Free United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas Page A

here.”
    “What isn’t?”
    She clicked on the photos. A gallery of images appeared: friends at parties, dances, restaurants, outings. There was one female companion that came up repeatedly.
    “We’ll need to interrogate all of her companions,” Akiko said. “Can you have the photos sent to my portical?”
    He tapped a few commands on the portical display screen. “Done.”
    Ben looked at the wall, then back at the portical.
    “I’m missing something,” he said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Why all this security on her portical if there isn’t anything valuable on here?” he wondered.
    He went to her room, checked her mat, rummaged through her books, and peeked behind her desk. Some of the plants seemed removable and he inspected the soil, but there wasn’t anything other than roots. He opened the window and felt the wall right outside, just beyond view. Nothing. He went to the living room windows and checked there as well.
    “What are you looking for?” Akiko asked.
    Ben held up a lean metallic strip he’d found adhering to the external wall. “A peripheral unity driver. It synchronizes porticals.” He inserted it into his machine and a series of numbers popped up. “Normally, as long as you pass the security codes on your portical, it’ll sync directly and open up un-synced files. But if you fail, you won’t even know the sync didn’t happen unless you’re looking for it.” A new sphere appeared. “It looks like that game, United States of America .”
    Akiko snatched the portical, pressed a few buttons. “Look at this introduction and the ludicrous exaggerations about the death tolls of the Americans,” she said, agitated.
    “Why don’t you just censor it?”
    “We’ve tried. But it’s become an underground hit and is spreading rapidly.” Akiko handed Ben back his portical. “What’s this ‘Kami mode’?”
    “That’s world creation,” Ben replied. “It means she can change and design the world using her portical.”
    “Is that standard in most games?”
    “Sometimes. Depends on the designer.”
    “If it’s on there, does that mean anyone can take the game simulator and modify it?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “We’ve found the game piggybacked with many top hits,” Akiko said. “Even if a censor were checking a game, they wouldn’t see it unless they knew the specific codes to access it.”
    “How did you find them?”
    Akiko looked grimly at him. “We can be convincing. I’ll need your portical back,” she said. “You’ll need to request a new one.”
    “I always carry a few spares. Can I copy my personal items over?”
    “Make it quick.”
    Ben organized his portical and sent data into his personal database on the kikkai. A message came in for Akiko, which she read.
    “Are you done?” she asked.
    “Yep.”
    Akiko held up the picture of Claire’s friend that seemed ubiquitous. “Command just informed me that the woman in the pictures is her friend, Jenna Fujimori, and is suspected of working with the Americans. They’re tracking her location at the moment. She was the one who was speaking in the communication with Claire when they mocked the Emperor. We hope she can tell us more about Mutsuraga’s current plans.”
    “What’ll happen when you catch the general?”
    “What do you think?”
    “Are there any theories on why Claire…” He glanced involuntarily towards the bathroom.
    “Perhaps she couldn’t bear the dishonor of her father’s sedition.”
    As they went to the elevator, Akiko checked her portical again. There were no updates. “I need to eat,” she said.
    “There’s a great tempura burger place nearby,” he offered.
    “Let’s go.”
                                  11:31AM
    “Oh great, we beat the lunch rush,” Ben said. “I recommend the classic tempura burger. They dip their buns in honey and pecan sauce and it’s amazing. You can get vegetable or pork tempura. I personally like the shrimp. They catch it