mission report for track_04 (part 2 of 2)
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--
The Emblem is built for a crew of fifty, along with four thousand sleepers. Eighty three is not a stretch for its capacity, but it feels much too crowded.
Koichi is content with the simpleness of his own quarters, but his room is located near the main deck, the only place with constant lighting, and there are always people buzzing about. Even the ones that came back from the bases, where there's no sunlight, cannot seem to adjust to the darkness of the Ship; people that came back from the outlooks are worse, always letting their eyes guide them when they have so many other senses available.
For the past thirty years, the Emblem has been home. Even with its engines mostly closed down and its outer hull damaged, it is still a creation of beauty, a combination of only the necessary function for spaceflight with the best efficiency. Tsuyoshi dedicates himself to maintaining the underground chamber that holds the Ship, but water and life continues to chip away the outer hull--yet despite this, the inner hull remains undamaged, as proficient as its space-faring days.
The Emblem is the only thing Koichi believes himself in love with.
"Koichi-san?"
And this is why lurking outside his room's such a terrible idea. Koichi turns towards the source of the voice, trying to recognize the outline. He might have spoken to whoever this is yesterday, but there is no way he can pick out a name from the hundreds in mind.
"I'm here to ask about Yamashita," the boy says. "Yamashita Tomohisa."
"Right," Koichi says slowly, deliberately stalling for time. It doesn't take long for him to realize it wouldn't work. He does know who this is, the guy's been asking about Yamashita everyday, even when Johnny-san himself promised to contact the guy if there's any news of the missing Yamashita. He just can't remember the name.
"No news?" the guy asks.
Koichi shakes his head. One week ago, Yamashita went missing when he should be back at the Emblem with...ah! Koyama. Of course. They suspected Yamashita of betrayal, because he also took away a member of his own team's voice, something crucial to that person because of his ability. They managed to send in a backup member, and the person with the missing voice somehow accessed his powers in another way, but it had caused them a great number of problems. And betrayal's only impossible because the City's goal isn't peace or control--it's complete annihilation.
Yamashita's friends and group members are naturally worried about him, and people are reminding themselves of the pleasant young man that once worked on the Emblem till he earned his own place leading the Northern lookout.
Mostly because they thinks he's dead. But Koichi prefers to believe in facts, and that still isn't a solid fact yet. It wouldn't be something Koyama wants to hear, either.
"How are the youngsters doing?" Koichi asks, changing the topic.
Koyama's current occupation is to foster some abilities that needs immediate growth, because there isn't time to wait for them to develop naturally. Koichi's been in meetings day in and day out trying to figure out what to do if they can't amplify the powers they have by force, and right now the only solution is to wait.
"We're trying out new methods," Koyama says. "I'm meeting up with one of them right now. It would be an honor if you come to see us, sir."
"Sure," Koichi says. People are always telling him to adjust his schedule, to be more flexible--surely this counts.
Even without news of Yamashita, Koyama lightens up at this.
Koichi isn't surprised to see Yaotome Hikaru waiting for Koyama. The kids--not exactly kids, not when they're all older than thirty, but they still look like children and they are the children of their bunch--have powers that usually works with objects.
The first few of them had powers that dealt with the mind, telekinesis or otherwise. During Koichi's generation, most of them developed elemental powers, earth or water or fire, Koichi's own element. Then came the ones that mutate their own bodies, creating doubles or upping their speed. And the younger ones had even stranger powers, some to the point of being absurd.
Yaotome can exchange two objects he marks consecutively. The marking process requires touch, and if the two objects are both in sight, a command given by Yaotome would trade the two objects' places. Anything that can be touched can be exchanged, including entire human bodies or a speck of dust.
Koichi knows all this because it's part of the plan. Yaotome needs to be able to trade two objects that are far apart, perhaps even miles in between.
"Hikaru," Koyama addresses, placing his palm on Hikaru's back. Balancing both their auras and abilities. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay," the boy (thirty years old) replies, looking at Koichi every few seconds.
"Try it again," Koyama says.
Hikaru touches the pen before him, and nothing follows. What they wanted was for the object to change places with the book Koyama placed in another room, unknown to Hikaru. But even with Koyama backing Hikaru up, it's not happening, and Koichi tries to recall what other backup plans they have. Not much, but a few might have a better chance of happening than this--worst case scenario, they all live in caves. This plan is already more than detailed out.
They're both stealing glances at Koichi, but both of them are pretending he's not here, and Koichi has no input to offer.
The two try several other things, with Koichi watching. After an hour or so, Koichi decides it's time to go, or the two would never dare to leave.
When Koichi's almost out the door, he hears Koyama say, "Don't worry. There's no previous record of forcing powers to act a certain way, all of us allowed it to develop naturally. Just try, and if it doesn't work, then it doesn't. It's really weird how they're making you do this, wonder why?"
The door hasn't closed yet, and Koichi feels the Hikaru's eyes on him as he hears the boy say, "Isn't it obvious? They want to move the Emblem."
