Pathway to Japanese Literature

German Forces Attack

“Hey, wake up.”
“It’s the German military!”

It was Hans' voice from the neighboring room.
The room’s door seemed about to be smashed open at any moment.

I let out a strange cry—one I myself didn’t even understand—and sprang upright.

The door began to break with a splintering crack.

“If I may ask—are those currently breaking down the door perhaps German military gentlemen?”

While hurriedly putting on pants, I called out toward the entrance.

“Stop joking around. This is no time for your jokes!”

Hans stopped breaking down the door and stood panting heavily on the other side of the splintered gap. When I checked my luminous watch, it was exactly three o'clock in the morning.

"Hey, Hans. What do you plan to do now?"

“If we don’t flee to the French border now, we’ll be too late! Get ready quickly—hey, why haven’t you opened this yet?”

“What the… You’re making all that racket, but the door still isn’t open?”

“Don’t say a single unnecessary word!”

Hans was angry.

I had finished getting properly dressed, so I reached for the door lock.

The moment I did, as if triggered by the action, intense gunfire erupted outside—rat-tat-tat! Tat-tat-tat!

“Ah! Machine gun fire! So the street fighting’s started.”

The turning of the key coincided precisely with Hans tumbling into the room.

“Did you hear that? German paratroopers!”

“What? Have they really come?”

I was deeply impressed by the German military's boldness and thoroughness.

“Hey Senkichi.
Hurry up! Hurry up!
Retrieve those items!”

“Those items?”

“Look, those things.
Retrieve those things—the two sealed black cylinders entrusted by Dr. Moreau.”

“Oh yeah, those things.
Do we really have to escape carrying those things?”

“Of course we do.”
“We two disciples had been specifically entrusted by the Doctor.”
“We must not betray the Doctor’s trust.”

Dr. Moreau was director of Belgium’s Moreau Scientific Research Institute, where both Hans and I had been his disciples.
The Doctor had summoned us two immediately after news broke of Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands, entrusting us with those two black cylinders.

“In times of crisis—above all else—each of you must carry one on your back and flee.”
“Until this world war ends and I reemerge into society, keep them securely stored.”
“Naturally, you must never break their seals.”
“Should abandonment become unavoidable, light the fuse protruding from the base.”
“But only when all other options have vanished—not a moment sooner.”
“Understood?—”

Dr. Moreau had lined up two unmarked black cylinders, each about thirty centimeters long, before the two of them.

“Dr. Moreau—what exactly is inside this cylinder?”
“Well, of course that’s a secret, but since we’re entrusted with them—if we don’t have at least some idea what’s inside, there are precautions we can take when storing or transporting them—”

That was what I had said.
Then Dr. Moreau’s face twisted in anger. He groaned for a while before forcing himself to relax by rhythmically tapping his broad forehead,

“I see. When you put it that way, your reasoning makes sense,” Dr. Moreau conceded, his voice tightening. “But what I’m about to reveal must never leave this room.” He tapped the cylinders’ metallic surface. “Inside these lies my life’s work—research papers for a weapon... no, a device that consumed my very being.” His fingers trembled slightly. “Left here, they’d burn or vanish in the chaos. That’s why I’m entrusting them to you both—to carry when escape becomes imperative.” A vein pulsed at his temple. “Should these fall into German hands...” He swallowed hard, the words catching like shrapnel. “The world order would invert itself. Everything—absolutely everything—would end!”

Dr. Moreau spoke with a pale face.

“Dr. Moreau.”
“Why would everything come to an end if it falls into German hands?”
“Exactly what will happen—”

Wanting to clarify Dr. Moreau’s thoughts more explicitly, I pressed further.

“I can’t say anything more.”
“No matter what, I can’t say.”
—

With those words, Dr. Moreau resolutely refused to speak any further about what would come after.

Boom.
Clatterclatterclatter.

The house shook violently like a major earthquake.
A mortar shell seemed to have hit this building.
There was no more time to spare.

“Hey, Hans.”
“It’s no use.”
“Let’s get out of here!”

I called out to my friend, but at that moment Hans—clutching one of the black cylinders—leapt from the second-floor window without a word.

Nina's voice.

From that moment on, I had become separated from Hans.

I too, clutching the single black cylinder entrusted to me under my arm, descended the stairs and rushed out through the back door. At that time, the sky was pitch black, but after fleeing in the direction opposite to the gunfire and about five minutes passing, when I looked back, fierce flames were rising from three locations in the town where we had lived.

Artillery fire shook the night sky and earth without cease.
When awareness returned to me，tracer bullets whined overhead with an ominous sound as they streaked past.
To realize those very tracers were flying toward my intended escape route—even my legs froze solid at this revelation.

"This is bad."
"If I hesitate now，the German soldiers will find me!"

