I have to keep going, Alanna thought to herself, stepping over the wreckage of what had been a car, over a century and a half ago. I'm going to die here too if I don't. Stay strong. Stay strong, dammit.
She thought about trying to find a hospital, and started to figure out where she'd find one, when she realized that it wouldn't help her anyway. What she needed was balm for her zat wound; except, she realized, zat guns were a hundred years off from being invented when this city was abandoned.
But she did manage to find an old clothing store; to her amazement, the stock seemed to be mostly intact, many of the garments in the window still in good condition. It'd been destroyed by neither the elements or the firebombing, miraculously. She swung at the window with the RPG launcher, smashing it, her broken arm surging with pain as she did. Unfortunately, she still hadn't regained control of her left arm after getting zat blasted; she suspected that she'd taken some serious nerve damage.
Once inside, she set her arm as best as she could-- wishing she hadn't dislocated even further so much by punching the shoulder-- then tied it off, making a makeshift split out of the wooden dowels from coathangers and torn up clothes. She bandaged the zat wound, too, for all the good that it'd do; every time something brushed against the exposed flesh, it was extraordinarily painful, so at least that'd put something between the wound and her clothes. She wrapped the bandage tightly, not stopping until it was nearly an inch thick. Nobody was around to hear her scream in agony as she pulled the bandage tightly against bare, burned flesh.
She changed clothes for good measure, too, bundling up as warmly as she could.
Alanna set out again, her arm feeling much better as she limped along through the snow. Okay, she thought to herself, stay focused. I can find this place.
She walked down the street that she was pretty sure was the right
address (the signs weren't multilingual, but it matched what was written in
her notebook), in one of the few Tokyo neighbourhoods that seemed to have
survived the second world war. The buildings were all still standing, and
the street wasn't nearly as overgrown as the parts that had been destroyed
by the bombings. She stopped in the middle of her path.
"Why, hello there," she said to a wild fox, standing in the middle of the road, staring at her. It certainly wasn't the first wild animal she'd seen in the city, but it was definitely the cutest. It stared at her for a while, until it finally walked off, apparently determining that she wasn't a threat.
"Bye," she said, continuing down the street.
At long last, she found herself standing in front of the address she'd been given; the street number illustrated with bold, arabic numerals. It was a tiny building, right next to what she could only assume was a cafe from the long since faded, painted sign. She approached the glass door; it opened into a stairway leading down.
This is it, she thought, this is what we came here for. She didn't ask herself if it was worth it; just at the thought, her eyes started to water again, thinking about Sachiko. She took a deep breath.
Be strong, she thought to herself, and she opened the door; it fell right off the handles as she pulled. She walked into the darkness, heading down the stairs.
They went down a long way, and lead to a large room full of old relics from god-knows-when. Alanna didn't recognize anything; she was about to start digging through them, trying to figure out what secret was being hidden in here, when she stopped. She realized there was a noise coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like... singing?
Alanna looked around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. Finally, she pushed aside a book case, finding a door hidden behind it, seemingly the source of the noise.
She went through the door, then down the hallway it opened into, coming across another door; this one was heavy, made of steel, and completely anachronistic. What's a steel door doing in the basement of a building abandoned after World War II? she wondered, staring, confused. As she approached it, she suddenly felt incredibly hot; like the room behind that steel door was being artificially heated.
Feeling incredibly confused, she walked up to the steel door; to her surprise, it was half open. She walked through.
She didn't see anyone immediately inside, so she walked inside. The sight left her amazed; a modern looking laboratory, computers all over the place, with a work desk and modern office chair right in the middle of the room. From the far end, behind some massive fixture that Alanna couldn't identify, was the source of the singing.
"Hello?" she asked loudly.
Suddenly, the singing stopped. A Japanese man in a western suit appeared around the corner; she'd never seen him before, but he looked incredibly familiar.
"What are you doing here?" the man demanded, his accent strange and completely foreign to Alanna's ears. It took her a while to realize what it was; it was Japanese. "Who are you?"
Alanna just stared in disbelief.
"Yazawa?" she asked, incredulously.
"Eh? Yes, I'm Dr. Yazawa... but... who are you? Why are you here?" he asked, just as surprised. He stopped, a look of realization suddenly coming across his face. "Oh my god... you're not from here, are you? I know why you're so surprised, you think I'm dead, right?"