Koichi doesn't hear Koyama's response. Koyama only just came back, but Hikaru's lived on the Ship for as long as Koichi has; in order for people to contribute, some people are bound to figure out what's happening. It's of no matter to Koichi. Once Nagase and Matsuoka get back, he will be moving out, and it's up to the higher-ups to come to a conclusion.
--
Yasu signals everyone to stop with a hand. Masuda and Tegoshi look disoriented at being stopped suddenly, but Ryo, who's right behind Yasu's back, gives Yasu a nod.
He can feel the detectors buzzing before them. Now that the City knows it's being intruded, all citizens are now hiding in the safety of their rooms, and compared to escaping, breaking in almost seems like a breeze. Even rooftops are only safe while there aren't enough soldiers in the City to patrol every corner, and with heat detectors and backup soldiers from the borders, it won't be long before they're found. Unless they manage to escape before then.
The detector four meters away beeps at them. Two seconds later, it continues silently beeping, as Yasu moves into its view with the others following.
Their priority is to smuggle the stolen blueprints out of the City.
With the design of the entire City in hand, they could finally build their own electricity generators, moving vehicles, pipeline systems, railways and more. What they had to rely on the Emblem for, they can finally attempt to build for themselves. Yasu wonders why it took them this long to try and steal the documents, but maybe that's a good thing, because it means he can contribute to this mission.
If they hadn't trusted the humans, they wouldn't have let them take away all the files, anyway. The documents are also rightfully theirs, it's just they've only now gotten to retrieve them.
They come to the end of the block, and either they climb down and get caught, or the cameras on the dome ceiling will finally locate them. Confusing heat detectors are easy, but the only way to hide from cameras is to distort the entire view or turn it off, and both would end up declaring their presence. Yasu can only be glad that they still can't produce quality glass, so the protectors of the City can't spot them easily from the cameras located at the high ends of the dome top.
"We're going to have to make a dash," Subaru whispers, and Yasu nods in immediate agreement. There's no time to wait around--their best bet is to burst their way out from here.
"We're splitting," Hina says, eyeing the nearest part of dome wall.
"What?" Tegoshi, looking dismayed, asks in a tone slightly too loud for the situation.
Hina frowns. "Even if we're all caught, Subaru can get out. I'll be his shield. And no one here can catch you-" Hina points at Tegoshi, "-so we'll be the second group. Everyone else will try to get out first, and we'll distract the gathering enemy. Once we're out, you guys head to the meeting point from the left route, and we'll go from the right."
"But Subaru has the files," Ryo points out. "Isn't his escape the most important?"
"Nothing can stop me escaping," Subaru says. "I won't forget our mission. If, somehow, both Hina and Tegoshi are caught, I'll still get out. Happy?"
That satisfies Ryo, and Yasu's relieved as well. Subaru can be stubborn sometimes, but they all know what's truly important, and Subaru keeps his words. Their lives were important, that's why they're fighting, but everyone has their own mission to complete. If anything happens to Hina, or Tegoshi, Yasu would turn back at a moment's notice. He doesn't doubt that the others would do the same, that's who they are, and that's why they've survived this long.
"That area," Hina says to Masuda, pointing at the wall. "Can you blast it open?"
"Yes," Masuda sounds.
When Yamashita disappeared, he took Masuda's voice with him. As Masuda's ability directly connected to his voice, this barred Masuda from the mission he should have gone on, the team that was discovered before they could reach the gate and sneak in. It should have halted Masuda's participation entirely, but Masuda had been determined to overcome it. As he had explained, his voice had been his medium, not the source. After experimenting for days, Masuda figured out how to start a vibration without his voice; after another day, he could imitate speech, though his voice comes from their eardrums directly vibrating instead of the air. Apparently, Masuda doesn't know how to use his power on something he can't see. When Masuda talks, it sounds like Yasu's talking to himself, except in a generic voice that isn't quite like his or Masuda's.
"We're jumping down, aren't we?" Ohkura says. When everyone else--excluding Yasu, who just shrugs--looks at him with and goes well, obviously, duh, Ohkura sighs. Yasu sympathizes--jumping down two stories isn't easy, and if you don't bend your knees at the right time and cancel out some impact, it can hurt.
"Alright then, on three," Hina says.
Three, two, one. Masuda leads unexpectedly, with Ryo following closely behind. Yasu takes to guarding their backs, with Maru right beside him.
Yasu never gets to explain fully how he's not really into rocks. Sure, rocks are pretty and wonderful listeners, but it's the magnetic properties that draws him to them. He pulls a magnetic cloak over the ground around the four of them, any health risk secondary to steering away incoming bullets.
City soldiers flood around them, orders barked everywhere the moment the dome wall breaks.
Tegoshi might be able to go at the speed of sound, but they're still nearly twice as fast as the humans. They might be able to take down one of them, but a full team won't be taken down as easily. With the current capability of the City, the probability is less than the chance of Aliens landing on this planet.
Outside the wall, there are even more soldiers for them to dodge, but Yasu still feels alive without the looming pressure from the dome walls that surrounded him. Not long after, he sees Subaru, Hina and Tegoshi coming out the hole in the wall, and smiles.