Even if I, a Japanese national, were discovered by German soldiers, one might presume that through the goodwill between allied nations, it wouldn’t be a major issue—but in my present circumstances, that didn’t hold true. The reality was that at that time, we Japanese had all officially withdrawn from Belgium. Due to certain circumstances, I had remained in this country under utmost secrecy. Therefore, if German soldiers were to find me, I would undoubtedly be killed without question as an enemy-affiliated citizen or spy. And should they discover that I possessed this black cylinder entrusted by Dr. Moreau, matters would grow far worse.

"This is bad.
"This—it doesn't look like I can escape anymore!"

Feeling a dry, burning pain in my throat and gasping for breath, I ran along the weed-covered path.
It was less a run than a desperate scramble forward on all fours.
The sole objective I clung to was the aviation beacon burning atop Ilse Bluff—my only point of reference.
That night, it was truly strange how Ilse Bluff's lights remained lit as usual without being extinguished despite facing German invasion.
But at that moment, I thought:

"Hmph. The work of a German military spy."
"It must be."

I advanced steadily toward the lighthouse beacon without a moment's doubt.
My foot caught and I tumbled over and over—dozens of times, hundreds of times.
Yet each time I immediately scrambled up and continued advancing toward the beacon of Ilse Aviation Lighthouse.

Continuing this grueling progress—though I couldn't tell the exact time—it took over an hour before I finally reached the upward-sloping bluff.

The roar of artillery and rattle of gunfire struck incessantly against my eardrums and reverberated through my legs, yet fortunately, this bluff vicinity remained utterly still.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Having come this far, I felt I had somehow managed to escape the combat maelstrom.
I suddenly felt unbearable fatigue and collapsed face down on the bluff's slope.

How much time had passed since then—I have absolutely no recollection.

I was having a dream where I kept trying to solve arithmetic problems, struggling all the while.

At that moment, I felt as though someone was calling me.

“Senkichi! Senkichi!”

Huh, someone was calling my name.

(Who?
Mother!)

“Senkichi! Senkichi!”

I snapped back to my senses.

“Senkichi! Senkichi!”

I tried to spring up right there.

“Shh... Be quiet...”

The voice whispered close to my ear.
And both my shoulders were pressed downward.

The light was on.
And I was lying on softly piled straw.

“Oh.
You’re Nina, aren’t you?”

I opened my eyes wide.
The one by my side was Nina, the daughter from the apartment where we had been living.
She was a sixth-grade elementary school student.
I felt a strange sensation.
Could it be that I had been sleeping in the apartment while dreaming of the German invasion?

No—that’s not it.
In the apartment, there had been no such strange room.
As for this room—it was exactly like a factory storage room.

“It’s me, Nina.”
“But Senkichi, I’m glad you came around properly.”
“I thought you were going to die, you know.”
“Because when I found you—you were lying there deathly pale, your coat soaked in blood, the wound visible through your shirtsleeve…”

“A wound?”

I noticed for the first time then that with each pulse, my left arm throbbed.

"Oh—so my left arm had been hit."

On my arm—though I didn’t know who had done it—a bandage had been neatly wrapped.

At that moment, I remembered something horrible.
That black cylinder I'd been clutching under my left arm—what had become of it?
Where could it have gone?

*Suspicious Blueprints*

Since I was glancing around restlessly, Nina must have noticed.

“What’s wrong, Senkichi?”

“It’s an important item.
"I had the black cylinder, but Nina—you didn't happen to see it, did you?"

Nina beamed.

“The black cylinder is right here.”
“Where?”

“It’s under the straw where Senkichi’s sleeping.”
“Huh? Is that true?”

I forced myself up.
And I tried to reach under the straw, but with my left arm wounded, it proved just beyond me.
Nina, seeing this, slipped her hand in and pulled out the black cylinder.

“Is this it?”

I felt relief.
It was unmistakably the black cylinder Dr. Moreau had entrusted to me.
I took it in my right hand and scrutinized the cylinder.
But then I noticed something wrong with it—and froze.

“Ah—it’s been opened.
Who could have opened this cylinder?”

Though there had been a strict seal on that cylinder, the closure had been torn in two, and the cylinder showed clear signs of having been opened.

I glared at Nina.

“Nina.
You’re the one who opened this, aren’t you?”

Nina shook her head from side to side.

“But if it wasn’t you, who could have opened this?”

Even as I said this, I couldn’t help wanting to see what was inside the cylinder.
So I clamped one end of the cylinder between my thighs, took the other end in my right hand, and pulled.

The cylinder opened effortlessly with a smooth pop.
With my heart pounding, I peered into the cylinder.

Then, inside the cylinder were fifteen or sixteen sheets of paper, rolled up while still stacked.
I promptly pulled this out and tried to unfold it.

They were blueprints.
They were meticulously drawn blueprints of a mechanical device.
As I hurriedly flipped through each sheet one by one, I was able to determine what kind of machine these blueprints represented.

“Oh! These are blueprints for artificial humans!”

I uttered a cry of surprise.

