Zero Sum Game (33 page)

She stepped back, having landed on her feet thanks to the battle suit's lightning-quick reflexes. She warily watched Fujiya extradite himself from the now-ruined door. He clutched his shoulder in his free hand. His left arm hung limp at his side, like a flag with no wind to move it. Hina had never seen a dislocated shoulder, but she knew that was what it was. Fujiya's lips drew back in a grimace, exposing his pointed teeth.

What should she do next? Even injured, he wouldn't give up. He was too dangerous to leave alone; she needed a way to render him immobile. He was willing to destroy her world, but Hina wasn't a killer. She needed to either tie him up or get him unconscious. She realized the futility of her first choice; he had the same superhuman strength she did, no bonds on Earth would secure him. But she had another advantage: she was smaller. As they had battled, Fujiya barely fit in the corridor. Hina recalled how she slipped past him several times. She could fit places he couldn't.

Fujiya clenched his right fist and glared at Hina.

She smiled. "Catch me if you can." Then she ran.

As she had predicted, Fujiya followed. She ran to a launch room. She had passed it earlier, and a plan formed in her mind. She recalled how cramped the room had been and now she meant to use that to her advantage. The hatch was still open. She didn't need to turn around to know Fujiya chased her, the heavy thumps of his footsteps bounced off the metal walls.

Hina grabbed the round door and ripped it off the hinges. She threw it down the hallway, not horizontally like a disc, it was too wide for the narrow corridor, but vertically; the large door was impossible for Fujiya to avoid. It crashed into his left shoulder and he went to his knees in a howl of pain. He yelled when he saw Hina smiling at him. She ran down the stairs and turned around when a solid impact hit the launch room deck.

Fujiya's fist connected with her face and she reeled backwards. He swung and missed. His left arm hung useless, he could only fight with his right. Hina jumped over the safety railing, holding onto one hand while Fujiya swung and missed again. Hina used the railing like a gymnast's uneven bars. Fujiya tried to punch, jab, and kick, and she avoided him, flipping over the top rail, slipping through the middle spaces, sliding between the bottom rail and the floor, coming up behind him to punch, then slipping away again. She twisted and turned like a snake, getting potshots in while he struggled to hit her.

Her luck didn't last, and Fujiya grabbed her hair and jerked her over the railing. He slammed her onto the floor. He stomped on her stomach, and the impact drove her into the floor, causing the metal to bend downwards like a bowl. She rolled away from the next attack, into a narrow space barely big enough for a human on all fours to navigate. Above her several pipes ran the length of the wall. Fujiya tried to grab her, but a kick to the face changed his mind. He punched the pipes instead, bending them downwards and blocking her way forward. She replied with a kick to the shin. He punched again, but Hina was already out of the way, scrambling like a rat, never in one place too long.

A well-placed but unintentional kick drove the tip of Hina's shoe into the back of Fujiya's knee. He went down, catching himself with his right hand. It was her chance. She scrambled behind him and tackled him, driving him to the floor, slamming his dislocated shoulder into the metal grating. Fujiya screamed in pain and anger, but Hina didn't stop. She grabbed his right arm and maneuvered herself so she had a grip on his arm with both of hers, and her legs wrapped around his neck. With his right arm locked and his left useless, there was nothing he could do. Hina struggled to keep the large alien from loosening himself. His teeth tried to bite her leg but couldn't penetrate her invulnerable skin.

Yells and roars gave way to grunts and snorts, then to silence. His thrashing lessened and weakened, then ceased. A minute after becoming entangled in Hina's strong legs, the large alien lost consciousness.

She held on a few moments longer. When she was positive Fujiya wasn't moving, she untangled herself and backed away on her hands and feet. She sat there and watched him. She was relieved he was breathing and not dead.

"Well done, Hina," Voice said, and she almost jumped. The battle suit hadn't spoken since her fight with Fujiya had started.

"Thanks," she said. But her plan wasn't finished. "Can he fit in one of those tubes, Voice?"

"Yes, but why?"

Hina didn't answer. Instead she asked, "How do I get his battle suit off?" Fujiya still wore his military shirt and pants.

