BLISS
part 4
by Mike Loader and Lara Bartram
"It might just be that hold that's flooded..."
"Nope. Do you feel the ship bobbing up and down? I don't.
And it looked like it was riding awfully low in the water. No,
Ukyo, this ship's at the bottom of the bay. The bay just isn't
terribly deep."
He sighed. "I think you're right. But it might not be
necessary to sail the ship out of here."
"Huh?"
"Radio. Maybe the ship has a radio. Actually, it definitely
has one; it is whether or not it still works that is the
question."
Akane brightened. "Hey, yeah! That'd be on the bridge, I
guess..." Her face darkened suddenly. "Look, Ukyo, something's
very wrong here."
He smiled grimly. "Elaborate on that, please."
"Well... look, what are all those dead guys _doing_ down
there?"
"Being dead would be my guess."
She scowled. "Hahah, very funny. I mean what did they die
from, smart guy?"
Ukyo frowned. "I see what you mean. Perhaps they starved..."
"There's an islandful of harvestable food outside."
"Maybe the boat didn't arrive until after they were dead,"
he countered. "And the last few people left alive abandoned it,
went into the jungle, and were killed by the wild dogs."
"You expect me to believe that an entire troop transport
could float around the Pacific Ocean in WW2 long enough for
everyone on board to starve? They'd have been rescued or sunk long
before that."
He spread his hands. "I do not know, then. It does not look
like illness... perhaps a poison gas of some sort?"
"Yeah, maybe... whatever it was, it looks like it hit then
instantly." She shuddered. "Did you see the way they were just
sitting in there, holding stuff? Like they were ready to stand up
and go on with what they were doing?"
Ukyo didn't answer.
They passed the door they had entered the stairwell through,
and kept climbing. Finally, after rooting through several closets,
heads, and side corridors, they stepped onto the bridge.
As they had anticipated, the room contained several corpses.
The captain, easily recognizable by his peaked cap and position in
the center chair, sat erect. An unsheathed katana lay across his
bony knees.
The other five bodies lay either slumped in their seats or
sprawled across the steel deck. The narrow windows reflected their
grinning faces, the color of the glass an odd, unplacable tint
that made both of them a little edgy.
Akane spoke first. "Which one's the radio?"
Surveying the room, Ukyo pointed to a station in the corner.
"There. That's the transmitter set." He slowly walked over, and
stared at the bony occupant of the seat. Without a word, he
gingerly pushed the skeleton out of the chair, sat down, and
turned a knob.
A burst of static greeted him, and he gave her a hopeful
smile. "It's still working!"
"Great! Now transmit something so we can get ourselves
rescued offa this dump!"
"I'm trying," Ukyo muttered, fiddling with the decades-old
knobs and dials. Akane briefly considered asking him where he had
learned to use a radio; prudently, she decided against it.
"Can anyone hear me? This is an emergency. I repeat, is
anyone receiving this?"
For several minutes, there was nothing but static.
"I repeat, can anyone hear me? This is an emergency. I'm..."
Without warning, a piping, atonal tune began to trill from
the radio set.
Akane blinked. "What the? Flutes?"
Ukyo frowned at the set. This thing shouldn't be picking up
music stations..."
The flute rose in volume, an odd, alien melody weaving
through it in trilling bursts.
"What kind of music is this? Is it music?"
Ukyo's frown deepened. "Whatever it is, I don't like it."
A chittering... static... arose behind the flutes, and Akane
edged away. "Hey... hey, Ukyo, why don't you turn that thing off,
okay?"
"I think perhaps that would be wise," Ukyo said uneasily,
and he reached for the power knob.
Before he could touch it, the flutes trilled in a screech
that caused both of them to clutch at their ears in agony. With a
burst of oddly-colored flame, the radio set exploded in a small
fireball, knocking Ukyo from his seat.
"Ukyo! Hey, are you okay?" Akane quickly knelt beside him,
as he groaned and pulled himself to his feet.
"Yes, I'm fine... just before it blew, I thought I heard..."
He frowned, and shook his head. "It shouldn't have gone up like
that. There's nothing in a radio that would cause it to explode."
She shrugged. "Mebbe these older models are built
differently, and it blew a fuse or something." Glumly, Akane
examined the merrily burning set, the flames flickering with an
odd hue. "Stupid question, but I don't suppose you can repair it?"
"Certainly. All I need is a new set of component parts, a
new case, and instructions on how to do it."
"Oh. They probably don't carry all that stuff on troop
transports, do they."
"No, not usually."
Akane slammed her fist into the deck. "Great. Just great.
The ship is sunk, the radio plays creepy flutes at us and then
explodes, and there's several hundred dead men in the cargo hold.
This really isn't living up to my expectations."
Smiling slightly, Ukyo strolled over to stand in front of
the captain's chair. "It may not be a total loss. There is sure to
be a great deal of useful equipment on this vessel." Gazing at the
katana lying in the skeletal lap of the dead officer, he
hesitantly lowered a hand down to grasp the hilt.
He had half expected the corpse to awaken at the
disturbance; but, of course, it simply kept grinning at him from a
bleached face. Slowly, reverently, he lifted the sword to catch
the light streaming through the oddly-tinted windows.
The blade fell off.
He yelped, and yanked his foot out of the way of the falling
length of steel. Behind him, Akane gave a small snicker.
The blade hit the deck, and broke into two pieces.
Disappointed, Ukyo picked up the two halves and examined
them. It looked like good, carefully forged steel... on the other
hand, it seemed to break like ceramic. Shrugging, he stuck the two
halves in his belt.
"Ukyo! Hey, Ukyo, take a look at this!"
He glanced over to see Akane sitting in the radio chair, a
leatherbound book open on her lap. "What is it?"
"Ship's log."
He hurried over, and she flipped to the last few pages.
Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 0700
Received blinker signals from _Soryu_. Proceeding
north-northwest of Midway Island with light cruiser
_Jintsu_, heavy cruisers _Kumano_ and _Mogami_, and 11
transports.
Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 0900
Strafed by enemy aircraft. Seven casualties. Our
forward gun brought one plane down.
Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 1100
Fog rose out of nowhere an hour ago. Have lost
contact with _Jintsu_ and other escorts. Strafing seems to
have damaged radar set; we are making slow but deliberate
speed northward to clear the fogbank.
Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 1230
First Officer Takahashi has shot Bosun Ogawa, then
himself. His mind apparently snapped for no discernible
reason. A great tragedy. Both men were fine officers, and a
credit to the Navy and the Emperor.
Orders on radio silence forbid us to use the set to
discover the status of the attack. Fog is still surrounding
us. I have ordered the ship to turn and reverse course.
Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 1500
Still only fog. I have ordered the ship to keep
course until we emerge from this damnable mist. I only hope
that the foul weather has not interfered with our Midway
operation.
Nagashi Maru, 5 June 1942, 0100
I have used the radio in direct disobedience of
orders, and I accept full responsibility for this act. No
response as of yet. A broadcast for help will be made every
half hour.
A Lt. Nakamura attacked his superior officer with a
knife in the troop bay. He was restrained, and locked in the
brig, screaming about how his eyes were the wrong color. I
have made a speech to the ship's complement to keep up
morale.
Nagashi Maru, 5 June 1942, 0600
The fog has not lifted. There has been no response to
our radio signals. I am at a loss to explain this.
The crew is very uneasy, but keep to their posts like
the brave seamen that they are.
Nagashi Maru, 5 June 1942, 1530
Ensign Hawamo took an automatic rifle from the troop
bay half an hour ago and opened fire on the mess hall. Seven
men were killed before Lt. (jg) Goro shot and killed him.
I am very much afraid that we have fallen afoul of a
new American weapon. It is the only thing I can think of. I
pray for the well-being of my ship and crew.
Nagashi Maru, 6 June 1942, 0520
Pestilential light and color on the horizon, ahead.
Helm does not respond. Lunatics everywhere, have secured
bridge and posted guards, but they may snap too. Only five
more minutes at most. Hideous gate to hell! Long live the
mperor! Long live Japan!
The log ended there.
"Damn," Akane finally said. "This is really giving me the
creeps."
Ukyo nodded, staring at the open logbook. "At least now we
know what part of the world we're in. Near Midway."
Akane snorted. "There _is_ nothing near Midway. It's all
alone in the middle of the Pacific, we learned that in school. We
attacked it with a whole fleet of ships just for that, and the
Americans defended it with a big old fleet for the same reason."
"Perhaps this is Midway?"
"Nah, I think there's an airstrip and naval base on it.
There was one back in the 1940s, anyway, and we'd have seen signs
of it."
"Then I am mystified. The ship must have sailed southward
for many days, and finally run aground in this bay by sheer
chance."
"Yeah," Akane said dubiously. "Maybe. I'm starting to think
we've been abducted by UFOs or something, like on 'The X-Files'."
Ukyo smirked. "Don't get too preposterous, Agent Scully."
"I won't, Mulder. Now, since this hunk of metal isn't going
to sail anywhere or radio anyone, how about we check the holds for
valuables? The holds without the bodies, I mean."
He hesitated for a second. What he really wanted to do was
get off this ship as quickly as possible - but he couldn't think
of a single reason to justify fleeing. Quite the opposite, since
the lower holds might contain items vital to their survival on the
island.
"All right," he said. "Let us find a way down."
They combed the upper decks of the vessel for a good ten
minutes, finding only long-dead corpses and shattered equipment
and bulkheads. Akane managed to salvage a pocketknife, heavy
flashlight, and some medical supplies, and Ukyo found a collection
of classical Japanese literature.
It surprised them, however, how many potentially useful
items were worthless. Silverware that disintegrated into dull
flecks of metal when touched. Bowls coated with a greasy black
fungus, rifles and pistols with the firing mechanisms rusted away,
smashed, or in a few cases missing.
After this disappointing collection had been reviewed, they
slowly began to descend down a rear stairway into the lower cargo
hold of the Nagashi Maru.
It had been dim in the corridors above, and now it was dark
as the inside of a coal mine. Akane soon switched on her new
flashlight, and they carefully rounded the landings and moved
downward.
Ukyo, leading the way, rounded the fourth switchback landing
and suddenly froze. A figure stood halfway down the steps in a low
crouch, head facing directly at him.
"Hello?" he called.
The figure didn't move.
Akane swung the light up, and they saw in the dim glow that
the lean face grinning mockingly back at them was only bone and
flecks of dried skin, an officer's cap perched jauntily atop it.
For a horrible moment Ukyo thought he saw the corpse wink,
and then the body suddenly disintegrated in a shower of bones,
rotting cloth, and dust. The skull fell to the steps, bounced, and
clattered down the stairs into the darkness, still grinning.
For a few seconds they just stood on the steps they had
halted on, each just wanting to go back up and forget about the
hold. But neither wanted to be the one to suggest it, and each
knew that there was really nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at
all.
Finally, Akane walked past Ukyo and continued down. Glad
that someone had made a decision, he followed, his fighting stick
held ready in one hand.
They rounded three more landings, and then the stairway
opened onto a low-ceilinged, broad, flooded cargo bay. The steps
simply led into the water, vanishing. They could see wooden
crates, the wood rotting in the silt-choked water, floating
listlessly in the glow from Akane's flashlight.
Nor was that the only thing that glowed. From the tops of
the floating crates, from overhead pipes, from the far corners of
the hold, beady pinpricks of red reflected the flashlight.
"Rats," Akane muttered. "All over the hold. There goes any
chance of finding a lot of stuff; little bastards chew up anything
that doesn't break their teeth."
"There are a good many things a troop transport would carry
that we could use," Ukyo reminded her in a whisper. "Bayonets,
shovels, shelter halves, insect repellent..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said reluctantly. "C'mon. Looks
like we're gonna hafta wade to get to those crates."
