d***@gmail.com
2009-01-25 07:35:05 UTC
2009 New Year’s Challenge
Hard Challenge -- “State of Fear”
“Team Ouran”: Kyoya Ootori, Takashi Morinozuka (Mori), and Mitskuni
Haninozuka (Honey) of “Ouran High School Host Club”, and, me, the
writer, Michael Falkner
=====
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess…
I had come across quite the interesting and threatening piece of news
as I was watching the continuing degeneration of California’s budget,
as well as the very plausible oncoming riots when the welfare checks
stop February 1.
So I decided, for the moment, to forego calling on the KaleidoTeam I
had thought of and decided, instead, to dial in the professionals.
A few minutes later, an astute man with glasses and a notebook, a tall
but silent type, and a(n apparent) kid rubbing his eyes from his nap
were in front of me.
Honey: “Are we dreaming? This isn’t Ouran High School…”
Kyoya: “You know we’re on winter break, Honey…”
Mori: “Hmm…”
Me: “Well, sounds like my team is here…”
Kyoya: “Interesting piece of machinery there. Sounds like it brought
us here to… California???”
Me: “Yep. The trusty Zap-I-Tron 2000. Updated model.”
Honey: “Who’s that man with the beard and the long hair??”
Mori: “Hmm…”
Kyoya (taking my laptop): “His name is Michael Falkner. He has quite
the reputation, and not much of it positive. He has, apparently,
brought us here in the name of taking on some ‘challenge’ which has
been presented to him.”
I smiled. Kyoya was quite the studious type who always did background
research on his members _and_ his clients.
Me: “It’s good to meet you. Kyoya, Mori, Honey… We’ve got a
problem…”
Honey (now awake): “Can I get some cake first?? And do you wanna
play with Usu-chan while I…”
Me: “awwww… Honey, you’re so sweet. Of course we will. I’ll need
some time to explain. Kyoya, I assume, has my computer for the
balance of the challenge…”
Knowing how well and quickly Kyoya worked on the Internet, I knew he
might be well in charge there.
Knowing how shrewd of a negotiator he was, I knew not to get in the
way either.
====
At the local dessert shop:
Me: “So there’s the website with the news items that I saw. There’s
an international global warming conference taking place in San
Francisco this week. That, in and of itself, is unusual…”
“It’s being run by a group called ‘Earth Now, Dammit!’ or END. It’s
not clear what’s going on, but there is some very suspicious things
going on around the conference.”
Kyoya: “It seems as if the conference is studying events taking place
in Antarctica in a few days. There is an apparent belief that a
massive amount of ice is about to break off into the ocean, raising
the sea level on enough of a factor to cause serious problems in the
Southern Hemisphere’s coastlines…”
Honey: “What does that mean?”
Me: “It means trouble. This is because there is no scientific model
backing the belief that such an event is imminent, but the conference
stands firm in their belief that this is about to take place. I’m not
clear as to whether this is _the_ challenge, or part of the challenge,
but I think it might merit some investigation…”
Kyoya: “I can certainly gain whatever resources necessary to do what
we need to do. Michael, I need you to go to San Francisco -- you used
to live there -- and go to this conference. If you find _anything_
unusual, contact us…”
Honey: “But won’t we freeze in Antarctica?”
Mori: “Mitskuni…”
Kyoya: “We’ll be wearing specialized gear to deal with any realistic
trouble these people intend to throw at us, tailored to the bitter
cold. Right now, we have to find a scientific exploration plane that
will take us to Antarctica to see what is going on…”
Honey: “And then we get to kick butt, right??”
Mori: “Mmm…”
=========
A half-baked plan if I ever saw one.
But, given the time frame of the proposed incident, we didn’t really
have much choice.
I knew that Kyoya had both more money than God and an equivalent
amount of business and negotiation sense, so it was no real surprise
when he acquired the necessary transportation and specialized clothing
for the three-some, and a top hotel and entry into the sold-out
conference for me!
So I went off to San Francisco, saw some old friends on the way, and
got a high-powered cell phone to keep in contact with the rest of the
team.
=========
Task I: End the Freeze-Out
As the days to the start of the conference approached in San
Francisco, it became more and more clear to my team that the attack
was to be centered in the appropriately-named Mount Terror in
Antarctica. It was to involve a series of explosive devices, imbedded
deep within the ice shelf which, when detonated, would result in a
massive cleavage of the shelf, sending an unheard-of chunk of ice into
the ocean. The warming of the water would take care of the rest,
leading to rising sea levels all over the world, but especially the
further south you went.
As the aircraft which was taking the Ouran team to the mountain began
to approach the continent of ice, the discussion was on…
Kyoya: “So someone is trying to perpetrate the very incident it
believes that we are all causing with our over-use of fossil fuels…”
Honey: “We can’t let that happen, can we?”
Mori: “Mmm-mmm…”
Kyoya: “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”
“It sounds to me as if they really need these devices to go off in a
series. They need the devices to all go off to create enough of a
cutting effect to dislodge that much ice. Otherwise, the frigid cold
will just re-freeze the water vapor in the air created by what
explosions do occur, resealing the ice to the rest of the shelf.”
Honey: “So we just find where the machines are and shut them off?”
Kyoya: “And that’s where the two of you come in. There will be
trouble. You’ve both been outfitted with the latest in technology to
allow you to fight in the frigid cold. We need whomever is setting
this off incapacitated so the scientific people here can take them out
so we can shut off enough of these devices and secure the area so that
the relevant authorities can figure out exactly who is behind all
this…”
Mori nodded. “Hmm…”
Honey and Mori were basically outfitted in space-suit technology. Not
an inch of skin was exposed (any such skin would die in seconds in the
Antarctic deep-freeze). It allowed them more of an ability to fight
than anyone in a huge parka would be able to.
