Target Rich Environment 2 Read online

  He’d had a bit of a disagreement with the Society, but that was none of Tokugawa’s business.

  “Interesting . . . An American who has barely lived there, who chose to join a military where he will never be accepted because of his half-breed race, refuses to join the one organization that must surely want him. Where do you belong, Sullivan?”

  He was still working on that question himself. “My orders say I’m supposed to help. What do you want?”

  “It pains me to admit it, but I require your assistance. In a show of mutual cooperation, your president has seen fit to grant my request. Apparently, your old friend Francis sees the Soviets as the greater threat at this time. This agreement should be beneficial to both of our nations. America and Imperium have been enemies in the past, but today we are . . . temporarily on the same side.”

  “Why in the world would he want me to help you? Once the Imperium finishes off the Russians, you’ll go back to trying to conquer the rest of the world.”

  “I prefer the term liberate, but if you do not help, then we will be forced to use Tesla weapons to stop this threat, which will cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians . . . Ah, your face betrays your emotions, young Sullivan. You’ll need to work on that if you expect to make it long in this world. You might not wear the ring, but it appears you still have a Grimnoir knight’s morals. I need an Active of your particular skills.”

  “I’m only a Gravity Spiker. We’re a dime a dozen.”

  Tokugawa chuckled. “I believe I’ve heard that line before. Yet, according to my sources, despite your youth, your ability to manipulate gravity is unmatched.”

  “I learned from the best.”

  “Of course. We all stand upon the shoulders of those who came before us. Your father was self-taught. You benefit from his discoveries. We are alike in that way. I understand what is required to be the son of a great man. It is a burden, but also an incredible honor.” Considering who Toru’s father had been, that was probably one hell of a compliment around these parts. “There are many of your kind among the Iron Guard, some of whom are incredibly strong, far stronger than you, no doubt, but strength alone does not make a warrior great. That also requires awareness and will.”

  “Most folks chosen by the Power to control gravity aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.”

  “I intended to be polite and say they lack nuance, but yes, most of them are stupid oxen good only for lifting things or throwing their bodies at the enemy. I’ve yet to find one among my army capable of the subtle manipulations of gravity your father was. Are you up to the task?”

  Joe didn’t actually know the answer to that. Those were some big shoes to fill. “What’s the mission?”

  Toru walked to the biggest wall map and pointed at the red dragon symbol. “Trust me, the monster is far more impressive in person.”

  As the Iron Guard moved their general and his guest across Tokyo in a convoy of armored vehicles, Toru Tokugawa had continued his briefing. “They have sent giant demons against us before, but nothing like this. The Soviets have been experimenting with increasing the abilities of their Summoners ever since they saw what happened to Washington D.C. in 1933.”

  “If I recall correctly, you were there for that,” Joe said.

  “The god of demons swatted me as if I were an annoying insect. We were only able to stop it because it was new and not yet fully formed. Luckily for all of mankind, even Stalin is not foolish enough to Summon anything that mighty. It would be too dangerous, too uncontrollable. However, they have made great strides over the last twenty years. This one is extremely resilient, far more armored than the last. The fact that they are still able to direct a demon this powerful is astounding.”

  “It’s already destroyed a chunk of your navy.”

  “Correct.”

  “So that part was real, but I’m guessing everything else on those maps was probably wrong so I’d provide bad intel?”

  “You are a perceptive man, Sullivan.” Which didn’t confirm or deny anything. Joe figured the temper tantrum earlier had been some sort of test as well. “The Summoned is approximately fifty meters tall and apparently still growing. Its capabilities are a mystery. It is amphibious and has been walking along the sea bed, only emerging every few days to attack. It has already damaged several cities along the coast.”

  “Civilian casualties?”

  “I’m surprised you care.”

  “They didn’t ask to be born under tyranny,” Joe answered.

  “Perhaps you may get that duel after all . . .”

