Zero Sum Game (13 page)

Hina recognized the next picture: the man in the shrine. He appeared healthy, even happy as he smiled at her. "A group of the population became aware of the destruction the catoms would cause. They called themselves the Defiant and pressed to find peaceful solutions to their problems, including refitting the ark for permanent use.

"Volon Tru, whose human name was Hiroshi Ichihara, was a key member of the Defiant. He learned of Shimizu's plans and was sent to stop him."

Ichihara's face faded away. "That is why we are here. Noigel agents, working for our government, are here. We want to stop them. Ichihara was killed," Voice said.

Hina remembered. She recalled Ichihara's last words, telling her to "stop." He had meant "Stop the Noigel." That is why he had given her the suit, he wanted her to complete his mission. She, a junior high school student, was supposed to stop aliens and save the world. She remembered thinking what else could happen to her this week. It seemed she had found out.

Voice continued. "When he had heard agents had been sent to the Sol System, he followed, hoping to stop them. We expected one agent, but have found out there are two: Yusuke Shimizu and Shota Fujiya."

All of these double names were confusing Hina. She brought her knees up and hugged them. "Two? Two aliens are here? Do they have battle suits too?"

"Yes," Voice said. "They will have the same abilities as me."

"Will they be strong, too? Like I was, fighting those boys?"

"Yes."

"I can't do it," she said. "I can't. You have the wrong person." She began unbuttoning her shirt.

"Hina, please," Voice said.

She thought he was incapable of feeling emotions, but for some reason that didn't make her feel any less guilty about saying "no." She was only a junior high school student, there was nothing she could do. "Find someone else, a soldier or somebody. A police officer. Change into one of their uniforms and I'll give you to him."

As she rolled down her left sock, Voice said, "I can't."

"Huh?"

"I can't change anymore. I've lost my shapeshifting ability." When Hina paused in taking off her sock and didn't say anything, Voice continued. "Hiroshi and I fought the Noigel named Fujiya. You saw the results, the fire at the power relay station yesterday. I was damaged. I was able to change my appearance one last time. When Hiroshi gave me to you, I changed into the uniform of your school. I cannot assume any other form."

She recalled seeing her school uniform on the hook and not seeing the rubber suit anywhere. She had assumed her father had bought her uniform and hung up the rubber suit somewhere. She had never thought they had been one and the same.

"Hina," Voice said, "I can't do anything without you. I'm a battle suit, not an android. I can't move or communicate on my own. If you remove me and put me in a closet, I am powerless. Take me off, and Shimizu and Fujiya will win."

She paused, her thumbs hooked in her dark blue sock. He was right; if she backed out now, her world would be destroyed. But that was too much for her. It was too big, too much responsibility. She still needed to decide which high school she wanted to apply to, she couldn't think about aliens and battle suits and planets blowing up.

"Do you want your father to die?" Voice's question was simple and direct.

"No." Hina looked at her door, afraid she had screamed the answer loud enough for her father to hear. When he didn't check on her, she said softer, "No. Of course not."

"What about Ami?"

"No. She's my best friend. I don't want her dead, I don't want anybody to die." She didn't even want the boys who had taken her purse to die. Beat them, yes. But, die? Never.

"They will," Voice said. The lack of emotion in those two words chilled her. "Shimizu and Fujiya will try to terraform this world. If they fail, your world will die. If it succeeds, your race will be unable to survive in the new environment. Every living thing will perish. Unless you help me."

Her eyes moistened. Images of Ami and Rena lying in the street, their bodies twisted and their faces pulled taut as they died in a poisonous alien atmosphere, filled her imagination. No one deserved to die in such a way.

"I can help you," Voice said. "I can teach you to use your abilities. I can train you in combat and help you save your race. But I can't do it without you." After that, Voice said nothing else.

Hina had to decide.

— — —

I don't want my classmates to die.

