"Yes," Dr. n.o.beyama said earnestly. "They must come up with a workable lure before G.o.dzilla arrives in Tokyo!"
"Is he coming to Tokyo?" Brian asked.
"I am certain of it," Dr. n.o.beyama said ominously "He came here once before, in 1954. G.o.dzilla is drawn here... for some reason we do not fully understand."
"Why?" Brian asked.
The doctor scratched his head. "I can only speculate," he said. "Perhaps this area was once the creature"s sp.a.w.ning grounds - or feeding grounds.
"Perhaps G.o.dzilla is a territorial creature, and he thinks that Tokyo is his territory. Whatever the reason, I am sure that G.o.dzilla is coming here - and very soon."
CHAPTER 16.
ARMORED ATTACK!.
June 8, 1998, 5:57 A.M.
Third Armored Battalion
Northeast of Onomichi, on the San-yo plain
Lieutenant Takado lifted the heavy steel hatch of the armored fighting vehicle and hopped out. She was followed almost immediately by Yoshi and Nick, who were both glad to be out in the open air again. They"d spent the better part of an hour b.u.mping around inside the cramped quarters of the armored vehicle. It had been a rough ride.
"Don"t these things have shock absorbers?" Nick whined, rubbing his bottom.
They stepped aside as the armored fighting vehicle gunned its diesel engine, turned completely around, and drove back the way it had come. Dirt and chunks of earth splattered Nick"s J. Crew safari pants. He jumped backward.
The vehicle"s steel treads dug up the earth, leaving a trail of deep grooves. They watched as it rolled out of sight over a barren hill. Soon, even the sound of its squeaky treads died, and they were alone on the quiet plain.
"We walk from here," Lieutenant Takado informed them. "The front lines are not very far, and we have our own observation post."
Yoshi and Nick lifted their gear and followed. The j.a.panese youth struggled under the weight of both his video camera and his backpack, which contained a portable satellite link. This equipment would enable him to send his taped images to INN headquarters.
Nick carried a bag containing blank videotapes, as well as his own portable tape recorder and plenty of audioca.s.settes.
During the Kongo-Maru attack, Nick had discovered how useful just speaking his thoughts into a recorder really was. He had been able to give a verbal eyewitness account of the action, without missing a thing. I could never have recalled it all without my tapes, Nick reminded himself.
He remembered how Brian had teased him for using the exact same method that reporter Stephen Martin had used forty-odd years before. Martin"s book, This Is Tokyo, was mostly transcribed from his own voice tapes, made during G.o.dzilla"s rampage.
"I thought you said that Stephen Martin"s techniques were old-fashioned," Brian had said when he saw Nick"s machine.
"I said his reporting was old-fashioned," Nick replied defensively. "As far as using a tape recorder is concerned - hey, it works."
The day before, Nick had been surprised to see what the tank treads had done to the otherwise superb j.a.panese highway system. The roads leading up to the battleground had become pitted with giant potholes from the treads of millions of tons of armored vehicles.
Now Nick was shocked to see the damage that these same military vehicles had done to the landscape. Fields of gra.s.s and small copses of trees had been flattened. Tracks were everywhere, digging deep furrows into the rich earth.
G.o.dzilla hasn"t arrived yet, but the destruction has already begun, Nick thought grimly. He spoke those words into his tape recorder as they hiked to the observation post.
Ahead of them, the horizon was filled with dirty black smoke. There were occasional flashes, followed by the sound of the explosions rolling over them a moment later. Each flash illuminated the gigantic figure of G.o.dzilla.
Again, Nick was awed in the monster"s presence. There"s no way I can describe this, he thought, frustrated by his limited narrative powers. I guess you just have to be here.
But he knew that he had to try. It"s my job, he reminded himself every time he felt like giving up. Stumbling over the tortured earth, Lieutenant Takado led them on a half-hour hike. Finally, she pointed to an industrial site surrounded by a chain-link fence. "Our post is over there," she told them.
When they reached the fence"s padlocked gate, Lieutenant Takado reached into her pack and produced a key.
Once through the gate, she pointed to a factory tower of some kind. It was a steel frame covered with thick pipes. More pipes ran up through the middle of the tower. A huge tank was at the top.
