Zero Sum Game Read Free

every worker, no matter what their position. Several weeks bore fruitless results until he came across Shota Fujiya.
    His file had Fujita listed as a delivery worker, but Ichihara noticed his unusually high security clearance within the company. Further investigations had found proof of birth and a family registry, but school records, hospital admissions, even on-line purchase histories were nonexistent. No record of Shota Fujiya went back further than five years. The Noigel were getting sloppy, which meant they were getting desperate.
    Ichihara made his way down the crowded sidewalk toward AHI's headquarters, a modern building of glass and metal.
    At the corner of a convenience store, a Buddhist monk shook the metal rings on his staff, a donation bowl beside his feet. His robes were brown and orange. His bamboo hat sat at a low angle and covered most of his face. He said nothing as pedestrians walked by without glancing at him. He only stood and clanged his rings.
    Ichihara quickly took out his wallet and dropped a few 100-yen coins into the simple bowl. The monk bowed in appreciation but still said nothing.
    He continued up the street. Two blocks later, he crossed to the opposite street from AHI and took up position not too far from the bus stop. Fujiya didn't know Ichihara, but he thought that if Fujiya spotted him, he would look less like a loiterer and more like a businessman waiting to go to work.
    He stared at the second-story windows. His battle suit gave him superhuman sight. He gazed at the employees passing near the windows and read the reports in their hands as they conferred with colleagues. A man sat at his desk, his back to the window, and opened up a newspaper. Ichihara read part of an article about Toyota's stock prices before the article disappeared behind the man's shoulder.
    Ichihara couldn't get an entire view of the second floor. He needed to find out if Fujiya was a Noigel; if so, he would be their contact on Earth. He debated about walking in and waiting in the lobby but decided against it. If Fujiya did somehow suspect Ichihara of being a Noigel rebel, he might become violent, and that would be bad. The point of infiltrating Earth was not to let the native population know they were there. He needed to be close to Fujiya but wanted the meeting to be quick.
    "I need to make sure Fujiya is a Noigel," Ichihara whispered. "Any suggestions?"
    "None that fall within mission parameters," his suit replied.
    Ichihara sighed. He glanced at the people on the sidewalks, moving through their lives. He remembered the monk.
    "I need a change of clothes," he said.
     
    — — —
     
    Shota Fujiya liked simplicity. Intimidation made life simple. His flash skin accentuated his larger-than-average Noigel frame. He stood over two meters in height and weighed over one hundred ten kilograms. When he walked down the street, people gave him extra room.
    He walked down the street towards the headquarters of Amano Heavy Industries. His boss, Yusuke Shimizu, had called him in. Yusuke Shimizu . Fujiya had a hard time thinking of his superior in that respect; he also had some difficulty of thinking of himself as Fujiya. It wasn't simple. He was Tyren Dolok. He didn't like covert operations: the duplicity, the secrecy, the subtleness. They were Xilay's forte. Tyren wasn't a subtle person and he didn't like sneaking around. He preferred straightforward missions: go to a place, give their demands, respond with force if the locals didn't comply. Clean and simple. But Xilay had asked him to come on this mission and Tyren had agreed. He played by Xilay's rules; when Xilay told him to do something, Tyren did it. He tried to think of Xilay as Shimizu and himself as Fujiya.
    Amano's office building came into sight, and Fujiya gave a tsk of disgust. A monk, begging for money, stood motionless nearby. He bent his head in supplication and folded his hands into the sleeves of his robe. Fujiya sneered; the monks only stood there, depending on