A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 36

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 36

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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The Japanese sure loved their holographic robots.

Admittedly, it was a better way of meeting with someone safely than face-to-face when some people could throw a punch and level a building.

Whoever I was speaking to was doing so through a projector robot that got dropped off by a drone. It was a faceless and featureless humanoid figure, and the voice was going through a synthesizer.

Honestly, I respected the caution.

Anyway, Parvati translated from Japanese to English for me, while I spoke to her in English. Japanese wasn’t in my library of languages, since I just visited it for recreation and not business. Normally, I wouldn’t trust anyone to do any translating for me, but Parvati was making a bunch of my equipment already and setting up spare safehouses for me.

I was trusting her with more than just dialogue at this point.

“Demands to surrender the transmitter are being made. No dialogue will be done until that is done first.”

“Okay.”

My easy surrender of the piece of superhuman tech raised an eyebrow from Parvati. It was necessary, though. The transmitters were from the various members of the Pacific corps. Having it on hand may as well be a smoking gun, but better than that… this transmitter was keyed to Kaede Walker and the drone sent had an interface for it.

So, I plugged it in.

The question I received was just as I expected in a smattering of electronic, buzzing Japanese that Parvati translated.

“They are asking where you found this, and how Kaede Walker is possibly dead.”

“Tell them she’s not and she’s trusted me with it to find allies to help Japan. She’s busy fixing up America.” Honesty was the best policy when starting negotiations. Not much point in bullshitting until later, after all. Gain some trust first, before you start lying. The pay off is much better. “We can have her come by for confirmation if needed. Just need a rendezvous point and a time.”

Parvati relayed my statement, while I gave off a yawn.

I was hit with a curveball, though.

“You are being asked to remove your mask.”

“If they do the same, sure.” I called out the request without a second thought. As usual, I was suited up for just about most situations I could think of. That included a face-covering helmet with filters and small air tanks. “If I’m showing my face, they should show theirs.”

I thought that was going to cut the request short, but instead the hologram flickered and revealed… not the person I expected.

For one thing, it was a girl instead of a the glasses-wearing, bald, and male superhuman Kaede had described.

Emphasis on girl.

“I am Nori, and I am the captain of the Izanagi. Reveal your face, supposed friend of Walker Kaede.” The sudden English caught me off guard, but I recovered with a little effort. Though I hesitated, I also took off my helmet. The scent of the sea was punctuated with the scent of burning ozone. Though I didn’t want to, I had to keep the air flowing from the outside, since I’d gotten locked down before I could set up a channel somewhere safe. “I do not recognize you and you are not in my ship’s database. Not as friend, foe, nor neutral superhuman. Who are you?”

“You can call me Egress. I was contacted by the resistance in Japan while travelling a nearby island. They offered me Kagoshima in return for helping them stage a coup.” The mention of resistance had the brow of the girl furrow. She couldn’t have even been close to eighteen. Maybe, she was even in her early teens. It wasn’t even remotely right for her to be fighting, let alone captaining a massive, state-of-the-art warship. What the hell was going on? “Walker told me that the pilot of the Izanagi was supposed to be Ronin. Why are you in his chair?”

The kid sat up straighter at my words.

“Grandfather perished against Shin three years ago and since then I have followed his teachings and fought to safeguard Japan. Under my leadership, the Izanagi has reached full functionality and Japan has remained safe from migrating forces that would see its people laid low.” Dead good-guy’s mantle taken up by family. Superhuman talent tended towards running true in bloodline, so I could believe the girl’s claims. “So, you came in search of my grandfather to seek his aid in saving Japan?”

“Yeah, I thought it’d be better than saving it from one tyrant and just giving it to another.” I grunted and scratched my temple. This complicated things by an order of magnitude. Ronin was someone Walker respected, which was practically the same as saying that the guy could be counted on to do the right thing, the right way, and succeed. On paper, that didn’t sound like a lot, but all those measures are on Walker’s standards. That meant the guy should be able to stop the world from ending if given the slimmest chance of succeeding. “I thought I’d ask your grandfather to help give Japan a chance at ruling itself, but now I’m not so sure.”

Parvati glared at me and nudged my side with its elbow, or at least tried to and hit my barrier instead, but I shook my head at its concern.

I wasn’t aiming to manipulate the kid by having her say she could do the same as her grandfather.

I’ve done plenty of bad things, but sending kids off to war was way over the line. Sure, if they decided to fight on their own or were roped into it someway or somehow, I’d work with them… avoid killing them if they were on the other side of the gun… but pulling Nori from her current patrol into a war?

Yeah, that wasn’t going to fly.

“My grandfather’s dream lives on through me. If you can prove that Walker-san lives and you are allies with her, then I will render you as much aid as I am able.” Jeez, this kid should be highschool worrying about whatever Japanese teenagers were up to in high school. Not being at the helm of a warship capable of levelling city blocks. Sure, I started out young, too, but I didn’t have a choice. It was either be abused and neglected by a piece of shit or walk on my own. I didn’t have a whole crew and a ship as assets to help me out. This was wrong. “I am placing coordinates in the transmitter. We will meet you there within two days. If Walker-san vouches for you, then we shall see about freeing the sun from its shackles.”

I gave a nod in reply and the energy field around me stopped, while the drone spat out the heavily-upgraded pager.

I caught it, waited for the field to dissipate, and left with Parvati in tow into a safehouse in the Atlantic.

Parvati, naturally, saw right through me without my helmet on and nodded.

“Out of the question?”

