It had been necessary to shift Genma so that he wasn't in Japan, but now that act had repercussions beyond what she had intended. The loss of life had more than quadrupled, and world effects were staggering. In the short term at least.
She couldn't try again. Just putting an odd thought in Genma's mind had increased the problems dramatically and she had no idea how to fix anything.
She forced herself to look though. Her crushing guilt had her survey exactly how badly she'd done.
Six years had passed since Impact.
Five years, four months had passed since the first horde of monstrous beings had swarmed over a surviving city in the fringe and slaughtered the inhabitants.
Five years since the first Fortress was built - the British erecting walls around a refugee compound and then fortifying it repeatedly as attackers tried to get at the soft flesh within. Fort Churchill was rarely attacked now, its position on the peninsula of Rhode Island was apparently avoided by even the less intelligent monsters.
Other countries had followed suit for various reasons. German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian - they all had their reasons for maintaining the research/defense stations.
Three years since the last expedition to find the center or 'ground zero' had apparently run into trouble. The expeditionary vessel Francois Roulin had returned. Of the crew of seventy, one was alive and he had been driven permanently insane by whatever he had witnessed. As for the robotic probes and electronic surveillance - the ship had gone into some sort of fog bank.
The worst spot though - that was the real Ground Zero, and seemed to be a swirling fog bank at what had once been the California-Nevada border. Ships entering that fog never came out.
Research continued.
"You use a weapon?" asked Joshua Tallman.
"I use whatever I got," said Ranma.
"Looks special to me," said Joshua, wondering how much something like that would bring on the open market.
Ranma shrugged. "Now what about pay?"
"Most we got, we gots in products and food," said Joshua. "This isn't a big community here."
Ranma nodded. The place looked typical of post-Impact badlands. The ruins of some other community, with the people retreating towards the center and erecting lines of defense in their wake.
"The kuei is to the North, we figure about three miles," said Tallman.
"Three months rations," said Ranma. "Refit and replace equipment I use. That dune buggy I got out front? Serviced. Front end needs aligned and filters replaced."
"Deal," said Tallman. "You get the kuei, we get you what you want."
Ranma nodded and stood, one hand dipping down to his weapon to keep it secure. It was:
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(Posted Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:36)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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