Artificial humans!
This was the first time I learned Dr. Moreau had been researching artificial humans.
Was the invention into which the doctor had poured his very life none other than artificial humans?

“Hmm, impressive.”

I pored over the eighteen-page blueprints again and again, my eyes devouring every detail.
They were masterpieces of engineering.
The revelation that these artificial humans had been designed as new weapons left me doubly shocked.
Dr. Moreau must have completed this revolutionary invention for Belgium’s defense—but now that German tank treads had crushed the nation, rendering it too late for deployment, I ached for the doctor’s wasted genius and grieved for Belgium’s lost advantage.

“Senkichi.”
“That’s enough.”
“Put those blueprints away now.”

Nina urged me.

“Why?”

My eyes remained fixed on the blueprints as I responded to Nina.

Hmm, what was this? I found something remarkable. Ah, so that was it.

The reason Nina had told me to put away the blueprints quickly suddenly became clear.
That was exactly it.
I discovered small holes in each corner of the blueprints.

“I get it. Someone took photographs of these blueprints. Nina, who did this? Tell me.”

To secretly photograph these valuable blueprints without anyone knowing—what a despicable thing to do.

Nina wore a resigned expression.

“Senkichi, you shouldn’t raise your voice so much.”
“Just where do you think we are?”

I had no choice but to be surprised once more by Nina’s words.

That’s right—where on earth was I?
Ever since I woke up earlier, I’d been aware that I was in this strange, unfamiliar place—a place I’d never seen before—but…

“Nina… Where on earth are we?”

I hoped I wouldn’t be shocked by Nina’s answer.

“This place... it’s terrible.”

Nina opened her beautiful eyes wide and looked all around,

“This here... it’s a secret underground factory belonging to the German military.”

“What?!”

I was indeed shocked.

Prisoners of the Underground Factory

I never imagined I could be inside a secret underground factory belonging to the German military.

Why had I been hauled into such a factory?
I didn't understand—it was a complete mystery.

But Nina unraveled that mystery for me.
This place was still within Belgium—apparently inside the Ben Tunnel.
The Ben Tunnel had been carved through the mountainside beneath Mount Ben, with trains running along a line thirty miles inside the border; completed five years prior, it served as a suburban railway with few passengers.
Germany had secretly built an underground factory beneath that Ben Tunnel.
After all, constructing the little-used Ben Railway might itself have been part of Germany's national defense plans.

Come to think of it, I had heard some strange rumors about this Ben Tunnel.
By all accounts, it had been spread around as the Ben Tunnel ghost story—for instance, there was this incident that supposedly happened.
From our city’s direction, there were people who counted ten freight trains entering Ben Tunnel, yet the crossing guard on the far side exiting the tunnel insisted, “No—ten freight trains? That’s a lie.”
He insisted there were eight and would not be swayed.
The two freight trains had vanished without a trace.
This gave birth to the legend of ghost freight trains, and thus the railway’s passenger numbers dwindled even further.
Looking back now, those two freight trains must have been loaded with a great quantity of materials for constructing an underground factory beneath Ben Tunnel and burrowed into the ground.
It was an astonishing plan by the German military.
The so-called Fifth Column members had participated in this underground construction, and even now, those same Fifth Column members were likely working within the factory.

“I kept walking straight toward the lighthouse beacon on Ilse Bluff, but...”
“To think I was inside Ben Tunnel now—the direction’s completely off.”

When he said this, Nina shook her head,

“The light we saw from town last night wasn’t the Ilse Bluff lighthouse beacon.”
“It was the light that had been lit on top of this Ben Tunnel, you know.”

“But I’ve never heard of there being any lighting equipment on top of Ben Tunnel.”

“You already know, don’t you? If you consider where their people are working beneath this Ben Tunnel…”

Nina retorted cheekily.
It must have been those Fifth Column spies from the German military who lit that misleading lamp atop Ben Tunnel last night—I’d been thoroughly deceived by it and ended up wandering into this place.

“So who was it that saved me?”
“Was it you, Nina?”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Then who?”
“Captain Fritz.”

“Who is this Captain Fritz?”

As I was saying this, the door behind us creaked open.

“Ah, Captain Fritz!”

Nina poked my side.
I was completely captivated by Captain Fritz’s imposing military uniform.

“Well now—how’s your wound? Still painful?”

“No, it doesn’t hurt much.”

“I see. If it starts hurting again, do tell me.”
“I’ll give you an injection.”

It seemed Captain Fritz had even taken care of treating my wound.

“By the way—what nationality are you? Nina doesn’t seem to know either.”

“Ch-Chinese. The surname’s Sen.”

I lied.

“Oh, so you’re Chinese. Hmph, so you really are Chinese after all.”

Captain Fritz spoke in a tone of disappointment.

“Hey, Sen. Are you acquainted with Dr. Moreau?”

“No, I don’t know anyone by the name of Dr. Moreau.”

