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A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 85
🕑 Added 2024-12-27 20:57:42 +0000 UTCA Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 85
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Wordcount: 2500
Commissioned by Arksoul
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Nori was heading my way after getting the news from the official liaison between Japan and Walker.
As far reconstruction went, Japan was doing well now that they were getting regular shipments of food from the US. Maelstrom provided a lot of the meat and fruits. Grains came from Anderson from the southern states, and Clancy provided dairy products from the Midwest. With the technology support from Parvati, repairs were made to ruined cities, and the surrounding countryside was rapidly turning into large swathes of rice paddies. Finally, with the Shogun no longer in power, Nori focused on destroying the raiders and pirates on the oceans that made it unsafe for fishing, and now deepwater fishing was back on the menu.
Naturally, I was helping myself to the local cuisine while waiting for Nori. I was going all over the world rapidly and needed to keep my strength up.
I found a shop for sushi and headed in.
I got a few looks of surprise coming in, and even more looks of surprise when I ordered two orders of cut rolls, one order of nigiri, and an order of sashimi. The liaison was more than happy to provide me some cash to spend on the local economy, and so I found myself chatting along with the locals at the sushi bar while my order was prepared.
It was nighttime in Japan already, whereas it was early in the morning over in Quebec, so people were drunk already.
Which helped loosen their tongues and made them a bit more willing to talk.
It helped that I knew Japanese already thanks to Seran making constant orders from the place.
Anyway, Kaji was a fisherman, on the burly side, and had obvious bullet scars on his arms and one near his neck. He was having a chirashi bowl and was on his third heated vessel of sake, and was lightly buzzed. Not nearly drunk enough to slur, though.
After introductions, I went ahead and asked him about how things were.
“Hm. It’s different, but better. My old man told me about times before, but I came after everything stopped.” The Japanese still had a way with words. Or, maybe, it was because we were close to Kyoto that these guys invested a lot into their doublespeak. One set of words come out, but the meaning is entirely different in context. In this case ‘stopped’ was a nice and delicate phrase for the end of modern civilization. “It must be like that.”
“There used to be more cars, trains, and businesses, but that’ll come eventually.” My Japanese wasn’t that great. I had more Afrikaans and Hindi, thanks to all my work there. Qin taught me some Mandarin. Why’d I bother to learn all these languages? Mostly so that I don’t get swindled like Clancy. That guy never learned another language despite being an international mercenary. “Food’s back to normal. Maybe even better.”
The years without any deepwater fishing seems to have revitalized fish across the world. The tuna I was picking at was almost sweet and it the amount of fat on it made it like steak. Combined with the faint iron-like taste that the red-blooded fish had, it had a soft and toothy texture that fell apart, but a taste profile like a ribeye. The short-grain rice beneath the hunks of fish were also slightly tangy and sweet thanks to some sugar and rice wine vinegar. Since I was at the sushi bar, the rice was warm and the contrast between cool fish and warm rice was impeccable.
There’s a reason why I ordered some much.
“How is the food better after everything stopped?”
“Lots of additives. Mostly artificial. Now everything back to being artisanal and hand-made. Quality instead of quantity.” The soy sauce wasn’t free, neither was the ginger, and even the tea was limited. But the soy sauce had a woodsy aroma to it that came from long aging in actual barrels. The ginger still had a kick of spice thanks to being made in-store rather than sealed up for a long time in the fridge after pickling. Instead of tea powder, the owners had actual tea leaves and poured hot water whenever you wanted a refill. Still, despite the jump in quality, there were still regular people working here. “They took everything across the world. Now, Japan has its specialties in excess. This meal would’ve cost ten times as much back then.”
Kaji was about to reply when the sliding door of the shop opened and in came Nori, and she took a seat next to me after being greeted by the staff.
Kaji gave me a dumbass grin that transcended cultures and focused on his own meal.
Yeah, it’s not like that, dude.
I’m probably double her age.
“Sup.” I switched over to English, while Nori gave me a nod. She took off a hat on her head, and her jacket, leaving herself in a white blouse and black pants. It was a normal pantsuit all things considered. Did they store away excess suits before things went to shit? Most people had traditional linen clothes in Japan. “Thanks for coming. I didn’t order anything for you. This is all for me. Dietary needs.”
Nori gave a sigh and gave her order, before addressing me.
“You arrived here to ask for help intercepting a ship with high levels of technology?”
Parvati could explain more, but Nori and the Japanese government didn’t want more involvement from the AI after it already took in the Shogun’s child soldiers. They needed to establish themselves as an actual government. Working too much with an AI would demean their claim, and they needed to be strong as they reclaimed the whole country. Not much opposition as far as I heard, but I was sure that they didn’t want any warlords popping up. These guys had a long, martial history and that would only get worse with superpowers added onto the mix.
“It’s a resource acquisition operation funded by a faction up in space. You’re already aware that some of humanity escaped to space, right?”
“I am. My grandfather informed me that they were the truly rich and powerful. They established whole spin stations up there with all that they could ever want and need, especially with asteroid mining at their disposal. What could they want from here?”
“I think we both know the answer to that.” I finished off my plate of nigiri and went onto my cut handrolls. Rice on the outside, sushi, and then fish inside. No avocado or cucumber, just cooked crab meat in warm rice and warm seaweed. The rice was fluffy and warm, the seaweed was lightly toasted and crunchy, and finally the crab was briny, soft, and sweet all at the same time. A bit of real wasabi and some soy sauce and the dish was further elevated with wasabi’s sharp kick and soy sauce’s saltiness. I could eat a dozen of these rolls without hesitation. “The only thing that they need from here is people.”
“They can make clones.”
