Ultraman: The Official Novelization E-Book

Pat Cadigan

• Herausgeber: Titan Books
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 346

Beschreibung

The Scribe Award-winning adaptation of the classic Ultraman series from the 1960s - experience this bold take on Earth's iconic defender! Pursuing a fugitive space monster, a Being of Light enters Earth's atmosphere. Accidentally colliding with a patrolling jet, piloted by Science Patrol Agent Shin Hayata, the Being merges with the pilot to save his life and vows to defend the Earth. Now whenever the planet is threatened by alien invaders, terrifying monsters or any threat beyond the capabilities of humanity, Shin Hayata transforms into the towering Ultraman to restore peace and save the day. Dive into the action-packed adventure as told by Hugo, Clarke and Scribe Award-winning author Pat Cadigan.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Leave us a Review

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About the Author

UPCOMING ULTRAMAN TITLES AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS

Ultraseven: The Official Novel of the Series

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Ultraman: The Official Novel of the Series

Print edition ISBN: 9781803362458

E-book edition ISBN: 9781803363011

Published by Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

www.titanbooks.com

First edition: December 2023

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Tsuburaya Productions.

All Rights Reserved.

Pat Cadigan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

This one is for Roz Kaveney—brilliant mind, beautiful soul, true friend, and all-around superhero—with admiration and love

And for Jim Cappio, whose kindness and friendship has so often helped me keep on keepin’ on. Trust me, Jim, you’re also a superhero

And, like everything else I do, for Chris Fowler, my one true love in all the universe and always the most interesting person/superhero in the room

CHAPTER

ONE

The pursuit had gone on for longer and farther than any other in the Ultra Being’s experience.

The creature he was chasing, a particularly vicious brute calling itself Bemular, wasn’t the first monster to make a break for it but it was an unexpectedly adept pilot. Their starting point had been in an area of the galaxy where the stars were so numerous and so close together that total darkness was virtually unknown, and continued all the way to the ragged edge of the Milky Way. Beyond that lay the pitiless black void of intergalactic space, where even advanced sentient lifeforms could die of loneliness.

The Ultra’s quarry wasn’t looking to die, and certainly not like that. After the long chase, Bemular needed to find a place where it could remain hidden long enough to replenish its energy. But the odds of finding anything like that in this part of the galaxy weren’t good. The interplanetary systems were fewer and farther between, and the small percentage of inhabited worlds among them weren’t developed enough for Contact. The Ultras scrupulously observed galactic quarantine for the well-being of the lifeforms involved. Monsters, however, didn’t care about anyone’s well-being.

Scans showed the Ultra that within a planetary system orbiting an unremarkable G-star, there was a small, rocky but water-rich planet with abundant resources that could easily be extracted and converted to energy. It was the best option for a monster in a hurry. Bemular’s blue Travel Sphere dived into its atmosphere and the Ultra dived right in after—and then discovered the monster’s best option put him at a disadvantage.

The inhabitants of this world weren’t Beings of Light—far from it. For them, most forms of radiation were harmful, even lethal. The planet’s atmosphere filtered out the most dangerous kinds, which had allowed for the emergence of carbon-based life in quite a profusion of forms, from single-cell organisms and basic vegetation all the way up to individual vertebrates capable of abstract thought.

Current environmental conditions weren’t ideal. It was a densely populated world and such a high concentration of discrete intelligent beings kicked up a lot of pollution, of all kinds—light and sound as well as particulate. Bemular would have no trouble surviving under those conditions but for the Ultra, it meant a sharp reduction in the amount of available energy. And Bemular was no fool—it had gone directly to the night-side of the planet, where there would be even less power to draw on. The Ultra had to redistribute the various feeds just to keep the Travel Sphere in flight.

Normally redistribution was performed at a much lower velocity, not while chasing a monster through an unfamiliar environment. The Ultra vowed that the pursuit would end here, on this small, obscure planet and, if at all possible, without endangering any of the indigenous life, including the ones gathered at the edge of an inland body of water.

The sight of Bemular’s Travel Sphere stirred them all up and put them in an agitated state of avid curiosity but it was clear they had no flying vehicles among themselves. Which was very fortunate—pursuing Bemular in these conditions was hard enough without having to worry about dodging inquisitive airborne natives.

