Pandion (Genera #1)

Chapter 37

H ad Reika always been this clingy? Kagesawa wondered when she hugged him goodbye at the terminal. If it hadn’t been a 15-hour drive, she said she would have driven them all the way to Hokkaidō herself. She even said she’d try to make more of an effort to keep in touch, but because she’d be extremely busy for the next month or two, if he didn’t hear from her for a while longer, it was nothing personal.

Satoru must have said something remarkable for it to have this effect on her, or she’d grown much softer with age. It didn’t feel bad, but it was strange that she could so easily feel like an actual sister after so many years of being abrasive and distant.

The Sunfish Memuro ferry had been recently refurbished and, despite its respectable age, looked fresh and welcoming as they boarded. The peak travel season had yet to hit, and with the recent events, there were even fewer leisure travellers than usual.

What sort of tickets did you book? Kagesawa examined his boarding pass for a clue, a bit embarrassed to have to rely on Satoru so much. Comfort class? Where’s that?

“ I think we’re on deck five,” Satoru responded. We should probably try to speak normally as much as possible to avoid suspicion.

“ Oh, right.”

Kagesawa followed Satoru to the storage lockers to store their bags and to a room with thirty or so pod beds with privacy curtains. He was a little relieved Satoru had picked what seemed like the cheapest option that still offered enough privacy. His funds after the whole SEU rescue operation were running low, and there was no telling when they’d be able to start working again.

He could have mooched off of his father, and his refusal had perhaps been foolish pride, but as long as he still had enough to get by, he’d rather make do on his own.

“Looks like this one is mine, and the one above it is yours, unless you want to switch? Do you need something or should we turn in for the night?” Satoru popped his shoes into the shoe box at the foot of the bed.

“No, I’m fine. I haven’t been sleeping well lately, so it’ll be good to go to bed early.” Kagesawa removed his shoes and peeked into the pod above. It looked just about spacious enough for him. How rare. He climbed in and indeed, while his feet dangled off the mattress, the space left for a nightstand meant he had room to stretch himself fully. This was perfectly acceptable.

Is it all right? Should I have picked a cabin? Harumine was arranging his bedding somewhere below.

This is good. It’s quiet. I don’t think anyone would go as far as to try to harass us here. There are only a handful of other people on board. I’m looking forward to an uneventful cruise.

Kagesawa didn’t bother with the TV in the pod. With the curtain closed he felt safely tucked in his own little cocoon. Perhaps he’d finally get a good night’s sleep.

Kagesawa was fast asleep when Harumine woke up. Now that Ayase was capable of communicating, there were no more unscheduled wakeups, and Kagesawa was taking full advantage of the chance to sleep in. Harumine decided not to disturb him and went to find breakfast on his own.

There were only two other people in the restaurant when it opened at 7:30. Since it was so quiet and empty, Harumine took his time with the breakfast and left only when a few more people started to show up after nine.

Harumine decided to get some fresh air on the observation deck at the back of the ship. The weather was chilly, but the sky was clear, and the ocean was as calm as oceans came. It was still fairly windy, but, with the warmth of the knitted sweater, not unpleasant. Harumine watched the swells and made a point to enjoy the moment.

As the clock neared eleven, he realised it would only be another two and a half hours to port and a pair more until he was home. The sense of intense relief almost made him tear up, and he chuckled at himself before heading back inside. Kagesawa would be up soon, and he’d probably like something to drink and maybe a sandwich or an onigiri for a quick breakfast.

As Harumine approached the vending machines, he felt the deck beneath him start to rumble and shake. The initial explosive boom was followed by a series of snaps and distressed metal creaking and churning—all of them the kind of sounds one did not wish to hear on a ferry.

Ever so slowly, the ferry started to lean to one side. Harumine looked out the window to be sure he wasn’t imagining the tilt.

Kagesawa! The comfort class bed pods were at the other end of the ship. The noise had come from that direction, but was it all the way from the aft or closer by, midship?

I’m investigating. It came from down below. There’s a lean.

Harumine headed down the stairs. Deck five appeared normal. The lower decks were off limits, doors locked accordingly. People around him were showing signs of distress, rushing around or voicing their concerns in hushed but alarmed tones.

I can’t see anything wrong at the rear. I’m on deck five, but I can’t go lower. How’s it at your end? The rumbles that had died off for a moment resumed again, and the lean was starting to feel severe.

There’s a gaping hole to the car deck.

Kagesawa was looking at a hole in the wall where a door had been ripped off along with some of its surrounding structures. A good chunk of deck four was missing. Vehicles that were supposed to be secured to where they’d been parked had either fallen through or slid across to one side.

