The Hiroshima Tree
03 Sep 2018Ouberos
OOC In 17th Century Japan a Japanese White Pine was planted. It was to be turned into a Bonsai and was succesfully grown on and nurtured by many generations of the same family. The family which owned the Bonsai lived in Hiroshima. Three hundred and twenty years after the tree was first planted a Hydrogen bomb was detonated over the city of Hiroshima, two miles from where the family lived. Protected by the highwalls of their garden the Bonsai which has now been termed the Hiroshima tree survived the blast. This in itself is a fantastic story. I suggest you read about it yourself. I also suggest you read the harrowing 1946 book called Hiroshima by John Hershy although this is often difficult reading. The Hiroshima tree is alive and well today. It is currently in the care of the US National Arboretum in Washington D.C. The story below is my poor attempt to imagine this Bonsai fast forwarded into our universe and the clutches of my antique loving Piratical Commander. I have no idea if a White pine can live for so long. I hope so. I also hope you enjoy my story. The Hiroshima Tree
Afternoon light turned the autumn air syrup thick with golden radiance. It had rained but now the sun shone and it's warmth lifted the calming scent of fallen pine needles and old growth forest from the wet ground.
Two women stood away from a group of workers who were preparing a cargo canister. Nearby, within a large wooden pagoda, on an unadorned platform stood an ancient Bonsai. A living work of art of exceptional standard.
All around them stood a forest and on any other measure the trees would be called ancient, yet against the lifespan of the Bonsai they were nothing more than saplings.The slow swaying susserance of their evergreen branches added a whisper of regret to the proceedings
“It is hard for me to comprehend the amount of time that this Bonsai has endured,” said the taller of the two women. Alexa Dietsch wore the dark grey uniform of an Elysium Corp Security Executive from Yembo. Her hair was tied back and hidden under her cap but a few strands of her copper coloured locks fell across her shoulders.
The other woman nodded. Her brightly coloured robes contrasting the neutral colour of the others uniform.
“Yes. It is staggering to think that when this was first planted Human beings had barely begun to utilise gunpowder. Warfare was still a matter of swords and spears. Space flight and expansion was still many, many generations away,” she replied. “For this very tree to then also be present, at ground zero of the dawn of the Nuclear age and survive is a miracle. This Bonsai has been alive during uncountable events which have been pivotal in shaping our species. It was a great honour for us to be given stewardship of it these last few years. We are disappointed that it has to be removed,” she said pointedly.
Security Executive Dietsch nodded.
“We understand. Sadly the time has come for the tree to be repotted. This appointment was one of many which were scheduled with Sensei Kirojawa twenty years ago. He is now too infirm to travel and so we must take the tree to him,”
“But could one of our own arborealists not attend to this task? Some of them keep Bonsai of their own and are very talented,”
“If it were any other tree I am sure we could agree. This tree though, is special. It was purchased from Sensei Kirojawa thirty years ago by one who then became a Director of Elysium. Part of that deal was that the tree would always return to the Sensei for the rejuvenation work,”
“I understand of course, but could we not discuss this with that Director? Perhaps a deal could be struck?”
“Sadly that is impossible. Intelligence Director John Dee is dead. He left no Will and as his department has now been disbanded the tree is fully owned and listed as an Elysium Corp asset. The Corporation must abide by the terms of the original deal. You understand that it is the way of corporations to follow the rules they have agreed to. There really is nothing I can do. Procedure must be followed,” she said.
They watched in silence as the tree was secured in a framework of carbon threads which held it rigid at any orientation. Then this network was placed in a frame. Which was secured in a Light box. Which was lifted into an armoured case. Finally the workers slid the whole thing into the cargo canister and listed the manifest simply as “Antiquities”.
The canister was loaded into a transport drone which would take it to the spaceport and the waiting Elysium Corp fleet which would see it safely across the bubble, all the way back to Sol and the waiting Sensei, the Bonsai Master whose lifelong duty it was to rejuvenate the tree and keep it alive for the future.
“Security is not an issue I hope?” asked the robed woman and Alexa shot her a hard look. Her pale eyes blazing fiercely in the exaggerated light of the autumn evening.
“The transport ship is a battle fitted T9 and the three escorts are combat ready Anacondas from our war fleet. I will be piloting the lead ship myself, so no. Security is not an issue. We have nothing to fear because it would take an entire fleet of Pirates to engage our convoy and even then there would be no competition. From here on this is an Elysium Corp Security division operation and I can assure you there is nothing which has not been planned for,”
Then she nodded a curt goodbye to the robed woman and took her place on the transport. Armed and armoured figures rode alongside her. They carried enough ordinance to level a small township. It would indeed be a foolish endeavour to try and interrupt their mission.
When they were gone the robed woman was left alone with the empty Pagoda and the whispered secrets of the forest. She entered the Pagoda and meditated for a while on the nature of individuals who felt they could own something as long lived as the Hiroshima Tree.