That thought circled in her head all during school. From the time she had seen the school gates in the morning till now, after lunch, it had been foremost in her mind. It drove her crazy and depressed the hell out of her.
How can I save them?
she kept wondering. And why her? What had Ichihara seen in her? She wasn't a cop or a firefighter or soldier or anything like that. She was fourteen years old; she needed to think about her high school entrance exams, not stopping the planet from exploding.

She sighed and went out onto the stone balcony that ran the length of the second floor's west side. It overlooked the sports field and the gymnasium. Outside was hot and humid, but almost everyone was out playing. Two different games of basketball were going at the hoops and a soccer match occupied the far end of the field. A few students tossed a volleyball around. Some were strolling and talking in groups. Hina crossed her arms on top of the balcony and rested her chin on her forearms.

Voice had not spoken since asking for help last night. She had a decision to make, and he wasn't pushing her. But the decision terrified her. She wondered what the right answer was.

Ami stepped in beside her. "Are you okay? You've been weird all day."

Seeing Ami had been the hardest thing so far. Every time Hina looked at her friend, images of Ami's body rotting in the heat of a post-apocalyptic disaster entered her mind and refused to leave. Sometimes Ami already lay dead in the baking sun on the sports field, other times shapeless silver aliens dragged her away and she screamed for Hina to save her.

"Can you leave me alone today?" Hina walked away and went down the hall and into the bathroom. She locked the stall door and leaned against the wall, willing the tears she wanted to cry not to fill her eyes. She took several deep breaths to calm herself. The day was half over and she still hadn't decided what to do. But how could she be forced to make this decision? She wasn't a fighter.

Ami didn't talk to her again for the rest of the day, and for that Hina was grateful. Afternoon classes passed, as well as cleaning time and homeroom, but Hina couldn't concentrate. After school, she took the streetcar to the gym where she trained for weightlifting.

In the changing room, she took off her blouse and skirt, feeling a moment of hesitation. Voice was there, in those clothes. It would be so simple to leave him there, so easy to discard him. Let him lie on the floor in the corner. He was helpless without her. He could do nothing to change her mind if she decided not to help him.

She walked out into the training area, dressed in her school gym clothes. Mr. Miyazawa, her trainer, clapped his hands.

"Takamachi, let's go."

Hina snapped her thoughts away from her uniform. "Yes, sir," she answered. Besides cats, Hina also loved weightlifting. It took her mind off her troubles. She tried to clear her mind, to focus on her lifts, but unwelcome and disturbing images of her friends dying flitted through her mind. She struggled, her form and posture were incorrect, like she had never lifted a bar before in her life.

An image of Ami's face covered in blood darted through her mind but she pushed it away. She grabbed the barbell loaded with weight and brought it up to her chest. She took a deep breath; she only had to lift the bar overhead while she split her stance into a stable position, then standing straight. It would be a perfectly executed clean and jerk.

As she extended her arms and tensed her legs for the split jerk, she saw her father gasping for air under a purple sky. An armor plated hand with four digits reached out and covered her father's nose and mouth. The barbell shifted backwards; if she held on, her arms would be torn from their sockets. She let go and stumbled forward. The barbell hit the mat and bounced, the loud impact lost among the other sounds of the gym.

Miyazawa scowled and nodded towards the front of the gym. "Takamachi, take a rest." Hina didn't protest.

Why had she kept practicing? Her mind wasn't on the weights. She watched everyone training. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she knew that of all the people training, she had the best chance to go to the Olympics. Mr. Miyazawa had told her so, and deep down she knew it was possible. She felt that she might have it to qualify and represent her country in the biggest sporting event in the world. She had seen athletes come and go in this gym. Why did she still train?

Because she was trying her best.

She jerked upright, as if someone had poked her in the back. She had her decision. Miyazawa blew his whistle, calling an end to practice. Hina stood in line with the rest of the trainees. They faced Miyazawa, said, "Thank you" in unison and bowed. Hina ran to her school uniform and picked it up. She held it close to her chest and spoke in a whisper. "Voice, are you there?"

"Yes." Because he had not spoken all day, his voice sounded much louder than it had before. It startled Hina, but she tried not to let it show.