Alanna was taken aback. After a moment, she stammered, "Yes... what the hell is going on? How is that possible?" He was a scientist from the 1940s, she thought, surely he died ages ago. But he doesn't even look a day over 40.
"It's complicated," he started to say, grinning a bit. "Wow! You recognize me! I guess that makes sense... so wait, you're really from... wow."
"From what?" Alanna asked.
"It's... well, complicated," he said. "Wait, I know-- do you know if, in 1945, nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?"
"What?" Alanna asked, confused. "I don't know what Hiroshima or Nagasaki is... and nuclear bombs have never been made. I thought you were supposed to be pivotal in some conspiracy to make the world think they couldn't exist?"
He grinned widely. "I knew it! Yes, yes, that's right-- it's going to work! Wow! That's great, that's so great," he said excitedly. "I'm sorry, of course, I'll explain, Ms.... Ms.... I'm sorry, what's your name?"
"I'm... Alanna," she said. Even ignoring the inexplicableness of the fact that he was still alive, somehow, in 2099, Dr. Yazawa was nothing at all like she'd expected; this excitable, bouncing man was the genius who'd left clues to explain the mystery of the missing atomic bomb? Maybe he just wanted the attention..., she thought, incredulously. That's it, all that, just so this man could brag? It makes no sense.
"Well, Alanna, I'm not really from your world. Wow-- sorry, I can't quite contain my excitement here, it's incredible, you have to understand. This right here? It's a time machine; I'm still testing it, but... well, clearly, it ends up working!" he said with a huge smile, pointing at a giant mass of complicated machinery on the wall to the other side.
"A... time machine? Are you serious?" she asked, not believing him for a second.
"That's right," he said. "Right now, it's the year 2099, right? Well... my plan is to go back to the year 1930, and like you said, stop nuclear weapons from ever being made."
"You're... travelling back in time," she repeated. It was insane, absolutely insane; but it at least explained how he was so young, despite being around in the 1940s.
"That's right," he explained giddily. "This is... I'm really glad that you're here, actually, it answers the one lingering question I had."
"What? What question?" Alanna asked.
"Well... it's the one big time travel paradox," he told her. "What happens if you go back and change something that stops you from building a time machine? It's... well, it's a paradox. And since it only goes one way, I'll be long dead in your timeline by 2099, when I'm supposed to invent this thing."
"Okay," was all Alanna could say. It was starting to become clear to her that he must be telling the truth; it was too insane to be anything but. He seemed to believe it, and given that he somehow had built a modern laboratory in a basement in the ruins of Tokyo somehow, he surely couldn't just be crazy.
"The solution is to remove the machine from time altogether," he continued to explain, beaming. "Basically, this entire room is dislocated from time. Right? It's not cemented into my timeline in particular, so it can still exist in yours. So even though in your timeline, I probably died in the 1950s... I'm still here right now, in 2099, to build the time machine."
Alanna just stared, amazed.
"So... you're saying, this room will exist forever, completely timeless?" she asked.
"Not quite!" he said. "Not forever-- only until I use the time machine, and then it'll collapse entirely. So if you were to walk into here on January 1st, 2100... it'll look exactly like it should in your timeline."
Suddenly, it all came together to her. The deadline is 2100, she thought. Because in 2100... he'll have gone back in time already. The time machine won't exist. She still wasn't entirely certain what it was a deadline for; but she was starting to have suspicions.
"I see," she said, nodding.
"And you being here proves that it does work!" he said excitedly. "Anyway, you have to go now. You can't be here, interfering in time, something might still go wrong if you stay too long."
He started to push her towards the door. "I'm surprised nobody else has come in from your timeline... I thought I tried to hide it well, but I guess not. I'll have to keep the door closed."
"But wait, I fou--" she started, trying to explain how she'd found the place in the first place.
"Thanks for proving that it works, though! It was great talking to you, it's really, really, made my day! Wow, I can't believe it, I'm actually going to do it-- a world with no Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, a world with no Cold War between the US and Russia, a world with no tensions with Iran-- it's incredible! Goodbye, and thank you!" he said, cutting her off every time she tried to say something, shoving her out the door.
The steel door slammed shut behind her.
Alanna stood there, staring at the door as it locked with a click. She tried to absorb everything that she'd just heard.
