7th Moon

Ryu went out to the cherry blossom orchard while his students practiced. Three years had passed since Kichiku had brought Douji to the shrine, two years since Hidariude and Keisei had joined them. They had made considerable progress, but only Ryu knew how long this journey truly was. It had all started twenty two years earlier right here.

Back then, Ryu was a young student of kenjutsu, wielding a Masamune tachi, the perfect sword in the hands of the perfect swordsman. He practiced his skills, perfecting the art of the sword with every waking moment-at least those moments he wasn’t attending to other duties at the shrine of the Golden Dragon with his wife Sakura. Sakura was a beautiful woman, like her husband she was dedicated to the martial arts to hone her body to perfection. Unlike Ryu she did not practice the art of the sword, but rather tessenjutsu, the art of the fan, and kayakujutsu, the art of fire.

One day while sparring in preparation for the daily rituals, a helicopter arrived just outside the grounds. Seeing the approach, Ryu and Sakura went to greet their apparent visitor. A man stepped out wearing a suit and sunglasses, his prematurely graying hair slicked back. He removed his sunglasses, “Take me to your leader.”

Ryu and Sakura lead the stranger into the shrine grounds and brought him to the head monk, Muramasa Sasuke, who was in meditation in front of one of the branch shrines. Ryu called out to the monk “Muramasa San, we have a visitor.” The monk stood up and greeted his visitor properly with a bow.

The stranger removed his sunglasses. “Konichiwa. I am Han Toromi, founder and CEO of Seventh Moon Biotechnology and Cybernetics. I have come here with a business proposal. I have need of some good guards and I have heard this shrine has produced some of the greatest fighters in Japan.”

“Han San,” replied Sasuke, “I appreciate your interest and praise, but as skilled as we are in the martial arts, we practice them for ceremonial purposes. We must hold vigil here at the shrine and I cannot spare anyone for your company.”

“I think you misunderstand me, I don’t want your people as mere guards, and I want them to train my security team.”

Ryu’s interest was piqued, but Sasuke remained uninterested. “We must hold vigil for the Golden Dragon; that is our duty at this shrine; that is our reason for training.”

Han simply stared at Sasuke, as if he could change his mind at any moment. There was an awkward silence, all that could be heard was wind through the trees. Finally Han simply turned to look at the auxiliary shrines. He noticed that one of them contained a gauntlet, and nine blades; a sword, and two sets of knives, three larger blades, and five smaller ones. All of these items were sealed hermetically under glass. The other two branch shrines were empty. “Hmm. How come there’s nothing in those two?”

“Each of these shrines is dedicated to the ancestral kami of our founders.” Sasuke explained, “One belonged to a monk who had no earthly possessions due to a vow of poverty. One belonged to a kunoichi turned miko whose possessions were all ephemeral and did not stand the test of time. Only the shrine to Okazaki Kyutsume, the one-armed dragon, contains any possessions of the ancestor because he was a samurai. He collected those blades as trophies, commissioning each one from Goro Masamune to celebrate his victories. In his first battle he managed to kill three major officers and had a tachi made for each one. In his second battle, he managed to kill five more officers, and wanted five more tachi to commemorate them, but could only afford the same amount of metal, so Masamune had to make them smaller. Then in his next battle his left arm was severed, ending his career as a samurai. He kept the tantos in his kote which he kept attached to his arm to hide his secret from all who did not know. These Yoshiro are all that remains of the personal effects of our ancestors.”

“And how much are they worth?” Han reached out to touch the container of the blades.

Ryu drew his sword and swiftly placed it between Han’s hand and the case. “Only a priest of Kyutsume may touch those items, and then only for ceremonial maintenance which hasn’t been needed to be done since we had them hermetically sealed. Please back away.”

Sasuke put his hand on Han’s shoulder. “You are done here. Leave.”

Han Toromi realized that he had no chance if he were to fight three trained fighters, Ryu alone had demonstrated his deadly skill with one swing of his blade. Sasuke was right, he was done here. He put his sunglasses back on, turned around and walked out of the shrine grounds back to his helicopter.

After a moment of thought, Ryu ran after Han. Just as Han was about to set foot in his helicopter, Ryu called to him, “Wait, Mr. Han!”

