Chapter 1 (1/2)
I'd just as soon die
Violently bouncing around in an autoirl
continued to rim assessments of her situation
Mud from the sloshy road splattered across the windshi+eld,
obscuring the coniferous trees that barely were visible in the farthest
reaches of the headlights
The girl caught a glimpse of her reflection in the side-view
on her thumb as if possessed
I should be tanner from tennis practice Why am I so pallid?
How long has it been since my last tennis practice? A week? A month?
A year?
Tio home, anyway
It'd be easiest if they just killed me now
”Alruff man who
earing a stiff military uniform ”In just a couple of miles, we'll
be in the mountain district From there, you'll be able to return to japan”
Liar We'll never get away in a vehicle like this
Those people will capture ain in that
water tank—that deep, dark water tank, a place where nothing exists but endless,
, they won't let one out
”I'll do anything, just let me out!”
They won't hear me I can't even hear myself
Gradually, they will break me
The only thing I have left is biting my nails, That's all I can do It is my
only joy Nails are fantastic: They hurt, they bleed They're great Blood comes out, it
dissolves Nails … nails … nailllllls
”Stop that!” the irl's hand away from her
mouth
For a moment, she stared absently at him ”Let me bite—or
else, kill me Let me b-bi-bite”
The irl's speech devolved
into a pathetic stutter, like that of a broken tape deck His sympathy
turned to anger
”Those scus to you, didn't they?”
A bright flash of light behind the vehicle punctuated the man's
sentiht
painted a streak across the sky as it sailed over the fleeing Jeep
A rocket!
An explosion sent fla toward the front
of the Jeep, which skidded sideways The windshi+eld shattered, and
the jeep toppled and rolled through the flames
Not wearing a seat belt, the girl was tossed clear of the wreck
through the side
If she had taken a breath at that moment, or if she had opened
herflames would have scorched her
lungs Sadly, she lacked the willpower to scream
Crashi+ng shoulder first into the snowy, round, she tumbled to
a stop Although laid out like a doll, the girl had no desire to move
But her cloudy consciousness cleared When she slowly lifted
her head, she saw the mostly destroyed Jeep snapped in half like a
twig, its rear wheels spinning futilely
The girl tried to get up, but there was no strength in her
shoulder—it was either broken or dislocated Oddly enough,
however, she felt no pain She half-crawled toward the automobile
wreckage, spotting the battered and bloody driver pinned beneath
so
”Take this,” he gasped, holding out a CD case with a tre
hand ”Gosouth”
His eyes ith tears
”Hurry Run”
And that was it for him His tear-filled eyes were still halfopen,
forever frozen in anguish
The girl did not understand why thePain? Fear
of death? So else?
Suddenly, her survival instincts kicked in She stood, took the
CD case, and began to plop one dirty, bloody foot after another
through the mud She had no idea which way south was, but she
walked in a straight line regardless, continually biting her thumbnail as
she went
Rotors chopped noisily through the air An engine howled as
it sucked in air and gas It was a helicopter—and it was approaching
quickly! The forest swayed in the man-made wind
The girl looked up to see a gray attack helicopter, its body
rugged and gnarled like an old tree
How ugly, she thought
”Halt!” warned the helicopter's external speaker ”Or you will
be shot to death!”
Of course, she did not halt She continued to drudge in a
straight line
”Where do you think you're going?” The helicopter's un
fired a few rounds into the ground near the girl Chunks of earth flew
through the air, and the girl fell to the ground
”Bad girls get punished”
As she tried to pick herself up using her one good arm, a
sround around her
The iirl made it
ih the
helicopter's loudspeaker
Deterirl continued to crawl
”Oh, poor little girl Look hoorn out she is! And still, she
keeps—” the voice cut out, leaving only the sound of the chopper's
spinning blades
”Look out! It's an AS Increase alti—”
The high-pitched sound of crushi+ng metal interrupted the pilot
The helicopter becairl looked up
and saw so out of the machine's nose
A knife?
