The Next Continent (26 page)

IMAGES OF CONSTRUCTION
on the moon were broadcast around the world. In a single day, the Sixth Continent website received an unprecedented 140 million hits. Viewers of 1,200 web dailies in 115 countries saw Dozer 1 lift the largest boulder on the construction site, dubbed Ayers Rock. Twenty-two toy companies requested permission from Gotoba Engineering to market plastic multidozer models. While they waited for an answer, pirate versions spread across Asia and South America.

Companies selling lunar real estate had been around since the last century; now there were companies purporting to sell homes on the moon. Lured by virtual tours and slick presentations, more than five thousand people made hefty down payments. The media assumed Gotoba Engineering was behind it—it was, after all, a construction company—and the company became a target of fierce criticism. After struggling unsuccessfully to explain that they were in partnership with two other companies to build a wedding palace, were not in a position to sell homes on their own, and were not going to build homes in any case, Gotoba's PR team threw up their hands.

Most of the victims were in the United States, where a class action suit was brought against Gotoba. The suit alleged that the company never made it clear they did not actually build homes. With Gotoba's PR people on the ropes, Tae brought in Eden's own experts to fight back. They mounted a campaign that adroitly positioned ELE as the victim and assembled their own legal team for a countersuit. Tae's deep pockets, her understanding of American ways, and her intelligence offset Eden's disadvantages at mounting a suit in a U.S. court. In three months, the complaint was reluctantly withdrawn, though the Americans refused to concede that Gotoba was blameless. But about half the members of the class action suit ended up applying for tours of Sixth Continent, and five hundred new Tae Toenji fan sites sprang up. The firewall on Tae's wearcom was strengthened.

“
EXCUSE ME. ARE
you Tae Toenji?”

The maglev express platform, Tokyo Station. The man was in his thirties and wore a polo shirt and a nervous look. Sohya, walking behind Tae, quickly interposed himself between her and the man.

“I'm sorry. You're mistaken.”

“Why, you're Sohya Aomine! So she must be Tae Toenji.”

“I don't know who you're talking about.”

Tae tugged at Sohya's sleeve and whispered, “It's all right, Sohya.”

“Hold on.” He turned to the man. “I'm sorry, but I need your name and wearcom number.” The man identified himself as a high school teacher from Kyoto. Sohya input the information and snapped the man's picture with his wearcom. He had his answer in thirty seconds: the man seemed to be who he said he was. His sophomores were in Tokyo on a field trip, and he was acting as their guide. Sure enough, around a hundred young people in school uniforms were watching with great interest from a short distance.
They must have pressured him
, thought Sohya.
Well, he's not a deviant or a terrorist.

The information came from ELE's security department. Two of their plainclothes members were on the platform at this very moment, carefully observing the scene. Gotoba headquarters was in the heart of Tokyo, and Tae used the maglev whenever she visited on business. Given her wealth and celebrity, a security detail was a sensible precaution.

But Tae did not enjoy having bodyguards, and it became Sohya's job to accompany her whenever she visited Tokyo. It was his idea, even though it took him away from work.

Having confirmed the man was harmless, Sohya bowed. “My apologies. Not everyone approaches Miss Toenji with good intentions.”

“No—it's all right. You need to be careful.”

Sohya stepped aside. The man looked at Tae and cleared his throat. “I'm sorry to trouble you. My students wanted your autograph. The only way I could stop them from mobbing you was to approach you myself. I'm sorry, I know we're bothering you.”

“No, I'm flattered.” Tae smiled and waved at the students. They burst into cheers of excitement. “Thanks for your support, everyone,” Tae called. “I hope you'll visit my Sixth Continent someday!”

The boys whistled. The girls squealed. Other people on the platform began to stare. Tae waved to everyone, then spoke to the teacher. “You said something about a signature.” The man held out a copy of the field trip guide. Tae signed it with a flourish.

“And, er…could I shake your hand?” Sohya moved to intervene, but Tae shook her head and grasped the man's hand.

“We wish you the best of luck,” the man said. Tae thanked him.

He seemed to be gripping her slender fingers harder than necessary. Sohya broke in. “I'm sorry, but we must be going.”

“Mr. Aomine, could I shake your hand too?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your hand. Can I shake it?”

Baffled, Sohya extended his hand. The man's eyes twinkled like a child's as he gripped Sohya's hand with both his own. “You went to the moon! It's so great, I can't believe I'm actually meeting you. And now you're building a base up there. What an amazing feat!”

Sohya mumbled thanks. The man pumped Sohya's hand up and down, full of excitement. “Actually, the students are interested in Ms. Toenji, but I really wanted to meet you. I've been interested in space travel since I was a kid. I even made a stab at becoming an astronaut.” He reluctantly released Sohya's hand. “We're all behind you. Good luck!”

Sohya struggled to assume his media smile and thanked the teacher again, who then rejoined his students. Sohya waved, but they didn't leave. They kept looking at him and Tae.

Sohya looked at his open palm, still warm from the man's grip. “I'm sorry I doubted him. I guess some people are just nice.”