*   *   *

Agent Shin Hayata of the Science Special Search Party, aka the SSSP, or simply the Science Patrol, had chased his share of UFOs through the night sky. Some had turned out to be phantoms and others had been more substantial, but he’d never had so much as a near miss with any of the latter. He was just too good a pilot.

The UFO du jour (or de la nuit) looked like a great big ball of blue light and flew like something too sophisticated to obey the laws of physics. It had darted around the treetops of Ryugamori Forest for a while as if it were searching for something. Then it had reached the lake, where it now seemed to be doing some impromptu aerobatics for a group of campers on the shore.

At first, he’d thought the UFO pilot was playing with the vessel’s reflection just to show off. The campers had oohed and aahed excitedly at every tricky maneuver. Hayata was just as impressed as they were, although it also made him think of something his flight instructor had told him back when he’d been a new member of the Science Patrol and still in training to fly the fancy VTOLs:

Son, there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. Decide which one you want to be so the rest of us can file the appropriate flight plan.

Whoever was on the stick in that glowing blue ball either hadn’t heard that bit of wisdom or put no stock in it. Either way, Hayata was going to have to stay extra alert if he wanted to end his shift in one piece. He called in to Headquarters to give them a status report and smiled when he heard the voice in his headphones.

‘What’s up, Hayata? You sound serious.’

Some things you could always count on, he thought; the sun always rose in the east, you could always find people camping at Lake Ryugamori, and when he called in to HQ, Akiko Fuji would answer. Life was good; not easy, but then, what fun would that be?

‘I’ve got the UFO in sight over Lake Ryugamori,’ Hayata told her. ‘Looks like a glowing blue spotlight and the way it moves should be impossible. It’s putting on quite a show for the campers.’

‘Muramatsu here, Hayata,’ the captain said, joining the conversation. ‘Stay with it, see if you can get some idea of its structure. It’s got to be made of something more substantial than light. We’ll be out to back you up shortly.’

‘Copy that, Cap. Hayata out.’ He chuckled to himself. All the Science Patrol agents had come across some pretty strange things in the course of the job but a UFO made of light would be a first.

*   *   *

Captain Toshio Muramatsu was too restless to stay behind his desk in the Operations Center. Any time civilians were in close proximity to a UFO, it made him nervous. He made sure Fuji was recording everything that came in from Hayata, then checked on how Daisuke Arashi and Mitsuhito Ide were doing with the map they’d put up on a glass-board.

Ryugamori Forest was the region’s largest wooded area and very popular with campers. Lately it had also been popular with strange lights in the sky; the number of reports had increased. Some had been spurious—city-folk not used to the great outdoors, who’d never seen a falling star—but others had involved some kind of genuine phenomenon or event witnessed by three or more people, most of whom were sober.

In any case, all calls about strange or suspicious activity had to be investigated and reports filed. If a report turned out to be a false alarm, that was all right with Muramatsu—no fault, no foul, no harm done, and no tears shed. Anything else was an open case they had to keep track of. Arashi and Ide had created the glass-board map to do exactly that, color-coding each case and marking the spot of first sighting, trajectory followed, and last known location, dated and time-stamped. The way things were going, Muramatsu suspected they were going to need extra glass-boards and a lot more colors.

Fuji had suggested they use the computer but both Arashi and Ide had balked. They preferred working with something they could physically touch, write on, and move around; it gave them a better feel for directions and distances. A computer screen was entirely too small, completely unworkable. Muramatsu told Fuji he was inclined to let them be. This was one of the very few things the two men had ever agreed on.

Both men were excellent Science Patrol agents—Arashi was fearless and his ability as a sharpshooter was practically supernatural, while Ide had a genius for invention and innovation. But Arashi also had a tendency to see things in stark black and white. By contrast, Ide was younger, less certain, not as serious or as self-possessed. The way Muramatsu saw it, they needed each other.

As Communications Officer, Fuji did more than simply respond to their calls in. She had a way of getting them to communicate with each other clearly and efficiently, which Muramatsu knew from his time as an astronaut was crucial to keeping a team functioning at their peak.

And then there was Hayata, who rounded them all out. He seemed to do everything right but was never arrogant about it, always treating his teammates with respect. He was level-headed, easygoing, slow to anger, and, best of all, he had a sense of humor, which was why Muramatsu had promoted him to his second-in-command and, in Muramatsu’s absence, acting CO. Arashi, Fuji, and Ide had accepted this without complaint or any sign of resentment or jealousy.

