closed her eyes.
“I think that was the last time I saw my father smile. Just a week later the Breakup began in the ‘States... and things got... bad. For all of us.” Not hearing anything, she looked at her phone. Ai’s image seemed downcast, staring towards the bottom of the screen, gently rocking forwards and back.
“Thank you for my present, Lily.” Ai stopped, then started again. “I like you, and want to know more about you—”
“Then why won’t you show me—!” Lily started to yell, then quickly stopped. No, I won’t have this argument again! “I... I’m sorry, Ai, I’ve got to get back to work...”
But as she moved to end the call, Ai suddenly looked at her, her rendered eyes piercing.
“Just now, in your present to me, you mentioned your father’s name. And you live in Texas. Are you really the daughter—”
“SHUT UP! I HATE YOU!!” Lily’s scream was enough to startle the others on the rooftop. Barely resisting the urge to throw her phone to the parking lot far below, she turned it completely off as she staggered back into the building.
Not knowing what happened to her apprentice, but knowing that she shouldn’t get near any patients in her condition, the charge nurse dismissed Lily an hour early. In no hurry to get home, she walked her bike back to the orphanage. Beyond tears, she wondered over and over how she could have said that to her friend. Her only friend.
Now she knows! Lily thought. Now she knows who I am! I saw her eyes when she asked: she thinks I’m a monster, now!
She struggled to swallow around the lump in her throat.
She kept walking with her head down, until she quite literally bumped into someone. Looking up to apologize, she found herself looking at Carol Lanning, carrying an armload of office supplies.
“Yo. You’uns look awful.”
Not knowing whether to cry or scream, Lily just shakily nodded.
Carol gave an elaborate sigh and dropped her supplies into the basket on Lily’s bicycle. She took the handlebars.
“I’ll push. Y’all talk.” Carol said, starting off. Lily stood still for a moment. She started walking.
“I... did something bad.” Lily muttered.
“’Bad.’” Carol echoed. “That’s a pretty broad range. Can y’all narrow it down?”
Lily plodded on before replying. “I yelled at my best friend. I... told her I hated her.”
“Hmmm. This y’all’s online friend? What’s ‘er name again? ‘Eye?’”
“Ai. Yeah.”
They paused to let some horse-drawn wagons go by on the cross street.
Carol resumed. “Did Ai do sumthin’ bad?”
Lily shook her head. “No. She... found out who I am....”
The older woman looked at Lily sharply. “If y’all were friends, she already knew who’uns you were, Lily.”
“No, I mean.... She found out whose daughter I am.”
With another sigh, Carol stopped and pinched the large bridge of her nose with the fingers of her right hand.
“Y’know, Lily, I ain’t a very good Catholic, but I do knows that sin is personal, not familial.” Carol stared hard at Lily. “Fine: you’re ‘Butcher Barrett’s’ daughter. Tell me, would you kill Jan Dzerzhinsky or Gudrun Himmler for what their f
athers did?”
Startled, Lily stammered, “N...no....”
Carol looked forwards. “And so neither do we’s condemn you.” She resumed walking. Again, after a pause, Lily did as well.
Neither spoke again until they reached St. Edward’s twenty minutes later. Carol returned the bike and retrieved her bag.
“I don’t know how much history you’uns know, Miss Barrett,” Carol said, deliberately calling attention to Lily’s surname, “but revolutions are violent, bloody affairs, even the First American Revolution. And, what comes after ‘em, except for that same example, are usually bloodier. Y’alls father did some very bad things, but there are more people than you’d guess that see that the peace and stability we’uns have now stem directly from those things he’d thought he had to do.” She smiled at Lily.
“And, if Ai is y’alls friend, she’ll not condemn you, neither. Look, I’ll cover your duties for the next thirty minutes. Why don’t you’uns go to your room and call her? See ya’.”
Lily stood at the opening of the U, holding her bicycle. She moved to the rack and locked it. She slowly took out her still powered-down phone. She paused for a moment. She put it back into her pocket and strode quickly towards the office building.
