Stones: Theory (Stones #4) (59 page)

Side panels of the white transport slide apart and reveal its interior. Four Shinto priests step out. From the length of their hair, two of them are women and the other two men. They bow deeply and walk to Miyazawa in single file.

His face is devoid of expression, like a granite Buddha sculpture, but the other priests don’t look surprised. His lips move very little, and when they do, it’s like a wax figure speaking.

They give him no argument or questions. Only acceptance and agreement. One by one, they bow at precise angles and make their way to the combat vessel where they enter between the two soldiers and disappear into the its dark depths. The soldiers follow the priests, and the portal seals shut behind them.

Miyazawa follows the black ship with his eyes as its legs extract themselves from the sea of pearls and slide straight into its belly. The ship floats up. Branches of nearby trees whip in rhythm with the beating of the giant rotors as they execute an exit vector straight to the east and across the valley.

Miyazawa stares at the white transport for a long time.

“The antidote,” Jessica says. “He needs the antidote to reverse the effects of the derm patch.” She runs down the hall back to the front room. “I’ll mix up his tea. You run out and make him drink it.”

Matt waits until the sound of the black transport fades in the late afternoon sky. With the tea in hand, he slips out through the sliding door and makes his way across the courtyard.

Miyazawa turns at the sound of Matt’s footsteps. “Why have you come?”

“To bring you the medicine you requested.”

“I have no need of medicine.” Miyazawa turns away and starts walking to the white transport. “The
Kami
speak to me. I have become one with them. There is nothing lacking. Perfection has been achieved.” He reaches deep into his sleeve. The green cube comes out in his hand, and he strips another square from its surface. Before Matt can react, Miyazawa slaps the square on his wrist and breathes out slowly.

Small footsteps approach from behind. “The derms only suppress your true self. They do not bring you closer to the
Kami
.” Yarah moves past Matt, taking the mug of tea out of his hand, and stops at the side of Miyazawa.

He turns and stares down. “Out of the mouth of babes is born true wisdom.” Reaching down, he takes the cup and drains its contents.

Then he doubles over in pain and drops to the ground.

Jessica comes running across the courtyard.

Together, they carry Miyazawa into the white transport and lay his body on a long sofa. Once inside, the doors close behind them.

Silent as a butterfly, the transport floats up, twists and sails over the mountains to the west.

Toward the sea.

A
lone white transport, its large rotor fans balanced on horizontal wings, floats over the Pacific Ocean, just below the cloud ceiling.

Matt turns in his seat in the cockpit and watches as Jessica hovers over the body of Miyazawa in an adjoining room. She looks up through the glass window, smiles and walks through a door that slides open.

“How’s Miyazawa doing?” Matt says.

“He’s still out, but I think he’s just resting now.” She takes a seat in the co-pilot’s chair next to Matt and gazes over the ocean. “After we laid him on the bed, the wall screen popped on. Looks like it’s custom equipment programmed to track and adjust his vitals. An I-V unit slid out of the side panel and tried to pump him full of some kind of exotic hallucinogen. I put it on manual and switched to a saline flush. The derm patch has powerful stuff in it. Might take a while to wash out of his system.” Her head drops back to the neck rest. “No wonder he thought he had become a
Kami
. With molecules like that floating around in his body, I’m surprised he didn’t try to go for a test flight out the window in nothing but his jammies.”

“Good job, Doctor Jessica.” Matt’s right hand slides over onto her thigh and feels for her hand. “Do you think Ryzaard knows who’s been destroying his factories?”

“Oh yeah. No question.” Jessica nods vigorously. “He knows. Who else can drop in, vaporize a bunch of polycarbon steel walls and tech equipment, and then disappear without a trace. All without harming a soul.”

“Good,” Matt says. “I hope he gets the message. I’m coming after him.”

She finds his hand and squeezes hard. “We’re still alive. You and Yarah have been using your Stones. I guess that means Ryzaard’s tracking program no longer works.”