“Definitely. I’m not involving kid in a national takeover.” I grunted and put on my helmet. The filters activated soon enough and the visor shifted. It was night on this island, because it was across the world. I checked myself for any bugs on my person, just in case, before heading towards the safehouse I had on it to play the waiting game. This one was old, just a couple of slabs of concrete, some lights, and a generator with dry rations in a sealed chest. Getting one of my laptops from one of my stashes was easy enough though, and soon I was settling in on the island to the gentle putter of a gasoline engine and ocean waves while going through my files. I noticed Parvati looking at me just as I was getting comfy. “What? Are you seriously considering it? A kid like that’s not going to bring democracy back to Japan and fix up its agricultural issues.”

“If she is Ronin’s equal, then she most certainly can, especially with extra hands and aid from me.” Ah, I saw where this was going. This AI had a penchant for technology and liked to study it. Most of the superhuman intellectuals at Walker’s place didn’t interest it. Directed energy weapons and manufacturing breakthroughs were all already part of its repertoire. Upgrading existing technology and innovating on existing concepts, such as the undersea submarine and the global transmitter and holographic emitter, were things that didn’t. “I am willing to expend more assets on my end, if it means creating an alliance with Nori. If it does not interest you, then I am willing to pay you until it does.”

I thought about the question for a bit, before making a decision.

“Let me sleep on it for a bit. It’s been a long day.” After confronting the thought of working with a child soldier to liberate a country and install that child as a leader, I didn’t exactly feel like I was working with my full brain power. “C’mon, just watch some Hollywood shlock with me for a bit and waste some of the processing power. You’ll get an answer tomorrow morning.”

I got a raised eyebrow in response, but Parvati’s gynoid form signed and took a seat at my request and focused on the screen on the laptop. It was far enough that we could both see it just fine, if we were two normal people. The Gynoid being superhuman and with better sight than I could hope to have, naturally, could see the screen just fine sitting a decent distance away.

Movies tended to make the waiting time I imposed on myself between long trips shorter, so I had plenty.

“What do you feel like watching?”

“Surprise me. I have not had the pleasure of watching any Western movies.”

“Just Bollywood? Damn, Shiva was a more terrible than I thought. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten rid of humanity yet.”

“They were fairly entertaining.”

“Yeah, you just have bad taste.”

I had a feeling that time was going to go a bit faster now than it did before.

…

Parvati glared at me.

“Hey, I said that I was going to make a decision in the morning. That decision is to kick it up to Walker.”

If I wanted to make hard decisions, I’d have run a crew and made boatloads of money being the deliveryman and ringer for a group of highly-competent individuals. However, despite all the advantages that particular method of working was, I never did it. That’s because I hate making hard decisions.

Give me a goal, offer me a good amount, and I’ll get it done and wash my hands.

No thinking.

Just money.

Best job.

So, naturally, I informed Walker of the situation and left it to her with Parvati’s offer stapled on.

“I see. That changes circumstances completely. Ronin would’ve been a good leader, even without his power. His granddaughter being in charge of the Pacific Corp’s strategic asset does not qualify her for the leadership of a whole nation.” Walker met with us in her usual black suit. Today it was a red tie and overcoat. Red on black looked pretty menacing, so I could only suppose that she had some asses to kick after this morning meeting. “Don’t blame him for giving me this information, Parvati. I would have met the child regardless, because she demanded to meet with me in exchange for her help.”

That mollified the sphere held aloft by four rotors, but only by a little. The AI learned how to glare through the single iris of its representative pretty well. Admittedly, I gave it plenty of chances to practice.

“My offer stands. Nori is obviously as well-versed with technology as her grandfather. With her help, I intend to refine my designs and iterate upon a multitude of designs. Agricultural equipment comes to mind.” The AI spoke and offered its reasoning without much prompting. A being of logic through and through, it was more than capable of giving a good argument that most people would get swayed by. If they weren’t staunchly against it, of course. Emotion was a hell of a defense against logic. “If we cannot help her overthrow the Shogun, then please at least consider meeting with her so that I can extend diplomatic ties to her.”

The mention of agricultural machines was the clincher for the offer. I didn’t know how many people were around anymore, but Japan and India were both obviously packed to the brim with people, and China’s warlords were throwing people at one another like it was going of style. The problem was that while things seemed stable for now, in all of human history, famines were massive, deadly occurrences that threatened to bring low entire nations.

In all my journeys, since I left my bunker, I hadn’t seen many fat people. In fact, I say more nearly emaciated people than I did overweight. Sure, a lot of people looked better and seemed healthier, but fat was energy reserves and calories brought about by an excess of food. It was a sight of plenty, of not having to worry, and fat was in short supply.

One famine, with the amount of mouths there were across the world and the lack of global shipping, mean that what remained of the populace was in danger. And, maybe more importantly, what remained of our generation was in danger. People who went to school, college, and trade school. People who knew how to code, how to run institutions of learning, and how to rebuild infrastructure.

We had computers and backups for our backups, but in a hundred years they’ll be gone and beyond our ability to repair.

Maybe even less.

Parvati knew this and so used it as the weight behind her argument.

Of course, Walker could only agree.

“I see. That indeed could happen. I will meet with Nori, at least to foster good relations with the two of you, but I will not have her take the place I’d imagined for her grandfather.” Walker shook her head, while Parvati bobbed up and down in mimicry of a bow as a quadrotor drone. It looked kinda neat, actually. “Egress, despite both of our desires, I think that you will have to meet with Shin and pursue his path until the very end.”

I understood what she was getting at, even though she didn’t say it outright.

A counter-coup, right after we win, so we can install our own puppet in the end.

In other words, I’ll have to become a traitor and betray Shin right at the cusp of his victory.

Walker looked at me with worry, but I just gave her a nod.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve done it before plenty of times.”

And, that was the truth.

Getting paid twice over for the same job was the best, after all.