Muramatsu was relieved that they worked together as well as they did. He had been uncertain about taking this assignment after his years as an astronaut but so far, it was going well for everyone involved. His big concern at the moment, however, was this UFO Hayata was chasing. It was just a gut feeling but in Muramatsu’s experience, there were times when the gut was smarter than the brain.

Fuji turned from the communications console to look at him, apprehension large on her young face. She had a way of picking up on how he was feeling—it was probably that talent for communicating, he thought. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring nod and she nodded back at him, but her expression was no less anxious as she turned back to the console.

*   *   *

Hayata flew a wide circle around the glowing blue sphere, varying his altitude to scan it from different angles. So far, however, all the readings were crazy. Either the equipment was completely out of whack or the UFO was actually made of light—very weird light, dense light that behaved like a solid, which made no sense. Not on Earth, anyway.

He wished Professor Iwamoto were available but he was away at a conference. The good doctor had co-founded the Science Patrol to investigate unusual and/or anomalous phenomena. The professor might not have been able to explain anything but Hayata would have felt better knowing he was aware of it.

Meanwhile, the UFO pilot seemed to be focused on three particular spots above the lake, flying from one to another repeatedly in a lopsided triangular pattern. Hayata scanned the areas, hoping to discover what the alien visitor was drawn to but found nothing other than mud, rocks, lichen, and fish.

Hayata shifted to what he hoped was a safe distance and flew over the water in the same pattern but there was no reaction from the UFO, no change in brightness, altitude, or speed. Either the pilot didn’t see what he was doing as an overture to communication or didn’t care. Hayata thought it was probably the latter. It seemed unlikely that a lifeform capable of space travel wouldn’t know when another intelligent being was trying to communicate.

Backing off a little more, Hayata increased his altitude to give himself more room for evasive action, just in case the alien pilot stopped ignoring him. Was there a crew on board? he wondered. If so, they must have been small in stature and number. Unless the UFO were some kind of quantum vessel and the inside was bigger than the outside. No, that was even more unlikely, Hayata decided.

And while he was at it, how long was this thing going to hang around before the pilot went after whatever was down there? And how would he—or she, or they—do that? Send the theoretical crew down in a submarine? Or did they have some sophisticated device that would teleport things aboard?

As if on cue, the UFO descended slowly into the lake, making the water churn and foam madly.

Hayata let out a surprised laugh. Okay, he hadn’t seen that coming, although he probably should have. It made sense—any vessel that could travel safely through the vacuum of space would also be waterproof as well as airtight.

He heard the campers shouting in excitement on the exterior audio channel and pointed one of his outside cameras in their direction. Someone yelled at a guy named Tom to go get that fancy camera he’d insisted on bringing with him right now, dammit, or he was gonna miss the whole thing—

Which, sadly, Tom did, after tripping over something in the dark. By the time he got back, there was nothing to see but water bubbling up at the place where the UFO had gone down. Hayata felt sorry for him. He just hoped none of them got the bright idea to dive in after the thing.

He took the VTOL up a bit higher, looking for a blue glow in the water but there was nothing. Scans told him only that there was something big sitting on the muddy bottom and it had scared away all the fish. Time to call HQ and tell them to bring out one of the subs.

As Hayata reached for the cockpit comm, there was a flash of bright red in the windscreen directly in front of him. He had just enough time to register the thing as an enormous red sphere coming at him too quickly for evasive action.

Then everything went black.

*   *   *

Most people have the great good fortune to live their entire lives without ever seeing a midair collision. Even fewer witness a collision involving a UFO. The lakeside campers had no thought of how unique they were, only that the burning wreckage had fallen into the forest not a hundred meters from where they stood gaping in shock.

By then two members of the Saitama Park Police were with them, responding to their report of a UFO that had fallen or deliberately sunk into the lake. For all that they were law enforcement officers, Park Police more often functioned like land-based lifeguards, rescuing lost hikers who took a wrong turn on the path less traveled, or coming to the aid of those not properly equipped for a weekend of roughing it, and making sure campfires were completely extinguished.

Taking reports of strange activity was also part of the job. The Park Police handbook had a section on how to deal with nervous souls who thought they’d ‘seen something’ after scaring themselves silly with ghost stories around the campfire. Any reports about UFOs went directly to the Science Patrol while the Park Police kept the eyewitnesses calm and reassured.