Upstairs in her room, she woke up her computer. No messages. Ai didn’t try to get in touch with me…! What to do, what to do? She shook her head; no, I won’t lose her!
Launching her messenger program she quickly saw ‘Ai: available.’ Click it, click it!
Ai’s image sprang onto the screen. Lily was shocked: how did she recode her image so that her hair is down and eyes puffy and red, eyes that seemed to well up with tears as she saw Lily. Extending her arms as if she would reach out the screen, Ai cried, “Please don’t hate me!” Gripping the sides of the monitor, Lily cried with her.
“I don’t! I don’t! I love you, Ai!”
In her office just below, Carol Lanning sipped at her hot tea and glanced up. I’m glad Lily’s nurse gave me that phone call. The scars of the Breakup go on and on, she thought. We each have to heal the one’s we can.
Chapter 3
Lily lifted her left hand to shade her eyes again as she looked about. Big rocks, medium rocks, little rocks; all under a washed-out, yellowish sky. Why does this seem like somewhere I’ve been before, she thought to herself. Somewhere between Midland-Odessa and El Paso, maybe? She walked slowly, the rocks and uneven ground were a recipe for a badly twisted ankle. Where? Where have I seen this before? What?
Her ears picked up the faintest sound, like a generator. “But one buried under the ground!” She said with a laugh. At that, the earth shook: a slight tremor; she waved her arms about to steady herself.
“That. I remember that, too.” She said. “Hmmm, I wonder... ah!”
Looking about yet again, she saw not really a path, but a faint line of brown and green, about a yard wide. As if someone had walked in that direction and shed various plant seeds, like fluffy fur coming off of a Samoyed. As good a direction as any. Lily began picking her way there. When close enough to be in the ‘path,’ she saw it was in fact the first emergence of tough grasses and brush.
“At least something lives here... say... what are... those?”
In the direction with weedy path took, there appeared dark poles, or cylinders. She couldn’t really tell their size; the hazy air did something to the perspective. Even so, for the first time, she began to feel anxious. Unconsciously, she wrapped her arms about herself.
“I... don’t think I like it here.” She muttered. She stood still for what seemed like an hour, but nothing changed. It was impossible to tell where the sun was in the sky.
“Fine. Yellow bricks would’ve been easier on my feet than rocks and saw grass.” She resumed her careful walk, in the direction of the cylinders.
She got closer to them faster than she would have expected. Not cylinders, but vast towers, gleaming metal, and all of them spinning and spinning. She stopped again and began to slowly shake her head. I know this doesn’t end well, she thought.
“Please... I’m so scared!” She could barely manage to whisper. She closed her eyes and prayed: help me, anyone! for the love of God, hel--
“Lily.”
That’s it. She started to remember. The towers would start reeling, and at their base...no! Not again!
“Lily. It’s okay.”
There was a tug on her sleeve. She did not remember that. She turned slowly, in fear and hope.
A young woman, or older girl. Call her twenty, Lily thought. A burnt-orange, silk, Chinese-style dress. Her face that indeterminate Eurasian that could have her from Hungary to western China. Her hair, though. Long, and artificially dyed; in this awful light it was hard to tell exactly, but somewhere between a blue and a green... aquamarine?
Aquamarine?!
Lily very slowly put her left hand out, stopping just shy of the girl’s face.
“Is...is it...you, Ai?” The girl smiled and nodded.
“Welcome to my home, friend Lily!”
Huh?
Happy that she finally saw Ai in person, Lily was completely perplexed.
“Your... home?”
With a look of surprise and her hands to her cheeks, Ai exclaimed, “Oh! But where are my manners? I’ve never had a guest before! Let’s sit over here!” She stepped past Lily’s left. Turning, Lily saw a small wrought-iron table with two chairs of similar make. Those were not there a second ago. Ai sat primly and waved at the other chair for Lily. After a moment’s hesitation, she joined her.
