Part 1
Chapter 1
Contact
1
As she pressed her cheek to his chest, Rie noticed snow had begun to fall. In the darkness outside the window, white flakes began swirling incessantly. It seemed to her the flakes were huge. The thick snow looked like a white hand. She could step outside and the snow would settle on her shoulders, the cold so astonishing, she would turn her head in amazement to see a snow woman touching her.
His arm shifted a little. His fingers played lightly in her hair, sending tingles through her body. The snow was forgotten. He was the utter center of her attention. There was a crackle from the flames in the fireplace. He was lying face up, and his naked skin seemed to glow in the firelight. If only this moment would last forever, with his perfect body hers to enjoy. And now she touched her cheek to his body, her lips to his whole fine form. Her nipple tickled up and down around his eyes. And then, her head on his chest, she took a deep breath. The throbbing in his breathing was audible. One, two, three... she counted the beats of his heart. She could feel the flow of his blood in his veins. She wished that sound would continue forever.
"Ryu..." she murmured, and he slowly began to sit up. It was his turn. His mouth sought her body and he gently pinned her down. His eyes narrowed instinctively. And the flames of the fireplace lit the room dimly. Rie's naked body shone a dazzling, pearly white in the dimness. It was almost as though she glowed from within. Ryu closed his eyes as he entered her deeply.
How many times had they embraced since just yesterday? Last night they had taken off their clothing and claimed each other. Dinner was forgotten. Everything had been lost in the fever and hope of lovemaking. They had seized the moment in raw, delirious passion.
But soon the two would be in a great trial. They would have to devote their lives to the Project. It was entirely possible that the worst could happen, and they would die.
Three days ago, Odagiri had asked them if they would join the Jetman Project. At that time the pair suffered both the sensations of hair-raising fear and of delight. It was a joy being selected by Odagiri to be bathed in the Birdnic Wave, but they were uneasy knowing their bodies would be changed. Ryu and Rie knew their commanding officer well and had utter confidence in her. She was extremely intelligent and could be kind, almost like a sister sometimes. Despite her repeated assurances of their safety in the process, they were still very worried about it.
It was absolutely essential that a new kind of warrior be born to protect the safety of their world, Odagiri said. Strong-willed, strong bodied invulnerable soldiers.... They understood. It was obvious to anyone. Thus the world had poured an incredible volume of money and intellect into this venture. Five hundred thousand people worked in the mighty system that had decided to support of the Jetman Project. The new soldiers would be a team of five. And two of them would be Rie and Ryu. Two, out of five hundred thousand people. Surely it was more honor than two simple people like them deserved. But...
In the fireplace the kindling popped and snapped. Ryu moved off of Rie and they leaned against the pillows together. The Jetman project might not be one-hundred percent successful. Well, it was less of a project than an experiment, truthfully. They were going to be experimented upon for the sake of world peace. And so they were here, now. The battles of the city were far away from this mountain retreat. They were afraid that, if something went drastically awry during the experiment, they would die. So they were drawing out the health and strength of their bodies to demonstrate to each other. And that also was why the two of them were here, now.
Rie traced the scar on Ryu's arm with her finger. He was injured when we busted up that drug-smuggling cartel, she remembered. He was injured protecting me.
Ryu brushed his lips tenderly over the scar on Rie's back. This injury, he thought. This was from the time we stopped the hijacking of a supertanker. What she did then was the most incredible thing I ever saw.
For on both their bodies remained all the scars of their very active, high-risk lives. These were the evidence of their long military careers. The Jetman Project's main object was to demonstrate that exposure of the human body to the Birdnic Wave would cause cells to function at extraordinary capacity. If the project was a success, all their scars would vanish.
The snowstorm outside was even stronger, now. Flakes struck the window of their mountain retreat. The sound of the snow and the crackle of the wood burning in the fireplace were all there was to hear. Serenity reigned in their cabin. A stolen moment in time. Like shells left behind on the beach at ebb-tide, little by little the world fell away from them in their private place.
As the snow filled the window and made it impossible to see outside, Rie felt her anxiety beginning to fade away. It was because of the snow. Ever since she was a child, she had considered snow to be a good omen. Before every good thing that had ever happened to her, it always snowed like this. So it was a good thing there was this huge snowfall, now. The evening before she found out she had passed through senior high school it had snowed. When Rie had completed her first assignment after joining the system, there had been a beautiful snowscape. The goddess of good fortune always had used snow to strike Rie's shoulders. And that is why Rie turned around.
There's no doubt about it, she thought. Something good is about to happen. Ryu said something. Rie roused herself from her thoughts to find out what.