Gritting her teeth, she walked down the submerged steps and
into the drowned hold. Ukyo followed a step behind her, stick held
ready.
A few of the larger rats swam towards them, yellow teeth
glinting in the electric light. They were quickly met with the tip
of Ukyo's weapon, and after the first three deaths the rodent
flotilla retreated out of range, squealing angrily.
The first crate they pried open contained mold, rotting
cloth, and several nests of baby rats. The angry rodents in the
bay began to squeal and close in, and they hastily moved on to the
next bobbing treasure chest.
This one contained halftrack treads. They seemed perfectly
usable, but the island had a distinct lack of halftracks.
For several minutes they moved deeper and deeper into the
hold, prying off the lids of likely-looking boxes. The items found
were uniformly either ruined or of no practical use.
At last, after over a dozen unsuccessful tries, they hit a
gold mine.
Akane ripped the lid off the latest crate, and grinned.
Inside were tools.
Most of them looked like folding shovels, trenchdiggers. But
there was also a saw, a few awls and clamps, a keg of what she
suspected were nails, two sturdy-looking iron mallets, and a long-
handled, extremely sharp-looking axe.
"Jackpot," Akane breathed. "This stuff is gonna make
building a house a whole lot easier."
Ukyo eyed the tools with open approval. "They certainly
will. I think we..."
A sudden squealing and scurrying caused him to break off
sharply, and he spun around to see the rats darting about the
cargo bay in a state of agitation.
"What the...?" Akane began worriedly. Ukyo silenced her with
a gesture, and watched as the rats frantically scurried out of the
stagnant water, up along the walls and steps, and vanished into
the holes and fissures of the ceiling and upper walls.
"Ukyo, I've got a really, really bad feeling here..."
He slowly nodded. "I think we should leave. Quickly."
"Right behind you. C'mon, we'll pull the crate to the
stairs." They began to move swiftly for the entrance, the movement
impaired by the waist-deep, silt-filled water.
Akane suddenly yelped and jumped away. "Ukyo, something just
touched my leg!"
He pursed his lips. "Shine your light back towards the rear
of the bay for a second."
She did, and they both noticed the rippling, twisting water
immediately.
"It... maybe it's just a current or something..."
"Like hell," Akane said, raw fear in her voice. "Quick, onto
the crate." She awkwardly clambered atop the floating box, and
extended a hand to pull Ukyo up.
He was almost on to when his foot caught painfully on
something. Acting on instinct, he slashed downward with his stick,
striking something that felt softer than metal. His foot came
loose, and he climbed inside the crate, squeezing against Akane in
the close quarters.
"What now?" he said, inspecting his foot as he hunkered on
the pile of tools. Whatever had caught his foot had left several
circular-shaped wounds along his leg, bleeding slightly.
Akane handed him one of the metal shovels. "We row for the
stairs and pray."
They did, and when the crate shook as if something large and
blind and awkward was grabbing at it from beneath the water, they
told themselves that it was only the motion of the water and
redoubled their efforts.
Akane tossed one of the shovels into the water far behind
them, and was disturbed by the way the ripples only seemed to
increase after it had sunk.
Reaching the stairs, they quickly climbed out of the crate,
grabbed two handfuls of tools, and ran like hell up the stairs.
From the darkness behind the came a curious sound, not quite a
squawk, not quite a hiss. They didn't look back.
***
After that, they very quickly made their way to the tiny
boat which had carried them to the ship.
"Have you got the tools?"
Akane nodded, hurriedly tossing them into the boat. "Yeah.
Nails, hammer, clamps, the lot. Can we get out of here now?"
Ukyo raised an eyebrow. "Nervous?"
"I'd just like to get off this ship before the army of dead
men in the hold wake up and come to eat our flesh, thank you." He
wasn't sure if she was joking or not. Neither, from her tone, was
she.
"Very well. Let's go." He wasn't exactly feeling like
hanging around either. There was clearly something very, very
wrong with this ship.
They swiftly rowed away from the decaying hulk, trying not
to splash too much. They still remembered the patch of moving
water in the hold, and the sound it had made.
Ukyo kept one hand on his fighting stick until they reached
the shore. Akane just kept glancing nervously at the water, ready
to either defend herself or row faster.
It almost came as a surprise to both of them when they
reached the shore without incident.
"Well?" Akane asked as they were hauling the tools out of
the boat.
Ukyo blinked at her. "Well what?"
She pointed at the bay and ship. "Aren't you going to name
it?"
A wet handful of sand sailed just past her. Grinning, Akane
stuck her tongue out at him. "Missed me."
"Why you..." he began to mock-growl...
...why you...
...missed me, ya...
...jeez...
...stand your ground!....
"Ukyo? Ukyo?"
His eyes snapped open. He didn't remember closing them in
the first place. Raising a hand, he wiped away the sweat that had
suddenly appeared and fought down a rush of nausea.
"Just... just another flashback. It's nothing."
She stared at him with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity.
"Huh. Know what brought it on?"
Ukyo shook his head tiredly. "I think we've done that
before. That teasing, just now. Or something very much like it. I
don't know." He winced. "For all we know, they might just happen
at random."
"Yeah, well, I hope not. What happens if we get one while
we're being attacked or something?"
"You make it sound like we're likely to be attacked quite
often."
Akane shrugged. "Just being realistic. Everything on this
island is either incredibly beautiful or wants to eat you."
He nodded, a bit of depression seeping in. "Come on, let's
get these home." A smile forced its way onto his face. "Now that
we've got real nails and a hammer, we can make a _real_ home. Just
watch."
***
The first step in the building of their new home was the
destruction of the old one. Not that a crude brush hut was much of
a home, but it still made them slightly regretful to tear it down.
In its place, a bed of gravel and rocks was carefully laid,
forming a stone foundation. Neither of them were exactly sure what
precise benefit this would bring, but they both felt it was
preferable to dirt.
Corner posts were then hacked from the trees.
"Timber!"
"Which way?"
"Eh?"
"Which way is it falling, Uky..."
