United States of Japan

by Peter Tieryas

  “We’re here to see Mosquito,” Akiko said. She opened up a case with two Derringer pocket guns. The first had a brass frame and a two-shot belt; the second, a tiny 0.4 inch caliber pistol.

  One of the wrestlers took the case and went inside. He returned a few minutes later and grunted for them to come in.

  They entered an enormous suite covered with Civil War antiques from uniforms to swords, flags, buckles, eagle-breasted plates, insignia, and guns. Ten Pomeranians circled them, barking cheerfully. They were adorably cute balls of hair and even Akiko, who didn’t like dogs, couldn’t help but smile.

  “Genetically modified Pomeranians. When they smell blood, they’ll pounce. Why are you here with that huge gun on your arm?”

  Mosquito wore a yellow leather jumpsuit, had on enormous sunglasses, a hat shaped like an alligator, and five gold necklaces. He was mid-height, Asian from his complexion, possibly a mix – it was hard to tell in the USJ without documentation, particularly with those from the underbelly of the Empire. His voice was strident and harsh in its accents.

  “Because we wanted to bring you that gift,” Ben replied, referencing the pocket guns.

  Mosquito lifted the tiny Derringer. “One of these killed their warlord, Lincoln. Now he was a conqueror, a man who drank the blood of his enemies and feasted on their corpses. The Americans made him out to be this genial buffoon, but he was a vindictive and fiendish tyrant who forced his will on the rebels. Isn’t it a masterful stroke of propaganda that they’ve made him out to be a bumbling leader? They even claim their last president was a cripple! The Americans have a fascination with the everyday man and will do anything to foster that lie when these rulers were the elite, the most ruthless patricians before their Republic crumbled.”

  “We have a request to make,” Ben said.

  “Of course you do. Who sent you?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “I guess not. You need to get to Catalina, Captain Ishimura,” Mosquito said.

  How did he know? Akiko wondered.

  “We do,” Ben replied.

  “I hear you’re quite a gamer.”

  “Decent.”

  “I have a match aboard my boat of the USA game. Every month, I hold a special tournament. Eight people play. Whoever wins the game lives. The others are killed. You survive, I give you a free ride to Catalina. You die, and it’s game over.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am.”

  “No ride is worth risking my life over.”

  “There’s no other ride to Catalina. And you,” he said to Akiko. “Even if you shoot me with that gun arm, it’s not gonna help you get to Catalina.”

  “At least it’ll shut your mouth,” she replied.

  Mosquito chortled. “I like your spirit. Your boyfriend’s too.”

  “What?”

  “You told my guards you were Akiko Tsukino. I had to look you up, but I knew I’d heard your name before. Hideyoshi used to brag about his police girlfriend before he ran up a big debt. He’s a gaming addict and he was bad enough to become my captive.”

  Akiko was stunned, but also riled up. “You think you can threaten me? Hideyoshi is in another city.”

  “You sure about that? Both him and Orochan will play in the death matches if you don’t,” Mosquito told Ben.

  “Why Orochan?” Ben said back.

  “She displeased me sending her with that big cannon. I can’t help but question her motives.”

  Akiko raised her gun. “You release them or you die.”

  “You kill me, and Hideyoshi will die for sure,” Mosquito retorted. “You play and you win, your prize will be their lives and a free trip to Catalina. What do you say?”

  “Let me see Hideyoshi,” Akiko said.

  Mosquito signaled one of his sumo guards. A side room opened and in came Hideyoshi. His hair was ruffled, he reeked of alcohol, and his face was heavily bruised. When he saw Akiko, he teared up. “They-they told me you were dead.”

  “He’s not very good at games, but he’s always gambling and throwing his money away. You should spend that money on your girlfriend,” Mosquito chided him. “Before you get any ideas, look at his finger.”

  Hideyoshi’s finger was a metallic pinky.

  “Why is that there?” Akiko demanded.

  “Ask him.”

  Akiko asked Hideyoshi.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, unable to face her.

