Zero Sum Game (16 page)

"Voice, what are we looking for at Hiroshima Port?"

"The DSV
Kaiyou Infinity
is a research submarine based on the now-defunct Russian Typhoon-class submersible," he explained, "although the
Infinity
is larger. The plans for such a vessel have been around for many years, but it was only after my estimated arrival date of Shimizu and Fujiya has its construction been accelerated. The Noigel's interest needs looking into. We need more information about the submarine, as well as search for any Noigel technology that may be inside."

That seemed reasonable to Hina, but her heart raced in fear thinking about sneaking onto government property. Voice instructed to take out Ichihara's scanner, hidden in the box under her bed. It was thin, like her iPhone, with a single screen taking up the entire front, and a metal back. The diamond-shaped device fit in her hand. She swiped her finger across the screen and the unit activated. Diagonal Noigel writing filled the screen.

"Give me a moment and I will reconfigure the device's language options to Japanese," Voice said. After restarting, the three alphabets of Japanese—katakana, hiragana, and kanji—flowed across the device.

Hina spent a few minutes with Voice, going over the simple basics of using the scanner. It operated much like a smartphone.

"Why couldn't you and Ichihara use this to find the other Noigel?"

"The range is very limited," Voice said. "Also, our scientists built the flash skins too well. It masks biological signatures from our own devices as well as from the devices of others."

She sat on her rug and decided to practice her super hearing. She focused on her father's room. For a moment every sound became magnified, threatening to drown her in a sea of noise. She heard the TV from the apartment downstairs, a crying baby from another building, the roar of passing traffic, people talking on the streets blocks away. She tuned it out, trying to focus on her father. Soon the other sounds faded away, like a radio station losing its signal the farther one drove away from it. She heard the loud rasping of cloth scraping against cloth as he moved in his bed.

Twenty minutes later, she slipped the scanner into her skirt pocket and opened her balcony door. The laundry had been finished for the week so she was thankful there were no hangers or clothes to get in her way. But it seemed a long ways down. Voice reassured her that she wouldn't be harmed. Taking a deep breath, she looked both ways down the street to make sure no one would spot her. She climbed atop of the air conditioner unit, then stepped onto the railing. She gripped the roof's edge for support. She felt a touch of vertigo and stepped into thin air before she could lose her courage.

As she plummeted, she felt her body wanting to move on its own.
What's it doing?
she thought. She fought her limbs and cartwheeled in the air. She smashed facedown into the pavement. She stood, checked the street again for passersby, then retreated into the darkness afforded by her building. She wasn't hurt, the pavement was unbroken, and not even her blue school uniform showed any signs of dirt.

"What happened, Hina?" Voice asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. You wanted me to jump and I did."

"I was attempting to control your decent. I wanted to help you land in the most efficient manner possible. Which, I may add, is not a heap on the ground."

Voice was trying to help her, she realized, like he had in math class and with the English reading.

"You must learn to trust me," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"A bus will be too slow. Because it is night, the likelihood of you being spotted by friends or teachers is small," Voice said. "Not only are you strong, you have superhuman endurance as well. You can run to Hiroshima Port without tiring."

Hina didn't believe him, but she would try.

CHAPTER 14

Voice had told the truth; after more than forty-five minutes of uninterrupted jogging, Hina wasn't even out of breath. She had taken back alleys and side streets, to avoid being seen by people who knew her and because they were less crowded this time of night.

She slowed when she saw the sign for the port and tried to act casual. Hiroshima Ujina Port Station was a terminus for the Hiroden Ujina tram line. The port also handled the ferries that shuttled back and forth between Hiroshima and the island of Miyajima.

She moved past the station to where the more industrial and commercial ships docked. She spotted the
DSV Kaiyou Infinity
. It looked much bigger than it had on TV. It was almost 300 meters long. The top was flat, with enough room to walk about. A gangplank led from the pier to the submarine, and she hurried across it. She circled around to the far side of the massive conning tower so she would be blocked from view.