*CRASH*
"Ow."
After some small mishaps, the posts were erected at what
would be the four corners of the house.
"They're crooked."
"...."
After many more mishaps, the posts were repositioned in the
straight four corners of the house.
"I think that one's got wood rot."
"Ukyo, why do you wait till now to notice these things?"
After a mildly bruised elbow, the suspect post was replaced
by a fresh one.
"Now the new one's crooked."
"%#!$*&!."
And so the pole was taken out, and straightened.
"Okay. Look good?"
"Well..."
"Good. What's next?"
Boards, cut with their newly-salvaged saw and Ukyo's
fighting stick, were quickly fitted into position. Akane's hand,
they found, was admirably suited to making a 2 by 4 into two 1 by
2s.
A framework began to take shape between the four poles.
"It's crooked."
"Let it be crooked, Akane."
"You wanna live in a crooked house?"
"Oh, all right..."
Before long, sections of wall were being nailed to it.
"Akane! Look..."
*CRASH*
"Are you okay, Akane?"
"...dig me out and then help me figure out why the east wall
falls on people..."
The framework was revised and strengthened.
"But why not?"
"Because, Akane, that puts huge beams going through the
middle of the house at waist level."
"So?"
"So I can't walk through wood."
"We can just climb over them."
Boards were refastened, and before long the house had an
exterior wall.
"Looks good."
"Sure does. We've done well."
"Yup."
"So how are we going to put on a roof?"
"No idea whatsoever."
Their first roofing experiment consisted of brush, and
lasted about a week.
"Akane, I find the vermin in the roof a bit of a problem."
"Yeah, I don't like seeing the ceiling move either."
An abortive attempt was made at a hide roof, but was
quickly abandoned when the effects of repeated sun on dried hide
became clear.
In the end, they simply built a flat surface of wood, hauled
it up to the top of the framework with effort, nailed it in place,
and used a mix of clay and earth to made an upper covering to keep
the rain off the wood.
And then it was done.
***
"Ukyo, that's just..."
"It's for survival, Akane. I don't relish the idea either,
but it's something we can use."
"Well, yeah, but it's gross."
"And I say it's necessary. It's not like I'm going to bring
the whole thing back. Just the ropes."
Akane just made a disgusted face and shook her head.
"Don't worry. It should only take a little while. I should
be back before the afternoon." He gave Akane a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, right. Just hurry so I don't have to go looking for
you." Akane turned around and went back to fixing up the house a
little more.
Ukyo watched her for a moment, letting his admiration show
when she couldn't see it, then headed out. It wasn't a long walk,
but it was enough of one, and he definitely wanted to be back
before it got too late.
He walked around the edge of the temple, staying out of the
cleared area, just like all the other animals. The tree wasn't in
sight yet, but it would be hard to miss. Especially with a
skeleton hanging out of the branches, like some cheap movie scare.
The poor soul was too easy to find, hanging there, tangled
in the branches. For a moment, Ukyo couldn't quite decide if he
really wanted to do this, but in his heart, he couldn't leave that
man up there either.
Sighing, Ukyo started to climb the tree, giddy with the
memory that came back to him. The memory of the night with Akane
pressed against him in which he had entertained the most impure of
thoughts, But only after she had fallen asleep.
Making his way out on the branches where the parachute had
gotten caught so long ago, Ukyo held on tightly. If he fell, and
didn't die, Akane would kill him anyway. Not that falling would be
any picnic for him.
A few moldy shreds of parachute silk clung stubbornly to the
rough bark, but other than that, the silk was rotted away.
Unfortunate really. He had been hoping that there would be enough
left to maybe fashion some clothing out of.
Ukyo observed the way the lines were tangled and caught
among the branches. He had brought the knife, but had been hoping
he wouldn't need to use it. If the lines could be kept intact
until they needed to cut them, it would just be more convenient.
He pulled on one slightly and was surprised that it
immediately broke free from the branches. No doubt that silk had gotten tangled, the lines caught up slightly, and the pilot's
weight had caused everything to catch. But with all that gone
mostly, it looked like it wouldn't be that hard.
Ukyo pulled on the other lines, having to untangle one of
them, but aside from that, they fell free with very little effort
on his part. And as the last one came free, the body of the
unlucky pilot plummeted to the ground and smashed apart.
Ukyo watched for a moment from above as the bones came to
rest. There was just something very creepy about the entire
situation; it felt like he was graverobbing or something. That
strange feeling that the pilot was not completely dead and would
object to this treatment... It was silly, but he couldn't shake
it.
Once back on the ground, Ukyo was forced to remove the
harness from the torso of the corpse. It wasn't difficult as there
were no limbs attached and the rib cage had been almost
pulverized.
Saying a quick prayer for the pilot, Ukyo pulled the harness
free and gathered the lines up. Frowning at the remains, he turned
and headed back to the house.
***
"Brave little bastards, aren't they?" Akane asked, toeing
the dead body at her feet. It seemed rare, but every so often, one
of the wild dogs would attack them in the broad daylight. Though
the attacks seemed more out of chance and desperation than
anything since they were only one or two at a time.
This time, out gathering supplies to continue fixing up
their new home, they had surprised a lone canine raiding a fallen
bird's nest. It had turned on them, growling savagely, but it had
taken a single swing of Ukyo's stick to fell the beast.
Ukyo looked at Akane, not bothering to speak the question.
She looked from the corpse up to him and shrugged. "Do you
think we need it? I mean..."
"Only if you wish to carry it."
Akane shook her head. "I'll pass. My arms are still sore
from the three ton pig I had to carry the other day."
"Yes. It was an excellent catch though. We'll get a lot of
use out of it." The two of them stared at the dead dog
uncomfortably. "It isn't necessary. Leave it."
Akane started to turn away when she heard a noise in the
bushes. That was strange in itself as most of the island
inhabitants avoided them at all costs. All except the dogs. Either
way, it was surprise enough that she jumped back.