The meeting point is a cave inside the forest, near enough to the borders that there's a higher chance of staying hidden and far enough from the Emblem that the enemy won't be able to know the location of the Ship. A temporary haven they set up before leaving for the City, a place to stay in until they can be certain they have no enemies on their trail.
The left route has two enemy camps near, but enough distractions to confuse. The expansion of camps had first set them in a state of unease, but the...mutants--Yasu really doesn't like that title--have too large an advantage inside the forest, and it's easy to run by any camp set in the plains.
They're closing in on the first camp Yasu hears the voice in his head.
"Hey, everyone." Yasu nearly stops in surprise, then recognizes the voice of Masuda. "I'm sorry. I have to stop. You guys go on."
"Why?" Ryo yells frantically, and Yasu can sense the worry in his voice. "Are you hurt?"
"No," Masuda replies. "It's Pi. Yamashita-san. I sense him."
"In that camp?" Ryo says, slowing down. Even with the vehicles--cars turned tanks--behind them, the rest of them do the same, Yasu and Maru included. "You're crazy if you think anyone's going to go on without you, and if you really sense Yamapi, then you seriously need to re-screw your brain if you think I'll leave without checking around."
"Same with us," Maru says. Yasu and Ohkura nod along.
Subaru and the others will be worried sick if they aren't at the meeting point and don't arrive there for a while, but they'll have to wait.
--
It's a miracle Yamashita is still alive, but the real trouble isn't reaching him. It's to get out safely with Yamashita in tow. Even delirious with hunger, Maru had to generate thirty kilograms of mass to be able carry Yamashita.
Ohkura can't see where Ryo and Yasu went, and it frightens him. They have to be okay. Ryo's powers might not be useful in combat, but he's still one of the best fighters around, and anything made of iron is no match for Yasu. They're only a few years older than Ohkura, but it feels like Ohkura's been learning from them all his life. They'll be all right.
Masuda's taking apart the guns around them furiously, going for anything that creates the same vibration with the material used to build them. Ohkura tried to mimic Masuda's powers and do the same, but he's unfamiliar with the works of Masuda's ability and vibration caused destruction doesn't work half as well when the prowess behind it is halved. He goes for Maru's powers instead, hardening his skin so he's less afraid of colliding with enemy soldiers and stabbing them across their stomachs so they'll drop.
They're running again. They've been doing the same thing all day and Ohkura just wants to sit down and drink tea and be safe already.
"We're stopping," Masuda says.
Ohkura blanches. He wants to stop running, but he's not looking forward to being torn apart by the enemy.
"I'm taking down this camp," Masuda says, stopping in his tracks.
Ohkura comes to a halt as well, disoriented at the change of pace. Maru looks at Masuda in alert, but Masuda looks somber, and Ohkura sees determination and cold fury in Masuda's eyes.
"No," someone says, and it takes a while for Ohkura to link the raspy voice with Yamashita.
"We shouldn't," Maru says. "They're...people. And we're carrying a wounded man. There's only three of us, five with Yasu and Ryo. It's too dangerous."
They haven't tried taking down camps. In fact, in all their days on this planet, they've avoided direct contact as much as they could, the lookout towers not withstanding. The remaining soldiers of the camp are surrounding them, confused and afraid to attack, but it won't last long.
"Massu, how..." Yamashita says, but couldn't seem to gather the energy to finish what was clearly a question.
"I discovered a deeper part of my abilities because you took my voice away. For that...thank you."
Ohkura can't read the bleak expression on Masuda's face. Anger directed at Yamashita? If Ohkura didn't know better, he would say it looks more like grief.
"This is too dangerous," Ohkura says, feeling a need to voice his opinion even if it mirrors Maru's.
"I know my limits," Masuda says. "And I'm angry enough."
Ohkura shudders. He doesn't know what went on between Masuda and Yamashita, but something must have, because it feels like there's another conversation going on without them talking and it's making Ohkura uncomfortable. When Yamashita starts struggling to get off Maru's back although he can barely stand on his own, Ohkura wonders if he should panic.
"Say my name," Yamashita says. "My full name, with your voice."
"Yamashita Tomohisa," Masuda says, and this time Yamashita falls limp. Maru takes the chance to secure the guy on his back.
"It's the key. I'm sorry, it's okay if you hate me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Yamashita begins chanting, and the enemies start raising their guns. Ohkura decides to name the look on Yamashita despair.
Masuda tries again, and this time Ohkura sees him mouth the words. "Yamashita Tomohisa," Masuda says, the sound coming from Masuda instead of coming from within Ohkura's ears.
Yamashita smiles, and closes his eyes. Masuda launches forward, and attacks. The buildings and tents in the camp are torn down in a second, and Ohkura hears a low hum coming from Masuda, almost like a song without melody, a broken tune. Everything around them begins crumbling, and it almost seems like Masuda's powers are more forceful than they were moments ago.
Ohkura takes to protecting Maru and Yamashita. With the chaos going on around him, it seems like the best course of action.
People all around them start falling, and Ohkura hates that some of it is due to him. He doesn't want to think about what Masuda is feeling.
