Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Written by Toriumi Jinzō
Illustrated by Ōtori Workshop
Part 2: Alien Invasion
Chapter 3
Listen to this chapter!
[Excerpted from a Washington Post article published on Wednesday, July 28th]
Special Assistant to the President Dead in Terrorist Attack
On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 27, a passenger plane carrying Special Assistant to the President Arthur Davis burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Oakland Airport in California. Thirty-six passengers and crew, including the Special Assistant to the President, died in the fire.
The aircraft involved in this tragic accident was World Air Flight 105, which was bound for Hawaii. It departed Oakland Airport on time on July 27 at 2:50 PM. A few minutes later, there was an explosion at the center of the aircraft that caused the fire. The aircraft broke in two while in midair.
A rescue team was dispatched immediately after the explosion, but the scale of the destruction was too great. There were no survivors.
The Special Assistant to the President was on the flight to begin talks about strengthening international alliances for military defense. State police and the FBI have opened an investigation into World Air Flight 105's explosion. The investigation is preliminary. This event is currently being treated as a potential terrorist attack.
[Excerpted from an article in the French newspaper Le Monde on Sunday, August 1st]
Hyper-sonic Passenger Aircraft (HPA) Sighted in Satellite Orbit
A hyper-sonic passenger aircraft (HPA) that went missing in French airspace on Friday, June 30th was spotted in international airspace in the early hours of this morning. Debris from the HPA is in a satellite orbit around the Earth.
The HPA, Flight 207, was bound for Tokyo from France when it went missing on Friday afternoon. Flight 207 departed Charles De Gualle Airport on time on Friday, but lost communication capabilities fifteen minutes into the flight. A space shuttle manned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) discovered debris from the aircraft during atmospheric re-entry training.
JAXA's shuttle retrieved as much debris as they could find and performed tests on the debris’ origin. As of this morning, it has been confirmed that this debris is what remains of missing HPA Flight 207. How the plane broke up and why it was found floating so high in the atmosphere remains a mystery.
Among the passengers on Flight 207 was Renault d’Eusmans, the French Minister of Science and a leading authority on astrophysics. The French Prime Minister expressed his deepest condolences for Minister d’Eusmans’ untimely death. He has opened an investigation to determine the cause of Flight 207's disappearance and destruction.
This tragedy has parallels to the recent plane crash of World Air Flight 105, which resulted in the tragic deaths of Special Assistant to the President Arthur Davis and thirty-five other passengers and crew.
Flight 207 is being investigated as a potential terrorist attack.
***
World leaders sat around a round table at a counter-terrorism conference in Kisarazu. No one spoke. No one made eye contact. The tension in the room was palpable. Some leaders and their aides had broken the unofficial ban on smoking and were lighting up in their seats to calm their nerves.
Terrorist attacks were on the rise—and they were targeted. While there hadn’t been as many large-scale attacks in recent months, precision strikes on specific officials were becoming commonplace. The world leaders sitting around the table had reason to fear for their lives.
While the leaders’ fear was understandable, the counter-terrorism conference was being held in the hope that by standing united, they could stop or prevent these heinous attacks.
The United Nations had brokered this conference, but in an unofficial capacity. That was why this conference was being held on the island of Kisarazu in Tokyo Bay. Relations between Eastern and Western countries had been steadily worsening since the end of the Cold War. A more neutral venue would be more public and have more scrutiny. A smaller, more intimate conference like this was meant to help representatives be more comfortable speaking to people they would never negotiate with ordinarily.
Unfortunately, the leaders had already split along typical party and alliance lines. No one was talking, never mind negotiating. Earlier, there had been finger-pointing, foul language and plenty of blame-slinging from all sides, but that kind of engagement would never solve the terrorist problem they’d been summoned here to confront. Worse, some of the leaders floated conspiracy theories and baseless accusations of collusion with the terrorists in an attempt to make their traditional enemies look bad.
It was possible that this conference would end with relations between the East and West worse than ever.
It was 7:53 PM, roughly an hour after the conference had convened. Ounishi Yousuke checked his watch, then glanced over at the other Japanese representatives and their aides. One was National Police Agency commissioner Fujimoto Soutarou. The other was Minister of Defense Arashima Akimitsu.
He’s late… what are we supposed to do? Ounishi Yousuke was Japan’s Public Security Bureau Chief. He was deeply annoyed at how unproductive the meeting had been so far. He poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher to give himself something to do with his hands.
