Endless clouds filled the sky, those distant white ones that didn’t so much threaten rain but just said there waiting looming. Ian Wishart found the clouds gave the day dull and repetitive appearance; that they stared on bluntly unaware of the pain and suffering beneath them. Wishart partially hated and partially enjoyed it here. He hated the horror and the death; the atrocity that had befallen these people. But at the same time it felt right to be doing something to be working towards something.
Today he travelled with his team through the streets of abandoned Miyazaki. Their aim was to locate survivors and shepherd them back to the Fellowship base near the port. A high level confrontation was on-going as to who really had jurisdiction over this land however many people seemed to be of the opinion that it didn’t matter anyway what with the current state of affairs in the UN. Wishart didn’t really like to consider it, too much to think about really.
The team came up to an alleyway a tatter of clothing and other items suggested that there might be inhabitation down there. The team moved along, some of them whispering silent prayers for comfort and strength. Wishart needed no such comfort; fear no longer came naturally to him, not after what the Rhodesian doctors had done to him. Everything felt somehow distant. It was a curse that meant that only these atrocities, the constant vigilance required in the Japanese expedition, could make him feel alive anymore.
As they had guessed a group of Japanese were hiding down a cellar open to the alleyway. Holst, a German member of the group who also happened to have a good grasp of the Japanese language went in first and tried to calm them with soothing words in the language that Wishart did not understand. They looked pale and malnourished so Holst’s promise of food quickly persuaded them to leave this hole.
As they were filling out into the alleyway Wishart took a look around the cellar. It was like so many others that he had seen but as he was pacing the concrete floor he noticed something different, it was a BulkProd food brick sitting there half used. He did a double take. Everyone knew that the food was the cause of the mystery killer. How had this family survived while eating it. He called over to Galois a Frenchman who had come to Malta to join the Fellowship when he had been sentenced to castration for petty theft.
“What is it Bigian?” Bigian being the nickname that Wishart had quickly acquired.
“Look,” Wishart gestured to the brick “Its BulkProd, how do you think they survived on eating it?”
The Frenchman shook his head “No idea; maybe its old, came from an earlier batch that the contaminated ones or something?” Then he called over to Holst “Holst! Can you ask a question for us?” The German wandered over to and gave a look that said he really just wanted to head back to base. Galois as ever didn’t care and continued anyway “Can you ask them about the food they’ve been eating, it could be important to determining the source of the disease that’s been killing everyone?”
20 minutes later Wishart stood in the alleyway, bedraggled posters of Takeshi Ruchang and Takeshi Shiro; the one offering peace and unity the other offering revolution and change. Things had changed in the last 20 minutes. Officials had been of the opinion that people were being killed by some bacteria or virus or perhaps that they had been poisoned by their own people or by the invading coalition. But in Wishart’s hands on a scrap of paper was a symbol that had been drawn by the Japanese. Apparently it was located at the corner of every poisoned brick. Ian knew the symbol well though; he had seen it many times while on the cargo ship that travelled from Mozambique to Argentina. Worse still was that on the journey he had overheard some of the crew discussing how those bricks were not to be touched as they were a special order from Japan. The other seaman he asked what was so special about them. The first man had shrugged and said only that he knew it was highly confidential.
At the time Wishart had thought nothing of it, but now the pieces were falling into place; little snippets here and there. It was clear now. He hoped that it was worth it for them. He hoped that this truly had been worthwhile as if it hadn’t then the 35 million people who were poisoned here had all died in vain. He scrunched up the drawing in his huge muscled hand “Damn them, damn them all.”
Xylon Toto had been in the hospital for months now. Long ago he had begun hobbling around with a stick and helping out in the day to day administration of the Hospital. It was vast change in pace from managing the day to day workings of a nation’s military but really he enjoyed it more. He especially enjoyed wandering off to the research sections, those concerned with healing rather than those that continued the Springheel Jack program. The later was not a section that Xylon wished never had existed, though tactically militarily and all such it made complete sense Xylon just found it repulsive and inhumane. At least the Austrians retained their humanity through the Meteor project.
Today there seemed to be much commotion in one of the research labs. He wandered down there to see what was up. Xylon was greeted by much commotion, it seemed that something big was going on. He went up to one of the scientists a nice fellow named Reginald and asked him what was going on.
“Three men died last week on a scientific mission to Madagascar, we just found out they were poisoned and we’re looking into some huge implications of this.” The man was busy but evidently appreciated the opportunity to stop and talk about it all with Toto.
Toto nodded “what sort of implication would they be?”
Reginald’s face turned sour “It appears that the poison came in through the food, a large number of BulkProd bricks that were manufactured by the Indonesian government. The commerce authority tracked down the ship that they came in on. It was Indonesian but wasn’t on any government scheduled route it was a free trader. They picked up their cargo in Jakarta before bringing it here.”
