The Complete Karma Trilogy (8 page)

“You’ve been standing out there for a while, young miss,” he said, as he shuffled through some papers in front of him. “Could I have your name, please? You’re not listed as an employee here.”

She ignored him. “Can someone please inform Mr. Perry that he is an extremely impolite human being? If it’s a language barrier that makes you so rude, I would be happy to instruct you myself on the matter. But I have a slight suspicion it’s just the way you are.” After she had said it, regret started forming inside her immediately, but she was still in a state of mind that didn’t agree with her regret, that felt essentially right in defying the man just to defy him.

“My, my,” Mr. Perry said. “If I could find you in this stack of papers, I would recommend disciplinary action for you immediately, young miss. You might not realize it, but in this place I am far your superior, and surely you know that superiors shouldn’t be spoken to in such a manner.” Mr. Perry seemed taller, when looking at him directly, than he had from outside the door. He was not entirely unhandsome, Reiko thought, but foreigners were harder to form such impressions around.

Mr. Okada stepped in. “That is Ms. Reiko Okada, my daughter. You won’t find her in any of those papers, because she is here on my account. As you so rightly noted, I’ve already diverted enough of the company’s resources in my interest, of which I’ve been shamefully aware, so I thought I would make amends somewhat by using something of my own, as a small retribution. I assure you that she as well is essential to the project, at this point. Unfortunately, though, she has inherited my horrendous temper, so you’ll have to forgive her that. On the other hand, in all technicality she is not in fact an employee here, so you are technically not her superior, which means you’ve entirely misspoken, Mr. Perry.”

“My mistake,” Mr. Perry said. “Now that you mention it, the family resemblance is very strong. The penetrating eyes, the commanding demeanor. You breed well, Mr. Okada. And while I don’t think it’s directly against company policy to recruit family members, I would at least appreciate a note to be made about it.”

“I’m afraid my reassignment will prevent me from making such a note,” Mr. Okada responded.

“Can’t be helped, I suppose,” Mr. Perry said. “I’ll tell your replacement to take care of it.”

“What’s the extent of my reassignment, then? Who will you put in my place, and what difference will it make?”

“I have someone in mind,” Mr. Perry said. “And what I think will be best is to forbid you further contact with the members of this group. I can’t prevent you from your daughter, but everyone else, I suppose. That may sound extreme, but I believe it is in the best interest of the company. I have my reasons, and ultimately the decision is mine to make.”

Mr. Okada seemed to think for a while, his physical being collapsing in on itself somewhat, as if to aid in introspection. The room was silent the entire time. He finally said, “What, Mr. Perry, is to stop my involvement in this group? You could force me to spend my entire day in an office upstairs, but at night I could call them all, at my leisure, from a private phone in my apartment. I could stay informed, I could give my input into the process. Purely in a social capacity. Are you in a position, Mr. Perry, to forbid my social interaction with these people?”

Mr. Perry adjusted his tie for a moment. He then said, “If you’re just going to be difficult about this, I suppose there’s nothing I can do. But you’ve been officially warned. If I find that your unsolicited involvement in this group is a hindrance, I can make your life a hellish landscape, I imagine. Not a threat, just an imagination.”

Mr. Perry turned towards the other people that sat around, all eight of the other members of the group. “You’re all unnaturally silent, by the sound of it. It’s just the Okada’s that do all of the talking, is it? Well here’s my final statement on the matter. Your involvement with the project is over, starting at this very moment, Mr. Okada. I’ll send someone to help gather your things. Your daughter’s necessity shall be evaluated, and a decision on that matter will be postponed to a later time, although wouldn’t it seem strange that she should persist here, as necessary as she might be, when you’re not around? If she’s not being paid to be here by the company? But we shall see.”

“Come along, Reiko,” Mr. Okada said, after standing up. “We’ll take the rest of the day off, and let them sort things out around here.”

“Okay,” she said, slightly disoriented from the harsh exchange of words and suddenly becoming someone else’s daughter. “I’ll just gather some things, and I’ll be right there.”

Mr. Okada walked her to the Nakai subway station. Every once in a while he would glance behind them, in a way that made Reiko feel uneasy. She had a lot of questions that she wanted him to answer, but he seemed very distracted. She asked him anyway.

“Why did you say I was your daughter? And I thought Kaishin was a small company, just the ten of us. Who is that man? And—”

“One at a time,” Mr. Okada said, cutting her off. “Kaishin is just a little branch, of a much larger tree. Of which I am an important member, as you may have figured out by now. The whole building is actually the company, not just our floor. And I said you were my daughter because that, back there, is a very dangerous man. I thought I could protect you better if I took ownership.

“I don’t know exactly what he intends to do, but I know he has his eyes set on Kaishin in a very peculiar way. He’s been at the company for two days, pretending to walk around and take the whole thing into account, and all of the thousands of projects going on in that building, but he’s been asking a lot of people about what I do in particular.

“Normally I wouldn’t be telling you any of this, since it all sounds so paranoid, but I really do think something is terribly wrong. Not just with Japan in general, which certainly can’t be ignored, but with what just happened back there. I don’t think you should go back to the company. I know I told him you were necessary for the project, and in many ways you are, but I said that before I knew I would be tossed aside so completely. I don’t think it’s safe for you there. But don’t worry, I’ll send you your full paycheck anyway, because that would only be fair.”

They stood at the station, where a subway that would take her home was only a few minutes from arriving. She asked, “Did you say there was something wrong, with Japan?”

He looked deeply within her eyes, as if to discern if she was telling a joke or not. When he had decided that she wasn’t joking, he said, “Have you been reading any of the papers? Or watching any of the news? Or talked to anyone at all?”

