It had started to get dark out by the time they checked into the only hotel-- really, more like an inn-- in the village.
"<One room, or two?>" the lady behind the counter asked them.
"<Uh,>" Sachiko said, uncertainly. "<Alanna? How are we...?>"
"I'm not sleeping with you," Alanna said, switching over to English. "Not yet, anyway. Too soon. But... I don't mind sleeping with you. Given how tight our money is... I don't think we have a choice."
"Fair enough," Sachiko said, nodding.
"<Just one, please,>" Alanna told the woman. "<We're only staying for the night.>"
"<Ah so,>" she said, handing them a key. "<You can pay in the morning. Third room up the stairs, on the right. Please enjoy your stay.>"
"<Thanks,>" Alanna said-- Sachiko just nodded-- and took the key. They went up to their room immediately, both exhausted after the long day.
The room was small, and rather quaint; possibly just as much as Adamski's guest room had been. There was a single bed that didn't seem like it was really made for two people, a couple of chairs, a bedside table, and an old television across from the bed. It had a large set of rabbit ears sticking out of the top. Alanna turned on the light, and sat down on the edge of the bed. She noticed that unlike Adamski's guest room, there was no window; it just made it feel even more crowded.
"So...," Sachiko trailed off. "Do you want me to take a look at that writing now?"
"Sure," Alanna said, spreading herself out on the bed, murmuring with relief. "Ah... that's so much nicer. My back is soooooo sore." She put down the box beside her.
"There," she said, "it's in there."
Sachiko walked over to the bed, staring down at Alanna, spread out; probably for too long. She opened up the shoebox, digging inside until she found the case. She sat down on the bed, near Alanna's head, and started to look it over.
"Uh," she said after a minute. "It's not Chinese at all. I mean... well, it sort of is-- I can read a few of these words, but they don't make any sense. And then there's a bunch of characters that just aren't Chinese at all. I'm lost."
"What?" Alanna said, looking up at her. "What does that mean?"
"I think it's Japanese," Sachiko concluded.
"What do you mean, it's Japanese?" Alanna asked, confused.
"I mean... it's gotta be. There's only five languages that use Chinese characters at all... Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese. The first two are just Chinese, Korean has weird pronounciations but doesn't have any unique characters any more... which just leaves Vietnamese and Japanese. And I'm pretty sure Vietnamese doesn't look like that."
"Shit," Alanna said, thoughtfully. "Since when are you such a linguist?"
"Knowing about the constituents of the Republic of China is sort of a matter of history. Everyone knows about that, it's nothing special. You studied war in Europe, right-- well, I studied it in East Asia," Sachiko said. And then, with a playful smile, she added, "Besides, I thought you said before that I was a cunning linguist."
Alanna coughed. "That's not at all what I said," she said quietly, embarassed by the lame joke. "But... so seriously, it's Japanese? But... that doesn't make any sense. That little bit of writing on the back, that's copyright information. And that's a date there, isn't it?"
"Yep," she said. "Copyright 2001, Sony... something. I have no idea what that word is."
"Huh. What about the booklet, what does it say in there?"
"Hm, lemme see," Sachiko said, pulling it out and flipping through it. She murmured to herself, squinting, and just generally looking adorable as she tried to read it. After a few minutes, she announced, "Liner notes."
"They're... what?"
"Liner notes. You know, the things that come with music," Sachiko said flatly. "I can't really discern a whole lot here. But I'm certain they're liner notes. There's a band credited; I can't understand half these words, and none of the names, but... there's a guitarist, and a drummer. And five pages of lyrics."
Alanna sat up, a completely puzzled look on her face.
"But... what? How is that possible? There wasn't any music coming out of Japan in 2001... there wasn't any anything coming out of Japan in 2001. This is like, professional quality, mass produced. Sure, it looks old, definitely weathered enough to be nearly a hundred years old... but still!"
"No kidding," Sachiko said. "Maybe it was made in Europe? Like, some sort of novelty thing? There isn't really a whole lot in terms of remaining Japanese culture in Asia... not even in 2001."
"Maybe," Alanna said. "But still, why? I've never seen a disc like that; why make a novelty item of a fake Japanese album, then make it some weird shiny thing?"
"What'd they use for music back then?" Sachiko wondered.
"LPs, I think. You know, big black vinyl records," Alanna told her, looking thoughtful. "They sure weren't shiny, and they certainly weren't that small. If you look carefully at the thing, it says 'Compact Disc' on it... I've never heard of that before."