"I've made my decision. I'll help you. I mean, I'll try. If I do nothing, the world is guaranteed to end, right? My father, my mother, my classmates, they will die if I do nothing. But if I try, if I try as hard as I can, and you help me, then maybe, maybe we can save them. Right?"

"That's correct."

"I'm not a policeman or a soldier. But I'll do everything I can."

CHAPTER 13

Hina didn't go home after weightlifting ended. Voice instructed her to head to an industrial plant in West Hiroshima. She got off the bus and walked towards the looming structures ahead of her.

"Isn't this trespassing?"

"This facility is not in operation right now," Voice explained. "It's not abandoned, but undergoing renovations. The workers come in the morning and leave by late afternoon. We will be undetected here."

"And you know this how?"

"Hiroshi and I used this facility as a training ground. It is relatively far from major areas of traffic, and no one comes by after the workers leave. Sometimes students and kids will come to hang out, but I don't think that will be the case today."

Besides the immense buildings and large industrial vehicles, massive amounts of wood were piled around in various places. Voice explained it was a wood processing factory. In one part of the lot, Hina saw trees with their branches and tops cut off lying in a massive bin, like the toothpicks of giants waiting to be plucked up. In another part, three stacks of lumber almost the size of her living room sat side by side waiting to be shipped to another factory.

Like Voice had said, Hina didn't see or hear anyone around. But wondering around in a place she wasn't supposed to made her nervous.

"We should start," Voice said.

Let the training montage begin,
she thought.

She put her bag beside a metal drum and waited for Voice's instructions. "We'll begin with simple demonstrations of your abilities," he said.

"Are you going to teach me how to fight?" The idea made her anxious.

"No," said Voice. "Noigel martial arts are not designed for humans. It would be almost impossible to teach you."

She was relieved to hear that, but at the same time a little upset that Voice said such a thing would be "impossible." Couldn't he even try to teach her a few moves? Even the simplest of the basics might be enough. She remembered what had happened to the high school boys yesterday. With such strength, she wouldn't need martial arts at all.

Voice spoke. "Let's start with your senses. Do you see the forklift beside the far building?"

She searched around for a moment, then noticed the small, vague mass of yellow metal more than three hundred meters away. "Yes."

"Focus on it and attempt to read the lettering on the side of the vehicle."

Nothing happened. Hina squinted and tried, but the image stayed far away. She couldn't make out the forklift's tires, much less whatever was written on it. "I can't," she said, disappointed.

"Relax your eyes. Focus on the vehicle and try to block out any other sights around it. Think of it as watching television, where you focus on the screen in front of you. Try again."

She wondered about what kind of TV programs aliens watched, then pushed the mildly amusing thought aside. She relaxed then focused. The image grew larger, like an impossibly long zoom in a movie. The lettering became as clear as if it had been printed in three meter high letters on a sign.

"Komatsu. Komatsu. I can read it. It says Komatsu." She couldn't believe it, the forklift was so far away but seemed so close. A large smile appeared on her face.

"Yes, it says Komatsu. I'm aware of that," Voice said. "You don't need to repeat it ad nauseam."

"No need to get snappish."
For a battle suit he sure is uptight in the personality department.

"Moving on," Voice said. "Try the same thing except with your ears. Pick a spot to listen to and focus on it, tuning out other sounds."

"Okay," she said, more excited now that she had accomplished something. She searched for a distant source of sound, something she could see but not hear. Moving towards the gate, she saw the main road in the distance. It switchbacked a couple of times, and Hina saw the small shapes of cars and trucks moving along the highway. Choosing one at random, she cocked her head and listened, trying to tune out everything else like Voice had instructed. At first she heard nothing, then the rumbles of engines became louder and louder. She heard the vehicles moving along the distant road: the deep growl of the buses, the quiet whine of hybrid cars, and even the squeak of a bicycle needing oil.

Hina snapped herself out of it and the sounds vanished, silence filling their space. She almost laughed out loud. "I heard them. I can't believe it."