The Tokyo Domain

The place was crowded, all of us pushed up against each other.  The air was musty; sometimes it was hard to breathe down here.  We were about twenty or thirty feet down in the old drainage systems for the city above us.  The place was not much of a city anymore.  It was long forgotten, its ruins collapsing into the earth and being swallowed up by weeds.  The surface was a horrible place to go, especially at night.  The bare crags of what were once buildings cutting a painful silhouette against the empty sky.  Nothing was there but pain; screaming ghosts from a twisted past, memories of war.

The air already tasted of sweat and metal.  I sucked in a deep breath of exhaust and dust.  I was starting to feel claustrophobic.  All around were vendors hocking their wares.  Anything you want, used of course.  Antiques from a bygone era, company products that had vanished years ago, if you were looking for it, it was down here.  I wandered there aimlessly at night sometimes.  The ride wasn’t that long if you knew how to get there.  The entrances were all hidden, and guarded.  The place was just about as safe as you could get from the corporate lackeys that were always hunting down the dealers.

I walked along side my bike, holding it by the handlebars, pushing through the crowd slowly.  The tunnel was at its narrowest here, I had a little ways to go before the main rooms.  I glanced around at all manner of useless junk.  They never let the trash diggers into the better spots.  They were forced to sit outside and vie desperately for any customer they could catch walking through.  Nothing here was of any interest to me, it was all junk, amazing junk maybe, but still worthless.

The corps wouldn’t get anywhere near this place, they didn’t even send guys in to figure out what went on here.  It wasn’t that great of a place to be.  Rumors always flew about the dead walking the streets above, or the radiation, or viral warfare that was used there.  It was a good front, the corps stayed away from the place, no one working for them ever made it out of the place alive.  Something caught my eye.

I paused in front of a table of old guns.  A lot of the stuff so obsolete they used gunpowder.  I looked over them for a little while, considering each piece silently. The guy that was selling them was babbling at the crowd, trying to get some kind of attention.  No one cared, these things were almost useless in today’s world.  I picked up an old 9mm automatic pistol. It was light.  The gun fit my hand perfectly.  I slid off one of my gloves, resting the pistol in my hand lightly, weighing it for balance.  She was a beauty, a real antique.  I couldn’t figure out what it was doing in a whole like this, it was practically brand new.

“Do you like it sir! It is quite the collectors item!”  He flashed a bright smile at me, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.  Probably watching a security system.  Konpyuuta-chan looked on silently.

“Its nice, how much?”  I laid it back down on the table.  I had no intention of buying it; I just knew how to shoot it.  I didn’t know much about that either.  I had only ever shot guns when I was younger, and in video games.

“Oh I do not know sir, it is such a fine weapon.”  He picked it up quickly, showing me the smoothness in the action.  I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Its worth about a thousand dollars I’d say.” Konpyuuta-chan winked at me.

“I would have to ask for about five thousand for it sir!”  He looked at me expectantly.

“What’s wrong with it?”  I directed the question at Konpyuuta-chan.  She smiled slightly.

“Oh nothing sir! It is like new!” This guy wouldn’t shut up for a second.

“It’s a pre-war model alright, but it looks like it was made a year ago.” She whispered.

“…and?” I wasn’t feeling patient.

“It was minted a year ago, in a Chinese factory somewhere probably, one of those fake antique works.  The ones where they mint re-makes from old plans they find in the back room one day for collectors.”  The guy was still raving about how it had history, and spirit.

“I will give you five hundred for it.”  He finally shut up

“Sir! I cannot accept anything under five thousand for it!”  He was still smiling like an idiot, a big fake smile.  I hated fake people.

“Ok, maybe next time.”  I just walked away.

“That was still a nice gun, you could have talked him down to a thousand.”  She was making idle chitchat again.

“Gun or not, its still nothing to risk arrest for.  I might as well get caught with a d-12 gauss rifle.  At least then the stay in prison would be worth it.”

“Why stop there! You should go get yourself a big missile launcher!”  She giggled uncontrollably for a second.

“Hey, we’re here.”  The crowd got thicker; walking my bike through was getting harder to do.  We were at the main gate.

“Yo!” It was one of the gate guards.  I met him years ago when we were still young, only in High School.  We used to see each other a lot in some arcade I frequented.  He was a good guy, about 5 years younger then me.  He was about twice as big as I was now, a real muscular guy.  He was wearing full riot armor, the kind the corps were always rolling out when there was a worker revolt.  He waved at me, calling me over to where he was standing. “Long time no see dude! Where you been?”

“Hey.  I’ve been here and there, you know how it is.”  He laughed hard.

“Oh right, you want me to keep an eye on your bike for ya while you shop around?”

“You don’t mind do you?”

“No way man! Not for an old friend like you, besides I just started a ten hour shift.”

“Thanks a lot man, you’re a life saver, hauling this thing around was killing me.” The kickstand flew out from the bike automatically.  It balanced itself perfectly.

“That and I may get a few chicks with a sweet ride like this nearby.”  He laughed again, even louder.  I just smiled, and slung my helmet under my shoulder.  The security system on the bike kicked in.

“I wont be long, just browsing today.”  I waved to him as I walked through the huge ten-foot thick doors that protected the heart of the market from the outside.

