Goldenscan

[Shurikane]

Goldenscan

Opus One



Once upon a time in the past, once upon a time in the future...

Once upon a time in the east, once upon a time in the west...

There was a fantastic city, nestled comfortably on top of a thick layer of never breaking clouds. The buildings were for the most part like skyscrapers, with many windows and outer walls made of bright and reflective material. The navy blue of the buildings turned into a bright orange each day, for those who sat facing the sunshine needed a warm environment. Those who needed the calm, cool air of the shadows went to the side still navy blue. The city rotated slowly, accomplishing one full rotation every six hours. There was enough of this gold light for everybody. Days were actually one big sunset, and nights were just dim, as if the sun was about to peek back out again any minute.

This city had no name, for the population was small, and they knew of no other people than themselves. There were about three thousand people at most, and the population rate went up at a slow and steady pace. The people knew how to live and do passion right. They gave birth only when they felt ready to.

There were no vehicles and no streets. Platforms and passageways linked buildings to one another, with designs carefully planned out so as not to shadow any balcony. For this reason, most passageways were made of a solid metal mesh instead of a solid surface. However, there was indeed a platform at the bottom. It was attached to a device shaped like a bowl, which kept the city afloat.

The technology was recent - some might even say advanced. They had television networks, shops, computers, businesses, research centers, banks, a jail and the like. People worked and worked on jobs, inventions, researches, and every few months, someone came into the spotlight, carrying something new in his hand.

Although she understood the concept of latitude and longitude, she figured this city wasn't set anywhere in particular.

She took her look away from the window. The glass tube had closed by itself, retreated into its slot, and its once blue light now showed yellow - the sign that the tube was empty and was preparing itself for the next person to be put into cold sleep. All the other tubes showed green - they were empty.

The room was white from sterilization. The only furniture she could see was a tray, a table with some drawers, and a computer. She approached the little machine with hope in her eyes, but that light went out as soon as she realized she couldn't even read the characters on the keys. Though the placement was quite similar to what she would have expected, it wasn't quite on the spot, and she didn't dare touch it.

As she stood naked in this semi-darkness, a ray of light caught the corner of her eye and she turned her head to see the sun finally going down. Second by second, another little part of it disappeared behind the clouds. In twenty minutes - not even that - the room would be even darker than it was now.

She found out there was a switch next to the tray and pressed it. Two neon lights came alive and allowed her to get a better view of the room.
The door opened. Michelle Cannon stepped into the room and saw the naked woman nonchalantly examining the computer once again.
The woman looked up, towards the sound, and saw the scientist.

"Hi..." She said.

"Nadesco..." Michelle turned her head and shouted into the corridor. "Dak Tengo! Te messa findar ge maia! Kame kame!"

When the woman heard that, she felt uneasy.

[Shurikane]

Opus Two


She was led into the corridor by a bearded man and into an office. The man gestured for her to sit down. He then followed suit, after taking a moment to press a key on his computer's keyboard and turn off the screen saver.

Afterwards, he leaned on his desk.

"Okada..." He said. "Ni nowa ki ti ess, kon deja..."

"Excuse me!" The woman interrupted. "Do you speak English?"

The man's eyes widened. "Desen?"

"Do you speak English? English!"

"English... Asta Cannon!"

Michelle popped her head into sight. "Joy?"

"Dese nowa a shinga moll 'English'?"

"Ni..."

The man looked at the English-speaking woman once again, this time with much puzzlement.

"Here! Talk while doing gestures." She said while symbolizing her phrase with her hands. The man seemed to approve, so she continued. "Restart from the beginning."

"Okada... (He stuck out a finger and waved it.) Ni (Pointing at his head) nowa (Pointing both hands at her and shaking them) ki ti es."

The woman seemed to understand, so she attempted a reply of her own. "Ni nowa." She said with a shrug.

"Ni nowa?!"

"Ni nowa..."

Since Michelle Cannon happened to be watching the scene with some amusement, the man reluctantly invited her in. He then put a palm on his chest. "Deni Tengo." Then, pointing at his assistant: "Michelle Cannon." The woman nodded in acknowledgement, and then he pointed at her. "Hmmm... Tania. Okada?"

"Uh... Okada!"

"Gain!" Deni said with a smile. He then handed her a pen and a notepad. "Parar lina tralo. Tran not." For translating the language. Take notes. To show her understanding, Tania put down a few words both in English and in this foreign language, and showed her notes to Deni, who gave her a thumbs-up to confirm. Then, he told Michelle Cannon to go find some learning books for children (he gestured his order by respect for Tania, who quickly noted the new words.) The combinaison of written words and pictures would quickly make a good bank for Tania, who would be expected to hold a basic conversation in this new language as soon as possible.

"Oh, by the way. What's the name of your language?" She asked Deni.

"Essanol." Tania decided to make up the translation 'Essanish' to make her life easier.

After a few more words and gestures, Deni told her she should get some rest, and learn some words of Essanish. Afterwards, he would tell her about the events that had led to her finding. She was a bit surprized to realize no one so far had talked about finding her some clothes, but this was the least of her worries for now - she was warm and comfortable, and thus clothes weren't high on her list of priorities. What counted was why she was here, how she had gotten there, and why is she the only one to speak English so far. Foreign country, perhaps...? Quite possible, though she had never imagined a city floating above the clouds. Did her home fly like that? She couldn't remember. She only knew how to communicate...