It was a huge knife—a throwing knife as large as a person The
red-hot blade stuck clear through the helicopter's nose
Fighting a losing battle with gravity, the attack helicopter
lurched in a great spin Fishtailing like crazy, it hurtled toward the
girl She had neither the time nor the aspiration to move from its
path She stayed rooted in place, watching the hunk of iron that
would bring her demise
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of an
extreure
The ure straddled her, spread its arms, braced its
legs, and stood in front of the onco helicopter
Crash!+
Scraps of metal flew around, and small parts rained from the
sky The grating sounds of grinding gears and uselessly spinning
turbines played an aircraft's dirge duet
When the girl looked up, she saw that the giant humanlike
shape had caught the helicopter with its upper body Its back bent
vigorously, and steaushed from the joints in its arms, shoulders,
hips, and knees
It began to walk, its heavy footsteps kicking up chunks of dirt
and snow The machine carried the helicopter a sufficient distance
froirl, whereupon it tossed the whirlybird into the forest The
chopper wreckage fell to the ground and exploded
The hly twenty-six feet tall, turned
around It was backlit by the fla helicopter
Finally, the girl was able to get a good look at the mysterious
behe
legs, tight waist, massive chest, and burly arms; it just happened to be
coated with arhter pilot
wearing a helun and backpack,
just like a person would
”It's anArm Slave, an assault trooper!”
The AS, a iant, returned to her side
”Are you injured?” asked the humanoid machine in a calm male
voice ”I had to use an anti-tank dagger because the helicopter was so
close to you My shot cannon would have been much too powerful”
Still in a state of shock, the girl said nothing The AS knelt,
braced itself with one of its giant mechanical hands, and lowered its
head It looked like a scene fro
before a tattered princess
Ssssssss
A hatch on the Arm Slave's torso opened, and a soldier popped
up through the hatch behind the machine's head
He wore a black pilot suit and sear that
ht silhouetted him
First-aid kit in hand, the AS operator climbed out of the weapon
He was young and Asian, with messy black hair, sharp eyes, a
knitted brow, and a tight-lipped mouth
The soldier was still a boy—probably not much older than the
girl he had co childlike about his
demeanor; he left no impression of the innocence and irresponsibility
characteristic of boys his age
”Where are you hurt?” asked the pilot He spoke in japanese,
which surprised the girl
When she didn't respond, he asked her if she understood
japanese She nodded almost imperceptibly
”Are you with thatto the spot where
the driver lay dead
”Yes I'm also part of Mithril”
”Mithril?”
”An undercover anization with no national
affiliation”
Again, the girl did not kno to respond
As the soldier began to adirl suddenly
becaed,
but she
”He died”
”Yes, it appears he did”
”He was trying to set me free”
”That's the kind of man he was”
”Doesn't it make you sad?”
The young soldier te her shoulder
in tape so he could consider his emotional state ”I'm not sure,” he
finally said
After he finished wrapping the girl's shoulder and arm, the
young irl's body without restraint or
bashfulness
What are you going to do with me?”
”First, I'll take you in my AS to the transport helicopter's LZ
Once we're on the helicopter, we'll return to the mother shi+p, which
is at sea I don't knohat happens after that—that's where our
duty ends”
”Our duty?”
As if answering her question, two more Arm Slaves appeared,
clearing a path through the trees while keeping a vigilant watch on
the surroundings
They looked almost identical to the first one, and they carried
rifles and missile launchers
”Don't worry: They're with me”
The pain began to take an even greater toll on the girl—her
field of vision narrowed, and her thoughts grew cloudy She couldn't
remember where she was
”What's your name?” she squeaked
”It's best if you don't talk You'll waste your strength”
”Please, tell me”
Hesitantly, the soldier conte himself
”Sagara Sagara Sousuke”
Before he even finished saying it, however, the girl had passed out
Armed with a clipboard and a fruit-flavored Calorie Mate, Sousuke
entered the giant subar to work on his
post-mission report
Most of the shi+p's weaponry--Arm Slaves, transport helicopters,
VTOL fighters, and the like—were lined up there Sousuke gazed at
one that was being repaired
”Hey, Sousuke!” called an overbearing voice
Sousuke turned around to see his colleague, Sergeant Kurz
Weber
Blond-haired and blue-eyed with a s eyes,
Kurz was , perfectly styled hair added a
touch of genderless charm When he smiled, women's hearts beat
faster
As soon as he opened his mouth, however
”Why the long face? Constipated? Hemorrhoids?”
No dignity No class
”I'm in perfect health,” Sousuke responded absentmindedly,
taking a bite of his Calorie Mate
”You're really dense, you know that?” Kurz's gaze wandered
to the AS that was being repaired Its armor was off already
”Wow, they already cracked it open, huh?”
”Apparently, they're conducting a detailed inspection of the
frame system”
”'Well, you were pretty hard on it I ht a
helicopter! Weren't you scared?”
