EPISODE 4: BALANCES
PART 3
Landover awoke as soon as he heard the cabin door open. He did not move, nor did he open his eyes. He wanted to see what she was going to do.
He remained still, controlling his breathing as she moved around the narrow room, but he did not know what she could be looking for. Her motives, as before, remained a mystery to him.
It was only when he felt her jump up on his bed and begin to straddle him did his eyes thrust open. And they opened to Cass, dressed in full uniform, her green eyes glinting malevolently. She carried a combat knife, pointed down at his chest, in her left hand.
Landover shouted out and slapped his arm out towards her, knocking her off a second before she thrust the knife downwards, where it harmlessly stabbed into the pillow. He rolled off the bed and attempted to stagger to his feet, but the small size of the cabin prevented him from regaining his balance. Cass meanwhile had stood up on the bed, laughing maniacally and still holding the knife. Taking the opportunity, Landover pushed himself off the floor and moved in front of the door of the cabin.
“Cassiopeia!” He shouted. “What the hell is this?”
Cass laughed.
“I’m just keeping you on your toes, old man.” She said, grinning. “You never know what might happen out there in the real world.”
“I’ve been in the army and navy for 45 years. I’m well aware of what goes on in the real world. But please.” Landover replied, calming down. “Please, never do that again. I believe the line they use in the films is ‘I’m too old for this shit’.”
Cass hopped off the bed, sliding the knife into her bridge coat.
“Hmph.” She pouted. “If you say so.”
She strutted out of the room. Landover exhaled and sat down on his bed. He’d have to unleash her soon, before she began murdering members of the crew.
A half hour later Landover was washed and dressed and sitting with Cass in the shuttle’s small boardroom. Cass had taken out another knife and was absent-mindedly twirling it on the table.
“So Admiral.” She said, almost yawning. “You haven’t told me yet where we’re going.”
Landover decided not to correct her on her use of title. Given her impatience he wondered how she’d been able to survive her “vacation”… perhaps she had been sent a sacrifice, once a week? In any case, it was about time to tell her. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done so yet, in fact, there was no harm in it. What troubled him most though was why the Order had sent him there in the first place. The Order of the Burning Eagle was the oldest enemy of the Order of the Glowing Wheel. But, then again, after their deposition, they had settled into a seclusion unlike any other and were notoriously difficult to bring into action. It may have been a fool’s errand – but that was no matter. For Landover, failure was not an option.
“Extorris, Cassiopeia.” He said. “Home to the Order of the Burning Eagle.”
The Wasp’s storage compartment was open. The duffle bag was out on the grass. Jay sat on a boulder. The stage was set.
He opened the duffle bag and removed the battery, his first time looking at it since he had stuffed it in there when leaving for South Retale. He had left the hot springs feeling refreshed and ready, but his curiosity overtook him and he had felt it necessary to give the battery a good once-over.
The battery was still a rectangular black box. Jay ran a hand across its surface. It was cold and smooth, like metal, but as he applied a little pressure with his fingertips he felt some give – as if it were partially composed of plastic. Flipping it over this way and that he noticed that there were no instructions, safety warnings, or print at all on the surface of the battery, nor were there any clear connectors. It seemed that whoever was in charge of handling or maintaining it had to have been very well trained.
Jay was not the most educated of educated men, but he knew vaguely how the batteries were used. Batteries powered all Wheel ships, from light frigates to battleships to dreadnoughts, and one battery was enough no matter how large the ship in question. Now that he thought about it, Wheel factories and probably even their planes and automobiles would be powered by the batteries. He also knew that usually the Wheel batteries, like any piece of Wheel technology, disintegrated into fine dust whenever their integrity was compromised. Luckily for him the meteor shower had disabled whichever system controlled this disintegration while leaving the battery intact.
The battery was highly dangerous, and Jay knew that too. These mysterious sources of power were the only reason the Wheel still existed at all. Their small size relative to the DSC should have ensured their annexation, yet these batteries that powered their advanced weaponry and technology ensured their survival. He wanted to get it off his hands as soon as possible. The Wheel would kill him for it. At best, the DSC would thank him for his trouble and throw him in jail for life. That left only the underground as potential buyers, and of course, they would rather shoot him dead too. He’d either have to get protection or lie about having it, and the best place to do either of those would be the DSC world of New Pallas.
Jay heaved the battery back into the bag, then set the bag down in the Wasp’s storage compartment. The sun shone brightly and wind blew slightly, ruffling the grass as it passed. Jay was reminded of his brief but sunny days on Retale. Sure, he’d have to have some dealings with the mafia in the near future to get protection – but for now, it was time for a day downtown.