  Joe figured he would lose, but he wasn’t in the mood to put up with nonsense. “I control gravity, so when we pick weapons, I vote telephone poles.”

  “As your people say, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Twenty years ago I would have taken you up on that duel. I’d enjoy knocking the smug off your face, but we do not have time for that. There are over one hundred thousand dead so far, but we are still pulling bodies from the rubble.”

  Joe gave a low whistle.

  “Intelligence predicts the demon will be here within the week. Iron Guard have been unable to defeat it. Our own greater Summoned have been stepped on. Conventional weapons harm it, but then once sufficiently wounded it retreats back out to sea to hide and heal for a few days before striking again. Depth charges have done nothing. My forces have been unable to track it in the sea. Every submarine I have sent after it has been lost. Aerial bombing has stung it, but has caused more harm to the city it was attacking than the beast itself.”

  “Have you tried Tesla weapons?”

  “Once. A low powered firing to minimize collateral damage, but it did not work as expected. The demon’s hide does not react like human flesh. I destroyed an entire town only to chase it back into hiding.” The Imperium was far more casual about sacrificing its people than the West, but unlike his predecessor, it seemed this Tokugawa actually cared.

  The general was staring out the narrow slit of the window at his capital city. They drove into a tunnel and Tokyo disappeared. “Our defense force is prepared to intercept it. We have moved the emperor somewhere safe. Anyone who is not vital to the war effort is being evacuated from the city. The Yamamoto is our newest airship and carries our most powerful Tesla weapon. It is on station above us and its Peace Ray is charged. If the demon cannot be stopped I will have no choice but to fire upon it at full power.”

  That would obliterate a good chunk of Tokyo in the process. “So what’s the plan?”

  The general didn’t answer. The armored car came to a stop. The doors were opened, revealing that they’d parked inside some sort of vast hangar. Tokugawa climbed out, and Joe followed. His first thought was Why are they building a skyscraper underground? Then he realized they weren’t actually underground, as much as they’d hollowed out an entire hill and covered the top to protect the interior from spy planes. The place was crowded with soldiers and engineers, and they began to panic when they saw who their distinguished visitor was. The Iron Guards snapped at them to get back to work. Hundreds of men were scrambling about on this level, and in the several floors of scaffolding overhead.

  “There is my plan, Lieutenant Sullivan.”

  Directly in front of them was an armored metal rectangle, painted olive drab. His first thought was that it was a train car missing its wheels. Then he realized it was a foot.

  “Behold, the Nishimura Super Gakutensoku. It has taken over a decade to build. It is the most daring feat of magical engineering ever attempted by Cog science.”

  He looked up, and up, and up. It was hard to wrap his brain around the size of the thing. “That’s one big robot.”

  “Forty-six meters tall and nearly two thousand tons, it would destroy itself if it tried to move . . .”

  “Galileo called it. That square cube law is a real stickler,” Joe agreed.

  “Which is why it must be piloted by someone who can break the rules.”

  “I’m good, but I’m n
ot that good.”

  “The spells bound upon it will increase an Active’s connection to the Power by an order of magnitude. It has a crew of seventy Actives, and the Turing machines inside control all of the minor systems. In theory, it should be as easy to drive as a suit of Nishimura combat armor. If the Gakutensoku works as projected, we should be able to defeat the demon and send Stalin a message.”

  He couldn’t figure out what kind of spells they’d carved onto that thing to get it to work. Even powered down he could feel it pulling magic from the air around him. It was hard to tell through all the scaffolding, but it was shaped like a broad-shouldered man, with two arms that were too long and two legs that were too short. He couldn’t even imagine this thing moving.

  Then he realized that there were craters on the concrete floor from where the thing had fallen. He glanced around the vast hangar. There were a lot of craters.

  “I will speak plainly. As you can see from the dents on my giant robot, every other Heavy has lacked the will necessary to control it. We are still repairing the damage from yesterday’s test. I had hope for the last test pilot, since he was very intelligent for a Heavy. Sadly Captain Nakamura lacked finesse, tripped over his own feet within two hundred meters, and the Super Gakutensoku fell on its head.”