"Wow," Sachiko said. Then she paused. "So, I think the real question is... can we actually listen to it?"
Alanna hadn't even thought of the idea; but it made perfect sense. She figured there was more to the thing that just a shiny bauble, but she hadn't thought of actually simply trying to get to whatever information was stored on the disc, even before Sachiko told her what it was.
"That's a really good question," Alanna admitted, falling backwards against the bed again. "Do you know anyone who could help with this sort of thing?"
"Yeah," she said. "Soon as we get to China... I know just who to ask."
"Great," Alanna muttered. "If we can get a car, we should be able to get there in a few days."
"Beautiful."
Alanna paused, remember the rest of the box; specifically, the bomb part. She'd told Sachiko that there were plans for a bomb in it, and of course, she knew enough about what Alexander had to track him down across the continent just for the information; but she knew that Sachiko'd never actually managed to get her hands on the contents of the box.
"Hey, Sachiko," Alanna said. "Do you know what an atomic bomb is?"
Of course, she didn't; Alanna spent the better part of ten minutes trying to explain as best as she could, regurgitating her weak understanding of the impossibility of a nuclear bomb from what Dr. Simon had told her, then explained how amazing destructive one could be. And then she concluded with what the notebook had said about the conspiracy; the theory that the older Dr. Yazawa was part of a conspiracy to make an atomic bomb seem impossible.
"That's insane," Sachiko said at last.
"I trust Dr. Simon's understanding," Alanna said. "It all seemed to make sense."
"Yeah, but... I just mean, the idea of a bomb that could be so destructive. Can you imagine? Can you imagine how that'd change war?" Sachiko asked, amazed. "Like... say you put one of those on an ICBM, right? You could launch a thousand of them at a country... boom, millions killed."
"But you can shoot down an ICBM," Alanna said.
"You can take down missile defenses. The only reason nobody ever bothers intercepting ICBM interceptors is because the ICBMs aren't really very powerful. You fire a thousand of them-- if they didn't get shot down-- you can take out a couple of naval bases. I mean, don't get me wrong, a naval base is huge, that's no small feat... but do you have any idea how many the United States has in California alone?"
"Twelve," Alanna said, nodding.
"I was going to say ten," Sachiko looked surprised; she gave Alanna a look. "Uh. Okay. Anyway, the point being... a thousand ICBMs armed with those atomic bombs? You could destroy the entire west coast. That's just... wow.
"Imagine that. Imagine both NATO and the Soviet Union having atomic bombs. Imagine, mass producing those... if one's nearly as powerful as Dr. Simon says, you could.... God. You could destroy the world."
"Yeah," Alanna said. "Still want to report that to the Soviets?"
"That sure would end the war," Sachiko said. "If your idea about this Dr. Yazawa being part of a conspiracy to make it seem impossible in the 1940s... well, I don't blame him. But there's just one thing I don't understand."
"Yeah?"
"Why keep the designs so people could find them?" Sachiko wondered out loud. "It's been working so well for the past hundred and fifty years, after all. These sketches are the only proof that this atomic bomb is even possible... why not destroy them?"
"That's a really good question," Alanna said. She lay there, thinking. After a minute, she suggested, "Maybe he changed his mind?"
Sachiko looked down at Alanna. "Hm," was all she said.
They didn't stay awake much longer; both were exhausted. Alanna got up and turned the lights off, and they both got under the covers. Neither had any clean clothes to change into, but they didn't want to wear less, anyway; even in the inn room, it was rather cold. Sachiko still felt incredibly weird, sleeping next to Alanna like that; it just didn't feel right, after how she'd treated her. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering what she'd ever done to deserve Alanna forgiving her.
"Sachiko," Alanna said softly, edging closer. "You mind if I cuddle? For warmth, of course."
Sachiko looked over, staring into Alanna's eyes. "For warmth... of course," she said, awkwardly; she knew she couldn't say no. Alanna edged in even closer, curling up right next to Sachiko, putting her arm over her chest. Sachiko just closed her eyes, not knowing what else to do, as Alanna held her closely.
Alanna was kissing her as she fell asleep.
They woke up at sunrise and checked out as soon as they could, hitting
the road in the early morning; the quicker they got out, the longer they
could spend on the road and the farther they'd get. They headed for the
nearest real town, buying a junk old car that probably wouldn't even last
them much farther than the Sino-Soviet border, and a newspaper, in that
order.
"Hey, look at that," Sachiko said, reading the newspaper as they drove. "It's your group! We made the news!"
