That caught Ya-Li’s attention.

  “The Inventor? How did he …?”

  “The soldier named Exeter says Amayas transported him across the divide without explanation. I don’t understand why, only that we have a growing issue that needs your attention, Ya-Li.”

  “Mine? You want me to contact Amayas? He and I aren’t on good terms at the moment.”

  “No. What I need you to do is track the Splinter’s owner. He lives in Pinchon. His name is Ryllen Jee. He is a member of a group you might know: Green Sun. In less than two years, he will discover the Splinter on Mangum Island, where your Alliance frequently meets. He will be killed at sea, but he will be regenerated and cross the divide.”

  “Killed? What? Are you saying he’s …?”

  “Immortal. Bioengineered on your Earth. The teenage Ryllen Jee in your Pinchon has no concept of these matters. He soon will.”

  “What’s going to happen?”

  “I have interviewed him extensively in a combat zone to understand his timeline. In a few months, he will be killed in an ambush at a place called Ronin Swallows. Soon after he regenerates, he will learn the truth and walk a dark path that will lead him to Mangum Island. Ya-Li, I need you to ensure these events take place.”

  Of the many concepts Bonju tossed at Ya-Li during his years of mentorship, this was the most bizarre.

  “This is beyond the pale, Bonju. If this already happened in his past, then nothing can stop his future. Why is he my responsibility?”

  “Because, Ya-Li, he always was.”

  “No. How could I …?”

  “I am making a logical deduction. Ryllen identified the man who orchestrated the ambush and shot him point-blank as Shin Wain. Is Shin not your liaison to Amayas Knight?”

  Ya-Li felt sick.

  “He is, but Shin Wain spends most of his time off-world. He travels to Alliance planets and supervises the construction of the Inventor’s miracles. When he does return to Hokkaido, he stays in his home on Mangum Island. He would have no interest in a Green Sun fanatic.”

  “My point exactly. The connection between Shin Wain and the ambush that must happen cannot be squared. Logic suggests he will be recruited to orchestrate the event. He has the means to do so. You are the only one in a position to recruit him.”

  “Me? You want me to arrange a teenager’s murder?”

  “Ten will die in the ambush. But no, Ya-Li. Give no orders yet. Perhaps my logic is flawed. Perhaps the event will come about through another avenue, but Shin Wain will be there. For now, why don’t you contact your friend. Weeb? He is quite good at tracking people. Yes? Learn everything you can. Don’t interfere directly. As the date approaches, you’ll know what to do.”

  “When does it happen? Today is Meolin 10.”

  “You have months to go. Tell your friend and his contacts to keep a distance. Investigate Green Sun. Perhaps infiltrate. I’ll rendezvous with Ryllen and Exeter as the opportunity arises. I have theories on how they might cross the divide by ship, but it will take time.”

  “Huh. Doesn’t everything? Bonju, if I involve Weeb in this and recruit Shin Wain, I put myself at risk. I am trying to build something great for the Hokki people. Now, you burden me with this when I am losing the fight to achieve my own goal. No one in the Alliance understands me, including my Honorable Grandmother and Great Grandfather. They have convinced the Inventor to change my original design for the Sweeper. I …”

  Bonju yawned.

  “You sound like a petulant child, Ya-Li, not a man with the discipline and exactitude required of a visionary leader. How often have we spoken of this frailty? There are days when young Sebu puts you to shame.”

  “I have worked hard to follow your guidance, Bonju. But I am tired of wearing this mask. The Alliance leadership ignores my input because they hear the words of a timid man. I allow them the illusion of control because you said this will serve me well when the time for action arrives.”

  “Indeed. The man they do not fear is the one they will not see coming. Patience, Ya-Li. Continue your work in quiet. The time will ripen for your vision to take hold. In the meanwhile, you must assure the future plays out according to form. Gather intelligence on Ryllen Jee. In about a month, contact Shin Wain. Lay the groundwork with him.”

  “He won’t believe me. Shin has never been fond of me.”

  “He is right hand to Amayas Knight. He will believe you.”