Staring at the spot the noise was coming from, Akane stepped
toward it slowly, hand held up and poised for attack. She leaned
down and pushed aside some leaves, not sure what to expect.
"What is it?" Ukyo whispered, staring at the spot, but
unable to see what is was that had Akane's attention.
Akane reached into the bush and when she withdrew her hand,
she was holding, by the scruff of its scrawny neck, a small dog. A
puppy.
It whined and struggled in Akane's grasp, but that was all.
"Cute little buggers when they aren't trying to eat us,
aren't they," she said, practically shoving the little dog in
Ukyo's face.
"Not particularly, but that may be the bad experience with
all of its... relatives." He backed away slightly, but close up,
the little thing did have a certain charm about it.
The dog opened its mouth and released another pitiful whine,
just hanging there.
"Why do you think it's out here?" Akane asked, looking over
the pathetic thing. "That must have been its mother," she
continued, gesturing to the dead dog on the ground.
"Who can say how the social structure of those vicious
monsters operates." Ukyo was about to suggest that Akane leave the
thing before she got fleas, but the way she was looking at it, he
knew she would not. After all, the dog had to have been
domesticated at some point in prehistory. This one was young, and
it could probably be done, but...
Akane held the dog, not quite sure what to do. Natural order
would dictate that she leave the animal to let things take their
course without her intervention. Yet, she couldn't just leave it.
The thing couldn't even defend itself, and what fairness was there
in that?
"Do you truly think you can tame it?" Ukyo asked.
Akane looked away from the dog at him. Shrugging, she said,
"I don't know. You don't think we should?"
Ukyo heard the shift away from herself to the encompassing
"we" in an attempt to sway him. "I don't think it's wise. There's
nothing to stop it from turning on us, attacking when we least
expect it. It may be imprinted that it should..."
Akane waved him off. "You know that's not true. Stop making
stuff up. So I'll level with you. I feel guilty about just leaving
it. And I think it would be neat. There's nothing wrong with
having an extra companion while we're on this island, is there?"
Looking between Akane and the little beast in her hand, Ukyo
shrugged. "If you want."
"Only if you don't mind."
"I don't mind."
***
"Dog! Come 'ere, dog!" Akane was trying to get the little
thing's attention, while the dog was just exploring the interior
of their small stronghold.
"Are you actually attempting to train it?" Ukyo asked,
taking an armload of plantains inside.
"Well..." Akane started to respond, but didn't say anything
else.
So far, it seemed fine. The dog was a little high-strung,
but other than that, it showed no signs of hostility toward either
of them.
Ukyo had to reluctantly admit that it was kind of cute and
that Akane seemed to be in a better mood with it around. Heck,
even he felt in a better mood. The dog was proof that there was
something that wasn't out to kill them on the island.
"Hey, you stupid dog! Look at me!" Akane said sharply,
snapping her fingers.
Ukyo came out of the house and shook his head. "It won't
learn. I think it's too wild to..."
"Hey dog!" Akane yelled.
The dog looked from its investigation of the a clump of
grass to Akane, eyes perked forward.
"It's about time, you dumb dog. Come here," Akane repeated
snapping her fingers again.
This time, it actually seemed to get the point and trotted
merrily over to Akane.
Smiling, Akane began to pet him. "See? He's getting the hang
of it."
Ukyo shook his head and smiled bemusedly. "I think it
believes you have food."
"It was just a little encouragement. Besides, he's so
skinny. He needs something to eat."
"Akane, you sound just like a worried mother. That little
rodent should count itself lucky you decided that you pitied it."
Akane grinned. "Yeah, and I know how much you hate him.
Softy. But what about a name?"
"A name? You mean actually _naming_ the thing?" Ukyo asked
in almost complete disbelief.
Akane couldn't help but chuckle at his response. "That's
what's usually the result of naming something. So what's wrong
with that anyway? You're not going to call him 'It' all the time,
are you?"
"Possibly."
"Not if I have any say in it," Akane warned. "I'll name
him..." She looked at the dog. The dog looked stupidly back up at
her. "Um..."
"Well, I'm waiting to hear this name that's going to change
our lives."
"I'm thinking! Give me a minute. You know," she said,
grinning slyly, "I'm not all that good with names."
Meant to be funny, the comment only ended up making them
both uncomfortable.
"I guess I'll name him... Dog."
Ukyo choked. "Dog? You're going to name it Dog? Are you
joking?"
"No! What's wrong with Dog? He's a dog after all."
"But you... It's just... How can you..." Ukyo threw up his
hands. "I give up. Its name is Dog."
Akane smiled and scratched Dog's ears. "See? I told you he
was just a big softy, Dog. Go get Ukyo now! Go get him!" she
encouraged, pointing at where Ukyo had gone inside.
Dog growled, taking on a decidedly playful look, and ran off
after Ukyo.
***
Akane woke up early, stretching in the relatively cool
morning air. She could still hear Ukyo's steady breathing and knew
he was still asleep. She smiled briefly. That was why she did most
of the fishing.
She skipped the morning trip to the spring, as she'd need a
trip there after she was done in the ocean anyway. She grabbed
some fruit and some dried meat and put it in her bag. Peeking
around the curtain, Akane looked in on Ukyo.
He was sprawled out on his stomach with Dog sleeping soundly
on the small of his back.
Akane barely contained her snicker. "Come on, Dog," she
whispered. "Let's go fishing. Come on."
Dog opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her. His tail
began to wag slowly and he yawned.
Akane patted her leg. "Come on, Dog. Let's go."
Standing and stretching and Ukyo's back first, Dog hopped
down and trotted over to Akane.
She leaned down and scratched his head. "I don't think Ukyo
will miss you," she whispered and left the house with Dog close at
her heels.
The sun was just casting its rays across the treetops, late
enough that the wild dogs had gone back to their mountain, but
before the temperature started to rise. It looked like she'd get a
good couple hours before it became unbearable on the raft to sit
out on the water.
Akane retrieved a pair of spears from the lean-to. It wasn't
much, but it was enough to keep the rain off their supplies.