"Really," Alanna was legitimately somewhat surprised. The attack on the caravan, and later on the gulag, was certainly well outside public sight; they could've just gone on pretending that it never happened, rather than actually publically acknowledging that it did. Alanna wondered what the propaganda angle was going to be.
"Yeah. It's below the fold, but it's on the first page," she said. "Blah blah dissident attack on a caravan full of dangerous criminals blah blah treason in a time of war blah blah if you have any leads please contact this number, and dammit, there's my photo in the paper. Now the whole world knows what I look like!"
Alanna couldn't help but smile, even if Sachiko really was legitimately upset at that.
"They published your photo when you were arrested, Sachiko," she broke to her. "But don't worry, it's not really the whole world. They don't publish Pravda in the West, and nobody reads Russian in Africa."
"Oh, well, that makes it so much better," Sachiko said sarcastically-- Alanna didn't think she'd ever heard Sachiko be sarcastic before. It was weird. "Nice optimism; aren't you also going to assure me that nobody in Antartica will see my picture, either, since polar bears don't read?"
"No, I'd never say anything like that," Alanna replied immediately. "There are no polar bears in the Antarctic."
"Very funny," Sachiko said.
They continued to drive, spending the next week on the road, sleeping in the car rather than going into inns and motels whenever possible; they couldn't afford to at this point. Sachiko didn't have a single penny to her name, not since her assets were frozen upon arrest; and Alanna spent nearly all of her money left in Soviet banks just buying the car. All their remaining money was saved for food.
Halfway to China was when they hit real trouble.
"Wait," Alanna had said after a good while on a highway, glancing over her shoulder. "Does that car look familiar to you?"
Sachiko followed Alanna's stare and recognized it instantly. "Oh fuck, no," she said; it was the bounty hunter's, and she'd recognize it anywhere.
She wanted to be furious at the sight of him, filled with righteous rage at what the bastard had done to her. She wanted to want to kill him, to get revenge at how he'd so brutally hurt her. But instead all she felt was a discomforting, reflexive terror; she edged up right against Alanna.
"He's been behind us for half an hour. We're definitely being followed," Alanna said quietly, calculating the situation. Noticing Sachiko's reaction, she put her arm over her shoulder, surprised that she seemed scared.
"Are... you going to try to lose him?" she asked, quivering.
"Don't worry, Sachiko," Alanna said, hugging her side. "He was supposed to have been fuckin' arrested. I don't know what's changed, but I'm done playing games. I'm through with car chases, I'm through with vulgar assholes... and I know you've had enough of being scared for your life. Me too."
"Oh, Alanna...," Sachiko quietly trailed off.
She pulled over to the side of the road, slowing down; the bounty hunter's van followed, decellerating at the same rate. They drove on, practically crawling at the side of the road.
"I'm sorry, but you have to let go," Alanna said, gently removing her arm. "Can you get the gun out of the backseat?"
Sachiko just nodded silently and moved, leaning right over the back of the seat, her legs dangling over as she fished the zat gun off of the floor. She fell back, putting it carefully down on Alanna's lap.
Alanna patted her on the shoulder, smiling at her ever slightly. "Thanks," she said.
In one sudden move, she reached to unhatch the door, grabbed the gun with her right hand, then quickly whirled the steering wheel to a sharp left, slamming the brakes on as soon as they'd turned.
She threw herself out of the door, landing graceful on the side of the road, and without giving herself much of a chance to aim her shot, she fired at van as it sped at her. This time she was prepared, and squinted as the bright flash of light shot straight into the engine block of the bounty hunter's van.
It took a whole second for the front of the van to explode, flipping over onto its side with a mighty crash. Despite the complete lack of any need for it, adrenaline rushed through her body, and she walked forward quickly, towards the flaming wreck of the van.
Sachiko watched silently as Alanna walked right up to the side of the van, and let her imagination fill in the rest as she saw a second bright flash (and a whurring 'zat' noise) emitted from the gun. The danger gone, her rational side kicked in immediately. It's not just revenge, she told herself. If we'd just tried to lose him... he'd eventually come back, and would probably alert the Soviet to our position. It's the only way to be sure.
She stared as Alanna walked back to the car, the normally perfectly composed woman looking slightly distraught. Alanna climbed back into her seat, tossing the gun into the back again.
Sachiko hugged her tightly.
"Thank you, Alanna," she said softly. "Thank you so much."
Alanna hugged her back, feeling a little bit better, and much more sure of herself. It'd take a bit of time before her composure came back, but she knew she'd reacted the right way.