Everything was basically in readiness, as a specially-alloyed staff
was given to Mori to accent his champion skills in the martial arts.
With that, the group was taken to the mountain, while the scientists
and authorities waited outside…
======
Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, I had gotten into town the day
before the conference was to start -- not to mention that it was the
day of the Antarctic incident. I quickly checked into my hotel (Kyoya
spared no expense!!), and got my badge at the event.
The mood was tense and terse, as it was clear that the entire message
of the conference was that time was running out before the END. And
we were, now, so close, that events were going to force the world’s
hand, especially that of the United States.
Opening Ceremonies ended, and the first keynote, a symposium on the
Antarctic ice shelf…
========
They had guns, but they still stood no chance between the mastery of
the martial arts of the two Ouran third-years.
Part of the problem they had was that it was so cold that many of
their lethal weapons jammed.
Another part of the problem was the calm with which Mori and Honey
summarily dissected the group. This allowed them to both move as
silently as possible through the complex, and Honey’s size allowed him
to hide in some very creative places.
A third part of the problem was the fact that the place could not be
that well-guarded, due to its remote location and the extreme weather.
And the last part is that Honey alone could go through the Ootori
Security Force. A band of eco-terrorists, even armed, could not deal
with his martial arts. Mori’s provided an extra level of the take-
down.
So, as the few guards fell, the scientific community came in to place
all of them on a second military helicopter to vacate the mountain
while Mori and Honey deactivated what devices they could before they
had to quickly depart the mountain before being blown to bits by being
in the immediate area of what devices still went off…
After the devices had gone off, a second international scientific team
later dismantled the devices and began to turn them over as evidence
that not all might be as it seemed. There were no fingerprints,
though, so about all we had, really, were guards… And they wouldn’t
talk.
=========
Back in San Francisco:
I had heard this kind of talk before.
It almost sounded like some of the insane delusional ramblings I had
heard on the Internet.
Don’t get me wrong: I believe we are doing grave harm to the planet,
and I do what I can to try to reverse some small portion of it.
This, however, was ridiculous.
In fact, the person was at the peak of his rant on stage when someone
franticly ran on the stage with a report stating that “loud cracking”
had been heard in the Antarctic ice shelf, and the room was in full
frenzy at that moment.
It was then I decided to take my leave and attempt to explore some
website work at the local Public Library across the street from the
convention site.
No sooner had I gotten on the Net that I found news items stating that
explosions had been heard, but that the ice shelf (though, even today,
hanging on by a thread) had held. No massive glacier.
Then, I received a phone call… From such a long distance and not that
well of a networked reception, I could barely make out Kyoya:
Kyoya: “Mission accomplished. They don’t know what hit them.”
Me: “I didn’t think so. I’m just checking the same site that I…”
Something stopped me cold as I continued to surf the web.
Kyoya: “What is it, Mr. Falkner?”
Me: “We’ve got more trouble. I went to the same site that I saw the
news of the initial attack at, and now it sounds as if they want to
create a ‘Second Great Flood’. Not only that, but it sounds like they
may have realized that someone stopped the first attack.”
“They will be more careful this time -- and, on top of that, they’re
not saying exactly where the attack will take place. Maybe I can find
out more at the conference -- unless it continues to sound more like a
religious revival than a true scientific conference.”
Kyoya: “That may be an indication all is not as it seems… We’ll have
more information, I hope, as people investigate the machines they were
using and the men they had guarding them.”
Me: “Roger that, Kyoya. Keep me abreast, and I’ll do the same from
here…”
==============
I kept an eye on the weather websites world-wide the next 24 hours,
and it became clear that something was brewing in the waters off
Eastern Australia that I thought the team might want to check out.
==============
Task Two: Downpour Showdown Near Sydney
The storm clouds brewing on the horizon were like little Australians
had seen in a long time.
Calls to take shelter were already being made, and the storm probably
was not even going to make landfall in Sydney for several more hours…
Kyoya, Honey, and Mori were able to, with the help of the scientific
community (again -- the scientists were more than willing to help out,
grateful that whatever was planned in Antarctica was stopped, even
though it wasn’t clear exactly what it was or how it was stopped…),
gain access to a boat so that they could keep an eye on this storm for
anything suspicious.
And it didn’t take long… About 40 miles off the Australian coast, a
second craft was spotted…
Mori: “Mmm… Over there…”
He pointed starboard…
Kyoya began scribbling a description of the boat, tossed about by the
waves of an ever-increasing storm…
Honey: “What is it, Takashi??”
Just then, two streams of light came up from the boat… Kyoya had his
left hand on his binoculars and his right hand penning scribbles of
information into his notebook…
Kyoya: “It’s shooting rockets into the storm, and it looks as if
something is attached to those…”
Just then, a super-crackle of lightning and a boom of thunder almost
unheard of shook the entire craft.
Honey clutched at Mori, scared…
Mori: “Mitskuni…”
Kyoya: “They’re trying to send something into the storm to heat the
air to allow it to gain a tremendous amount of moisture -- at that
point, sending the storm toward the harbor and the city to wipe out
those who came to watch it with terrifying speed.”
“There’s only one way to stop this…”
Kyoya called for the Australian Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol to come
out and stop this at once.
Fortunately, they got there quickly (they were in the area, trying to
dissuade boats from taking to the water, and were already trying to
hail the Ouran boat to get it back to shore before the massive storm
hit Sydney).
Seeing the second boat, they immediately contacted the Royal
Australian Navy, who also had a division in the area.
When a second set of rockets were fired into the storm from the eco-
terrorist boat, the RAN, presuming hostile fire, fired back, sinking
the ship. The RAN and the ARVCP recovered and detained the crew.
===============
Back in San Francisco, the third day of the conference was into full
swing, as loud and boisterous, if not worse, than the previous two.
