The mention of a free commercial zone where everything could be traded without restrictions, Belasia sounded like the perfect place where they could find out information that would guide them to the third and final electric substation. After finding their way down the old Cabildo Avenue, they saw a familiar sight: the large Paifang arch in front of the Torii gate that divided the old Chinatown neighborhood with the newer Japanese expansion of the community. Once home to all sorts of Asian immigrants, the most prominent residents were of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese origin. Always praised for its exquisite foreign cuisine, oddities and imported goods, it used to be a hotspot for both locals and tourists alike. Ever since the expansion of its designated borders, the neighborhood grew to house the growing communities that came after the Chinese Unified Front expansion throughout Asia, causing the neighborhood to divided into three themed parts: Chinatown, Nippontown, and Koreatown
Strong gusts of wind made small whirlwinds of dust towards the now walled community, the guards posted on its fortifications were clearly marked by their makeshift armors that resembled their traditional counterparts of each culture. The Japanese wore a lighter leather layered armor, their headgear being shockingly similar to their samurai original, complete with their apocalyptic style masks that sent shivers to anyone that looked upon them. Koreans had a medium sized armor with their traditional lamellar pads made of different sturdy yet flexible materials to ensure mobility and resistance towards any potential threat. The Chinese favored a heavier plated armor with heavily padded leather covering any potential limb weak points, combined with their traditionally forged spears and battleaxes, making their grizzled appearance a force to be reckoned with.
As they nervously approached the settlement, the wind brought a mouthwatering smell of grilled meat to everyone’s noses. Seduced by the allure of food, Lindbergh commented as he licked his lips:
“Man, if that’s how fresh grilled Racha smells like, I’m gonna get me some.”
Seeing how Betsy recoiled after hearing his words, Cornelia proceeds to reprimand him:
“Don’t be disgusting, Lindbergh.” she grunted as she stroked Betsy’s back. “Look at how you scared the poor girl.”
Giggling quietly, Adriana weighed in:
“I honestly don’t think he’d want to eat Betsy, he’s grown quite fond of her… He’s even gone as far as to frequently clean her bow every time he thinks no one is looking.”
“It’s true.” Titus affirmed. “Just the other day I saw him by a broken fountain cleaning something, when I got close to see what it was, he quickly hid it from me. Later that day I saw Betsy’s bow inexplicably moist.”
“T-that’s a lie!” Lindbergh stuttered. “This little post-apocalyptic cow is a pain to have… Just look at those bottomless chocolaty eyes, filled with sweet--” he nervously paused. “I-I mean, filled with a deep abyss that will devour your--” he loudly sighed. “Aw, who am I kidding? Who’s a good girl? Who’s the one that eats all them ugly critters that try to eat us out here? You do! Yes you do!” Lindbergh snickered as he caressed Betsy, making her jump excitedly after hearing his words.
Passing through the heavy gate, they see an improvised wooden sign that has the name “Belasia” written on it in yellow and red letters, combining with many of the buildings and decorations within the fortified neighborhood. Going under the sealed off Metropolitan train platform, they notice that different smells like the one they sensed before began filling the air, compelling their stomachs to follow their alluring scent over to the stalls in the Chinatown district.
Having set up a street market in a pre-war Chinese festival style, the multiple vendors begin yelling out to them, prompting them to approach their stalls, some even coming up and dragging them into their various shops offering their various products and services in a very aggressive manner.
Ignoring their relentless insistence to buy overpriced unnecessary items, one vendor calls out to them as he wore the same greedy expression as the merchant back in Niuberi.
“Ah, N.A.S.A.O! I give good price! Good price! What you want in exchange? We trade, we trade! Everything here for sale in exchange of gadget!” the vendor happily offered as he gestured them to inspect his goods.
Everyone began to stare intently at them even more than before, noting that they had a N.A.S.A.O, people began tugging and pulling on Cornelia’s arms insisting for her to come over to see the artifacts they were willing to trade for it. Getting overwhelmed by their increasingly aggressive behavior, they decided to run in a direct line towards a boulevard that divided the three districts, all the while Chinese guards pursued them up until they crossed the apparent paved border.