Besides..., Sachiko thought to herself, the bastard deserved it, anyway.
After a week, they finally hit the Chinese border, and crossing went
surprising without incident; they got waved through the Soviet checkpoint
without the officer even looking, and all it took was a single phone call on
the Chinese side before their border officer very humbly waved Sachiko
through.
"Were it always so easy," Alanna said, as soon as they were through.
"So," Sachiko replied, "do you have a clever song to play now that we're here?"
"Hah. Like what? Back in the PR-- Back in the PR-- Back in the PRC!" she sang, mockingly. "It doesn't really have the same ring to it."
"Do the Korean girls really knock you out?" Sachiko joked, calling back to her original response, when they'd driven into Moscow.
"Yeah; but whatever I said about leaving the West behind, I take back," she said, with a bit of a sigh. "I want to go home. It's safe there."
They drove on, eventually hitting a major city, where suddenly, Sachiko was swimming in money again. Alanna parked the car in the airport parking lot and left the keys in the car, leaving it there as they flew to Shanghai. It had gotten late by the time they arrived.
"You know," Alanna said after they landed, "I've given up on trying to pay attention to my surroundings. It's just, now... each town looks the same to me. It's soul crushing."
Sachiko wasn't really sure how to respond to that.
She ended up having to lead the way, checking them into a hotel that she was dimly familiar with; both felt very weird at the sudden role reversal. Alanna knew that it was going to be like this for the whole time they spent in China, especially feeling intimidated by the language barrier; unlike Sachiko, who had only pretended to not understand Russian, she legitimately didn't know Chinese. She truly felt lost when Sachiko talked to the hotel receptionist, unable to decipher a word either said; that was when it really struck her that she really would have to rely on Sachiko to get by. It just didn't feel right.
Sachiko lead the way to the elevator and down the hallway, to their room, opening the door. Alanna was a bit taken aback by the sight; there were two, queen sized beds in the middle, and the room itself was far bigger than she'd expected from a Chinese hotel. She closed the door behind her, and they both hung up their coats on the back of the door. Sachiko was just walking away when Alanna stopped her.
"Sachiko...," Alanna started.
"Yes?" Sachiko asked, wondering what she was going to say. This is so weird, she thought to herself.
"Two beds? Was it all they had?" she asked.
"Uh." Sachiko stared at Alanna uncertainly. She'd intentionally asked for a room with seperate beds, specifically to make Alanna more comfortable; she had been happy with herself that she'd done that, now that they were safe in a major city.
"Listen, Sachiko... are you doing this for me?"
Sachiko just nodded. She'd feel endebted to Alanna ever since her rescue; and it was only reasonable to, she thought. She'd betrayed her, and Alanna had saved her life anyway, but she certainly didn't expect that things would return to the way they'd been before.
Alanna walked up close to her, staring down. "Well, stop it," she said quietly. "I meant what I said about really loving you... okay? The first night was weird, and I'm sorry, I'm just... trying to get used to this, alright? I don't want to keep you away."
Sachiko stared up at her. "Okay," she said. "I just thought...," she trailed off.
"I don't know how to put it more plainly," Alanna said, stroking Sachiko's hair lightly. "I don't want thing to go back to the way they were, but that's just because there wasn't any honesty then. So no more of this seperate beds silliness; I want to sleep with you. All's forgiven, okay?"
"Just like that?" Sachiko asked, surprised.
"Just like that," Alanna said.
"Okay," Sachiko murmured quietly, feeling a bit flustered as Alanna kissed her on the forehead. "Wait... you mean now?"
Alanna grinned coyly, running her fingers through Sachiko's hair again. "Yes," she said.
"Uh," she said softly.
Sachiko stared uncertainly at her, as Alanna backed up and put her hands on her shoulders, spinning her towards the bed and giving a light push. Sachiko stumbled forward a few steps, then looked back at Alanna. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was just, she felt strange; Alanna saying that she'd forgiven her didn't make her feel any better. But after looking at her for a moment, she took a few more steps forward, sitting down in the middle of the bed. If she really wants to..., she thought to herself, watching Alanna as she followed.
"Are you su--" she started to ask, as Alanna came around behind her.
"Shh," Alanna whispered into her ear, kneeling behind her. Sachiko shuddered a bit as Alanna took hold of her small breasts from behind, groping gently through her clothes. It felt wonderful.