She led them to the base of the tower, stopping at a doorway that led to a metal cage. Nick looked up. At the top of the hundred-and-fifty-foot tower, he saw a small hut with observation windows. The hut was constructed of corrugated metal sheets.
"Get in," Lieutenant Takado said, opening the door to the metal cage. Nick and Yoshi stepped into the primitive elevator. The lieutenant pressed the b.u.t.ton and, with a jolt, the shaky elevator began to rise.
As the creaky cage neared the top, Nick and Yoshi admired the view. "You certainly know your way around," Nick remarked.
Lieutenant Takado smiled. "I scouted this place myself," she informed him.
Soon, they reached a high catwalk. The elevator jerked to a halt and the steel doors slid open. They followed a narrow walkway until they reached another door. This one was unlocked, and they entered the tiny metal hut.
Inside was a cheap wooden desk, a bare overhead light, and two battered chairs.
"The accommodations aren"t much," Nick quipped. "But the view is spectacular."
The factory was on top of a low hill, and Nick could see that they occupied the highest ground for miles around.
Looking out the windows, which lacked gla.s.s or even a screen, they could see the battle lines spread out before them. The j.a.panese tanks were lined up in three rows, waiting for G.o.dzilla"s arrival. Over their heads, the skies were alive with military helicopters. Yoshi tapped Nick"s shoulder and pointed.
Nick saw it, too - an ABC helicopter with a huge camera mounted on its fuselage. Nick scanned the morning sky and saw three more news choppers - one from NHK, the j.a.panese network; one from the Cable News Network; and another from the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Finally, Yoshi spotted the chopper from INN and showed his partner.
"Max Hulse is up there." Nick remarked. "They should play his reports over a loudspeaker - they might actually put G.o.dzilla to sleep!"
As they watched, the news helicopters moved slowly toward the front lines. Each helicopter focused its powerful cameras at the horizon. Looming there was the creature called G.o.dzilla, silhouetted by the explosions and fires in his wake.
Nick"s heart raced in antic.i.p.ation. He felt strangely alive in the middle of this battlefield He turned to Yoshi. His face was lit with excitement, too. No wonder Yoshi wants to become a war correspondent, Nick mused. There is something powerful and alive about a battlefield. It"s so... intense!
Quickly, Yoshi set up his camera and a.s.sembled the portable satellite link. There was plenty of electricity supplied to the tower, courtesy of a nuclear power plant somewhere behind them - and in G.o.dzilla"s path.
While Yoshi spoke to technicians back at INN headquarters, Lieutenant Takado opened a plastic envelope containing a military MRE - Meal, Ready to Eat. She offered one to Nick, who politely declined.
Suddenly, as one, the front line of tanks began to rev up their idling engines. The tanks, j.a.panese-made Type 74s and 75s, had round turrets and long 105-millimeter cannons. They looked very different from the U.S. front-line battle tank, the M1A1 Abrams, which had a square, boxlike turret.
Lieutenant Takado"s military radio squawked. A stern voice began giving orders in j.a.panese. Nick looked at her. "What"s going on?" he asked.
"The general has just given the order," she answered. "The attack is about to begin."
As the engines continued to rev up, tank commanders popped their heads out of the hatches on top of their turrets. They scanned the horizon with binoculars.
In a matter of minutes, all guns were pointed at G.o.dzilla.
Then, again as one, the tanks in the first line mowed forward. They approached the monster slowly over the rough terrain. From the vantage point of the tower, the armored tanks looked like turtles as they crawled toward G.o.dzilla.
Undaunted by the line of tanks that moved to block his way, the monster approached.
Now the thunder of G.o.dzilla"s footsteps could be heard over the noise of the tanks. Finally, the monster noticed the tiny pests that had come to hurt him.
Puzzled at the intruders, G.o.dzilla turned his head to one side in curiosity. He seemed to wonder just what these things were.
Suddenly, a yellow trail of fire shot across the slate gray morning sky. The signal flare burst into green incandescence right in front of the creature"s nose. G.o.dzilla reared back and opened his huge maw.
A terrible, echoing roar of confusion issued from the creature"s throat.
And at that moment, fire and smoke and steel belched out of a hundred cannons. The first line of tanks fired in unison. The thunderous sound rolled across the San-yo plain. Burning sh.e.l.ls sped toward the creature with a whistling howl.