Officers Tanaka and Uchido had over fifteen years of experience between them. They had arrived too late to see the blue UFO sink into Lake Ryugamori but along with the campers, they had a clear, unobstructed view of the red sphere crashing into the Science Patrol VTOL.

Police and civilians both had been transfixed, frozen in shock as the aircraft came apart and dropped into the forest. Then one of the civilians said something about looking for survivors.

*   *   *

Everybody in Ops jumped when the phone rang, Muramatsu included.

Arashi took the call. His complexion was ashen as he put the receiver down and said there had been two UFOs over Ryugamori Forest. One was blue and was now at the bottom of the lake, although some of the witnesses weren’t sure whether it had fallen in accidentally or gone into the water on purpose. The other UFO was red and all the witnesses had seen it collide in midair with a Science Patrol VTOL.

The team turned to look at Muramatsu. He clamped down on his emotions, showing no reaction to what Arashi had just told them.

‘This is only an initial report,’ he said, looking at each of them as he spoke. ‘We mobilize, get to the crash site, and find out what actually happened. Fuji, keep trying to raise Hayata. Arashi and Ide, you’re with me. Let’s move.’

*   *   *

Neither Officer Tanaka nor his partner Officer Uchido had ever dealt with an air crash but the procedures were basically the same as for any other disaster. Uchido had immediately called Fire and Rescue; thanks to the fire-suppression system built into all Science Patrol transport, the flames were already dying down. The primary task for Tanaka and Uchido was crowd control—keeping the civilians back from the wreckage, which wasn’t always easy, as every crowd seemed to have a couple of people convinced that they could help. Telling onlookers they had to keep the way clear so emergency workers could reach any casualties usually worked.

But the only casualty any of them could see was a man in a Science Patrol uniform lying on the ground beside part of a broken wing bearing the Science Patrol logo. There was no blood, no horribly mangled limbs or worse, but Tanaka could tell by the slackness of his body and the unnatural angle of his neck that the man was dead.

He and Uchido were moving the campers back another few meters when they heard rustling and the sound of brittle, burned wood breaking in the undergrowth. Tanaka winced; animal predation already? All the wildlife in the area should have been scared off. As he and his partner were trying to push the campers even farther from the crash site, they all suddenly began shouting and pointing and he turned to see the body of the dead Science Patrol agent levitating.

Uchido turned on his flashlight, putting it on the brightest setting. ‘You see this, too, right?’ he said to Tanaka in a low voice.

‘I see it,’ Tanaka replied.

‘You got any idea what’s doing that?’ Uchido asked.

‘I got nothing,’ Tanaka told him. ‘But whatever it is, we have to keep these people away from it.’

‘Hey, look—is that supposed to happen?’ one of the campers said in a high, panicked voice.

Now Tanaka saw there was a red glow around the floating body. Transparent at first, it grew brighter and more substantial until it became completely opaque and they could no longer see the man at all.

‘That looks like the UFO that crashed into him,’ Uchido said to Tanaka.

‘Don’t ask me, I still got nothing,’ Tanaka replied.

‘Well, whatever that is, it’s not nothing,’ Uchido said, keeping his flashlight on the glowing red sphere. It continued to rise until it was about ten meters above the ground, hovering in a strange silence broken only by the soft crackle of the dying fire below.

The Science Patrol and emergency services had better show up fast, Tanaka thought, before the damned thing flew away or popped like a soap bubble or plunged into the lake after the other one. Because there was no way anyone who hadn’t seen this would believe a word he told them.

*   *   *

I’m dreaming, Hayata told himself, although he knew he wasn’t. No dream had ever been this definite, this solid, the way reality was definite and solid. Some force, strong, irresistible, and as volatile as a live electric current had taken hold of him and was literally lifting him up. But not justliterally—it was lifting him in a deeply personal way. His mind, his self was rising up—

Always seek out those things that elevate the human spirit.

The thought came in his mother’s voice. She had said that many times to him, even when he was a little kid. He’d joked about how she wanted him to press the up button for the human-spirit elevator and she’d thought that was pretty funny. But she had also made sure he was exposed to fine art of all kinds—painting and sculpture, music, literature, film, classic Kabuki and Noh theater, and more.