  “I own him,” Mosquito said. “And if he displeases me in any way, I release the toxin in that pinky that’ll kill him in a minute. He agreed to it.”

  Akiko was so furious, she almost started firing blindly, wanting to obliterate everything in her sight. Mosquito’s smug grin made it clear he was enjoying her rage. She looked to Ben, who was watching her and Hideyoshi.

  “Where’s Orochan?” Ben asked Mosquito.

  “Getting her pinky fitted.”

  “How can I trust that you’ll do what you say?”

  “You think I’m crazy enough to touch military without an agreement? I cherish my life,” Mosquito declared. Ben remained unmoved. “You want a blood oath?”

  “I do.”

  Mosquito rolled up his sleeves, took out a knife, and cut a part of himself. He sucked on the blood and said, “I swear on my life to honor the terms of the games to release the prisoners and take you to Catalina if you win.”

  “If I play, I want those two released unconditionally.”

  “That’s two lives for one.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  Mosquito deliberated. “Fine. I’ll let them off as your entrance fee.”

  “Ben,” Akiko called. “You don’t need to do this.”

  “You love your boyfriend?” he asked.

  “He can take care of himself,” Akiko answered.

  “Maybe,” Ben replied. “Usually these games are rigged against competitors. Is the tournament rigged?”

  Mosquito shook his head. “Just the usual winner’s handicap.”

  “What style?”

  “Four rounds. Winner gets to pick the stage.”

  “No matter what happens, Akiko goes free.”

  “She’s not playing,” Mosquito answered.

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “I give my word that no harm will come to her.”

  “You can’t put your life at risk for a game,” Akiko said.

  “Isn’t this what you’d call guts?” Ben replied. “When’s the tournament start?”

  Mosquito skipped joyfully. “At 8:32 tonight. It’ll be the main entertainment after dinner.”

  “I need sleep.”

  “Anything you want is yours.”

  11:13AM

  They boarded a big freighter masquerading as a cargo boat, filled with pleasure companions and gambling porticals. The lower deck had been converted into a casino and while it was empty at the moment, it would get packed a few hours later. There were sleeping accommodations aboard the boat, luxurious rooms for the clients that included heart-shaped beds, walls painted in portical gaming motifs, and monkeys that served champagne. Hideyoshi was in a half dazed state when Akiko put him to sleep in her Stonewall Jackson suite. “I can’t believe you’re alive,” he rambled on and on before falling asleep.

  She went to Ben’s room, which had a cabaret theme with mannequins of famous wild west dancers outside. She heard what sounded like screaming and burst through the door to find two women frolicking with Ben over alcohol.

  “Can I speak to you?” Akiko asked.

  “Sure,” Ben replied.

  “In private.”

  “Oh, right. Outside?”

  Ben stepped out.

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” Akiko asked.

  “I figured if I was going to die, might as well get drunk one last time on good sake. Have you met my new friends? They’ve generously offered to accompany me for my last drink.”

  “Not the women, Ishimura. I mean the match.”

  “Don’t worry ab
out it.”

  “Your life depends on this game.”

  “Not yours.”

  “If you lose, I will blaze my way out,” Akiko said. “I’m not optimistic about my chances of survival, but I’ll take as many of them down as I can.”

  “You told me sometimes people have to die so others can live.”

  “Hideyoshi can take care of himself. And if he can’t, it’s my responsibility, not yours.”

  “I already made the agreement with Mosquito.”

  “What about Mutsuraga?”

  One of the women called out, “Ben?”

  “You worry too much,” Ben said to Akiko. “It’ll work out. And if it doesn’t, you can still go hunt him down without me to hinder you.”

  Akiko wondered about the captain, his childhood, growing up without parents, knowing he’d caused their deaths. What would she have done in his shoes? Her memories went back to a summer evening almost a decade ago. She was studying German when she heard a commotion outside. USJ police had arrived with their loud sirens – a neighbor down the road was being arrested. Dad had told her not to look, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d never met them, but had seen them around, a young couple with a daughter and son. All four were manacled, bags placed over their faces, dragged by the police into a black van, never to be seen again.