Han turned to Ryu, “Yes?”

“I wanted to know more about your plans to have us train your security team.”

Han smiled. “How very bold of you to reconsider doing business with me after you almost cut off my hand.”

“Only almost. Had I actually intended to do such harm, believe me, you would have one less hand right now.”

Han laughed, “I’m sure, and that is why I want you. Deadly power, yet precise control. My company is based on the Seventh Moon, the orbital space station, which is secure enough considering that I own the entire station and there is no way anyone can get there without authorization. However, most of our business is exporting back to the planet so I will still need security to handle shipments and see to it that everything I send out gets to my clients without any interference. After all I do have cutting edge technology, the lengths other companies will go to get their hands on my company secrets are a large part of why I moved out into space in the first place. This is where you come in, trying to arm my security with higher technology weapons only exacerbates my problems, the only answer is to prepare them to fight by using martial arts, low tech, high efficiency, catch the enemy off guard. So why are you interested?”

“Kenjutsu seems to be a dying art.” Ryu explained, “I came to the shrine of the Golden Dragon because it seemed to be one of the few places where my skills would be appreciated. However, I am curious about your plans for me. Perhaps through your company I can reach out to more people and spread my knowledge. It is very important to me to keep my legacy alive, and I think perhaps I can do it better with you than I can here. At its height, this shrine had dozens of priest in attendance, now, it is only us three, and we may be the last.”

Han smiled at Ryu and pointed knowingly, “You’re ambitious. I like that. I’ll give you one hour to collect your things and meet me back here.”

Ryu turned around to go back and get his things. Sakura was standing there, staring him down. “I heard everything. What are you thinking? I thought our life was here.”

“My hope is that I can scout out some more disciples, at least three to replace us here when we grow too old to attend to the shrine. Then I will return with them here.”

“That’s not quite what it sounded like to me. I had always hoped our children would inherit our positions. You do still wish to make a family with me, don’t you?”

“Yes, but then what? Our children could be the last generation. Mr. Han is the only visitor this shrine has had since I arrived years ago. If our legacy is to continue, we need new blood. Someone has to leave and recruit new followers.”

Sakura sighed, “I suppose you are right. Go get prepared, Mr. Han will not wait forever.”

Ryu hugged Sakura, then hurried back to his quarters to collect his things. He really didn’t own much of anything, just a few changes of clothes, white robes, black pants, and black sashes to tie the robes closed, sandals and tabi, the traditional garb of the practitioners of kenjutsu. The only other possessions he had were not really his own, but items he had been trusted with as a priest, the sacred arms of Kyutsume, the gauntlet and nine blades kept in the shrine and the Masamune Shinryuu, the sword of the Golden Dragon which alone, of all of the blades kept at the shrine, was allowed out of the shrine for ceremonial use. This sword was also made by Goro Masamune, commissioned for the honor of the Golden Dragon during construction of the shrine. Like the relics of Kyutsume, it was made of nie crafted steel, martensitic crystals embedded in pearlite matrix, with an ornate jade handle depicting the Golden Dragon and the image of the dragon etched into the blade and inlaid with gold. This was the blade that Ryu had trained with for his whole life, and it was certainly the most sacred treasure to him. He took the sword out to the shrine of Kyutsume and prayed “Sacred kami Kyutsume, you have helped me become a master of the blade, give me guidance in this matter of my future as a swordsman.”

As Ryu was deep in meditation, Sasuke approached him. “Ryu, Sakura tells me you have gone against my decision and chosen to go with Han Toromi to the Seventh Moon. Is this true?”

Ryu took a breath and replied to Sasuke. “I feel that the kami have sent Mr. Han as a sign that our future lies outside of this shrine.”

“Now you put your ambitions on the kami? Very well, Ryu, you may go, but the blades stay here, all of them, even Shinryuu Masamune. Put it back in its place in the main shrine.”

