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| "It stands to reason," she thought, "if he's ... uh ... 'supposed ' to be here, that he'd have a place in the staff/faculty apartments." |
In Gods' Good Time
by
C V Ford
Chapter 4: Friend or Faux?
The man left the cafeteria building, recrossed the second entrance bridge for Class B. He mentally noted to stay out of the line of sight of Class B, particularly the old principals' office. As it was, he had new business there and entered through the back.
"And hi there again," he greeted the receptionist who made no sign of previous recognition.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes you can. Would you mind if I use a photocopier?" He felt better, more optimistic, as he started to get a definite course of action in motion. "I'll be more than happy to pay for the copies."
"Oh, no charge." A cheerful answer. "Just follow me back here."
Taking the school mapchart from the envelope, several copies rattled off. Sitting at a vacant desk he unpocketed a red pen and started writing.
"Let's see ... (Circled Bs "west" wing.) Old principals' office. Possible observation point. Friend or foe?"
Looking up while doing his charts, he noticed one of the girl students' "off" uniforms beyond the reception area counter.
"So it begins," he thought.
Passing the young lady and leaving out the back, he ducked into the stand of trees across the "road" next to the pool building. He wasn't going to go back to the apartment the way he came. No sense letting a possible adversary easily trace you.
Out of the trees and in his apartment he rechecked his gun safes' inventory. His pride and joy, a Rock Island Armory match grade M1 Garand rifle lay racked next to the Remington 870 12 guage and the old Remington 912 .22 LR bolt action. His handguns included the Colt auto and mini-revolver he was now carrying . The other two were a smaller Colt 1991 Officers' Model .45 and a Ruger Standard Auto skinny barrel .22 LR.
Jack tried the phone again, first dialing 9 and alternating tries on 1 bringing only the same result. The dial tone ceased when trying to get out.
Before turning on his portable radio, a thought occured to him. Wasn't Japan on 220 volt system as opposed to North American 120? Convenient the lights and appliances worked without damage.
Looking it up in an electricians manual, he found Japan depended on a 100 volt system, thus his equipment marginally safe. Even so, Jack dug out a variable transformer and set it to "step up" 120, first plugging his radios' cord in then the trans to the wall.
Turning on the radio on, he tuned up and down the dial both AM/FM finding almost ... nothing. Only a simulcast on both of what he assumed to be the schools' low power station on 89.7 and 1300 greeted his ears. Nothing else ... not even static could be heard but a steady hydrogen hiss.
In the "toy room" He pulled out an old Sangean ATS-803A shortwave reciever. Unreeling, stringing up a portable wire antenna he plugged in the jack. After transferring the variable transformer, he fired the radio up for a quick up and down tune.
Being daytime, he tried tuning above 10 mhz, 31 to 10 meters, only to get the same result. WWV/WWVH (10, 15, and 20 mg.) and CHU (Canada, 14.670 and 7.850 mg.) time hack stations missing. Looking up Japans' time hack, JJY, as well as BPM (China) and BSF (Taiwan) he noted they used the same 10 mg frequency, they also absent. Ham, international broadcast, utility, and military bands dead silent. He knew, when the sun went down, everything below 10 mhz would be the same.
A quick scan with a frequency counter revealed almost nothing but for a six frequency trunked system in the 403-495 mhz range possibly for the schools' building and grounds staff and PA system.
TV of course, nothing at all.
Not taking a risk with his computer, he repeated the procedure with the transformer. Machine on, he clicked the browser and it automatically went to the schools' webpage. The address having a .co.jp suffix. Checking the browsers' internet options he found it to be set as his home page.
"Certainly DON'T remember doing that!" Exclaiming to himself.
Being the obstinate type, he entered Google, Yahoo and other search engine addys in the hopes of gaining some control. None appeared. Not even 404 error messages. Any other addys the same: No Drudge Report, Amazon, NY Times, Columbus Dispatch, Kino Video, Criterion Collection, Fan Fiction dot net, Classic Horror Film Board ... nothing.
For the heck of it, he entered the addy to his own blog ... again ... nothing.
Returning back to the academys' web page, he studied it, using the browsers' translator to decifer the three alphabet lingo. A non-wealth of sterile, generic info indicating nothing substantial about the schools' location. Graphics, charts, lists of student organizations, clubs, events but nothing useful in determining what, and where he was.
A list of school supported blogs came up as he checked the time, about noon. He bookmarked, making a mental note to come back to that list.
Checking over his residential building first (Three floors, identical to five others.), he hastily drew up floor plans with as much detail as possible: Access, laundry room, utility closets, etc.
He then did a leisurely counter clockwise circuit of the whole school grounds in the hopes of finding an entrance leading to a road ... to somewhere. Before doing so, he further equipped himself with a pair of 25 mm binoculars.
The campus resided on a long, "southward" slope. Once past the gym, it wouldn't be long before he would be within eyeshot of Class B. He kept inside the edge of the woods bordering the grounds to avoid observation.
xxxxx
"Oh ... come on!" Yuri yelled into the radio. "He couldn't have just disappeared!"
"Sorry," Yusa answered. "Hisako just saw him leave Class B and duck into the woods a few minutes ago. We've no idea where-"
Yuri was then hit with a thought. "Yusa ... hold it. Got an idea, call you back."