The main doors to the conference room opened, letting in light that reflected brightly against Ounishi's glass. A tall, middle-aged man walked into the room alone, closing the door behind him.
The representatives’ eyes fixed on the man.
Public Security Bureau Chief Ounishi took a sip of water from his glass. He’s finally here, he thought. He stood up to greet the man.
The man stopped walking in the center of the conference room. He was unusually tall for a Japanese man. He said nothing for a short while as his eyes swept the room, taking in the faces of all of the conference’s attendees.
The man had a strong jaw, piercing black eyes, and a short beard that made him look younger and not older as was typical. His name was Kozaburo Nanbu. He’d been appointed Director-General of the International Science and Technology Agency (ISTC) at the age of 54. He was the youngest Director-General of the ISTC in history and was widely considered to be a genius. He had expertise in many interdisciplinary fields including physics, biology, and astronomy. Magazines nicknamed him the Leonardo da Vinci of the 21st century due to the versatility of his genius.
Dr. Nanbu cleared his throat a few times, and then headed toward Public Security Bureau Chief Ounishi, who’d been holding Dr. Nanbu’s seat for him.
“I apologize for the delay. The inspection protocols were stricter than usual,” Dr. Nanbu said.
National Police Agency Commissioner Fujimoto snorted laughter, unimpressed by this excuse. “It’s an honor to have you with us, Dr. Nanbu.”
“Thank you for your attendance, NPA Commissioner,” Dr. Nanbu replied with a bit more grace. They glared daggers at each other.
Ounishi stepped between Dr. Nanbu and Commissioner Fujimoto. “Security on the island has grown stricter than usual in light of all the recent attacks. That is what we’re here to discuss, is it not?”
“Indeed it is.” Dr. Nanbu bowed to the representatives, and then sat down.
Ounishi had high hopes for Nanbu at this conference. Representatives from each country had gathered here today to discuss counter-terrorism measures, but they’d already stalled in negotiations. The ISTC was a neutral agency with no centralized political agenda. If anyone could get all these contentious people talking, it was Dr. Nanbu.
Dr. Nanbu was scheduled to make a statement at this conference about the recent attacks. The other delegates knew about the statement, but most of them didn’t look inclined to listen. Dr. Nanbu knew that.
“I apologize for missing previous discussions among the representatives,” Dr. Nanbu said with admirable insincerity from his seat. “I’ve come here, Mr. Chairman, to make some remarks about the recent terrorist attacks on important officials in government and the scientific community.”
The representatives frowned sourly.
“Proceed, Dr. Nanbu,” Ounishi said.
Dr. Nanbu smoothed the front of his suit in a nervous gesture. The conference room fell silent. Most eyes were on him. “As you all know, there have been sixty-five identified terrorist attacks, including attempted attacks, on government officials, scientists, and business leaders around the world in the past few months.
“My friend and colleague, Dr. Renault d’Eusmans, was one of many victims of this senseless terrorism. And yet, despite the loss of so many luminaries and geniuses—people of great worth to the world who had so much good work left to do—we are no closer to discovering the how or the why behind these attacks.
“Let’s start with ‘why.’ In most acts of terror, there is a clear motive, but these attacks show no clear pattern. There are victims of these attacks in every country represented in this room. There is no clear agenda against any particular country or political persuasion. To say this is unusual is an understatement. It defies all previous precedent for acts of terror.
“And now, we turn to the ‘how.’ It pains me to say that we—that is to say, this body, the ISTC, and the numerous organizations that have investigated these attacks—are no closer to understanding how attacks on such a large scale are carried out.”
Dr. Nanbu paused to take in the reactions of the delegates. Most of them appeared bored. He gritted his teeth, and then continued speaking.
“I say that we do not know how these attacks are performed on such a grand scale. This is true, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t tried to find out. Armed gangs in the Middle East or other countries in the Third World might explain localized terrorist activity. Disaffected citizens from the former Soviet-aligned Eastern Bloc could explain the technological expertise that the terrorists have shown.”
At this, one of the Russian representatives, Sukhoi Vareshnikov, interrupted Dr. Nanbu. “Use care in making your accusations, Dr. Nanbu. Get to your point.”
