“You already know about the committee, then? Who are they?”
The professor shook his head. “Nobody knows. At least, it’s not general knowledge. And I’m ninth level and don’t have a clue who’s on it, so I’d say it’s pretty well secret.”
Roshike wondered if Teresa’s mother, the governor of New Tokyo, was one of those elites who decided everything in secret. It would certainly make sense. “Anyway, these committee members clearly worried that if the reconstruction went too fast, the system they set up for running Batsu society might break down. They moved slow to keep control.” He took the third button, which had finished duplicating the last of the files, and handed it over.
Seiko nodded as she slipped the second button out and over to Mark and started on the third. “It’s all about assimilating citizens into this culture that makes most people into debt slaves whose lives are run by their screens.”
Mark had been skimming through some of the information on that first button. Now he raised his head and changed the subject. “Did any of you see why they chose the ‘Batsu’ name in the first place?”
Roshike shook his head. “Because they’re bullies?” ‘Batsu’ meant punishment, and it was apt.
The professor shook his head. “The builders of the Gaku understood that they bore a lot of responsibility for how everything collapsed, and the reconstruction project was meant to be their atonement. To make up for the damage they’d done.”
“Well, that got derailed early on, didn’t it? The committee considered how taking things so slowly would mean more of the old and weak dying off on the fringes of society—and they thought that would be a good thing. They only wanted the younger and fitter for potential new citizens. Hardly what I’d call helping.”
Mark sighed. “Obviously it all went sideways—in the most horrible way. But that doesn’t mean the Batsu haven’t done any good at all, and it doesn’t invalidate the idea their infrastructure could be used to do much more to help everyone. But it will have to be drastically transformed first.”
Roshike nodded. “I hope you can manage that somehow, Mark. I don’t see how it can be done, but promise me this—if you do succeed, make sure you change the name. A lot of people hate the Batsu for what they’re known to have done. Once this information gets out and everybody knows all the truth, that name will really be loathed.”
Seiko shook her head. “It’s sad. These elites always seem to be making decisions out of fear—fear of lack, so they hoard their resources to themselves instead of helping others, and fear of change. They don’t know what a different society might look like, and it scares them.”
“Because they’re doing very well for themselves and any change would be bad for them. They could lose their positions of power. That’s hardly any excuse. They’ve forfeited the right to their authority, and it should be taken away from them.”
The professor gave him a long, searching look. “This information you retrieved from the Gaku-net servers may go a long way toward helping with that. The key will be in wresting the control of the system from the committee, and I hope to find that in this data, but first we’ll have to prepare the ground. By getting some of these hard truths out to the people here, so they’ll be ready for change. When we bring it.” He finished copying the last of the buttons and shoved them all over toward Shin.
Seiko spoke up then. “I can help with that. I’m in administration and this is what Tash wanted me here for. We’ll both have copies of all this data and can study it for weaknesses in the Gaku-net we can exploit. And also look for the truths that will upset complacent citizens the most. And start spreading the news.”
Roshike looked at her. He wanted to tell her it would be dangerous, but she knew that. He wanted to say she should leave the Gaku now and get away from this place, but she wouldn’t listen to him if he did. She was highly trained and very capable, but it was a perilous proposition and he wouldn’t be here to help if she got into trouble. He had to make sure Tash got these files. And once he’d gotten out of the Gaku, there wouldn’t be any getting back in.
Shin took the little pile of buttons from the professor, but she was staring at Roshike. “I can leave the Gaku, get out with these and get them to Tash.”
“If you have a way out of here...”
She shook her head. “You couldn’t get out, not the way I’d go, and I couldn’t take you with me. But I could take this set of copies, while you take time to find a safer way out of this place for yourself.”
Roshike paused. He’d decided to trust her and besides, Mark would also be sending a set of files to Tash. Between the two of them, Roshike could consider his job complete and stay here. As much as he disliked the life he was living as a candidate, and it would probably be worse training as a guard, it was needful. To help Seiko and Mark in their efforts to take over the Batsu. And maybe by the time he had found a safe way out, Seiko would be willing to leave with him.
“Alright, I’d appreciate that. Once you get out, head to Chofu and find the Kyuu-ban hotel and ask for me. Then Tash will get ahold of you.” Turning to the other two, he grinned. “Since I’m scheduled to start training as a guard tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be well-positioned to lend you a hand, when you’ve got a plan and are ready to make your move.”
Seiko looked at him in some astonishment. “It sounds like you’re staying.”
“If I’ve finished the job Tash hired me to do, I’ll need a new one, and I imagine you and Mark could use all the help you can get.” He thought they made a good team, but he wasn’t about to say so. Standing, he stuffed the shadow screen and buttons back into his belt. “I don’t know about the rest of you—” He didn’t even have an idea who Shin was, here inside the Gaku. “But I need to get back to the candidate dormitory well before dawn, so that I won’t be missed.”
Now he had committed to staying inside indefinitely, in this virtual prison, with all the stifling restrictions imposed by the Batsu. Allowing the Gaku-net to tell him what to do—as much as he had to in order to keep up appearances, anyway. And it was the path he’d chosen of his own free will. Somehow though, it felt as if it had been chosen for him.
Notes on Names and Terminology
Roshike (Roh-shh-kay) is a nonstandard reading (that comes from the Ainu people of the northern island of Hokkaido) of the character normally read ‘tatsu’ meaning ‘to stand’.
Tetsuba, or ‘Iron Grandma’, is not a name per se, but more of a nom de guerre.
Mikkokusha, or ‘one who reports in secret’, is somebody who sells information.
Hakken-ya, or ‘a person who handles eight kinds of cases’, is similar to what the Japanese today call a benri-ya.
Miraibanashi means simply ‘a story of the future’.
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Continue the Miraibanashi Trilogy with Book 2: Enemies of the Batsu
ROSHIKE AND FRIENDS must work from within the beating heart of Batsu society while enforcers edge ever closer to discovering—and eliminating—at least one of their number. When it comes down to a decision between their own safety and everyone’s future, what will they choose to do?
Also by James Litherland
Miraibanashi
Whispers of the Dead
Enemies of the Batsu (Coming Soon)
Slowpocalypse
Durable Impressions
Certain Hypothetical
Threat Multiplication
Compromised Inside
Peripheral Encounters
Starting the Slowpocalypse
Watchbearers
Millennium Crash
Centenary Separation
Uncertain Murder
Prohibited Activities
Watch for more at James Litherland’s site.
About the Author
JAMES LITHERLAND is a graduate of the University of South Florida who currently resides as a Virtual Hermit in the wilds of West Tennessee.He’s lived various places and done a number of jobs – he’s been an office worker and done hard manual labor, worked (briefly) in the retail and service sectors, and he’s been an instructor. But through all that, he’s always been a writer.
He is a Christian who tries to walk the walk (and not talk much.)
Read more at James Litherland’s site.
Whispers of the Dead (Miraibanashi, #1) Page 19