She concluded it was a good thing such a person had died for there was no doubt they would otherwise want to reclaim it.
At the starport Alexa was throwing her weight around and had secured a perimeter with the soldiers. System authority was winding itself in knots but she wouldn’t relent until the pilots had concluded their pre flight checks. The T9 pilot was particularly thorough and insisted on reporting the status and efficiency of his Frameshift drive to confirm the distance of each jump he could make when partially loaded. Alexa was impressed with his dedication to procedure and took a note of his employee ID number so she could bring it up in his next Personal Development Review.
When they had all reported in she climbed aboard her Anaconda the “Unexpected turn of events” and ran through her own checklist. Only when that was complete did she authorise the Soldiers to stand down and allow the Starport staff to return. She gave the order to lift off and the four huge ships began the long crawl out of the planets gravity well.
“Destination obscured sir,” reported the T9 pilot and she authorised the convoy to Supercruise beyond the horizon of the habitable planet.
One of her Conda pilots reported that the soldiers were having trouble with the local authorities. She advised them to cooperate and hand over their weapons if they needed to. Elysium Corp had no jurisdiction there anymore. Technically the soldiers were covered by Diplomatic status but there was no need to create an incident.
The T9 pilot reported that the first jump would be available within five seconds. She remembered to enter his ID number into the HR employee database on her handheld comms.. She gave the order for the convoy to Nav lock onto her ship.
The HR database ran a search.
The Conda pilot who was in touch with the Soldiers on the ground sent her a direct message. There was some trouble and the Authorities were holding their men accountable for something.
“Jump is clear,” the T9 pilot reported and she gave the order to High Wake.
The database was still searching.
The icons flashed up one by one that their hyperdrives were charging. She noted the T9 pilot was first and decided she wanted him on her special operations team when they returned to Yembo. She very much liked employees who stuck to procedure, were efficient and wasted no time.
She sent a direct message back to query what the problem was down on the surface. No doubt the ground pounders had started a fight. It would be a mess but nothing Legal couldn’t resolve. She had her orders and nothing was going to stop them jumping in, five, four,
A direct message flashed up in her comms.
They have found one of our pilot's, unconscious in a janitors cupboard. He had been roughed up pretty bad and wrapped in duct tape.
Three, two.
The HR database pinged a return and her stomach lurched as she read the name of a man who has once been a Director of Elysium and was supposedly dead.
One.
On board the T9, the pilot pressed the button to power down his Frameshift drive and the giant cargo ship crashed out of supercruise. Yawing and pitching violently the ship squealed as it struggled to stabilise itself.
He turned the module back on and while he waited for the drive to restart he turned off the wing beacon and selected a new target system.
“Elysium Corp Security division really have let themselves go,” he said to no one in particular.
It was Spring. Cherry blossom crowned thickly around the trees and rained across the courtyard, carpeting the cobbles with colourful pink and white petals. The Hiroshima Tree stood proudly in the centre of a large table. Around it was a forest of many other Bonsai which on any other measure would be considered ancient but against its lifespan they were nothing more than saplings.
Two men sat drinking tea while robed apprentices began to prepare the instruments required for the coming operation. It had rained and the air was still chill with the damp which would ensure the roots of the tree did not dry out during the procedure. Everything was as it should be.
“Surely the soldiers will come here,” the old man commented and the other shrugged.
“Perhaps, but I suspect this is the last place they will think to look,” he said. “Soldiers are not too bright. Corporate one’s even less so,”
The old man nodded and slurped on his tea thoughtfully. After some time he said, “Tell me again why you stole something you already owned. Only to bring it here, where it was coming anyway. At first glance one might think it is you who is not so bright,” he said with a chuckle.
“I made an appointment Sensei, and the tree must be preserved. The Hiroshima Bonsai is not an asset in a ledger” the other replied simply.
Sensei Kirojawa considered the other man for a while.
“You are not the same man who came here thirty years ago and made me an offer I could not refuse. Yet you look as though not a day has passed,” the old man struggled to rise and the other helped him up. “For me time has been cruel but for you and for the Bonsai time has preserved you both. Yet on the inside your energy is changed,” the Sensei leaned on his stick as he approached the table.
“When we have finished our work you should take this tree somewhere safe. There are more events to be written in its history and some of them will no doubt be as dark as that which gave it its name,”
“However, this will be the last time I will work on this Bonsai. My time with it has passed. Mark my words, one day, despite whatever dark science holds your age in check, your time with it too will also come to an end,” he said and instructed his apprentices to begin. Each of them was a master in their own right but for the Hiroshima Tree only his guidance would be sufficient.
“Before then you must come to realise that just as a flower fades and drops seed, a star will go nova and spread its elements to the universe,” he said and paused a moment as he watched the knife slide around the edge of the rectangular pot.
“And death,” he said, “Well death is no ending at all,”
Sensei Kirojawa returned his attention to the work of the apprentices.
“It is good to see how you have grown Commander Ouberos,”