Together the priests opened the doors to the shrine. Inside was the statue of the Golden Dragon. It stood about as tall as Ryu, with an equally long tail curled behind it, it’s hands held out for the sword to rest in. Ryu placed the sword in the sacred hands of the Golden Dragon. “Thank you, divine one, for allowing me to use your sacred blade. May you guide me on my journey that I may return to your service once again.” He bowed and left the shrine. Once they were outside, Sasuke, Ryu and Sakura gathered together to lock the shrine’s door, reciting a special prayer known only to the shrine attendants, a special charm of warding that sealed the shrine and protected any who were unworthy from entering. It was customary for this prayer to be recited whenever one left so that it could only be opened when three returned to unseal it. The seal had never been broken by any other means than the sacred entrance of a miko, a monk, and a swordsman who had been chosen by the Golden Dragon, it was believed to be an impenetrable defense.

Ryu then gathered his things and prepared to leave. Then he noticed that Sakura was wearing a backpack, carrying a satchel slung across her shoulder, holding a bag in one hand and a cherry bonsai in the other. “What’s this?” Ryu asked Sakura.

“You weren’t planning to leave without me were you? I’m your wife, where you go, I go.”

Ryu suddenly realized he hadn’t thought that far ahead. His plan was to assist in training for a short time, then once the security operations were up and running, he would return with a few select students. He never thought Sakura would come along with him to the Seventh Moon. But now that he thought about it, they had not been apart since they had married, no matter how long or short he would plan to be away, he could not leave her behind. “Of course. Let’s go.”

Together, Ryu and Sakura walked out to meet Han at his helicopter. “Fifty-nine… not a minute to spare. And I see you have brought another?”

“She’s my wife.” Ryu replied. He noticed Han looking unimpressed and added “…and my sparring partner.”

Han lit up, “Ah, well then, the more the merrier. Let’s go shall we?”

They boarded the helicopter and it flew to a more level airfield. There was a large jet in the center of the immense launch pad. The launch pad alone looked larger than the entire shrine grounds, Ryu and Sakura’s home could have fit in the corner with plenty enough room left over for the jet to still take off. Ryu and Sakura were speechless, they had not seen anything man-made that was so large, they had both grown up in small villages not far from the shrine.

As Han got out of the helicopter he roused his passengers, “This is just the layover. If you think this is impressive, wait until you see the view from outer space.” Some attendants picked up their luggage and carried them to the jet. Now that they were on the ground they could see that the jet was roughly the size of the main shrine back home. They couldn’t believe anything that size could move let alone fly. They boarded the jet and got in their seats. “Make sure you’re buckled in tightly, it’s going to be a rough ride, especially the start.”

Sure enough, a few moments later the jet took off and the entire jet shook with the force of the necessary propulsion into the stratosphere. For a while they could feel the Earth’s gravity pulling them back against the interior of the rising rocket. Then, suddenly, they escaped the gravitational pull of the planet and weightlessness set in, their seat belts were the only thing that held their bodies in place. Sakura’s long flowing hair began to fly around wildly, they looked down at their clothes, and saw that their belts, sleeves, and every other loose fold were floating as well. They looked out the window and saw the Earth below, Japan was now just a speck in the ocean.

Han laughed at the expressions on their faces. “I looked the same way when I first went into space. Don’t worry, the Seventh Moon has ample gravity, or rather simulated gravity from the centripetal force of its rotation, so you won’t be floating around like this when we get to our destination. Speaking of which, do you know anything about my company?” They shook their heads. “I thought as much. Seventy-seven years ago, my grandfather started a prosthetics company, and it did very well. When I took over, I invested in a growing biotech company and when I had a large enough shareholding, I arranged a merger between the two companies. Meanwhile, space exploration turned to space colonization, and private companies were encouraged to get involved because governments couldn’t afford to subsidize space colonization themselves, and I saw another business opportunity. The Seventh Moon is my sovereign territory, aligned with no nation geographically or politically, I am not bound by any laws that restrict scientific development on Earth and we are free to develop technologies far more advanced than anything on Earth. We are the way of the future; crops that can withstand drastic climate changes, gene therapies that can treat almost any disease, and cybernetics that can replace tissues damaged beyond repair that can operate such energy efficient processes that the energy crisis and all attached to it could be solved. Of course, everyone wants credit for saving the world, so there many people who would like to steal my exports to decipher my secrets and claim them as their own, undermining my company and my reputation in the process, so I need good security, the kind where the people moving my goods can single handedly defend my shipments with any weapon, or even no weapon if need be. This is where you come in, I need you to train my security team. But first, let me give you some time to settle in. We should be arriving soon.”

