Prologue

The prologue of this story.

    America.  Every acre of land was now used for the Population Sustenance Expansion Program.  When the development hit the country’s borders, the government began buying up land from Mexico and Canada.  Canada resisted, and war was declared.  Most people believed Canada would fall easily, as if they had no power.  But, America soon found out Canada was a very militant-empowered country.
    The Americans tried to figure out how Canada had been developing weapons under their noses, and eventually traced the weapons back to Russia.  Alaska, once part of Russia then sold to America and now found itself back in Russia’s care, was a relay point for the Russians to supply the Canadians.  Or, rather, for Russia to prepare an invasion of America.  Learning Russia was the origin of Canada’s awesome power, America declared war upon both Canada and Russia.  Seeing an opportunity to reclaim its lost colonization project of the Eighteenth Century, France joined America against Canada.
    Of course, now that the French wanted to reclaim their lost colony, other European countries saw this as an opportunity to take back their lost colonies.  England declared war against America, and Spain did likewise to Mexico.  While Spain took Mexico back without a problem, America was able to hold a double-front war for a while.  But, when England developed new weapons, America began to falter.  This was when they turned to the best country in the field of mechanical development:
    Japan.  Japan had kept out of this war, not wanting to be bombed or invaded like had happened in World War II, despite the fact this time they could easily ward off either threat.  Instead, the Japanese were looking for a way to populate outer space, as they saw by the Americans’ consumption rates that Earth would soon be uninhabitable.  While most countries already had space stations in orbit, most were made for militant purposes, and a few were for tourists; regardless, they only housed less than fifty people.  Using ideas from their popular animations, they began designing living quarters for space that could house the population of a small nation.  Juxtaposed to the development for space living, the Japanese also worked on advancing their robots and weapons fields.
    However, now that America was interested in acquiring their products, the Japanese agreed to sell arms to the weakening nation.  The Treaty of Warfare Production for Mercantile Purposes was created; this guaranteed that Japan, and any other country for that matter, would be allowed to produce and sell weapons of warfare to warring countries while remaining politically neutral.
    While America was the main consumer of the Japanese warfare weapons, Japan also supplied weapons to other countries under the Treaty.  Such countries included areas of Europe where Germany was invading, and also to the Spanish.  With Spain occupying Mexico, England tried to convince the Spanish to side with them to get a chokehold on the United States.  The Spanish refused, declaring their only purpose in the war was to reclaim Mexico.
    With the new, superior firepower, America was able to turn the tables on England, riding them from their country.  Seeing what the Americans were now capable of, Russia attempted to buy these new arms from Japan.  While the Treaty would have protected Japan, the Japanese decided it would be in their best interests not to sell to Russia.  With no equal advantage against America, Russia quickly cut connections with Canada and withdrew.  To prevent easy invasion of their mother land, Russia dropped a hydrogen bomb on Alaska.  Alaska, and much of northwestern Canada, were shattered because the extremely cold climate had caused that region to become ice-like.
    The Chinese at this time had managed to acquire some development plans from the Japanese Weapons Production Department, and attempted to make these new weapons.  However, China still hadn’t fully developed as a Capitalistic country, and their makes of Japanese weapons were poor quality.  That the Chinese had acquired plans over a decade old also did not help.  However, the Russians were unaware of this fact and bought the Chinese weapons, anyway.
    By now, the French had reclaimed Canada with Japanese-supplied American weapons.  Germany failed in its attempt to take Italy, Holland, and a few other European countries; however, now those countries warred against each other to decide who would have rights to Germany.  England, having failed to take America, now hid undisturbed in the shadows of the war; America did not try to retaliate.
    Five years had passed.  During those five years, Japan had completed their first outer space living quarters, which was housing ten-thousand people of all ages; the experiment was designed for fifteen-thousand people, leaving room in the population for children yet to be born.  Soon after, France and Egypt bought the blueprints for these outer space living quarters, and started their own outer space colonization programs.  China once again acquired Japanese blueprints, wanting to make their own space colony.
    However, during those five years, European countries continued to fight for Germany.  Each year, one country would win Germany for about six months.  Then, another fight would occur between the same countries, and another country would win Germany.  This continued for five years.
    During those five years, America continued with its Population Sustenance Expansion Program.  At first, the French gave America some of Canada.  But, when the time came where 50% of the country they worked to reclaim was going to be gone, the French took a stand and decided to take back what the Americans consumed.  Having been supplied over the years by America, who divided the new weapons from Japan between the two countries, the French were up-to-date and able to defend their reclaimed country.