It couldn't have been more than a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. Ohkura surveys the wreckage around them. Countless fallen soldiers all across what was the camp ground, the ones alive and near staring at them with anguish in their eyes.
The City can't afford too many deaths, not when their population is the minimum for enough genetic diversity to guarantee survival, at least from Earth's scientists' point of view. After a few more hundred years, maybe they could afford to start hunting all of Ohkura's people down, but by then they'll all be dead anyway. After this, the City would think twice before pursuing them, and Ohkura thinks there wouldn't be any backup following this mess they made.
When Yasu and Ryo step through the debris, Maru jerks slightly, as if remembering at the last moment that he's carrying someone. Ohkura rushes through the rubble, needing to reach the two and find out why Ryo is dragged over Yasu's shoulders.
"What happened?" Ohkura asks.
"Shouldn't we be the ones asking that?" Ryo says. "One moment we're falling behind, next moment everything's crashing down. We had to fight through panicking people with weapons in hand."
"You're hurt," Ohkura points out. Blood is seeping through Ryo's shirt.
"I was cut," Yasu says. "Got careless. Ryo was closest to me, and he took more than half the wound so that both of us could remain standing."
"I took exactly half," Ryo says, clutching his sides. "You're just better at tolerating pain."
Yasu says nothing, but exchanges looks with Maru and Ohkura, and Ohkura smiles sympathetically in understanding. They all know that Ryo must have taken more than half the wound, but the guy would never admit that.
"The City is going to be so mad at us," Ryo says. "I guess it's lucky we're all hiding in the Emblem now, and I don't think they're stupid enough to try uprooting the entire forest."
To Ohkura's distaste, he realizes that he's laughing.
--
snippets of a radio conversation in a non-human language:
they're almost like us. sometimes more like us than them. still different species. we can't help them. give them a small nudge? they need help controlling the virus. the vaccine and the cure, yes. ideal if we gave that to them. let them choose whether to accept the virus themselves. but we don't want to expose ourselves. not yet. no, of course not. they have thought. too primal. not our responsibility. accidents happen. let them deal with their own problems.
--
Subaru's in the infirmary when Ryo wakes up. He was chatting idly with Yasu, who finally woke from a long sleep only two hours before. They're both going to make full recoveries, but Subaru's still haunted by the terrifying moment he found out they were wounded. He spent the entire trip back to the Emblem worrying himself sick about Yasu and Ryo and not being able to do anything to help.
Somehow, they woke and walked themselves throughout the two-day trip back to the Ship. Then they both fell into coma-like sleep, and Subaru was almost ready to try shaking them awake when Yasu woke.
"Water," Ryo grumbles. Subaru hands him Yasu's cup of water.
Subaru and Yasu had been talking about the new plans being made. Imagine the surprise when Subaru found out, after an exhausting trip to that godforsaken City, that their mission was to aid in the best kept secret plan he's ever heard of.
They're moving the Emblem. To the other side of the planet.
Pretty huge deal, and hard to swallow. Things aren't certain yet, but everything's already been set into motion, and Subaru thinks it's a moment of when instead of if.
Once Ryo seems awake enough to comprehend speech, Yasu starts relaying what Subaru said to Ryo, and Subaru decides Ryo's expression must have been close to his own, when he first heard the tidbits of rumors that circled around the Emblem while they were gone. Yasu had a look of pure confusion, while Ryo's is more like disbelief. It's actually quite fun to watch.
"Yamaguchi-kun came back from his expedition," Subaru adds after Yasu's mostly done talking. "Nagase-kun's coming back in a few days."
Their seniors had been traveling around the planet, going through entire areas no one's gone before. Subaru's never thought twice about the motives behind their expeditions, so imagine his surprise when he finds out they're looking for potential locations to move to.
"And...?" Ryo prods.
Subaru shrugs. "Don't know yet. It should be announced soon."
"Anything else?" Ryo asks. Yasu looks at Subaru as well.
"Not much," Subaru says. He tries to think. Hina made a list of things that have been happening recently, sort of like some sort of diary for him, but Subaru's not as organized. "They want to rename the planet. Give it a name of our own. And Yoko's still being antsy because he wasn't there with us."
"Oh!" Yasu exclaims, rising from the bed. "Candidates?"
"Lie down," Subaru demands, troubled by the short shadow of pain that flashed through when Yasu sat up. Their wounds might heal, but not this fast. "And none, actually. Except rumors of naming it The Planet like we've always been calling it, only this time with capital letters."
Ryo snorts. Subaru feels like doing the same. It's actually not a bad name, rather brilliant in an ironic way, but not very practical if they really are to use it.
"What about something like prologue?" Yasu wonders out loud.
"What?" Ryo asks.
"This is hardly a proper story, is it? No proper beginning, no proper ending," Yasu says. Subaru squints at him skeptically and Yasu sighs. "Fine. What about naming it after the qualities of the planet? Knowing this place, it'd end up being something like Grey Rock."
"I don't care what we call this planet we're on unless someday we have to leave it," Ryo says.
That's reasonable. Earthlings never had to refer to Earth by name until they discovered space, and Subaru doesn't think their band of misfits are in any position to discover stars. One is hard enough to put up with as it is.