"If the Project is successful..." he whispered, "If everything comes out all right..."
Rie waited expectantly. Yes, if everything came out all right, she and Ryu would be treading a virgin road. She would wear a snow-white wedding dress, she thought.
2
The snowfall continued late into the night. The whole of Japan was shrouded in heavy snow, with the exception of the southernmost island, Kyushu. The snowstorm raged into the capital and completely swallowed the great city. All the same, the city was not suffering a loss of energy. Gaudy neon signs bloomed profusely, cars rumbled, vomit stank and the coquettish voices of couples still continued in this place.
Here, no one cared to know the business of strangers. Everyone brushed past one strange man without noticing him. If the weather was beautiful, then perhaps someone would have noticed and looked inquisitively at his odd clothes. His body was enveloped in a black cloak; he wore an ancient straw hat. He was waiting, standing still in front of the museum at the edge of the city. Neon light, red and green, came through the windows to reflect off the eyes of the life-sized animal models inside. Those eyes watched the strange man who entered the museum.
Glass eyes. Iron eyeballs. Here in the museum were displayed extinct animals. The many kinds themed in the show-window could never be brought back to life. Dust covered the models uniformly. Customers rarely came here. No one was interested in extinct animals. The man examined the iron beasts, one by one. He meandered from one to another, and another, his footsteps the only sound in the uninhabited building.
Stellar Sea Cow... the upper half of the body looked like a seal, the lower half seemed more like a fish. The lips were covered with bristles as hard as iron wire. The eyes were tiny, like small, round acorns in the huge body. The man carefully read the writing on the steel plate. Once these animals inhabited a wide area of the Arctic Ocean. From one herd could be gleaned seven hundred pounds of meat and blubber. The red meat tasted a lot like beef. They became extinct in 1783 due to over-fishing by sea men.
The Passenger Pigeon. An extraordinarily beautiful bird. The wings and the back of the body were a deep, bewitchingly elegant blue. The breast was chestnut, tinged with dark red. Its pupils were orange. Once more than two billion of these birds had graced North America. Because of human appetite they went into a rapid decline. The last one died in a zoo in 1914.
The Arabian Oryx. Its head had two perpendicular horns. People thought the beautiful animal may have been an unicorn. From ancient times the Arabs would beat the animals to death in order to prove their manliness. They'd been extinct since 2011. Only three years before.
"What are you doing?" came a sudden shout from the darkness.
The man was not the least bit agitated by this interruption. He continued to loiter there and stare hard at the stuffed animal. Soon, the beam from the security guard's flashlight illuminated him. His straw hat was pulled down over his eyes and it hid his expression. The security guard grabbed him by the shoulder. The move disturbed the straw hat and it slipped off, drifting to the floor.
"You?" the man asked. "Did you invite me to this star?"
The security guard saw with his own eyes the man's face. It was as though he had two faces.
"You..?" the man repeated one more time. "Did you call me to this star?" His face... was old and young. On the right side, he appeared to be in his twenties. The left side looked mummified. And in the moment before his death, the security guard was unable to take his eyes off that face. The beauty of a boy, the ugliness of age. As if both had been cut in half and then plastered together to fit on one face.
The security guard's body was blown back. Into the display window, to be exhibited on the shelves as the end of life. Blood seethed and foamed from every pore of his body. His corpse was positioned next to the Arabian Oryx, in the space reserved for future extinct animals.
3
The Jetman Project advanced as planned. It was the first time for Ryu and Rie to see so many First Officers gathered together. It was also the first time they met the other three members selected to be Jetman. Like Ryu and Rie, the other three had long personal histories of being undefeated. They were all young people in their early twenties. The five stood at attention in a row while they listened to their superiors speak words of encouragement. Odagiri stood in the corner of the room, taking notes on the proceedings.
The greetings of these many high officials seemed to go on forever. Rie was wearying of having to hold herself immobile at attention. She wanted to hurry and be bathed in the Birdnic Wave and become a Jetman. The Project would certainly be a success. Everything would certainly be wonderful. And then Ryu and I can get married. There was nothing in the regulations to prevent the two of them from marrying. The room was so stuffy, everyone was having a little trouble breathing. Rie thought impatiently that the ventilation shafts were not designed to filter air with so many people in the room. Perhaps there was something wrong with the main ventilators? The huge Earth Ship surely could not always have an atmosphere like this, could it? If only this were the kind of place one could open a window. Heh, yeah. Open a window onto space.
