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“It is unfortunate that the helicopter could not take off,” Nakanga continued. “Our sources say that the North Koreans are puzzled. They have Nagoya’s body, but it tells them nothing. Certainly they may have suspicions, but they have proof of nothing. The cave has been destroyed.”

Nishin waited, perched on the edge of his seat. He knew the first sentence was all Nakanga would say about the lack of exfiltration that had left Nagoya and he stranded. From the rest of what Nakanga said, it appeared that the mission had been a success. But then why was he talking to him? And why was the Genoysha listening? For there was no doubt in Nishin’s mind that the man in the wheelchair was the head of the Black Ocean Society. And what suspicions could the Koreans have?

Never before had he been in the Genoysha’s presence. In fact, he had not expected to be in Nakanga’s presence again so soon. Success on a mission was considered the standard. If Nishin had ever failed on an assigned mission he would not be here. He’d be dead. He watched carefully, waiting.

Nakanga’s face was devoid of expression. His skull was completely devoid of hair and on the left side, behind his ear, there was a jagged scar, starting at the top and working its way down, disappearing into the neck of the traditional robe he wore. From his chest, flowing up his neck and out over his face, were the bright red tendrils of sunlight, an extension to the same tattoo that was on the chest of senior members of the Society. Nakanga could never go in public unnoticed with the intricate needle work on his face, but since having it placed there, on the day he was chosen as First Sensei to the Genoysha, he had never gone out of the temple except on special missions as the personal envoy of the Genoysha. At such times the tattoos served a purpose by showing all he met who he was and the power he represented.

“Do you have any idea what was in that cave?” Nakanga asked.

“No, Sensei.”

Nakanga’s dark eyes turned away from the balcony and peered at the countryside. “Unfortunately, it is not finished.” There is more work to be done.”

Nishin waited.

“The North Koreans are making trouble. They will dig into the mountain again, but we believe that this blast finished a job that should have been done better long ago. The problem is that we do not know what they found prior to your mission. We only knew that they had found the cave when they made a discreet, for them at least, approach to a government official in Tokyo.

“They are very primitive people, the Koreans. They would still be living in caves if we had not pacified them so many years ago. But do they show any gratitude? No. They act like gangsters, trying to blackmail our country and our Emperor.”

“Blackmail, Sensei?” Nishin was surprised. What had been in that cave?

Nakanga continued, almost speaking to the man inside the room. “We are walking a very thin path that is fraught with dangers on both sides. There can be no allowance for further trouble. We must make our path and not allow others to dictate it. Our past is haunting us and if it is revealed it will be devastating to our interests and the country’s interests. It will change history, which will change the present.

“The current situation between our country and the Americans is very tense but also filled with great opportunity. There are many who do not see the parallels between now and the late nineteen-thirties, but they are there. Except now the roles are reversed. We hold the economic power and the Americans are squirming under the imbalances.

“Unfortunately,” Nakanga continued, “one factor that remains the same is that the Americans still have the more powerful military and a country full of natural resources, neither of which we had then or have now. What we must insure is that they do not have reason to use their military as we degrade their economic capability. This is a path we have tried to walk for many years now, but it is a path that is threatened by the North Koreans.” Nakanga’s voice strengthened. “What I tell you now goes to your heart.”

Nishin knew that meant as long as he lived he could never repeat it.

Nakanga waved a wrinkled hand. The skin was covered with small black waves, flowing toward the fingertips like black fish scales. “This started many years ago. Before the war. And it did not start in Korea. It began here. What I tell you I only know from the mouth of the Genoysha. All written records of the Society were destroyed just before the occupation at the end of the war. And the Genoysha only knows what he saw and was told by his predecessor. There is the possibility that some information was lost with the death of the previous Genoysha and the destruction of all records. And there are some aspects of this that died with those involved and no one alive knows about.”

Nishin listened raptly. He had never heard Nakanga speak so many words. And for him to repeat the words of the Genoysha! The Genoysha’s mind was the true record of the Black Ocean Society. But what Nakanga said next dumbfounded Nishin.

“In the autumn of 1938 the first atom was split in Germany,” Nakanga continued. “That is common knowledge. What is not common knowledge is that a member of our society was immediately sent to Germany to study at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute where this event took place. He was a scientist. A young man named Kuzumi who saw the potential in this event just as a few other scientists in Germany, England, and the United States saw it.

“Kuzumi learned as much as he could from the German scientists. Then he returned by way of America. His mission there was to see where that country stood in the field of atomic research. Even at that time, well before the United States was at war with us, the Americans were beginning to classify all atomic research. They were preparing for their war against us years before they forced our hand, yet they cried so bitterly after Pearl Harbor.

“Besides being a scientist, though, Kuzumi was well trained as a spy by the Society. He learned enough to believe that the Americans were looking at the potential of the atom as a weapon. He returned here and made his report. We dutifully sent it to the military authorities to warn them and also to show them the potential of such a weapon.”

Nakanga made a sound of disgust. “The fools scoffed. The young ones had taken over.” Nakanga glanced at Nishin. “You know the history of that time. There was much turmoil in the government and the military. The report disappeared. But the Genoysha at the time saw the potential in what Kuzumi had reported. He ordered Kuzumi to begin work to see if this thing was truly possible. Much money and resources from the Society were allocated.

“On the first of October in 1941, Kuzumi presented a report on his own research. The conclusion he drew was that an atomic bomb was feasible but would require much work to move from theory to reality. Again the military was informed. This time some more attention was paid, but only because the external situation was growing more dangerous. The United States was economically trying to destroy Japan. Not unlike certain events in the present,” Nakanga said. “Pearl Harbor was only two months away and far-thinking minds were beginning to see that the war we were already fighting for our survival was going to expand.

“A pact was made between the Genoysha and the head of the Imperial Navy to continue Kuzumi’s work. The Army also showed interest and started their own project, but they were very far behind ours and the Navy’s project because we had Kuzumi and his experience and knowledge. The project was originally based outside of Tokyo in the Rikken.”