--
The Emblem is built for a crew of fifty, along with four thousand sleepers. Eighty three is not a stretch for its capacity, but it feels much too crowded.
Koichi is content with the simpleness of his own quarters, but his room is located near the main deck, the only place with constant lighting, and there are always people buzzing about. Even the ones that came back from the bases, where there's no sunlight, cannot seem to adjust to the darkness of the Ship; people that came back from the outlooks are worse, always letting their eyes guide them when they have so many other senses available.
For the past thirty years, the Emblem has been home. Even with its engines mostly closed down and its outer hull damaged, it is still a creation of beauty, a combination of only the necessary function for spaceflight with the best efficiency. Tsuyoshi dedicates himself to maintaining the underground chamber that holds the Ship, but water and life continues to chip away the outer hull--yet despite this, the inner hull remains undamaged, as proficient as its space-faring days.
The Emblem is the only thing Koichi believes himself in love with.
"Koichi-san?"
And this is why lurking outside his room's such a terrible idea. Koichi turns towards the source of the voice, trying to recognize the outline. He might have spoken to whoever this is yesterday, but there is no way he can pick out a name from the hundreds in mind.
"I'm here to ask about Yamashita," the boy says. "Yamashita Tomohisa."
"Right," Koichi says slowly, deliberately stalling for time. It doesn't take long for him to realize it wouldn't work. He does know who this is, the guy's been asking about Yamashita everyday, even when Johnny-san himself promised to contact the guy if there's any news of the missing Yamashita. He just can't remember the name.
"No news?" the guy asks.
Koichi shakes his head. One week ago, Yamashita went missing when he should be back at the Emblem with...ah! Koyama. Of course. They suspected Yamashita of betrayal, because he also took away a member of his own team's voice, something crucial to that person because of his ability. They managed to send in a backup member, and the person with the missing voice somehow accessed his powers in another way, but it had caused them a great number of problems. And betrayal's only impossible because the City's goal isn't peace or control--it's complete annihilation.
Yamashita's friends and group members are naturally worried about him, and people are reminding themselves of the pleasant young man that once worked on the Emblem till he earned his own place leading the Northern lookout.
Mostly because they thinks he's dead. But Koichi prefers to believe in facts, and that still isn't a solid fact yet. It wouldn't be something Koyama wants to hear, either.
"How are the youngsters doing?" Koichi asks, changing the topic.
Koyama's current occupation is to foster some abilities that needs immediate growth, because there isn't time to wait for them to develop naturally. Koichi's been in meetings day in and day out trying to figure out what to do if they can't amplify the powers they have by force, and right now the only solution is to wait.
"We're trying out new methods," Koyama says. "I'm meeting up with one of them right now. It would be an honor if you come to see us, sir."
"Sure," Koichi says. People are always telling him to adjust his schedule, to be more flexible--surely this counts.
Even without news of Yamashita, Koyama lightens up at this.
Koichi isn't surprised to see Yaotome Hikaru waiting for Koyama. The kids--not exactly kids, not when they're all older than thirty, but they still look like children and they are the children of their bunch--have powers that usually works with objects.
The first few of them had powers that dealt with the mind, telekinesis or otherwise. During Koichi's generation, most of them developed elemental powers, earth or water or fire, Koichi's own element. Then came the ones that mutate their own bodies, creating doubles or upping their speed. And the younger ones had even stranger powers, some to the point of being absurd.
Yaotome can exchange two objects he marks consecutively. The marking process requires touch, and if the two objects are both in sight, a command given by Yaotome would trade the two objects' places. Anything that can be touched can be exchanged, including entire human bodies or a speck of dust.
Koichi knows all this because it's part of the plan. Yaotome needs to be able to trade two objects that are far apart, perhaps even miles in between.
"Hikaru," Koyama addresses, placing his palm on Hikaru's back. Balancing both their auras and abilities. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay," the boy (thirty years old) replies, looking at Koichi every few seconds.
"Try it again," Koyama says.
Hikaru touches the pen before him, and nothing follows. What they wanted was for the object to change places with the book Koyama placed in another room, unknown to Hikaru. But even with Koyama backing Hikaru up, it's not happening, and Koichi tries to recall what other backup plans they have. Not much, but a few might have a better chance of happening than this--worst case scenario, they all live in caves. This plan is already more than detailed out.
They're both stealing glances at Koichi, but both of them are pretending he's not here, and Koichi has no input to offer.
The two try several other things, with Koichi watching. After an hour or so, Koichi decides it's time to go, or the two would never dare to leave.
When Koichi's almost out the door, he hears Koyama say, "Don't worry. There's no previous record of forcing powers to act a certain way, all of us allowed it to develop naturally. Just try, and if it doesn't work, then it doesn't. It's really weird how they're making you do this, wonder why?"
The door hasn't closed yet, and Koichi feels the Hikaru's eyes on him as he hears the boy say, "Isn't it obvious? They want to move the Emblem."