Jay parked the Wasp in one of the many garages of Tanitsu’s spaceport. The city, an art-deco painting of prosperity, rose upwards in the distance. He took a deep breath – and vowed to enjoy himself.
A short taxi ride was all it took to get him downtown and he was determined to make the best of his time. The city was in rush hour, Asiatic faces moving to and fro on foot or in cars, the cacophony of the urban lifestyle echoing off the gleaming glass façades of the skyscrapers. Tanitsu was an old city, but you wouldn’t know that just by looking at it. On the surface it was the image of modernism, white buildings, clean streets, busy people, and what seemed like a soul – a soul that invigorated Jay and got him to think that, maybe, if things had turned out differently, he might’ve enjoyed living and working in a place like this. So sad that things do not always go the way we want them to go – or we realize that what we thought we wanted was not right for us after all. Jay decided to give Tanitsu a good walkabout.
And that he did. Mostly on foot, sometimes in taxi, he explored the diners, the hotels, the markets, the plazas and the theatres of the city. He set out two hours to watch a local movie. Of course, he did not understand a single word, but it was the thought that counted. Most people spoke his language, and to those that didn’t a series of gestures and enunciations usually got him pointed in the right direction. He missed life in the city. His brief time in Gibson was not enough: what he perhaps secretly longed for most was a return to his roots.
Statues of Asiatic men and woman were posed around the city, flanked by flags of the DSC. Several buildings were draped from top to bottom with patriotic posters, covered in unfamiliar characters. Strange that the DSC did not take a bigger interest in the world, even if only one half of it was friendly. If anything, loyal citizens were what the DSC needed right now.
The sun began to set. Jay should’ve been exhausted after a full day of wandering around a new city but if anything, the trip had given him a second wind and he felt better than ever. Even after the day’s events he had plenty of cash left over from the Mafiosi’s generous donation. Enough to, for example, spend the evening at what he had been told was Tanitsu’s finest casino: the Two Dragons. But Jay was not dressed for the role.
Grey jeans and a grey sweater, along with his lengthening beard and uncut hair, would not get him allowed into such fine establishments. He checked a guidebook he had picked up (helpfully, one with an English translation) and noted he was quite near to a large mall. He set off in that direction, hoping to get a shave and a haircut, along with some appropriate clothing. His red goggles, however, he’d keep.
The mall’s high rise glass ceiling was the first thing that attracted Jay’s attention. The mall was huge, at least four stories, with hundreds of stores and boutiques lining its walkways. Asiatics scurried every which way, carrying bags of purchases. He was about to consult a floor plan when he noticed a particular woman leaving a payphone near one of the mall’s exits.
“Hey!” Jay yelled at the bartender. She turned, surprised.
There was no mistake: it was definitely her. Although Jay joked that all Asiatics looked alike (and to an extent, he thought they did) he had spent enough time with her to know her face. Her nose, her eyes, her hair; these were details that Jay did not forget. She was wearing a brown trench coat, as would a detective from an old TV-drama. He remained suspicious of her for her “tip” and was not about to let her get away.
“Oh!” She gasped. “Gaijin!”
“Yeah. Hi.” Jay waved, walking over. “Wouldn’t expect to find you here.”
“Well, it is a business trip.” She smiled sheepishly. “You know.”
Jay rolled his eyes, making sure she saw him do it.
“Okay.” He said, steeling his face. “What the shit. What is the deal with you? How many small town bartenders go on business trips to their nation’s capital? And what’s the story with that crash site? You owe me this.”
The bartender glanced around, checking to see if they were attracting attention. No one had noticed the little confrontation in the crowds.
“I can’t talk to you.” She hissed. “I have to leave. You should leave too.”
Jay stepped in closer. She stepped back, leaning against a wall.
“I am leaving. Tonight, I’m getting off of here and heading to New Pallas. You may not want to talk to , but I need to talk to you.”
The bartender shook her head roughly and moved to push past Jay. Jay grabbed her by the wrist.
“Stop.”
Quite suddenly the bartender twisted her arm around, breaking Jay’s grip. She twirled, dancing behind him and bringing his arm behind his back. Sticking out a leg, she pushed him forward, sending him sprawling into the wall.
“Get off of the planet.” She growled to his crumpled form. She turned and ran out of the building.