  At the moment, Ya-Li didn’t care. In fact, he put off bringing Weeb into this madness for a week. Shin Wain? Not for three months, despite Bonju’s frequent request for updates.

  The matter with Ryllen Jee and the future seemed like an incidental concern. Bonju insisted Ya-Li would have no direct connection to Ryllen’s timeline through to the incident on Mangum Island. The same did not apply, however, to the tension inside Hokki Alliance leadership.

  The rumors of jealousy among the elite families first made their way back to Ya-Li not long after he met in person with the Inventor at High Cannon Collective. They did not understand why Ya-Li, then nineteen, received favored treatment or had a direct line to Shin Wain – something afforded to very few.

  They acknowledged Ya-Li’s intellectual brilliance but scoffed at his leadership potential. They knew he spent most of his free time squirrelled away in the Taron estate’s great library, arguably as fine a collection as any on Hokkaido. He showed no outward interest in his family’s business or establishing a strong public presence on the social scene, as expected of the elite heirs.

  Equally as galling: He landed a gift-wrapped fiancée in Kara Syung, a naked ploy by Syung-Low to assure itself a leading role when the Alliance came to fruition. Why did the most uninteresting Taron deserve the greatest prizes?

  They interpreted his reticence to lead as weakness, though he was following the advice Amayas gave him at HCC:

  “For the time, you will need to be a silent executive. Until the entire power base within The Lagos and the central continental government endorses the Alliance, you will not be able to lead without a clear and present danger to your life.”

  The elite voices coalesced behind a new idea for Ya-Li’s so-called Sweeper. They wanted to convert his quantum bridge – a hub for interstellar commerce – into a collector capable of obliterating the Kye-Do rings with the same efficiency that terrorists used to destroy Ark Carriers years ago. They proposed the Sweeper use singularity weapons to annihilate the quadrillions of orbiting rocks in a matter of days. Soon thereafter, the arable lands of the continent would be restored to health, and the truth about the poisoning would be forever silenced. The seamasters who designed the Sweeper would be hailed as heroes by two billion Hokkis.

  These voices rose against Ya-Li by circumventing him altogether. They turned to Ban-Ho and Hoija Taron, who made the decision which they forwarded to the Inventor on behalf of Hokki leadership. They told Ya-Li over after-dinner drinks in Ban-Ho’s study.

  “We must think not only of the future,” Ban-Ho told him, “but of the past. If our secret becomes known, it will become our legacy. My legacy. I will not die a hated man. I will not leave my family to bear the shame. You see the wisdom, Ya-Li?”

  Ya-Li took care with his words. More important, with the tone.

  “I see your point of view, Honorable Great Grandfather. I respect your desire to make good for past mistakes. I only wish to pose one question, if I may, sir.”

  “Always, Ya-Li.”

  “Would we not achieve the same ultimate effect if we simply discontinued the aerial seeding programs and allowed the lands to heal on their own?”

  “This point was given much consideration, but if conditions improve before the rings are decimated, Hokkis will know acenomite is not to blame. We have managed to silence anyone with evidence of our seeding, but those voices will be many and far too strong if we allow natural healing to begin. No, Ya-Li. Our best chance rests with your platform and our redesign.”

  “I understand, Honorable Great Grandfather. If I may, will you give me permission to speak with the Inventor about creating two Sweepers? One of my design, and one of yours?”

  Ban-Ho turned to the rest of his audience – Hoija and Ya-Li’s parents, Moon and Chan. His sigh substituted for the answer.

  “No, dear,” Hoija said. “Each member of the Alliance is allowed one technological marvel. The Inventor has been clear. We will not impose. Do you hear us, Honored Grandson?”

  “I do. Thank you for the clarity.”

  Five months later, Bonju gave Ya-Li the date of the ambush. He was not wrong about how it came into being: The Ronin Swallows attack could not happen unless Shin Wain set the table. The KumTaan, in its efforts to crack down on Green Sun activity and illegal immigrant smugglers, posted surveillance around Ronin Swallows, which had gained a reputation for late-night criminal behavior. Shin used his Alliance contacts inside the KumTaan to remove surveillance in advance of the ambush.

