A piercing BUZZZZZZ tore through the room. Noriko irritatedly reached her arm out from under the covers into the cold air of the bedroom. She fumbled around, knocking stuff off the night table, searching for the off button. Click. The grating buzz subsided. Noriko rubbed her eyes and snuggled back down into the pillow, determined not to get up. She half dreamed for a few minutes, and noticed her neck was getting stiff. Reluctantly, she began groping around the night table for her watch. She found something and brought to closer to examine it. Glass of water. Oops. Noriko leapt out of the bed, and stopped tilting the glass.

        'Lovely. Wet pillow,' she said with displeasure, and yawned, running her hand through her uncombed hair. She considered it for a moment, and plopped back down onto the bed, careful to avoid the wet patch. Unfortunately, jumping out like that had woken her up too much. Lying there would just give her a headache. Cursing this, she flexed her little toes, and rolled back out to a standing position.

        Walking into the kitchen, still dragging a brush in an attempt to shape her hair into a naturally-occurring shape, Noriko grabbed a mug of yesterday's cold tea, and jammed it into the microwave. She had 45 seconds to find some solid food. Scanning the shelves, her gaze stopped on the open package of cookies. She pulled one out, and took a bite. Too big a bite, she realized, and struggled to chew the cookie as the microwave beeped. Swallowing with great difficulty, Noriko took the tea from the microwave, dropped 5 sugar cubes in, stirred it blearily, and drank it in two gulps. Time to get going.

        Doing up the last buttons on her white blouse, she grabbed her handbag, her jacket, and wearily stepped into her shoes. She walked out the front door, and failed to notice she'd just left a large footprint on the newspaper. News didn't interest her much. She was sick of reading about war.

        The old electric train ground noisily into the station. All the carriages were jammed full. Despite this, the hundreds thronging the platform, Noriko included, forced their way on. The doors squeaked shut, and Noriko was trapped in a crowd as the train jerked violent and began moving. Noriko nearly fell over, and was unable to find anything to hold on to. The temperature was getting hot. Noriko wiped her face with her sleeve.

        At last the train pulled into the next station. A welcome blast of cool air blew in. But then the doors closed and another rough shudder sent them on their way.

        When Noriko finally arrived at work, her clothes were crushed, her hair was messy, and she felt all hot and sticky. She dragged her way into the lobby of the office building.

        'Hi, Riko!,' called a cheery voice. Noriko wearily turned and saw her best friend Sihobahn Brennan trying to run in high heels.
        'Morning, Sihobahn,' muttered Noriko as her friend stumbled to a stop.
        Sihobahn regarded her with a strange look. 'Rough morning?,'
        'You could say that,' Noriko replied, and held a train ticket so crushed the automatic turnstile couldn't read it. A long search for help had followed.
        'Told ya,' said Sihobahn with a grin, 'you should get a car! Or ride with me!'.
        Noriko shook her haggard head.
        'Come on,' she moaned, 'if you had to drive all the way to Minato-ku to pick me up from your place, and THEN to work, we'd never get here until lunch!,'
        'And the problem with that is?,' laughed Sihobahn.
        'I don't want to get sacked!'
        'You should want to hit the sack, though,' Sihobahn replied, 'with a guy, mind.'

        Even though Sihobahn was Noriko's best friend, Noriko wasn't always entirely sure why. As they began to walk to the lifts, Noriko looked at her friend critically. Sihobahn had been transferred here from the Dublin office, but hadn't been able to return yet because the company feared for employees passing over the battlefields in Europe and Asia. So, she was stuck here. Not that it seemed to bother her, since she always seemed to attract loads of men, who found her red hair both exotic and alluring. Which was all well and good, except poor Noriko almost never got any attention because they were all fawning over Sihobahn. She hadn't had a boyfriend in months... heck not even a date in months! And now Sihobahn had a new car... it made Noriko very jealous.

        They walked into the busy office, and made their way to their cubicles. Noriko was trapped at the end of a long maze of felt walls. Sihobahn cheerily made her way to her desk next to the window, with a spectacular view of Tokyo bay. Noriko spent a lot of time at Sihobahn's cubicle, because it gave her a change to remember that there WAS an outside world. Japan was unfortunately located right next to China, and was therefore under constant threat of attack. The nearest allies were Australia and America, and both were far, far away. Noriko looked out the window to see yet another American task force steaming out to sea. She could just make out tiny fighters launching for the aircraft carrier's combat air patrol.

        'Can I get you anything, or anything?,' Sihobahn asked her brightly.
        'A new life, if you can spare one,' Noriko replied.

