River Walk Encounter

Posted on Tue 18th Oct, 2016 @ 3:11am by

775 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Cloak & Dagger
Location: River Walk, deck 1554

Ken'ichi MacBeth walked across the Wakato bridge, away from The Village. It wasn't much of a bridge... slightly arched, orange-red wooden rails with cast iron finials at each end. On the other hand, it wasn't much of a river -- two meters at its deepest points, and never more than four meters wide. Truthfully, it was more of a landscape artist's conceit than an actual river. But it had fish, and a current, and a nice sound.

On the right bank, Ken'ichi turned and walked upstream, between the two rows of Sakura trees. It was the second day of their blossoming, so petals had not yet begun to fall. Toro, paper lanterns, hung over the cobblestone path. It was currently afternoon, late in Alpha shift, so the lamps weren't lit; light came from the simulated sky, high above the artificial river. Ken'ichi found the bench he'd been heading for, and sat, facing the path and the river beyond it.

For two or three minutes, he simply sat, his chocolate brown eyes watching the flow of water in the river. Then he sighed, reached into the right pocket of his tweed jacket, pulled out a book. An old-fashioned flat photograph of a young woman in a tartan-print yukata served as a bookmark. She, too, stood among Sakura trees, but later in the blooming... petals were suspended in the air around her, stopped from their five centimeter per second downward drift. A few were caught in her hair, and she was holding out a hand, trying to catch one, a laugh frozen on her face. Ken'ichi smiled at the photograph, and tucked it further back in the book before beginning to read.

Time went by. Ken'ichi made progress, holding the book with his left hand, turning pages with his right. He glanced up as a woman sat on the other end of the bench. She was Asian; Japanese, he guessed, though possibly Korean. She wore a rust-red Starfleet uniform with the rank insignia of a Chief Petty Officer on her collar. Pretty, he decided. She had a "small face," framed in short, black hair. Her eyes were honey-brown, lighter than his own. She was smiling, and dipped her head in a bow. «Excuse me,» she said, speaking Japanese.

«Please,» he answered in the same language, responding automatically to her slight bow.

They sat in amiable silence for a few minutes, looking at the river, before she spoke again. «A lovely spot, isn't it?»

«Isn't it?» Ken'ichi echoed, smiling slightly.

«What are you reading?» the Chief asked, looking at his book.

Obligingly, he held it up so she could see the cover. «Flowers of Luna,» he answered. «A classic of the diaspora. University of Newer York Press, 2274 edition. It was one of my late wife's favorites.»

She frowned. «That's not Japanese,» she observed, sounding confused.

Ken'ichi chuckled. "Driver Creole," he explained, pronouncing the Terranglo words carefully.

The chief matched his chuckle, and the switch in languages. "Sorry;" she said. "I just presumed you were Japanese." She gestured at the setting.

"Only vaguely," Ken'ichi answered. "A couple of hundred years ago, one group of my ancestors set out from Japan. I'm from Broken Drive." He paused a moment. "Ken'ichi MacBeth," he introduced himself. "I actually helped design this section of the River, so I'm glad you feel it's lovely."

"Kagurazaka Eriko," the Chief responded. Then she tilted her head, examining him. "How long have you been here?"

"About half an hour," Ken'ichi answered, a teasing note in his voice. Then he relented, "Over a decade. We overhauled the river walk about five years ago." He paused. "And you?"

"What day is it?" Kagurazaka quipped, smiling slightly.

Ken'ichi laughed. "What brings you so far down-station?"

"Oh, the power went out in our offices today," Kagurazaka answered. "So the Lieutenant gave everyone the rest of the day off. I'd heard there was a Japanese section of the River, and when I got here, I saw you reading. So few people have paper books anymore. I saw the kana on the pages, but not well enough to realize it wasn't Japanese."

"I own a bookstore," Ken'ichi informed her. He pointed downstream, and across the river. "Over in the Village. Pale Moon Books. I do have some Japanese titles, if you're interested."

"Very," Kagurazaka answered. "There's something about holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, smelling the paper...."

"I agree," he answered. He smiled. "Feel free to stop by anytime. We're open daily from ten to twenty."

"I believe I will," Kagurazaka said, smiling. "I do believe I will."

 

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