  “I find this entire episode distasteful,” Shin told Ya-Li when they met at the Mangum Island house days before the attack. “I have no use for Green Sun or its fanaticism, but I believe these actions will serve no meaningful purpose. Most of their soldiers are misguided children. Their movement will die of its own accord in short order.”

  “We are assuring the future, Shin.”

  “So he says. You place too much trust in Bonju. Ask yourself: Whose interest is best served?”

  “Ryllen Jee will change history in two universes. Bonju says he may be the most important human being in existence. We have to see this through. We’ll know in time how it affects our own path.”

  Shin indulged in a tall glass of mango juice.

  “When you first approached me, Ya-Li, you were indifferent to his plan. Now, you sound like Bonju’s personal propagandist. Why?”

  He hesitated. Did Shin need to know the honest answer? Ya-Li decided to play his hand.

  “Bonju is developing a method to cross the divide by ship. He shared his plans with me last week. He believes there is a way to cross using the Splinter at its core. He’s not certain of its success, and the physics extend beyond my capacity. He never would have made this leap had Ryllen Jee not crossed. You see? If we don’t go forward with this plan, we corrupt history in both universes. The risk of doing so is too great, in my opinion.”

  “Hmm. In your opinion. But not based on tangible scientific proof. Mere speculation, Ya-Li?”

  “Everything related to the disruption of linear time is speculative. I believe everyone’s interests will be served by this. Yours, mine, the Inventor’s, the Alliance.”

  “But mostly yours. Yes?”

  “I can’t be certain.”

  “No, but you can hope. I have no doubt you are.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You believe nothing will come between yourself and the future you envision for Hokkaido. I know it’s only a matter of time before you move against your opposition in the Alliance. Remember, Ya-Li: I see you without the mask. Be careful.”

  The sickening tone of condescension. He was damned well fed up with it.

  “Follow the script, Shin. Before you shoot Ryllen in the head, say the words exactly the way he remembers them. Everything must play out the way it already has.”

  Eight days later, Ya-Li opened his hand-comm and watched the slaughter unfold. Shin’s bodycam captured the carnage when he entered Ronin Swallows moments after the deed.

  Ryllen Jee awoke, blood smeared across his face. A light captured his confusion. Seconds later, a hole opened in his head.

  Much to Ya-Li’s surprise, he wasn’t bothered in the least.

  PART FIVE

  THE MIDNIGHT SHOWER

  “What do you call a man who has power but does not use it?”

  “A wasted opportunity.”

  “What do you call him if he uses the power for evil?”

  “A man who knows his heart.”

  36

  Ascension Day

  Daselin 23, Standard Year 5366

  33 days after the wedding

  E VERYONE LISTENED TO YA-LI and told the President of Hotai Counsel what he wanted to hear. No patronizing, no “if I may suggest an alternative” or “we’ve always done it this way.” His officers knew better. He held the company for twenty-two days without a misstep. He defied predictions of failure from the lobby to the fifty-ninth floor, and to the halls of every other seamaster. In seven hours, he intended to stand on the roof of Hotai and give the Hokki people the greatest gift they never knew they desired.

  “This is it,” he told Bonju. “Everything I’ve worked for. Why doesn’t it feel like total victory?”

  “You’re heavy with grief you cannot process. We never knew how important Myka was until he died. Being with him at the end did not make it easier.”

  As usual, Bonju was right. Ya-Li slept little since he stood in that tiny beach cabin at the old man’s deathbed. Though Myka never uttered any final words, Ya-Li felt the man’s presence everywhere. Only nine days ago, after Ya-Li buried his parents, he demanded Myka live long enough to see Ascension.

  “It would have been one last beautiful moment, Bonju.”

  “Then say something to him when the moment arrives. His people believe in an afterlife. A place they call Heaven. If they’re right, his eternal soul might hear you.”