        Sihobahn didn't like seeing anyone unhappy, and had made it one of her personal objectives to cheer Noriko up. Eventually. She was about to start listing off fun things they could do when Kenji Moraji, the office loser, walked up.

        'Hi Noriko, hi Sihobahn,' he said in his unattractive voice. It suited him, though, with his greasy, spikey hair, huge-framed glasses, and face covered with shaving nicks. If he was a hemophiliac, he would have died ages ago.

        'Hello, Kenji,' chanted Noriko and Sihobahn in unison. Being unpleasant to a deserving target was at least something they both enjoyed.

        'Hey,' he snorted, 'what're you doing this evening?,' he asked expectantly. Sihobahn winked at Noriko.

        'Having a little girl-on-girl action,' she said with a broad smile,'but if you'd like to come and watch...,'. Kenji turned bright red and appeared to grow quite uncomfortable.

        'Ummm,' he stammered, in shock,'I just realized, I have to work late!,'
        'Awww, too bad,' Noriko joined in, seeing her chance, 'you should see
my new corset! It's red, and lacy, and...'
        'Is that my phone ringing??,' said Kenji frantically, and raced off towards his desk. Sihobahn and Noriko watched with pleasure as he drank 3 cups of water from the cooler, before hurrying off to the lift.

        'He's going to use the colour photocopier...,' said Sihobahn.
        'He seems to do that a lot,' added Noriko.

        Hours later, surrounded by stacks of papers, Noriko huddled with only a pen, scribbling a signature onto each. Well, it had started as her signature, but as her hand cramped, it grew more and more bizarre. She held up one of the papers and examined it.

        'Norman Icky,' she read, and, satisfied, place it onto the 'done' pile. Sihobahn came up, ready to leave.  'It's five thirty!,' she exclaimed, but got no response from Noriko,
who continued robotically signing and stacking.

        'Come ON!,' said Sihobahn, taking the pen for Noriko's hand. Noriko continued the motions of signing, despite not making any marks on the paper. Sihobahn began to look worried. Noriko looked up and grinned.

        'Let's go,'. she said. Picking up her handbag and coat, she followed her friend to the lift. The doors opened and revealed a multi-armed creature, sort of a flying metal octopus. It was carrying brooms and pans.

        'Evening, Mr Handy,' said Sihobahn. Noriko hated Mr Handy. He was unnerving to look at, to say the least. Mr Handy beeped a greeting, and glided eerily into the maze of cubicles, sweeping and dusting.

        'Maybe I could teach him to sign my name?,' Noriko mused aloud.
        'Maybe he'd go on a date with you... he is, after all, MISTER Handy!,' replied Sihobahn, pushing the carpark button on the lift.

        'So where is this fab new motor of yours?,' Noriko asked, pulling on Sihobahn's arm like a child demanding a new toy.  'Just around the corner,' replied Sihobahn.

        Several corners later, they walked up to a large, shiny motor car, which had a bit of trouble fitting into its space. All the smaller cars around it were parked askew, as to allow its doors to be opened without causing any damage. Noriko gaped.

        'Chryslus Corvega,' said Sihobahn, pulling the keys from her purse and spinning them on her finger, 'had it shipped from America.'
        'It's...lovely,' said Noriko, unable to stop staring.
        'Yup!'
        'And... BIG!,' continued Noriko, hold her arms apart like a fisherman telling a story about his catch.'
        'No back seat, though, so that's disappointing,' grinned Sihobahn, unlocking the doors. Noriko got into the passenger door, which was on the wrong side for Japan. Sihobahn started the engine. 'Petrol engine,' she said, 'haven't gotten the cold fusion one fitted yet.'

        The car rolled up the carpark ramp to street level.
        'Where are the headlamps? I can see their light but I didn't see any on the front...,' asked Noriko.
        'Neat, eh?,' replied Sihobahn. She turned the wheel, and the Corvega glided smoothly out onto the street.

        Parking a large American can in a space designed for a small Japanese one was no mean feat, but Sihobahn managed quite happily. She was also happy that the Corvega's fenders were more dent-resistant than the car in the space behind them.  'He's over the white line,' she explained.

        Inside the bar, throngs of office works crowded together, laughing, talking, and getting mercilessly drunk. Sihobahn seized Noriko's hand and led her through the human mass to an empty booth.
        'Now what?,' asked Noriko.
        'We wait!,' replied Sihobahn.

        It was a short wait, because within a few minutes, a very attractive young man came up, chatted to Sihobahn, and led her to the dance floor. Noriko was left alone, watching Sihobahn have a great time. Sihobahn seemed to notice this, and bid farewell to her companion.