Of course, since I was on Kyoya’s dime, I guess I couldn’t complain
too much, but basically, seeing the Convective Effects of Massive
Heating in Thunderstorms seminar, I felt there might be a lead there…
There was, all right… The sudden cancellation of the seminar piqued
my interest. It actually appeared as if the speaker had entered the
room, but, when she was about to begin, she was quickly taken off-
stage, and the cancellation was mysteriously announced five minutes
later.
So, when the crew of the Ouran ship called me from Sydney, I had some
interesting news for them…
Me: “… and, just as the seminar was about to start, the main speaker
was taken from the stage, and the seminar abruptly cancelled…”
Kyoya: “And what was this seminar again??”
Me: “Convective Effects of Massive Heating in Thunderstorms…”
Honey: “Wait, wasn’t that what you were saying they were trying to
do?”
Kyoya: “Yes, it was. It sounds to me as if there is more than there
is to meet the eye. Fortunately, the authorities have both the crew
of the ship in Australia and the Antarctic guards in comparative
custodies. It may be time to bring Interpol in on this, especially
once the weather clears over Australia and they can recover the boat
the rockets were fired from.”
“Michael, I do have one request: I do begin to wonder if the attacks
are linked to the conference. If so, it may not be safe for you to
continue to go from the conference to the library and get us
information. Lay low and do what you must, but be careful. We were
hearing some chatter on the radio that we might’ve been discovered, so
we’re getting out of Australia. We’ll contact you in a day or two
when we find a safe place to land.”
Me: “Roger that. Over and out.”
============
Fortunately, it took me a couple days to believe what I was seeing on
the Internet… Though hurricanes in the South Atlantic were not
entirely uncommon, one of the magnitude which was brewing off of
Argentina was quite rare for this time of the year.
And, of course, as if on cue, on that day’s schedule for the
conference?? “Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike: All Our Fault -- The
Effects of Global Warming on Catastrophic Hurricanes”.
I immediately called up Kyoya’s cell…
Kyoya: “Whatever it is, we’re already on it. Interpol has been
notified of the possible ties between the two previous incidents, and
is coordinating efforts with us. You say there’s a hurricane talk at
the conference??”
Me: “Check…”
Just then, I heard a gun-shot… Someone was trying to take me out!!
Honey: “Mike, you got company!! Get out of there!!!”
Honey didn’t even need to talk twice. Someone from the conference
spotted me and shot into the Library.
The SFPD, though inept last year, was on it like flies on… Two
officers tackled me to the ground for protection, three more got the
shooter. The library was immediately put on lock-down except for me
being whisked out the emergency exit (which doubled for the emergency
exit that Deborah Gibson used when performing at the Orpheum when the
authorities feared I might show up during her performance in Joseph in
1999…).
It was now clear that the stakes had been raised… I could no longer
remain at the conference nor in San Francisco. I was done at the
conference. I was immediately escorted back to my hotel and
immediately taken to the SFO airport.
Destination: Far away from there… Try Los Angeles for starters…
==============
Fortunately, I still had Kyoya’s phone number on paper. I got a new
cell-phone and we talked some more…
Honey: “Thank heavens you’re all right, Michael-chan.”
Me: “You’re welcome. I’d heard gunshots before around me in my life,
but I was more than happy that there was a massive police presence at
the conference and at the library.”
Kyoya: “So the anti-homeless effort actually did something?”
Me: “More like the anti-protest effort. A lot of the deniers of
global warming and the conference attendees were getting into
fistfights all week…”
Mori: “Mmm…”
Honey: “Sounds like it’s more than fists now. You be careful,
there…”
Kyoya: “We’re headed to the hurricane site now. We’ve been made
official hurricane watchers by Interpol, and they also know of the
attempt on your life. You are about to get a lot of protection…”
Me: “My sanity could use that right now…”
==========
Task III: High-Stakes Hurricane Chase
The three Ouran students were quickly put on a chaser plane to watch
the hurricane.
The instructions were simple -- account for all the planes in the
area, and if any of them appeared suspicious, investigate.
About an hour had passed, and several of the chasers were identified
by the plane with the Ouran students. Just then, one plane refused to
be identified.
When it’s tags were run, it was not one of the chasers.
Kyoya: “We’ve got a hostile, team. Repeat to chaser team: We have a
hostile.”
Honey: “What is it, Senpai?”
Kyoya: “That plane, heading 315...”
(Due northwest of the location of the Ouran team’s plane…)
Just then, Mori gasped…
Mori: “Look…”
He pointed at the plane. A light mist, as if the plane was emitting a
trail out of it’s back, was coming out of it.
Honey: “The plane’s in trouble!!”
Kyoya: “No. The plane is actually seeding the storm. I’m going in…”
Honey and Mori: “WHAT???”
Kyoya: “I’m going to buzz the plane and force it off. That plane’s
actually using materials which have been used in the past to seed
storms. It sounds as if this is an artificial hurricane. Get this
plane down, and keep the area secure, and the storm should dissipate
in the cooler waters…”
And, with that, Kyoya Ootori did the openly insane. He headed
straight for the other plane.
Honey and Mori held each other tight as Kyoya, a surprisingly deft
pilot (how else would he deal with people like Renge???), headed
straight for the plane to create turbulence to force the plane to find
the nearest safe place to land or ditch.
Seconds before a crash which would’ve killed all aboard both planes,
Kyoya steered clear to leave the plane in the wash of air turbulence,
forcing the crew to eject into the water as the plane ditched.
At that point, once clear and he saw the parachutes, the PNA (The
Prefectura Naval Argentina) were radioed to tell of a plane forced to
ditch in the water, and to maintain the plane, its crew, and its
contents as evidence.
Kyoya never mentioned that he forced the plane down.
=============
While all this was going on, I was explaining what had been going down
the last several days in San Francisco to an international team of
security experts. It was clear, frankly, that suspicions had been
strongly aroused surrounding the convention now, but the convention
was allowed to continue as the investigation went on -- they hoped
someone would slip and actually say something which would incriminate
END.