She shook her head. It occurred to her that the world could have been ending, and she wouldn’t have known. For the last week, she had thought of nothing but rats, and experiments, and expansions of consciousness. “I don’t know what’s going on,” she said.

“Read a paper,” he said. “The answer will surely be there. But I don’t want to leave you on a terrible note like that, so I won’t tell you myself.” He walked up to her directly, and hugged her. She was startled, but returned the hug. He said, behind her head, “You were doing a great job back there. Whatever you do in life, bring that enthusiasm with you, and it will be all you need. I promise. You were an excellent daughter.”

“Thanks,” she said, not knowing what to say. It was all happening so quickly, she couldn’t keep up. She said, “But is it really all over, just like that?”

“Yes,” he said. “Yes it is. Unless things change dramatically. And I’ll be sure to call you, if they do. So plug your phone back in. But for now, goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

On the subway, Reiko attempted to read a paper that someone else was reading, from across the aisle. The title was easy, it said “Changing Times” in big, vague symbols. But to make out the small print of the article she had to lean in, and tilt her head in response to the waves that a tiny change in pressure of the stranger’s hands made on the text.

From what she could make out, Japan had been silently but thoroughly invaded by America, all within the past week. So silently that she hadn’t even noticed. The paper listed the numbers and locations of American troops, American political leaders that had been installed into the National Diet, companies that had been forcefully taken over. Without a single bit of resistance Japan had relented, and it was already over. There was already a policy in place, apparently, that would make English the official language of Japan in the next fifteen years. The reason provided by the Americans, from what she could gather, was some sort of strictly enforced globalization, which was taken as a desirable goal. “To better increase the understanding between the different cultures of the world,” it said.

Her company had been a direct victim of the takeover. It didn’t say so explicitly, in the paper, but she knew it for a fact. She didn’t even know the company’s name, since, for reasons she couldn’t fathom, no one ever said it.

The whole thing made her unbearably sad. Could she have done anything about it, if she had actually known it was happening? The obvious answer was that her knowing wouldn’t have changed a thing, that the forces at work were very large and she was very small. But it hurt her, nevertheless.

Mr. Okada had complimented her enthusiasm. It was one of the last things he told her. But it was the very same enthusiasm that, like a deep trance, caused her to miss so many things that happened around her. She decided that she would pay more attention to her surroundings, moving forward. Maybe everything would be less surreal if she paid more attention, she thought. As it was, nothing was making sense to her.

The next day, she had an important decision to make, when her alarm went off at six in the morning. The rational portion of her brain agreed with Mr. Okada—that she should give up, and not return to Kaishin. His concern had to be based in some substantial fact, after all. But some other part of her really wanted to see the project through, if it was at all possible. She didn’t want the American to have his way, just because he made large threats.

She boarded the same subway as the day before, in reverse. She went to work, her head full of excited thoughts.

Everyone was standing in the lobby when she arrived, waiting for the door to the hallway to be unlocked. By way of explanation, Toru said to her, “They took the keys. Someone should be here in a few minutes to let us in. It’s all so strange.”

They all waited in silence for the person to show up. The engineers stood in one little group, and Reiko stood with Noboru, Haru, and Toru. A few minutes past eight, an American showed up, holding a large ring of keys.

“Very sorry for the delay,” he said. “I’ll let you in. But first, I’m Steven Laurel. I’ll be overseeing the project, from now on. Nice to meet you all.” He had a hesitant but fairly accurate Japanese. He seemed to be polite, and offered to shake everyone’s hand and hear all of their names, but the group was very reluctant to oblige the foreigner. After an uncomfortable moment, everyone moved into the office suite.

At around ten, Mr. Laurel entered Reiko’s room, where she was sitting on the floor, the rats out of their cages and surrounding her. He looked down uncertainly at the rats, which he undoubtedly found disgusting as they scurried around below him. It was supposed to be the day they were grouped into fours, but Reiko didn’t know what was happening anymore.

Mr. Laurel seemed somewhat reluctant to begin the conversation he intended, but eventually he said, “I’ve been told, by Mr. Perry himself, that you’re not actually a company employee. A very interesting situation. I’m here to see what it is you do, exactly, before we make a decision on the matter.”

She said, in response, “Is it so harmful or unreasonable that I just help, without being an employee? Me and Mr. Okada, my father, had an arrangement, and I’ve committed to being here, doing this, for just three months. At the end of three months, I’ll be gone and there will be no need to ‘see what it is I do, exactly.’ I don’t understand why such a big deal is being made out of my status here.”

“Well, you see,” Mr. Laurel said. “These are highly discreet projects, especially the one you’ve found yourself in. But, once again, this conversation may be entirely unnecessary. Your services, whatever they may be, are perhaps no longer required. If you could describe them to me.”

Reiko considered her stance for a moment. She did want to stay there for at least three months, no matter what was happening. She had agreed to three months. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps she should use large, obscure words, to try to sound impressive and irreplaceable, but in the end she decided to take a handful of mouse food in her hand, and to say, “Kuruma, Densha, tumble.” The two rats, standing together in the middle of the large huddle of rats, performed somersaults. She threw food at them. “Kiiro, jump.” The rat jumped, nearly three feet into the air. He didn’t need any more food. “Egao, Hisomi, talk.” The rats made chirping noises.

She said to the man, “Go ahead, say those names, and say those commands. They won’t do them for you. In fact, do you see how they’re leaving a circle around you, where they won’t go near you? They’re scared of you. The only reason they’re not huddled in a corner, as far from you as they can be, is because I’m around. Do you even like rats, Mr. Laurel? I see this look in your eyes, like you don’t.”

Mr. Laurel looked her in the eyes, with a vague expression. “No, I can’t say that I do. You teach them tricks?”

“And I know who they are. Which will be important when we start smashing their minds together, don’t you think?”