Ai continued to beam at her. “This is so nice! That’s right, you’re a coffee drinker, here! I’m going to try some tea, though.” Ai raised a delicate china cup to her lips, then paused.
Lily looked down to find a stout white mug in front of her. Her nose told her that the liquid inside was coffee, but why was the coffee as clear as water?
“Uh...” She didn’t want to appear rude, but her confusion was rapidly overtaking her manners. Pointing at the mug, Lily asked, “Ai, why does it look like this?”
“Huh? Oh!” Ai’s eyes widened. “You make me older! Now I know! Apologies, friend Lily, that was the first time I made coffee. Try it now.”
Looking at the mug in her hand, the liquid was now quite dark brown. What is going on here?! To give herself some time to think, she took a sip.
Wow. “That’s really good! Thank you, Ai.” Ai smiled. “May I ask you a question, Ai?”
“Of course!”
“Ah... where am I?”
Ai put her cup down, concern written on her face. She looked left, right, then back at Lily. She pointed.
“You’re right there. Did you fall and hit your head earlier?” She asked in all seriousness.
Okay, that didn’t work. “I guess what I mean is... where is this place?”
Leaning back relieved, Ai replied, “Oh, that’s what you meant! This is my home.”
With the mug in her left hand, Lily gripped the edge of the table with her right. This is getting nowhere. Wait a minute. Her home. What’s my home? Where.... A memory drifted up, the kids running around the halls of the orphanage....
“I’m not from here,” Lily declared. Ai tilted her head quizzically.
“Of course you’re not! Uh, oh. I know now. Your brain is processing this as a dream... hmmm... Dorina!... this!” Ai said.
With a start, Lily remembered. “I’ve been here before!”
“Sure!” Ai agreed. She turned and pointed. “Look at what you did.”
Following her finger, Lily looked back at the path of scrub that she’d been following.
“I did that? When?”
“The first time you were here. We’re still thinking about it; you people seem to have a knack for creation.”
‘You people’? ‘We’re thinking...’ Lily became further confused. And, the last time I was here? Wait.
She turned towards the massive cylinders just beyond the cliff edge.
I heard sounds... I we
nt over to look...
“Hey, Lily,” Ai asked, worried, “you suddenly don’t look well. What...”
...and at the base of cliff... there were... there were...
A feather-light touch on her shirt, and--
Lights. Streams, points, blocks. Some moving, slow and fast. Some not, but spinning or flashing. An entire sky of light. It was the most beautiful thing Lily had ever seen in her life. I’m so happy! If I could close my eyes and wish...!
She opened them to see Ai leaning back and picking up her china cup. Blinking, Lily wondered: what was that?
“You looked pretty bad. Are you okay, now?” Ai asked with a shy smile.
“Y...yes.” She replied. “I guess I remembered a part of when I was here last. It wasn’t very....”
“Those things you saw are not there. Thinking this was a dream, your mind projected something from your unconscious that worried you. Please believe me that there’s nothing like that here.” Ai was quite emphatic.
“Okay, I believe you.” She drank the last of her coffee. Putting the mug down, she caught sight of some writing in gold letters about the base; ‘Are you enjoying—’ Whatever. She’d look at it later.
“So,” Lily said, trying to brave it out. “This is your home?”
“Mmm!”
“And it’s more than just you here?”
“Mmm!”
“How did I get here?”
Ai looked up, index finger on her chin. “Oh. I had you brought?”
With a somewhat exasperated smile, Lily asked, “Did you or didn’t you?”
Determination settling onto her face, Ai replied, “I did. Definitely.”
“Okay, if I was brought here, to your... home, can you take me back to my home?” Lily absently rubbed the temples on her head; that coffee must have been serious stuff.
“Of course!” Her face fell a bit. “You don’t want to stay a bit longer...?”
“I don’t mind,” Lily said. “In fact, I’m very happy to finally see the real you!” She leaned forward.
“You’re such a pretty girl! Why do you bother with that silly CG—ow, my head!!” The pressure at her temples quickly escalated to hammers all through her skull.
The Fourth Law Page 2