The evening before the final day of the convention (a day or two after
the plane was downed over Argentinean waters), a final announcement
came over the terrorist website on the Net: Knowing that I was living
in Southern California, they were going to create a mass tsunami to
wipe out most of Southern California by setting off another set of
those cavitation devices in the Solomon Islands. The devices would be
so strong as to not only set off a tsunami of massive proportions, but
to wipe out the Solomon Islands themselves.
Not that the “local security” knew that -- even though they had been
promised a feast of “fat American” that they could eat alive (as was
their custom) for all they cared…
==============
Task IV: Silence in the Solomons
Me: “… so that’s what we’ve got. Your destination is the Solomon
Islands.”
Kyoya: “We were already told. We’re heading there now.”
Me: “You guys OK up there??”
Honey: “We’re fine. Kyoya gave us a scare, though…”
Me: “He had to get that plane out of the air so it would stop seeding
the storm.”
Honey: “But to almost take us with it??”
Me: “Key word of that being ‘almost’…”
Mori: “Mmm…”
Me: “Do you say anything other than that?”
Mori: “No.”
Me: “OK. So, what’s the plan, Kyoya?”
Kyoya: “Basically, the way we took out the device in Antarctica… We
know they have the local tribes as backup, even though they don’t know
they’ll be taken out by the devices, as will half of your area of
California…”
“So they can’t be reasoned with. We’ll deal with them like Honey
dealt with my security force in the jungle.”
Me: “That won’t be pretty…”
====
It wasn’t. They pretty much had their way with the local tribes,
though the local tribes at least had their spears and blow-guns.
Still no match for Honey and Mori, though -- the ringleaders were
cornered…
But they still had one card left to play…
Terrorist: “We’ll do it!!!!”
Kyoya: “Yeah, and you’ll kill yourselves too, as you destroy the
entire Solomon Islands, creating a state of war…”
Terrorist: “We don’t care!!”
Kyoya: “You can’t think you want to martyr yourselves…”
Terrorist: “Man is just going to destroy the world anyway…”
Kyoya: “So you’re going to accelerate the process. That almost
sounds like Tamaki…”
One confused look is all Mori needed to knock the activator out of the
hands of the terrorist with his kendo stick. Honey came in, and the
pair subdued the remaining terrorists, including the ringleader, while
Kyoya basically brought in the full naval force of international law.
(Oh, the wonders of business negotiation with someone who actually had
ethics.)
By this time, it was pretty clear that END was, in fact, behind all of
this -- if it wasn’t the all-too-suspicious timing between the attacks
and the seminars at the San Francisco conference, the case was
bolstered by some “creative interrogations” the Argentines had with
the hurricane seeders. Within a few minutes of the apprehension at
the Solomon Islands, a Homeland Security force pretty much had the
doors of the convention knocked over in San Francisco, with most of
the relevant parties arrested. Add some of the physical evidence (the
registries of the front groups the planes were registered to, what
evidence they could gleam from the ocean of both the seeding plane and
the rocket boat, and the machinery in Antarctica, the World Court
prosecutors in the Hague would eventually be confident that they had a
case for war crimes against END and its membership.)
==========
But long before that confidence, a quiet moment with Usu-chan awaited,
as Honey smiled as I played with the stuffed rabbit his grandmother
made for him.
Honey: “… and we got to kick butt, like you said…”
Me: “Incredible. You guys did it nicely. Much credit to you.”
Kyoya: “Couldn’t have done it without you. Just make sure to warp us
back in for the trial, will you?”
Me: “Will do…”
=============================================
A summary for the purposes of the ruling:
This turned out to be a lot more boring than I originally had in mind
when I picked the team. I actually, though, probably picked the right
team for a non-supernatural attempt at this, with two champion martial
artists and a hyper-shrewd hyper-rich mind with them.
So here’s how the four tasks were done, with information from each
task being secured as the evidence necessary to bring END to trial in
the Hague:
Task I (Mt. Terror, Antarctica): See “Jungle Pool S.O.S.”. With
specially constructed clothing, Honey and Mori basically dissect the
guards present, while Kyoya arranges an evacuation party to get the
guards into international apprehension. Since you already said the
cavitation devices here were in series, all which was needed was to
shut enough of them off to prevent the series from completely severing
the glacier.
(Though, in real life, there is word there is actually a large glacier
about to sever down there.)
Task II (Hyper-Thunderstorm, Sydney): I used the ruling you gave me
that the team would come upon the attack just as it started to my
advantage. Once the boat was spotted, the first set of rockets went
up -- since it was clear a storm was in the area, the Australian Royal
Volunteer Coastal Patrol was clearing the nearby waters, and Kyoya
flagged them down. Once a hostile boat was sighted, the Royal
Australian Navy joined in -- the next set of rockets was seen as
hostile fire, and the RAN sunk the ship and apprehended the
terrorists.
Task III (Hurricane Seeding over Argentina): Kyoya goes calculatedly
insane and flies his plane close enough to the seeder plane to force
enough turbulence that the seeder plane has to ditch. The PNA takes
it from there on the apprehension.
Task IV(Final Showdown -- Solomon Islands): See “Jungle Pool S.O.S.”,
at least as far as the tribesmen are concerned. The primitive tribes
are even less trouble for Honey and Mori, and, once the mastermind is
cornered, Kyoya negotiates the madman mastermind into a moment of
confusion, where Mori knocks the activator out of the hands of the
mastermind, Honey aiding in the “clean up”, and the arrests are made.
The assassination attempt on “my” life was a matter of consistency
with some of the information I had read on “State of Fear” regarding
some of the lethal intentions of the terrorist group.
I promise the KaleidoTeam effort, if even less chance of plausibly
winning, will be much more interesting than this one, but have at
this.
