Kato used Buzz to find a place to stay in the city, and summoned a cab to take him there. As he proceeded through Edinburgh’s deserted, ancient streets, Kato looked around at the stone buildings. Though he had no reference from his previous life, he couldn't imagine that the city had changed much at all. It all looked many centuries old. The grand castle looked the same as historical photos he had browsed on the way there. It still dominated the skyline, from its hilltop perch. Kato had wanted to stay in a charming old Scottish pub. However, these would not accept guests at that hour of the night, so he was stuck with a hotel in the city center. It was situated in a grand old building with a view of the castle. Kato settled into his charming and tastefully-decorated room, and waited for 9 AM to roll around so he could call Martin.
The city was bathed in watered-down sunshine, as the rain tapered off. Kato was starting to feel sleepy, owing to the spacelag. “Buzz: get me Martin.”
“Heyyy! You in Edinburgh?”
“I sure am!”
“Woohoo! Well, get a cab and come on over!” Martin gave the address.
“Will do.” Martin’s temporary residence was close to the city center and hence a very short ride away. Kato had barely climbed out of the cab and grabbed his bag, when Martin greeted him with a hug and a slap on the back. He was just as Kato remembered him; overweight, with a shock of black, slightly receding hair.
“Welcome to our abode, buddy!” Another man exited the front door of the stone row house, still in his carpet slippers, and extended a hand.
“Kato, this is my degenerate friend Kyle Hasselbacher.” He was shorter than Kato, with a roundish face and slicked back brown hair. Kato shook his hand.
“Are we close to the university?” Kato asked. The brisk morning breeze swirled around him.
“Yes,” Martin said. “This is normally a student house. Anyway, come in.”
Kato followed Martin and Kyle inside, noting the great thickness of the stone walls. He had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the top of the short door frame. They walked through a narrow hall into the small kitchen in the back of the house. It featured a large stone hearth, with a traditional wood burning stove. “We sometimes use this thing just for the heck of it,” Kyle said in his thick Scottish accent, gesturing to the stove. They all took a seat in cheap, wooden chairs around an off-white, Formica-topped kitchen table at the other end of the long room.
“Cup of coffee?” Martin offered.
“Sure!”
Kyle started a pot brewing. “So... no magic machine to make it?” Kato asked.
Martin smiled. “Yeah, we've got the magic machine, but we sometimes do it the old way just because we want to.”
Kyle studied Kato. “You can remove your mask now,” he said, somewhat jovially.
“Oh... yeah. I forgot I had it on,” Kato said. “Buzz: neutralize disguise.” His face morphed back to show his true, angular features.
“How does it feel to be the oldest man in the world?” Kyle said.
Kato had to listen hard in order to understand Kyle’s thick accent. “It's... strange,” he said.
“I bet it is,” Kyle said. Kyle turned to Martin. “It's all your fault!” he quipped. “That damn contraption of yours!”
Martin chuckled, as the coffee pot began to sputter. He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“When are they doin' another interstellar mission?” Kyle asked.
“Ten months from now,” Martin said. “It hasn’t been officially announced yet, so keep your mouths shut!”
“Right,” Kato said.
“They’re still very busy analyzing the data from the last one.” Martin paused. “You know, it’s still totally unbelievable to me that we actually went to the stars… in my lifetime!”
“This man is absolutely brilliant,” Kyle chimed in, jabbing a thumb in Martin’s direction. “One of Edinburgh’s finest!”
Martin chuckled. “Not born here, for sure. I just studied, before doing my postgrad at Clarke Academy. Edinburgh has one of the finest space propulsion programs anywhere. Kyle also studied here, and we graduated together.”
“Aha,” Kato said.
“Hence why we’re having kind of a reunion here,” Martin continued. “There are a few more of us staying in other houses near the campus.”
“You were probably wondering what two old guys like us are doing in a student house,” Kyle said. “We just rented it over the summer, while the students are gone.”
Kato nodded. “Right.”
