The Cage of Zeus (33 page)
“Isn’t that being selfish?” muttered Album. “You’re depriving your children of the right to live as Rounds.”
“They’ve already been infected by the parasite. What point is there now to living here?”
“When a cure is found, the Rounds will reclaim their bigender bodies,” Fortia said gently. “And your children too. You’re free to go with Calendula, but leave the children here. Album and I will raise them. While you may be their parents, you have no right to rob them of their futures.”
A hush pervaded the room. Tigris let the tension out of eir shoulders and bowed toward Fortia. “I know they’ll be in good hands in your care. Please look after them. The kids will have the support of the entire community, but Calendula has only me to look after em. I have to go.”
“I know,” answered Fortia. “Go on.”
After Tigris left, Album tried to help Fortia lie down on the bed. Fortia refused and asked Album to bring em a work tablet.
Album asked if ey was sure ey was well enough to work, at which Fortia smiled. “Everything has changed—the Rounds, the special district…We need a new plan, Album. There’s no time to waste.”
When Harding regained consciousness, Shirosaki gave him a status report on the station.
Then Harding received a lengthy explanation of his medical condition from Wagi.
Nothing Wagi told him was surprising, considering that Harding’s survival was a mystery even to himself. Wanting to look after his affairs with the time he had left, Harding requested to be transferred from the sickroom into an individual room.
Once in the privacy of his own room, Harding recorded messages to every member of his family with his wearable device—to his wife, his children, and to his elderly parents.
As he lay in bed after completing the task, Veritas came into the room.
“I hear you’re going back to Mars,” ey said with a frigid look, after sitting in the chair next to the bed. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Which have you become? Man or woman?”
Veritas shot him a disgusted look. “A woman. But that doesn’t mean I think of myself as one.”
“I know,” mumbled Harding. “Veritas, I’ve been too afraid to tell you until now—”
“Stop it,” interrupted Veritas. “I was born and raised in the special district, brought up embracing my bigender identity. Even though I’ve lost part of my sexual functions, I will always be both man and woman. I am the same person as when I was healthy. Even though only my female sexual organs function, I am not the same as a Monaural woman. Half of me still remains male, and I don’t for a moment regret wanting you as one. Can you really bear to love the male half of who I am? If you’re thinking of indulging me out of pity, you can forget it. I refuse to be some savior to ease your conscience or to absolve you of your sins.”
“I’m going to die soon,” said Harding, letting slip a smile. “So I’m trying to wipe the slate clean. Are you still upset about what happened?”
“Of course I am. You have no idea how much. What a relief to know I won’t ever have to see your face again,” said Veritas. “Go back to Mars and die in front of your wife and kids for all I care.”
“I’m relieved to hear you say that.”
“Don’t patronize me,” said Veritas, choking out the words, as if ey were desperately trying to fight back the anger whirling inside em. Ey raised a fist and brought it down on the edge of the bed so hard that it startled even Harding. The force might have broken two or three ribs had Veritas hit him.
Veritas turned eir back as if to spurn Harding. Eir slender shoulders trembled.
“Look, maybe this isn’t my place to ask,” said Harding, “but I’d rather you not see me on my deathbed, so why don’t we make this your last visit. It’s probably better that way for both of us.”
Veritas offered no response. With eir back still turned, ey answered, “I have no intention of putting you at ease. You’ll have to suffer my wrath until the end.”
“Hell, then. Do what you want.” Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, Harding closed his eyes. He thought of Miles and all the others who’d fallen in the line of duty, as well as the children of the special district. How they must have suffered in those dying moments. Would he be able to die suffering in a way that would be commensurate with his sins? He wouldn’t be able to bear dying an easier death than the others. He had been the one to falter in his duties. It was he that deserved to be slowly raked over the coals.
Harding felt something cool and soft touch his face. A familiar touch he’d felt many times before. That supple sensation that had aroused in him unspeakable feelings of intoxication and guilt and had awakened his passion. He did not have to open his eyes. This was Veritas’s hand. Eir cold, slender fingers. Palm. Cheek. Eir lips.
Harding swallowed the feeling of calm that began to rise up inside him. But he did not open his eyes. Pulling his lips taut, Harding said nothing and gave himself over to Veritas’s gentle caress.
After Shirosaki’s condition improved, Arino informed the commander of the punishment that had been handed down to Barry Wolfren.
“Since he can’t be tried by planetary laws, Wolfren will remain in solitary confinement here for the rest of his life. Of course they’ll put him to work so he’s earning his keep, perhaps in observation or data entry. But he’ll be denied all contact with the staff and Rounds. He’ll be given the necessary furnishings and computer to complete his assigned tasks, but will never be allowed to leave his quarters.”
“What about meals and exercise?”
“A tray will be delivered to his quarter every meal, but there’s to be no human contact whatsoever.”
“So he’s essentially a prisoner. What’s Wolfren have to say?”
“He seems surprisingly unperturbed about it. He told me that while he may be alone now, there will be others like him soon enough. Eventually Jupiter-I will have to create a second special district, a place to lock away those who identify as neither Round nor Monaural. The human race is constantly evolving. Just as Monaurals created the Round subspecies, a new race is bound to emerge from the Rounds. Wolfren said that he was merely a progenitor of that race.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him he was fortunate to have something to believe in,” Arino said.
A faint smile came across Shirosaki’s lips. “Why? Don’t you?”
“I’m not entirely sure if we’ve accomplished anything here, sir,” Arino said. “What exactly have we achieved?”
“Karina Majella is no longer a threat. That’s our greatest prize.”