Gasping for air, Cornelia exclaimed out loud:
“Coño! What’s the deal with those guys?! Why does everyone suddenly want Abby?”
“Hmm, I think it has to do with the fact that the N.A.S.A.O, or Abby in this case, is a very advanced piece of tech that anyone would want to get their hands on. They don’t know how badly damaged she is, but anyone that can get her back into working conditions could potentially rule over a territory like this exploiting her multiple functions.” Titus thoughtfully explained.
“Abby hasn’t woken up in a long time, I doubt she could help anyone even if they got her. Even I don’t know if she can be fixed.” Cornelia sadly confessed.
“Even in the end of the world we can’t stop being envious of others.” Adriana heavily sighed, placing her hand on Cornelia’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Cornie. I promise that we’ll find a way to bring Abby back somehow.”
“Thanks, guys…” Cornelia sniffled. “You don’t have to do it, but I do deeply appreciate that you’re willing to at least try… We should leave this place, I’m not sure that we’ll find the substation around here--”
On the other side of the street, past the slightly deteriorated Torii gate, a man wearing a traditional Japanese yukata approaches them, accompanied by two Japanese guards.
“Sumimasen, pardon the interruption. I saw your struggle with our Chinese brethren, so we would like to extend an invitation to you to visit our district.” the man politely proposed with a deep bow. “If you accept, our merchants will prepare some food and drink for you, think of it as our way to apologize for such an unpleasant welcome to our settlement. If you would please accompany me through here, our guards will take care of your Racha.”
Amazed at the politeness of the man and his aides, they nod in agreement as they proceed to follow him through the main street of his district, while his guards secure Betsy escorting her into a nearby garage.
The street appeared cleaner, more organized than the noisy Chinese section, its stores being spacious enough to allow for people to shop without unnecessary hardships due to overcrowding, some merchants even stood outside of their businesses awaiting to politely welcome any potential customer with a complimentary bow.
“I apologize once again for any problems you’ve encountered so far.” said the man in a humble tone. “Our neighbors are sometimes too… Passionate when they see Old World tech.” he softly confirmed. “I’m Akito, the leader of this district. Let me be the first to officially welcome you into Belasia. I hope that your stay is an enjoyable from now on.”
“No need to apologize, but it does make me a bit uneasy to be right across the street from those armored weirdos. It’s not like they were stopped by some magical barrier when they were chasing us. Why’d they stop?” Cornelia curiously inquired.
“They have to respect the current designated borders or they risk an all-out war breaking out between the districts.” Akito explained. “Sometimes they can’t control themselves when they see a rare piece of tech or something that draws their attention. Does that N.A.S.A.O still work?” Akito asked.
“No… Shortly after the bombs fell, she just stopped responding…”
“Then it must be back in restoration mode, every N.A.S.A.O was built with that function. Despite that, we have not been successful in finding one in such remarkable condition. You must have cared for you greatly.”
“Yes… Abby is special to me, she was always there for me through thick and thin, despite her being one of the older models, I never wanted to change her. I think I owe it to her to at least try and find a way to wake her up from that restoration mode, though I don’t even know where to start.”
“If you leave it a few days with us, we could restore it to a basic form of functionality. Free of charge, it’s still a part of our sincerest apology.”
“You don’t need to do that, Akito. I do honestly appreciate it, but I have to try my luck out with this…” Cornelia pulled the repair kit from her pack, showing it to Akito. “I just got it from Niuberi.”
“You come from Niuberi?” Akito inquired, surprised. “They’ve got one of the best selection of restoration tools around here, if you use that then I’m sure you will be able to wake Abby up.”
“Thanks for respecting my decision, Mr. Akito...” Cornelia replied with a smile. “We shouldn’t stay for long though, we’re in search of something on our way to The Cordón.”
“To the Cordón?!” he exclaimed. “Why would you want to go to that dreadful place?”
“It’s not that we want to go there, it’s that we have to.” Cornelia confessed.
“Is it worth risking your lives for it?” Akito asked expectantly.