“So are they going to be brought to justice?” Toto asked “It shouldn't be too hard to put out a warrant for their arrest.”
“Its more complicated than that.” Reginald gestured to Toto to follow him as he walked up to a desk and opened a folder that had been stamped in large red letters with the word CLASSIFIED and that contained large amount of photos and charts.
“Are you sure you should be showing me this?”
“It’ll go public anyway. This is our data on the genocide of the Japanese people. Its the same poison.”
Toto stood for a moment in shock, surely the poison if it was in all that food would now have been administered to thousands of residents of the AF. Rhodesia could be going the way of Japan, maybe he could even have been poisoned. His own mortality suddenly seemed real in a way that it hadn't done since the attempted assassinations.
“Don’t worry were safe.” Reginald continued, Toto breathed out a sigh of relief “We worked out why the poison affected them but not the rest of us. Its a certain chemical compound in the waters of Africa and South America.”
“So we can synthesize an antidote? Administer it to the Japanese?”
“No, that’s what the complication is. The compound is Alemorphalin.” That was a name Toto knew all too well, the artificial genetic toxin that was developed by a mad scientist in the 2050s proposing it as an answer to the world’s overpopulation. The toxin would select people be a certain allele and then they would die. The scientist released the toxin into the water supplies of South America and Africa claiming that the massive number of deaths caused would bring about peace and stability in the lands. 80% of the population died within weeks.
“So that’s why we can’t give them the cure, it would kill more of them than the poison would…”
Halfway across the world again in Manilla Takeshi Shiro sat in a fortified underground bunker. Not all his plans had proceeded well, he was no longer in Japan, Japan was no longer even a nation but a fallout zone from a weapon of mass destruction that the coalition had used against his people. Nearly all of his supporters on the mainland were dead, but that isn’t saying much since nearly everyone on the mainland was dead. Including of course his brother.
Ruchang had always been a nice sort. He’d been the politician Shiro had been the General, it had worked out well for them for a time. They had even managed to secure the entire nation safely under their grip. But Shiro had always wanted more, he hated the fact that his big brother held the power and Shiro was just a lackey to his plans. Something needed to be done and he had done it. As the nation crumbled and Ruchang ran for a boat Shiro had been there on the pier waiting ready for what he had to do. Of course Ruchang had grovelled attempted to get Shiro to come with him he would have done anything at that point since he knew he life was on the line.
Shiro never had been that sentimental though he hadn’t shed a single tear as he executed his brother. He hadn’t shed a tear for that coward. But upon seeing the suffering of his people he cried. The grief and anger had enveloped him completely. He knew then that he would kill them; everyone. A few thousand died in the Cairo missile. Thousands more would die when he finaly took his revenge.
But for now he would wait, the world would soon know him again.
Summer 2107
Turn 14
World News!
Editor’s Note
The editor wishes to express that
World News! is very grateful for the recovery of Kaiserin Claudia. The Kaiserin is one of the most respected leaders in the world and has achieved so much in the time she has been with us so far. It is always a pleasure to hear about developments in Germany and as ever we wish the Kaiserin the best for the future.
UN closes
In a drastic turn the UN council has decided to close down. After several years with no formal charter and with the interim rules being so often overlooked (it is estimated that over 70% of measures passed in the last 3 years were done in breach of the interim rules) the institution will be closing down. The management of Antarctica will be passed on to the Government of Bermudia and the management of Vietnam will be provisionally given to Laos while the nations of the world decide what to do with it.
Terrorist strikes throughout Oceania
Terror strikes occurred throughout Oceania with government buildings being destroyed and many civilian areas struck. It is not yet known who is behind these attacks.
Beijing Decides
The Beijing Government has decided to remain independent. In the few years of its existence the Government has proved that it can fully function on its own without the help of either China or Korea. The referendum clearly showed a supermajority of people who support independence.
Storms in East Asia
Storms occur down the length of East Asia delaying shipping and other coastal activities.
War in the North
The PAU continues to make inroads into NWAU territory. The first major battle of the war occurred as PAU troops attempted to enter Washington. They were held back but at great cost. Meanwhile the summer weather is proving to be much better for the Army of the PAU and efficiency is vastly increased. The PAU media reports that it hopes to have taken Washington before the winter sets in again.
African War
Not all went according to plan in the AF’s continued campaign in the UAC their combat vehicles were bogged down in bad weather and the UAC has fought back more resilient than expected.
You should all feel bad for sending secret claim orders as when claims conflict they are not added to the map.
See Japan those of you who claimed there.
Also terribly sorry for the delay, things should be back on schedule until late May with weekly updates. Sorry again for this week.
ISSUES WITH MAP WILL BE RESOLVED
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