  “We used to believe in that long ago, before the colonies, before the Chancellor crusades. I will. I’ll speak to him.”

  He felt Bonju’s presence dissolve and returned his full focus to the meeting of his seven senior officers. They filled the long sofas inside the well of his executive suite.

  Time was short, the workday almost done. They wanted to leave for the night’s reverie. Their wigs and dyed hair – a frazzled combination of red and violet to honor Ascension – did not distract them from their final meeting.

  “Our contractors report few problems in the supply chain,” Park Doon told Ya-Li. “Our retailers are preparing for a morning rush.”

  “They understand the need for limited purchasing options?”

  “We’ve informed them, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to comply. Lines have been forming all day in the major cities. The initial surge might exceed our estimate many times over.”

  “What about security? The last thing we want is violence in stores.”

  “That,” said Len-Ho Doon, Chief Financial Officer, “is a tricky concern. The Hotai Charter considers all our retailers to be independent businesses. They lease the rights to sell our products. We’ve had many inquiries about paying for private security. We’ve denied them all.”

  Ya-Li stared across the suite to Burr Sheong, his personal guard, and waved him over.

  “Burr, New Seoul is your home. Should our retailers in the more difficult neighborhoods expect trouble?”

  “I wouldn’t rule it out, sir. For the most part, I expect people to be civil. But there are no doubt many who believe this is a gimmick. Once supplies run out, prices will increase. I heard the marketing plan earlier. Might I suggest blasting out last-minute reminders that price reduction is permanent and limited purchasing will be enforced. It might help reassure the antsy ones and those toward the back of the line.”

  Ya-Li turned to Hira Jade, his Director of Marketing. “Before your team leaves, please take care of it.”

  “Of course, President Taron.”

  “Thank you, Burr. I don’t want to start a new era with bloodshed. There’s been too much of late.”

  Originally, Ya-Li wanted Hotai price discounts on all products to begin on Ascension Day, deepening the historical impact. However, processor facilities struggled to ramp up, and retailers worried about chaos on a day most workers considered sacred. When Ya-Li decided to hold off a day, Hira Jade said her division had it covered.

  “We have a campaign to prime consumers worldwide. We will use Ascension as a moment of transition between the old Hokkaido and the new, which of course will be represented by Hotai Foods.”

  She delved into her six-point plan, which included blitzes on the Global Wave, Vidrows, Sound Merchants, and social backchannels of each region’s IntraNex.

  “On the runup, we will emphasize the historic shift we are placing on helping our consumers improve their overall lifestyle. Once the doors open, we will turn our focus to the issue of quality, both in taste and freshness, with the implication being our competitors lag far behind. After the first week, we will turn to establishing Hotai as a family operated business of Hokki patriots who believe everyone is entitled to life without worry. Naturally, we will target our messaging differently to the less desirable corners of the continent as opposed to, oh, anywhere in The Lagos.”

  “And what of our internal numbers?” He asked his CFO. “Will we meet the timetable for pay increases?”

  “It will be close,” Len-Ho Doon said, shifting his eyes to the head of personnel. “We are on track for the twenty percent hikes to begin rolling out in three weeks. The delicate balance will come as we expand operations and add to payroll.”

  The personnel chief clarified Len-Ho’s remarks: Seven thousand new jobs at two new processing facilities and four additional ships would create a huge challenge for his team, but he vowed to maintain the timetable, “even if we have to work without sleep.”

  “We have processed three hundred thousand applications, all arriving in the past week,” he said. “A few are personnel officers. They anticipate our need.”

  “Interesting. Do any happen to work for the other seamasters?”

  “Most.”

  “Examine your needs and send a request to Len-Ho. We’ll give you whatever you need.”

  “Thank you. The thirty-second floor has many vacant offices. We can fill them quickly.”

  “These people see which way the current is flowing. They know their own bosses will have to downsize in the coming months if they refuse to replicate our business model.”

  “I must admit,” Len-Ho said, “I’m surprised no one has tried to match our discounts. Their obstinance worries me.”