Everything else was already down at the beach, stored up in a tree
to keep the dogs from destroying those things.
The walk to the beach was pleasant and uneventful, as it was
every morning. Akane kept a fairly close watch on Dog, though she
knew she had nothing to worry about. The little thing had almost
immediately adopted both her and Ukyo as his guardians. He didn't
stray far from them if he had the choice.
At the beach, Akane climbed the tree and pulled down the
rough reed basket that was filled with a tangle of crude-looking
hide and plant fiber strings.
Back on the ground, Akane removed the tangle, revealing it
to be a net of some sorts. She checked it to see that it was all
intact, then put it back in the basket. Gathering her spears, she
started toward the water.
The raft was safely anchored a bit off shore, in water that
was about chest deep. The first time she had left it in shore, the
dogs had made their presence known on it, and that had been the
last time it had been left on the beach.
Akane waded out, Dog following dutifully behind her,
swimming as the water got deeper and deeper. She put the spears
and basket on the raft, then lifted Dog onto it. Next came the
hard part: lifting the anchor. It was necessary to have an anchor
heavy enough to not get dragged by the tide, but it also needed to
be realistic as they had to lift the thing on to the raft.
Once the rock that acted as their anchor was on the raft,
Akane began pushing the raft out, kicking her legs powerfully.
Once she got out to the infantile reef, she would anchor the raft
to that and get started. It was the same thing she had been doing
ever since she had built the raft.
Dog stood at the front edge of the raft, barking at nothing.
Not an active participant in the morning's activities, Dog was
still Akane's frequent companion to break the monotony of the
task.
At the reef, Akane pulled herself up on the raft then dumped
the rock off the side. Tether staying slack, Akane knew the rock
had landed on the reef.
First things first. Taking a deep breath, Akane dived below
the surface, leaving Dog alone. He paced around the edge of the
raft, peering into the water, barking periodically.
Akane resurfaced for a moment, then took another deep breath
and dived beneath the water again.
"Whoo hoo!" she cried out as she broke the surface of the
water, holding a large contraption in her hand.
Dog didn't know why, but she was happy, so he was happy too
and began barking again. He was hopping excitedly for whatever it
was in the big box in her hand.
Akane climbed up onto the raft, grinning. "We got one, Dog.
We finally got one." She looked at the trap she had brought up,
the thing shaking slightly. "Looks like it's not too happy either.
It's gonna be real unhappy when we cook the little insect."
Dog barked in agreement as that seemed all he was capable of
barking in.
"That's right. Real sorry. You watch it over and make sure
it doesn't get away while I check on the other traps," Akane said
to Dog. She scratched him between the ears before diving into the
water.
Akane flopped on the raft, breathing heavily. None of the
other traps had anything in them. Only one had worked. Still, it
was one in the countless number they had set, trying to figure out
how they would work.
Dog was sleeping next to the trap, his ears twitching as the
trap wiggled every few moments.
Akane watched him and shook her head. That was just about
what she felt like doing. Just lay down, have a nap and not worry
about anything. "What am I gonna do with you, Dog?" she asked
quietly.
He responded by rolling to his side, undisturbed.
Shaking her head, Akane lifted the anchor and moved the raft
a bit down the reef. The fish seemed more prevalent as she moved
to the South. It must have been something about the reef, she
mused.
Stopped on the reef once again, Akane set about using the
net and spear to try and fill the basket with fish. It combined
the worst elements of regular fishing and watching paint dry. She
usually ended up sitting on the raft, staring into the water for
long periods of time.
Unfortunately, she had to let the fish come to her. Her net
was good, but not good enough, and got cut up on the reef,
otherwise she would just let it hang there, catching fish as they
darted among the coral.
The net ended up being her herding device, sending fish
swimming toward the raft where she could hopefully spear them.
This worked, but not very well. They didn't eat fish in large
quantities.
If they had reliable line, she could have just gone pole
fishing, but she didn't trust any thread they could come up with
to hold under the pressure of some of the fish down there, and any
supply of hooks fashioned from bone would be fairly limited.
So Akane lay on her stomach wither her breasts hanging over
the edge of the raft (much more comfortable that way), holding the
net in one hand, a spear in the other, and just waited for fish.
"Dog, I would gladly swap spots with you any day," she
mumbled, glancing back at the sleeping animal. "Then I wouldn't
have to be here with my boobs hanging in the water."
Dog made a strange sound in his sleep, but did not stir.
"Stupid fish. I wish Ukyo was out here. He's better to talk
to than you, Dog. But you're cuter. Barely." Akane looked at her
reflection in the water, wondering how her hair would look like
when it grew out.
"I don't know, Dog. I just get a feeling I should do
something, tell him something, but when I start to, I can't. It's
like someone's just squeezing my voice, like someone's telling me
I shouldn't say anything." Akane sighed, her eyes still on her
reflection.
"Do you think he likes me?" she asked, finally saying it out
loud. She had wondered, but never voiced it. "I think he does, but
I'm not sure. All that stuff he said, it could have been just
because. He didn't really mean it maybe."
Dog's tail twitched and he rolled to his other side.
"Maybe if he said something to me first. Maybe if we were
off this island. I think he does." Akane nodded to herself. "I
think he does, Dog, but I don't know if I can do anything about
it. Not that I don't want to, because I really think I would."
Akane looked back at Dog, who was still asleep. "Silly Dog.
You're not helping me at all." She sighed and looked back at the
water.
"I don't know if I should feel like this. But I don't want
to just stay here and end up being friends for the rest of our
lives." Akane frowned and jabbed with her spear, stabbing a fish.
She brought it out of the water, still wriggling, and dumped
it in the basket.
"Well," she continued, waiting for another fish, "I guess
that maybe I'll just have to make the first move. Ukyo's a guy.
I'm a woman. He can't resist me. He has to like me."
Having convinced herself, Akane went back to her fishing.
"Thanks, Dog. You're a pretty good listener. I guess those floppy
ears are good for something."