    At this time, England came out of the shadows with another new weapon.  With the French busy overseas fighting a war, and their mother land working to develop an outer space colony, this left them open for invasion.  Around this same time, the Germans grew tired of changing hands every six months, and started to fight for their own country.  Russia had still been buying defunct weapons from China, as Japan still refused to supply them.  And the Spanish made their way down Mexico, into South America, and helped to develop many countries.
    England seized France’s incomplete space colony, planning to finish it themselves.  The countries warring for Germany hadn’t been involved with purchasing weapons from Japan for five years, so the Japanese decided to sell their wares to Germany.  Germany easily conquered the countries that had been warring over it, and set its goal for Russia.  Russia, believing it had the same firepower Germany had, anxiously went to war.  When Russia learned their weapons were inferior, they came to a truce with Germany; half of Russia would belong to the Germans.  The remaining half of Russia went to war with China out of rage.  Fearing the Russians would steal their space colony, the Chinese quickly sent what was finished into space.  A month later, it came down on Morocco.  The Republic of Africa accused the Chinese of using the space colony as a means of warfare; this was further supported when it was discovered China had equipped their space colony with a laser cannon, and a map of Africa found in the colony’s computer guidance system.  Though, some people believe that was false evidence planted by the Republic.
    The world was in chaos.  While there were many neutral countries, but Antarctica and Australia were the only two continents unaffected by the war.  They didn’t remain that way for long.  Antarctica’s solitude provided perfect testing grounds for new weapons, and Australia was the closest continent for weapons researchers on Antarctica to resupply once a month.  However, the Australians kept their neutrality, using the Treaty of Warfare Production for Mercantile Purposes as their shield despite they weren’t involved in warfare material production.
     The salty smell of the sea filled the air.  Even though it was night, it wasn’t noticeable; the lights from the city illuminated it at clear as daylight, and the streets were always busy at all hours.  Most buildings were open twenty-four hours; the few that were only open during the day had counterparts with the same goods and/or services that were only open during the night.  Even nightclubs were countered by dayclubs, and banks were always open.
    The Central Tower, the tallest building which was positioned directly in the center of the city, was adorned on its nine facets with large image panels.  Currently, these screens created a soft dark glow to help the process of illuminating the darkness below.  However, these screens would be used for announcements from the city officials, ranging from the results of the latest sports event to giving evacuation orders and everything in between; the latter hadn’t been done for quite some time.  But, in the event an evacuation order was to be given, the citizens could evacuate into underground stations capable of housing and supporting double the city’s occupants for two years.
    Until then, the citizens were free to intermingle with their friends and colleagues, flesh and steel alike.  It was rare to go anywhere in the city without finding some kind of sentient, automated machine.  Anywhere from the ATMs at banks to the pleasure makers on the street corner, everything had a will of its own; it was said that at least once a week, someone at the ATM would hold up the line while carrying on a conversation with the dispenser.  The only machines without their own will were things that needed human operation: automobiles and weapons, as it would be dangerous to let these things have their own will.  Imagine if automobiles had their own will; road rage would have a new meaning.
    This was Tokyo.  Or Neo Tokyo as some liked to call it.  Including him.
    He stood at the bow of the freight ship.  Japan was neutral in this war, but it produced the best equipment, as the other countries lacked the ability to make finely tuned sentient machines.  As a result of the Japanese’s meticulous skills of making these perfect machines, their equipment was in high demand in the other countries.  And the transport vessel he was on was returning from a freight shipment to Hawaii.  From Hawaii, the equipment would be taken to the Continental United States, via confidential U.S. Navy craft.
    Acting as a weapons exchange overseer wasn’t the greatest job in the world.  In fact, for someone of his rank, it was probably the most pathetic job available.  At least once a month he would make this trip: from Japan to Hawaii and back to Japan.  And despite the fact he had been born in America, he was never allowed to go back to the Continent.
    He didn’t mind, though.  Even though he had been doing this job for a year now, he still wasn’t sick of Japan.  Being such a small country, it was easy to transit to anywhere; even the world-famous magnetic bullet train capable of going 300 miles per hour was standard to the speed of current automobiles.  And he thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the countryside; it wasn’t like back in his home country, where the countryside no longer existed because of that cursed Population Sustenance Expansion Program.