Sachiko murmured softly, as one of Alanna's hands let go, wandering down her body. Sachiko just sat there, uncertain of what to do. Alanna's hand slipped down Sachiko's pants, starting to rub, as Sachiko started to feel hot.
"S-stop," she gasped quietly; Alanna either didn't hear or didn't oblige.
"Stop!" Sachiko said again, more loudly. This time, Alanna did withdraw her hands, and Sachiko scrambled forward before turning around. "I-I'm sorry, this isn't right..."
Alanna frowned, "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...," she started to say.
"No! No, it's not that, it's just...," Sachiko trailed off. ...I don't deserve it, she thought, turning away from Alanna again, sitting down on the edge of the bed, legs over the side. It's not right.
"Really, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to force--," Alanna started to say, sitting down beside Sachiko in the same way, looking forward.
"You didn't," Sachiko said quietly. "It's not that, I promise."
"Sachiko," Alanna replied. "If you don't want to, you don't have to."
Sachiko sighed quietly, then glanced at Alanna, knowing what to do. "Please, let me...," she started, trailing off. "Just stay like that."
Alanna looked was a bit puzzled as Sachiko got up and stood in front of her, but soon understood, as she knelt down between her legs. Sachiko started pulling down Alanna's pants uncertainly; still surprised, Alanna helped her with them, her pants and underwear soon far away on the floor, kicked aside so Sachiko had plenty of room.
She leaned forward, putting her head right between Alanna's legs. She had no idea what she was doing; not the slightest. She was uncertain, and completely inexperienced-- the only other time she'd been with a woman, Alanna had done it all-- but she forced herself not to hesitate anyway. Not knowing what to do or expect, she kissed her.
"Ah," Alanna murmured softly; Sachiko suddenly felt even stranger, as Alanna put her hand on her head. Trying to remember how Alanna had done it that first time, she pressed her face in close and started to use her whole mouth.
If she wasn't doing a very good job at it, Alanna didn't show it, continually letting out murmurs of pleasure, stroking Sachiko's hair. It made her feel strange, somehow subservient, kneeling down and being petted; but she knew that really, that had been the idea. Alanna wanted sex, and while Sachiko knew that she didn't deserve to be on the recieving end, it was only right that she did it for Alanna. Or so were her thoughts as clumsily went at Alanna's sex, uncertain of anything but her desire to pleasure the woman who somehow still loved her.
At last, Alanna gasped loudly and sighed out, falling back, letting go of Sachiko's head so she could lean back with her arms behind her. Sachiko knew she was done, a sticky mess coming onto her face; she pulled away, opening her eyes and kneeling upright. She stared at Alanna, hoping that she was happy, that she'd been good enough.
"I love you, Sachiko," Alanna said softly.
Sachiko stared, uncertainly. "I...," she started to worry about what she was going to say, not wanting to ruin the moment with something that sounded silly. "I... love you too."
Alanna just smiled warmly down at Sachiko, both amused and happy. At last, she finally added, "You're wonderful. Sachiko felt her heart go aflutter in spite of herself at both her words and the sight of her reaction. She didn't know what to say.
"You know, Sachiko...?" Alanna said, sitting up then leaning in closer to her, a coy grin on her face. She put her hand on top of Sachiko's head, gently.
"Ee-y-yes?" Sachiko suddenly stammered, feeling like she'd turned to mush as Alanna touched her again.
"You look ridiculous," she teased, catching Sachiko completely off guard. She was surprised, and almost started to wonder why Alanna would say something mean like that; then she put her hand to her mouth, blushing as she realized what Alanna meant.
"I... uh...," Sachiko said awkwardly. "I feel ridiculous, too."
Alanna laughed just a bit. "Well," she said, "that's better than feeling bad or guilty."
Sachiko understood perfectly. She felt silly, knowing how unbelievably ridiculous she could only imagine she looked fit perfectly with how ridiculously she'd been acting. For all the beating herself up she'd done, no matter how much she might've deserved it, Alanna had been trying to get over what she'd done; to not accept that really was ridiculous.
"You're ri--" Sachiko started to say, interrupted as Alanna suddenly leapt forward at her, landing with her legs stradled around herself, her face approaching closely to her own.
"W-wait...," she began to stammer before Alanna kissed her, apparently not caring about sticky lips as she went at her passionately. Sachiko was overwhelmed with a sudden feeling of warmth; kissing back, so wonderfully happy at how she felt now.
They eventually did get a full night's sleep. Sachiko felt so perfectly in love as she fell asleep in Alanna's arms, holding her closely.