“There are a couple more people staying here, doing summer courses,” Kyle said. “They’re still asleep. They have no idea we have a celebrity here!” Kyle gesticulated towards Kato with his left hand.
The coffee pot stopped sputtering. Martin got up and poured the brews. “Sugar? Milk?” he asked Kato.
“Oh. Uh… milk and one sugar.”
“’Kay.”
The three men were silent for a minute as they drank their coffee. Kato half-chuckled as he thought about the oddity and irony of his having been in a Hawaiian resort hotel just hours ago. This thought helped ease the awkwardness he felt in being there. After all, he didn’t know Martin that well. Plus, it was not only Martin’s pad that he was crashing. “Any plans?” Martin asked Kato.
“You mean for today?”
“No, I mean in general. The rest of your life. You can do anything and live anywhere you want.”
“The media’s been alight with the question for over a week now,” Kyle interjected. “Where are the Sleepers, they’re asking.”
Kato smiled and then sighed. “For one, I’m not a Sleeper any more. I’m very much awake.” He looked at Martin. “As for plans, I still don’t really have one. I’m just trying to acclimate to the way things are now.”
Martin nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “And I suppose the best way to do that is to travel anonymously, not live in a bubble of celebrity.”
“Exactly,” Kato said.
Martin changed the subject. “How’s Zara doing?”
“Well, as far as I know. I’ve left a bunch of messages for her, but so far she hasn’t returned any of them.”
“Kids!” Martin said, jokingly.
Akio smiled. “Yeah,” he said, wistfully.
“We’re plannin’ a pub crawl tonight,” Kyle said. “We’re gonna hit at least ten of the city’s finest. Can we count on your participation?”
Kato laughed out loud and ran his fingers through his hair. “I haven’t been on a bar crawl since school!”
“You know you want to,” Martin said.
“We’ll show you some good Scottish ale,” Kyle said. “Better than that American crap!”
“Well, it doesn’t take much to be better than American beer,” Kato said.
“You should see Martian beer,” Martin said. “It makes Budweiser look like the nectar of the gods! Something about the low gravity interfering with the brewing process.”
Kyle nodded. “And the little green guys not knowing how to make the stuff! Aren’t Martians like oompa-loompas?”
Martin looked at Kato. “This guy’s full of crap,” he said, jerking his thumb in Kyle’s direction. “Don’t listen to him! He’s even worse when he’s drunk!”
Kato chuckled. He began to feel much more at ease. “You look like you could use a nap,” Martin said. “I bet you have a bad case of spacelag.” Kato nodded. “There’s a spare room in the front,” Martin continued. “Last door on the left, as you head back that way. It’s actually a five-bedroom place, but we’re only using four.”
“Well, a lie down would be nice...”
“It's all yours,” Martin said.
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Kato said.
He left the kitchen, found the last door on the left, and entered. The room had a view out onto the st
reet, with net curtains to stop people looking in. Those thick walls again. The room was painted a basic white, with a chest of drawers, and a bed against the wall opposite the window. It had a light, blue quilt and white sheets. Kato laid down, expecting the bed to instantly conform to his shape. It didn't. He sat up, perplexed, and looked at it. Wow, he thought, this is one basic house! Still, what it lacked in comfort, it made up for in friendliness. He laid down again.
Chapter 19
The next thing Kato knew, it was 5 PM. The sunlight, which had been streaming in through the window from the right, now shone in from the left. Kato felt guilty for being a bad guest and sleeping the day away rather than being with his hosts. He quickly rubbed his eyes, got up, and went back to the kitchen. Nobody was there. The door to the left of the kitchen was ajar and Kato could hear Martin and Kyle speaking.
“Uh, hi,” he said from outside, uncertainly.
“Come on in,” Martin said. “This is just the little living room.”
Kato entered and saw that it was indeed small. “We're just playing a quick game of Mabo,” Martin said. “Care to play the winner?”
