A Modern Nemo 13

The pirate vessel was almost completely destroyed by the Corsair's gunfire. As the destroyer approached, its captain called out on its loudspeakers, "Surrender, all of you! We will continue to fire if you do not lay down your arms!"

The submarine captain climbed out of the hatch. "General Petrov," he said, approaching the sniper-general, "Admiral Martinez would want to speak to you."

Petrov lowered his rifle. "This better be good," he said, turning.

The Corsair moved in closer and was joined by a second pirate-class destroyer, the Privateer. Sensing that surrender was the only option available, as the EOGC navy was among the more merciless participants in the operation, the pirates gave up.

A transport helicopter from the Privateer made its way to the submarine and dropped a ladder. Up climbed Petrov and the helicopter flew back to the Privateer.

Hours later, Petrov was transferred to the drungarios-class STOVL aircraft carrier Datu Salangsang, the flagship of the EOGC task force. Arriving on the Datu Salangsang's bridge, Petrov beheld the task force's commander, Vice-Admiral Colleen Martinez, speaking with Cyrus Ong.

Martinez noticed Petrov entering the bridge and gave him a nod as the general saluted to her and Cyrus.

"Your father has an assignment for me, correct?" said Petrov.

"No," replied Cyrus, "not exactly. But he wouldn't mind anyway."

Petrov paused for a moment.

"My brothers and I have an assignment for you," Cyrus continued. "You and your two best men."

A slight grin appeared on Petrov's face.

A Modern Nemo 12

The Embark dropped anchor at the port of San Francisco. From there, it was a long train ride to New York. All this time, Shoji and Chidori kept close to each other. This was their first time in America for many of them. For Simon, it as "no biggie." After all, this was where he came from.

For most people, remaining on the train from San Francisco was boring and, at times, agitating. It was not the case for Shoji and Chidori. Being together seemed as though time had stopped for the both of them. The two were oblivious to the monotony of the train's journey.

Half a world away, something else was happening.

The Indian Ocean. A large container ship was sailing from the Gulf of Aden en route to Singapore. In the dead of night it was being shadowed in the distance by a smaller ship.

The smaller ship's crew were dropping skiffs into the water and men were climbing on board -armed men. They were pirates, and they had already marked the container as their prize. But they did not know that they, too, were being watched. As they sped to their quarry, a periscope's attention remained focused on their ship.

The EOGC submarine captain had his boat positioned ten kilometers from the pirate ship. Behind him, seated, was a man in an EOGC general's uniform.

Like many powerful countries, the EOGC was greatly concerned about piracy and even contributed its own support to the operations in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to protect commercial shipping.

"Fire," said the captain.

At once, a pair of torpedoes came hissing toward the pirate ship. The explosion caused the pirates in the skiffs to look back, only to see their main ship going down and their comrades on board screaming for help.

The explosion also alerted the container ship. Alarms went off and the vessel  went into evasive maneuvers.

"Radio the choppers," said the sub captain, "and take us in close."

As the skiffs turned around to help their companions in the main vessel, a pair of EOGC naval attack helicopters appeared and opened fire on the pirates. The pirates returned fire, but since their command was in chaos, the shooting was random and ineffectual. Meanwhile, the submarine moved in a kilometer and a half from the rear of the pirate vessel.

"Take us up," said the captain.

The pirates didn't notice the submarine surfacing; their attention was focused on the choppers.

"Don't shine a light," said the general, "I want to play with them for a while."

"They're all yours, General Petrov," said the captain.

Brigadier General Arkady Petrov was a former spetsnaz officer and sniper who fought in Chechnya. Years later, he was hired by Eric Ong and eventually became commander of the EOGC special forces' sniper division. He took a number of assassination assignments during the Takeover and his efficiency prompted the Taipan to create a special unit within the special forces whose sole duty was to undertake assassination missions.

Petrov rose and picked up his rifle; it was something he was very attached to and even when he was not on duty, it was with him -even in bed. He put his cap on the captain's desk, donned a black coat and climbed up the conning tower of the submarine. Once outside, he removed the cover from the scope of his rifle.

A pirate pulled out an RPG and aimed it at one of the choppers.

Petrov took aim at the RPG and fired a shot.

The RPG exploded, killing the pirate as well as several of his crewmates.

Another pirate turned around in the direction of the submarine.

Petrov squeezed the trigger again.

The pirate fell into the water.

A skiff was trying to escape.

Another shot and the skiff's motor was permanently disabled.

Another RPG was pulled out.

Petrov shot the man in the back; the pirate fell while squeezing the trigger. The rocket shot in a descending motion along the pirate vessel's deck and exploded on its stern.

Petrov was busy emptying shell after shell when a powerful gun was heard firing in the distance.

A ball of fire erupted in the pirate ship's deck.

Petrov turned to see an EOGC destroyer approaching. It was the pirate-class destroyer Corsair.

"You're too early," muttered the general, "I was still having fun."

A Modern Nemo 11

"I never seemed to fit in with my family," said Chidori as she and Shoji walked along the deck, "my father, my mother, they only seem interested in my little brother. And my relatives," she paused and looked at him, "they expect so much of me."

"How come?"

"They expect me to marry into another wealthy family in order to expand my own family'f fortunes. It bothers me."

She went along to tell him more about her family. Her family was wealthy, owning a chain of convenience stores and her parents pressured her to continuously seek success in school. Her younger brother, who was only twelve, was being groomed to be the heir to the convenience store empire that her parents had built.

"Why is it that everybody has to care so much about money?" she said.

"Yeah, I know," agreed Shoji, "my parents are employees and are children of employees themselves. From where I come from, there's always that drive to rise higher because there's always the worry about not being able to care for your children someday."