Dog snorted and kicked his legs, running in some dream of
his.
Akane anchored the raft and hopped in the water, carrying
everything carefully. The trap was the really bulky thing, bulging
from under her arm.
Dog splashed in behind her, very interested in the wiggling
fish in the basket.
"Not now, Dog. You'll get some later. Besides, I think I've
got a plan for tonight." The little bit of excitement bubbling in
her was suddenly squashed by fear. "Or maybe not. Oh, I don't
know!"
"Don't know what?"
Akane jumped, not noticing Ukyo standing a ways down the
beach. "Nothing. Just... talking to Dog. Look what I caught," she
said, quickly changing the subject. "One of them worked!"
"That's great! Let me help you out." He approached her,
meaning to take some of the things from her.
Akane nodded, looking away demurely and knowing it. She felt
silly, but also like a school girl. She was just thankful Ukyo
didn't notice, or didn't mention it.
"Looks like we'll have a veritable feast tonight," he
beamed, holding up the trap proudly. "Finally a design that
works."
Akane nodded, still unable to meet his gaze. This was
getting to be a feeling she didn't much like. She didn't like not
having control of herself, her feelings.
They headed back to their house, not talking, but feeling
better about the way things were going.
***
Deep under a swollen, bulging mound of earth and organic
material, ten million living beings swarmed.
They were ants. A more precise name for them did not, at
this time, exist. They bore marked similarities to the Leafcutter
Ant which plagues the jungles of the Amazon Basin, and other
traits which were more similar to the Driver Ant of the South
Pacific.
Calling them ten million living beings is only technically
true. The reality was that there was only one, vast, semi-aware
mind spread across ten million separate components, communicating
via a mixture of chemicals, preprogrammed DNA, and exchanges that
humans would term 'psychic phenomena'. It was quite natural,
really. After all, what is a human brain but a collection of
individual neurons through which electricity passes?
A biological timer slowly ripped away seconds. Five, four,
three, two.
One.
Slowly, like some massive animal shaking itself awake, ten
million ants boiled out of the mound. The carefully maintained
egress holes bulged, burst, and split, strained beyond their
capacity was the living tide burst free of the earth. Before long,
the one impressive structure was nothing more than a deflated-
looking lump buried under thousands of armored bodies.
The tide flowed down the path of least resistance, as they
had for the past few millennia. They had a total of five ranges;
when one grew scarce, the entire nest moved to the next site to
give the last one several decades to recover.
Of course, the route they took never fully recovered.
Because the ants needed food for their migration, and could not
let anything slow them down, and were agitated and enraged by the
need to move on.
They passed over trees and shrubs. The shrubs simply melted
like snow. The smaller trees swayed for a moment, turned black
with thousands of swarming beings, and then fell to the ground.
The larger ones would stand, barren, branchless poles, mortally
wounded.
Those birds with nests and young never had a chance. A
parrot, green plumage covered with swarming black, dived into the
air, hung for a second, and then fell like a stone into the
boiling river beneath it.
A wild dog, out hunting, ran headlong into the swarm. It
squealed in terror, turned, and then the river engulfed it. It
went from living animal to glistening skeleton in under thirty
seconds.
Across the path of the black river, a silent, soundless wave
of terror passed. Animals bolted from a sound sleep and ran
blindly into the jungle, not knowing who or what they were fleeing
from. Some ran directly into the ants. Their deaths were quick, if
not pleasant.
They were marvelously suited for this migration, these
insects in black-armored chitin. Six legs, capable of moving them
over rough terrain at high speeds. A set of powerful ripping
mandibles, with a smaller set beneath for chewing and fine
manipulation. Venom sacs were located on each of them, and while
the amount released was insignificant to a large animal like a dog
or a boar, the amount released by dozens of swarming ants would
quickly paralyze the central nervous system. There would be
discomfort, but no pain; the victims were alive and unmoving until
the first ant ate its way into the brain and began to destroy
mental functions.
They could take terrible punishment and keep moving. They
had no concern for each other as individuals, any more than the
cells of our bodies have for each other. If the path written in
their genetic code as impassable, they kept moving forward until
it became passable. And there was very little that could obstruct
them. About the only thing that could was water or massive fire,
and even then they would, likely as not, ford the water on leaves
and in clumps and over the branches of trees, or move around or
burrow beneath the fire.
Like a living flash flood, they boiled along their ancient
pathway. The ground they left behind them was bare of any life.
Just the husks of trees and the bones of animals.
The area would recover. Life springs eternal. But in a few
decades, it would happen all over again.
That's why the trees and brush along the migration path were
so sparse.
***
Ukyo looked outside and frowned.
It was too still. Too quiet, tonight. Normally the jungle
was filled with cries and yelps, and tonight...
Tonight there were noises in the background, shrill and
harsh, somewhere in the far distance. And over that, a pall of
silence.
He ruefully chuckled. The quiet probably just meant that
their tiny patch of civilization was keeping the animals at a wary
distance. That would be a pleasant change.
It would certainly beat being leapt at by wild dogs, anyway.
Smiling slightly he eyed the palisade. A lot of work to
build, but well work it. Nothing short of a rhino was going to get
through that.
The house, now... Frank Lloyd Wright, they weren't, but it
was about as comfortable as you could expect, given what they had
to work with. Crude, but very, very serviceable, and with room to
be expanded.
For one thing, he should really make them their own rooms.
Ukyo sighed. He didn't _want_ separate rooms, which was one
of the main reasons they needed them.
His thoughts slipped into a mode of questioning that was
becoming very, very familiar to him. What had they been before
coming here? Friends? Enemies? Lovers? He was almost certain that
they weren't related, but aside from that...
It was incredibly frustrating. For all he knew, they could
have been openly in love before coming here, and now...
Well, now he was afraid that he felt something for her.
Something very strong. And he had no idea how Akane would react to
learning that.