It's... a time machine? Dr. Yazawa was talking about a time machine in those notes? she thought to herself, still barely able to believe it. The idea was just as proposterous as the idea of an atomic bomb; yet apparently Dr. Yazawa was tied in with both.
She paced down the hallway, trying to wrap her head around it all. As far as she could tell, it went like this: Dr. Yazawa, in the year 2099, invents a time machine, so he could go back to the '30s and stop nuclear weapons from being developed. And it worked. But... for some reason, he then left a trail of clues leading back to his lab in Tokyo that somehow still exists. And the plans for an atomic bomb-- why, to show it was possible?
Alanna left the hallway, and walked back outside, getting a blast of cold air as she walked out. The sun was setting, and she knew that she'd have to find somewhere to sleep the night soon. But she couldn't stop thinking about Dr. Yazawa; staying in motion helped her think, so she started walking in no direction in particular.
Why? she wondered, why leave a set of clues? Why tell someone that they should come to his lab, in Tokyo... before 2100, before he goes back? Come on, think, focus!
But even after having learned what had really happened with Yazawa, she still couldn't think of any reason why it would help him for someone to know where he was, to know when he was leaving, to know what he was going back in time to stop from being built. Every single clue he left seemed to undermine his mission, rather than help it; she couldn't figure out what he was trying to do.
Suddenly, it hit her. Alanna stopped dead in her tracks, suddenly struck by an epiphany. It was so simple, she almost dismissed it as being crazy; but as she thought about it, she realized, it made perfect sense.
"He wants someone to undermine his mission!" she thought aloud to the dead city. It was the only possible explanation. She started to wonder why, why would he want the world to have such a destructive weapon after all? And then it occurred to her.
Japan doesn't look like this in his world, she thought, How could it? There's no way he could have set up a lab like that... of course! That's why he was surprised that I was the first person to come in! She opened up her bag, taking out that plastic case with Japanese writing on it, suddenly understanding what it really was. She realized that in his world, Japan not only still existed, but still thrived; so a scientist could build a laboratory, and in 2001, a piece of mass produced music could be invented.
That's why he left those clues, she realized, he realized that he'd changed the world for the worse!
She couldn't wrap her mind around how a world where the US and presumably Soviets had weaponry that could destroy the entire planet, but she thought, it doesn't matter. If Japan can be thriving, lasers used for music instead of guns.... And she realized that furthermore, the older Yazawa, the one who'd left the clues, must've seen both worlds. He must've been sure.
A blast of unbearably cold wind hit her as she had that thought; an awful chill coming over her body as she realized, it had started to snow. Not just a bit of snow, it quickly picked up, turning into a huge blizzard in less than a minute; it had been like this before, but she'd been safe in her car then. The wind was so strong, it nearly knocked her back. She turned around, knowing she had to take shelter.
She trudged forward, straight into the wind, barely able to see a foot in front of her. It didn't matter. The street was empty, all she had to do was stay on the sidewalk and keep the buildings right next to her. One foot in front of the next, she kept moving, struggling against the snow.
Out of the corner of her eye, a car flew by, passing in front of foot traffic across the street from her. More cars started to pass, driving down the street on both lanes; behind her, a couple got out of a taxi. Or at least, she thought it was a taxi... there were no colours, the harsh, blinding whiteness of snow.
She nearly bumped into someone. "S-sorry," she started to say, realizing that the snowy silhouette was Sachiko, not noticing her as she passed by. Behind her, the ghostly image of Sachiko joined the crowd milling down the street, as she realized that the street was full of traffic, both pedestrian and car. In front of her, a business man stopped at a newspaper box, taking out a paper, unfolding it as he walked away. In the crowd in front of her, she realized that she saw Sachiko's face again, on several different people; all around her, across the street, in the cars driving back.
She snapped back to reality, forcing herself to keep moving forward, through the furious blizzard. It's not real, she told herself, it's not real it's not real it's not god damned real. It's the cold. It's the fucking cold getting to me. She forced herself to focus straight ahead, and the images disappeared as she tried to concentrate on them; all she could see was snow.