“For now.” Matt picks up a jax and twirls it through his fingers. “But sooner or later, the trail’s going to lead him to Miyazawa.”

“And then to us.”

Matt tosses the jax up and down in his hand. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m hoping this will do the trick.” Holding the unit in the palm of his left hand, his fingers play it like a flute. “I got it from Michiko. An ID-less jax. A most precious commodity. My dad used to pay good money for these. I downloaded a suite of Chinese encryption protocols from a Yakuza Mesh-point for good measure, just so no one can trace me when I’m on the Mesh.”

They both become aware that Yarah has approached from behind and is standing between the two high-back chairs listening to every word.

“So your jax is invisible to anyone on the Mesh.” Jessica studies its silver pink exterior, looking like a fancy cylinder lit from within and bent at a slight arc. “Don’t we have a more pressing problem? Like someone tracking this ship.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Matt takes the jax and drops it into a universal slot on the control com. “Problem solved.” A line running the length of the jax lights up with the familiar signal that it is uploading to the ship’s onboard system. “We all know Ryzaard likes tracking things. This little piece of rogue-ware is scanning the ship for location protocols so I can shut them down when we want to disappear.” He pops the jax out and looks at the holo readout above it. “Sure enough. Looks like there’s two tracking signals, one going back to Shinto headquarters, and the other back to MX Global. We’ll disable them when the time is right.”

“Why not do it now?” Jessica says.

Matt stuffs the jax into his pocket. “Better to wait. It’ll make everyone suspicious if Miyazawa’s ship suddenly disappears off their radar.”

“Just one more question.” Jessica looks up at Yarah and pats her gently on the cheek. “Do you have an autopilot algorithm to fly the ship?”

“That won’t be a problem.”

All three of them turn in the direction of the voice and see Miyazawa standing a few meters away in a loose Japanese
yukata
robe. The color is back in his face, and the dilation in his eyes is gone. I-V packs still ride on the side of both biceps.

Matt jumps to his feet. “Don’t tell me you’re a pilot.”

“I’m not.” Miyazawa walks into the cockpit. “And neither is anyone else on my staff. The ship has a built-in auto pilot. You can adjust the parameters, but the ship flies itself.”

“What about cloaking technology?”

Miyazawa’s hands drop to his hips. “At the start of the Shinto campaign, I demanded a special stealth retro-fit to avoid detection by other vessels. Just too much snooping going on. MX Global lifted some technology still in development from the Swedish military. They tell me it emits a low-energy particle field that’s not even on the electromagnetic spectrum. Makes us almost invisible to scanning technology.”

“So they can’t even see us?” Yarah runs to the window and stares down at the ocean. “Not even when they’re close?”

The priest joins her at the window and looks out. “I don’t think it’s that good, but you just came up with a great idea.” He drops down so he is eye-level with Yarah. “You know how to use a Stone?”

“Yes,” Yarah says.

“Why don’t you work on something for us. A way to make the ship totally invisible to the outside. I’m sure this will help.” He reaches into a pocket of his robe and takes out a Stone, handing it to her. “Yours is the green one, right?”

A hush of silence follows. Matt stares at the Stone in Miyazawa’s hand, and then sprints across the room to the cloaking box lying on a table. Grabbing it, he peers in and sees it’s empty.

“Don’t worry,” Miyazawa says. “I have yours right here.” He produces another Stone out of the pocket of his robe and holds it out to Matt.

“Why did you take out the Stones?” Matt says.

The priest sees all eyes on him and steps back. “After you first came, I recognized the stone box as one that belonged to Naganuma-san. It brought back a flood of memories, so naturally I looked to see what was inside.”

With a look of terror on his face, Matt grabs the front of Miyazawa’s robe. “When did you take them out?” One of his hands slowly hardens into a fist.

“You mean the first time?”

Jessica moves between the two men and pushes Matt away. She turns to the Miyazawa. “It’s a cloaking box. It keeps the Stones hidden from Ryzaard. Without it, Ryzaard can track our location.”