"'There has to be something important other than money' I told myself," said Chidori. She put her hands on the rail and looked to the horizon. "Money is meaningless without life. And even if you're alive, money really doesn't mean that much," she went on.

"I agree," said Shoji, leaning on the rail. "What is life? Life is meant to be lived freely."

"You have to be free to make your own choices," said Chidori as she moved her hands a little farther apart.

Shoji straightened up. "And you don't have to live to be compensated every time," he added as he put his hands on the rail.

They noticed that their fingers had touched each other. Both were startled.

"I'm sorry," Chidori mumbled, stepping back and pulling her hands back to her.

"No, I'm sorry," stammered Shoji. He also stepped back. "It's just that I got lost and-"

They were looking each other in the eyes. After a moment's pause, Shoji took a step forward.

Chidori stepped forward too.

Their hands came together again

Shoji drew her close.

A pair of lips met.

A Modern Nemo 10

The Green Oceans container ship Embark raised anchor and prepared to leave the port of Tokyo. It had unloaded some cargo and took on some others en route to America. Konstantiniadis had taken the plane. He was to be in his New York office in three days.

The day after the Embark left Japanese waters, Shoji Kawamura stepped out of the bridge and onto the rail. Being in the middle of the sea felt different from viewing it from land. It was beautiful; and the air from the ocean was invigorating.

"It's quite an experience, isn't it?" asked the captain, who came out of the bridge behind him.

"Yes," agreed Shoji, "it's amazing! It feels so different from being on the beach."

"Yes, the sea is an amazing place," said the captain, "amazing and a times difficult. It's what separates the true human beings from the timid ones."

He leaned on the rail at Shoji's right. "Yes," he continued, "life here can be difficult at times. But the difficulty is too small compared to the excitement and adventure life on the sea can become. Not many people can look a man straight in the eye and say they're truly alive than a sailor. There is one exception."

"Exception?" Shoji asked, looking at the captain.

"Soldiers."

Shoji turned his gaze to the see again.

"Why don't you get down below," said the captain, patting Shoji's back, "get yourself acquainted with the others."

He returned to the bridge. Shoji lingered for a while, then left for his quarters.

He shared his room with three other people. Two were sailors and the third was an African-American named Simon Foster. Simon wanted to become a player in the NBA but didn't make the cut. He tried to become a rapper but nobody noticed him. Finally, he decided to go to Japan to learn how to draw manga, hoping to become a manga artist. That's when he came across Konstantiniadis' book. He became friends with Shoji when the latter joined Konstantiniadis.

"Hey there, m'man," he said as Shoji returned to the room. He had been drawing a few sketches while the Shoji was away.

"Hi," said Shoji as he climbed into his bunk.

"So what're we gonna do now while the ship's movin'?" asked Simon.

"Well," replied Shoji, "the captain said we should get to meet the others on this ship."

"I dunno, man," said Simon, "there ain't many of 'em."

"Come on, it'll be fine," said Shoji. He climbed down, took Simon by the hand and led him out of the room. "Exploring a ship was an adventure in itself," he continued, "and besides, if you want to become a good artist, you have to improve your drawing techniques. Drawing objects is as important as drawing people!"

In the ship's canteen, they met some forty other individuals who had boarded the ship under circumstances similar to theirs. Some of them were from Japan, while others came from other countries: India, Indonesia, China, South Korea and the Philippines. There was even one person from North Korea with a very interesting story: he had gotten hold of a Chinese translation of Konstantiniadis' book and read it while on the run in China. When in Shanghai, he learned the Embark had made port. In the night, when the ship was leaving the harbor he swam to it. His name was Kim Nam-ha and he was the same age as Shoji.

As meeting the different personalities went on, Shoji noticed a young girl sitting at a table in the corner, keeping to herself. She was Japanese.

Shoji approached her; as he did, she looked up. "Hello," he said, "Are you lonely?"

"Not really," she replied.

"You're nervous, then?"

"I guess so."

Shoji held out his hand. "I know," he said, "we all are, one way or another. I'm Shoji, Shoji Kawamura."

"Chidori," said the girl, "I'm Chidori Kanda."

"Chidori?" Shoji remarked. "That's a nice name."

She blushed as Shoji sat down.

Simon was talking to a young, unmarried, Japanese couple. The woman was with child. As he spoke with them, he noticed Shoji sitting down and chatting with a girl. After a while, the pair stood up and walked off.

Simon smiled.

Mrs. Kawamura returned from shopping in the early evening and saw the light in Shoji's room still on. "Oh, that boy," she remarked. "Still forgetting to turn the lights off in the morning."

After putting the shopping bags in the kitchen, she went upstairs to turn the lights off in her son's room when she noticed a sheet of paper lying on his rather untidy bed. She bent over and picked it up.

Mr. Kawamura returned from work and had just parked his car in the garage when he heard his wife wailing from their son's room. He rushed in and found her on her knees, sobbing. "Darling," he asked, "What's wrong?"

She couldn't speak,only sob. With trembling hands, she pointed at the piece of paper on Shoji's bed.

Mr. Kawamura picked it up.

I'm leaving. Thanks for everything.


Shoji

Mr. Kawamura held his wife tightly and sighed heavily. Their son was gone.

Chris put The Dream of the Oceans down on the table. He was in his Italian-style mansion in Kuala Lumpur. He had already finished reading the Verne book. "You are dangerous," he said to Konstantiniadis' book.

His gaze turned to the fireplace. It was seldom used, but tonight a fire had been lit. After stoking the fire until it was bright and hot enough, he picked up Konstantiniadis' book and threw it into the flames.