The market was huge; it was hollowed out with a couple of stolen corporate drilling bores only five years ago.  Its ceiling was hung with all manner of old fluorescent lights.  Built to last hundreds of years.  The place was dim, kind of like shopping at night.  It always kind of gave me the creeps.  It was crawling tonight; there must have been a couple of big hauls from Hong Kong.  I was a little worried about it; I was never really sure how many people the place could hold.  I wandered around, looking at random tables.  Much nicer then the stuff they were selling out front.  I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just something to do.

I wandered the market place for hours usually, from stand to stand, shop to shop.  I never knew what I was looking for.  The merchandise captured me, whispers from my past.  Every table was laden with pieces of my now lost youth.  Mixed in were pieces of my now inescapable present.  All manner of things were for sale, computer systems, video games, weapons, programs, and minute robots to clean your house.  If you were looking for non-corporate merchandise this was the place to be.  I found myself in the middle of browsing a little stands Chinese manufactured Motorcycle parts when she finally showed up.

“Hey!” She skipped over toward me happily.

“I was wondering where you went, what’s up?”

“I found something you need to buy!” I just smiled nervously.

I followed her through the maze of stalls and vendors.  She eventually led me to a section I had been to a million times already.  Before I could even walk inside I was greeted heartily at the door to the small shop.

“Sir!  It has been a while! I was starting to get worried about you, how did the transfer programs work for you?”  The old man who ran the place shook my hand warmly.  I must pay for this guys entire life.

“It is working great thanks.  I’m going to take a look around if you don’t mind okay?”

“Of course of course! Take all the time you need!”  He led me inside to look at the shelves full of computer components.  Everything was top of the line straight out of China.  None of the corporate manufactured stuff.  The corps would track your every move; log your every action online.  They were also designed with the corporate interest in mind. No unlicensed software, no upgradeabilty.  That was their mistake, over specialization.  No flexibility.

Before I knew it Konpyuuta-chan had led me over to a black case lying next to a pile of new crates.  They were all written in Chinese, straight out of Hong Kong harbor; really expensive parts.  She was all excited to get near the stuff.  I don’t know what was in there that she had any use for, she was already working with a million dollars worth of Chinese know how.

“Its in here, in the case, its sooooo coool!”  She was smiling and laughing like a schoolgirl.

“Hey pops what’s in the case over there?”  I gestured in its direction.

“Oh! That is brand new!  It came Straight from a Hong Kong manufacturing firm.  The best component I have ever received, I was saving it just for you sir!”  He quickly ran to it and dragged the case over to me. “It is a little heavy.”  He cracked the manufacture seals and opened the black case slowly.

I couldn’t believe it.

“Is that a…”

“Oh yes sir!  Brand new!”

I was looking right at a piece of art.  A more powerful processor could have never been created in our lifetimes.  There it was, about the size of a Triscuit, if such things existed anymore.

“There she is sir!  More power in that little chip, then in anything Microsoft has ever produced.”  He removed the small black case it was resting in, covered in thick layers of plastics.

“I never thought I’d see one of these.  So its really here, a HK chip.”  I took it into my hands, studying its design carefully.  Konpyuuta-chan was doing back flips around the store. “How much?”

“Oh yes sir always straight to the point.”  He slapped me on the back letting out a hearty laugh. I just smiled.

“You know it pops, try and give me a good deal this time okay?  I’m not made out of money you know.”

“I wouldn’t think of overcharging you sir.  It is more dangerous for me to own one of these anyway.  I hope you also realize the dangers as well.”

“Have I ever worried about that before?”

“This one is different.”  He looked serious, a little odd for his usual self.

“I’ll take it. Should I put the money in the normal account?”  He nodded his head.

“Yes sir that will be fine!” I looked at him hard.

“It is going to take me a while to pay this off you know.”  I was a little embarrassed in saying it.

“Oh it is quite alright! I trust you completely, you have always paid in full in the past.”  He smiled.  I tucked the box away in my jacket.

“Catch you later pops.”  I had to drag Konpyuuta-chan out of the store.  She was running around like a crazy woman.

I figured it was time to leave before I had to sell myself into slavery to pay for anything else I would buy.  We walked out, the entire time she was in a tizzy, raving about how cool she thought it was, and how much she loved me for buying it for her.  I had plans of my own for the chip.  It was all I needed to make the perfect Bike.

All the parts were in the shop; all it needed was the chip.  I was going to order a blank Kawasaki max processor from China, but this was perfect.  How could I not do it!  In three days, I would have the ultimate custom bike.  Of course it would need a name.  What to call it?  I was thinking pretty hard.  I got to the gate before I realized it.

The guard was there to greet me; from the looks of it he got a couple of pretty girls to talk to him because of my ride.  I just laughed when he told me about some of them.  I mentioned that a good bike wouldn’t cost that much.  He just grinned nervously and told me to get out of there before he took mine.

I slid my helmet on and the bike hummed to life.  The place was thinning out.  I was going to take the long way out; at least I wouldn’t deal with all of the crowds.  I rolled off in a cloud of dust rolling out one of the secondary pipes.  I couldn’t wait to get home.