Hayata liked to think the Science Patrol aspired to the same kind of thing—elevating the human spirit by working to increase understanding of the world and the people in it, because there was far more to all of it than just those things that could be seen and heard and touched. In fact, he was in the presence of something more right now. What held him now wasn’t just a force like gravity or magnetism—it was an individual consciousness. Someone.

Who’s there? Hayata asked, too curious to be frightened. Who in the world are you?

He sensed the other considering the question of who in this world he was, and the possibility that the answer might be different in another world or even another time. It was an idea Hayata wouldn’t have given any thought to simply because here and now were parameters that didn’t change in this particular context. But the presence was one whose intelligence and understanding was far greater than his own and yet somehow it saw him as a kindred spirit.

In this world and all others, I am a Being of Light from Nebula M78—an Ultra.

It hadn’t been a trick question but he’d gotten a trick answer, one that explained everything for an Ultra and nothing for him. But perhaps it was the best a dead man could hope for. And he really was dead, Hayata understood that now. His life had ended in a bright red flash and he had no choice but to accept it, although it certainly wasn’t like anything he’d ever imagined. Of all the things that might have come next, he would never have guessed he’d be communicating mind-to-mind with an alien from Nebula M78.

I had not expected this, either, the alien told him. I was taking Bemular to its final resting place when it escaped. I pursued it across the galaxy to your Earth.

There was still a tiny possibility he was dreaming, Hayata thought. If so, his subconscious had really outdone itself this time. This was so vivid, so wild, and yet so personal.

What’s a Bemular? Hayata asked.

A demon-like monster who disrupts peace and harmony in the universe.

Of course it was, Hayata thought. An Ultra wouldn’t go clear across the galaxy for a shoplifter.

I apologize for this, the alien added.

Hayata could feel the depth of his sincerity. Did all aliens personally apologize to people they killed, or just Beings of Light from Nebula M78?

In return, the alien continued, I give you my life.

You what? Wait aminute—Hayata’s thoughts were spinning like pinwheels in a typhoon. You can do that? How? What’ll happen to you?

I will merge myself with you. We will become one and together we will work for peace on Earth.

Well, that was a relief, Hayata thought, because if the alien had wanted to destroy the Earth, he sure couldn’t have stopped him.

Abruptly he felt something small and light drop onto his chest near the base of his throat and he had a mental image of a cylindrical object, similar to a penlight.

This is the Beta Capsule, the alien said.

Not a capsule I’ve ever taken, even on prescription, Hayata replied.

Use the Beta Capsule whenever you’re in trouble, the alien told him.

And when I do? Hayata asked. What happens?

You’ll have nothing to worry about.

What was that supposed to mean? Hayata wondered. Okay, good to know. Sounds like a very useful capsule. Thank you.

For a moment, he could sense the power contained in the object, power that had now been extended to him, and then something touched his mind. The sensation was unmistakable even though he’d never felt it until now, because the alien was merging with him. It was invigorating and exhilarating, as if he were being remade and enhanced. The intensity became overwhelming. He was rising even higher, he was flying, he was—

*   *   *

The explosion came only a few minutes after they set down near the lake. It sent Ide sprawling, threw Arashi against a nearby tree, and almost knocked Muramatsu off his feet. For a few seconds in the ensuing silence, none of them dared to move.

‘W-was that another collision?’ Ide said finally. He got to his feet slowly and brushed himself off.

‘Remember, there were two strange lights in the sky,’ Arashi said, looking to Muramatsu.

‘Right now, I don’t see any lights in the sky,’ Muramatsu said firmly. ‘Just smoke up ahead, which I’m guessing is the crash site. Arashi, you take point, Ide, you’re behind him. I’ve got our six.’

Ide seemed about to say something, then fell in behind Arashi. As they drew closer, they could smell burned wood and brush as well as scorched metal and oil, but that was all—there was no sickening reek that indicated the presence of human casualties.

After several meters, Arashi held up one fist to signal a stop. ‘Cap, I can see people up ahead. They’re all lying on the ground and I can’t tell if they’re—if—uh, what condition they’re in.’

Muramatsu felt a terrible dropping sensation in his stomach as he moved to Arashi’s side and raised his flashlight. This was every emergency worker’s nightmare, to discover an air crash had killed people on the ground. Except these people all seemed to be intact, not bloodied or burned or injured in any way that he could see. A second later, he heard a soft groan and saw a young woman move, then raise herself up on one hand, pushing her hair back from her grimy but uninjured face.