“Do you think so?”
“It’s what you should believe,” insisted Shirosaki. “If you know what’s good for you.”
Once Shirosaki was well enough to get out of bed, he took a walk around the station to look for Kline. He found her in the observatory where an image of Jupiter filled the omnidirectional screen. Kline was reclining on the sofa, staring at the gas giant.
Shirosaki walked across the room, careful not to look down at the black void displayed on the floor screen.
Kline turned off the floor screen as soon as she noticed Shirosaki’s arrival.
Shirosaki breathed a sigh of relief. “Staring at the eye of Zeus?” he asked.
“Actually,” answered Kline, “I was admiring Io.”
Shirosaki caught a glimpse of Io’s shadow against the face of Jupiter. Jupiter’s volcanic and lava moon. Staring at that fiery altar that had swallowed Karina, Shirosaki said, “It’s likely I’ll be demoted when I return to Mars.”
“You’re taking the blame for what’s happened?”
“I may have to resign my command with SSD.”
“I should have killed Karina when I had the chance,” Kline said. “After all, I was the only one who had a legitimate reason to kill her.”
“There’s something you can tell me,” said Shirosaki. “What was Dr. Tei’s name in the special district?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Just curious, I suppose.”
“Lanterna. It means ‘light.’ You know, the kanji character 灯,” explained Kline, tracing the kanji character in the air with a finger. “In Chinese, it’s pronounced
tei.
”
“How did the doctor come by that name?”
“One of the female staff, who was Japanese, gave em the name years ago. It was when the doctor was still young. Ey was terribly sad when eir good friend had ended her assignment here and went back to Earth. Ey had sulked and kept eir distance from the staff for a while, but ey was soon back to eir sunny self. That’s the kind of person the doctor is. Which is probably why I chose Tei to become an intermediary. Perhaps it’s because ey recognized the differences between Round and Monaural that the doctor put emself in the middle—no, gray zone where ey was neither.”
“Light...” Shirosaki mused. “If the doctor is true to eir name, maybe the world will change for the better.”
Perhaps Lanterna was too small to light humanity’s way into space. But any amount of illumination was better than nothing. Much better.
Would there ever come a day when Monaurals and Rounds together journeyed past the eye of Zeus and saw what lay ahead?
The answer was nowhere yet to be found.
Afterword and Acknowledgements
It is my belief that anyone involved in the arts, not just novels, feels compelled to address issues of gender and sexuality sooner or later. For a long time, ever since I began writing novels in fact, I have wanted to write something focused around this theme.
Given that opportunity, I was both stunned and elated at having opened a secret door to yet another fascinating world. Although I’ve rendered that world in a very stylized science fictional form with this novel, I hope to explore these themes again in general fiction form. The more I write, I am impressed by the depth of the vast world I’ve yet to explore.
I am indebted to the staff at the Kadokawa Haruki Corporation and many others for their help during the publishing process. I wish to express my gratitude to editor Takeshi Muramatsu who offered many invaluable suggestions via phone and email.
Sayuri Ueda
October 2004
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Sayuri Ueda is one of the more innovative science fiction authors in Japan. She won the 2003 Komatsu Sakyo Award with her debut novel,
Mars Dark Ballade
.
The Cage of Zeus
, her second novel, was originally published in 2004. Her recent short fiction collection,
Uobune, Kemonobune
(Fish Boat, Animal Boat), was highly acclaimed in the SF community and was nominated for the 2009 Japan SF Award. Also nominated for the Seiun Award in the short story category was “Kotori no haka” (The Grave of the Bird) from the collection. Her latest novel,
Karyu no miya
(The Ocean Chronicles), won the first prize of Best SF 2010 in
SF Magazine
and was one of the most noteworthy books of the year in any genre.
HAIKASORU
THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE
GOOD LUCK, YUKIKAZE BY CHOHEI KAMBAYASHI
The alien JAM have been at war with humanity for over thirty years...or have they? Rei Fukai of the FAF’s Special Air Force and his intelligent plane Yukikaze have seen endless battles, but after declaring “Humans are unnecessary now,” and forcibly ejecting Fukai, Yukikaze is on her own. Is the target of the JAM’s hostility really Earth’s machines? And have the artificial intelligences of Earth been acting in concert with the JAM to manipulate Yukikaze? As Rei tries to ascertain the truth behind the intentions of both sides, he realizes that his own humanity may be at risk, and that the JAM are about to make themselves known to the world at large.
ICO: THE CASTLE IN THE MIST BY MIYUKI MIYABE
A boy with horns, marked for death. A girl who sleeps in a cage of iron. The Castle in the Mist has called for its sacrifice: a horned child, born once a generation. When, on a single night in his thirteenth year, Ico’s horns grow long and curved, he knows his time has come. But why does the Castle in the Mist demand this offering, and what will Ico do with the girl imprisoned within the Castle’s walls? Delve into the mysteries of Miyuki Miyabe’s grand achievement of imagination, inspired by the award-winning game for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, now remastered for PlayStation®3.
TEN BILLION DAYS AND ONE HUNDRED BILLION NIGHTS BY RYU MITSUSE
Ten billion days—that is how long it will take the philosopher Plato to determine the true systems of the world. One hundred billion nights—that is how far into the future Christ and Siddhartha will travel to witness the end of the world and also its fiery birth. Named the greatest Japanese science fiction novel of all time,
Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights
is an epic eons in the making. Originally published in 1973, the novel was revised by the author in later years and republished in 2001.
VISIT US AT WWW.HAIKASORU.COM