Going East
The cast:
GreenLanturn as Charles Onengi;
TBF as Sam Broe;
Frostbreath as David Coarse;
Ninja_Kitten as Natalie Serkhis;
JohnnyWang as Max Burbage; International businessman and Entrepreneur.
DancingTurkeyGod as Amelié Mauresmo; Famous archaeologist and writer.
Also featuring:
ZenGaijin as Ken Tanaka;
Vertigo200 as Hiroyuki Sanada;
Lost_Chances as Paul Evans;
Mast3rmind as Andy Lau;
And:
Sarai as Apple Lin.
Prologue:
The year is 2001, it's December and our view is that of a dingy street that is mostly illuminated by harsh Neon signs advertising garish products, sales and special offers. Pedestrians pass from one patch of tinted light to another in their hurry to get home. It's late in the evening, but most of the shops are still open in an attempt to fatten their tills in the run up to Christmas. The celebration of Christmas is relatively new in this country, it's more of a Western thing, but through clever advertising and marketing it has over the last few decades sown itself into the country's mind.
In the air over the street the first snow of the week starts to fall, it melts quickly on the Neon signs and as dirty droplets falls onto the heads and clothes of the people below. Cars forge their way through the street their yellow headlights cutting through the increasing sleet. Most of the cars here are small, there are also some small trucks, Izuzus, branded with garish characters and stuffed full of boxes or crates. Occasionally a loud sports car forges past, it's exhaust booming in the narrow street.
A little while passes and suddenly there's a rush of people from one end of the street. One of the last subway trains to serve this district has arrived and a flood of tired salarymen and office ladies trudge down the street destroying the fine white coat of snow under their polished shoes and boots. After a time though, the street quietens down and the shops start to shut, some of the cafe's stay open, a few still busy with regulars quietly sipping their drinks or eating delicate noodles.
This is Nara, former ancient capital of Japan and home to over a million souls.
---
The year is now 1999, it’s another December and across the seas, many thousands of miles away the container ship Erasmus has left port at Southampton on the final leg of a mammoth journey. Having left port in Argentina the ship has called up the coast at Puerto Montt, Valparaiso, Arica and Lima. It has passed through the Panama canal, weighed deep anchor in Kingston before heading up the East coast of the States. Finally leaving behind the Americas the ship departed across the ocean for the United Kingdom.
Erasmus's cargo is mixed, she is a container ship on one hand carrying machinery, electronics and metals but she is also a cheap ticket around the world for those prepared to slum it in dingy crew cabins, eating stale bread and drowning at night in cheap liquor. The crew on the ship number some 30 or so and she weighs in at an impressive 67,800 tonnes. She is one of the larger ships on the ocean, but has the advantage of being Panamax friendly thus allowing her to serve in any part of the world her owners choose.
Also on board as she leaves Southampton are about 17 other souls, mostly in the 30s or 40s, but there are some younger students, backpacking it around the world for a pittance. Their final destination is scheduled to be Osaka, Japan, but before that they’re due to call along the African coast, India, China and near Malaysia. It’s a long journey and many of those onboard will depart at one of the stops on the way, either bored and homesick or attempting to seek new adventure in some exotic city.
The sea is calm as the ship loses sight of England and the majority of the passengers clamber inside their metal home with only the prospect of many more nights in the empty sea to look forward too.
---
Max Burbage is an exceptional man, unlike most of the people onboard he was neither poor, no criminally inclined. He was kind in a paternal way, yet like a father he could be prone to bouts of extreme anger. That’s why they nicknamed him Max Payne in the boardroom after a popular computer game character. He was a business man who had successfully run many companies and made his fortune quickly, but not usually at the expense of others. He tended to sell out after a few years preferring to concentrate on yet another project rather than grow old doing one thing. To his fellow ship-mates Max looks about 28, but in reality he’s 32. Recently however Max’s life had changed, he still had riches, riches beyond most people, but he was bored of them and tired of the boardroom, for the last year or so Max had given up his suit and had travelled around the world leaving his brother in charge of his previous enterprise. He was educated by life and by his wits, rather than through a diploma and at this current moment it showed… Standing on the forward deck above the two massive front anchor housings he looked out to sea and shivered, something wasn’t right. As if in answer to his melodramatic thought, the first raindrops started splashing rudely on the deck. Shrugging his shoulders under the sea-coat he was wearing and pulling his cap lower over his eyes, Max trudged towards the seadoor and the relative warmth inside. He climbs down the ladder inside the door and walks up the imperceptibly swaying corridor to the galley.
“Hey Max! How’s it going up in the fresh air?”
Max smiled widely at the woman asking him the question, he liked her and over the last few months had really started to get to know her better. Among the other travellers she was one of the few who shared his tastes in literature and more importantly, she played a mean game of pool on the ship’s one torn-up table.
“It’s looking alright out there Amelié, but I think we might have a storm before long… It’s strange, the MET gave an all clear on the shipping forecast.”
“Well, it is the season Max, we did pick the worst possible time to be in a ship! Oh well, with me raking it off you every night on the table, it’s not too bad.”
“I can think of a way to make it better” Max said quickly and with a huge crocodile smile, “Much better and more interesting for both of us!”
“I bet you can dear, but alas, I’m only interested in old bones, not in new ones!”
TBC in 1 min