"Remove the scanner and take a reading of the metallic elements of this vessel," Voice instructed.

She waved the scanner back and forth several times. The text was meaningless to her, even though it was in Japanese. Complex mathematical equations and symbols she vaguely remembered from the periodic table scrolled across the screen.

"This does support our suspicions, Hina," said Voice.

"How so?" she whispered.

"The hull, along with the majority of the internal structure and frame, consists of an Earth-Noigel metal hybrid. Ichihara had learned of it earlier and discovered that AHI's rapid advancement had been because of a new metallic substance the company had made. It is much lighter and stronger than anything currently available. I would suspect this submarine is capable of going to the deepest part of Earth's oceans."

"So, what does that mean? I mean, for us."

"Shimizu and Fujiya are involved with AHI and this submarine. However they intend to terraform Earth will involve this ship. We need to investigate more."

Hina looked around, sure that someone had spotted her and she would soon hear alarms and men shouting; it happened all the time in movies. She only heard the lapping of the waves against the metal hull.

"Look towards the stern," Voice said.

Hina looked towards the sub's front.

"The back," said Voice. "There is another hatch. A smaller submersible is scheduled to be attached to the
Infinity
tomorrow. We can use the access port to sneak inside. Move quickly."

Hina did as instructed. Once Voice had overridden the security system, she descended the ladder and stood at the door that led into the corridor. Voice spoke again. "Take another reading."

Hina found nothing. "Now what?" she asked.

"There was too much interference to get a reliable scan from outside," Voice said. "Readings will be much clearer here. All we need to do is make one pass from bow to stern…from the front to the back…then we can leave if we detect no Noigel technology."

"And if we do?"

"Then we must retrieve it." He paused. "While this is happening, we must avoid all contact with the ship's personnel."

"What should I do if I run into someone?" There was no logical explanation for her to be on a sub. Also, she was a terrible liar.

"I believe the human expression in this case is: 'We will cross that bridge when we come to it,'" Voice said.

Hina put her ear to the door and enhanced her hearing. Even at rest the submarine sounded like a brass band tuning up in a metallic bubble. After sifting through the noise, she could focus on the hallway. She didn't hear anybody so she opened the door and peeked out.

The corridor was much narrower than she had expected, two people passing by each other would almost brush the curved walls with their shoulders. She was sure Doumoto from class 3B could touch the low ceiling without standing on his toes. Everything was metal and painted in shades of silver and gray. Pipes were visible everywhere, even under the grated floor. Every step rung out in metallic tones.

She made her way towards the front of the boat, passing signs written in abbreviations and scientific jargon she didn't understand. She was glad the diamond-shaped scanner in her hand made no noise.

"Voice. Why aren't all the doors set into the floor?" She noticed that each opening was raised, and evenly spaced every few meters. She had to continually step over a small barrier, like entering a shrine's gate. The doors themselves were square, with metal bars and levers on each side.

"Each door seals a compartment. If the submarine is flooded, it helps contain the water. Doors flush with the floor are not as watertight."

The submarine was boring. There were five decks, labeled A through E, and each one looked the same as the others. She scanned in silence for several minutes. She didn't find any indications of Noigel technology.

She asked, "How do you talk to me?"

"I can manipulate the small bones and membranes in your ears. The patterns I reproduce simulate human speech," Voice said.

"And since you can't read my mind or look at me, if I don't say anything, you can't know what I'm doing. Right?"

"Essentially, correct. I can monitor your body and get a sense of your movements and moods based on bodily functions. But without auditory input, I don't know if you understand me or not," Voice explained.

Hina glanced through an open door into a small lab. "So I have to keep talking out loud, making it look like I'm talking to myself, and everyone looking at me like I'm crazy." She passed the lab and continued scanning.

"I would suggest not talking too loud," Voice said.

Hina made a disgusted face.

She had to hide twice from night-duty personnel, but her scan of the
Kaiyou Infinity
was uneventful. There was no trace of Noigel technology.