For one thing, he was stuck on a desert island with her;
maybe a man would feel this way towards any woman stranded with
him. For another... again, he was stuck on a desert island with
her. They needed to work together, closely; if his attraction to
her made her uncomfortable, how were they supposed to do that? It
could get them killed.
So he kept quiet out of necessity. And because he was
afraid, but necessity made a better excuse.
"Ukyo? Something wrong?"
He turned slightly. "I do not think so. It's just... quiet
tonight."
Akane shrugged, leaning against the doorframe in a posture
he wished he could admire more openly. "Good. Better than those
damn mutts camping right outside our gate and howling."
Ukyo nodded, still slightly uneasy. "I suppose..."
"Heh. Yeah, I suppose too. Come to bed, Dog will bark his
silly little head off if anything stirs."
Somewhat reluctantly, he followed her back inside. They each
had their own pallet, and a rush curtain in between the two.
He lay down in his, and blew the fat lamp out.
Akane undressed for bed, her lamp still lit, and he tried
not to watch the shadow behind the curtain. Well, mostly tried.
She was taking her time about it, he thought absently.
When her lamp was finally extinguished, it took a long time
for him to finally get to sleep.
Ukyo had been right when he had expected the palisade to
stop anything smaller than a rhino.
The swarm was much, much bigger than a rhino.
Dog woke from doggish dreams to see a huge, black creature
seeping through the straining, bursting outer wall. A smarter,
wilder animal would have fled. Dog, a domesticated, loyal, stupid
little thing, snarled and ran to attack the intruder.
The intruder barely noticed.
The crazed, agonized yelp woke Ukyo, and he immediately knew
something was horribly wrong. Still half asleep, he jumped from
his pallet, and heard Akane start to struggle free of her cot as
well.
He dashed to the door, threw it open, and sucked in his
breath.
A tide of humming, buzzing, moving blackness was sweeping
across the yard towards the house. Behind it, the palisade wall
was melting, sagging....
"Out!" he screamed, running back into the house. "Akane!
Hurry! We need..."
He moaned, realizing that even if they went out the door
now, they would still be engulfed before they could round the
corner of the house.
*THWACK*
Akane swung the axe a second time, and a section of the back
wall fell out. "Ukyo, here!" He could see the raw fear in her
eyes.
They dashed out the hole in the wall, tiny black object
drooping from the ceiling as they did. One landed on Ukyo's arm,
and he swore as it stung. Was the stuff some sort of acid, or...?
He watched it move, and realized with horror the nature of
their enemy.
"Ants!" he yelled, a touch of hysteria entering his voice.
Of all the ways to die that he could think of...
Akane frantically hacked at the outer wall, ripping away
boards with axe and fists. The palisade hole widened...
Something stung his leg, and he swore. The outriders were
here, and the swarm was only feet away...
Akane squirmed through the hole, and the sight of her
posterior in the moonlight was almost enough to let lust override
fear. Almost.
Ah, our romantic moments, his mind yammered as he hastily
followed her, ants now biting at his feet and lower legs.
The second they cleared the outer wall, they ran like hell.
Around them, the swarm passed.
They dashed through the night, a primal horror filling them.
Something huge any tiny and alien was after them, and their
instincts led them along the path of least resistance as fast as
they could run.
Had reason been a factor, they might or might not have
figured out that least resistance for them was also least
resistance for the ants.
As it was, their options were growing fewer. The palisaded
house had held up the ants in the center path; but the ones to
either side had passed them by. They were in the mouth of a
living, flowing 'V', and a look back by Ukyo told him that they
were losing ground.
"They're gaining!" he screamed. Akane glanced back,
swallowed, and gave him a look of mixed terror and determination.
Then she put on yet more speed, and ran. He somehow matched her.
They were about as fast as any non-Olympic runner, but they
still could tire and slow. The ants, on the other hand, could keep
up their mindless, swarming pace for weeks. It would not take
weeks for Ukyo and Akane to drop from exhaustion.
He swallowed. About the only chance they had was to cross a
river or a gorge or something, and he didn't think that there were
any rivers in the northern part of the island. The only landmark,
in fact, was...
The temple rose out of the distance ahead, bone white
against the greens and browns of the jungle.
Maybe the need to detour around and over it would slow the
ants down... no, he though, running around it would slow them
down, too. And the breath was coming harder for him, and the ants
didn't look like they got tired... this was the end of the line.
"Into the temple!" he yelled to Akane.
"Are you crazy?" she panted back. "We'll be trapped!"
"They're gaining anyway! Maybe we can lift that slab and
hide in the room beneath; I doubt they can eat through solid
rock."
"Did you see that stone? And the stairs? I think there was
something down there..."
"Yes," he said between gasps for breath. "But I _know_ there
is a horde of carnivorous ants behind us, and I suggest that
whatever may or may not be down there is infinitely preferable."
"You have a point."
They dashed through the open gates, carefully ignoring the
blighted foliage surrounding it, and briefly pulled to a halt.
"Where to?" Ukyo asked, glancing around the small courtyard
warily. Akane shrugged.
"I guess your idea was best..." She shuddered. "But I really
don't like it."
"Neither do I, but..."
His voice trailed off, and he mutely pointed out the gate.
The ants had swarmed to the very foot of the blasted
vegetation surrounding the temple. And then, as if cut by a knife,
they split.
They split, and in two streams flowed around the temple like
water around a tall rock.
Akane stared. "They didn't even come up to the walls. They
just hit the clearing and went around. Now why the hell would they
do that?"
Ukyo watched the streaming ants with a certain foreboding.
"Perhaps they know something that we do not."
"Maybe." She stared out at the tide of insects flowing past
the island of pale stone and twisted plants, and shuddered. "You
just said that whatever's in here can't be as bad as the ants.
Still certain about that?"
He opened his mouth to reply, considered, and then shut it
again. He was not at all certain.
"I still find remaining here preferable to leaving," he told
her. "Do you agree?"
Akane kept her gaze fixed on the swarm, a mixture of horror
and fascination on her face. "Yeah. I definitely agree."