  “I imagine it takes practice.”

  “Feedback from the spell caused him to have an aneurism and die.”

  “Great.” Helping his sworn enemies work the bugs out of a super weapon sure as hell wasn’t what he’d joined the Marines for. “So now that you’re running out of time, you asked for me.”

  “Deciding between asking for American help or blowing up our capital with a Tesla weapon was a very difficult decision.”

  Considering the fact that Joe had less than a week to learn how to drive a mechanical man the size of a 12-story building . . . “Keep that Peace Ray warmed up, General, because I’m not making any promises.”

  “If it is any consolation, Lieutenant Sullivan, the Super Gakutensoku is purely a defensive weapon system,” Hikaru told him. “Since you are helping us—as you Americans say—work out the kinks, there is no way we could bring this magnificent device to America to lay waste to your cities and crush your armies beneath its massive steel feet. How would we get it there?”

  “Good point,” Joe muttered, resisting the urge to drop a few extra gravities on the annoyingly helpful Cog’s head. It turned out that the Japanese Actives capable of magical bursts of intellectual brilliance were just as squirrely as their Western counterparts.

  Hikaru continued talking while fastening electrodes to Joe’s freshly shaved head. “There is no airship that could carry it. Moving a machine of this size via sea would be too dangerous. Not to mention we’ve not solved the deep-water pressure problems of walking it across the ocean floor yet.”

  “Yet?”

  “Uh . . . I . . . Never mind.” The Cog spoke English better than Joe spoke Japanese, and he knew the Super Gakutensoku inside and out, so he’d been appointed Joe’s assistant. Hikaru taped down the last wire. “There you go. The Turing machines are now monitoring your brain. The spells have been activated. The crew is ready. We are ready to test.”

  Joe glanced across the control center. He knew how to fly an airplane. This was way worse. He’d spent the last twenty hours memorizing every control, and they’d skipped all the unimportant ones. There were four pedals beneath each foot, friction sticks directly in front of him, and half a dozen levers for each arm. Cables and pulleys were attached to bands around his abdomen, chest, biceps, and wrists. It was bad enough that he needed to tell each “muscle group” what to do physically; he had to simultaneously tell gravity what to do magically.

  “It looks more complicated than it is. This should be no worse than controlling a Heavy Suit.”

  “Have you ever driven a Heavy Suit, Hikaru?”

  “No, Lieutenant. I have not personally, but that is what it says in the manual.”

  “Then do me a favor and shut up.” Joe looked out the armored portholes. Cranes were lifting away the scaffolding to the front, and the workers were taking cover. The row of gauges told him that all twenty of their diesel engines were running. The indicator board was all green lights. There were Fixers on board making sure everything was working, Torches for damage control and weapons systems, Iceboxes making sure nothing overheated and taking care of the ridiculous amount of friction generated by their movement, Brutes to manhandle shells and guns, and other Gravity Spikers just to help channel enough magic into the machine’s spells to keep them balanced.

  Joe checked his own connection to the Power. The magic was gathered up in his chest, waiting to be directed. He used a bit of it to test the world around him. Spells had been carved all over the interior of the Super Gakutensoku. They magnified his connection but also distorted it. It was like looking through a microscope that was just a little bit out of focus. Maybe it was because he was running on coffee and determination at this point, but it was already starting to give him a headache. No wonder the last guy had a stroke.

  He put his right foot down on a pedal while simultaneously pushing forward with the right friction stick. At the same time he called upon his magic, imagining the pull of the earth against his own leg, and easing that just enough. He’d never tried to change gravity over such a gigantic space. It was like magic was being ripped from the Power and channeled through his body out into the great machine. Joe ground his teeth and held on.