I continued to lie. I thought that for my own safety, it would be better not to mention my relationship with Dr. Moreau. This was because Dr. Moreau had so detested Germany and the German military.

“Then I’ll ask—what happened to that black cylinder? The one you had.”

Captain Fritz glared at me and said.

(Ah—so the Captain had opened the cylinder and photographed its contents.)

And I realized this for the first time.

“I found that cylinder.
“I thought there might be something valuable inside, so I kept it.”

I told another lie.
What else could I have done? It wasn’t like I had a choice.

“Hmph… Well, I suppose we can let that stand for now…”

But Captain Fritz, tapping his own back with his fist,

“In any case, it is certain that those artificial human blueprints are Dr. Moreau’s research.”
“We photographed those blueprints and reported them to our homeland government.”
“With that response, it became definitively clear that this is Dr. Moreau’s research.”
“Whether you acknowledge it or not, there is no fault in what We do.”

With that, the Captain said with an air of confidence and studied my face as if gauging my reaction.

He was testing me.
He probably wanted to learn more about Dr. Moreau from me.

“By the way, at this factory, we’ve already begun manufacturing artificial humans based on those eighteen blueprint sheets."
“I want to show them to you.”

Captain Fritz suddenly brought up an astonishing thing.

Radio wave control

I tried desperately to scold my heart into not being overwhelmed, but it was no use.
Guided by Captain Fritz, standing at the heart of the vast underground factory and listening to the groaning rotating machines and resounding press hammers, I found myself both captivated and terrified by the scientific prowess of the Germans.

The machine I was watching now was continuously casting prototypes.
Prototypes were usually made from hard steel, but in this underground factory, they were melting and solidifying some strange gray cement-like powder unknown to me.

“How about it, Sen. Is the manufacturing process proceeding to your liking?”

Captain Fritz caught my attention.

“Well... What you’re saying makes no sense to me at all.”

I desperately concealed my astonishment at the remarkable progress of the manufacturing process. It was precisely because of German technological prowess.

An enormous number of prototypes were being produced one after another. What on earth did they intend to do by manufacturing so many artificial humans?

“Hey, Sen.”
“Come here.”
Testing finally began on the completed products.
“You shall provide your unreserved critique regarding the artificial humans’ quality.”

Captain Fritz put me into the elevator and took me to a separate room after saying this.
It was a room located about three floors up.
How vast was this underground factory?

After walking a short way down the corridor, there was an entrance.
Captain Fritz pushed the door open.
And he gave me a push from behind.

I found myself completely overwhelmed.
The reason was that from the moment the door opened, my eyes were irresistibly drawn to the magnificent assembly of gleaming artificial humans arrayed like soldiers within the room.

What magnificent research Dr. Moreau had conducted!
And what splendid manufacturing technology the German military possessed!

“Now then, let’s enter that metal cage on the platform and observe.”

In the center of this vast testing chamber—large enough to hold ten auditoriums—stood a structure resembling a fountain tower, its upper section forming a cage constructed from interlocking metal rods. Inside this cage stood three or four German men who appeared to be examiners, positioned before a switchboard shaped like a desk. Operating the artificial humans required powerful radio waves, necessitating that all testing be conducted within this heavily shielded cage to block electromagnetic interference.

Captain Fritz and I finally ended up as the ones inside the cage and closed the door.

The view from within the cage, looking down at the ranks of assembled artificial human troops, was a strange sight.
Somehow, I experienced an illusion that we had paradoxically been locked in the cage because of the artificial human troops.
The artificial human troops were that imposing.

At that moment, I noticed something like a large box placed on the far side and puzzled over what it could be.

“What is that box-like thing?”

I asked Captain Fritz.

“Oh? You do speak up whenever you please.”
“Do you want to know about that hut?”
“If you keep watching, you’ll understand soon enough.”

With that curt remark, Captain Fritz raised his right hand.
That was the signal to begin the test.
An engineer snapped on the switch attached to the switchboard, then turned the handle while watching the gauges.
Another engineer kept reading out numbers: "Nine thousand five hundred, ten thousand..."

“Right face!”

As Captain Fritz shouted, another engineer snapped the buttons arranged like typewriter keys on the switchboard—pon pon pon.
Instantly, the artificial humans turned right in unison.
More crisply than any living army, like abacus beads clattering down all at once.

“Form four columns—advance!”

Pon pon pon—different keys were struck by the engineer’s hands.

A metallic clang rang from their boots as four columns formed instantly, then marched forward with rapid staccato steps.
They moved at twice the speed of living soldiers.

“Full speed, double time—move!”

With a mechanical whirr—no sooner had there come a strange mechanical groan than the artificial human column began circling our command tower in orderly ranks, moving at dizzying speed like some toy train set come to life.
If a living human were to run at this speed, they would not only become dizzy but also suffer cardiac rupture and die.

Captain Fritz subsequently issued various commands.
The artificial humans performed movements indistinguishable from those of humans.
No matter how complex the commands given, they moved separately and precisely depending on how the switchboard keys were struck.
And the actions of the artificial human soldiers were unfailingly precise and utterly courageous.