Hard Challenge -- “State of Fear”
“Team Ouran”: Kyoya Ootori, Takashi Morinozuka (Mori), and Mitskuni
Haninozuka (Honey) of “Ouran High School Host Club”, and, me, the
writer, Michael Falkner
=====
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess…
I had come across quite the interesting and threatening piece of news
as I was watching the continuing degeneration of California’s budget,
as well as the very plausible oncoming riots when the welfare checks
stop February 1.
So I decided, for the moment, to forego calling on the KaleidoTeam I
had thought of and decided, instead, to dial in the professionals.
A few minutes later, an astute man with glasses and a notebook, a tall
but silent type, and a(n apparent) kid rubbing his eyes from his nap
were in front of me.
Honey: “Are we dreaming? This isn’t Ouran High School…”
Kyoya: “You know we’re on winter break, Honey…”
Mori: “Hmm…”
Me: “Well, sounds like my team is here…”
Kyoya: “Interesting piece of machinery there. Sounds like it brought
us here to… California???”
Me: “Yep. The trusty Zap-I-Tron 2000. Updated model.”
Honey: “Who’s that man with the beard and the long hair??”
Mori: “Hmm…”
Kyoya (taking my laptop): “His name is Michael Falkner. He has quite
the reputation, and not much of it positive. He has, apparently,
brought us here in the name of taking on some ‘challenge’ which has
been presented to him.”
I smiled. Kyoya was quite the studious type who always did background
research on his members _and_ his clients.
Me: “It’s good to meet you. Kyoya, Mori, Honey… We’ve got a
problem…”
Honey (now awake): “Can I get some cake first?? And do you wanna
play with Usu-chan while I…”
Me: “awwww… Honey, you’re so sweet. Of course we will. I’ll need
some time to explain. Kyoya, I assume, has my computer for the
balance of the challenge…”
Knowing how well and quickly Kyoya worked on the Internet, I knew he
might be well in charge there.
Knowing how shrewd of a negotiator he was, I knew not to get in the
way either.
====
At the local dessert shop:
Me: “So there’s the website with the news items that I saw. There’s
an international global warming conference taking place in San
Francisco this week. That, in and of itself, is unusual…”
“It’s being run by a group called ‘Earth Now, Dammit!’ or END. It’s
not clear what’s going on, but there is some very suspicious things
going on around the conference.”
Kyoya: “It seems as if the conference is studying events taking place
in Antarctica in a few days. There is an apparent belief that a
massive amount of ice is about to break off into the ocean, raising
the sea level on enough of a factor to cause serious problems in the
Southern Hemisphere’s coastlines…”
Honey: “What does that mean?”
Me: “It means trouble. This is because there is no scientific model
backing the belief that such an event is imminent, but the conference
stands firm in their belief that this is about to take place. I’m not
clear as to whether this is _the_ challenge, or part of the challenge,
but I think it might merit some investigation…”
Kyoya: “I can certainly gain whatever resources necessary to do what
we need to do. Michael, I need you to go to San Francisco -- you used
to live there -- and go to this conference. If you find _anything_
unusual, contact us…”
Honey: “But won’t we freeze in Antarctica?”
Mori: “Mitskuni…”
Kyoya: “We’ll be wearing specialized gear to deal with any realistic
trouble these people intend to throw at us, tailored to the bitter
cold. Right now, we have to find a scientific exploration plane that
will take us to Antarctica to see what is going on…”
Honey: “And then we get to kick butt, right??”
Mori: “Mmm…”
=========
A half-baked plan if I ever saw one.
But, given the time frame of the proposed incident, we didn’t really
have much choice.
I knew that Kyoya had both more money than God and an equivalent
amount of business and negotiation sense, so it was no real surprise
when he acquired the necessary transportation and specialized clothing
for the three-some, and a top hotel and entry into the sold-out
conference for me!
So I went off to San Francisco, saw some old friends on the way, and
got a high-powered cell phone to keep in contact with the rest of the
team.
=========
Task I: End the Freeze-Out
As the days to the start of the conference approached in San
Francisco, it became more and more clear to my team that the attack
was to be centered in the appropriately-named Mount Terror in
Antarctica. It was to involve a series of explosive devices, imbedded
deep within the ice shelf which, when detonated, would result in a
massive cleavage of the shelf, sending an unheard-of chunk of ice into
the ocean. The warming of the water would take care of the rest,
leading to rising sea levels all over the world, but especially the
further south you went.
As the aircraft which was taking the Ouran team to the mountain began
to approach the continent of ice, the discussion was on…
Kyoya: “So someone is trying to perpetrate the very incident it
believes that we are all causing with our over-use of fossil fuels…”
Honey: “We can’t let that happen, can we?”
Mori: “Mmm-mmm…”
Kyoya: “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”
“It sounds to me as if they really need these devices to go off in a
series. They need the devices to all go off to create enough of a
cutting effect to dislodge that much ice. Otherwise, the frigid cold
will just re-freeze the water vapor in the air created by what
explosions do occur, resealing the ice to the rest of the shelf.”
Honey: “So we just find where the machines are and shut them off?”
Kyoya: “And that’s where the two of you come in. There will be
trouble. You’ve both been outfitted with the latest in technology to
allow you to fight in the frigid cold. We need whomever is setting
this off incapacitated so the scientific people here can take them out
so we can shut off enough of these devices and secure the area so that
the relevant authorities can figure out exactly who is behind all
this…”
Mori nodded. “Hmm…”
Honey and Mori were basically outfitted in space-suit technology. Not
an inch of skin was exposed (any such skin would die in seconds in the
Antarctic deep-freeze). It allowed them more of an ability to fight
than anyone in a huge parka would be able to.
Everything was basically in readiness, as a specially-alloyed staff
was given to Mori to accent his champion skills in the martial arts.