“Yes. They're everywhere.” Tae's voice was toneless. Sohya looked at her. She glanced away. “Everyone is so nice. They want my signature, but they don't want to be my friend.”

“What do you expect? You're—”

“Different. I know. So what does that make you?”

“I'm different too. Anyway, you don't have to be self-conscious around me,” said Sohya.

“Of course I do. The security detail is watching you too.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

“You did?” Tae looked at him. Sohya smiled.

“I'm not dumb enough to think I'm trusted by the people who look after you. But that's fine. The security guys are like your accessories. They're just there for your safety.”

Tae was silent for a moment. “That's what I like about you,” she said.

“I know. I assume I'm still a candidate for boyfriend. Or am I out?”

Tae laughed lightly. “Let's just say you're still the number one candidate.” Her smile finally returned.

“I'm glad I'm number one. I'll try to make sure I don't slip to second place. You know…if you had more friends, you might not be building Sixth Continent.” Sohya looked at her questioningly. “You said you wanted people to be able to live on the moon, to make it part of humanity's world. But you also said there was another reason. What is it?”

“Another reason…” The arrival warning sounded, cutting Tae off. The streamlined maglev glided into the station. The doors opened in front of them. Tae looked back at Sohya. “I'll tell you next time. Let's say goodbye here.”

“Okay. See you.”

Tae took her seat in the first-class car. Sohya lifted his hand in farewell. She kept glancing at him. Sohya looked back at her and pondered.

The thousands of people working to make Sixth Continent a reality had diverse motives. Tae was the axis around which all these motives revolved. Yet it seemed that she herself had multiple reasons for pursuing the project. What she had let slip so far was somewhat different from what she was telling the world in her PR program. What was her true motive? Sohya still did not quite know, and she wouldn't tell him. He knew there was no point in asking again. She'd tell him when she was ready.

The departure buzzer sounded, and the express silently moved forward. Tae wasn't looking at him now. That was a bit of a worry.

ADAM 2 AND 3
delivered full payloads to the moon without incident: more multidozers and a unit called a bulk shooter, a linear-induction drive conveyer system designed to hurl excavated soil over the lunar surface. Prepping and paving roadbeds to transport excavated material would delay the project timeline. Hauling regolith would consume large amounts of energy. The most efficient approach would be to move only the material itself. That meant hurling it across the surface.

Dozers 2 and 3 worked together to carry the bulk shooter, which was also standardized at a weight of five tons, into Eden Crater. Dozer 2's power cable snapped partway through the climb over the crater walls, but once in motion, the multidozers were able to electrolyze their internal water supply to make hydrogen and oxygen for their fuel cells. This allowed Dozer 2 to make its way back to the Turtle and retrieve a new cable.

The bulk shooter was safely transported to the center of the crater. It threw permafrost excavated by Dozer 2 a full kilometer at forty meters per second. Once solar panels were installed on the crater's far side, power would be available round the clock. And once the area around the Turtle was ready to receive the material, the plan was to hurl it all the way out of the crater, a distance of two kilometers.

The world was transfixed by images of regolith shot through with golden threads fountaining across the lunar surface. Moonrelated fiction flew off the shelves of bookstores, from science fiction by Arthur C. Clarke to works by storyteller Jules Verne, the founder of the genre. Publishers rushed to meet demand with paperbacks and comics, and representatives from Hollywood visited ELE. The world was engulfed in a passion for anything relating to space.

Maybe it was because the world was now so interconnected that strife between peoples had eased, armed conflict had diminished, and the money and resources devoted to military aims were seeking somewhere else to go. Maybe it was because the emerging countries had become more skilled at diplomacy that aid to them had increased. Protection and recovery of their still-significant environmental assets had succeeded, and they were able to stand on their own feet economically, so the world as a whole had become more affluent. Maybe it was because China had closed down Kunlun Base two years ago, and people were hungry for the next big thing in space exploration. Maybe it was the dizzying speed with which new forms of entertainment were appearing and falling out of favor. The people of the developed world were waiting for something new to entertain them, and Sixth Continent was the ideal dream.

Whatever the reason, Tae's vision had become the focus of feverish worldwide expectation.

But not everyone welcomed the prospect of a wedding palace on the moon—those who had first sent men to another world. Those who had left twelve sets of footprints on the moon, carried out photoreconnaissance of every planet in the solar system, and boastfully regarded it as their territory. Those who constituted Earth's most elite and ambitious fraternity…

As far as NASA was concerned, they had not been beaten yet.

[4]

“
WHY IS GOING
into space so important?”

Reika kicked the tops of the little breakers along the beach with her bare foot, scattering a line of droplets across the tide's calm surface. Then she sneezed. Even on Tanegashima, the December weather was cold.

“Because it's too comfortable here.” Ryuichi took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. She whispered thanks and put her hand on her shoulder, where his hand was.

“What do you mean?”

“The earth is too kind to us. She protects us from space so well that we don't even need clothes. Otherwise we'd be dead.”

“We still get colds.”

They exchanged smiles and walked on side by side, carrying their shoes and socks, feeling the sand with their bare feet.