“No It wasn’t an activity beyond the specs of the M9”
The model AS both Sousuke and Kurz used was called a M9
Gernsback It was totally cutting edge—not yet widely used in
military circles Compared to previous models of Arm Slaves, the M9
had extraordinary power and agility
”I guess, but the M9 is the only mech that could pull that
stunt,” decided Kurz as he took a seat on an empty ammo case He
stared at the line of M9s in the hangar
The Arm Slave was born in the mid-1980s At the time, US
President Ronald Reagan strongly supported the development of
a robot force to go along with the Star Wars strategic defense
project:
”The next great development in localized dispute resolution”
”A grand technical challenge!”
”A labor-saving contribution to infantry forces!”
Driven by suspicious rhetoric, the AS became reality just three
years later The huht to be an impossible
joke now ran at speeds of more than sixty miles per hour, employed
nuth
Specialists were bloay—after all, non-military bipedal
robots barely could take a step or tithout falling over
What genius had masterminded this project? What think tank had
developed it?
”It's technology from interplanetary visitors!” claimed UFO
fanatics, teazines and books
Eventually, however, people caard the AS the same way
they saw the cruise h-tech
weapon
About ten years later, AS technology continued to make
explosive progress It got to the point where it was dangerous to
approach one carelessly, even in an attack helicopter
A thought interrupted Kurz's stare ”Hey, Sousuke, about that girl
you picked up ”
”Will she live?”
”Yeah, but she was pretty doped up”
”Narcotics?”
”Cannabinoids or so like that—they still don't know
exactly, but they think it came from the KGB research facility I don't
knohat kind of experi there, but they're pretty
damn cruel”
”Will she recover?”
”Who knows? Even if she does, it probably will take a long time”
Sousuke didn’t knohat to say Although the superior officers
seeirl, was, they didn't
share that information with Sousuke and Kurz It was protocol,
really: Frontline combatants rarely had all the details
The man who died in the Jeep was a spy from Mithril's
intelligence bureau Saving the girl wasn't part of his original mission,
which was to dig up information on the KGB research facility
However, he had suffered a tree of conscience and put his
own life at risk to rescue the test subject
In spite of the spy's death, the CD wi th the top-secret
information still made it back into Mithril's hands, thanks to
Sousuke and the others
Breaking the silence, Master Sergeant Melissa Mao quickly entered
the hangar ”There you are”
Solidly in her mid-twenties, Mao was an American of Chinese
descent Her short black hair nicely framed her pretty face without
her true, spirited nature Like Sousuke and Kurz, Mao was a
skilled AS operator The three of theether as a
team, and Mao alas the leader
”Good work on the overtime,” said Mao
Sousuke grunted and nodded
”What's up, girl?” said Kurz
”Wipe that grin off your face, Mister You always look like the
comic relief around here”
”Do you knoho you're talking to? It's me, Kurz Weber,
es of Esquire,
you know”
”Oh yeah, I think I saw that Wasn't it a farce—like that
Charlie Sheen movie Hot Shots?”
”You bitch”
Quickly, like a cat, Mao reached out and grabbed Kurz's cheek
He yelped
”What did you call me?” she demanded
“Jus the smar'es, preddies', mos debendable—”
”That's what I thought,” she said, letting go of his face
Quietly nibbling, Sousuke watched the whole exchange
Mao noticed when he sed
”Those things any good?”
Sht sweetness”
”Cool Sousuke, the lieutenant commander wants to see you”
“Understood”
“You too, playboy”
”Aw, ht you said ere off duty!”
”Consider this a counter ”I, however, am
off duty If you need me, I'll be in the bath” She cackled as she left
”If that bitch kneas good for her,” commented Kurz,
she'd be clawing her name into my back”
As she walked away, Kurz flipped her backside the bird
”What kind of curse is that?” wondered Sousuke
Knock knock!
”Come in!”
Sousuke and Kurz filed into the small room filled with
docureen combat
uniforh
Kalinin had long gray hair, his beard and mustache were cropped
short
”Reporting as ordered, sir,” stated Sousuke, crisply saluting
”Yeah, here we are” Kurz submitted a halfhearted salute
Indifferent to Kurz's attitude, Lieutenant Commander Kalinin
looked up fro
”There's a mission” Lieutenant Commander Kalinin didn't
beat around the bush He tossed a file folder toward Sousuke and
Kurz ”Take a look at this”
”Yes, sir,” replied Sousuke
”You got it,” quipped Kurz
The documents in the file appeared to be a personal history,
including a black-and-white photo of a shly
age twelve in the photo, the girl was nestled up against a woman,
ostensibly her mother With fair skin and clear-cut features, she was
a lovely child
Kurz whistled ”I'll bet she grows up to be hot”
”Actually, the photo is four years old,” announced the lieutenant
commander ”She's sixteen, now”
”So, where's the picture of her now?”