With that, the group was taken to the mountain, while the scientists
and authorities waited outside…
======
Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, I had gotten into town the day
before the conference was to start -- not to mention that it was the
day of the Antarctic incident. I quickly checked into my hotel (Kyoya
spared no expense!!), and got my badge at the event.
The mood was tense and terse, as it was clear that the entire message
of the conference was that time was running out before the END. And
we were, now, so close, that events were going to force the world’s
hand, especially that of the United States.
Opening Ceremonies ended, and the first keynote, a symposium on the
Antarctic ice shelf…
========
They had guns, but they still stood no chance between the mastery of
the martial arts of the two Ouran third-years.
Part of the problem they had was that it was so cold that many of
their lethal weapons jammed.
Another part of the problem was the calm with which Mori and Honey
summarily dissected the group. This allowed them to both move as
silently as possible through the complex, and Honey’s size allowed him
to hide in some very creative places.
A third part of the problem was the fact that the place could not be
that well-guarded, due to its remote location and the extreme weather.
And the last part is that Honey alone could go through the Ootori
Security Force. A band of eco-terrorists, even armed, could not deal
with his martial arts. Mori’s provided an extra level of the take-
down.
So, as the few guards fell, the scientific community came in to place
all of them on a second military helicopter to vacate the mountain
while Mori and Honey deactivated what devices they could before they
had to quickly depart the mountain before being blown to bits by being
in the immediate area of what devices still went off…
After the devices had gone off, a second international scientific team
later dismantled the devices and began to turn them over as evidence
that not all might be as it seemed. There were no fingerprints,
though, so about all we had, really, were guards… And they wouldn’t
talk.
=========
Back in San Francisco:
I had heard this kind of talk before.
It almost sounded like some of the insane delusional ramblings I had
heard on the Internet.
Don’t get me wrong: I believe we are doing grave harm to the planet,
and I do what I can to try to reverse some small portion of it.
This, however, was ridiculous.
In fact, the person was at the peak of his rant on stage when someone
franticly ran on the stage with a report stating that “loud cracking”
had been heard in the Antarctic ice shelf, and the room was in full
frenzy at that moment.
It was then I decided to take my leave and attempt to explore some
website work at the local Public Library across the street from the
convention site.
No sooner had I gotten on the Net that I found news items stating that
explosions had been heard, but that the ice shelf (though, even today,
hanging on by a thread) had held. No massive glacier.
Then, I received a phone call… From such a long distance and not that
well of a networked reception, I could barely make out Kyoya:
Kyoya: “Mission accomplished. They don’t know what hit them.”
Me: “I didn’t think so. I’m just checking the same site that I…”
Something stopped me cold as I continued to surf the web.
Kyoya: “What is it, Mr. Falkner?”
Me: “We’ve got more trouble. I went to the same site that I saw the
news of the initial attack at, and now it sounds as if they want to
create a ‘Second Great Flood’. Not only that, but it sounds like they
may have realized that someone stopped the first attack.”
“They will be more careful this time -- and, on top of that, they’re
not saying exactly where the attack will take place. Maybe I can find
out more at the conference -- unless it continues to sound more like a
religious revival than a true scientific conference.”
Kyoya: “That may be an indication all is not as it seems… We’ll have
more information, I hope, as people investigate the machines they were
using and the men they had guarding them.”
Me: “Roger that, Kyoya. Keep me abreast, and I’ll do the same from
here…”
==============
I kept an eye on the weather websites world-wide the next 24 hours,
and it became clear that something was brewing in the waters off
Eastern Australia that I thought the team might want to check out.
==============
Task Two: Downpour Showdown Near Sydney
The storm clouds brewing on the horizon were like little Australians
had seen in a long time.
Calls to take shelter were already being made, and the storm probably
was not even going to make landfall in Sydney for several more hours…
Kyoya, Honey, and Mori were able to, with the help of the scientific
community (again -- the scientists were more than willing to help out,
grateful that whatever was planned in Antarctica was stopped, even
though it wasn’t clear exactly what it was or how it was stopped…),
gain access to a boat so that they could keep an eye on this storm for
anything suspicious.
And it didn’t take long… About 40 miles off the Australian coast, a
second craft was spotted…
Mori: “Mmm… Over there…”
He pointed starboard…
Kyoya began scribbling a description of the boat, tossed about by the
waves of an ever-increasing storm…
Honey: “What is it, Takashi??”
Just then, two streams of light came up from the boat… Kyoya had his
left hand on his binoculars and his right hand penning scribbles of
information into his notebook…
Kyoya: “It’s shooting rockets into the storm, and it looks as if
something is attached to those…”
Just then, a super-crackle of lightning and a boom of thunder almost
unheard of shook the entire craft.
Honey clutched at Mori, scared…
Mori: “Mitskuni…”
Kyoya: “They’re trying to send something into the storm to heat the
air to allow it to gain a tremendous amount of moisture -- at that
point, sending the storm toward the harbor and the city to wipe out
those who came to watch it with terrifying speed.”
“There’s only one way to stop this…”
Kyoya called for the Australian Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol to come
out and stop this at once.
Fortunately, they got there quickly (they were in the area, trying to
dissuade boats from taking to the water, and were already trying to
hail the Ouran boat to get it back to shore before the massive storm
hit Sydney).
Seeing the second boat, they immediately contacted the Royal
Australian Navy, who also had a division in the area.
When a second set of rockets were fired into the storm from the eco-
terrorist boat, the RAN, presuming hostile fire, fired back, sinking
the ship. The RAN and the ARVCP recovered and detained the crew.
===============
Back in San Francisco, the third day of the conference was into full
swing, as loud and boisterous, if not worse, than the previous two.