"An idea?" Takamatsu asked.
"Yes! They saw him with a staff lanyard ID around his neck, right? Check residential housing!"
"Resi - yeah right!"
"It stands to reason if he's ... uh ... 'supposed' to be here, that he'd have a place in the staff/faculty apartments."
"Of course," Takamatsu picked up. "Any newly arrived students automatically have a dorm room. If he's a staffer why should it be any different? If he is one that is."
"The ID around his neck means SOMETHING," Yuri said. "It's worth a try. Though ... He'd be the first non-NPC staffer we'd know of ... And a foreigner at that."
A new thought hit her. Turning to a young man lounging on a mid floor couch, "hey ... Hinata!"
"Yo!"
"Get in touch with Takeyama. We can use him right now." She handed him the phone.
Hinata reared up from the cushions. "Him!? What for? Little geek's got a God complex a mile wide-"
"And inches deep. Big ego means big effort. Have him access school personnel files. If this guy's an employee, there'll have to be info on him.
"Should have thought of this before ...
xxxxx
It was as he thought it might and hoped it wouldn't. Except for a couple gravel access trails leading nowhere, there were no roads leading out. Asphalt was a closed circuit. Only traffic was the very occasional grounds maintenance vehicle. After going the length of the campus' south boundary he headed "north". Along the forests' edge and past the ball field, he briefly exposed himself by dashing across the south creek bridge. Past Class C and the dorms, he came upon a gravel access trail leading to the highest point on the grounds. At the end of which stood the cel/radio tower.
He noted the extra antennae. Probably the AM/FM station, PA and utilities. ALL the cel horns, reflectors and repeater antennae "pointing" INTO the campus.
Hating heights, he climbed any way. Didn't need to get to the very top. Once clear of the trees he scanned in all directions with the 25 mm.
Other than the campus, it was nothing but forest on all points of the compass. If this was Japan, it was pretty well deserted. More like southeast Ohio or western Pennsylvania. No built up areas to be seen. A government preserve of some kind? A ...
xxxxx
Shiina picked up on him the moment he started crossing the south creek bridge and had been shadowing since. He seemed easy enough to track.
After word got out on his disappearance she picked what she thought a likely spot atop Class C, waited, perservearance paying off. Running back to Yuri was out, so she stalked in the shadows watching the strange target who had appeared in their midst.
xxxxx
Hitting the ground, Jack then sat at the towers' base in speculation.
"Place has to be supplied somehow. No roads in or out, no airfield or helipad ... playing fields, parks could double for that but ..."
It was getting on in the afternoon, the shadows would be long soon.
Still keeping inside the forests' edge, he made his way past the dorms only to be stopped by the creek gorge. Heading "south" he got out into the open going for the second entrance bridge. Exposed again, he brazened it out, walking in an authoritive manner, clipboard in hand. Except for a pair of staring students, the rest in view acted like the "zombies" Jack hoped for. At least none of the "off" uniforms in evidence. Once across, he shot back into the woods proceeding around the pool building and indoor track field.
xxxxx
As soon as he hit the trees, one of the aforementioned "offs" sprang from the foliage, dashing over the bridge. Shiina had no intention of losing this one.
xxxxx
Employee housing in sight, he decided against heading directly to his building (2). Thinking fast, he spotted a "co-worker" walking to 4. The "droid" ran his key card through the reader. As he opened the door, Jack brushed past with a hurried "sorry" and entered.
xxxxx
"Gotcha!" Shiina exclaimed to herself on seeing the "target" enter Res 4. Leaving concealment, she ran down the side. Yuri would no doubt congratulate her.
xxxxx
Jack wasted no time dashing down the hall and out the other end to Res 2. He quickly swiped his card and entered, Shiina just missing him as she scooted between buildings right after. Up to his third floor living space, he entered and started peering out the windows of the corner apartment. Only half surprised to see a girl in a SSS uniform walking up to a pair of khaki jacketed individuals. One of them the rather large capable looking fellow from the cafeteria encounter. He noted the other ... holding a sheathed sword.
xxxxx
"Looks like you found something Shiina!" Matsushita 5th Dan exclaimed.
"Res 4," a breathless Shiina, bent over, holding her knees. "He's in Residential 4."
"You sure?" Asked Fujimaki.
"Positive. Saw him go in! You just missed him."
"Yuri'll be happy with that."
xxxxx
Jack watched the three head down the pathway back to the campus proper. Confirmed: Someone was curious about him ... possibly hostile.
To be continued ...
xxxxx
Note: Radio savvy readers may notice the JJY time hack station has been off shortwave since the 1970s'. Just thought I'd add it to the story
Storyline and original characters (only) copyright © 5-1-14 C V Ford
In Gods' Good Time chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6.
C V Fords' profile page and anime fan fiction list on fanfiction dot net here.
Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here. If there's a buncha' articles under this 'un, yer already there.
Disclaimer: The preceding is a NON-PROFIT work of fan fiction for entertainment purposes only. I make no claim to ownership of the names/characters, places, & events mentioned in this work that are the intellectual properties of others. They are the sole properties of their respective owners. Please, by all means support the owners of such properties in the purchase & enjoyment of their works.
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