Fish of the Sea

[Mel Rose]

— Fish of the Sea —

“And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled.”

— Mark 8:7-8, KJV

Rose’s heels tapped rhythmically as she walked through a Shinjuku Station corridor. Her face betrayed signs of annoyance as she knocked on a door and walked into Kurotori headquarters without waiting for permission. The room smelled of cheap Kusarian cigarettes, as usual. Hano smoked in the backroom when he was alone and was absolutely convinced no one noticed. Of course everyone noticed, but everyone was also polite enough not to point it out.

“Hano, what is so important that you need to summon me personally over here?” She asked, looking at the ceiling before moving her gaze to behind the desk where her accountant and advisor usually sat. That’s when she noticed he wasn’t alone. “And who is that?”

Inside Hano Nobuyuki’s office sat a younger man — boy even, he couldn’t have been older than twenty-five — who stood up immediately as she entered. The moment she looked at him, he put his hands down his sides and bowed his head in the familiar Kusarian gesture of respect. Unfortunately for her, it also meant she couldn’t study his face more carefully, something she did always when someone was about to ask her for money.

Hano cleared his throat. “This is Hantaro Honda, a recent Kyushu University PhD. He has a pitch for you.”

“Oh, it better be a good one,” Rose replied and glanced at the young man again, who was still keeping his head down. She raised her eyebrow. “At ease, soldier.”

Honda raised his head, visibly confused. “Ma’am…”

“I’m not Kusarian,” she interrupted him, “I am, as some of you say, a gaijin. Since you are here means that no other Kusarian would want to talk to you, or you couldn’t talk to them. And since Hano decided to call me here all the way from New Tokyo means that you managed to convince him that whatever you have is a great idea. But I’m the one with the money, and I’m not easily impressed. So, do go ahead. Tell me what your business is. Impress me.”

She sat down across the desk from Nobuyuki, while the aspiring entrepreneur did his best to compose himself. “I… Well… I don’t have a business… But I think… Samura…” He looked towards Nobuyuki with desperation in his eyes.

“Mr Honda thinks,” Hano sat back and put his hands together, “that Kusari is on its way to starving in a few years, and he claims he has found a solution to the problem.”

“That’s… That’s right,” the young scientist confirmed the accountant’s words. An uncomfortable silence befell the room.

Rose moved her eyes every couple seconds between Honda and Nobuyuki, trying to figure out if either of them was serious. Finally she sighed, rolled her eyes and waved her hand in a circle. “Elaborate, please.”

“As you might know,” Hano rustled a few papers, “the bulk of Kusarian diet consists of rice and fish. Rice is ubiquitous and plentiful. The fish, according to him,” he pointed at Honda, “are becoming a problem. The primary source of fish is Planet Junyo in Shikoku, whose fisheries are responsible for nearly eighty percent of the total fish consumed in Kusari. Or rather they have been, until six years ago, when the GMG took over Planet Kurile.”

“I don’t follow,” Rose replied. “What has a backwater planet in the Sigmas got to do with fish?”

“Two centuries ago,” Honda chimed in, now more in his element, “Samura experimented with using plancton from Kurile to populate the sterile oceans of Junyo with fish. They waited until the alien organisms acclimatised to the waters of Junyo enough to multiply and soon after introduced various species of white and oily fish to the planetary ocean. The endeavour was a great success, with the population of fish skyrocketing and after sixty or so years Junyo fisheries produced as much fish as Kyushu, New Tokyo and Honshu put together. It was immensely profitable and made the price of nutritionally complete food competitive with the alternatives provided by Synth Foods.”

“And that’s common knowledge in Kusari?” Rose asked, beginning to understand the picture. “If it is, it’s already priced in whatever you might want to do with it.”

“Not very. Just rumours among old-time professors at the Kyushu University. Samura doesn’t like to publicise details about the inner workings of their industry, much less admit that such a vital process was revealed to be so fragile.”

“The price of fish has already increased by twenty-five percent over the last two years,” Nobuyuki added. “Most say it’s because of the war with Gallia, market instability and inflation. But assuming his story checks out, that might not be the real reason. And I, for one, don’t see any holes in it.”

“So, if I got this right,” Rose sat up and closed her eyes, pretending to visualise the situation. “Junyo fish eat Kurile plancton. Samura ship in the plancton from Kurile. GMG takes over Kurile. Samura doesn’t have the fish food anymore. And no one has noticed anything?”

“There is enough fish food in the oceans for a few more decades, naturally,” Honda replied. “But there’s less of it with every passing day. And if the food isn’t plentiful, fish multiply less, and the fisheries are not able to cope with the demand, so they raise prices. Eventually the entire thing is going to come crashing down like a house of cards.”

“I haven't been looking too closely, to be honest, but I don't recall seeing all that much on the news about Kurile over the last couple of years,” Nobuyuki interjected before Rose could reply. “There has been suspiciously little said about the GMG takeover. Someone might be covering something up. It doesn’t matter who, it matters that there’s money to be made with it.”

“We’ll get to that,” Rose stopped him and turned to Honda. “Why do you come to me with this, then? Why not Samura, or Kishiro, or someone else who understands the situation better?”

The accountant smirked and replied instead of the scientist. “Isn’t it obvious? If it’s Samura covering up, he noticed it and it means he is dangerous, so they will deny anything he says. If it’s Kishiro, that’s a free pass for their Synth Foods friends to take over Kusari food market. So the only person who can do anything about it is someone from the outside.”

Honda resorted to merely nodding to confirm the accountant’s words.

“I see,” Rose answered. “Very well. You have convinced me that there is a problem. Now, I hope that you also have a solution for it?”

“I believe I do…” Honda replied with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. “During the research for my thesis, I came across a species of Kyushu algae that responded very well to aquaponic hydrocarbon-based fertilisers…” He stuttered.

Rose raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“Well… I was hoping… With your gracious funding… More necessary research could be done…” The scientist continued to stutter.

“That’s why I called you,” Nobuyuki picked up the thread of Honda’s argument. “It’s clear he’s inexperienced, he doesn’t have a company, doesn’t have a patent. Just has a research paper and an idea that has a solid potential to solve a problem Samura doesn’t even know they have. The downside is minimal — I checked how much these experiments costs and it’s not much — and the potential upside is very high. I suggest this: Mr Honda sets up a corporation and files for the patents. For footing the bill for the preliminary research Kurotori gets twenty percent of the stock. If the idea is confirmed and found promising, we buy out a majority and see that it gets off the ground. If not, not much has been lost.”

Rose rubbed her chin for a few seconds, then nodded. "Deal."

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Jennifer Haze Does Not Exist :: Filing Cabinet :: Swords into Plowshares
Liminality :: Good in Red :: Past to Present :: Fish of the Sea