At the beginning of the 21st Century, the United Nations had proposed the Earth Ship be built to encircle the entire planet, a giant ring like the rings of Saturn. In the ring's interior there were various duties to be performed, but the primary functions were to keep track of the small events all over the world that had to be handled in an instant. If anything dangerous happened, people were sent in right away to settle the disputes and troubles. As it were, providing humanity with safety and constant reassurance. And now, the Jetman Project was advancing in a corner of the Earth Ship.
"Tendo, Ryu. Up front," Odagiri spoke and her voice carried to them through the microphone pickups.
Ryu stuck out his chest and stepped to the front. Everyone in the gathering looked over at him. The automatic panels on the floor rolled back, and a transparent capsule rose from below. Ryu entered the capsule. In there he would be exposed to the Birdnic Wave. Ryu was the first. He turned his head to meet Rie's gaze. She nodded and smiled at him. Inside the capsule was a small chair he sat down in. Automatic metal hoops came out to encircle and restrain his arms and legs.
"Just like a criminal at execution," Ryu thought wryly. A silver sphere slowly began to descend from the roof overhead. "That's where the Birdnic Wave will come from." The silver sphere's metal surface shone. The image of Ryu's head was reflected on it. The audience all donned goggles so they could watch the process. "All right, come," thought Ryu. He was in the mental state he always shifted into before battle. He was ready for anything. Once he decided, nothing would shake his resolve. He would be bathed in the Birdnic Wave, and he would be irrevocably reborn. He would be able to transform into the new soldier, a Jetman. And with Rie, he would continue to the best of his ability to fight for the world.
The metal sphere was coming down with a huge groan. The Birdnic Wave was about to be released. The watching people's goggles shone silver in the eerie light. Rie had to stop herself from approaching the capsule. No one could say anything. Nearly a thousand people were so tense they did not stir an inch. There was only the groaning sound of the hollow sphere. And then the glow of the Birdnic Wave enveloped Ryu's body.
The capsule was soundproof. There was only the groaning of the sphere. The sound of Ryu's screams could not be heard, but Rie could see the way his body arched, and knew he was in agony. Outside it was unearthly quiet. But they could see that Ryu's face was still twisted in agony. Rie looked away and shuddered. But running would be bad, she told herself again and again. If everyone else closed their eyes, then I would be the only one to bear witness. He and I are bound together.
And in the capsule, Ryu was still screaming. His cry doubled and tripled in the confined space until the sound rang, and he could no longer tell who was screaming. It was the first time he had ever felt such pain. Until now he had endured many hurts, but this agony.... It was as though countless insects were devouring his body. In his fading consciousness, he finally understood why his body was restrained like a condemned prisoner's. The pain was so terrible, that if he was not tied up his body would surely self-destruct. His consciousness continued to fade. The pain was becoming distant. He could see the blue Earth floating in front of his eyes. Seen from space it truly looked like a jewel. Such a tiny jewel to rotate in the infinite blackness of space. This jewel, surrounded by the ring of the Earth Ship.
What? thought Ryu. What's this? Now I'm in the middle of the Earth Ship... Ryu's consciousness was floating in the void of space. He recklessly tried to return to the Earth Ship. Of course his body had not gone with him, he was still immobilized. It was only his mind torn loose. Ryu's consciousness was flying over space-time.
He went back to the first time he met Rie. They were both pilot-trainees. They were in the same class. When the students introduced themselves, Rie said, "My hobby is cutting the whiskers off stray cats." Everyone laughed.
Ryu went back farther. When he was very young, he loved to play in the garden at home. When he was in elementary school, he pottered about in the garden, planting Morning Glories. Long before the flowers bloomed, he would tear one petal off of a bud. Then he could watch the ants slowly creep about inside. Now it felt as though uncountable numbers of ants were crawling on his arms, biting his skin. Involuntarily, he screamed.
In the capsule, he began to return to his senses. His body still felt as though there were insects inside, eating away at him and he returned to consciousness in agony. Even though his exposure to the Birdnic Wave was finished, the pain continued for a time.
At first glance, Ryu's body did not seem to have changed at all. His face and body looked the same as ever. Rie breathed a sigh as relief slid down her chest. In the capsule, Ryu was limp, his head lolling. It looked very much as if he was unconscious.
The capsule seems to be swaying so much. I feel so strange, Ryu thought. His senses still had not returned to normal. And the Earth Ship was reverberating with the sounds of an emergency siren. Ryu heard it as if he was in a tremendously distant world.
Odagiri and Rie were the first to come to withdraw Ryu from the capsule. By that time he was conscious. Not just the capsule, but the floor was also vibrating. No, the whole Earth Ship was shaking. Odagiri and Rie were shouting something into his ears. People in the room were moving about in confusion, there was a whirl of flurried footsteps. Surely something terribly strange was happening.