Moving backward, Miyazawa’s gaze drops to the floor. “I had no idea.” He goes to his knees, breathing hard. “I noticed the Stones on the second night, after you returned from destroying the fabrication plants along the coast. I couldn’t help having a look after you went to sleep.”

“Two days ago.” Jessica stares into Matt’s eyes. “Why didn’t Ryzaard come after us as soon as they were out of the box?”

“Maybe he doesn’t care anymore.” Yarah passes her Stone back and forth between her hands. “Maybe he’s seen the future and already knows he’s going to win.”

Matt exhales and finds a chair to sit in. “No. He cares. He wants our Stones and he wants us all dead. No doubt about that.” He clasps his hands together and rests his chin on the knuckles. “He’d be tracking and harassing us if he could. There must be some reason he can’t right now.” Matt puts his Stone in the cloaking box and walks past Miyazawa to Yarah. As Matt opens his hand to receive her Stone, he stares into her eyes and kneels down beside her. Then, reaching out to the familiar flow of time, he finds it and holds it still.

The priest and Jessica turn into wax figures.

Yarah hands her Stone to Matt. He carefully places it in the box.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she says.

“Of course you do. It’s your special talent.”

“Mr. Miyazawa is telling the truth. I’ve been watching.” Yarah’s finger runs along the smooth side of the box. “I can’t help it.”

Matt stays as still as possible. “I want you to check again, carefully. Search his mind. Take your time. We need to know for sure whose side he’s on, whether he’s leading us into a trap.”

She nods and closes her eyes. “OK. I’ll have another look.”

While Yarah does the scan, Matt relaxes into the void of time and lets his mind wander. The giant white rotors of the wings are frozen in place as if resting from unceasing labor. Below them, the ocean is a grainy surface spotted with white. It reminds him of a polished marble slab his mother used as a cutting board when he was a just a kid.

Her nimble fingers could chop a green onion in a blur that ended with a tiny mountain of fine shavings.

With his eyes closed, silent images begin to play in his mind.

A woman walks to him on a narrow street with towering skyscrapers on either side. He spies the implant behind her ear. A crowd moves by. Each person has the blue jewel imbedded in their skin. They’re happy, even bubbly, walking with purpose into buildings and jobs and lives. The streets are clean, the structures spotless and functional.

It switches to night. Young people throng in the streets, enjoying the outdoors. There are no more giant holo ads jumping off the sides of buildings, shouting their neon messages to the masses below. People stop on corners, engage strangers in conversation, move in families with small children.

And the smiles. There are smiles everywhere.

“Nothing.” Yarah nudges Matt with her shoulder. “I didn’t find any secrets. He hates Ryzaard as much as we do.”

Jerked out of his reverie, Matt remains kneeling. “Good. Let’s get back to work.” He relaxes his hold on time and stands.

“What’s going on?” Miyazawa jerks as if he’s seen a ghost.

“You’ll get used to it,” Jessica says. “Matt can stop time whenever he wants. You never know when he’s going to jump out of the frame.”

“Sorry,” Matt says. “I should have warned you. It’s become a bad habit of mine.” With both Stones in the box, he makes sure a thick rubber band is in place to keep its lid from shutting. Then he drops the box in his pocket and walks back to Miyazawa, stopping to put a hand on the priest’s shoulder.

“
Gomen nasai.
” Miyazawa bows deeply. “I’m sorry for touching the Stones.”

Matt shakes his head. “It seems you’ve made a useful discovery. Ryzaard must not be tracking us. At least not at the moment. He may be so occupied with his project that he doesn’t have time or resources to focus on anything else. It could be a good time to reach out.”

“To Ryzaard?” Miyazawa has a confused look on his face.

“Yes, in a roundabout way.” Matt touches the implant behind the priest’s ear. “We need to find out more about how this blue jewel works. Maybe there’s a way to use it to our advantage.”