That must be why—being mechanical beings, they lacked the neural capacity to fear death.

Captain Fritz occasionally glanced at my expression.
But I stood there maintaining a neutral expression.
Captain Fritz's drill concluded in thirty minutes.

“That should suffice. Dr. Moreau’s artificial humans perform surprisingly excellent work.”

Captain Fritz commanded the engineers to stand at ease.
He wiped sweat.
I also wiped sweat.
Truly, I could only marvel at the magnificence of Dr. Moreau’s research.
I deeply regretted having so successfully handed over the blueprints for such magnificent machinery to Captain Fritz.
I was overcome with deep regret.

Non-Rotating Gears

Before Captain Fritz had even finished wiping his sweat, a door suddenly swung open beside the box visible beyond the command tower, and an engineer came leaping out from inside.

“Captain Fritz,
“This is rather odd!”

And he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Captain Fritz made a surprised face and summoned the engineer who had been hiding inside the box to his side,

“What do you mean, ‘odd’?”

he asked.

“What do I mean? While examining the artificial humans’ abdomens with X-rays during the earlier test, among the numerous gears inside them, there were ultimately two that never rotated even once."
“Isn’t this strange?”

The engineer’s face showed earnest concern.

“There were two gears that didn’t rotate at all? What’s the reason for this?”

With that, Captain Fritz fixed me with a piercing glare.

But what could I possibly know?

“I thought we’d tried every conceivable command... Hmm, this is strange.”

With that, Captain Fritz—still wearing a perplexed expression—rapped his broad forehead with a fist.

“I wonder why, Sen.
“Explain it.”

“What could I possibly know?
“If I’d known such magnificent blueprints were inside that cylinder, I wouldn’t have lingered there like that.”

“Peculiar.”
“But well, this should suffice for today.”

With that, Captain Fritz declared the conclusion of the test.

We opened the cage and went outside, whereupon Captain Fritz turned to me,

“How about it, Sen? Do you want to work yourself blackened as a prisoner at a construction site, or live comfortably here in this factory as an apprentice technician?”

he asked.

“Of course, the easier option would be preferable, I suppose.”

I answered immediately.
It wasn’t simply that I sought comfort.
I wanted to remain in this factory by any means necessary—even as an apprentice technician.
There was one hope in that.
That was to somehow steal back the artificial human blueprints.

From that day onward, I came to work in this underground factory.
Once Captain Fritz had determined through testing that these artificial humans were sufficiently reliable and effective for battlefield deployment, the factory thereafter devoted its full capacity to their production.

According to the Captain’s calculations at the time, this factory could produce five hundred artificial humans in a single day.
If they persisted for ten days, they could create an artificial human force five thousand strong; with this, he was certain the invasion operation against the British mainland would succeed.
Moreover, each artificial human was equivalent to a hundred living soldiers, and he asserted this force would be sufficient to confront five hundred thousand British troops.

I waited for my chance to execute everything that night.
As a prisoner, I slept on the usual straw bedding.
Since Nina was also a prisoner, she slept in the same room.
Nina fired all sorts of questions at me about what had happened during the day.
But I kept my mouth firmly shut and avoided answering.
Nina finally got angry and went back to sleep.

3 AM!

Finally, the moment had come.
I had been waiting for this exact hour as the optimal chance to make our escape.

“Nina, wake up.”

I shook Nina awake.

Nina, startled, sat up from the straw.
When I explained the escape plan, Nina—finding it all too abrupt—suddenly wore an expression of disbelief.

“Escape? Can we really do something like that?”

“Yeah, we can do it. We’ll escape this place using artificial humans.”

“Artificial humans? Is that even possible?”

Practically dragging the incredulous Nina along, I smashed through the window and emerged into the hallway.
Of course, I had securely strapped the black cylinder to my back, keeping both hands free.

“If German soldiers find us, what will you do?”

Nina asked worriedly.

“Just throw them with judo.”
“You must know about judo.”

And I demonstrated the throwing stance.

“Oh, judo!”
“I know.”
“Japanese people can fight enemies even without pistols.”
“My, how wonderful!”

With those very feet, I rushed into Captain Fritz’s room.
Of course, Captain Fritz was fast asleep in bed, snoring loudly.
The Captain's jacket was hanging on the wall.
I searched that pocket.
A bundle of keys brushed against my hand.
I exulted.
That was indeed the key to the command tower door controlling the artificial humans.
I took Nina’s hand and hurried up the stairs toward the third floor where the artificial humans were.

On the way there, Nina said something like this to me.

“Everything’s going smoothly like a play, isn’t it?”
“It’s all going too smoothly, isn’t it?”
“Still, what a careless person Captain Fritz is, isn’t he?”