“As horrible as it would be to let them just get away with mass producing a slave caste, if they could do that, they’ll probably leave us alone. But they’re not doing that. They’re working with extremists down here, giving them technology, and they’re putting men to work while taking all the women.” I pointed out my findings and a frown crossed Nori’s face. Her order arrived. Just some miso soup, rice, and grilled fish. Guess this was her breakfast meal. “The only method of mass human production that we’ve found was right here under the Shogun. I think we know what they’re doing to those women up there.”
Nori’s eyes glowered my way.
“Supposition. You have no evidence that technology comes from them and that they’re using it as we speak.”
“Fine, then. They’re not taking women to breed children in mass. They’re just taking them to be slaves for their pleasure and amusement. Or, maybe, you want to believe that they’re working men to death for no money, but they’ve given the women jobs and opportunities away from the planet.” Nori’s brow furrowed as I provided her with more possibilities. A scowl soon formed on her face. I didn’t know what was going on her head. In fact, I was sure that I didn’t want to know. When superhuman intellectuals have hangups, they can rarely let go of what’s stuck in their heads. They’ll bash their brains against the problem, expecting themselves to solve it, even if it’s impossible. After all, nothing’s been impossible for them… ever. “Whatever the case is, whatever you want to believe, what I’m offering is a transport to the Atlantic so that you can help us interdict the ship we’ve found. It can produce whole armored vehicles and it’s a logistical hub for an entire invasion force. This technology can be used to spread factories across the world that aren’t beholden to Parvati.”
I did my best to evade the argument that was brewing and just latched onto the fact.
The ship that the viking-wannabes were using would certainly be of interest to Nori.
“You’re offering the ship to us for our help?”
“No. We’re offering the privilege of you scanning the ship and getting your hands on the tech that it has for your own use. Looting is reserved for people on the ground and risking their lives. If you find some hidden submersibles and engage them, sure, we’ll cut you in.” I gave her a poor option on purpose, because after his exchange, I wasn’t sure about bringing her aboard anymore. The Pacific Corps would’ve jumped on the opportunity to intervene when it came to disrupting this sort of organization. However, instead, Nori seemed intent on finding a reason to call me a liar, which would allow her to say no. So, I gave her a bad deal without any hint of hesitation. Fuck off, lady, you’re ruining my meal. “If you’re in, you’re in. If you’re out, you’re out.”
“Very well, then. I accept.”
I almost said huh aloud, but if she was willing to take the deal for just scans of technology, who was I to tell her no?
Going to need to talk to Maelstrom about this though.
…
There was ten or so minutes left for the recon drones to finish up there work, so I got some food to go after getting the submarine a few miles away from Quebec.
“Hey, Maelstrom, got you some sushi from a pretty good place. Nori was acting strange.” I raised my hand at Maelstrom in greeting and gave her the food with the other. I brought Clancy in and popped over to Lucille to get her team at our staging area. After that, it was shifting in some more gynoids, and getting Seran’s equipment ready to be handed out. Maelstrom just finished raising her eyebrow at my statement when the staging area went from empty to filled with people, cargo, and equipment. “Didn’t bite immediately when I told her that whoever we’re fighting is abducting women for whatever reason. She accepted coming over here just for some scans, though.”
Maelstrom considered my statement, while digging into her meal after giving thanks.
“It’s likely that the Japanese government at the time isn’t looking to provide humanitarian aid and is instead looking for assets to reconstruct their nation. I’ll look into the matter. Nori should be part of the Pacific Corps, not the Japanese government.” Walker took her time eating, nodding with every bite, and generally looking elegant while eating. Straight back, chin slightly up, she brought the food to her mouth, rather than her mouth to the food. Yep, in comparison, I just scarfed down plates of the stuff like an animal. “Thank you for informing me. I may need to investigate their current leadership, and the relations that they have with her.”
“I mean, they have cloning facilities that can churn more of her out. The sub’s crew are all her. Maybe, they got into contact with the people from above?” With Maelstrom’s words, I considered the conversation a bit more carefully. If the Japanese government were selling off cloned female bodies, Nori’s defensiveness at my statement of women being sent up to space having only one purpose sounded a lot worse. “And, for the record, I think giving those guys cloning facilities so that they can just mass produce people would be a terrible idea.”
Maelstrom finished the food I brought, and I disposed of the container, and she got up and brushed off non-existent crumbs from her clothes. Today it was the usual all black suit and the small cape/shoulder cloak thing, but I noticed her old epaulets on her shoulders.
Why those were gone for a while?
I put the thought aside, as Parvati waved us both over towards it and gave us a nod once all the others were present.
Nori already had communications wired in, so she could hear just fine.
“Before I showcase the entirety of the forces against us, within the ship there’s something of grave importance that we must decide to either destroy or capture the moment the battle begins.” Parvati had a hologram emitter on the table and it showcased the view of one of the drones that had been sent out. It was looking into a windowless room on the ship and inside was a large machine with a simple keyboard and screen interface. “Given the amount of processing power, power draw, and the cooling systems, I can safely state that this terminal is what grants them interplanetary communications.”
Meaning that we could either destroy it to make sure our opponents don’t contact their friends from above.
Or, we could make use of it to establish communications.
I gave my vote on the matter.
“If we don’t have that terminal, we’re just going for a slugging match until one side is dead.” I was all for fighting against the people trying to strip the planet of people and of resources, but I wasn’t in for a war of annihilation. “As bad as it would be for them to call for reinforcements, it’d be better to get our hands on a way to contact these people and negotiate with them to leave us alone.”
I thought that everyone would agree, but Lucille suddenly spoke up with a good point.
“My people are the next targets of this faction. If they transmit information on attackers, it is my people who will suffer reprisal attacks. We can open dialogue later from a position of strength.”
Well… shit.
I hadn’t thought of that.
That’s also a good point.