  “Have you ever played the USA game?” she asked Ben.

  “Does it matter?” he asked back. “I need a long sleep before the tournament. You should get some rest too. Spend time with your boyfriend.” He smiled at her. “Cheer up. I haven’t felt this young in a long time. Even if I lose, it was worth it.”

  He jauntily skipped back inside and shut the door behind him.

  Akiko returned to her room, lay next to Hideyoshi, and shuddered. She prayed for sleep.

  6:49PM

  When she woke, she wished again it’d all been a dream. Seeing the gun arm, her eyes drooped. Her shoulder ached and she had a migraine. Hideyoshi was still unconscious. His fingers were twitching and parts of his body moved in irregular spurts. She tried to place her hand on his head before realizing the metal would wake him. There were burn marks along his body that were especially bad on his feet.

  She thought of the first time they’d made love. He was strong but gentle, and they caressed each other as they drove to mutual pleasure. Unlike most of the younger men she’d been with, there was no hint of impatience, no rush towards climax. Before Hideyoshi, she had found sex mundane. He probed every part of her, relishing and dwelling on every part. She knew he had other lovers, and he’d encouraged her to sleep with other men as well. It was so unlike her younger male companions who were fanatically jealous about her affections, throwing out words like “love” and “forever” while offering little else in exchange.

  They’d first met at a cocktail party and he was with a date he ignored so he could shower his attention on her. “Your girlfriend’s getting jealous,” she’d jested, when she saw the scowls his date was directing at her.

  “Who?” Hideyoshi had replied.

  His topic of discussion had been the discovery by the Germans that Venus had once been inhabited. “They found the remnants of a civilization that had destroyed themselves after an environmental disaster led to an apocalyptic war. Or so the Germans say. Their propaganda department likes to interpret physical evidence in creative ways.”

  “What’d they fight over?”

  “Too much freedom,” Hideyoshi replied. “You think a totally free society is possible?”

  “There’s never been a free society,” Akiko had declared. “The pretense is fostered to appease the conscience of those who can’t stomach economic slavery. But if we’re talking on a philosophical level, it depends on the individual. Some can handle total choice. Others crumble under the burden. What do you think?”

  “I think most people are afraid to love because they want the freedom to suffer alone.”

  “I thought we were talking philosophical freedom.”

  “Love is a voluntary sacrifice of freedom,” Hideyoshi said. “It’s the only freedom we really control.”

  “I don’t think anyone has any real choice about who they fall in love with.”

  “Oh?”

  “I can’t will myself to fall in love with just anyone because I want to. If I’m not attracted to them, I’m not attracted to them.”

  “I thought more than half the families back on the main island take part in arranged marriages.”

  “Love isn’t marriage,” Akiko said. “You ever been married? Or is that your wife that you’re singularly ignoring?”

  “I couldn’t beat myself into loving her.”

  “You just confirmed my point.”

  Hideyoshi laughed.

  “What do you think people on Earth will think about us a thousand years from now?”

  “I don’t think they will,” Akiko had answered.

  Hideyoshi grabbed two glasses of wine on a platter from a waiter passing by. He raised a toast and said, “Here’s to hoping you fall in love with me.”

  Akiko answered, “That’s not my choice.”

  Hideyoshi had rolled the champagne around in his mouth before swallowing it. “I bet I can change your mind.”

  “You have the freedom to try.”

  In the present, it was as though Hideyoshi knew she were awake and woke up himself. A part of her wished he hadn’t.

  “W-where-where am I?” he asked, eyes wide in horror.

  “You’re OK now.”

  “They-they said you were dead.” He reached out and touched her face.

  “Who said that?” she demanded.

  “The Kempei. They arrested me at the clinic and took me out in front of everyone. They accused me of being in league with you to topple the Empire.”

  “They were lying.”