Koichi doesn't hear Koyama's response. Koyama only just came back, but Hikaru's lived on the Ship for as long as Koichi has; in order for people to contribute, some people are bound to figure out what's happening. It's of no matter to Koichi. Once Nagase and Matsuoka get back, he will be moving out, and it's up to the higher-ups to come to a conclusion.
--
Yasu signals everyone to stop with a hand. Masuda and Tegoshi look disoriented at being stopped suddenly, but Ryo, who's right behind Yasu's back, gives Yasu a nod.
He can feel the detectors buzzing before them. Now that the City knows it's being intruded, all citizens are now hiding in the safety of their rooms, and compared to escaping, breaking in almost seems like a breeze. Even rooftops are only safe while there aren't enough soldiers in the City to patrol every corner, and with heat detectors and backup soldiers from the borders, it won't be long before they're found. Unless they manage to escape before then.
The detector four meters away beeps at them. Two seconds later, it continues silently beeping, as Yasu moves into its view with the others following.
Their priority is to smuggle the stolen blueprints out of the City.
With the design of the entire City in hand, they could finally build their own electricity generators, moving vehicles, pipeline systems, railways and more. What they had to rely on the Emblem for, they can finally attempt to build for themselves. Yasu wonders why it took them this long to try and steal the documents, but maybe that's a good thing, because it means he can contribute to this mission.
If they hadn't trusted the humans, they wouldn't have let them take away all the files, anyway. The documents are also rightfully theirs, it's just they've only now gotten to retrieve them.
They come to the end of the block, and either they climb down and get caught, or the cameras on the dome ceiling will finally locate them. Confusing heat detectors are easy, but the only way to hide from cameras is to distort the entire view or turn it off, and both would end up declaring their presence. Yasu can only be glad that they still can't produce quality glass, so the protectors of the City can't spot them easily from the cameras located at the high ends of the dome top.
"We're going to have to make a dash," Subaru whispers, and Yasu nods in immediate agreement. There's no time to wait around--their best bet is to burst their way out from here.
"We're splitting," Hina says, eyeing the nearest part of dome wall.
"What?" Tegoshi, looking dismayed, asks in a tone slightly too loud for the situation.
Hina frowns. "Even if we're all caught, Subaru can get out. I'll be his shield. And no one here can catch you-" Hina points at Tegoshi, "-so we'll be the second group. Everyone else will try to get out first, and we'll distract the gathering enemy. Once we're out, you guys head to the meeting point from the left route, and we'll go from the right."
"But Subaru has the files," Ryo points out. "Isn't his escape the most important?"
"Nothing can stop me escaping," Subaru says. "I won't forget our mission. If, somehow, both Hina and Tegoshi are caught, I'll still get out. Happy?"
That satisfies Ryo, and Yasu's relieved as well. Subaru can be stubborn sometimes, but they all know what's truly important, and Subaru keeps his words. Their lives were important, that's why they're fighting, but everyone has their own mission to complete. If anything happens to Hina, or Tegoshi, Yasu would turn back at a moment's notice. He doesn't doubt that the others would do the same, that's who they are, and that's why they've survived this long.
"That area," Hina says to Masuda, pointing at the wall. "Can you blast it open?"
"Yes," Masuda sounds.
When Yamashita disappeared, he took Masuda's voice with him. As Masuda's ability directly connected to his voice, this barred Masuda from the mission he should have gone on, the team that was discovered before they could reach the gate and sneak in. It should have halted Masuda's participation entirely, but Masuda had been determined to overcome it. As he had explained, his voice had been his medium, not the source. After experimenting for days, Masuda figured out how to start a vibration without his voice; after another day, he could imitate speech, though his voice comes from their eardrums directly vibrating instead of the air. Apparently, Masuda doesn't know how to use his power on something he can't see. When Masuda talks, it sounds like Yasu's talking to himself, except in a generic voice that isn't quite like his or Masuda's.
"We're jumping down, aren't we?" Ohkura says. When everyone else--excluding Yasu, who just shrugs--looks at him with and goes well, obviously, duh, Ohkura sighs. Yasu sympathizes--jumping down two stories isn't easy, and if you don't bend your knees at the right time and cancel out some impact, it can hurt.
"Alright then, on three," Hina says.
Three, two, one. Masuda leads unexpectedly, with Ryo following closely behind. Yasu takes to guarding their backs, with Maru right beside him.
Yasu never gets to explain fully how he's not really into rocks. Sure, rocks are pretty and wonderful listeners, but it's the magnetic properties that draws him to them. He pulls a magnetic cloak over the ground around the four of them, any health risk secondary to steering away incoming bullets.
City soldiers flood around them, orders barked everywhere the moment the dome wall breaks.
Tegoshi might be able to go at the speed of sound, but they're still nearly twice as fast as the humans. They might be able to take down one of them, but a full team won't be taken down as easily. With the current capability of the City, the probability is less than the chance of Aliens landing on this planet.
Outside the wall, there are even more soldiers for them to dodge, but Yasu still feels alive without the looming pressure from the dome walls that surrounded him. Not long after, he sees Subaru, Hina and Tegoshi coming out the hole in the wall, and smiles.