“Yeah… At least I’m willing to risk my life for it. I don’t want to see them hurt for blindly following me around though.” Cornelia affirmed with a determined expression. “I’m still not sure why everyone says The Cordón is so dangerous.”
“You’ll find out when you get there.” Akito assured her. “I advise you to avoid the main roads on your way there, they’re not fond of the life that flourished outside of their walls.”
As they sat down to drink tea, Lindbergh raised his hand as he chimed into the conversation after having a small sip of his tea.
“First of all, nice dress and great tea, man. Secondly, are you sure that chicuela here can fix Abby with that kit?”
“Yes, she can fix it with that… And uhm, this isn’t a dress… It’s a yukata, a traditional Japanese outfit--”
“Hey, man. I’m not here to judge anyone, it’s cool, I’m an open minded guy.” Lindbergh chuckled. “By the way, do you have any of that delicious smelling grilled meat around here?”
“Oh, right. My apologies.” Akito clapped and a couple of service robots stepped through the sliding door, bearing plates filled with different types of Japanese foods. “Come, eat, drink... Itadakimasu.”
They began eating an assortment of takoyaki, onigiri, sashimi, and even some yakiniku. The dishes were mainly fried condimented octopus balls, rice fish rolls, raw fish sushi slices, and thinly sliced grilled meat. The combination with both cold and hot brewed tea was a match made in heaven for everyone’s senses, wolfing down the delicious but short-lived buffet.
“How are you able to cook with such fresh ingredients?” Cornelia inquired, her mouth still stuffed with food. “This is delicious!”
“It all comes from our rooftop gardens around here, we also managed to salvage a fish farm replicator. It took a lot of hard work, but we managed to make a large enough fish tank for us to keep our cloned fish. We even adapted the replicator to work with small cattle that we keep in some of the gardens up top.”
“Well this is spectacular, thank you so much for sharing this incredible meal with us.” Adriana happily exclaimed.
After their excitement over the food died down a bit, Cornelia turns to Akito, clearing her throat as she asks:
“Excuse the random question, Mr. Akito. Do you know of any nearby electric substations nearby?”
“Hmm.” he reflected for a moment. “Yes, I know of one. Impossible to gain access to it from here, it’s in the farthest end of the Chinese district.” Akito explained. “Every direct entry point from here is either being guarded or sealed after the war. It’s right between the back end of an old Chinese novelty store, and the service tunnels that run through the entire neighborhood.”
“Well then we just go in through the tunnels, sneak in, turn it back on, slip back out. No one has to know.” Lindbergh suggested.
“Easier said than done, my friend.” Akito sighed. “The Chinese entrance of the service tunnel is under permanent surveillance.”
“Big surprise…” Lindbergh scoffed. “Well it is the apocalypse, we just have to take those guys down and that’s that, right?”
“I cannot let you do that.” said Akito in a stern tone. “When the Chinese find their dead patrol, they will think it was us or the Koreans, we would have another Skirmish on our hands, it’s too risky to rely on direct violence.”
“Is there a way to get in without being noticed or without raising any alarms?” Cornelia inquired.
“There may be a way, but it’s a matter of timing.” Akito pointed out. “I know of some Taiwanese rebels in the Chinese district. According to my reports, they are preparing for an all-out rebellion against the Chinese. We could use that.”
“That could work, thank you so much for all the help, Akito.” Cornelia replied with a smile.
“Please, you are my guests. You are more than welcomed to stay here with us any--”
“Yo, Akito-san. D’you have any more of those takos lying around? They were tasty.” Lindbergh excitedly interrupted.
Akito lets out a heavy sigh as he gestures his robots to bring more food to the table. He then gets up making a small bow before he retreats through a back door without uttering a word.
“Hey, Lin… You shouldn’t be eating so much, they have to ration their food too, y’know?” Cornelia mentioned scolding him.
“We have to watch our supplies too.” Lindbergh replied with a grin. “Besides, these OctoBalls are awesome!”
“We should plan our day ahead, or ask Akito if he has anything in mind while we wait for our chance to go over to reactivate the station.” Adriana suggested as she organized her backpack.