Nina was dumbfounded.
Truth be told, even I hadn't expected things to go this smoothly.
I had properly investigated everything—the escape method and how the Captain had carelessly thrown the command tower keys into his pocket—but even so, I never imagined it would work out so effortlessly.
Not a single sentry stood in the corridors or on the stairs.

We easily slipped into the command tower.

"What will you do now?"

"We'll escape by riding on the artificial humans' backs."

"My goodness, can we really do that?"

Nina's eyes went wide.

Escape

“It’s a cinch.”
“Nina, just watch.”

I pressed the command tower switchboard keys with quick clicks.

The next moment, I expected to hear artificial humans clanking toward us with metallic footsteps.
But nothing happened.
The artificial humans arrayed across the facility stood motionless like a silent forest.

“That’s strange.”

“See? Look there.
“The artificial humans aren’t moving!”

“That can’t be right… The artificial human I just activated might be broken.”
“Let me try activating the other artificial humans.”

I pressed another key.
Yet still nothing worked.
The artificial humans remained motionless.
My anxiety mounted.
As a final attempt, I pressed every key on the panel, striving to activate all the artificial humans standing in formation.
Then miraculously, the three artificial humans whose keys I'd pressed last detached from their ranks and entered the command tower.
Tears of relief sprang to my eyes.

“Nina, they moved after all! If three of them move, everything will go exactly as planned. Now, you get on this artificial human’s back.” “I’ll get on this one.”

I eagerly helped Nina board the artificial human's back.
Nina made a quizzical face,

"You called three artificial humans—what are you planning?"
"If we're escaping with just the two of us riding them, two would be enough."
"There'll be one left over."

"That's not how it works. We absolutely need three artificial humans."
"The remaining one will perform a vital role."
"Just watch—you'll understand immediately."

Having said this, I climbed onto the back of the second artificial human.
Then, from atop its back, I stretched out my arm and pressed the key with a click.

Then, the third artificial human clomped over to the switchboard and took up the position I had occupied moments before.
And then the artificial human took my place and pressed the keys with a click-click-click.

“Nina, we’re about to start moving—hold on tight…”

No sooner had I spoken than the two artificial humans carrying us started moving.
And they exited through the command tower’s doorway.

“From departure to destruction to sprinting and even crossing the border—everything from start to finish—that artificial human remaining at the switchboard will carry out my plan in perfect order."
“Now, just watch.”

I was triumphant.
The artificial humans carrying Nina and me lined up shoulder to shoulder and began walking smoothly, step after step.
After climbing another flight of stairs, they exerted tremendous force to push open the door and emerged outside.
There lay an impressive underground passage.
The artificial humans began running along it.
The speed gradually picked up, and the wind began to howl.

“Nina, hold on tight to the artificial human’s back so you don’t fall!”

“Okay.”

The artificial humans raced like cannonballs.

In the blink of an eye, they passed in front of the guardhouse.
And they emerged from the underground passage.
The pungent smell of grass wafted up.
The two artificial humans continued running shoulder to shoulder, slicing through the wind.

(Things had gone far too smoothly.)

I felt happy that this escape plan using artificial humans had gone so smoothly, but I couldn’t help feeling a sense of surprise.
And yet, there was neither guards firing shots nor anyone chasing after us—everything was utterly unexpected.

After about an hour, the night began to pale into dawn.
Carried on the backs of artificial humans devoid of heart or emotion, our figures fleeing ever onward across the open plain must have presented a truly ghastly sight.
In any case, we needed to keep up this pace for about another hour, but if we were stopped by Belgian or French soldiers along the way, there was a risk that we—riding on artificial humans—would be mistaken for monsters or spies and cause a misunderstanding.
Such things became new worries that weighed on my mind.

Nina too had a face as pale as a corpse's.
She opened her large eyes and was restlessly, anxiously looking around.
That Nina suddenly called out to me.

“Hey, there’s a strange car moving ahead of us.”
“A bearded gentleman’s riding in it, peering this way through the rearview mirror.”

“Huh? There was someone like that in front?”

I’d been focused entirely on what lay behind us, so I hadn’t noticed this vanguard vehicle.
Sure enough, about five hundred meters ahead along the road, an open-top car kept pace with us at matching speed.

From atop that car, a dazzling beam suddenly flashed and glittered.
Like some sort of signal.

Then, for some reason, the speed of the artificial humans we were riding suddenly dropped, and before I could process this anomaly, they came to an abrupt halt on the road.

"This can't be happening.
I had made sure to keep the artificial humans running at full speed until we reached the vicinity of the border, and yet..."

And I harbored deep suspicion about why the artificial humans had suddenly come to a halt.

“Hey, isn’t that Senkichi?”

A deep voice called out to me.

I looked ahead.
Before we knew it, that mysterious car had come to a stop right in front of us.
And there, from atop the car—a bearded face turned toward us!

“Oh! It’s Dr. Moreau!”
“This is astonishing!”

Strange Reunion

I encountered Dr. Moreau.
It was strange that we had come together in such a place.