Ryu and Sakura let everything Han said sink in while they continued to stare out the window. As clear as the night sky had been from their shrine, it paled in comparison to the grand expanse of space they were in now. The mesmerizing view was broken only by the Seventh Moon itself as they were docking. “And we’re here. All of your things will be taken to your quarters; in the meantime, allow me to give you the grand tour.”

As they disembarked the shuttle and entered the orbital station, they found it mostly to be the typical sterile looking walls of a space craft, though above head the ceiling consisted entirely of a glass window tinted to the blue hue of a clear sky on Earth. Han lead them through the corridor past empty halls where it appeared some renovations were still underway. “As you can see, this area is a work in progress, I’ll explain later. Up ahead is the residential area, that’s where you will be living, and we’ll be getting to that later as well. After that we’ll be reaching the labs where all of our research and development is done. Half of the labs are dedicated to cybernetics where they analyze human anatomy and motor functions to better replicate them with machines. We’re also looking into artificial intelligences, but unfortunately that is our company’s one weak spot and we have made little progress there, though the few researchers in that department claim they are only a couple of decades away from something special. The other half of the labs are for various biotech experiments. And the far half of the station is used for farming the crops we’re engineering.” At this point they had passed the labs and exited to what appeared to be the outdoors, but was in fact a massive greenhouse. As far as the eye could see, there were wide open fields full of every kind of vegetable, broken up only by orchards of fruit trees. The tallest trees just barely touched the glass dome overhead, bending the top boughs and leaves, the only sign that it was not a normal sky. It was surreal, almost unbelievable.

Han then redirected them back indoors to his office. It was a somewhat typical office, and yet very elegant. The walls were painted a dark green and were decorated with fine art; paintings, tapestries and statues. All of the furniture was made from mahogany or black cherry, including bookcases filled with business books and classical literature. The floor was covered with a silk rug, and silk was also used for the couches and seat cushions. The ceiling was glass like the rest of the station, but for once it was not tinted, and allowed outer space to be seen unaltered. There was an artificial waterfall that poured into a small koi pond, lined with lanterns that provided some ambient light to the room. Han gestured for his guests to take a seat. He sat down behind his desk, rested his elbows on the desk, and folded his hands under his chin. “Earlier I told you about how some parts of the station closer to the dock are under construction. The reason for this is that the area closest to the dock is to be used for training, the area where you will be working. Now you may be wondering why I’d have you here when the training area is not ready yet and the answer is rather simple, your students have not been born yet. Truth be told, we’re still a few years away from actually being able to export any goods and I’m planning on having the most elite force of guards for my business. So, I’m going to make them myself from scratch. In the biotech labs we’re genetically engineering the next generation of our station’s residents. As they grow you will be training them, so that from the youngest you will be able to shape them into the perfect fighters. In fact, as long as we have the two of you here, we were wondering if the two of you would be willing to contribute. Do you have any plans to have children of your own?”

Sakura answered “Yes. But I’m a little confused, what are you talking about?”

Han answered her “If you would see our fertility specialists, they will run a few tests on you, then…facilitate conception with perfected DNA.”

Sakura was stunned silent. Ryu took over for her, “This is a lot to take in sir. Perhaps we should sleep on it. Can we be shown to our room?”

“Of course, it has been a long day. You may not be able to tell from the sky here, but relative to your home it is well after sunset. We won’t be doing anything until tomorrow anyway, you should get some rest.” Han took them to the residential area and showed them to the room where they would be staying. He swiped a card to unlock the door, then handed the card to Ryu. “Enjoy your stay.”

Inside the room was decorated to look like home. The walls were covered with bamboo and tapestries. The lights were old fashioned lanterns. Everything was set up to remind them of home and make them as comfortable as possible. Ryu found their things and began unpacking.

Sakura finally broke her silence. “I don’t know about this Ryu. Genetic engineering… I’ve always wanted children, but not like this.”