“I think we should just sneak over there, we knock the guys out, and get out of here before anyone notices.” Lindbergh proposed.
“We can’t do that to Akito, he’d be the one to take all the flak for our screw-up.” Cornelia rebutted.
“What about Betsy? We left her out on the streets, we don’t know what they’d do to her if we slip up. Also, she’s carrying all our food and supplies.” Titus worryingly pointed out.
“I don’t think their guards are that incompetent to be bested by those little guys.” Lindbergh snarkily remarked.
Before they could continue their odd debate, Akito returned sliding shut the door behind him. Everyone falls into silence as he calmly sat on the table once more, calmly announcing:
“I’ve spoken to the leaders of the rebels. They’ve told me they’re planning an attack sometime this week, they think if everything goes according to plan, they may attack tomorrow night. You may use the opportunity to try and slip past the Chinese patrol.”
With a sigh of relief, Cornelia replied:
“Thank you so much again, Mr. Akito! We hate to bother you with our problems, you’ve done enough.”
“Daijobu, one must always be prepared to help when another is in need.” Akito serenely smiled. “I will let you rest now, you must be exhausted from your journey.”
“Wait!” Adriana exclaimed. “We were wondering… What was that about the Skirmish that you mentioned earlier? Why are things so tense between the districts?”
“Basically what she’s asking is what the hell is going on here.” Lindbergh added with a slight chuckle.
“There’s no easy or short way to tell this story… I hope I don’t bore you or scare you with it.”
“After all we’ve seen and experienced, I doubt that there’s still something that would make us feel that way.” Cornelia reassured him with a nervous chuckle.
“In truth, I do not know when the resentment and hate got to the point it is today. We’ve always had problems with the Chinese, actually, all of the communities residing here have had problems with them.” Akito confessed with a heavy sigh. “We’ve always had a good relationship with the Koreans and Taiwanese living here, the Old World problems never really came up in our new life on this side of the world. After the war however, things quickly began getting sour, Chinese businesses began to discriminate between customers, preferring to deal with their own, making their prices non-negotiable and turning violent if things did not go their way, sometimes merchants and foreigners mysteriously disappeared, were robbed, or killed after stopping by their district. At first everyone believed it to be a coincidence, but then they began mistreating their Taiwanese neighbors, treating them like second-class citizens, making them take the menial labors for less pay, even getting to a point where they publicly executed anyone who disputed their ever changing rules to suit their needs. The Skirmish was the inevitable outcome of so much built up tension after the end of the world. People were fed up from their unfair regulations and discriminations, after an all-out war, the amount of losses on all sides caused us to forge an uneasy truce by dividing up the territories, leaving each major group and their allies to reside peacefully within their own borders, that is until the Taiwanese left in the Chinese district started to revolt against the unfair treatment and continued transgressions against them just for being different. It all boiled down to the tense situation we have today.” Akito wholeheartedly explained.
“That’s awful! How are you able to sustain yourselves nowadays?” Adriana inquired, still visibly impacted by Akito’s story.
“We’d normally trade among us, or we try to barter with travelling merchants out in the ruins. We’ve managed to secure a couple of trade routes, but it’s been hard because the Chinese ambush all those who deal with us but don’t deal with them, and that has driven many potential opportunities away.”
“All that violence… For nothing…” Cornelia shakenly muttered. “I hope that this time around it turns out differently for you.”
“It’s an inevitable thing to spill blood in this New World, we just have to know when not to draw our swords, especially when dealing with a misguided and unnecessary purpose.” Akito looks up with a determined expression. “When faced with adversity and your freedom is on the line, there’s no price too high or distance too far for you to be willing to fight for it until your last breath to see it restored.”
“Why do you help them though? It’s not your fight…” Cornelia questioned.
“In a way, it is for all of us. Because today it may be them, but tomorrow it could be any one of us. Our children, our future cannot be left at the mercy of shameless selfish pride. These people across the street need to learn that our prosperity depends on all of us, not just them. If we are to survive, it should be together or not at all.”
“I do think you should talk things out, but they probably won’t even look at you if they believe they can get the drop on you. In the meantime we should prepare for when that time comes.” Lindbergh affirmed placing his axe on the table.