        'Awww, left out?,' she said, sitting down.
        'As always'
        'Well come with me,' Sihobahn said excitedly, 'I know a better place'.
        Noriko found herself pulled through the crowd back to the street.

        Several steaming plates of food were thrust onto the table. The waiter nodded curtly and threaded his way through the tables back to the kitchen. Noriko gazed at the food quizzically. Sihobahn dug in without a pause.

        'What's it like?,' Noriko asked her.
        'Good. Eat some!,' Sihobahn replied. A gentle jab with a fork reassured Noriko it was safe, so she took a bite.
        'What is it?,' she asked.
        'Chicken,' a full-mouthed Sihobahn answered.

        Shortly, the waiter arrived again, carrying a large bottle of wine. He placed it on the table, much to the surprise and confusion of both Sihobahn and Noriko.
        'Compliments of the gentleman at the far table,' said the waiter, pointing at a grey-haired man sitting looking at them. Sihobahn leaned close to Noriko.
        'What d'you think?,' she whispered
        'He's old enough to be your father!'

        'Yes. Here,' she said, picking up the bottle and showing it to Noriko, 'it's champagne. Watch this!'. She twisted the cork, took careful aim, and blasted it across the room. The trajectory took it for a direct flight into the man's tomato soup. Red sprayed all over his shirt, and the table cloth. He stood up, visibly annoying, mopping furiously at his ruined clothing. He stormed off to the bathroom.

        'That will be all,' said Sihobahn cheerily to the waiter, as Noriko chuckled. He left, and they began to drink the wine.
        'I bet this will cheer you up,' Sihobahn told Noriko, filling her glass to the brim.

        Cheer her up it did, although perhaps a little too much so, because when their upset benefactor returned to his table, they both giggled like maniacs at him. He tried not to notice, and this only made them laugh harder. Sihobahn wasn't drunk, but clearly knew that Noriko was. She decided to let her enjoy a bit of pleasure.

        When the time came to leave, Noriko was having difficulty walking properly. Sihobahn saw little option but to bring her back to her apartment to spend the night. Noriko's legs turned to rubber, and had to be dragged to the car door. As the traffic rushed past, Sihobahn looked up at the sky to see searchlights sweeping the sky. There was no way they could black out the city in time, she realized, and hurriedly fastened Noriko's seatbelt, and raced to the driver's door. The boom of antiaircraft guns could be heard as they pulled out onto the street.

        The next morning, Noriko sat in Sihobahn's kitchen. The fact it was all much nicer and clean than hers wasn't helping her headache. She sipped her tea as Sihobahn came in wearing her fuzzy bathrobe. 'Feeling okay? You sure seemed to last night!,' she said with a laugh. Noriko only gave her a glance, and slumped forward. Sihobahn pulled her upright. 'Don't get your nose in your tea,' she said, 'we have to get ready for work.'

        Driving along to work, the radio announced the previous night's air raid has been successfully repelled, and had only done minor damage to the city.
        'The air raid is over?,' asked Noriko.
        'Yes, why?,' said a puzzled Sihobahn.
        'My head is still thumping,' Noriko replied, and had another Aspirin.
        'Better not have any more,' warned Sihobahn, '4 is the maximum dosage!'.
        Noriko frowned.'How come they can create drugs that make your smarter and more perceptive, yet they can't come up with an effective headache cure?,'
        'The same reason flying cars haven't been invented...,' Sihobahn said.
        Noriko looked at her for the answer.
        'Because!,' Sihobahn said. Another war report came on the radio.

        Sihobahn took Noriko's coat and went to hang it up for her. Kenji nervously came up.
'Umm so what happened last night?,' he asked.
        'Sihobahn got me drunk, and took me back to her place...,' began Noriko. Kenji got that same uncomfortable look again, and ran back to his cubicle. He peered over the top at her, before ducking back down. Sihobahn came back.
        'What's his problem?,' she asked.
        'I told him we went back to your place last night.'
        'And we thought we had a little girl-on-girl action?'
        'Yes. What an idiot.'
        'You were unconscious. How do you know we didn't?,' Sihobahn said with a smile. Noriko stood there, stunned, as Sihobahn walked away, wiggling her bottom. She realized it had been a joke. She hoped.

