Hayate swore like a burakumin dung shoveler and leapt back across the prison cell. What new Unit 731 butchery was this?
Curiosity satisfied, and completely unnerved, Hayate decided he had seen enough, so he Traveled from the dungeons.
Like most Imperium military affairs, the ceremony had begun with a great deal of flourish. It was a rare treat for the local officials to be visited by any members of the high command, let alone the greatest luminary in all of the Imperium short of the Emperor.
The Imperium Section of Shanghai had been scrubbed and polished until the whole neighborhood gleamed. This was the richest, most prosperous, most advanced part of the city anyway. An example to the other cultures gathered in the city of the inherent superiority of the Imperium way of life. It was normally beautiful, but it had been taken to a new level for the Chairman’s visit. Every tree, bush, and flower had been carefully tended. Servants had cut the lawns with scissors. There wasn’t so much as an errant leaf or cigarette butt cluttering the ground within six blocks.
Flags and banners were strung between the buildings and hung from every light pole. The buildings surrounding the Imperium compound were all new, between twenty and forty stories each, and every sparkling window on them had been cleaned until there wasn’t so much as a fingerprint. If a pigeon shit on a ledge, Hayate was certain that there would be a servant out there scrubbing it with a toothbrush a moment later or somebody was getting beheaded. The center of the Imperium Section was the ambassador’s palace. It was only a few years old, but it had been built to look like a castle. Hayate found it a bit ostentatious, but that just meant it fit Shanghai. The parade would end on the palace grounds.
The Chairman’s parade was impressive, five hundred soldiers, all marching in perfect unison. The only reason there weren’t any tanks was because their tracks might damage the pavement and make things ugly, and it was felt that the loud engines might disrupt the natural tranquility of the area. Instead, a pair of Gakutensuko marched, awing the crowd with their gleaming metal bodies and Cog superscience. After that came one hundred fearsome Iron Guard, and in the middle of all those perfectly pressed uniforms was the Chairman himself, riding on a magnificent white stallion.
Every Imperium citizen in Shanghai had turned out for the event, and they packed the sidewalks. Most of the lesser people and non-people had been banished from the Section for the day. The only foreign eyes that would be allowed to behold the Chairman’s magnificence were the very highest ranking of the Chinese, French, British, Russian, and American diplomats in the city. Thousands bowed and stayed bowed as the Chairman rode past.
Hayate watched all of this finery from the windows of the military command center on the fourth floor of the palace. He was still distracted, troubled by his brother’s words… No… Not his words, because to say that would be to imply doubt.
Several Iron Guards and Imperium military officers were also watching, taking reports from functionaries, and giving orders. The lieutenant governor of the Imperium Section was in charge of the events. “First the Chairman will present the medals. He wishes to give a speech. As soon as he is done, then the traitor and the Grimnoir prisoners will be brought into the courtyard for all of the crowd to witness. Are the executioners ready? Excellent. I don’t care if their blades are dull. The more squealing and begging the better… Good, good. Then the Chairman will duel the traitor, and once he is dispatched, behead the prisoners, and then we will serve dinner. Have all the mats been changed? Splendid.”
Hayate, who had no patience for courtly matters, went back to scanning the crowd. His men were among them, mingling, ready to strike down enemies should the need arise. Nobody paid much attention to the Shadow Guard. They were not flashy like their Iron Guard brethren. He went back to being a unremarkable part of the command center, like a particularly dangerous chair.
And while he stood there, being unremarkable, he could not help but wonder about what he had seen in Toru’s ear…
A soldier rushed into the room and saluted the leader of the Iron Guard. “Forgive my interruption, Master Goto, we have an aerial contact along the coast.”
“What is it?”
“Unidentified dirigible. Multihulled and extremely fast, climbing to a high altitude. Thirty miles to the south and heading this way. The Navy has moved to intercept.”
The Iron Guard grunted. “They’ll handle it. Keep me apprised.”
A few minutes later, another obviously flustered functionary came into the command room. This one went right to the head of the secret police and gave a whispered report. The fact that it was whispered probably meant that it was something embarrassing enough to cause the Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu to lose face. Hayate had magically augmented hearing, so eavesdropping was no struggle.
“I am sorry, sir. A riot has broken out.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where?”
“It began in the old Chinese district, but has already spread across three other sections. We are not sure of the cause of the disturbance, but they are attacking our officers, and the Chinese police have fared no better. Some of the looters have been shot, but that only seemed to awake more anger.”
“Ah. Damn it.” The police chief pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dispatch every military unit that is on ready status. I want this quashed. This will not cloud the Chairman’s visit.”
“Should I order the naval vessels to shell the affected neighborhoods?”
“Do you wish to mar the Chairman’s journey with the rumble of artillery? Do you wish to wrinkle his nostrils with the smell of smoke?” The police chief hissed. “Get out of here, fool.”
Hayate suppressed a smile. Ah, the Grimnoir. They were such clever foes. He was curious to see what manner of mischief they had planned this time.
Chapter 20
Like most self-proclaimed grand visionaries, Bradford Carr was an imbecile. He filled this office with toadies, flunkies, and bullies. One minute after you put my name on that door I am firing the lot of them. The stated mission of the OCI is to keep America safe in all matters pertaining to magic. That’s noble. That’s something I can stand behind. But Actives are Americans too, and they’ll be treated like Americans. There will be no more flouting the law under my watch, so help me God. The OCI man should respect the Constitution, understand magic for good or ill, and be tough enough to get the job done no matter what. You want to know how I’d run the OCI? The ideal OCI agent is a PhD who can win a bar fight. Bradford Carr made an enemy out of Jake Sullivan. I would have offered that man a job.
UBF Traveler
The clear blue sky had gotten darker and darker until it had turned to night.
“Seventy thousand feet,” Barns stated as he carefully adjusted a knob. “And still climbing…”
People had never been meant to go this high. Faye stood at the rail, staring out the armored window, marveling at how clearly she could see the curve of the blue world from here. For once, Faye could actually admit she’d found another interesting way to get somewhere other than Traveling.
“Mr. Black, how many contacts?” Captain Southunder asked the man sitting behind the fancy teleradar machine.
“More returns than I can count. They’ve scrambled the entire navy.”