IO Vapoura - Part I: The Death of Nariaki Sado

  Something had happened. Just seconds ago. What was wrong? Lights flashed in alarm, matching the blare of the klaxons. The voice over the comms was quiet now. No matter. The words hadn't registered.
  Nariaki looked around his lab. Something was missing. The vids in the lab flashed a message. The words didn't make sense. Water that had been left flowing spilled over a sink and onto the floor across the room. The sound of hissing and boiling grew louder, then the sound of shattering glass as something exploded.
  Nariaki's trance broke violently. He spoke the words as his mind registered them. "It's over."
  There is beauty in a bomb--the bomb. There is freedom in the absolute knowledge that you will die; that you can do nothing to affect this outcome. There is comfort in knowing the exact number of minutes your life consists of. Looking at the nearest vid, Nariaki registered the nine minutes he had yet to live.
  He ran his hand across the top of his desk. "This was a good desk." Getting up, he tightened his labcoat, feeling it for the first time since they gave it to him. "A good coat." He felt the pride of the day he first put it on, this symbol of all that he'd worked for. Exhaling, he left his lab behind.
  The world outside was a maelstrom, making the chaos of the center he'd just left look like a rushed cafeteria. Fires bloomed where people had crashed their hovs, some into others. Another hov flew past, its driver yelling exaltedly in hysteria. The sound of screaming from every direction seemed somehow more distant to the nearer animal sounds. People all around him fought, fucked and invented swift ways to kill themselves. Dodging another hov, Nariaki began to walk towards the park at the city's heart.
  Gratitude and sorrow came in waves as he passed one memory after another. There is where I get my coffee each morning. They knew my name. There's the door to my complex. Someone needs to fix the delay on it. There's the diner where my team meets. I'll miss the smile of our waitress. He reached out, feeling the bark of a tree that bounded the park's edge. He loved this city.
  Of the four central groves surrounding the capital building, the nearest was the cherry blossom grove. Nariaki knew he didn't have the time to make the walk to the grove. Sitting down, he leaned against the guardian tree and looked towards the cherry blossoms in the distance. They reminded him of his childhood in Kyoto. "This has been a good life."
  The volume of the entire world burst violently upwards, betraying what little time was left them. More explosions came, some of the hovs crashing in the park itself as their power was cut for entering the parameter. Nariaki relaxed into the crescendo of noise. He leaned into the tree behind him, feeling the coolness of it in contrast to the warmth of the false sun above them. A heavy sound reverberated from the dome that divided the city from the ocean. Metal creaked, the straining structure overtaking the volume of the humans it protected. Nariaki closed his eyes.
  Time passed. It was the silence that woke him. Nariaki opened his eyes to find people everywhere looking up at the dome. He stood and looked with them. Pulling a vid from his pocket, Nariaki found that his life ended seven minutes ago. He flipped to the city and tried zooming out to reach other cities. The loading screen stalled. Pulling up his contacts, Nariaki messaged his team: "Anyone still alive, find someone in comms. Tell them to get a message out to the submersibles. Come home."
  Someone nearby asked, "What's happened?"
  "Nothing", said Nariaki. "But we're alone... and we have work to do."

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