But she realized exactly what her delirious imagination was showing her; she knew that was the impossible sight of a modern, thriving Japan. In the corner of her eye, Sachiko's face kept haunting her, as she realized what it meant. If it weren't for her following the trail, following Alanna, here, she'd still be alive. In the perfect world that Dr. Yazawa had destroyed... she'd still be alive. Even suffering under the elements, she knew it was true, and continued filled with a whole new sense of motivation, knowing that she needed to put everything right. She needed to stop Sachiko from ever dying. She needed to make the world look like those hypothermic inspired hallucinations. She followed her footsteps, keeping focused on what little she could see, her determination blocking out the pain of the weather.
Alanna kept trudging forward, finally finding the door, and immediately heading back into the basement, knowing exactly what she had to do; she had to warn the younger Dr. Yazawa, to stop him from going through with his plans. She limped her way down the stairs and into the hallway, feeling a whole new determination.
The steel door stood in front of her, firmly closed. She took a deep breath; what would she say, what exactly would she do? I'll figure it out, she decided, and knocked on the door loudly.
No response. She knocked again, and again, then slammed the rocket launcher against it a few times for good measure. Still no response. Did he leave? Or is he just trying to stop me specifically from getting in? she thought. She tried opening it, turning the door handle; but of course, it was locked, and wouldn't budge.
"Dr. Yazawa, open the door!" she shouted in. "It's important!"
She spent a good ten minutes yelling, every single thing she could think of saying, but absolutely nothing elicited a response. Nothing.
It's pointless, she eventually concluded. He's not going to open it... that's it. After I got this far, there's nothing I can fucking do. She had just started to turn away, leaving to attempt to figure out what she was going to do for the night, when it suddenly dawned on her.
I'm an idiot, she realized, looking at her crutch. I'm holding a god damned rocket launcher. She looked at the weapon, then at the door, then down at the weapon; wondering if it would be enough blow it open. It's an anti-tank weapon, she thought, and that's a door. It'll do.
She checked the LCD on the weapon; the bright green display showed a large 4. Plenty of ammunition, she thought. Without giving it any more thought, she closed the wooden door behind her, and carefully braced herself against it. Alanna raised it slowly, holding the rocket launcher with her one good arm, letting the back rest on her shoulder. Eh, she thought, what's the worst that'll happen, I'll hurt myself a bit more?
She pulled the trigger; with surprisingly little kick, a rocket shot out the end of the barrel, exploding as it hit the door and blasted it straight in. As the door crashed into the far wall, she let it fall as a crutch again, and she limped forward, surprised at she'd been completely untouched by the explosion. She shrugged with her one good shoulder and walked into the lab.
"Yazawa!" she called out, calmly, but strongly. She looked around; he didn't seem to be there. He must've left; disappearing into a world that no longer existed, out of the strange, impossible laboratory dislocated in time. She stared at the far wall, with the huge mechanical insanity covering a good several feet outwards. She couldn't make any sense out of any of the pieces, every square inch of it confusing and foreign; but she knew that it had to be the time machine.
She stared at it, thinking about what she would do, as if she had any doubt; she had to destroy it. It was that simple. She started to lift the rocket launcher, and was about to fire it just like that, when she stopped.
He said it was dislocated from time. And it'll always be until he uses it. But... what will happen to me if I'm still in here? she thought, starting to back up towards the door. I don't want to be stuck here in the middle of some mad scientist's paradox. I want to put this right. I want to be outside of it all. She threw her purse onto his desk; his notebook and his clues were all in there, he'd find it when he got back.
That's gotta be what'll happen, she thought. I'll destroy the machine, the world will change back into the one that he's from, and he'll find those notes... and he'll find out why. And I'll be outside of it all; I don't suppose I'll ever know all of this ever even happened.
She backed up, going out the door. She still wasn't sure that was even right at all, but at this point, it didn't matter to her. She'd literally gone to the end of the Earth trying to figure out this mystery; it'd cost her dearest Sachiko's life, and she probably wouldn't survive here, either. Making sure she was well outside of the room, she aimed the rocket launcher at the huge time machine; and fired all three remaining shots.
She didn't conciously admit it, but deep inside, she hoped that it really would fix everything; Yazawa's mistake of changing the past, and her own, letting Sachiko die. If time was changed forever, maybe Sachiko would still survive, wouldn't have died because she'd just driven past the Chinese guard recklessly. This was the second chance for both history and herself, she thought as the rockets exploded inside the lab; wondering what would ha--