“The one who’s surprised here is me.”
“When did you manage to use the blueprints I had stored in that black cylinder to create these artificial humans?”

Dr. Moreau glared down at us from the car with a fearsome expression.

When told that, I had nothing to say.
I thought there was no other way, so I briefly explained how things had come to this to Dr. Moreau.

Dr. Moreau’s face grew redder with each word I spoke as he cursed the German military.
Yet surprisingly, he didn’t seem particularly upset with me.

“Doctor.
But this is strange.”

“What’s strange?”

“I properly adjusted the instruments to make these artificial humans run at full speed until they brought us near the border. So why did they stop here?”

“What, that’s all?
That’s a trifling matter.
Heh heh heh.”

Dr. Moreau let out an odd laugh.

"No trouble at all?"

"In other words, I stopped them," he said. "For the inventor who created them, halting these Type A artificial humans built from that design poses no difficulty whatsoever. Fortunately, the equipment-laden car over there remains fully operational."

Dr. Moreau declared triumphantly.

This made perfect sense. Though I had just learned these artificial humans were designated Type A, it came as no surprise that Dr. Moreau—their creator—possessed devices to stop or restart them.

“That’s neither here nor there—but for the German military’s secret underground factory beneath Ben Tunnel to have already manufactured such magnificent actual models! Infuriating as it is, what astonishing manufacturing power they command!”

Even Dr. Moreau clicked his tongue in awe.

“Doctor—what will become of you now?”

“As for me…”
“I still intend to cross the border and enter France.”
“I’m truly glad to have met you, but I remain concerned about Hans—though there’s likely nothing to be done.”
“Now then, you two should get in my car together.”

Dr. Moreau motioned from atop the car.

Nina had been lying sprawled out by the roadside since earlier, resting her exhaustion as if dead, but upon hearing this, she heaved herself up and staggered toward Dr. Moreau’s car.
I too had no choice but to follow Nina’s example.
However, leaving these artificial humans as they were seemed like a terrible waste, so

“Doctor, what will you do with these artificial humans?”

“I asked.”

Dr. Moreau had been crouching on the car, pressing the receiver to his ear and listening intently when he suddenly raised his bearded face,

“I’ll dispose of these artificial humans here.”

“Dispose of them…?”

“Oh, we’ll just break them apart.”

“Is that really possible?”

“Of course it can be done.
“I’m the one who designed them, after all.
“Not only are these Type A artificial humans incomplete, but even Hans’ Type B units are flawed. Destroying them will be child’s play.”

Dr. Moreau said something strange.

“They’re incomplete?
What part of them is incomplete?”

“The reason can’t be explained so simply.
But in short, things that break immediately if you handle them roughly are proof of imperfection.
I…”

Dr. Moreau started to say but suddenly cut off his words and began listening intently to the sound flowing from the receiver.

“Ah, I see.”
“So they’re finally coming.”

“They’re coming?”
“What’s coming?”

“An artificial human troop attack.”
“The German military likely deployed them right after you departed.”
“Oh! I see them! I see them!”
“They’ve already reached that point!”
“Damn them! To steal my creations and attack me—the German military’s shameless!”
“But just wait and see!”

Dr. Moreau hurled a torrent of curses toward the horizon.
Far behind us across the fully illuminated horizon, three to four hundred artificial human troops—having somehow closed the distance unnoticed—advanced shoulder-to-shoulder with aligned faces, pressing forward like a great river flowing toward us.

“Ah! They fired!”
“What?!”
“The machine guns mounted on the artificial humans’ arms have all turned this way and opened fire!”

Rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat.

The gunfire was deafening.
Bullets whined through the air—"Hyyuun! Hyyuun!"—their groaning cries flying all around us.
Urged by the doctor, I hurriedly climbed onto the car.

“Just watch, Senkichi.”
“I’ll smash that artificial human troop to pieces right now—all at once!”

Dr. Moreau shouted with a hoarse voice, turned on the car-mounted instrument's switch, and pressed the buttons with a series of clicks.

“Look there!”

A thunderous roar erupted from within the artificial human troops.
I had never before witnessed such an exhilarating spectacle.
In an instant, the artificial human troops disintegrated into fragments, scattering through the air.
The sight scarcely differed from an airplane breaking apart mid-flight—except this involved hundreds of Type A artificial humans exploding simultaneously, creating a spectacle so magnificent that no words could adequately convey its grandeur.

Even the German military's pursuit using artificial humans ended in vain because of the doctor.

He's a monster.

“Come on, let’s make a dash for the border while we have this opening!”

Dr. Moreau grabbed the steering wheel.
Our car began racing toward the border before the fragments of Type A artificial humans soaring through the air had even hit the ground.

“If we cross that hill up ahead, the border will lie right below us.”
“Just seventy or eighty kilometers left!”

Dr. Moreau declared with vigor.