        The stack of 'waiting' papers had just vanished when a clerk passed by her desk, and, seeing that, gave her another huge pile. Noriko buried her face in her hands. Sihobahn came up, and handed her a pamphlet.
        'What's this?,' asked Noriko, opening it.
        'It came in the mail today,' explained Sihobahn, 'it's from an American company called Vault-Tek. They build giant bomb shelters under the ground, and now they're trying to set up a division here.'
        Noriko shook her head, and said, 'That's crazy. Those things would cave in after the first earthquake!'
        'Not according to this,' replied Sihobahn, pointing at a map below a picture of a happy family sitting in their metal-walled living room. 'Apparently they've built many in California. And that's the San Andreas fault line, right there.'.
        Noriko eyed it dubiously. 'So that would make it the San Andreas va....'
        Sihobahn cut her off, 'Yes yes you're really cute. But I'm thinking we should move into one!'
        'Move in... together?,' asked Noriko. Kenji was passing by, and upon hearing this, ran off at top speed.
        'Erm.... yes. The air raids are worrying me. They might stop dropping regular bombs!'
        'But if they do that, they'd get hit by atomic bombs too, only much worse! You're paranoid!'.

         Noriko closed the pamphlet, and looked at the cover, showing a cross-section of a generic vault. 'It looks like a giant mushroom cloud. That's kind of sick...'
        'Just think about it, will you?,' pleaded Sihobahn.
        'Okay, fine,' said Noriko. Two seconds later: 'No.'
        Sihobahn left, saying, 'Just think about it, properly this time!'

        Noriko was making one of her regular visits to the wonderful bewindowedness of Sihobahn's cubicle when a dull hum was heard. 'Look at that!,' she exclaimed. Head peered up from cubicles, and other workers came to the windows. In the distance, a cloud of aeroplanes was approaching. As they drew near, they could be distinguished as bombers. American bombers. A swarm of fighters flew escort. They slowly hummed past, over the city.
        'Where are they going?,' asked someone.
        'Probably to a base,' came a reply.
        Several shiny specks reflected the sun as they came into view. With a screeching roar they screamed past. Jets. 'Meteors,' said a man.
        'Oooh, I read the air force just got a shipment of those!,' said someone else. When no more aeroplanes appeared, people began drifting back to their tasks.
        'Looks like you were needlessly scared,' Noriko said to Sihobahn,
        'That's probably a big invasion force they're building!'
        'Or a desperate defense force,' replied Sihobahn, looking genuinely worried.
        'Oh please,' chided Noriko, 'that's so cliched to say that!'
        'So is saying that it's a cliche to say that!,' Sihobahn retorted.
        'Oh yeah, well it's a cliche to say it's a cliche to... this could go on forever. Let's stop!,' said Noriko. Sihobahn agreed, and got back to work.

        That night, they decided not to go to a proper restaurant, and instead opted for a quick bite in a bar. No interesting men talked to them. Noriko wasn't surprised, but Sihobahn was genuinely disappointed.
        'Now you know how I feel,' chuckled Noriko, 'you've lost the magic!'
        Sihobahn simply sighed, 'I guess so. What do you say we try that carpooling thing tomorrow?'.
        Noriko nodded, and said, 'It beats the train, and gives me someone to talk to other than a bunch of slobs!,'

        Sihobahn gave Noriko a ride home, taking a motorway which passed the docks in Tokyo Bay. Large numbers of ships were arriving. Noriko felt a bit concerned.
        'That's an awful large number of ships and men!,' she said.
        'Well, there is the new offensive coming up soon,' Sihobahn replied, 'and I read in the newspaper the troops are arriving.'
        Noriko nodded, and looked back out at the floodlit piers, as cranes unloaded tanks and jeeps.

        The next morning, they sat in a huge traffic jam. Sihobahn pressed the 'traffic programme' button on the radio. Soon the music was interrupted by an announcement.
        'Radio 2 Tokyo.... train derailment on lines running in from the Chiba area... traffic accidents downtown... large tailback on roads into the city centre from Minato-ku...,'
        Sihobahn clicked the radio off, and looked helplessly at Noriko.
        'Sorry!,' she said sheepishly.
       'I told you picking me up was a bad idea!,' said Noriko, and fold her arms, glaring at the endless sea of cars ahead.
        'Fine, fine. You were right!,' replied Sihobahn, and drummed her fingers on the Corvega's steering wheel.