Kagesawa could have sworn he could hear the sound of a truck engine from down below. There was an announcement, but it was difficult to hear from all the noise.

I think I can climb down some ways to take a look. You head for the muster station, just in case. Kagesawa made his way down using what was left of the staircase.

You skipped the safety video, didn’t you? I’m pretty sure it didn’t advise you to go down a hole in case of an emergency. A valid point and this probably wasn’t wise, but something seemed very off about this. I know what you’re thinking, but let them investigate it after we’ve evacuated. It’s not your job, and this is not the time. Satoru sounded patient but very stern. Ah damn, he was probably going to be mad.

Just a quick look. Go ahead, I’ll be right there.

The ferry was leaning quite heavily now.

I think we might be fucked, Satoru reported only a few minutes later. They’re launching the life rafts, but some of them are impossible to get to because of the lean. Some of them are not launching properly. Thankfully, there’s not that many of us here. There may still be enough for everyone.

If they were committed to launching the rafts, they’d deemed the situation bad enough that the ferry might actually sink. By the looks of the utter carnage on the car decks, it was no wonder: heavy industrial vehicles had rolled over along with a fair number of the trucks. It made no sense that they had moved that much with all of the security measures to prevent it. The air was heavy with the scent of fuel, exhaust and smoke.

Can you calculate something for me, Ayase? In his head, Kagesawa made a detailed list of all the vehicles he could spot, their placings, approximately how much they’d moved and whatever else he could tell instinctively but was unable to make sense of.

I see what you mean, Ayase responded. There are a couple of possible scenarios, but my best guess is that there was space between the T-8000 docking robot and the adjacent row of trucks. The T-8000 has pre-programmable work modes and remote activation capabilities. Ramming it against the trucks, which seem to have been overloaded, has compromised the floor braking system. When it malfunctioned, it released a whole column and the rest of the chain-reaction. Moreover, the loading pattern for these vehicles is incorrect. This was intentional.

While Ayase was relaying their conclusions, Kagesawa made his way one deck lower to confirm similar simultaneous events. He could go no lower because of a rising water level in this compartment, so he turned around and headed back up. Something must have breached the hull, but on a ship this size, something like that wasn’t going to cause major issues.

What’s taking you so long? Satoru sounded calm, but his tone was unmistakably threatening. Kagesawa couldn’t afford to dally any longer or he’d have hell to pay once they saw each other again.

How’s it going with the life rafts? With the lean this bad, Kagesawa could not imagine it going any better, but he was asking to distract Satoru.

Some have managed to escape into the ones that were launched successfully. The crew is busy rounding up the rest of the passengers. A lot of them are stuck because of the lean. It was bearable a while ago, but it’s getting impossible now.

That meant there would surely be casualties. Kagesawa stopped.

Ayase… do you think… What good could one person do? He was no superhero.

Well, there is another docking robot, the T-7500. It is dual operable, but I’m sure we could circumvent that.

The docking robots were massive heavy-duty machinery used to haul and manoeuvre shipping containers, boats and even small ships across a shipyard and in the shallows around the port. They were very versatile but usually required a team of two to four to operate.

If the T-7500 was still operational, it was an older model that Kagesawa had used before when he’d worked with Hashimoto at a shipyard for a little over a year. He knew its limitations and capabilities fairly well. It could be worth a shot.

Can you find a crew member to relay messages to the captain? I’m going to try to correct the lean, but I’ll need some help. Kagesawa was anticipating the incredulous ‘What? You? How?’ from Satoru, but it never came.

I’ll see what I can do, he said instead.

Kagesawa located the dock robot and climbed up into its cockpit. It was probably heading to be repurposed or scrapped, but it was in great condition for its age and started up and ran like a charm.

Kagesawa had rather missed operating these things, although with no one to share the work-load, keeping everything organised was much more of a challenge. Ayase being so independent and capable was like having another person doing the other half of the work. It was such a shame Ayase’s potential was wasted on someone like himself.

To save time Kagesawa performed the quick and dirty version of the initialisation procedures and started clearing aside the smaller cars, even before the engine had reached its normal operational capacity. Moving around a few cars didn’t do much on this large a ship, but once Kagesawa managed to shift some of the trucks to another compartment, there was some noticeable improvement.

What do you need me to relay to the captain? Satoru had been busy at his end.

Kagesawa explained his plan while Ayase calculated which vehicles to move and where. Without being able to secure them back to where they’d been, Kagesawa had to rely on the walls and beams to keep them in place.