Jay groaned and rolled over onto his back. Leaning upward, he noticed a few faces staring. A man walked over and helped him onto his feet. Jay quickly thanked him, shuffling out of the mall. It was useless, however. The bartender, if that was who she was, was gone. He swore. Resolved that she was now lost to the aether, he decided to continue on with his evening’s plans. He’d leave for New Pallas in the morning.
An hour later, Jay’s beard was as neatly trimmed as a beard could get. His hair – cut short and classy. He was clad in a white shirt, black tie, striped vest and matching pants, and standing at the doors to the Two Dragons casino.
The Two Dragons casino was a menagerie of loud music and blinking lights. Well-dressed Asiatics played slots or card games while, a band of jolly Negroes played swanky jazz. The second floor of the casino was reserved for club members or high rollers, while the balconies surrounding the floor gave the rich couples who rented them some well-deserved privacy. The Asiatic look present on the casino’s outside: two dragons intertwined, burning fires, Asiatic symbols, and all similarly themed visual noise was surprisingly not present indoors. A cream colour was the casino’s visual base, with golden trim on the railings and silver on the machines. A high quality place, to be sure. Jay meandered over to the poker tables.
A round in and Jay was up. The Asiatic men playing with him grumbled and whispered in their odd language. Jay didn’t care, though – let them whisper. The rules of poker were more or less the same no matter where you went in the galaxy, and he’d played enough in his time to work up a good enough poker face.
Halfway through his third round the casino went silent. Save for the blings of the slot machines and the playing of the band, nothing was heard. Jay turned back, wondering what the lack of commotion was about. He quickly twisted back around when he saw the Asiatic man in the sharply trimmed black suit and his three companions. It might be a different one, Jay told himself. There’s more than one Asiatic gangster in the city. Still, it warranted another look. After all, it could be…
He turned around again to see the Asiatic man in the sharply trimmed black suit staring directly at him. His pencil-thin moustache shone under the bright light.
“ハハああ！それが誰であるかを見て！”He laughed1.
“Oh, shit.” Jay groaned. He let his head fall flat onto the poker table.
The Mafioso strolled over to the table, pulling Jay up off of it.
“Look look!” He chortled. “It is pig-fucking Gaijin! Gaijin who thought he could fuck Bunkatsu Mafia!”
At this point even the band stopped playing. The poker dealer slowly backed away from the table while Jay’s co-players were too frozen with fear to move. The gangster’s three bodyguards moved to surround him. One of them yanked him onto his feet and pushed him roughly to the center of the casino floor. Meanwhile, their leader had casually ascended the stairs.
“You don’t think we find out?” He shouted from the second floor. “You don’t think we have inside man in Fēnliè mafia? They would never hire a ‘gwai’lo’ to work for them!
“God fucking damn it.” Jay swore, a rude measure except for that no one understood him.
“And now, idiot white man wander into mafia casino! What luck for us, huh?” The leader continued his monologue. “Well, not really. All casinos in town owned by mafia.”
He waved his hand, moving further upstairs.
“この性交のレッスンを教える。”He shouted dismissively2.
Whatever that meant, the three bodyguards surrounding Jay began to move in. The first charged, fist outstretched. The attack was clumsy: Jay ducked and spun around him. The second one ran in, aiming to kick Jay in the back. Jay heard the oncoming footsteps and twisted. He sidestepped the kick, tackling the man to the ground. He stumbled as he got up allowing the first attacker a second opportunity for a punch. Jay dodged to the side and retaliated with a jab to the man’s neck. The Asiatic choked, his hands going to his throat. Jay took the opportunity to send a knee straight into the man’s groin. He pushed him down to the ground. Turning to face his other two opponents Jay was surprised by a fist coming into contact with his nose. Dazed, he could not resist as one of the attackers grabbed his right arm while the other gave him a good slug in the stomach. Soon his other arm was behind his back as well. Jay regained some measure of composure in time to see one of the Asiatic men preparing to give him another good fist to the face.
Jay had wanted to get out of this kind of life. That was why he had quit his old work and became a scavenger in the first place. Yet, ever since he had picked up the battery it seemed that he was tapping into this set of skills more and more often. First with the rebels on Retale, and now – he had kept it under control when the bartender tripped him up but at this point it was becoming necessary for survival. Time to move.