“Umm... I'm not very good... I could play the loser?” Kato said.
“That's fine,” Martin said. “You'll only get better by playing.”
“Uh... okay then,” Kato said. Playing strategy or card games he didn't know, especially against people he didn't know well, wasn't his thing. Kyle and Martin sat, spaced out, on the two couches, but with a look of complete concentration on their faces. Kato was able to view the game using Buzz. He sat, mesmerized, as the colored spheres filled up the pyramid almost faster than he could see. Kyle's moves filled them in with blue, while Martin's were red. Martin broke his concentration. A second later, Kyle also did. Martin turned to Kato. “Have you ever seen this played with brain CPUs engaged?”
“No,” Kato said.
Martin grinned at Kyle. “Best out of ninety-nine?”
“Yep!”
“Ninety-nine games?” Kato asked, incredulously.
“Yes!” Martin said. “Let’s go.”
The current game was scrapped and a new pyramid appeared. It became a burst of blue and red in less than a second. A scoreboard to the left of the pyramid read: MARTIN: 1, KYLE: 0. A new game started instantly, and was finished almost as quickly. More pyramids flashed into existence, filled, and disappeared. MARTIN: 43, KYLE 38. Kato was unable to keep up with the scores, let alone the action. Twenty seconds later, the final tally read: MARTIN: 49, KYLE: 50. The two men slowly reengaged with the world around them, and each other. “I’d say the best man won,” Kyle said.
“Ha! You have newer, faster implants,” Martin said. “Unfair advantage.”
“Yeah, but you still have to direct the game,” Kyle said. “There’s still skill involved. I used the Chicago Takeback on you three times, and you probably never even noticed!”
Martin narrowed his eyes into a playful glare at Kyle. He put his extended index and middle fingers first to his own eyes, and then pointed them at Kyle’s in a poking motion. Kyle grinned. Kato was amused, glad to see that this particular gesture hadn’t fallen into disuse. Ten minutes after that, using only conventional brain power, Kato was soundly beaten at Mabo by Martin.
By 9 PM, Kato, Martin, Kyle, and their two friends were standing in a traditional pub called The Greenmantle. The bar had dark wooden paneled walls, and was lit with candle-style electric lights. There wasn’t a display in sight. All five men held pints of ale. Kyle wore wraparound sunglasses, even though the lighting was dim. Kato took a sip. “Damn, this is good stuff!”
“Now you know what you were missing!” Kyle said.
“Honestly, I don't really know what beers you can get in America now,” Kato said. “This is the first one I've had in three hundred years!” People milled around, as the five men sat at a table together. Kato had reactivated his disguise.
“What was it like being that close to a star?” one of Kyle and Martin’s friends asked, in a thick Scottish accent.
Kato thought for a second. “It was like a dream. Honestly. I'd just been woken from hibernation. My mind wasn't working well at all, and I was very groggy. I thought it was a dream for a long time. It was only on the trip back that I came around enough to realize it was real.” The others nodded, rapt.
“Do you remember being extracted from your old ship?” Kyle asked.
“No.”
“How were you extracted?” the other man asked, taking a sip of his beer.
“IIX has a smart skin,” Martin interjected. “It morphed into a docking tunnel. Then, they basically had to drill a hole in the old ship and pull the hibernation chambers aboard, to begin reviving them.”
“Yeah, that's where I first woke up,” Kato said.
“Everybody's wondering where the heck you guys are,” their other friend said, “from the President of the United States on down. I can understand why you'd want to go incognito, though.”
Kato nodded. The talk turned briefly to the local football scores, and then Martin turned back to Kato. “You should think about going to the Time Cities,” he said.
“What are those?” Kato asked.
“They're cities in which the way of life from previous centuries was preserved,” Martin said. “There are ones from 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200 and 2300.”
“Entire cities?” Kato said.