The rest of them began to stir then and Muramatsu gestured for Arashi and Ide to go to them. ‘Ide, call emergency services,’ he said briskly. ‘I want a fleet of ambulances and doctors here immediately. We have, what—at least a dozen people, possibly hurt—’ He broke off as he spotted a man in a Park Police uniform pushing himself to a kneeling position.

Muramatsu rushed to him and offered his hand. ‘Can you tell me what happened here—’ He looked at the man’s name tag. ‘Officer Tanaka.’

Tanaka leaned heavily on him as he got to his feet with a dazed expression. Everyone was regaining consciousness now, all with the same disoriented look. Muramatsu caught Arashi’s eye and mouthed, Keep them here. Arashi nodded and passed the message to Ide.

‘I called Fire and Rescue already,’ said Tanaka’s partner Uchido, materializing next to Tanaka. ‘As soon as it happened.’

‘As soon as what happened?’ Muramatsu asked tensely, then noticed Arashi staring past him. He turned to follow his gaze and saw part of a VTOL wing in the charred undergrowth. The internal fire-suppression system that had kept the forest from going up in a grand conflagration after the VTOL had crashed had also left the Science Patrol insignia clearly recognizable.

‘It’s Hayata’s after all,’ Arashi said, his voice bleak. ‘No way he could have survived that.’ He moved a little closer to the broken wing, shining his flashlight on the ground around it. ‘But it’s very strange—his body’s not here.’

‘We saw him,’ said Officer Tanaka. His partner Uchido nodded to a murmured chorus of agreement from the civilians. ‘A man—he was wearing a Science Patrol uniform.’

‘In the wreckage? What did you see?’ asked Ide, glancing at Muramatsu. ‘Tell us everything.’

‘I can tell you but I can’t explain any of it,’ Tanaka said. ‘His body just—’ He floundered for a moment. ‘Rose. Went up in the air. Levitated.’

‘And there was a glowing red light around him,’ put in one of the civilians, to another chorus of agreement. ‘It got brighter and brighter until the man disappeared into it.’

‘But the light kept rising up,’ Uchido said, demonstrating with one hand.

‘That’s impossible,’ Ide said flatly.

Tanaka straightened up to his full height. ‘That’s what happened.’

A young woman leaned forward between him and Uchido. ‘We all saw it. All of us.’

Ide shook his head. ‘Impossible,’ he said again.

‘You can say it’s impossible all you want,’ Tanaka told him, his expression more than a little defiant. ‘We’re telling you what we saw.’

Ide opened his mouth to respond but Muramatsu put up a hand. ‘How high did this red light rise?’ he asked Tanaka.

‘As high as some of those trees by the shore. The younger ones.’ Tanaka pointed.

‘What happened to it?’ Muramatsu asked. ‘Where did it go?’

‘It exploded,’ said Uchido. ‘The next thing we knew, you were here.’

Ide’s expression of disbelief wavered as he looked from Uchido to Tanaka and then to Muramatsu. ‘We heard an explosion right after we got here. Are you saying it knocked you all out but didn’t hurt you?’

Uchido spread his hands. ‘Look, none of us understands what happened. For all we know it could be aliens.’

‘I vote yes on aliens,’ said a man standing behind Uchido, to yet another chorus of agreement.

‘We don’t know anything for certain,’ Muramatsu said, talking over them. Where were the damned ambulances? He should have been hearing sirens by now. ‘We only know something caused all of you to lose consciousness. You all seem to be all right but you need to be thoroughly examined by doctors—and that includes both of you,’ he added to the Park Police. ‘Until then, we need you two to make sure all of these people stay right here and remain calm, so they don’t exacerbate any injuries we don’t yet know about.’

‘Will do,’ Tanaka said. He and Uchido looked less dazed now, more alert as they spoke to the civilians in tones that were soothing but authoritative, persuading all of them to sit down again and talk quietly with each other. The sirens Muramatsu had been waiting to hear were finally audible but still farther away than he’d have liked. He told Ide to keep an eye on the group, then turned to Arashi, who was still surveying the wreckage.

‘Find anything else?’ he asked.