“I just hope we’re not caught in the frontlines when the time comes. I don’t know how much more death I can stand witness to… It’s been too much in so little time.” Cornelia confessed, trying to hold back her tears.
“It is not necessary that you intervene in this conflict. We appreciate any help you can give us, but we won’t ask you to be in the thick of it.” Akito reassured everyone, turning to Cornelia. “I heard you are interested in technology, maybe you’d be interested in learning a bit of robot mechanics? You could assist us with their maintenance.”
“I can’t thank you enough for everything that you’ve given us, Akito. We’re ready to help out in any way we can.” Adriana replied with a determined look.
With a few parting words, Akito takes his leave after showing them their sleeping area in a Japanese-style house, complete with futons on a tatami floor. Everyone proceeded as Adriana had suggested earlier: organizing food, supplies and weapons in case of an emergency during the night.
On the next day, Akito brings them a few bento boxes for a quiet breakfast, offering to show them more of their district afterwards. Being relatively early in the morning, they could walk around more freely, taking in the sights without feeling rushed. Akito took them to see their fish tank replicator, a large artificial pond they made in a hollowed building they restored, making a small connection over to a nearby fresh water source so that water was constantly being recycled without the need of extensive maintenance.
Strolling through their floating gardens on the various rooftops throughout the community, seeing how people worked on the various plants, fruits and vegetables that were cultivated, offering them to take some to try. Delighted by the unexpected treat, they discovered that the crops had no noticeable change in taste or texture despite being cloned seeds.
They saw that they converted the collapsed elevated train platform into a sort of cattle ranch, raising smaller cloned animals, some exhibiting slight mutations, though it didn’t appear to affect the animal’s docile nature or the quality for its consumption.
“It’s beautiful what you’ve accomplished here, Akito…” Cornelia thought out loud, looking around her fascinated by her surroundings.
“Yeah, very impressive, my man. I have one question though: where are all the anime and manga stuff around here?!” Lindbergh desperately exclaimed. “Where are the fancy robots, or the cute high school girls in miniskirts prancing around with high-tech weaponry? Where are all the mechas? I need my dosage of Nippon-fueled entertainment.”
“Oh! Ehm, we do have some old mangas and comics in one of our storage areas… We can go there after if you--”
“Sold! Show us the way, my good man.”
“Lindbergh! Don’t be so rude! Akito is being nice enough to share his culture and community with us, you should be more respectful…” said Adriana, slightly annoyed reprimanding Lindbergh.
“Don’t worry about it, before the war people used to come here only seeking that type of entertainment. I honestly preferred it that way, since it was the most innocent of the requests we frequently got.” Akito confessed, hanging his head.
They’re taken to the central deposit area of the district, which housed all manners of wares and products among its dusty stocked shelves. Opening a door past the middle of the warehouse, it revealed a small library of manga, with the odd Western-style comic book here and there in near perfect condition, filling its numerous shelves.
“Look over here! They have the old issues of Attack on Orion!” Lindbergh excitedly exclaimed. “They also have the entire collection of Dr. Boulder! They’re even in their full-color versions! Damn, this is a true gold mine. Can I take these, Akito?” he anxiously asked.
“O-oh, of course… Take as much as you can carry.” Akito assured him.
Cornelia pulls on his clothes with an embarrassed expression across her face as she asks in a hushed tone:
“D-do you have any r-romantic comedies?”
“Yes, here’s the selection we have available. Take your time.” Akito said as he showed her around the shelves, Cornelia following his lead as she shyly skimmed through the pages, making sure no one was watching.
“Did that one catch your attention, Cornie?” Adriana innocently asked. “You’ve been reading it for a while now. I didn’t expect you to be so into manga.”
“Eek! No, I never got to read printed volumes, I mainly read them on the HoloNetwork…”
“Did your parents not let you have any?”
“It wasn’t that. I just never got to buying them, I came here only a few times in my whole life. We always ended up eating somewhere or just shopping around, I always thought I could come one day to get some, but I never did. None of my friends read manga, so I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with either.” Cornelia confessed.