Ryu paused, “I’m not sure either. Honestly, I think it might not be so bad, but I love you and I don’t want to force you to do something against your will. Tomorrow, we will tell Mr. Han we have decided not to be a part of his program.”

Ryu and Sakura could not find Han Toromi the next day and had to wait until the following afternoon to get a meeting with him. “I’m sorry I took so long, though I trust you used the time to fully consider the situation here. So are ready to join our program?”

“No sir, I’m afraid not. We made a rush decision to come here, and we do not think we actually want to be a part of your business. We would like to go home.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. Just last night a biological weapon was released in the Kanagawa prefecture. The entire region is uninhabitable and estimates are they will remain that way for about fifteen years until the biological agent finally dissipates. I cannot in good conscience send you back there.”

“What? Our home was attacked? Why? What’s going on back on Earth?”

“Well, you may not be up on worldly affairs, but there’s been a lot of tension between the nations. Ever since the asteroid shower that left the new moons in orbit affluent nations have been investing heavily in research and colonization in hope of getting new resources to compensate for how depleted the planet itself is. This has angered the less affluent who have demanded that the wealth be shared on Earth instead of being wasted in space. Everyone has been readying for war for years, but there hasn’t seemed to be enough of a tactical advantage for anyone to make a move. It seems someone finally decided to make the first move, though nobody knows just why yet. In any case, our best bet is to wait things out up here until the conflict blows over.”

Ryu and Sakura were stunned. Their home had just become ground zero for World War III. For the next several months, they just went through the motions of their lives, going along with whatever they were told, feeling they no longer had any choices or control. All they had ever known was gone, they were prisoners of the Seventh Moon, even if nobody said so explicitly. The one thing that seemed to make Sakura happy was finding out that she was pregnant. This revelation was bittersweet though, because her children were conceived through the company’s biotechnology. She was happy she was going to be a mother, but saddened that they didn’t quite feel like they were her own children, she wasn’t even sure they were her children or if something else entirely had been put inside her. Ultimately this despair reached its conclusion when she died in childbirth. Ryu was told that his children had not survived either.

Ryu had nothing left except to train the results of more successful experiments. Without Sakura, it was nothing but routine training. He lost his spirit and his faith, he just went through the motions of training. The days turned into years and the years turned into one big blur.

Then one day he received a new student into his class. The new student was a cyborg. He was mostly human, normal flesh and blood, except for his left arm that was obviously mechanical from the elbow down. He wouldn’t get a full arm until he was older and reached his full size, but to get used to it he was equipped with a skeletal version. All of the mechanisms were visible, mostly small hydraulic pumps acting as muscles and a few cables to act as nerves, and some extra devices that looked like claws, one in each finger, three in the hand, and one set along the forearm. The whole arm was powered by the boy himself; the stump of his elbow had been injected with genes from an electric eel, specifically to make electro plaques that allowed him to generate charges sufficient to power the electronic limb. As special as all this was, the most interesting thing to Ryu was how much this boy looked like himself as a child, but Ryu was sure he was just losing his mind.

Then came the day the cyborg received his full arm. Ryu was shocked, the arm looked like a Genji gauntlet, the Yoshiro of Kyutsume. “Show me your blades boy.” The cyborg was excited to show off his blades now that he had finally gotten his real blades. He unleashed all of the retractable blades. Sure enough, Ryu could recognize them, their shape had been altered, but there was no doubt in his mind, no metal sparkled like the blades of Kyutsume. He heard the boy mention that it was his fifteenth birthday, and he realized, this was also the fifteenth anniversary of Sakura’s death-and the birth of their children. Could it be, was this his child, who he had been told was stillborn? He saw Sakura, buried her, he knew she was dead, but he never saw the children. Had it all been lies all along?

Ryu went to the commissary to get some tea and gather his thoughts. While he sat there in reflection a woman came over to sit with him. “Is something wrong sir?”

So many things went through Ryu’s mind all he could get out was “What has been going on all these years?”

The woman thought he was actually asking her the question and answered, “We’ve been supplying the world with food and medicine ever since World War III.”

“What? When did the war end?”