Dr. Nanbu nodded. “I was not trying to accuse anyone present. We have investigated all the usual suspects and ruled them out. The scale of the terrorists’ operation is too great. It is our current theory that this series of attacks is part of an invasion plan by aliens from another planet. They are attacking the Earth with the intent to conquer it.”
The delegates burst out laughing.
Dr. Nanbu remained calm. He waited for the laughter to die down before saying, “Honored representatives, aliens is the current theory, I assure you, and the threat they pose is real.”
Sukhoi Vareshnikov barked out a laugh. “Just because you’ve ruled out the usual terrorist suspects, that doesn’t mean that aliens are responsible. That’s insane.”
Ounishi sweated on the sidelines. This wasn’t what he’d expected. Commissioner Fujimoto and Minister of Defense Arashima were equally uncomfortable.
The representatives kept laughing or chuckling. Dr. Nanbu had lost the crowd.
Ounishi stood up, hand raised. “Dr. Nanbu, I would like to ask a question. You say that your theory is… alien invasion.” The words stuck in his throat. “What evidence do you have to support this?”
Dr. Nanbu nodded. “A pertinent question.” He looked around the table. When he spoke again, he pitched his voice to carry over all the laughing and muttered conversations. “You all must know about Pioneer 10.”
“Are you referring to the unmanned planetary probe launched by America thirty or so years ago?” Minister of Defense Arashima asked.
“That’s right.”
“March 2nd, 1972,” Vareshnikov said bitterly. The space race between Russia and America was not a distant memory to him. He was familiar with Pioneer 10 as well as other American spacecraft. “It was an unmanned probe intended to make contact with aliens, correct?”
Dr. Nanbu nodded emphatically.
Vareshnikov gave him a disgusted look. “You know the probe didn’t make contact with any alien life, Dr. Nanbu. Even though it left the solar system. There’s nothing out there. At least, nothing close.”
Some of the other representatives were paying attention now. Most of them didn’t know much about Pioneer 10 or the search for alien life. They wanted to hear how Dr. Nanbu would answer Vareshnikov’s questions.
“As you say, Pioneer 10 was launched with the assumption that it would make contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life,” Dr. Nanbu said. “The probe went dark without making contact—at least, that’s the official story. Until recently, we had no reason to doubt those results. But now, we do. There is potential evidence of tampering with the probe. It is so subtle that it is difficult to say what caused it. But if we take the probe’s purpose as a given… we believe that alien life encountered the probe and erased signs of their existence. And then the aliens used the probe’s data to find their way to Earth.”
Silence all around.
“This is not proof,” Bernard Gibson, a representative from America, said. “And even if Pioneer 10 is worth investigating, I see no connection between alien life and the terrorist attacks we’ve been seeing.”
Dr. Nanbu nodded. “There is more that I can tell you all. During its mission, Pioneer 10's sensors glitched. It lost communications and we could no longer pull data from its sensors. This happened just a few years ago. Pioneer 10 was designed to run for much longer. Sabotage would seem to be a plausible explanation for why Pioneer 10 went dark on us.”
“That could be caused by a mechanical failure or a sudden accident,” Vareshnikov put in.
“It could,” Dr. Nanbu agreed, “but there has been a dramatic increase in UFO sightings since the probe’s disappearance. A few months ago, some astronomy enthusiasts reported seeing a huge UFO on the Moon.”
More snorts of laughter in the room.
“All this is why we believe that it’s possible that aliens are behind the recent terrorist attacks.”
Vareshnikov chuckled. “That’s just speculation. It’s not even a theory.”
Dr. Nanbu nodded cautiously. “The evidence we have is circumstantial, not concrete. That doesn’t mean we should ignore the threat. Having ruled out terrestrial causes, we must prepare for extraterrestrial invasion.”
Dr. Nanbu left the center of the room and sat down.
Murmurs, whispers and laughter echoed around the large hall. Ounishi, Fujimoto and Arashima remained silent with their arms folded, deep in thought. They didn’t even speak to one another for a few moments. There was too much to consider.
Dr. Nanbu sat in his seat, unconcerned by the ruckus in the room. He borrowed a lighter and smoked a cigar, letting the smoke drift out of the open window nearest him. A crescent moon peeked out from behind the clouds.
Translator's Note
Kisarazu typically refers to Umihotaru, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, part of the Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line Expressway. It serves as a rest area for the highway, offering unique views and attractions. The island is an engineering marvel, connected to the mainland by a tunnel and a bridge.
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