  He looked at her arms. “Wh-what happened to you? I didn’t believe them when they told me you betrayed the Empire. You’re the most loyal person I know.”

  “What did you say to them?”

  Hideyoshi’s eyes swelled and tears began to form. “I… I told them everything they wanted to hear.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They-they said you were dead, that it didn’t matter. I…”

  “Hideyoshi.”

  He punched himself in the face, tried to batter his head into the wall. Akiko yelled, “Stop it!” and did her best to restrain him.

  “I betrayed you,” he said, tears covering his face. “I told them you were working with the Americans and hated the Emperor. They told me you were secretly working to overthrow the USJ and I told them they were right.”

  “Why?”

  “So I could save myself… They started burning me. They told me they’d break all the bones in my body. You don’t understand how terrible they were.”

  “I do, actually,” Akiko said. “What’d you tell them about my brother?”

  “Everything you told me about him. They already knew so much and had a statement ready for me. I agreed with everything. I’m just a musician, Akiko. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before.”

  “Why are you here with Mosquito?”

  Hideyoshi shook his head and wiped tears away. “I came here to die.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The morning they released me, I saw a pair of snails on the sidewalk. Do you remember our first night together, it was raining, and you wanted to go out? All along the courtyard, there were hundreds of snails. Baby ones, families, groups. You were charmed by them. I never told you, but I always thought we’d have a little family of our own. W-when I realized what I’d done… I wanted to kill myself. I knew they had these death matches here, so I came here to get killed fighting in one of these games.”

  “Then why didn’t you just die?”

  “What?”

  “Why didn’t you let them kill you before you betrayed me?” Akiko snapped.

  Hideyoshi lowered himself to his knees. “Be-because
I was weak… If you kill me now, I’d accept it.”

  Akiko stood up, looked away. “You want me to be strong for you?”

  “For the both of us.”

  “You don’t get that right. Make sure I never see you again.”

  She left the room, went upstairs, and bumped into Orochan.

  “How you doing?” Orochan asked.

  “Is the USA game hard?” Akiko asked back, irritated by the question.

  “It’s very difficult.”

  “What do you think Ben’s chances are?”

  Orochan shook her head. “Honestly, not good. He’s going to get destroyed by Eagle Killer.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “The best gamer in the USJ. She hasn’t lost a match in two thousand games.”

  “Does he know this?”

  “I tried to tell him, but he’s asleep,” Orochan answered. “What’s in Catalina?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why’s he risking so much to go there?”

  All Akiko knew about Catalina was that it was a prison colony with thousands of dissidents, many from San Diego. Everyone understood it was a place where the Empire dumped their worst prisoners and unleashed them within the boundaries of the island. There were some guards, but it was otherwise unregulated. She’d read about the brutal death jousts that took place between the prisoners, territorial disputes settled in old buildings that the officers gambled on. She knew Catalina had once been a naval base, but that it had long been abandoned. It was supposed to be hell on earth, a brutal habitat for the condemned. Then she remembered something Wakana had told her, a rumor that Catalina once served as a lab for building mechas.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered.

  She left Orochan and wandered the boat.

  8:22PM

  Ben had to put on a tactile sensory feedback suit, goggles to simulate the environments of the game, a fake gun that acted as a controller, and special shoes to interact with the treadmill that spun in a complete circle and corresponded to his motion. A ring intertwined with fiber optics surrounded him to prevent him from falling out of his control sphere while also detecting his movements. There were eight control pods, big display screens showing the live feed, as well as a kikkai connection for people to watch directly on their smaller screens. It was a gladiatorial fight via porticals. The deck fitted four hundred guests and they were all being served the “USA Banquet.” On either wing, there were side events as appetizers. The west wing had naked sumo wrestling taking place between bare contestants of both sexes that served more as titillating choreography than corpulent combat. The east wing had singers vying for prominence with their vocal chords while using sonic knives to attack rivals. Disapproving audiences could throw fruits at their faces, the most fruitified face earning the spoils of the evening.