Кобо Абэ - The Ark Sakura

“Hey, that goes against the agreement!” cried the youth in an unhappy voice, his body stiff. “You promised you wouldn’t lay a finger on them!”

“And we won’t. It’ll be a different part of the anatomy altogether. Now what are you going to do about it?” The adjutant stood stiffly erect and banged the floor with his broom handle. There was a metallic clang. “If you expect us to share them with you, then I’d advise you to show respect for your elders. Respect, do you hear me? Or would you like to have this taken up in court? Speak up. You’ve been told how to answer when spoken to, haven’t you?” His turn of speech reminded me of Inototsu. The insect dealer had dropped his eyes to the floor and was scratching himself behind the ear; he seemed to be struggling to maintain a disinterested expression.

“He’s something, isn’t he?” whispered the girl, and bit her lip.

“Isn’t he, though. He’ll be a cinch to work for,” agreed the shill.

After some hesitation, the youth straightened himself and sang out, his face expressionless, “Excuse me, sir!”

“That’s more like it.”

“I see.” The insect dealer nodded his large head and thrust his hands in his pants pockets. “But the final judgment will depend on the captain. And we’ve got to consider his limits of endurance.”

“Yes, that’s right,” the girl responded at once, firmly. “We can’t rely on that search; it’s too chancy. The captain started going out of his mind just a little while ago.”

“How would we break the toilet?”

“There’s a vacuum inside, so all you have to do is open a hole in the pipe and let air in. Break the concrete about eight inches down. ”

“I see — it’s a question of odds.” The insect dealer plucked a gold-plated badge out of his pocket. “What do you say, folks? These carry a lot of weight around town in the entertainment districts, especially the gold-plated ones. ”

No one reached out a hand. The adjutant repeated, “Shall I send out an order to the cleaning squads outside, ordering them to return immediately and join the search squad?”

The shill, his voice like bubbles from a washcloth squeezed underwater, murmured, “So that’s it. a dozen or so junior high school girls, and dozens and dozens of old men. ”

“I won’t stand for it,” fumed Sengoku. “No way. Even if the New Beginning comes, and we alone survive, those girls must be guaranteed the right to choose their own partners. I’ll recommend that this be adopted as a central article in the bylaws. Who does he think he is? Little females indeed! If that’s the way he’s going to talk, I hereby withdraw all cooperation.”

There were several seconds of silence. Then the youth whispered, “It goes against the agreement. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, not at all. ”

“How about it, Captain — about how many more hours do you think you can hold out?” The insect dealer propped up both elbows on his sleeping bag and smiled at me, fondling his badge. It was the very expression he had worn when I stopped the jeep and he came back with the fish sticks.

“I have only one question,” I said. “You and the others came by way of the tangerine grove, didn’t you? So why aren’t you wet? Your clothes, your hair, anything. ”

“That’s right,” said the shill. “I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“We came by boat.” The adjutant smiled faintly. “A rubber boat. Couldn’t manage without it. You mean you didn’t know? It’s stuck in below the ceiling on the eastern side near the floodgate, where the ceiling comes down nearly to water level. Help yourself anytime. You lie face up in the bottom and push against the ceiling with your hands and feet. Only fifteen feet or so from there, you come to a stairway. To pull the boat toward you, use the rope attached to a pulley under the ceiling there by the floodgate.”

I could say nothing. His all-too-practical explanation shattered my frail hopes. There was no hidden passageway.

“A third alternative does exist,” said the insect dealer, “but it probably wouldn’t appeal to you.” He rubbed a badge on his leg, and pinned it on his chest. “I mean amputating your leg. Logically speaking, it is another possibility, that’s all. I just thought I’d mention it.”

“We’re wasting time, Commander,” said the adjutant. “Inototsu would have issued orders long ago. He knew how to handle people. How do you expect to win the men over if you can’t even stir them to action over the little females?”

He stepped up to the toilet. I braced myself, but he seemed to have no intention of hurting me. He picked up the green hunting cap of Inototsu’s, which I had let fall unawares, brushed it off (though the cap itself was far dirtier than any dirt it might have picked up), walked across the hold, and laid it carefully on the blue plastic sheet. Bringing his palms together, he then clapped his hands solemnly — whether in Shinto style or Buddhist I couldn’t tell, nor did it seem to matter. Even from behind he looked like a hole in space.

“All right, then — I’ll give an order.” The insect dealer got up. “Does anybody know a doctor? He needn’t work exclusively for the Broom Brigade, but it ought to be someone we could rely on in an emergency.”

“I know one, but he’s an ob-gyn man,” replied the shadow adjutant, in apparent discomfort.

“What are you going to do?” I asked. My mouth was dry, and yet I wanted to urinate again.

“The specialty doesn’t matter.” The insect dealer held up his hands, effectively shutting off further discussion. “If he can’t make house calls, let him at least provide us with some drugs. A good strong sedative, not some over-the-counter kind. Something potent, like morphine. Can he do it?”

“I suppose so. If he doesn’t have to do it very often.”

“And we’ll need sleeping pills, and antibiotics. Send out the order on the double.”

“What about calling in the cleaning squads?” the shadow adjutant reminded him.

“I leave that to your judgment.”

23

“I WANT TO SEE THE SKY”

“If only I could see the sky,” sighed the girl forlornly.

“It’s still the middle of the night,” I said. The throb of pain in my leg was strange; it didn’t match my heartbeat.

“Tomorrow, then.”

“You want to get out of here?”

“Very much.”

Casually, while pretending to wash the galley sink, she picked up my Uzi and stood it against the side of the toilet, where I could reach out and get it without twisting my knee. Was she concerned about my safety? It was true that the situation was growing tenser by the moment.

The adjutant returned from the work hold, apparently having finished relaying commands. He struck the floor with his broom handle and barked an order at the youth.

“Scout A!”

“Excuse me, sir.”

“Bring down a table and chair from upstairs.”

“Yes, sir. A table and chair from upstairs. Right away, sir.”

“The hell you will,” I yelled, turning to the insect dealer and the shill for support. The shill and the girl responded quickly: he planted himself at the foot of the stairs, blocking the way up, while she released the safety catch on the crossbow. The insect dealer only shook his head at the youth, restraining him passively. I still wasn’t accustomed to the new distribution of power. Of them all, Sengoku, who only gave a deep sigh, may well have been most sympathetic to me.

“May I ask why not?” The adjutant seemed less disgruntled than surprised. “I should like to take this opportunity to explain several important daily procedures to our new commander. For him to be able to look through the necessary papers, we will need a table and chair.”