Her scan complete, she sneaked out the way she had come in. She went up the ladder, slipped out of the hatch, and jogged towards the conning tower. She made her way down the gangplank and back on the dock.

She had safely made it. She had snuck in and out of a government vessel without being detected. She resumed a natural walking pace towards Hiroshima Port Station. She felt better about her situation.

"Good evening, Takamachi-san," a male voice said.

— — —

Ozaki stood by his bike. Hina faced him, fear in her eyes. "Ozaki-sensei," she said, then nothing else came out of her mouth. She looked like a mouse trapped by a cat.

"The teachers were patrolling tonight, and I saw you as I was riding home." He tapped the handlebars with his fingers. The teachers at HCJHS were required at least once a term to patrol the areas of the city to make sure their students were not misbehaving. They checked the pachinko parlors, convenience stores, and game centers. They ordered students home if they were caught staying out late or hanging around. The dates of the patrols were unannounced to the students.

"I followed you." He didn't add that it seemed impossible for anyone to run as fast or as long as she did without slowing down or even breathing heavy. Not even Olympic athletes were capable of that. He flicked his eyes between her and the submarine she had snuck off of. "Honor student by day, delinquent by night?" He couldn't believe one of his students was breaking the law like this, but he also sensed something wasn't right. After the events of tonight and yesterday, Hina Takamachi had a lot of explaining to do.

Ozaki stepped forward. He was almost a full head taller than her and she hunched her shoulders at his approach to make herself smaller. She looked off to one side, as if some sound had caught her attention. "I know that voice," she whispered.

The remark made Ozaki pause, but he ignored it for the moment. He hoped she wasn't stupid enough to try faking a mental illness or something similar. Teenagers would say almost anything to get out of trouble. He glanced at the ship again. "We have a lot to talk about, Takamachi-san. Like why you're out so late, why you're so far from home, and breaking the law on top of that. Are you seeking attention or thrills, is that it?" When Hina shook her head "no", he said, "Did someone put you up to this?"

"You'll have to step in line. I need to talk to her first," said a new voice.

He looked over Hina's head at the large man standing not far away. Ozaki hadn't seen him approach. The man's gaze focused on Hina, whose eyes widened in recognition. Ozaki thought he saw an expression close to fear also.

"You're Shota Fujiya," she said.

"That's not something you should know."

The large man stepped forward, glanced at Ozaki then dismissed him, talking only to Hina. "What matters is that you were on that sub and you shouldn't have been."

Ozaki pushed down the kickstand on his bicycle and stood beside Hina. "We were discussing that and I'm so sorry." He bowed low, almost parallel to the ground. When he saw Hina wasn't following his example, he said, "We are really sorry." He grabbed the back of her head and attempted to push her into a bow but she wouldn't move. It was like pushing against a steel statue. She stared at the man with a combination of fear and anger in her eyes.

"Takamachi-san," Ozaki said, but she ignored him. He wondered how the two knew each other, but it bothered him that the man focused on Hina and dismissed him. Ozaki was her homeroom teacher, he was responsible for her. If the big man had issues with her, he needed to address him as well.

"I'm sorry about this. I'm her homeroom teacher, Ryuhei Ozaki. I caught her sneaking—"

"I wasn't talking to you," the man interrupted, finally paying attention to Ozaki.

"You need to."

The man, Fujiya, Hina had called him, asked her, "What were you doing on that ship?"

"I'm not telling," she said.

"Tell him the truth, Takamachi-san," Ozaki ordered.

The other man stepped towards her and Ozaki blocked him. The bigger man swung out his arm and caught Ozaki in the chest. It felt like he had been hit with a cinderblock. His feet left the ground, and he slammed into a wall. His legs buckled and he fell in a heap. The pain in his chest was intense, he wondered if he had a broken rib. He saw Fujiya make a grab at Hina. She grabbed his forearm and stopped his swing. Her hands couldn't wrap themselves around his muscles. For a moment they stood there as Ozaki saw the man pushing against his student, but Hina stood her ground and held the bigger man's arm back.