”We don't have one”
As he already was accustomed to Kurz's manner, Sousuke paid
hiirl's biographical
information
According to the brief, her name was Chidori Kaname, and
she lived in Tokyo, japan Kaname was a student in one of Tokyo's
h Commissioner
She had one sibling: an eleven-year-old sister who lived with
her father in New York City Her mother had died three years
earlier
There was additional inforht, blood type, medical
history, and more—the report spared no detail
One sentence popped out at Sousuke: Probability of being a
Wd: 88 (according to Miller Statistics Act)
Sousuke knew that the word that had been censored haphazardly
with black
assigned the mission
”So, what happened to her?” asked Kurz
”Nothing,” responded Kalinin ”Yet”
”Huh?” Kurz grunted his confusion
Turning slightly in his creaky chair, the lieutenant commander
looked at a map of the world that was mounted on the wall It was
up to date with the latest national borders—the complexly divided
Soviet bloc, the split of the northern and southern Chinese territories,
and the scribble of lines that made up the Middle East
”All you two need to know is that there are a number of enemy
mm
agencies, including the KGB, that ht want to kidnap Chidori
Kaname”
”Why?” inquired Kurz
”That,” Kalinin said stoutly, ”is soentlemen do
not need to know”
”Oh, right”
It all seeirl, Chidori Kaname,
was only a potential target
”What, exactly, is our mission?” pressed Sousuke
”You'll guard the girl, naturally I'uys
because you're both fluent in japanese”
”I guess that makes sense”
Kurz's father was a newspaper correspondent and, consequently,
Kurz had lived in the Edogawa section of Tokyo until he was
fourteen Thus, he spoke the language like a pro
”I've briefed Master Sergeant Mao already The three of you
will handle this”
That seemed like an awful lot of work to Kurz ”Whoa, just
the three of us?”
”I barely can spare that many It's decided already”
”Rough,” assessed Kurz
”That's why you're here”
Sousuke, Kurz, and Mao were more than just AS pilots,
they were highly trained soldiers capable of airborne landings,
reconnaissance, combat, and more They were members of a team
picked from numerous candidates And to them, an AS was just one of
the many tools of their trade
”Upon Mao's insistence, I've granted you Class B equipment”
The two soldiers' jaws dropped open
”We're taking an Arm Slave?” asked Sousuke
”Yes”
”But it's in the heart of a major city!” protested Kurz
”You'll just have to operate in ECS invisible mode,” reasoned
Kalinin
Though the technology was pioneered for Arm Slaves, many
netic
Cae
stealth equipe objects from radar and
infrared rays Mithril’s ECS systems were so advanced that they could
nullify visible light wavelengths
In other words, it made them invisible
It took a lot of energy, so invisibility was not practical (or even
possible) during combat, but it was no problem when the vehicle was
sitting still or hiding
”You'll take one M9 with you Armament will be minimal, so
carry two external condenser packs”
”Check,” affirmed Kurz
”It's imperative that this mission is kept top secret”
”Say what?” Kurz frowned
”If the japanese government finds out,” Kalinin continued,
”it'll get messy So you must protect Kaname without her or anyone
else knowing But you still must be ready when trouble comes”
”That sounds very” Kurz struggled for words
”Difficult,” concluded Sousuke Guarding someone without her
knowledge or permission was beyond absurd
”Depending on how you operate, it shouldn't be that difficult
This girl—Kaname Chidori—spends most of her time at a co-ed
public high school Our youngest soldier is the sae as she is,
and he's even japanese”
”Oh, ho ho!” Kurz lit up and turned to Sousuke, who blinked a
few times under the scrutiny
”You don't mean—”
”We're forging the student transfer papers right now”
And Kalinin signed the directive
”Say 'cheese,' Sousuke”
Sousuke scowled at the camera and at Kurz, its operator
”Cooaded Kurz ”Don't you want a nice picture
on your student ID?”