Arashi shook his head. ‘It’s going to be light in another hour or so, Cap. As soon as backup get here, we can organize a search for Hayata. If his body’s missing, maybe he did survive and he’s wandering around in the woods, half-conscious, injured, with no memory of what happened to him or where he is.’ He glanced at the group. ‘What do you think about them? Mass hysteria, maybe?’

‘No idea,’ Muramatsu said. ‘Maybe Hayata can tell us, if we’re lucky.’

‘If he remembers,’ Arashi said. ‘What if he doesn’t?’

‘Then I’ll settle for getting him back alive,’ Muramatsu replied. ‘Let’s take it one crisis at a time.’

*   *   *

Hayata woke to find himself lying on a cushioned bench in the stern of a modest, well-kept speedboat. A middle-aged couple were standing over him looking anxious.

‘See?’ the woman said. She was a bit plump, dressed in a flowery shirt and white trousers. Her cat’s-eye sunglasses had bright red frames and mirrored lenses, a combination Hayata might have thought comical under other circumstances. ‘He was asleep, not in a coma.’ She folded her arms the way Fuji did whenever she won an argument with Ide; Fuji always won.

‘Science Patrol agents don’t just fall asleep in marinas,’ the man replied, also folding his arms Fuji-style. He’d flipped up the dark lenses on his aviator glasses and was peering closely at Hayata with watery eyes.

Sitting up slowly, Hayata looked around, wondering how he’d gotten to the marina, which was clear on the other side of the lake from where he’d been.

‘Well, he’s awake now,’ the woman said. ‘We can just ask him. Were you on a stakeout? Are there smugglers around here?’

Hayata pulled off his helmet and rubbed his ears, wincing. Memo to self: Always remove headgear before passing out for several hours.

‘Can we offer you something?’ the man asked him. ‘Some tea, perhaps?’ He was already pouring a cup from a silver thermos.

‘Thank you,’ Hayata said, accepting the cup from him. Steam rose from the dark gold liquid; the aroma mixed with the fresh air and made him smile. These were good people, nice people, who would be kind to a stranger they found asleep in their boat rather than treating him with suspicion or hostility.

‘You were on a stakeout, weren’t you?’ The woman sat down beside him. ‘You know, I had a feeling something was going on around here.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, he’s with the Science Patrol,’ the man said. ‘He wouldn’t be chasing mere smugglers, he’d be on a science stakeout.’

‘Maybe he’ll tell us after he wakes up a little more.’ The woman patted his shoulder.

Hayata sipped the tea, feeling himself come back into focus. He remembered everything: the blue UFO sinking into the lake, the campers giving poor Tom a hard time, the glowing ball of red light rushing toward him too quickly to evade—

No, he must have evaded it somehow since he wasn’t in bits and pieces scattered all over in the forest along with his VTOL—his very, very expensive VTOL—

Something had saved him. No, someone.

The memory was like a bright light going on in his head, illuminating the truth in perfect, life-quality detail: the pure, unselfish soul of the being who had merged their two lives instead of leaving this little corner of the world diminished by one. And the being had done it all by elevating the human spirit. Hayata’s human spirit—

He blinked. All this had gone through his head before he’d even swallowed the next sip of tea. It was truly wonderful tea, too, the best he’d ever tasted. He drank the rest of it and handed the cup back to the man.

‘Thank you, I feel much better now,’ Hayata said. ‘I came out here last night on an investigation. Not to stake out smugglers,’ he added, smiling at the woman. ‘But something just as crucial. Involving science.’

The couple looked at each other, pleased they were both right. Hayata wondered how often that happened.

‘I ran into some difficulties before I could wrap things up,’ he continued. ‘I thank you so much for your kindness but I’m afraid now I have to ask an even bigger favor of you.’

‘We’re more than happy to help,’ the man told him.

The woman nodded emphatically. ‘Tell us what we can do.’

A few minutes later, Hayata was speeding across the lake in the boat while the couple watched after him from the dock. They’d insisted he take the thermos of tea with him.

*   *   *

At about the same time that Hayata was waking up in the marina, Muramatsu was coordinating emergency workers and volunteers in a search of the area immediately surrounding Lake Ryugamori. His energy was starting to flag but he refused to quit. He knew Arashi and Ide wouldn’t want to give up, either, but at some point he’d have to call time on them and drag them back to HQ.