“The war only lasted a few months. There weren’t enough resources on Earth to sustain the war. No fuel for vehicles, no ammo for weapons, even food was barely available for civilians, there was nothing to be spared for soldiers. Everyone simply abandoned the war and started scavenging. If it weren’t for the Seventh Moon providing food to the biggest cities, they’d all be savage cannibals. Oh,” the woman made a strange face, “My baby kicked.”

Suddenly Ryu was roused out of his funk and became aware that this woman was pregnant. It brought back memories of when Sakura was pregnant. He reached out to touch her belly, “May I?”

She smiled, “Of course. I feel very honored, this child carries the perfect genome, the best of unadulterated human DNA with no other species spliced in. This is only the second time they’ve tried it, only one was ever born but there was an error and the child was born missing his left arm. He was turned over to the cybernetics department so they could fix it the best they could and the biotech department has been working for fifteen years to correct it, and now I’ll have the first child that will have no defects and peak fitness.”

Ryu was sent reeling again, he put it together and realized history was repeating itself.

The woman continued while Ryu was still lost in thought. “I just have one more trip to deliver some goods to Tokyo, and then I’m on maternity leave.”

“Deliver goods?” Ryu echoed.

“Yes, I’m a pilot. I take food shipments to Earth. But I’m getting paid good to be a surrogate, so I get to take a break for a few months.”

“Who may I ask is the father of your child?”

The woman made a nervous giggle, “Number sixteen. I don’t know really, I just got my baby by in vitro. I don’t know how things worked in your day, old man, but these days we need money any way we can get it, and for me the best options are pilot and surrogate mother.”

Ryu came up with a plan. He picked up his only remaining valuable possession, Sakura’s bonsai, and went to the dock and waited until the woman came to pilot her final flight. While she was engaged in pre-flight checks, he sneaked on board. He meditated in the cargo hold until they arrived on Earth. Once he felt the landing impact he got up and approached the pilot. “Listen to me young lady, this trip is one way for you, and you can’t go back to the Seventh Moon.” The woman looked confused. “Fifteen years ago, I lost my wife as she gave birth to our children. The Seventh Moon took our children and has trained them to be soldiers. I am sure that they are up to something, and I believe that they were also behind World War III.”

“World War III started with a terrorist attack in the Kanagawa prefecture. Apparently it was some sort of protest from priests from a Shinto shrine.”

“I don’t suppose you were told that it was the shrine of the Golden Dragon? That was my home before I was hired by Han Toromi. That shrine was full of pacifists and we did not have the resources for a biological weapon, the shrine was the target. Toromi burned that bridge to prevent me from going home and leaving the company.”

“But why would they go to so much trouble to destroy the world?”

“You said you were delivering food. How much of the Earth does Seventh Moon supply to since the war?”

A look of realization came upon her face. “Seventh Moon has a virtual monopoly, except for some small independent organic farming communities.”

“Undoubtedly the next targets once the soldiers are ready. And your child will be one of those soldiers if you go back. Is that the legacy you want? For your children to usher in World War Four? It seems it’s already too late for my children, but you can still save your child.”

“And where am I supposed to go?”

“You said there were some independent farming communities. You might be safer there. Do you know where the nearest one is?”

The woman shook her head, but they started looking around the city to see if they could find any information. As they traveled through the markets they found some people talking about resettling the Kanagawa prefecture now that the threat of the biological weapon had passed. Ryu and the woman went along with the settlers and helped rebuild the community.

By the time everyone was settled in the new village, the woman gave birth. Ryu was there to witness the healthy boy come into the world. The mother asked Ryu to name the baby since she would most likely have never seen the child if it weren’t for him. “His name will be Douji.”

Ryu looked up to the mountains and knew he must face his past. He bid farewell to the woman. He drew a map to the shrine. “If you ever need help, come here to find me.”

Ryu made the long trek up to the shrine with nothing but Sakura’s cherry bonsai. Indeed, the shrine stood as he had left it, nothing changed except the broken shrine of Kyutsume. He went to sit at the shrine of the kunoichi and set the bonsai down, preparing to plant it within the shrine walls. First though he sat in reflection.

And so he returned to the present, remembering what he had thought when he had come here all those years ago. “Sakura.”