Calling on little-used muscles, Sousuke formed an expression that
looked ia than a smile
”Close enough” Kurz snapped the picture
Like an elastic band that is stretched and released, Sousuke's face
instantly returned to its most comfortable, sullen expression
Kurz sighed
”What is all this?” Sousuke asked, staring at the collection of items strewn
across the table He picked up some of the objects and scowled at them: a
brush, soel, a portable CD player, CDs by Hiroshi+ Itsuki and SMAP,
assorted charms from Narita-san temple, eye drops from Rote Pharmaceuticals,
a coupon for “Tower Records,” a Game Boy, a Mister Junko watch, Yunker
energy drink, Marlboro cigarettes and Libera, “Popeye”, “Josei Jishi+n”, and
“Dragon Magazine,” etc, etc…
Melissa Mao beaathered up all the
things a typical japanese high school student ht have”
”I see” Somewhat confused, Sousuke picked up a little square
of vinyl that contained a rubbery-looking circle
”That's a condom,” said Mao
”I know But I can't figure out why a high school boy would
need one”
”Don't play innocent, you hornball!”
”As a matter of fact, I have used them many times,” said
Sousuke ”They can hold an entire liter of liquid”
Melissa Mao's mouth dropped open
”Yes, if you've lost your canteen in the jungle, these can be a real
lifesaver,” Sousuke concluded earnestly
”Is that so?” Master Sergeant Mao rolled her eyes
Clutching a remote, Kurz ushered Sousuke in front of an LCD
screen ”Okay, take a look at this These are japanese high school
students, so pay attention”
When Kurz hit play, a generic-looking classroom filled the
screen It looked like it was evening, and there were only two students
in the classroo plenty of space in the room
they were standing in the corner, very close to each other
”I've always thought of you as a childhood friend,” admitted the
youngout the words, ”until now I can't believe it
tookto realize the way I feel about you”
”Oh, Tohru-kun!” gasped the girl, hugging the boy
As the young man leaned in to kiss her, the door to the
classroo in surprise, the couple in the corner
saw another student standing in the doorway
”Naomi!” called Tohru
”How could you?” she demanded as she ran away in tears
The boy started to chase after her, but the girl in the corner
pulled on his sleeve and told hio
Kurz hit the pause button
”Why did she run?” asked Sousuke ”Isn't the girl in the corner
her enemy?”
Kurz blinked in awe of Sousuke's lack of social sense
”Unless… Naoet her
eliirl!”
”Or so his eyes
As the Tuatha de Danaan rested half-subed in the sea like a
vigilant hippo, the hatch to its flight deck groaned open, revealing
the tarmac from which the Arm Slaves, combat choppers, and VTOL
planes could take off
A seven-rotor transport helicopter sat on the flight deck,
waiting for pero hold was stocked full of
all kinds of gear, including an Arm Slave M9
After tossing his s behind his seat, Sousuke fastened
his seat belt He checked to
vital, such as the forged student ID that was stashed in his breast
Mao, who sat next to him, stared at the ID card
”You put your real name on there?”
”I did But I don't exist in japanese record books, anyway, so a
problee my name”
”Oh, okay”
”It's not a probleet a move on”
The helicopter began to prepare for takeoff
”Are you nervous? I mean, it's your first day of school,” pointed
out Kurz from his position in the back seat
”I'll do my best,” replied Sousuke
”Tessa see to the
submarine's captain
”I'm not surprised It's an important mission,” said Sousuke,
eliciting a sih from both Mao and Kurz
Before they could continue the conversation, the pilot of the
helicopter informed them that it was time to take off
”Totally sucked,” said a disgruntled Chidori Kaname
Her dark brown eyes wandered for athe
group of students walking with her As Kaname walked, the black
hair that hung clear to her hips swayed to and fro at a leisurely pace that
was in great contrast to her walking speed
”Completely and totally sucked,” she concluded after a moment of
thought
Tokiwa Kyouko, a classmate, said ”Gee, Kana-chan, you haven't
talked about anything else allWas it really that terrible?”
”Worse!” insisted Kaname ”He talked incessantly without ever
actually saying anything I did hi out with him
and everything, so you'd think he could find at least one interesting
thing to talk about”
Like you? thought Kyouko His father's a designer, he's got a
friend in the J-league—see to me To avoid trouble,
though, she just said ”Uh-huh”
”I , the pollution in the
Pacific, religious strife in the Middle East—”
”Uh-huh,”
”Are you even listening to
`uh-huh'?”
”Uh-huh,”
”Stop that, Kyouko! The least you can do is listen to my
postdate recap After all, you're the one who introduced him to
me”
”He asked me to”
”If someone asked you to sell me off to the mafia, would you
do that, too?”
”Uh-huh!”
”Ha ha! You brat,” Kaname said fondly