The meeting point is a cave inside the forest, near enough to the borders that there's a higher chance of staying hidden and far enough from the Emblem that the enemy won't be able to know the location of the Ship. A temporary haven they set up before leaving for the City, a place to stay in until they can be certain they have no enemies on their trail.
The left route has two enemy camps near, but enough distractions to confuse. The expansion of camps had first set them in a state of unease, but the...mutants--Yasu really doesn't like that title--have too large an advantage inside the forest, and it's easy to run by any camp set in the plains.
They're closing in on the first camp Yasu hears the voice in his head.
"Hey, everyone." Yasu nearly stops in surprise, then recognizes the voice of Masuda. "I'm sorry. I have to stop. You guys go on."
"Why?" Ryo yells frantically, and Yasu can sense the worry in his voice. "Are you hurt?"
"No," Masuda replies. "It's Pi. Yamashita-san. I sense him."
"In that camp?" Ryo says, slowing down. Even with the vehicles--cars turned tanks--behind them, the rest of them do the same, Yasu and Maru included. "You're crazy if you think anyone's going to go on without you, and if you really sense Yamapi, then you seriously need to re-screw your brain if you think I'll leave without checking around."
"Same with us," Maru says. Yasu and Ohkura nod along.
Subaru and the others will be worried sick if they aren't at the meeting point and don't arrive there for a while, but they'll have to wait.
--
It's a miracle Yamashita is still alive, but the real trouble isn't reaching him. It's to get out safely with Yamashita in tow. Even delirious with hunger, Maru had to generate thirty kilograms of mass to be able carry Yamashita.
Ohkura can't see where Ryo and Yasu went, and it frightens him. They have to be okay. Ryo's powers might not be useful in combat, but he's still one of the best fighters around, and anything made of iron is no match for Yasu. They're only a few years older than Ohkura, but it feels like Ohkura's been learning from them all his life. They'll be all right.
Masuda's taking apart the guns around them furiously, going for anything that creates the same vibration with the material used to build them. Ohkura tried to mimic Masuda's powers and do the same, but he's unfamiliar with the works of Masuda's ability and vibration caused destruction doesn't work half as well when the prowess behind it is halved. He goes for Maru's powers instead, hardening his skin so he's less afraid of colliding with enemy soldiers and stabbing them across their stomachs so they'll drop.
They're running again. They've been doing the same thing all day and Ohkura just wants to sit down and drink tea and be safe already.
"We're stopping," Masuda says.
Ohkura blanches. He wants to stop running, but he's not looking forward to being torn apart by the enemy.
"I'm taking down this camp," Masuda says, stopping in his tracks.
Ohkura comes to a halt as well, disoriented at the change of pace. Maru looks at Masuda in alert, but Masuda looks somber, and Ohkura sees determination and cold fury in Masuda's eyes.
"No," someone says, and it takes a while for Ohkura to link the raspy voice with Yamashita.
"We shouldn't," Maru says. "They're...people. And we're carrying a wounded man. There's only three of us, five with Yasu and Ryo. It's too dangerous."
They haven't tried taking down camps. In fact, in all their days on this planet, they've avoided direct contact as much as they could, the lookout towers not withstanding. The remaining soldiers of the camp are surrounding them, confused and afraid to attack, but it won't last long.
"Massu, how..." Yamashita says, but couldn't seem to gather the energy to finish what was clearly a question.
"I discovered a deeper part of my abilities because you took my voice away. For that...thank you."
Ohkura can't read the bleak expression on Masuda's face. Anger directed at Yamashita? If Ohkura didn't know better, he would say it looks more like grief.
"This is too dangerous," Ohkura says, feeling a need to voice his opinion even if it mirrors Maru's.
"I know my limits," Masuda says. "And I'm angry enough."
Ohkura shudders. He doesn't know what went on between Masuda and Yamashita, but something must have, because it feels like there's another conversation going on without them talking and it's making Ohkura uncomfortable. When Yamashita starts struggling to get off Maru's back although he can barely stand on his own, Ohkura wonders if he should panic.
"Say my name," Yamashita says. "My full name, with your voice."
"Yamashita Tomohisa," Masuda says, and this time Yamashita falls limp. Maru takes the chance to secure the guy on his back.
"It's the key. I'm sorry, it's okay if you hate me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Yamashita begins chanting, and the enemies start raising their guns. Ohkura decides to name the look on Yamashita despair.
Masuda tries again, and this time Ohkura sees him mouth the words. "Yamashita Tomohisa," Masuda says, the sound coming from Masuda instead of coming from within Ohkura's ears.
Yamashita smiles, and closes his eyes. Masuda launches forward, and attacks. The buildings and tents in the camp are torn down in a second, and Ohkura hears a low hum coming from Masuda, almost like a song without melody, a broken tune. Everything around them begins crumbling, and it almost seems like Masuda's powers are more forceful than they were moments ago.
Ohkura takes to protecting Maru and Yamashita. With the chaos going on around him, it seems like the best course of action.
People all around them start falling, and Ohkura hates that some of it is due to him. He doesn't want to think about what Masuda is feeling.
It couldn't have been more than a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. Ohkura surveys the wreckage around them. Countless fallen soldiers all across what was the camp ground, the ones alive and near staring at them with anguish in their eyes.