"Like any other clothing. Simply take them off."

She bent down and began unbuttoning his shirt then stopped. "Is he…" the word itself embarrassed her, "…naked…under there?" The question brought redness and heat to her cheeks.

"A battle suit can assume most forms of clothing. As such, it would seem unlikely he would need anything under it. So, yes."

"Ohhh, gross," Hina said, scrunching her face. But she needed to do it, she couldn't let him have any part of his battle suit. Not one bit must remind on him. "If I take it off, will any of the catoms remain inside him?"

"No," Voice said. "Fujiya has no control over the suit now. As you remove it, the catoms will collect into a central mass, to remain as close to each other as possible."

"How strong will he be without it?" Hina hoped it wasn't anywhere near his previous levels. It had never occurred to her to ask how strong normal Noigel were.

"Humans are about one and a half times stronger than a Noigel."

"You're lying," Hina said in surprise. She remembered all the rough hits and punches she had sustained. "He beat me every time."

"The battle suits enhance a wearer's natural strength. Although you are, in fact, much stronger than Shimizu or Fujiya, he was a trained soldier. He knew precisely where to hit you. Military combat training can have great advantages over mere brute strength," Voice said.

Hina couldn't resist the bait. "Are you calling me a brute?"

"Albeit a very fashionable one."

Hina looked at the nearby railing.
It should be enough
, she thought. She unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, then took it off him. She carefully slid his left arm out of the sleeve, she didn't want the pain to wake him up. He grunted, and she paused, holding her breath. He didn't make any other movement.

Setting the shirt to one side, she took off his boots, then unbuttoned his pants.

"Hina," Voice interrupted.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"If this bothers you too much, close your eyes. I will do it. I can't control you, but I know your plan and if you relax and guide yourself, I should be able to do it."

"Like on the math problems?" Thinking about one of Voice's first actions, it seemed so long ago. Had it been only less than two weeks? She smiled at Voice's suggestion. "Thanks."

She closed her eyes and continued her movements. Unlike the normal clumsiness and uncertainty of doing something blind, Hina's hands and arms moved almost on their own, but she guided them as well.

"Done," Voice said.

Turning her head away from the body, Hina opened her eyes. She put his pants on top of the shirt. After a moment, the pile began to shift and merge, like a mass of snakes huddling together. The colors of Fujiya's military uniform faded and disappeared. A dark ribbed one-piece suit replaced the pile of clothes, the same suit he had worn during their fight in the forest after she had rescued the train passengers.

Hina stood and went to the railing. With the ease of snapping dry twigs from a sunbaked branch, she ripped off three bars of metal. She bent the slim metal rods around Fujiya, twisting the metal poles like bread ties. One bar she wrapped around his chest and upper arms. One bound his wrists together while the third she tied around his ankles.

She walked to the nearest launch tube and asked Voice which button opened the door. She pushed it, the hatch swung open and she peered inside the depths. It was empty.

She returned to the still unconscious Fujiya, who she hoped would remain unconscious for a lot longer to come. She lifted his body as easily as a mother lifting a newborn. Supporting his legs and back, she carried him to the tube and set him on the rack. She pushed him inside and closed the door.

"Phase one, complete," she said, smiling.

"Dare I inquire as to what phase two is?" Voice said.

Hina decided not to respond with words, but actions. There were six launch tubes: four large ones and two smaller ones. Although the ship had been designed for research missions, the launch room itself was almost exactly like a military-style torpedo room. The sub carried ten torpedo-like devices, five for the larger tubes and five for the smaller ones. While keeping the basic torpedo shape, the insides—which normally would have housed explosive warheads in a military weapon—carried electronic data gathering equipment. Instead of being self-propelled or radio controlled, they were wire-guided, allowing for more precise guidance.

An electronic boom split the air. Hina jumped in surprised. It came again, two taps of someone hitting an active microphone.

"
Girl.
S
top whatever you're doing
." Shimizu's words echoed through the submarine. "
I know you're onboard. You will come to the bridge immediately
."

A microphone-enhanced gunshot resounded through the sub, bouncing off the metal walls, followed by a heavy thud, like meat being dropped onto the kitchen counter.