A strange object had been caught on the control room screens several seconds before. What was it, this object that had suddenly appeared in the moon's orbit? In the nothingness of space, something very bizarre had appeared. And it was on a straight course for the Earth Ship. It was ten kilometers at its greatest diameter, and resembled human internal organs. The outside seemed like swollen blood vessels and it was sack-shaped. A person with medical knowledge would have said with assurance that it resembled a human womb. But the object had no sign of life at all. This was not a human womb for a baby to play in. This beach was withered. There was no blood, no water and no heat. It was actually semi-transparent, like a cicada's shed skin. On the inside there were pipes running hither and thither, everywhere without rhyme or reason. When one saw it, it seemed to be a very sophisticated construction.
The body rapidly approached, the Earth Ship's vibration increased severely. Soon the latest super fighter craft, the Earth Birders, sallied forth. There was no response from the body, but it was closing. "All Earth Birders, respond please! Respond!" came an urgent call from the control room. For the signals from the ships had been silenced. "Respond! All Earth Birders, respond!" the controller screamed.
On the monitors they watched the brilliant flashes as the Earth Birders crashed into the surface of the object. Control was totally lost. At a glance, the husk of the object was completely unmarked and it plunged on. The people in the Control Room understood immediately what had happened to the Earth Birders. Suddenly, before their eyes the console, floor and walls began to age. The first crack appeared in the metal surface. The metal rolled back. It was a sudden and terrible metal fatigue. In a mere instant it aged thousands of years. And that phenomenon rapidly spread from the control room through the entire Earth Ship.
Ryu was not yet able to run by himself. He was not recovered from the shock the Birdnic Wave had delivered to his body. Odagiri and Rie helped him, but they could barely drag him out into the corridor. The three struggled through the terrified people running in the corridors. The emergency sirens kept going. Urgent orders to evacuate had already been called.
They had to get to the escape pods in the hanger. Rie was supporting Ryu on her shoulder, she kept calling his name unconsciously. We will not die here, she thought. There are so many things Ryu and I are going to do... we have a mountain of dreams. Our life together will begin from this point on.
The metal fatigue phenomenon was coming up behind the three. There was a tearing sound as the padding in structure around them began to disintegrate. The metal was crumbling. They had to move as fast as they could, or soon the escape pods would be unusable. Again and again the Earth Ship was hit by impacts and it shook.
Ryu's knees collapsed. Odagiri and Rie helped him to his feet. The monitors lit up. Inside the Earth Ship, a face appeared on every monitor. "Did you... call us?" the weird face asked ominously. In the chaos and confusion of the base, that voice echoed inorganically. "... called us... you?" the half-and-half face. Young on one side, old the other. That man.
And with a terrifying suddenness, there was an explosion beside Ryu and the others. An energy pipe under the floor had ruptured. Ryu and Odagiri were blasted back. A hole opened in the wall. And with a horrible force, the atmosphere discharged into space. Ryu saw Rie's body float in the air. He saw her being sucked out into the void of space. He saw his hand grasping her hand. He had her hand grasped firmly. With his other hand he clung to the edge of the corridor to hold his body.
One finger... two fingers... they were holding by only three fingers. Rie's hair was whipping madly in the air racing out into space. Four fingers... five fingers... and they were lost.
Ryu heard Rie scream his name. "RYU!!" Her arms reached for him. Her long hair whipped and tangled about her neck. Her eyes were huge and wide. Rie was spinning out to disappear into dark space, where no one could ever be found again.
The Earth Ship was now caught in a chain of explosions. It was beginning to break up, disappearing without a trace. And for a moment, the Earth was surrounded by a ring of blue fire.
And four beams of light met together in the sky above the Earth. It was the Birdnic Wave. In the chaos of the destruction of the base, the Birdnic Wave was loosed, for the metal sphere which had held it was destroyed. It split into four separate lightning bolts and streaked towards the Earth. Odagiri saw the whole thing from the escape pod. And in the rear seat of the pod was the shattered Ryu.
Odagiri had been forced to knock him unconscious, to keep him from chasing Rie out into the void of space. She had managed to drag the unconscious man and effect a successful escape. With the arrival of the object, the remaining pieces of the Earth Ship had been bashed and scattered in all directions, it was annihilated. All that was left was the darkness of deep space. The infinite spread and perfect silence.
Odagiri could no longer hear Rie's voice. No longer hear her calling Ryu's name. They could no longer hear her.
For a moment, Rie was falling through the void of space. Before her eyes she could see fluttering a vision of her snow-white wedding dress.