Of course, since I was on Kyoya’s dime, I guess I couldn’t complain
too much, but basically, seeing the Convective Effects of Massive
Heating in Thunderstorms seminar, I felt there might be a lead there…
There was, all right… The sudden cancellation of the seminar piqued
my interest. It actually appeared as if the speaker had entered the
room, but, when she was about to begin, she was quickly taken off-
stage, and the cancellation was mysteriously announced five minutes
later.
So, when the crew of the Ouran ship called me from Sydney, I had some
interesting news for them…
Me: “… and, just as the seminar was about to start, the main speaker
was taken from the stage, and the seminar abruptly cancelled…”
Kyoya: “And what was this seminar again??”
Me: “Convective Effects of Massive Heating in Thunderstorms…”
Honey: “Wait, wasn’t that what you were saying they were trying to
do?”
Kyoya: “Yes, it was. It sounds to me as if there is more than there
is to meet the eye. Fortunately, the authorities have both the crew
of the ship in Australia and the Antarctic guards in comparative
custodies. It may be time to bring Interpol in on this, especially
once the weather clears over Australia and they can recover the boat
the rockets were fired from.”
“Michael, I do have one request: I do begin to wonder if the attacks
are linked to the conference. If so, it may not be safe for you to
continue to go from the conference to the library and get us
information. Lay low and do what you must, but be careful. We were
hearing some chatter on the radio that we might’ve been discovered, so
we’re getting out of Australia. We’ll contact you in a day or two
when we find a safe place to land.”
Me: “Roger that. Over and out.”
============
Fortunately, it took me a couple days to believe what I was seeing on
the Internet… Though hurricanes in the South Atlantic were not
entirely uncommon, one of the magnitude which was brewing off of
Argentina was quite rare for this time of the year.
And, of course, as if on cue, on that day’s schedule for the
conference?? “Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike: All Our Fault -- The
Effects of Global Warming on Catastrophic Hurricanes”.
I immediately called up Kyoya’s cell…
Kyoya: “Whatever it is, we’re already on it. Interpol has been
notified of the possible ties between the two previous incidents, and
is coordinating efforts with us. You say there’s a hurricane talk at
the conference??”
Me: “Check…”
Just then, I heard a gun-shot… Someone was trying to take me out!!
Honey: “Mike, you got company!! Get out of there!!!”
Honey didn’t even need to talk twice. Someone from the conference
spotted me and shot into the Library.
The SFPD, though inept last year, was on it like flies on… Two
officers tackled me to the ground for protection, three more got the
shooter. The library was immediately put on lock-down except for me
being whisked out the emergency exit (which doubled for the emergency
exit that Deborah Gibson used when performing at the Orpheum when the
authorities feared I might show up during her performance in Joseph in
1999…).
It was now clear that the stakes had been raised… I could no longer
remain at the conference nor in San Francisco. I was done at the
conference. I was immediately escorted back to my hotel and
immediately taken to the SFO airport.
Destination: Far away from there… Try Los Angeles for starters…
==============
Fortunately, I still had Kyoya’s phone number on paper. I got a new
cell-phone and we talked some more…
Honey: “Thank heavens you’re all right, Michael-chan.”
Me: “You’re welcome. I’d heard gunshots before around me in my life,
but I was more than happy that there was a massive police presence at
the conference and at the library.”
Kyoya: “So the anti-homeless effort actually did something?”
Me: “More like the anti-protest effort. A lot of the deniers of
global warming and the conference attendees were getting into
fistfights all week…”
Mori: “Mmm…”
Honey: “Sounds like it’s more than fists now. You be careful,
there…”
Kyoya: “We’re headed to the hurricane site now. We’ve been made
official hurricane watchers by Interpol, and they also know of the
attempt on your life. You are about to get a lot of protection…”
Me: “My sanity could use that right now…”
==========
Task III: High-Stakes Hurricane Chase
The three Ouran students were quickly put on a chaser plane to watch
the hurricane.
The instructions were simple -- account for all the planes in the
area, and if any of them appeared suspicious, investigate.
About an hour had passed, and several of the chasers were identified
by the plane with the Ouran students. Just then, one plane refused to
be identified.
When it’s tags were run, it was not one of the chasers.
Kyoya: “We’ve got a hostile, team. Repeat to chaser team: We have a
hostile.”
Honey: “What is it, Senpai?”
Kyoya: “That plane, heading 315...”
(Due northwest of the location of the Ouran team’s plane…)
Just then, Mori gasped…
Mori: “Look…”
He pointed at the plane. A light mist, as if the plane was emitting a
trail out of it’s back, was coming out of it.
Honey: “The plane’s in trouble!!”
Kyoya: “No. The plane is actually seeding the storm. I’m going in…”
Honey and Mori: “WHAT???”
Kyoya: “I’m going to buzz the plane and force it off. That plane’s
actually using materials which have been used in the past to seed
storms. It sounds as if this is an artificial hurricane. Get this
plane down, and keep the area secure, and the storm should dissipate
in the cooler waters…”
And, with that, Kyoya Ootori did the openly insane. He headed
straight for the other plane.
Honey and Mori held each other tight as Kyoya, a surprisingly deft
pilot (how else would he deal with people like Renge???), headed
straight for the plane to create turbulence to force the plane to find
the nearest safe place to land or ditch.
Seconds before a crash which would’ve killed all aboard both planes,
Kyoya steered clear to leave the plane in the wash of air turbulence,
forcing the crew to eject into the water as the plane ditched.
At that point, once clear and he saw the parachutes, the PNA (The
Prefectura Naval Argentina) were radioed to tell of a plane forced to
ditch in the water, and to maintain the plane, its crew, and its
contents as evidence.
Kyoya never mentioned that he forced the plane down.
=============
While all this was going on, I was explaining what had been going down
the last several days in San Francisco to an international team of
security experts. It was clear, frankly, that suspicions had been
strongly aroused surrounding the convention now, but the convention
was allowed to continue as the investigation went on -- they hoped
someone would slip and actually say something which would incriminate
END.