The City can't afford too many deaths, not when their population is the minimum for enough genetic diversity to guarantee survival, at least from Earth's scientists' point of view. After a few more hundred years, maybe they could afford to start hunting all of Ohkura's people down, but by then they'll all be dead anyway. After this, the City would think twice before pursuing them, and Ohkura thinks there wouldn't be any backup following this mess they made.
When Yasu and Ryo step through the debris, Maru jerks slightly, as if remembering at the last moment that he's carrying someone. Ohkura rushes through the rubble, needing to reach the two and find out why Ryo is dragged over Yasu's shoulders.
"What happened?" Ohkura asks.
"Shouldn't we be the ones asking that?" Ryo says. "One moment we're falling behind, next moment everything's crashing down. We had to fight through panicking people with weapons in hand."
"You're hurt," Ohkura points out. Blood is seeping through Ryo's shirt.
"I was cut," Yasu says. "Got careless. Ryo was closest to me, and he took more than half the wound so that both of us could remain standing."
"I took exactly half," Ryo says, clutching his sides. "You're just better at tolerating pain."
Yasu says nothing, but exchanges looks with Maru and Ohkura, and Ohkura smiles sympathetically in understanding. They all know that Ryo must have taken more than half the wound, but the guy would never admit that.
"The City is going to be so mad at us," Ryo says. "I guess it's lucky we're all hiding in the Emblem now, and I don't think they're stupid enough to try uprooting the entire forest."
To Ohkura's distaste, he realizes that he's laughing.
--
snippets of a radio conversation in a non-human language:
they're almost like us. sometimes more like us than them. still different species. we can't help them. give them a small nudge? they need help controlling the virus. the vaccine and the cure, yes. ideal if we gave that to them. let them choose whether to accept the virus themselves. but we don't want to expose ourselves. not yet. no, of course not. they have thought. too primal. not our responsibility. accidents happen. let them deal with their own problems.
--
Subaru's in the infirmary when Ryo wakes up. He was chatting idly with Yasu, who finally woke from a long sleep only two hours before. They're both going to make full recoveries, but Subaru's still haunted by the terrifying moment he found out they were wounded. He spent the entire trip back to the Emblem worrying himself sick about Yasu and Ryo and not being able to do anything to help.
Somehow, they woke and walked themselves throughout the two-day trip back to the Ship. Then they both fell into coma-like sleep, and Subaru was almost ready to try shaking them awake when Yasu woke.
"Water," Ryo grumbles. Subaru hands him Yasu's cup of water.
Subaru and Yasu had been talking about the new plans being made. Imagine the surprise when Subaru found out, after an exhausting trip to that godforsaken City, that their mission was to aid in the best kept secret plan he's ever heard of.
They're moving the Emblem. To the other side of the planet.
Pretty huge deal, and hard to swallow. Things aren't certain yet, but everything's already been set into motion, and Subaru thinks it's a moment of when instead of if.
Once Ryo seems awake enough to comprehend speech, Yasu starts relaying what Subaru said to Ryo, and Subaru decides Ryo's expression must have been close to his own, when he first heard the tidbits of rumors that circled around the Emblem while they were gone. Yasu had a look of pure confusion, while Ryo's is more like disbelief. It's actually quite fun to watch.
"Yamaguchi-kun came back from his expedition," Subaru adds after Yasu's mostly done talking. "Nagase-kun's coming back in a few days."
Their seniors had been traveling around the planet, going through entire areas no one's gone before. Subaru's never thought twice about the motives behind their expeditions, so imagine his surprise when he finds out they're looking for potential locations to move to.
"And...?" Ryo prods.
Subaru shrugs. "Don't know yet. It should be announced soon."
"Anything else?" Ryo asks. Yasu looks at Subaru as well.
"Not much," Subaru says. He tries to think. Hina made a list of things that have been happening recently, sort of like some sort of diary for him, but Subaru's not as organized. "They want to rename the planet. Give it a name of our own. And Yoko's still being antsy because he wasn't there with us."
"Oh!" Yasu exclaims, rising from the bed. "Candidates?"
"Lie down," Subaru demands, troubled by the short shadow of pain that flashed through when Yasu sat up. Their wounds might heal, but not this fast. "And none, actually. Except rumors of naming it The Planet like we've always been calling it, only this time with capital letters."
Ryo snorts. Subaru feels like doing the same. It's actually not a bad name, rather brilliant in an ironic way, but not very practical if they really are to use it.
"What about something like prologue?" Yasu wonders out loud.
"What?" Ryo asks.
"This is hardly a proper story, is it? No proper beginning, no proper ending," Yasu says. Subaru squints at him skeptically and Yasu sighs. "Fine. What about naming it after the qualities of the planet? Knowing this place, it'd end up being something like Grey Rock."
"I don't care what we call this planet we're on unless someday we have to leave it," Ryo says.
That's reasonable. Earthlings never had to refer to Earth by name until they discovered space, and Subaru doesn't think their band of misfits are in any position to discover stars. One is hard enough to put up with as it is.