    As the freight ship entered the Tokyo Harbor Dock, it passed through the infrared laser grid.  That annoying low buzz, as the grid scanned the ship and occupants for anything illegal, was a sound he was used to but still bothered by.  Maybe it was because he feared he would become impotent from too much exposure to the invisible rays.
    Once the ship docked, and he walked down the boarding ramp, he thought about one more reason he enjoyed returning to Japan instead of going home.
    “Koibito!” that squeakish voice called out.
    There she was.  Waiting for him.  Every time he came into dock, she was waiting, dressed in a modest kimono of the brightest colors.  No, her kimono wasn’t the brightest colors; they were rivaled by her teeth, exposed with her biggest smile in the whole world.  Despite her limited movement by the article of clothing, she ran towards him, leaping into his arms and planting her lips against his own.  After a moment, one of the other passengers cleared his throat, and the couple quickly moved away.
    “Really,” the gruff-voiced man said.  “You do this every time.  Don’t you two know what a room is for?”
    His friend.  That man had also been born in America, and was on the same detail.  That man also was never allowed to return home.
    The lover looked at his woman deeply in the eyes.
    “Yeah,” he spoke softly.  “We’re there every night.”
    She giggled softly, and kissed him again.  His friend rolled his eyes and walked away.

    When he was first transferred to Tokyo, he lived on the military base.  He had found this girl one day when he was passing one of the Shinto Shrines; even to this day, in a city that was ruled with a literally-iron fist of technology, the ancient Shinto Shrines were still important.  He had met this young miko on her way down the steps; she was going to do some shopping.  While many of the Japanese girls had a lust for American guys, and had tried to seduce him before, this one was different.  She appeared interested in him, not in his reproductive abilities.  Inviting him to join her at the store, the two talked and learned a lot about each other.  For the next month or so, they met almost daily, talking and going out to town.  He wasn’t quite sure when it was, but somewhere a relationship started.  Shortly after, he was invited to live in her Shinto Shrine, as she was the only one living there.
    And so, that’s where he lived now, instead of on the military base.
    She was an interesting combination.  She was a housewife; she cleaned the shrine and cooked meals, and attended him with every bit of attention when he fell ill.  But, she also has a strong sexual side; she would clean and cook wearing nothing but an apron, serving sushi with her nude body as the table, and her method of helping him overcome illness included smothering him with her nude body.  Then there was her masochist side, which was similar to Japanese porn movies: bondage and rough play.  Of course, she liked cosplaying in anything from innocent miko to naughty schoolgirl.
    They lay naked on the futon, his wide-awake body meshed with her sleeping one.  It felt strange.  Maybe because the Japanese were against foreigners in their shrines.  But, for some reason, she took him into her shrine.  For a reason he couldn’t understand.  Not to mention his codename...
    A large boom outside shook the shrine.  While his lover was stirred from her sleep and was slowly getting up, he was already on his feet and headed for the shrine door.  Even through that opaque door, he could see the bright orange glow on the other side, and the smell of smoke was already thick.  Hastily throwing the door open, he was in shock by what he saw.
    Tokyo Harbor was on fire, the night winds tugging the flames inward towards the city.  The panels on the Central Tower were broadcasting an evacuation order, simultaneously scrambling all military personnel, Japanese or not.  His attention was pulled upwards towards the sound of fighter jets passing overhead. One of the jets fired a missile towards a display panel on Central Tower.  That panel was quickly diffused, and started to fall towards the residential zone below.
    A large, humanoid machine emerged from an opening in the ground, catching the falling panel and effectively saving the residential zone.  The fighter jets began to focus their attacks on this robot, which in turned used the broken display panel as a shield and retaliated with its own guns on its head.
    As the girl came to his side and touched his arm, he quickly shook out of his daze.  The remaining three panels were once again giving a scramble order to all military personnel.  He quickly rushed back to their room and began getting dressed.
    “They’re giving an evac and scramble order,” he told the girl.  “I need you to collect the valuables and get out of here while I go fight.”
    She nodded softly, and the two exchanged a quick kiss.  He then quickly hurried out the door.  As he rushed down the steps of the temple, he found his friend waiting in a jeep.  He quickly hopped in, and the two were off to the military base.
    “They’re trying to get the shields online as fast as possible,” his friend said.  “It’s taking a little while to fire up the generators because everything else in the city is still online.  Once they’ve shut down enough to redirect the energy to the shields, the shields will go up.  Our orders are the following: get to base, get in a jet, get in the skies, and kill stuff until the shields are online.”  His friend smiled at him.  “Sound easy enough?”