He paused to have a cup of tea and gazed glumly out over the lake. If they’d been searching for a civilian, they’d have been thinking in terms of recovering a body but no one had said anything like that yet, or at least not where he could hear it.

Fuji would be calling again soon, he knew; she’d been calling every twenty minutes. Muramatsu was thinking about how he would still have nothing to tell her when he saw the water start to foam and froth, as if it were boiling. More disturbing, however, were the blue lights flashing just below the surface.

Tanaka and Uchido were suddenly on either side of him. The paramedics had given each of them a clean bill of health but hadn’t been able to persuade either man to go to the hospital for observation. Muramatsu couldn’t help feeling glad they’d insisted on sticking around simply because they’d been the last people to see Hayata, even if the account they’d given was flat-out unbelievable. In any other situation, Muramatsu would have insisted the hospital put them on a seventy-two-hour psychiatric hold. But with everyone telling the same story, he couldn’t just dismiss them all as crazy. Obviously, something unusual had happened here, and it was still happening.

‘Last night, they said the UFO that sank into the lake was glowing blue,’ Tanaka told him. ‘And I’m pretty sure that’s about where it went down.’

Before Muramatsu could answer, the water shot up like a fountain and something broke the surface.

His first impression was of something reptilian, with enormous armored scales ending in sharp points. Huge, unblinking eyes appeared and Muramatsu reflexively took a step back, thinking the creature was looking directly at him. Water poured off it as it moved into the shallows until it towered forty meters over him, its malevolent gaze still fixed on him. Unable to move or speak, Muramatsu could only stare up at it as if he were frozen in place.

Baring its teeth, the monster roared and the sound hit Muramatsu with the force of a physical blow, snapping him back into sharp focus.

‘Get all these people back from the lake!’ he told the Park Police and drew his weapon. Arashi and Ide flanked him now, their own weapons up and ready as the three of them lined up on the shore and took aim.

The weapons were a variation on the standard law enforcement sidearm, developed by Ide for use in situations that regular police never faced. The energy beams they fired could be adjusted in strength. The two lowest settings weren’t lethal to humans, although they were pretty painful even for those wearing protective gear, as Ide himself had emphatically assured the team after volunteering to be a live test target. Muramatsu had authorized their use only in extreme situations and never with lethal intent on any living creature, if at all possible. Looking at this horror now, however, made him wonder if they had enough firepower among them to do more than tickle it.

The creature let out a furious bellow and Muramatsu thought he had never heard a more vicious sound. Instead of coming all the way out to attack them, however, the beast sank below the surface of the lake again. For several moments, the water churned madly, then subsided.

‘Did we get it?’ Ide asked in a small voice.

‘I don’t think we even got its attention.’ Arashi blew out a breath, gazing hard at the place where it had disappeared. ‘If that’s what crashed into Hayata—’

‘We don’t know that it did,’ Muramatsu said sharply.

‘Whatever you say, Cap,’ Ide said, as if he were afraid Muramatsu was going to hit him.

Muramatsu felt a surge of impatience. Ide was a good agent but you had to keep him focused on the immediate present to counter his tendency to overthink, especially in a high-pressure situation.

On his other side, Arashi was looking out over the lake to the marina in the distance. ‘Cap, we’re gonna have to raise the alert level and evacuate everyone, starting wi—what the hell?’

Muramatsu followed his gaze and felt his blood pressure jump forty points. They’d had the whole area on alert all night, telling everyone to stay off the water. So of course, some idiot had decided this would be the perfect time to take a high-speed cruise around the lake.

*   *   *

Akiko Fuji’s voice was nearly gone after a night of trying to raise Hayata on the radio when the console signaled an incoming communicator call.

‘This is SSSP Headquarters,’ she croaked, adding, ‘Fuji here,’ in case whoever was calling didn’t recognize the voice.

‘Oh, hey! How are you, Akiko?’

For a moment—not a long moment but a great, big, gargantuan, impenetrable obstacle of a moment—she thought she was imagining Hayata’s voice. She had imagined hearing it all night, trying to will him to answer every time she’d said his name. But he hadn’t and her imagination had buckled under reality.

Now the new reality crashed in on her and she found what was left of her voice again. ‘Hayata! Where on earth are you? We’ve been looking for you all night—’

‘Never mind that right now.’ Wind buffeted his microphone and he was shouting to make himself heard over the buzz of a motor.