Michelle was still out somewhere scavenging for books. In the meantime, Deni led Tania through a few corridors, and into a small, basic bedroom - single bed, a chair and a desk. An alarm clock showed it was nine in the evening, and the lonely window showed a last microscopic parcel of sun disappearing behind the horizon.

With a word of good night, Deni closed the door.

[Shurikane]

Flight



She sat on her bed without much ceremony. Trying to find something interesting to do, she began to fool around with the alarm clock's buttons and turned the radio on. She didn't quite get the model she'd expected - she thought that alarm clocks had a wheel somewhere on the side to select the frequency, but this particular clock was different. Instead, it had a knob on the job, from which she could select one of the twelve channels. Also at the back, along with the power cord, was a small cable. She found herself kindly surprised by the fact that the reception was absolutely perfect - must be the cable then. What an odd system.

Someone knocked at the door.

"Come in!"

It was Michelle Cannon, Deni's assistant. She put a pile of books down on the desk.

"Okada!" She said. "Har son bak. Comostar a desu."

"Thanks."

"Gain drac!"

And then the assistant was gone.

She stood up and took the first book on the top as Michelle had suggested. It was kid's stuff. Checking out the rest of the pile, she found out it went progressively, from first grade to senior high school level. Logical way of doing it.

So, she took the first book and began to read, jotting notes down as she went. It didn't take her long to go through a few, but she knew all that reading meant nothing unless she practiced. She felt silly trying it out in this empty room, so she decided to keep her mouth closed until next morning, when she'd meet Deni and Michelle again.

She began squinting after a while. Realizing night had fallen - and quite quickly at that - she turned on the lamp on the side table and put the book away. Afterwards, she went back to the bed, lied down without much conviction, and turned off the lamp.

Her thought ran for a while as to how quickly she had gone to bed. Normally, she'd have taken a glass of water, or brushed her teeth, or put on a night gown... But she didn't feel thirsty, nor did she eat anything recently, and she didn't feel like to go look into the closet for a cloth whatsoever. It was a good thing, come to think of it. After all, her room didn't have a washroom (she didn't know where they were anyways) and she was sure her surprise arrival didn't leave anyone time to set up some accommodations. Maybe it was the lack of preparedness that left the room so empty of personality. In a standard room, there would be flowers, and a television, and clothes, and fancy covers and carpets and tables and chairs... She also had to keep aware of the fact that she was in a science building - but why keep beds in a place reserved to science was beyond her.

Sleep clinic?

Long-term care?

Oh well...

She turned around. Now, she was facing the wall. She put her arm under the pillow and closed her eyes.

After a few minutes, she turned around again.

She opened her eyes and laid on her back. She looked towards the wall facing her. She was half-hoping she would see something funny on that wall, like a mirror or a new device of some sort, but there was nothing. Starting to get less certain of her surroundings, she poked her left breast with her index finger to see if it was real. She sighed. Maybe this was homesickness. Her memory wasn't very precise on what it felt like.

She got up and went to the window. The glass could be moved into open position, so she opened it and was met by a soft and warm breeze.

She was on the edge of the city, so she had to stick her head out and look to the right to see anything.

The city was very dark at night. She could see a bare minimum of lamp posts and only some of the buildings had even a few lighted rooms. For how long had she read?... It hadn't seemed like that long. Perhaps people here were early sleepers.
She checked the alarm clock. It was exactly eleven past midnight, and twenty-nine seconds.

She came back to the window.

She couldn't see any cars or any type of vehicle whatsoever. Of course not. The city was too small. One could walk from one end to the other in less than fifteen minutes.

Her sense of exploration taking over, she went out the window and hovered over to the nearest street. It wasn't made of asphalt but rather of grooved metal of some sort, giving it a rocky texture. Though the material was unusual, the feeling was there. Had she not known, had she been blind, she would've thought it was genuine asphalt.

She then checked a lamp post. It was less interesting though. Just a normal light bulb inside a glass casing.

The buildings all looked alike and she couldn't know which one would catch her interest the most, so she left that subject on the side and decided it would be best until tomorrow to find out about each of them.

But how could the city float like this?

She went under it. The bottom of the city was set on a dome-shaped structure, which rotated at a snail's pace. She was expecting to hear the characteristic whirr of antigravity generators like in science fiction movies, but the machine was silent... well, almost. Sticking her ear right against the dome's metal shell, she could make out a soft hum.

She then went a bit further from the city to get a good view of it. It looked quite small in the night, but she bet it looked quite imposing during the day. That was what she thought after comparing her impression of it from what she had seen upon coming here and what she was seeing right now.

She took this little moment of freedom to sit back and enjoy the breeze. The air was a good cushion; warm, caressing, soft and plentiful. She took this moment to stretch thoroughly and crack every joint in her body. Cracking was good. It was like... like popping stress out. Every pop made her feel more relieved and calm, more welcome in this new world she didn't know about before.

Could she recall any place in the world where people spoke English?

...No.

She flew about like this until the little hours of the morning. When she saw the very first sunray blinding her left eye, she headed back into her room, closed the window, and went into the corridor.

[Kiyomi]

Interesting intro. Once upon a time in everywhere!