    He nodded.  “Yeah.”  He looked towards the Central Tower, where the giant robot was fighting with the broken display panel.  “But what about that thing?”
    “What?  This is Japan.  You didn’t expect them to not have one of those, right?”
    He shrugged.  “Fair enough.”
    “They probably have a dozen or so of ‘em underground.”

    The attacking jets were of Japanese make, so it was obviously one of the countries that Japan had sold to.  And because they were older models, it could have been a country which Japan no longer dealt with.  But, because they were unmarked, it was impossible to tell which country they were coming from; being unmarked also made it difficult in the skies to tell the difference between the attackers and the defenders.
    Difficult to the naked eye, anyway.  These new models were equipped with computers that exchanged data with each other, “talking” to each other.  So, all that had to be done was find a fighter jet that didn’t “talk” back and the enemy was found.
    Being in the skies in a dogfight was what he was trained for, not those crappy weapon shipment routes.  And it was thrilling.
    Heading towards another jet, it took the computer only a second to “talk” to the other.  The green “Ally” label appeared next to that jet, and he veered away to find another target.  With another jet in his sight, the computer quickly gave it the red “Enemy” label.  A second later, he had fired into that enemy, placing enough bullets into its craft so it exploded before crashing down in the city.
    The annoying low-pitched tone signified an enemy was identified out of his sights.  With a red arrow on his display screen pointing in the enemy’s direction, he followed that indicator until it vanished; the enemy was now somewhere in his field of vision.  Two jet were in front of him, exchanging fire, but they were too far away for the computer to recognize them.  He moved in closer.
    As he went to help his comrade, he took note he was flying over the Shrine.  He brought a miniature picture up on his display, allowing him to look below.  His girl was leaving the Shrine, dressed in his brightly-colored kimono, her arms full of various things.
    “I told her to take only the important stuff,” he muttered to himself.  “She should have been gone an hour ago.”
    A missile flew by on his main display, and the sub display was consumed with a black cloud of debris.  He stared at the sub-display for a moment, completely neglecting his situation, waiting for the soot to clear.  Various beeps and buzzes and alerts went off as the hail of gunfire struck his fighter, but he didn’t care; he continued to look at the secondary screen.
    Finally, the soot cleared.
    A large crater was all that remained.  The Shrine was gone, and so was she.  Only scraps of her innocent kimono lay tattered on the ground, the bright colors now soiled with dark ash.
    Fury overtook him.
    The cockpit was flashing a red light, and the main display cautioned he should eject.  He ignored the warning and turned his attention towards the one raining bullets on him.  He rushed towards his enemy, firing his guns; if the enemy didn’t explode in time, then he’d just ram it!
    But, the enemy jet did explode, and he flew through the cloud of its remains.  With the “Eject” warning in effect, the computer refused to tell him the difference between friends and foes; he’d just have to see who decided to open fire on him.
    His friend’s portrait appeared on a side panel.
    “What’re you doing!?” his friend shouted at him.  “Your engines are on fire, and you’re acting all kamikaze!”
    “They just blew up the Shrine, but more importantly, my girlfriend!”
    A jet open fired, and he returned it.
    “That’s an ally!” his friend exclaimed.
    “He shot at me first!” he responded.
    “That’s because your computer is locked up and isn’t giving out a signature.  Get out of there before you either get shot down by friendly fire, or shoot someone else down with friendly fire.”
    “Only if you give me your jet.  I am going to have my revenge.”
    There was a moment of silence, and then his friend cut connection.  Soon, another jet came down by his side, and the cockpit hatch opened with the jet set to autopilot.  He quickly swapped jets with his friend, and his friend ejected from his burning vehicle.  The broken jet was designed to do this: it shot forward towards the enemy after his friend had ejected.  The ruined aircraft collided with the enemy, destroying it.  Autopilot kamikaze, as activated when the pilot ejected.
    In a fresh jet, he continued with his bloodlust rampage.  Friends and foes now correctly identified and located, he opened fire on anything marked in red.  He clenched his teeth tightly, breathing hard, his eyes ready to burst it felt like.
    “Kill,” he said to himself.  “Kill!  Kill!  KILL!  KILL!”
    Something pecked at his craft, and he immediately turned his attention in the direction it came from.  He didn’t even bother to see what was shooting at him; he just lined it up in his sights and returned fire.  He continued to react like this to anything that even remotely threatened him; somewhere in the carnage, he had shot down a flock of birds because one of them dropped its waste is midflight on his main camera.