        She pointed out the large chrome ring around the inside to Noriko.'Watch this!,' she said, and pushed it. The loud horn honked, and the driver ahead visibly jumped in his seat. He tried to look around at them.
        'Great. You can scare people,' said Noriko, bored.
        'Yeah, fun isn't.... hey do you see something up there?,'
        Noriko shifted her eyes to look up through the windscreen. Just clear blue sky. Suddenly, she noticed a small group of objects.
        'More bombers... no big deal!,' she said.
        'Then why are the other planes shooting at them?,'
        Noriko looked out the window. It was clearly fighters trying to down a bomber group. She reach over and turned the radio back on.
        '... approaching. Please remain calm, and get under cover if possible.
        Repeat, enemy air raid is approaching...'
        Sihobahn looked at Noriko with a look of terror.

        'Let's get off this road!,' she said, and turned on the left turn signal. Eventually the car on their right let them out, and Sihobahn maneuvered the large car onto the shoulder, and gunned it quickly towards an off-ramp.
        'Got to find cover, got to find cover,' she repeated to herself. Noriko stared at her in amazement, then pointed at a carpark entrance.
        'There! That's underground!,' she shouted.
        Sihobahn swung the the car around, and the scraped their way down the ramp into the carpark. She pulled quickly into an empty space. There were a lot of those.
        'That's odd,' she said, turning off the engine, 'an empty carpark, and in downtown Tokyo!'

        They waited for several minutes, unable to operate the car radio underground. Distant explosions of guns could be heard. As they sat, a car drove down the ramp at high speed, skidded towards an empty spot, and crunched into the concrete wall. As Noriko and Sihobahn watched, the driver leapt out of the car, accompanied by his wife and children, and ran towards the exit and lifts.

        'Weirdo!,' said Sihobahn.
        'He's got a fear of bombs!,' added Noriko.
        'Who doesn't?'
        As time passed, more cars began coming in. Equally panicked people
leapt out, scrambling over each other like Christmas Eve shoppers to get
into the exit.
        'Maybe there's a big sale upstairs?,' observed Noriko.

        This activity continued for several minutes, and Noriko and Sihobahn decided to investigate the strange appeal of the lift exit. The walked calmly along, as people surged past them, carrying luggage. More were arriving, hurriedly parking their cars, which were jammed with baggage, and rushing to the exit. It was chaos.

        By the time Noriko and Sihobahn reached the door, most of the parking spaces were filled. Only a few people were scurrying past now. They walked through, and looked around. There was a lift leading up to the building above. Stairs also went up and down. Sihobahn pointed to a sign next to the down staircase.

        'Vault,' she read aloud. Noriko nodded, and they headed down.

        Eventually, they came upon a large empty room underground, filled with construction and tunneling equipment. Nearby was a huge, gear-shaped steel door. A family rushed past them, heading for the door. A group of people in blue uniforms helped them in. Noriko and Sihobahn walked up to them.

        'What's going on?,' asked Sihobahn.
        'Quickly, get in!,' shouted one of the people, and nearly pulled them in. Another checked his list.
        'That's all of them,' he said as a family rushed past, handing him a slip of paper. He nodded to a uniformed woman near a control panel, who pressed a button. Red lights began flashing, and a metal arm rolled the large door over the opening. The arm retracted, and the door closed in, sealing.

        Noriko and Sihobahn watched this, utterly baffled.
        'What the hell is going on?,' demanded Sihobahn.
        'And what is this thing?,' added Noriko.

        The man regarded them with confusion. 'This is a vault,' he said, 'and everyone who bought a space has just come in to shelter during the attack! You should know, you ARE registered, aren't you?'
        Noriko and Sihobahn exchanged glances, and then shrugged.
        'Oh. You're not registered? Sorry, you'd better leave, then,' he replied, turning to the woman near the control panel.
        'Sumie,' he said, 'open the door again!'

        As he spoke, a deafening explosion was heard. The floor jumped and shook, and everyone fell over. Sumie picked herself up and looked at the control panel. A small green gauge began to fill and turn red.
        'Uh oh,' she said. The man leapt up and ran over.
        'What is it?,' he asked, in a panic.
        'Mr Matsuhara, the radiation levels outside are tremendous!,' Sumie replied, going pale as a sheet. Noriko and Sihobahn looked at each other, trembling. Matsuhara turned back to them.
        'There's no way we're forcing you back out now,' he said.
        'You're very lucky,' said another of the uniformed men.
        'S-so, what happens now?,' said Sihobahn, her voice quavering.

        The man gestured towards a large security door at the other end of the
room.
        'We try and find you living quarters. The vault isn't finished yet, so we'll probably have to try to get the equipment that's outside the blast door. After the radiation dies down. But for now, you two are safe and welcome to live here, in the Vault.'

Fallout is Copyright 1997 Interplay Productions. Fallout is a trademark of Interplay Productions. All Rights Reserved.

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