The evening before the final day of the convention (a day or two after
the plane was downed over Argentinean waters), a final announcement
came over the terrorist website on the Net: Knowing that I was living
in Southern California, they were going to create a mass tsunami to
wipe out most of Southern California by setting off another set of
those cavitation devices in the Solomon Islands. The devices would be
so strong as to not only set off a tsunami of massive proportions, but
to wipe out the Solomon Islands themselves.
Not that the “local security” knew that -- even though they had been
promised a feast of “fat American” that they could eat alive (as was
their custom) for all they cared…
==============
Task IV: Silence in the Solomons
Me: “… so that’s what we’ve got. Your destination is the Solomon
Islands.”
Kyoya: “We were already told. We’re heading there now.”
Me: “You guys OK up there??”
Honey: “We’re fine. Kyoya gave us a scare, though…”
Me: “He had to get that plane out of the air so it would stop seeding
the storm.”
Honey: “But to almost take us with it??”
Me: “Key word of that being ‘almost’…”
Mori: “Mmm…”
Me: “Do you say anything other than that?”
Mori: “No.”
Me: “OK. So, what’s the plan, Kyoya?”
Kyoya: “Basically, the way we took out the device in Antarctica… We
know they have the local tribes as backup, even though they don’t know
they’ll be taken out by the devices, as will half of your area of
California…”
“So they can’t be reasoned with. We’ll deal with them like Honey
dealt with my security force in the jungle.”
Me: “That won’t be pretty…”
====
It wasn’t. They pretty much had their way with the local tribes,
though the local tribes at least had their spears and blow-guns.
Still no match for Honey and Mori, though -- the ringleaders were
cornered…
But they still had one card left to play…
Terrorist: “We’ll do it!!!!”
Kyoya: “Yeah, and you’ll kill yourselves too, as you destroy the
entire Solomon Islands, creating a state of war…”
Terrorist: “We don’t care!!”
Kyoya: “You can’t think you want to martyr yourselves…”
Terrorist: “Man is just going to destroy the world anyway…”
Kyoya: “So you’re going to accelerate the process. That almost
sounds like Tamaki…”
One confused look is all Mori needed to knock the activator out of the
hands of the terrorist with his kendo stick. Honey came in, and the
pair subdued the remaining terrorists, including the ringleader, while
Kyoya basically brought in the full naval force of international law.
(Oh, the wonders of business negotiation with someone who actually had
ethics.)
By this time, it was pretty clear that END was, in fact, behind all of
this -- if it wasn’t the all-too-suspicious timing between the attacks
and the seminars at the San Francisco conference, the case was
bolstered by some “creative interrogations” the Argentines had with
the hurricane seeders. Within a few minutes of the apprehension at
the Solomon Islands, a Homeland Security force pretty much had the
doors of the convention knocked over in San Francisco, with most of
the relevant parties arrested. Add some of the physical evidence (the
registries of the front groups the planes were registered to, what
evidence they could gleam from the ocean of both the seeding plane and
the rocket boat, and the machinery in Antarctica, the World Court
prosecutors in the Hague would eventually be confident that they had a
case for war crimes against END and its membership.)
==========
But long before that confidence, a quiet moment with Usu-chan awaited,
as Honey smiled as I played with the stuffed rabbit his grandmother
made for him.
Honey: “… and we got to kick butt, like you said…”
Me: “Incredible. You guys did it nicely. Much credit to you.”
Kyoya: “Couldn’t have done it without you. Just make sure to warp us
back in for the trial, will you?”
Me: “Will do…”
=============================================
A summary for the purposes of the ruling:
This turned out to be a lot more boring than I originally had in mind
when I picked the team. I actually, though, probably picked the right
team for a non-supernatural attempt at this, with two champion martial
artists and a hyper-shrewd hyper-rich mind with them.
So here’s how the four tasks were done, with information from each
task being secured as the evidence necessary to bring END to trial in
the Hague:
Task I (Mt. Terror, Antarctica): See “Jungle Pool S.O.S.”. With
specially constructed clothing, Honey and Mori basically dissect the
guards present, while Kyoya arranges an evacuation party to get the
guards into international apprehension. Since you already said the
cavitation devices here were in series, all which was needed was to
shut enough of them off to prevent the series from completely severing
the glacier.
(Though, in real life, there is word there is actually a large glacier
about to sever down there.)
Task II (Hyper-Thunderstorm, Sydney): I used the ruling you gave me
that the team would come upon the attack just as it started to my
advantage. Once the boat was spotted, the first set of rockets went
up -- since it was clear a storm was in the area, the Australian Royal
Volunteer Coastal Patrol was clearing the nearby waters, and Kyoya
flagged them down. Once a hostile boat was sighted, the Royal
Australian Navy joined in -- the next set of rockets was seen as
hostile fire, and the RAN sunk the ship and apprehended the
terrorists.
Task III (Hurricane Seeding over Argentina): Kyoya goes calculatedly
insane and flies his plane close enough to the seeder plane to force
enough turbulence that the seeder plane has to ditch. The PNA takes
it from there on the apprehension.
Task IV(Final Showdown -- Solomon Islands): See “Jungle Pool S.O.S.”,
at least as far as the tribesmen are concerned. The primitive tribes
are even less trouble for Honey and Mori, and, once the mastermind is
cornered, Kyoya negotiates the madman mastermind into a moment of
confusion, where Mori knocks the activator out of the hands of the
mastermind, Honey aiding in the “clean up”, and the arrests are made.
The assassination attempt on “my” life was a matter of consistency
with some of the information I had read on “State of Fear” regarding
some of the lethal intentions of the terrorist group.
I promise the KaleidoTeam effort, if even less chance of plausibly
winning, will be much more interesting than this one, but have at
this.