"
That was…someone. I don't know who. Get to the bridge now or someone else dies.
" The intercom system clicked off.

Hina didn't pause. "Which way to the bridge, Voice?"

"It is undoubtedly a trap," he said.

"I know. Tell me how to get there." She gathered Fujiya's battle suit, followed Voice's directions, and soon arrived at the corridor leading to the
Kaiyou Infinity
's bridge. Through the open door, she saw officers manning their stations. The atmosphere was subdued and grave.

She paused at the entrance. The first thing that caught her attention was the dead man on the floor, a round bullet hole in his head. As she stepped into the bridge, all eyes turned towards her, along with a head that had no eyes. She stopped far from Shimizu. Even in his alien form she couldn't think of him by any other name.

The eyeless head observed her, and his split tongue snaked out of his feeding mouth in a languid motion. "You won't stay dead, will you?"

"I'm fighting for my world."

"So am I."

The helmsman spoke up before Hina could respond. "Captain," he said. She noticed the man spoke to the captain, not to Shimizu, and saw the expression of annoyance pulling on both of Shimizu's mouths. She was glad he was annoyed.

The helmsman continued. "We've arrived at the destination." He said it with the gravity of a death sentence.

The captain looked grim while Shimizu smiled in triumphant. Shimizu's plan to launch the catoms would happen here, and she had no idea how to stop him.

"Full stop," ordered the captain.

Shimizu continued smiling. Hina hoped to dampen his spirits. "Fujiya won't be able to help you. I have him tied up in a tube." She dropped the battle suit at her feet. Shimizu's speaking mouth pulled down into a frown while he bared the pointed shark-like teeth of his feeding mouth in anger.

The alien turned to the captain, who went to a console and read a display. After a moment he said, "Confirmed. Tube one has been loaded."

Hina thought she detected a note of satisfaction in his voice as he directed this statement to Shimizu.

"And the others?" Shimizu's bared teeth were now directed at the captain.

The man turned back to his screens. "Empty," he said.

Shimizu walked to the console and studied it for a moment. He pressed a button. Hina heard and felt a deep vibration. Several lights on the console lit up.

"Sir!" the console operator shouted. "Tube one has been launched."

The captain's face drained of color and all heads turned to the tall alien. "He failed," Shimizu told Hina.

With no battle suit, tied by steel bars, and a dislocated shoulder, there was no way Fujiya would survive. She remembered Voice's earlier warning about the depths and coldness of the water. Shimizu had killed his partner. For the first time, Hina saw the lengths Shimizu was willing to go. He would do anything,
everything
, to save his world. If it meant killing seven billion people one by one with his own hands, he would do it. Nothing else mattered to him.

She wondered, could she also go that far? Could she give it everything she had? Could she push herself, find the courage to do what was needed to save those seven billion people? The number seemed too large to her. Could she fight to save her parents, her friends, Mr. Ozaki, and everyone in her school?

She hoped so.

But she didn't know.

Another question slipped underneath the others, a darker one she didn't want to address, but made its ugly presence known: could she kill Shimizu, and maybe the Noigel race, to save her own?

She hesitated in answering.

She wondered what Shimizu was thinking. Did he regret killing Fujiya? She didn't think so. His armored plates made his body language hard to read, and his almost featureless head gave nothing away. He settled his eyeless gaze on her. His tongue flicked out and his speaking mouth pressed into a thin line. He yelled and lunged.

She twisted out of the way and grabbed his arm in both of her hands, trying to force him back. Shimizu twisted her around and drove his free hand into her stomach. She let go of his arm as she flew back, crashing into the table. Her body left a dent in the edge.

Before she could recover, Shimizu grabbed her head in both hands and jerked it down. Her face smashed into his plated leg. He hit her three more times, each blow rattling her senses and weakening her concentration.

Shimizu growled, grabbed her by the armpits, and threw her skyward. She crashed into the ceiling, then he slammed her down onto the table. Her invulnerable body dented the table and the glass top shattered. He released her, but she only lay on the table, stunned, trying to bring the world back into focus. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. Dented ceiling plates greeted her gaze. She sat up, but Shimizu was gone.