For the first time in weeks, they had a lot to talk about before they went to sleep.
"Okay, but... how are we going to get there?" Sachiko said, shaking her head in frustration. "The south part of Japan is locked down tighter than... um... something that's locked down very tightly."
"Fort Knox?" Alanna suggested.
"Uh," Sachiko stared at Alanna oddly. "Sure. What I mean is, though, it's impossible to get to the 'mainland', there's just no way of travelling there directly, not without an insane military clearance that I can't get."
"Why's that? I thought the main island was a bombed out wasteland," Alanna said. "S'why the Americans were willing to give it over to China so quickly."
"It's a heavily fortified bombed out wasteland," Sachiko corrected. "The whole east coast is the world's largest anti-aircraft battery; capable of shooting down an airplane taking off in Hawaii."
Alanna whistled, and Sachiko continued. "Not to mention the couple of shipyards in the north."
"Great," Alanna grumbled. "No doubt built to counter us bunkering down the southern islands."
"That's the gist of it."
"God, that was like, right after Vietnam. It all comes back to the fucking 20th century, doesn't it? Screwing us over at every step," Alanna cursed to herself. "So, there's no ferry, no flights... well, what does that leave us with?" she asked, starting to pace.
"Uh, we could swim," Sachiko said, unhelpfully.
"Unfortunately for us, I can't swim," Alanna joked, playing along. "What if we took a boat?"
"I don't think you understand." Sachiko shook her head. "Tokyo is built on water, yes... but it's on the east coast. To get there, we'd have to sail all the way around the Japanese isles, and even if we could get through via Tokyo bay, we'd probably end up being mistaken for pirates. If we land on the west coast... it'd be one long walk."
"Hm," Alanna said, lost in thought. "We could drive."
"Um," Sachiko started, "how would we get a boat big enough to carry a car?"
"Fuck the boat! We could just drive all the way," Alanna said, her eyes lighting up.
"That's an absolutely brilliant ide--" Sachiko started to say, stopping as she got a good look at Alanna's expression. "Wait, you're serious, aren't you?"
"Absolutely!" Alanna said, clapping her hands together. "Why not? We drove way further than size of the East Sea of Korea just getting to China, didn't we? And cars don't fly nearly high enough to trip aircraft radar, so we should be covered."
"But... driving on water?" Sachiko questioned, dumbfounded.
"Sachiko," she started, grinning wider than Sachiko had seen her since being rescued, "don't you know what flying cars were originally designed for? Amphibious landings! You didn't have to worry about landing your transport boat because you could just drive it straight onto shore. It wasn't until way later that we started using them on roads."
"You're serious," Sachiko repeated. "Uh, I guess, if you say that makes sense."
"I do!" Alanna said excitedly.
"Well," she said incredulously, shaking her head, "let's work out a plan of attack, then."
"Sachiko, could you please hand me a sandwich?" Alanna said, turning to
face her.
"Uh, we don't have any," she replied quietly.
"What? I thought you packed enough food for us!" Alanna replied, legitimately surprised. "How can in that whole bag you've got sittin' there, there not be a single sandwich?"
"Um, Alanna, I packed food in Shanghai. I don't know what fine deli you were expecting me to find sandwiches in," she said. "I mean, I'm sure there's somewhere, I just don't know where."
They'd been driving across the sea for nearly an hour now, in their rather small, but very nice Chinese car. The small part had become increasingly noticable as they'd spent more time in it that just driving to Dr. Li's lab. Still, Alanna was pleased to discover it handled a whole lot better than the string of Soviet vehicles she'd ended up driving; of course, it didn't especially matter right now. They'd managed to plot a straight line to Japan that didn't involve steering around any islands, so all she had to do now was wait until Japan appeared on the horizon.
"It's all god damned spring rolls, isn't it?" Alanna grumbled.
"It is not!" Sachiko protested. "That's like saying that all Russian food is borscht. You're being absurd."
"Please don't remind me of borscht," she said dryly, thinking back to their stay in Poland. "I strongly object to calling that food."
"You sure don't have to tell me," Sachiko said, smiling a bit. She leaned against Alanna, resting her head against her shoulder and clinging to Alanna's arm.
Alanna looked down at Sachiko, staring at her intently. "You know... I still can't tell if you're actually incredibly cute, or just very good at faking it," she admitted.
"And there's the fun in it," she answered, very sing-song.
"You're the worst," Alanna grumbled. She's probably right, though, she thought, I'm never going to figure her out. "Weren't we going to eat?"
Sachiko took some food (spring rolls) out of the large insulated bag she'd packed for the trip; she'd brought a week's worth of food, having no idea how long they'd end up being in Japan for.
"Probably not past New Years," Alanna thought out loud.
"Well, that's what the journal says, anyway," Sachiko replied. "Sure wish we knew what that meant."
They drove on, speeding across the water faster than they'd ever driven before; no pesky things like navigation and steering and brakes to slow them down. One side effect was the omnipresent huge spray of water blasting from the sides of the car as it flew, obscuring their vision out anything but the back window and the windshield.
It felt like it took no time for land to appear on the horizon; both of them knew instantly, it was Japan. They stared in amazement as it grew larger, buildings, houses, becoming discernable. Just their luck, they were already heading toward's the city's (town? village? Neither were sure) port, and as Alanna slammed on the brakes, slowing down rapidly, she gunned towards the nearest dock. It was just a matter of pulling down on the lift shaft, rising high enough to drive onto the dock.
"It's all dead," Alanna said in amazement, staring out the window as she headed onto a street. She had to drive high and take control of the wheel manually; with unchartered streets full of junk and debris with a thick layer of snow over top, the car refused to drive itself.
"Wow," Sachiko murmured. "That's it? No wry historical commentary explaining it at all?"
"What more can you say?" she replied, in awe at the sight. "It's... dead."
"It's eerie," Sachiko said, edging close to Alanna and clinging to her arm. "I've never seen anything so creepy in my life."
"It's horrifying," she agreed. "This... this isn't a road I'm driving on."
"What do you mea--" she stopped, looking as far out the window as she could without letting go of Alanna. She had to be right; there was too much rubble, too many boxes sticking out of the snow. A munitions factory, she figured. "A factory... it's been bombed to the ground."
"It's all been bombed to the ground," Alanna said quietly.
They drove on. When they finally were clear of the city, and Alanna could take her hands off the steering wheel, she made sure to hug Sachiko tightly; and kissed her on the forehead.