Nick covered his ears. The tower vibrated from the ear-shattering din. For a moment, G.o.dzilla seemed to be engulfed in smoke and flames. Hundreds of sh.e.l.ls burst against his hide and penetrated his flesh. His roar of pain and rage rolled across the plain. G.o.dzilla"s mighty cry drowned out the sound of the tanks.
Nick felt a stab of fear. Yoshi, too, was shaken. But the young j.a.panese stubbornly continued to film footage of the attack.
Another volley of tank sh.e.l.ls, fired from the second row of tanks, slammed against G.o.dzilla within moments of the first. More explosions flashed all over the creature"s chest, neck, and face. A third volley followed. Then a fourth.
The whole world seemed to shake. Nick turned off his tape recorder - the sound level meter was reacting wildly to the terrible roar of battle. The machine was useless in this chaos.
Smoke billowed across the battlefield, obscuring G.o.dzilla like a shroud. Nick"s eyes strained to pierce the haze, which seemed to roll toward them on the breeze. Occasionally he could catch a glimpse of the monster through the cauldron of smoke and fire.
For a moment, G.o.dzilla"s eyes seemed to stare back at Nick through the haze.
Then the guns were quieted. The smoke cleared.
To Nick"s surprise, a terrible roar filled his ears. I can"t believe it.
G.o.dzilla was still standing! Despite the highly praised cadmium sh.e.l.ls, the creature seemed totally unaffected by the munitions that had been fired into his body at almost point-blank range. Even Yoshi gasped in surprise. Lieutenant Takado frowned, then keyed her radio.
The tanks in the front line began to back up or veer away. The entire line was soon scattered as the tanks - now out of ammunition - tried to flee from the battlefield. But G.o.dzilla directed his reptilian gaze down at a dozen vehicles on his right. His dorsal fins glimmered, and with an angry grunt, he spat blue fire.
As the lights illuminated his bony spines, G.o.dzilla rained radioactive death down on the tanks at its feet. Nick watched in choking horror as the heat began to melt the vehicles.
The tanks glowed redly. The cannons went first - they slowly began to dip toward the ground as they turned to molten metal. Several of the tanks blew up almost immediately, their turrets flying into the air. Other tanks soon followed.
In less than a minute, thirteen tanks had been reduced to melted steel. Their four-man crews had been incinerated where they sat. There had been no hope of escape.
The attack was broken. The second and third lines of tanks backed up, turned around, and fled. They fired their cannons at G.o.dzilla to cover their retreat, but the fire was undirected and ineffective. G.o.dzilla stepped forward among the fleeing vehicles.
Again and again, G.o.dzilla"s feet came down on the retreating tanks. The monster crushed men and machinery where they stood, grinding them into piles of mangled metal.
The battle was almost over before it began. It was a rout for G.o.dzilla.
While Nick, Yoshi, and Lieutenant Takado watched helplessly, the best men and machinery of the j.a.panese Self-Defense Force were smashed by G.o.dzilla"s onslaught.
Nick turned to Lieutenant Takado. She was near tears. She probably knows some of the soldiers down there, Nick realized. Just then, the lieutenant"s radio crackled to life. She swallowed hard, regained her composure, and replied.
A long conversation in j.a.panese followed. When she finally signed off, she turned to the two reporters.
"We must go," she stated. "The attack is over, and as soon as the tanks are out of the area, the army is going to launch a long-distance rocket attack. We will be in danger if we stay."
Nick and Yoshi exchanged glances. They saw the same determination in each other"s eyes.
"We"re staying," the two men said in unison.
Lieutenant Takado looked at them. "You will be killed," she stated simply. "Nothing can be gained by sacrificing yourselves for a news story."
"But we have a job to do," Nick insisted.
"Look up," she said, pointing. Nick and Yoshi turned their eyes toward the gray morning sky. The news helicopters were flying over their heads, away from the battle.
"They have been ordered to leave, too." Lieutenant Takado said. "Soon this area will be a killing field, and hundreds of high-explosive fragmentation rockets will rain down from the sky."
Again, Yoshi and Nick exchanged glances. They nodded.
"Okay." Nick surrendered with a mock salute. "Where to, Lieutenant?"
"On the other side of the factory, a rented off-road vehicle awaits us," she told the two.
"Rented!" Nick said in surprise.