Jay jerked his head back into the nose of the man holding him once, then twice. The Asiatic to his front was momentarily confused by this revival and hesitated in attacking. This was all the time Jay needed. He kicked his leg backwards, delivering the second groin shot of the day to the man behind him. His hold slackened and Jay broke free of the bonds just as the Asiatic to his front resolved to deliver the punch. Jay dodged easily. He pirouetted around the man over to the Asiatic he had kneed earlier. This man was about to get up and re-join the fight, but Jay gave him another kick to stop that, this time mercifully to the stomach. One of the two remaining bodyguards ran in and kicked high, aiming at Jay’s neck, but he saw it coming and ducked under. He slid to the right and jabbed at the kicker’s leg, tripping him to the ground. A straight kick to the forehead put him out of commission.
This left only one bodyguard to deal with. Unperturbed by the drubbing of his comrades, he charged – but was stopped by a sudden “停止！”3.
The leader of the three gangsters had come back to check on the progress of the gaijin’s beating, and was disappointed that the tables had turned. He was pointing his gun at Jay, whose arms once more shot up into the air.
“Enough bullshit. 奥の部屋に彼を取得します。” 4
Jay looked upwards to notice four other Asiatics had positioned themselves on the second floor, pointing machine-guns over the railings. Two or three were in the balconies as well. They wouldn’t dare shoot him here, in front of a watching crowd and an innocent band of Negroes. Jay resigned as the one remaining bodyguard moved to restrain him.
Quite suddenly, the doors to the casino blew open. He did not risk turning to see who the new arrivals were, as a sudden movement might set off any of the six or more guns trained on him. Behind him Jay could hear a man yelling in what was clearly a very poor version of the local language.
“日本の豚ファッカーズ！あなたは、分割の武器を盗む！あなたが外国人と動作しますか？くそくらえ！”5
Gunfire erupted behind Jay. He dove to the ground, reasoning the mafias would rather shoot at each other than at him. The sounds of the slot machines rapidly became distorted as bullets pierced them, and these noises became irrelevant over the screams of fleeing casino patrons and personnel. Jay closed his eyes. Magnetically accelerated bullets pinged off of gold platedtables and signs. Men yelled in two different languages – the screams of the crowd could still be heard over both. He opened his eyes.
One group of mafia were advancing across the floor, taking cover behind slot machines or knocked over tables. From his position on the ground, he could only see their legs and feet. Perhaps playing dead would be the best strategy – he closed his eyes again.
Eventually he grew accustomed to the noise of the gunfire and hoarsening Asiatic voices. The invading gangsters eventually became more interested in shooting up the casino itself rather than their opponents, who had fled or were dead. After a moment of sustained gunfire someone grabbed Jay by the back of his neck. Continuing to play dead, he remained limp as he was dragged across the floor, down a hall, and rudely flung through a doorway. Opening his eyes, Jay could see he was in an alleyway outside of the casino, the sounds of police sirens growing in the night. Tilting his head upwards, he caught of glimpse of a bridge coat – the coat of an officer of the Wheel – and a red scarf moving back into the casino.
Jay got up and dusted himself off. Who had saved him? If this person was truly an officer of the Wheel, what would he or she be doing here? His goggles hung loose around his neck. The police would be coming from the front and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around writing victim impact statements. He ran further down the alley, wanting to get the fuck off of this planet as soon as possible.
The bartender entered the building; a grey hunk of concrete somewhere in the outskirts of town. The address and room number had been relayed to her by telephone, as it always had been. The room was easy enough to find – seventh from the front on the right, as the voice over the phone had told her.
As always, the room was pitch black, and in it was only a desk, a lamp, and two chairs. In one of the chairs sat her contact. The other chair was for her. She sat down. The meetings always took place at different addresses but the rooms were always the same. The hooded figure across from her was a constant, too. She could tell he wore a mask, and she certainly noticed his red scarf, but all other details were obscured by the darkness of the room and the bright light that was constantly shining into her eyes. For all she knew, in front of her sat a woman, not a man. But it did not matter either way. She wanted to get this over with.
“You probably already know this, but both mafias have been informed, as well as the Wheel and the DSC. They all know the battery is moving to New Pallas.” She spoke in the language of Fēnliè. Her contact did not speak.
“That is all I have to report. May I go?” She asked.
Her contact gave the slightest of nods.
The bartender stood up, bowed respectfully, and walked out the door. Once outside, she glanced to make sure the hooded figure had not followed her.
She ran out of the building. Whoever it was, they paid her well… but they also creeped the hell right out of her.
1: Ah ha ha! Look who it is!
2: Teach this fuck a lesson.
3: Stop!
4: Get him into the back room.
5: Japanese pigs! You steal our weapon shipment! You work with foreigner! Eat shit!
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