“Yes. The 1900 one is in northern England. County Durham. The 2000 one is in Texas somewhere. 2100 is in the Phillipines. I forget about the others. I've only been to the 1900 one. It's really cool; horses and carts, coalmines, and small row houses everywhere. Women washing clothes by hand, while the men go out and do manual labor all day. It's unbelievable, actually. Living history.”
“And everybody that lives there goes along with it?” Kato asked.
“Yes. They had a vote on it. Anybody living in that area that didn't want to do it left with a huge sum of cash. Then people that did want to do it moved in.” Kato nodded, clearly impressed. Martin continued: “There was a global realization a couple of hundred years ago that technology was changing things beyond all recognition. That's when it was decided to make them into real life museums.”
“Right.” The beers were soon consumed. Kato's tolerance for alcohol was so low that he was almost drunk after just one pint. The group moved onto the next pub.
“I'm sorry, but I can't keep on drinking like this,” Kato said.
“Can't hold your beer, Spaceman?” one of the others teased.
“No,” Kato admitted sheepishly.
“It's fine. You can just tag along,” Kyle said, “while we reach various states of inebriation. Just drink half pints every so often to keep your blood-alcohol content up!” Kato laughed. He felt warm and contented, among people who treated him as an equal. They wanted nothing from him but his company. The pub-crawl finished at around 11 PM that night, and they walked the few streets back to the house. Kato admired the historic, stoic stone buildings. The castle was illuminated spectacularly in the distance. Once back at the house, everyone promptly crashed out. Kato fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter 20
“Urgent call from Akio Nishimura,” Buzz said in Kato's ear. He didn't stir. “Urgent call from Akio Nishimura,” it repeated, twenty seconds later. At first, Kato saw nothing but the darkened room, with the chinks of light from the streetlamps coming in around the curtains. “Urgent call from Akio Nishimura.”
“Buzz, answer call,” Kato said sleepily.
“KATO-SAN! WE NEED YOUR HELP! ZARA'S BEEN ABDUCTED!” a panicked and frightened young voice said.
Kato felt like he had been hit by a truck. His mind could not process what he was hearing. “Say that again?”
“ZARA'S GONE! SOME MEN CAUGHT US IN THE GRID, AND... AND...”
“Whoa! What men? W
hat grid? Where is she?”
“I don't know!” Kato heard the sound of retching on the other end of the line. “I'm...I'm sorry! We should never have come up here! It might have been the police... they drugged us, and... now she's gone!” Akio said.
“Oh, God...” Kato was now standing up. “Calm down, Akio. Where are you?”
“I'm... in the grid above Tokyo...” His voice sounded muffled, by a mouth full of bile.
“What grid?” Kato repeated.
“It's... a sculpture, covering the city. We came up here, or I should say I brought her up here, to get a good view of the city... some men caught us trespassing… I couldn't really see them... it's dark... they didn't look like police though...”
“And you were drugged?” Kato asked incredulously.
“Yes, I think so. My leg still hurts. I think they used a poison dart or something.”
Kato's heart simultaneously rose into his throat and sank through the floor. He slumped to the floor as a terrible realization struck him. “Oh God...” Kato struggled to make his sleepy, still slightly drunk brain cooperate. He took a deep breath. “Okay. Akio, call the police. If they have her, they'll tell you. I’m not sure why whoever it was didn't take you too, though...”
“Right, Kato-san. I will and I'll call you straight back.” The line went dead. The room spun around Kato, even as a dark pit opened up in the floor.
“Buzz, call Zara,” Kato said urgently.
“Trying now.” Dot. Dot. Dot. Dot. “She cannot be located. Would you like her voicemail?”
“Yes. Zara, it’s Dad. Call me now! The second you get this message! I need to know you’re okay. Buzz, end call and get me the Tokyo police,” Kato said. The dots progressed across his vision.
“Tokyo Chuo keisatsusho. Do no yona go yokendeshou?” the voice in his ear said.
“Um... I only speak a little Japanese...” Kato said.
“I see, sir. How may I help you?”
Kato's War Page 10