    As he charged one more enemy, a bluelight shot up in front of him.  Moving too fast to turn his jet around, he quickly ejected, and the jet went into autopilot kamikaze mode.  However, it flew straight into the wall of blue light, and exploded without hitting an enemy.
    Enough electricity was now available to erect the shield around Tokyo.
    The small jets under and behind his seat sparked momentarily, then let out soft flows of energy.  The seat’s guidance system was taking him back to Tokyo Military Base.  With nothing else to do while he waited, he gazed around.  The sulfuric smell accompanied the burning debris and smoldering ash.  Both sides had taken casualties, mostly by the sudden barrier erection; it seemed he wasn’t the only pilot who had to eject because the wall got in his way.
    He gazed down at his feet, hanging from his seat.  Looking down at the city, many miles below.  He contemplated it, even putting his hand on the seatbelt to unbuckle it.
    “Don’t do it,” her voice echoed in his head.  “You’re needed for something much greater.”
    “She wouldn’t want me to throw my life away,” he said to himself.

    The tides of war had changed.  Russia was still waging war against China with the Republic of Africa; China had formed the United Middle Asian Region with Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, and Vietnam.  While France had fallen under England earlier, Russia proposed a deal to help France regain power in exchange for some of the wares its Canadian colony acquired; France agreed.  With France regaining power, and Canada still not faltering, the United States and England joined forces to fight the two French nations.  At this time, the natives of South America became irritated with the Spanish taking their continent, and were beginning to fight back.
    It was soon learned that the country which attacked Japan was the United States, claiming that Japan was selling its goods to potential enemies of the country, even though the Treaty of Warfare Production for Mercantile Purposes allowed Japan to do so without fear of being penalized.
    Needless to say, Japan ceased producing and selling weapons to other countries, and began focusing on arming itself.  All foreigners in the country were imprisoned as POWs, and treated as such under the Geneva Convention.

    That was two months ago.
    Two months ago, he had lost the most innocent woman on the planet.  He barely had time to grieve her death, when he was suddenly detained.  And for the last two months, he had been here.
    This cell was his new room.  At least once a week, all detainees were allowed outside for exercise, but he refused this option.  It’s not like the cell was too bad; it was comfortable for a place of punishment, but less comfortable than a low-budget apartment.  There was carpet, but it was composed of short, hard curls, instead of long, plush strands.  In one corner was a bed instead of a futon, though he would have preferred the latter.  A wooden desk was in the opposite corner, with a hard-back chair.  He had re-arranged the room so the video game console was on this desk, not on the floor where it first was.  And then the giant, steel door shaped like wood, with a food slot in it.  If he needed to use the bathroom, he would have to be escorted by a guard.
    And it was a rather spacious room.  Even though it lacked any sort of gym equipment, he was still able to keep his body in shape with aerobics and basic exercises.  He could even lay on the floor and have plenty of room to roll around in his sleep, if he had been a restless sleeper.
    “Mr. American,” that Japanese word came from the other side of the door.
    He hated being called that.  He wasn’t the only American in the building.  In fact, it was questionable whether he was one at all.  He’d had dual citizenship for a year now, being engaged to a Japanese woman, and he hadn’t set foot on land back home except in Hawaii; he came to the conclusion no one was allowed to return to the Continent because the government was preparing the invasion of Japan, and didn’t want someone to alert the Japanese.
    “Mr. American.”
    “I have a name,” he replied coldly in Japanese.
    “No, you don’t have a name.  You have a codename, and it’s a stupid one.  No one in their right mind would call you by that name.  At least, not in Japan.”
    “It’s better than ‘Mr. American’ at least.”
    There was a moment of silence between the two.
    “Hey,” that gruff voice came from the other side of the door.
    He raised an eyebrow at the door.  “Daaku?”
    “Yeah.  Hey, they’re letting us free if you stop being a dick and join the fight.”
    “Who’re we fighting?”
    “Take a guess.”
    He looked down at the ground for a moment.  It was the homeland, but they’d abandoned him.  And they also took away the woman he loved, and destroyed the country he came to know as his second home.  He looked up at the door again.
    “Right,” he said in Japanese.  “I’ll help fight.”
    The mock-wooden door opened, revealing the Japanese guard and Daaku; the latter was dressed in a new military uniform.
    “Let’s go, Otaku.”