Shining Sky, A Novel

Third Chapter, last of them to be posted in full. Chapter 3 Facility Through the apartment's shades, small beams of sunlight fell over Zerak's face. Soon after the sound of the shower woke Zerak, and he was surprised to see that Sari had stowed her shiki futon properly. Stowing his own, he set to work making breakfast, turning on his range and rice cooker. He placed a heavy skillet and his pot, full of water, onto the range and set the rice cooker. After adding the dashi, miso, tofu and wakame to the pot, he set the range to the proper cook time. He turned to the skillet and added oil to it as it heated, keeping the surface slick. Zerak toasted several flat breads in the skillet. Setting these aside he retrieved azuki paste from his refrigerator. Soon after he placed the flatbread, miso, rice and paste on the table. After several more minutes of cleaning the kitchen, Sari emerged from the washroom, dressed in a cut down version of what she was wearing yesterday. She sat down at the table, looked at what food was there and said, with a yawn, "Is this supposed to be breakfast? I was expecting eggs and bacon!" Zerak glared at her, turning a shade of red, "Not all of us humans eat eggs, but if you insist I have some cured pork I can cook. But that wasn't a nice thing to say when I cooked breakfast for both of us." Sari looked somewhat penitent as she said, "I'm sorry, it was my poor attempt at a joke. This will be fine, but what's the red paste for?" "It's a spread for the flat bread. I happen to have a friend who was from the former country of Greece, now part of the Balkan desert of city-states. He is partial to flatbreads and introduced me to Greek food. When I was on a mission with him, we forgot some of our food, but among what we did have was azuki paste and flatbread, so we tried it. I now have it on occasion due to its nice pairing.” Zerak replied.

Zerak ate his breakfast quickly, then motioned for Sari to take her time. He went over to his gun cabinet and picked out two handguns, and set them on the table. He took them apart, oiled and cleaned them, while Sari ate. Sari watched him, and finally said, “I’m finished. Am I going to get a gun to use?” “These are two that you can choose from. I’ll explain what they are once, I…*Click* there!” Zerak held then each out. The one on his right was larger and heavier, and came with a collapsible stock, the left was smaller but had a fire select and fore-grip. “The one in my right is called the ‘Samurai Cannon’, it fires a small shotgun shell. The left is a modified Makarov action that uses a rifle caliber cartridge and has a 3 round burst system. Up to you.” Sari took both guns, handled them, checked they were empty then tested the trigger. She commented, “They’ve heavier triggers than I’m used to but the “Samurai Cannon” pistol is more my type. I’ll be OK with it, I think.” She handed the modified Makarov back to Zerak who replaced it in his gun cabinet. He handed her four, ten round magazines and a harness to place them in. “Get dressed, while I clean this up. But I’m curious, you modified your clothes yourself so quickly?”

“No, these clothes are modular. I merely stored them over there,” Sari pointed to a folded pile in the corner, “this top, I merely removed the sleeves. For the bottom, I turned the pants into shorts by removing some sections.” She pointed, respectively, to black top and black shorts. Zerak cleared the dishes while watching her adjust the harness to her body and tying her long red hair back. After getting the dishes in the dishwasher, he grabbed his fingerless black gloves, with his own inscribed symbol, the kanji 狐 for fox, styled with angular calligraphy with alternating red and charcoal strokes and his helmet with its blade shaped panel. Checking the security camera, he stepped off the tatami and put his shoes on. He motioned for Sari to follow. Heading to the ground floor, Zerak retrieved his motor bike. Sari mounted the bike behind him. Her chest pushed into is back as he turned the bike on. Soon after they began to ride, the rain began to pour. Sari shivered slightly in the cold, wet air, but Zerak reassured her, “We’ll be outside the most effective range of CLIMATROL® soon, so just hang on.” Sure enough, once they reached the major edge of New DC’s southwest side and the skyscrapers became smaller, older buildings, the rain slowed, then stopped and the clouds parted to reveal a thick, light grey smog far above them. The air warmed substantially as they passed military checkpoints and the soil became sand, and the road grew grey and cracked, neglected and disused. The sun’s light began to hang lower in the sky as the CLIMATROL® influence waned.

Soon, they reached the place Blackthorn had mentioned. The rock was wind weathered, with many cracks and breaks along its surface. Brandishing his guns, he dismounted off the bike and proceeded to walk around the rock, passing by the crack leading inside then fired a shot in the air. After hearing silence, he returned to the motor bike and parked it near the crack, and then had Sari follow him inside. A dim light illuminated a sliding door, and as Zerak approached, there was a click and the door slowly slid open. Inside, the lights were off, and over the loud speaker was a tinny electric voice: “SECURITY BREACH, all personnel are to remain calm and head to designated shelters. First floor breaker is offline. Authorized personnel proceed to power room to restore power.” Zerak drew out Hayate, and flicked the light on the gun. Sari shouldered her Samurai Cannon and they proceeded inside the foyer. “I can’t see much,” Sari said, “do you have a more powerful light?” Zerak turned to her and pointed the light at his own eye. Sari gasped, it reflected light like a cat or dog’s eye did. He said quietly, “The light is merely to disorient the enemy, I can see fine. There are many things about me that are far from normal. Let’s get the power back on, OK?” Sari nodded, and he advanced. “Your eyes will adjust, but not nearly as much. Just hang in there.” Zerak commented. They advanced down the hallway, until they saw a fork and two signs, the left one said “Elevator” and the right said, “Entrance Offices and Utility” Zerak headed right, but not before checking the left. The hallway ceiling had broken in several places, exposing wires. Bullet holes and powder were along the walls, and blood was upon the floor. The tinny voice reiterated its monologue again, and the hallway echoed into silence.