We need a little bit more. Is it doable? They’re so close to getting the rest of the people out from the port side cabins. It was a difficult request. Kagesawa was running out of space to store the weight.

The captain says that the ship is taking in water and that some of the bulkheads are damaged, but there should be enough compartments intact to ensure buoyancy so long as the lean doesn’t get worse, and we don’t take in water from the side. I’ve informed him of what you’re doing. They’re still having trouble with the port side cabins.

It was good news that the ferry wasn’t sinking just yet, but it was news to Kagesawa that it might actually still sink if the conditions got any worse.

The lower car deck was starting to get hot and hazy, which meant there was a considerable fire blazing somewhere nearby. The likeliest culprit were the trucks and their cargo.

Is he aware of the fire? Hopefully that had been taken into consideration in their calculations.

Kagesawa wiped some sweat off his forehead, removed the hoodie he was wearing on top of his t-shirt and, out of sheer desperation, packed a kei car into a slot between two trucks.

Where else was left? Since Satoru hadn’t yet said anything regarding the fire, it was becoming clear it had probably not been factored in. Shit. How many people stuck in the cabins?

Twenty… twenty-three? At least. And they’re trying to help some people in the women’s bath area. How bad is the fire?

There was really only one solution to this problem.

Kagesawa located three more trucks. Their estimated combined weight would come close to the maximum the docking robot could handle. Without knowing what was loaded onto the trucks, it was a very rough estimate. If he was wrong, the weight could be enough to crush him.

I’m going to move some very heavy things. Tell people to hold on. Is two minutes enough warning?

Kagesawa loaded the trucks on top of one another and waited until Satoru gave him the go ahead before he pushed the trucks up against the opposing wall.

The noise and the heat were tremendous. The docking robot creaked and struggled under the load, but it was holding the trucks successfully. He’d not meant for it to be a suicide mission, but with this much weight pinning the robot down, he was effectively stuck where he stood. If he tried to move the robot, it would get squashed, and the cockpit hatch was now facing toward the wall, blocked.

This is great! It’s working. They’ve got almost everyone. We’re loading crew members next. Can you hold this steady for another five, maybe ten minutes?

Sure, no problem. Kagesawa sat in the cockpit watching the orange haze through the window. He wondered whether the fire would reach him before the docking robot ran out of fuel.

As the adrenaline faded, he was forced to face the consequences of his rash decisions. This was not a game. He couldn’t press restart for a do-over. It felt oddly anticlimactic now that he’d done what he’d set out to do. He’d saved those people, but he didn’t know their names, and he hadn’t seen their faces. In a matter of minutes, he’d have to say something to Satoru.

Ayase, could you project something normal to him. I don’t want to take any risks. The main thing was to ensure Satoru got on one of the life rafts.

We’re done here. Come up.

All right, the moment of truth. Kagesawa steadied himself. Go ahead, I’m already on my way. I’ve got a raft here so don’t wait up.

It was getting a little too hot for comfort, but he trusted Ayase to project something suitable out to Satoru.

I’m sorry Ayase. I was hoping I’d be able to provide you with something better, but at least we saved a whole bunch of people, right? It wasn’t all for nothing.

The easiest, fastest death would probably be to let the docking robot be squashed, but he had to wait until Satoru was safely on a life raft before he could let go of the controls. That meant having to deal with the heat for a while longer.

I’m not happy, but I understand. I would not have helped if I disagreed. Would you like me to do something while we wait? It was a kind offer, but there was nothing to do.

It was annoying that he’d gotten this far and gone through so much, yet it was all going to end right before he could pass the finish line. He certainly hadn’t expected to go down like this. Why was this even happening? All of this trouble to sabotage a ferry and for what? To sink some random idiot in a docking robot… Kagesawa chuckled.

You’re not a random idiot, Ayase said. It was kind of them to say. No, I mean you’re not random. Based on what we know, this points to JufO, and you are the target.

We know this?

Yes. I could confirm it for you if I had access to the ship’s WiFi, but I don’t have the password.

Kagesawa sighed. Not random but definitely an idiot.

So, I’ve had someone tailing me without realising it, and I’ve placed everybody in danger by boarding this ferry? Ah, shit. Fuck. Fucking hell. He’d been secretly hoping for this to be his redemption arc after all the times he’d royally fucked up in his life, but he’d been the cause of this wreck instead? Fuck. Well, it doesn’t matter. At least I’ve made sure no one else got seriously hurt. He closed his eyes.