Just as our car reached the foot of the hill, Dr. Moreau—whether through sudden realization or impulse—

“Ah!”

he shouted and hastily slammed on the brakes.

“What’s wrong, Dr. Moreau?”

I called out to the doctor from behind his back.

“Another artificial human troop has appeared.”
“Look at that! Coming down from the hill ahead toward us.”

Dr. Moreau was indeed sharp-eyed.
A troop that appeared to be artificial humans—lined up as neatly as a church fence—was advancing toward us with their trademark shuffling gait and crunching mechanical footsteps.

Dr. Moreau stopped the car, took out binoculars, and fixed his glare on the new artificial human troop—
“Oh! Hans is behind us!”
“That bastard was a German plant all along.”
“D-Damn him!”

Hans?
I couldn’t clearly discern Hans’ face like the doctor could, as I didn’t have binoculars. However, at the very rear of the artificial human troops descending the hill, I saw one fast tank with an officer sticking his head out from its hatch, seemingly commanding the troops—and I thought that officer was likely Hans.

“Oh! Hans, you bastard!”
“You’re raising the Nazi flag!”
“What?! You’re signaling ‘Dr. Moreau! Surrender!’”
“Y-You impudent bastard!”

Dr. Moreau flew into a furious rage.
And, speaking even more rapidly, he began cursing Hans.

“Hey, Hans.
“You used my Type B artificial human blueprints to create that artificial human troop, didn’t you?”
“Through the binoculars, you look terribly pleased with yourself—but those Type B artificial humans are just as incomplete as the Type A ones.”
“Just watch.”
“If I press this button, that very instant, your precious artificial human troop will scatter into pieces and burst apart into the air!”
“Now then, shall I show you that spectacular demolition work?”

Dr. Moreau first hurled every vitriolic insult he could muster at Hans in the distance, then flipped on the familiar switch and—with deliberate force concentrated in his fingertips—pressed the button that should have detonated the Type B artificial humans into scattered debris.

“What?!”

It was Dr. Moreau who had shouted.
The anticipated explosion did not occur.
The artificial human troops continued steadily downward from the hill, maintaining their orderly formation as they advanced toward them.

Dr. Moreau made no attempt to conceal his look of panic.
He pressed the detonation button twice, three times—no—seven or eight times.

But no matter how long they waited, the explosion simply would not occur.

“How about that, Dr. Moreau? Did you finally realize you can’t get away with your schemes?”

Then, suddenly, Hans’s voice boomed loudly from the radio loudspeaker mounted on the vehicle.

“No matter how much you try to detonate my artificial human troops with your device, it won’t work.”
“This isn’t the Type B artificial humans you envisioned, Dr. Moreau.”

“Ugh—” Dr. Moreau groaned in response to Hans’s voice.

“I’ve already unraveled the secret of those blueprints.”
“Even with just the Type A blueprints Senkichi carried, you can only produce flawed artificial humans—”
“And with only my Type B blueprints, you get equally defective models—isn’t that right?”
“To create perfect ones, you must fold both blueprints in half, splice those halves together, then build from that patched-together design.”
“Well, Doctor—am I not precisely correct?”

“Doctor.
The artificial humans now descending this hill are that complete artificial human troop.
And soon they will arrest you.
You’d better resign yourself.”

When Hans gave the command, the artificial human troops charged down the hill like bullets and surrounded the doctor.
Dr. Moreau was brought before Hans while being hoisted up by a great number of artificial humans.

I had been completely overwhelmed by the unexpected turn of events, but now finally regaining my senses, I got out of the car and approached Hans together with Nina.

"What on earth is going on here, Hans?"

I blurted out the question I desperately wanted to ask.

"Yeah, you must have been surprised."
"But it's really quite simple."
"This Dr. Moreau was originally a scientist in our homeland of Germany."
"When the Nazis drove him from our homeland to Belgium, he stole the secret research of my father—Dr. Hermann, his colleague at the time—and fled."
"Moreover, my father was poisoned by Dr. Moreau and suddenly collapsed from cardiac paralysis, so the doctor’s misdeeds remained hidden for years."
"But through the German authorities' relentless search, we discovered Dr. Moreau's whereabouts. I concealed my identity to become his disciple, enduring great hardship to reclaim the stolen research."
"If either you or I had been compromised, the blueprints would've stayed incomplete and all our efforts would've been wasted."
"But Captain Fritz deserves more credit than I do—he examined Type A artificial humans with X-rays and deduced from two motionless gears that your blueprints alone couldn't create complete models."
"Of course it was me who deliberately let you escape and predicted Dr. Moreau would be waiting ahead—though I never imagined it'd go this smoothly."
"In any case, nothing brings me greater joy than reclaiming my father's invaluable research."

With those words, Lieutenant Hans alternately gripped my hand and Nina’s with great force.
The complete artificial human troop developed through Dr. Hermann’s research—Hans’s father—would inevitably appear somewhere on the European front before long and thoroughly crush the enemy forces opposing the German military.