Part 13: Exploration III
-------------------------------------------------------
[Memory Card 9: GHB Formula]
Data recently purchased from an Ibiza club chemist includes the various formulations for the intoxicant Gamma-Hydroxybutric Acid (GHB). As one of the date rape drugs, this drug's market includes centers for human trafficking including Eastern Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and India. A batch sent out for field testing in Los Angeles is generating positive feedback from the usual clients. We recommend doubling the street price.
[Memory Card 10: Heroin Formula]
The data purchased from an Afghan drug lord pertaining to the manufacture of heroin tells us nothing new. It details information on the proper soil and temperatures for growing the poppy itself, to harvesting the opium, to the purification of morphine and its extraction into a heroin base. Again, all information we already have. Further deals for "trade secrets" with this contact should be avoided.
[Memory Card 13: Krokodil Formula]
Our Russian contact remains an asset of dubious value. We now have data on the manufacture of this meth-like substance. It generates extreme, cheap highs but also causes severe tissue damage. Users are known to have muscle and bone exposed from injecting krokodil, forcing the amputation of limbs. Markets are exclusively Eastern European, with the side effects too extreme to consider for worldwide distribution.
[Letter 8: Mogi's Fourth Letter]
General Yamagata,
I am shocked and dismayed to report that what I had assumed was Private Tadao's incompetence is in fact sabotage. I was suspicious that none of the long-range radios were working, so I checked them. I am no expert in electronics, but even I could see that the tubes had been removed, the wires cut, and the battery missing.
I thought him weak, not a saboteur. He is too simple to be a spy. Regardless, he has betrayed his fellow soldiers, he has betrayed me, he has betrayed his oath to protect Japan, and he has betrayed the Imperial Family. I am going to execute Private Tadao, and if any of the men try to protect him, I will be forced to execute them as well.
Major Kuro Mogi
[Letter 9: Tadao's First Letter]
My darling wife, my beautiful daughter,
I don't know why I am writing to you. I know you'll never see these words, and if the Imperial Ancestors are merciful, you'll never know of my shame. I cannot tell you what possessed me to disable those radios, but these men...they are the only family I have left. When I heard the news, I felt like my heart had been cleaved. How could I make them suffer as I had? And now that I haven't told them, how can I have kept this from them?
I wonder, when the bomb fell, were you tending in the garden? Were you feeding Aika? Did you feel anything? Did you even know what happened? These questions haunt me, and I can only pray that you did not suffer. I pray that you died ignorant of what came next.
Tadao
[Letter 10: Tadao's Second Letter]
My Darling Wife,
I don't know why I keep writing to you. Perhaps I am hoping you survived somehow. Perhaps I wish that I could come home and find you and Aika waiting for me. My heart wishes it with a terrible ache, but I suspect I know the truth: that you are gone. And Aika. And Hiroshima.
Major Mogi watches me with a hateful gaze. It's as if he knows the truth, but how can he? I can't bear to face him. I'm afraid that if he confronts me again, I'll break down and finally tell him everything about Hiroshima. The men try to protect me from him, but what have I done? I was too scared to tell them the truth, and now it's too late. In a moment of grief, I smashed the radios and betrayed everyone. Perhaps it's better I die. Perhaps then I can be with you and Aika.
Tadao
[Letter 13: Hayato's Second Letter]
To Colonel Imada Daichi
I can only assume that my previous letters and the charges I have leveled against Lieutenant Colonel Yamada Masahiro and his continued incompetence have not yet reached you or you would have seen the truth and replaced the Lieutenant Colonel by now. I believe that the Lieutenant Colonel has intercepted several of my letters already, and that he has sent men to search my room in secret. I see the truth of it now. He fears me. He is afraid of my success and covets the glory for himself when Project Tenka harnesses the power of lightning and Project Kyouken the fury of the animals. He knows I will bring a new sunrise to the Empire of Japan. I fear I must protect the critical findings of my research from him and my team until you intercede in the matter. It is the only way to protect the Empire and the Emperor from his ambitions.
Dr. Koga Hayato