  A hundred tons of foot scraped along the concrete before rising a few dozen feet and then slamming back down with an impact that shook the whole world.

  There were ten other men in the Gakutensoku’s head. They began rattling off readings and stats from their CRTs and gauges. This was requiring such focus that Joe only barely heard them. He pushed down with his left foot and repeated the process. The robot lurched forward, but stayed balanced and upright. The crew let up a cheer. They’d gone two whole steps.

  “How are you feeling, Lieutenant?” Hikaru asked.

  In actuality he felt like he’d just been mule-kicked in the head. The Power draw made his teeth hurt, and he wanted to vomit. “Are you asking because you’ve bought into that propaganda about how soft Westerners are?”

  “Quite the contrary. On our first test, at this point blood shot from the test pilot’s ears. I just wanted to make sure I had the spells calibrated correctly.”

  It was taking effort simply to keep from sinking into the floor. Joe lifted one hand to wipe the sweat that had instantly formed on his brow. The unconscious movement caused one giant robot arm to rise up and crash through the scaffolding, tearing it all to pieces. Luckily he froze before swatting the cockpit and decapitating them. The noise of cascading, crashing metal could barely be heard through their thick armor, but it still went on for several painful seconds. Joe slowly lowered the arm, then pushed the disconnect button so he could turn enough to look out the side porthole. Yep. The scaffolding was just gone. Hopefully they’d had the sense to get everybody off of it before starting the test.

  “Perhaps that is enough for your first day?” Hikaru asked hesitantly. “The physical and magical strain is considerable.”

  Iron Guard weren’t the only ones around here taught to never show weakness. “I’m just getting warmed up.” Joe looked up at the bank of CRT screens. Since the robot couldn’t turn its head and their footprint took up a city block, those cameras were as close as he was going to get to peripheral vision. He found the exit out of the hillside. “Buckle up, Hikaru. Let’s see what this baby can do.”

  Five days later, the second biggest demon to ever walk the earth attacked Tokyo.

  General Toru Tokugawa stood on the observation deck of the tallest building in the city, watching out the window with his hands folded behind his back. He’d moved his command center here temporarily for this very view. It was a beautiful, clear day. Twenty miles to the southwest he could see buildings falling and smoke rising.

  One of his ai
des entered the room in a hurry. “General, the demon is crossing Yokohama.”

  “I am aware,” Toru stated.

  “We have begun the mass evacuation as instructed. The coastal defense cannons were engaging before we lost contact with them. The Iron Guard are moving into position now. The air force is scrambling. The Yamamoto is awaiting your orders.”

  Nearly ten million people lived in the wards that would be directly affected by the Peace Ray. Those who would be instantly incinerated were the lucky ones. The burns and radiation sickness were far more painful ways to die. “And the Super Gakutensoku?”

  “It is in the hills to the west. A message has been sent.” From his aide’s tone, Toru could tell the officer had very little faith in that option working.

  He’d understated the danger to the American, Sullivan. This demon’s presence and constant raids were crippling his country and endangering the entire war effort. Demons could be banished from this world, but they were not as easy to kill as a mortal being. Their bodies were artificial magical constructs. They had no internal organs to wound or bones to break. They were filled with magical substances that best resembled ink and smoke, and the only way to end one this powerful was to bleed it dry. That took time.

  “Tell the Yamamoto to hold its fire for now. The Iron Guard must fall back. Draw it in, farther onto land, and then we will strike. Wait for the demon to be distracted by the Gakutensoku, then we will hit it with every conventional weapon at our disposal. If we cannot fell it, only then will we fire the Peace Ray. Better to raze the greatest city in the world than to endanger the whole Imperium.” It would either be a scalpel or a tetsubo, but one way or the other, Stalin’s demon died today.

  “We should get you to the Yamamoto immediately, General.”

  “No.” Toru looked back toward the growing pillars of black smoke. If this city died, then he deserved to die with it. “I believe that I’d like to watch the fight from here.”