“Well you have people to talk about it now…” Adriana happily remarked. “Oh! This one looks like a good one: Kiss Zis. Let’s see what it’s about.”
Cornelia and Adriana begin browsing through its pages, getting blushing more intensely as they advanced through the book, not being able to hide their blatant interest in the title, Lindbergh looks up to see what they were up to, as soon as he read the title he rushed over forcibly taking the manga off their hands.
“Don’t read that! It’s not proper reading material!” Lindbergh shamefully exclaimed. “Dios wouldn’t look kindly to you reading this… And Cornie! I expected better of you! I’ll just hold onto this, for safekeeping… We don’t want you stumbling upon it by accident again now, do we?”
“If they’re so bad, then why are you holding several issues of those teenage girls practically in their panties?” Titus inquired with a mischievous smirk.
“That’s, uhm, for research purposes!” Lindbergh wholeheartedly declared. “I’m studying the scientific repercussions of a potential intergalactic attack, so I have to analyze the correct way to preserve our species in the event that we need to flee to another planet, or if our entire race becomes enslaved by superior beings, dooming us to live only with our gender equals.”
“With scantily clothed teenagers in thongs?” Cornelia reproached. “Coño, Lindbergh, you’re a real piece of work, you know? If I can’t read those things, then neither can you, leave them where you found them.” Cornelia ordered as Adriana nodded in support.
“Aw shucks… Guess we’re done here, Akito.” Lindbergh announced. “We’ve got all the entertainment we’ll need for a good long while. Let’s put these babies away and start preparing for tonight.”
Later that day, basking in the dying light of dusk as the night crept in, they’re guided through a series of secret passages that lead into the service tunnels, highlighting them all over showing potential escape routes in the event that something goes wrong or if they needed to get out in a pinch. Reaching a crossroads that led further into the maze-like pipelines, and a path that reached the Chinese side of the tunnel. Approaching cautiously where the patrol was supposed to be guarding the exit, suddenly a huge explosion shakes the ground violently, erupting into loud fighting on streets within the Chinese district. Looking around the corner of the tunnel, they noticed that the guards had run off to investigate the cause of the explosion.
Slipping past their defenses, they end up in a dusty old novelty shop, inspecting the store they came across another service door that was behind the shelves and a half-finished brick wall. Lindbergh began taking the wall down with his axe as he kept trying to open the door, until they began hearing something banging back from within. The conflict outside kept intensifying, drowning their attempts to break into the apparent substation. Finally succeeding in tearing down the brick wall, Lindbergh tries to catch his breath and absentmindedly opened the door that now visibly read: “Substation BA-19A”, walking into the murky humid station, they find everything covered in thick layers of dust that almost buried the consoles and other equipment around the control room. Before being able to reach the access terminal two decrepit Reys rush towards them, knocking Lindbergh over. Holding it’s razor sharp jutting mouth with the handle of his axe, Lindbergh struggled to keep the terrifying abomination from gnawing him raw, in an almost involuntary reaction, Cornelia threw her knife which stabbed the creature in the shoulder blade, allowing him to get off both creatures at the same time then proceeding to hack them to pieces until they didn’t even twitch anymore.
Covered in blood and guts, they managed to dust off a bit of the equipment in order to tell one thing apart from the other, after a brief cleaning session they managed to restart the muck-filled station, restoring some power to the streets in the surrounding area as well.
Celebrating having activated the last power station, they stopped to analyze the decomposing Rey that lay there, seeing how rotted away their bodies were, intrigued everyone on the true adaptability and evolution capability of the Salina fungus, since the Rey they had observed up until now had more muscular and defined physiognomies.
“Do you think the fungus also revives the dead?” Cornelia worryingly asked.
“I don’t think so, maybe these guys were close to death, but not completely gone yet. I think that if they start lacking in potential food sources, they start eating themselves from the inside out.” Lindbergh remarked, closely observing the corpses.
“I think Lindbergh’s right, I don’t think OptoGenica designed something so smart and advanced it could even adapt itself to raise the dead. It may be the result of the fungu